Designging the City of Tomorrow

[signoftheserpent]

Hi, I am soliciting advice and suggestions for the landmarks and makeup of a Metropolis style city; a 'city of tomorrow' in the pulp vein. Not somewhere set in the future, but somehwere similar to the cities seen in comics like Tom Strong (Millenium City) or even Astro City. What sort of buildings should be included and why?

[andrew_kenrick]

Will the look or style of the buildings have any impact on the game itself, or are they just to be used as a backdrop or set-dressing?

[signoftheserpent]

Will the look or style of the buildings have any impact on the game itself, or are they just to be used as a backdrop or set-dressing?

Well its the setting so in terms of mechanical impact, no.

[TonyLB]

The city of tomorrow is not made of bricks, because we don't have to live in tomorrow.  It's made of ideas, and then those ideas are clad in a thin skin of plausibility ... tall, spindly spires of bronze, rambling, tangled pyramids of brick and mortar and battle-ship plating, that sort of thing.

So, what ideas are needed in the city of tomorrow?  At the least, I (personally) would expect:

• A testimony to the failures of the past:  A neighborhood of dark alleys, brooding, heavily riveted steel, and everywhere decay, decay, decay.
• Law:  A building, one building, which contains every single legal function of the city.  Depending upon your vision, this could either be a high, unassailable tower with simple, clean lines, overlooking the city with a benevolent eye or a squat, ingrown building filled with labyrinthine, nonsensical turns that only those who live and work their daily can understand.
• Aspiration:  A tower ... a really tall tower.  Again, depending on vision this could be architectural nonsense, with a tiny base (or a base smaller than its main size) or something yielding more to the claims of realism, with a heavy, sturdy, groaning foundation of immense pillars.
• Industry:  Things get made, things get done ... but how?  What does the architecture of the place tell you about the people who work there and the society they serve?  Is it a closed in area where people stand in place, operating like cogs in a great machine?  Or is it a vast workshop, where workers roam, perfecting their vision upon materials ever provided for them?

... and so on.  Sorry for the philosophical bent.  I hope this helps!

[andrew_kenrick]

Those were my thoughts too Tony - the vision of the city of tomorrow should never come down to this building here, or that building there, but to ideas and dreams and hopes. It is a city of glinting towers and steel spires, for in the future there will be no limit to what can be built. It is a city of flying cars and jetpacks, for the technology of tomorrow will set us free. It is a city where robots toil for the good of humanity in factories and workshops, for in the future, man will be employed for the greater good, not the mundane.

[Ken]

There are a few books I would recommend: "Yesterday's Tomorrows", " Out of Time:, and "Future Perfect". Also, the comics "Terminal City" and "Electropolis", both by Dean Motter show some pretty neat ideas inspired by the worlds fair and Nicola Tesla. There is a smattering of everything in these books. Great Stuff!

Enjoy,

Ken

[signoftheserpent]

There are a few books I would recommend: "Yesterday's Tomorrows", " Out of Time:, and "Future Perfect". Also, the comics "Terminal City" and "Electropolis", both by Dean Motter show some pretty neat ideas inspired by the worlds fair and Nicola Tesla. There is a smattering of everything in these books. Great Stuff!

Enjoy,

Ken

Thanks, who wrote the last two books?

[Ken]

Thanks, who wrote the last two books?

Dean Motter. He also wrote a series in the 80s called Mister X...again, set in a Metropolis inspired super city. X is now in TPB, and worth checking out.

Best

Ken

[signoftheserpent]

Sorry I meant the other two.

[Ken]

Yesterday's Tomorrows...Joseph J. Corn and Brian Horrigan
Out of Time...Norman Brosterman
Future Perfect...Jim Heimann

You can check them out on Amazon.com; in fact, there are lots of links to plenty of books that deal with the topic you're interested in.

Good Luck,

Ken

[signoftheserpent]

THanks, hopefully my local library will prove useful for once (usually if it's good it's been stolen).

[dindenver]

Hi!
  Broadcast electricity, that's the answer!
  I think it adds a good sci fi twist, without effecting the general behavior of urban life. Also, provides lots of hooks for freak accidents, mutations and general fun!

[signoftheserpent]

Hi!
  Broadcast electricity, that's the answer!
  I think it adds a good sci fi twist, without effecting the general behavior of urban life. Also, provides lots of hooks for freak accidents, mutations and general fun!

What is broadcast electricity?

Also, how much information is necessary? I find sitting down and writing pages and pages of dry tourist guide style information really rather dull. RPG's have a particular problem being text based (unless they are based on existing source material) that make explaining backgrounds and settings really dull. Wading through page after page of background and doing the exact opposite of showing not telling is just tedious.

What information do players need for an urban setting based very largely on a modern metropolis? Do they need a map of every last nook and cranny as well as street and lane? Do they need to know where every conceivable building is - from the local city hall down to the dentist's?

[dindenver]

Hi!
  In the early 1900s, there was the theory that some day we could broadcast eletricity to appliances without wires. Like with radio and telegraph...
  As to the level of detail, it depends on the needs of the game/story you are trying to create.
  If you are trying to make a game that encourages players to pick up cars and toss them around, you need to set that tone somehow. If you are trying to create a game of angst and personality conflict, then the details that bring that out need to be highlighted. I can't imagine a game that would require sidewalk level streetmaps. But, maybe highlighting a city block or small neighborhood would set the tone for the rest of the city...
  Just my thoughts, hope you find them helpful.

[TonyLB]

  In the early 1900s, there was the theory that some day we could broadcast eletricity to appliances without wires. Like with radio and telegraph...

Y'know, it's really not so much a theory.  You totally can broadcast electricity to every electrical device in a certain radius.  The technology is known.

The thing is ... you're broadcasting electricity to every electrical device in the radius.  You might not think of ... say ... a field of wheat as an electrical device built to create sparks and then catch fire, but it is.  It was only waiting to be powered up.

I heartily endorse the recommendation to give the City of Tomorrow massively high voltage broadcast power.  What could possibly go wrong?