Cities of 2070, Montreal and Boston... Options

[The Jake]

Hi guys

I'm in the middle of fleshing out Seattle of 2070 for my campaign but has anyone done any work on Boston or Montreal around the same time period? What books can you draw on? What is the effect on Montreal (and Quebec) given the collapse of CATCo? I'm assuming other megas would be moving in (in particular, I'm thinking Shiawase, S-K, Ares, Novatech off the bat) but Seraphim agents exist as freelancers still clinging onto their power. I have big plans for the Seraphim in my campaign. Also, what happened to Mama? I hear she disappeared but I don't know what happened to her.

I'm relying heavily on Target: UCAS and Shadows of North America and I don't have much more recent sources.

- J.

[AllTheNothing]

I have no ideas about Quebec but I can tell that Boston was one of the places hit the hardest from the crash 2.0 and the stock exchange has moved back to wall street, don't remember what happened in Boston at Emergence time.

[Hagga]

Bsoton was taken over by militant students, who then realised they had no idea what the hell they were doing. The city promptly exploded in a fireball of youthful indignation that their superior student brains could not solve the worlds problems in one little city simply because they wanted to.

"humor" aside, it does sound like the sort of thing that would happen, given the massive amount of universities.

[ravensmuse]

Me and BRodda were talking about doing a writeup for Boston. I just haven't gotten around to sending out the notes I put together for him because I'm lazy.

Mostly, you've got downtown Boston, which is a heavy corp zone (the Stock Exchange was here for so many years) which means it'll be high high HIGH security (with lots of tasty opportunities), much poorer sprawls surrounding it of minorities, with Cambridge as a odd liberal duck in the room. Boston also has some of the finest technical and magical schools in the country - Harvard and MIT&T for starters.

Don't forget that Boston has the Bay, which has had all sorts of industrial accidents in it including one of the biggest oil spills on the continent. This is good fodder for toxics and twisteds.

Oh, and because Boston and New York are so close, there's a lot of traffic in-between the two. I'm hoping that there's some mention of this in the NY netbook the developers are talking about putting out. I'm actually hoping that they'll mention the Fung Wah Buses in it :)

(yes, they are that dangerous. There really is a news report about them once or twice a year. I've always wanted to ride one just to experience it though :))

North of Boston (where I live) has interesting stuff too. You've got Salem, which is basically heaven for your magical types - come here when you need some magical gear, some magical talent, or you're looking for a tutor, but beware the warring factions of witches fighting for the title of Official Salem Witch (yes, there is such a thing) and other mysterious magical phenomenon that still remember the Trials. A lot of the North Shore is made up of rich white families, so you're looking at either corp drones or people with big money in their spending accounts (or people like my family, who've been here for forever and don't look to leave). If you're willing to reach further north, Gloucester makes a good port to come out of if you're looking for a quiet way in / out.

Also, the North Shore is a crazy place for antiques. This makes for good plot material.

The South Shore is basically all fishing, cranberries, and other natural industry. You're looking at people / corporations that are interested in things like aquaculture and growing things underwater. South of Boston is Martha's Vineyard, which is a hugely exclusive rich folk club - Martha Stewart has a home here, for instance. I think the Kennedy's do too, so you might have some old political blood simmering there.

All I ask is that you don't extend the Boston Sprawl all the way out to New York. That was embarrassing.

(imagine the baseball teams: us and the Yankees? Blech.)

[The Jake]

Thanks for that. It's always good to get dirt from the people who live there. Do you have access to or know of any good city maps of Boston? Any good sites u recommend?

On a side note if anyone wants information on Australia or Melbourne, let me know... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif)

- J.

[The Jake]

Anyone know what megacorps would be the most powerful in Boston and Quebec in 2070, given the collapse of CATCo?

Also what about organised crime? SoNA mentioned biker gangs were the bigger influence in Quebec. Would they still be at the top of the pecking order or would other cartels be moving in? Also Boston has apparently a large vacuum given Mama's disappearance from the Catacombs. Does anyone know more about this?

- J.

[Blacken]

Novatech was headquarted in Boston. NeoNET might be too. Other corps likely to be big are Ares (UCAS corp, though I'd bet that they'd stay clear of Cambridge for sure) and magical research divisions of the other corps.

[ravensmuse]

Off the top of my head, NeoNET and Manadyne (Mangadyne?) are the two that come right up. Ares owns those (IIRC). Ares themselves I thought had some sort of presence...

[Backgammon]

Biker gangs were said to be at the top of the foodchain in Quebec because that's mostly how it is today. If you accept that sounds right, then I don't see any recent events that would have changed that. Tempo's underworld shakeout gives you the opportunity to change that if you want, or not.

There isn't enough material to really say what would happen to Quebec post-Cross. I think it would basically fall back to how it is everywhere else. No 1 dominant megacorp, just a bunch of the megas buying up and dividing amongst themselves the remains of Cross.

This may actually have a serious impact on Quebec culture. In SR, Quebec could afford to be draconian and isolated due to its strong economy in the from of Cross. Cross also drove Quebec's isolation to it's own advantage, creating an unfavourable climate for rivals. Now that Cross is gone, there won't be anything to stop those "rivals" from lobbying to open up Quebec.

Ironically, instead of today's separatist movement, I'd actually see a "unification" movement of youths clamouring to open up and possibly join the UCAS. In any case, the new corps are going to be seeking to destroy those protectionist laws and relax language laws, and there'll be nobody to stop them.

[Sumo Neko]

Biker gangs were said to be at the top of the foodchain in Quebec because that's mostly how it is today. If you accept that sounds right, then I don't see any recent events that would have changed that. Tempo's underworld shakeout gives you the opportunity to change that if you want, or not.

There isn't enough material to really say what would happen to Quebec post-Cross. I think it would basically fall back to how it is everywhere else. No 1 dominant megacorp, just a bunch of the megas buying up and dividing amongst themselves the remains of Cross.

This may actually have a serious impact on Quebec culture. In SR, Quebec could afford to be draconian and isolated due to its strong economy in the from of Cross. Cross also drove Quebec's isolation to it's own advantage, creating an unfavourable climate for rivals. Now that Cross is gone, there won't be anything to stop those "rivals" from lobbying to open up Quebec.

Ironically, instead of today's separatist movement, I'd actually see a "unification" movement of youths clamouring to open up and possibly join the UCAS. In any case, the new corps are going to be seeking to destroy those protectionist laws and relax language laws, and there'll be nobody to stop them.

I see 2 major Mega Corps trying to move in, Ares & Saeder-Krupp.
Ares is obvious as to why, Saeder-Krupp -- this would allow them a near autonomous city within the North American continent.
They can also play off the anti-Ares (Aka Anti-UCAS) mentality that is still there.

NeoNet will probably try to move in as well, but I see the others as the BIG 2.

Sumo Neko

[Black Jack Rackh...]

Oh, and because Boston and New York are so close, there's a lot of traffic in-between the two. I'm hoping that there's some mention of this in the NY netbook the developers are talking about putting out. I'm actually hoping that they'll mention the Fung Wah Buses in it (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

(yes, they are that dangerous. There really is a news report about them once or twice a year. I've always wanted to ride one just to experience it though (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) )

Couldn't fit it in with the initial stuff but never fear, there's a Bostonite freelancing for CGL. Fung Wah will make an appearance if I have anthing to say about it.

Mark

[AllTheNothing]

Biker gangs were said to be at the top of the foodchain in Quebec because that's mostly how it is today. If you accept that sounds right, then I don't see any recent events that would have changed that. Tempo's underworld shakeout gives you the opportunity to change that if you want, or not.

There isn't enough material to really say what would happen to Quebec post-Cross. I think it would basically fall back to how it is everywhere else. No 1 dominant megacorp, just a bunch of the megas buying up and dividing amongst themselves the remains of Cross.

This may actually have a serious impact on Quebec culture. In SR, Quebec could afford to be draconian and isolated due to its strong economy in the from of Cross. Cross also drove Quebec's isolation to it's own advantage, creating an unfavourable climate for rivals. Now that Cross is gone, there won't be anything to stop those "rivals" from lobbying to open up Quebec.

Ironically, instead of today's separatist movement, I'd actually see a "unification" movement of youths clamouring to open up and possibly join the UCAS. In any case, the new corps are going to be seeking to destroy those protectionist laws and relax language laws, and there'll be nobody to stop them.

Cross is down but not out. It has lost alot of strenght but it's still its homeground, probably what they were able to keep is mostly in Quebec and in Quebec they will fight the hardest (they also have the most favorable enviroment due aggression of Ares on Cross in the aftermarth of the crash being seen as an aggression on local economy); cross may have lost the size and economical power to be part of the corps that rule the world but they still are a sizable AA corp mostly involved in Quebec, also at the end of System Failure there's an hint that Nicholas Aurelius left some surprises for Ares before jumping out of the ship (in prticular planting several false informations about Seraphims). Probably Quebec is still an hotbed (ironical if you think how cold Quebec is implied to be) of shadowops, with Cross besieged by Ares & Co. (with Cross being victim of just about anything and at the same time being a monster that encourages isolationism and xenofoby to mantain an edge, Yakashima without metahating).
How did the tempo mess affect the status quo I have no fragging idea.