Every once in a while I run across a news story or corner of the Internet that makes me think: “Wow, I wish I ran games instead of just playing in them. I’d use X setting/story/background in a heartbeat!” And then I forget, often within minutes, exactly what fascinated me so much. So, here’s a memory post, since a few of those settings just popped into my brain again.
First:
Ghost skyscrapers of Bangkok. The link is to a skyscraper enthusiast forum; I make no claims about anything except how fascinating the original 2007 Wall Street Journal article reads. There were, at the time the story was published, about a dozen 30+ story skyscrapers vacant and unfinished in the city, and after so long in the wet/hot climate, the skyscrapers have lost so much structural integrity that they’ll probably never be completed. One man was quoted in the story as calling the structures “poetic,” though there is the very real hazard of bits falling on homes and businesses.
My idea: post-apocalyptic, of course. Not specifically Bangkok; I could do neither the city nor the culture justice. The party lives and scavenges within this ruined structure. Shades of Jack McDevitt’s great book Eternity Road, and a bit of The Planet of the Apes and Escape from New York, and a bit of an idea Bryant and I went on and on about once, regarding a far-future NYC. But vertical, all vertical, and instead of walls as your boundary, think 60-story drops.
Second:
The Wall of Steles, as photographed by the writers at “Curious Expeditions,” and on display at the Istanbul Archaeological Museum. As the blog says, “Carved portraits seem to act as labels for whose remains rest where in this grid of bodies.”
My idea: For some reason, I started thinking of the Wizard of Oz, and then of undead powers whose bodies and bones are inert, but can speak through their statue reliefs. And I saw a character standing in front of a row of these as they bickered and gave (conflicting) advice and direction. Odd thoughts, but that’s what they were!
The National Road from Cumberland MD to Vandalia IL. It was authorized in 1806, started in 1811, “completed” (they ran out of funds) in the 1830s, and started fading quickly in the 1850s. Still, an important route for settlers heading into the Ohio River Valley, and busy in its time.
No real “my idea” here; road games are fascinating, and when you look at the complexity of human relations during any historic time period, you have a lot of material for a really interesting game. I’m reminded of a dear friend’s Changeling game (Serene Again), and wow. I would enjoy that a lot.
Oh, my brain.