Author Topic: City Creation - Detroit  (Read 7704 times)

Offline Ravangames

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Re: City Creation - Detroit
« Reply #15 on: June 11, 2010, 02:50:40 PM »
Great ideas, I was going to use the Compuware building for the organized crime angle...

Its a huge office building, Supposedly World Headquarters and there is no compuware stores in Michigan!  Also how the company backed Kwame the whole time.

I was leaning it to be Marcone's attempt to grow his power base, bought off Kwame and then decided to cut him off after the last trial.  Now they are looking for other political power outlets to bring under their control.   "Greetings Mr. Bing..."

Do you have any ideas for an occult tavern like location?

Do I need to make up Pontiac and Windsor as well or is creating locations and faces when I need them good enough?


Offline Murphy's Stunt Double

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Re: City Creation - Detroit
« Reply #16 on: June 11, 2010, 08:48:25 PM »
Compuware doesn't have stores. IIRC, They write computer applications. Software.
It's not CompUSA.


There's a very Mac's place in Clawson... geez, I wish I could remember the name... corner of 14 mile and main. It's a homebrewery. Would be perfect. stop in for a beer and see for yourself.

I think crossing that bridge when you come to it should be fine re Pontiac and Windsor, but I've never played this stuff before. You might want to at least refer to them. Pontiac being a mini--detroit in the north, and Windsor being a time freeze from the 50's.
« Last Edit: June 11, 2010, 08:51:39 PM by Murphy's Stunt Double »
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Offline ludomaniac

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Re: City Creation - Detroit
« Reply #17 on: June 11, 2010, 11:14:20 PM »
« Last Edit: June 11, 2010, 11:52:16 PM by ludomaniac »
"When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty, I read them openly. When I became a man, I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up." - C. S. Lewis

Offline Murphy's Stunt Double

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Re: City Creation - Detroit
« Reply #18 on: June 11, 2010, 11:53:54 PM »
If you are up to no good, please do no good for me too, okay?   ;D

Offline Serathe

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Re: City Creation - Detroit
« Reply #19 on: June 14, 2010, 05:26:32 AM »
Me and a few of my friends have lived in detroit our whole lives and we've spent our last two gaming sessions putting together our own little detroit in the dresdenverse. A few of the better locations and facts we've found are

~http://hubpages.com/hub/Detroits-Nain-Rouge      the red gnome legend, throughout detroits history reports of a horrible red gnome appearing around all of the worst tragedies have been common. In our world we are making this creature a mysterious member of the winter court who wanders the streets of the city.

~A counter to the red gnome is the spirit of detroit.  http://members.fortunecity.com/fordkramermichigan/detroit/detroit.htm   this statue supposedly watches over the city and embodies hope as it wards off the red gnome. We haven't incorporated it into our campaign yet but it's still an interesting fact.

~There are steam tunnels that run beneath much of the city, large dark tunnels that actually connect directly to a number of the buildings. An office I used to work in had a locked door at the bottom of some stairs that actually opened directly into the tunnels. In our city creation we decided it would be a wonderful place for a horde of ghouls to thrive, grabbing people from all over the city into their dark lair.

~At the corner of cass and bagley there is an old building that looks like it's barely standing which houses detroits very own underground goth scene known as City club, the place looks like its completely vacant unless you know where it is and the inside has a long bar, a couple dozen old couches, and a seperate room housing the dance floor. I don't think anything that went on there would surprise the patrons, people dressed as and acting as vampires is completely common, as is people with outrageous costumes of all different sorts. The large basement beneath the club is known as "the labryinth"  and often houses insane concerts. In our campaign we have made this entire building a white court business but it would also make excellent accorded neutral ground as the bouncers at the entrance are always very careful about searching people for weapons and even the most bizarre creature wouldn't get a second glance here.

~Another thought we've had is that in the books it was mentioned that a number of ley lines pass through the great lakes. Detroit has a wheel design, with a number of "spokes" coming out from the center of the city. So our thought is that perhaps the reason for the design is that a number of powerful ley lines converge in the center of the city (which is known as campus marshus). This could also be part of the reason for both the decline of the city, being that any number of nasty creatures would want to control that flow of power and use it for all sorts of rituals, so detroit becomes a supernatural battleground and the mortals are just left to deal with the fallout.

One of our aspects of the city is UNORGANIZED CRIME, representing the fact that there is no "Marcone" or any ruling criminal body in the city. There are a seemingly unlimited number of criminals in the city but no structure, no one person to contact when you want to know whats going on in the streets. The average person is so desperate that crime begins to look like a viable option which leads to an extremely dangerous climate where you can never be safe.

Another one of our aspects which might provide some interesting insight to anyone thinking of doing a detroit campaign is A GLIMMER OF HOPE. For how dark and violent the city is, for all the poverty and all the abandoned bulidings that seem to make up the majority of the city there is a 2 or 3 mile square in the center that has started to rebuild and seems almost reminiscent of the well-off city detroit used to be. Starting right near greektown casino and extending over towards comerica park there are a number of nice restaurants, a couple of churches, a theatre (plays not movies). It's a place where you can walk alone in the middle of the night and not be afraid of being mugged.

Offline Ravangames

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Re: City Creation - Detroit
« Reply #20 on: June 14, 2010, 05:56:05 PM »
Awesome!!!  Serathe & Ludo! I will definitly take into advice all of this stuff.

Serathe, what locations are you using?  Are you using the DIA and Wayne St as a location?  If so how?


Offline Serathe

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Re: City Creation - Detroit
« Reply #21 on: June 14, 2010, 07:40:47 PM »
Our locations are

Wayne State University
Detroit Police 3rd precinct
City Club
The detroit steam tunnels
 Belle du noir (a made up white court brothel)
Sts. Peter and Paul church (oldest church in detroit)
Harper Hospital
Diamond Jacks river tours (a fancy riverboat that travels the international waters between the us and canada)
Foran's Irish Pub
Mt Ellion Cemetary
Madison theatre
Campus Marshus
Greektown Casino

We're using WSU basically as a large catch all research station. One of our characters has a brother that goes to the medical school there (they have a really good one irl) And our face of the location is an english professor who specializes in local folklore and unofficially has a strong interest in the occult

Offline Ravangames

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Re: City Creation - Detroit
« Reply #22 on: June 14, 2010, 08:10:24 PM »
Interesting...

Forgot about the police station... got to put that in...

good idea for the research station.....I might have to work that angle... just a bit differently though since I want it to be a location for Summer..

Im running a pure mortal group so I need to get them outlets that help them cope with the supernatural investigation w/o bringing Harry to the D.

Is the pub your Neutral grounds restaurant?

Offline Serathe

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Re: City Creation - Detroit
« Reply #23 on: June 15, 2010, 11:13:01 PM »
The pub was going to be our neutral ground but the more I've been thinking about it I'm thinking that maybe the riverboat would be a better route. Our face of the boat is a mortal who seems a little bit in the know and a lot crazy, and international waters being a neutral meeting point could offer some unique possibilities. Also having the neutral ground constantly floating on running water could be interesting. Going to have to run that one by the group tonight so I can finish writing some of the finishing touches for the campaign

Offline Murphy's Stunt Double

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Re: City Creation - Detroit
« Reply #24 on: June 15, 2010, 11:57:17 PM »
Those are absolutely stellar ideas!

What do you think of Bob-Lo or Belle Isle as neutral ground being islands as they are? It seems to me the boat might be a bit vulnerable to weather conditions.
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Offline Smith

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Re: City Creation - Detroit
« Reply #25 on: June 16, 2010, 04:30:25 AM »
I was going to suggest City Club, if you're doing anything with Vampires in Detroit it fits, Red or White. (I used to be a bouncer there, I could tell you stories. ^_^)

For that matter, if you need just a seedy rundown area, don't forget Cass Avenue (none colloquially as "Cass Corridor"). If it's dirty, dangerous, unhealthy and/or illegal it can be found there. Also there's a great bar called "The Temple Bar" on the corner of Cass and Temple... George the Owner/Bartender would make for a great Face, especially because his bar is alot like MacAnally's. Could totally see it being Accorded Neutral Ground.

If you're looking for artsy "psychic friendly" ground, Wyandotte's about 15 minutes south of the city on the river and has a great many little places that would work well. The Cosmic Eye Crystal & Stone Shop easily comes to mind.

*God I miss Detroit*
Hope this helps.  ^_^

Offline Ravangames

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Re: City Creation - Detroit
« Reply #26 on: June 18, 2010, 06:06:30 PM »
huh, I can have Ilitch own City Club through a holding company and have another RCV there running the place... helps me get in a low level face... okay I like that.  Rolling on..


I need help with 3 gang leader names

1 black gang
1 Mexican gang (mexican town)
1 biker gang

Offline Ravangames

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Re: City Creation - Detroit
« Reply #27 on: July 02, 2010, 01:16:43 PM »
anyone?

Offline Murphy's Stunt Double

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Re: City Creation - Detroit
« Reply #28 on: July 02, 2010, 02:10:50 PM »
There's a motorcycle gang clubhouse on Fenkell, not too far from where I lived, and for the life of me I cannot remember the gang's name.
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Offline Ravangames

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Re: City Creation - Detroit
« Reply #29 on: July 02, 2010, 02:36:56 PM »
There's a motorcycle gang clubhouse on Fenkell, not too far from where I lived, and for the life of me I cannot remember the gang's name.

Ha.  I need the leader's names... Like Joe Shmoe.

Having a hard time getting the names together.

As for the gang names... that was just a little bit of research.

Bloods (seems like they have a chapter everywhere)
Coneyonlys (Detroit Gang)
Detroit Highwaymen (Detroit Motorcycle Gang)