Well, quite frankly I've given up on Portland. And I think the idea of CAS worrying about a Pueblo stretched far too thin is rather ludicrous. If North America wasn't pretty much guaranteed a slot, I think there are better cities than any here. Boise has all the potential of the South American tri-border region except that one of the borders has immortal elves, and two are countries facing the burden of occupying less-than pleasant neighbors. It or St. Louis really deserve coverage more than any capital city.



Well, the NEEC seems pretty chock full of more than just corp on corp action.


I hardly see why not being covered more in SoA gives it special preference.



Or, you know, someone could be creative and not just rehash current events.


To be honest, I figure Nairobi will hold that situation for a while.


IDEX in Dubai pretty much fills the role for most of the plot hooks about Desert Wars in Target: Wastelands. Besides, why does it have to be the Libyan games? Why not turn to Urumqi and the CSI:Miami of Desert Wars, Desert Wars:Gobi?


And it has quite a collection of potential features itself.

I want to throw in for atlanta, miami, seoul, london, and bucharest.



what about orlando and anaheim? is there any info on disney in the 2070's?

Why in God's name would Orlando matter?

I would defitely love St Louis and Austin getting writeups since I lived in Missouri until 4 years ago when I moved to Texas.

Portland. Lots of action going on there in my game.

We will be staying with the 2 major sprawls detailed and 4-5 secondary locations spotlighted format for the location books. We also make a point that all the sprawls constitute very different backdrops and offer different types of hooks while remaining true to the theme of the book.

Something to think about:

Since there are about 7 major regions of the Shadowrun world, and only 6 or 7 cities get featured in a book in any capacity, you have to content yourself with just one city from each region. So rather than contemplating how cool it would be if they did San Francisco and Portland (or whatever), try to figure out which city in a region is really the most important. Basically you could get a city from:

• North America
• Latin America
• Asia
• The Islamic World
• Africa
• Europe
• South Asia/Oceania

Now obviously there is substantial overlap. Bucharest can be culturally identified as part of Europe, part of Asia (because of the heavy Russian influence), and part of the Islamic World (because of the heavy Turkic influence). Saigon could be reasonably assessed as part of the Pacific and also as part of Asia. Cairo is part of Africa but also a key part of the Middle East. Tenochtitlan is part of North America and also part of Latin America. And so on.

So while you could grab one of the border cities and call it as part of one region and get another city from inside the same region, you would be doing a grave disservice to the Shadowrun world and community by grabbing two cities from the same region - because another corner of the globe would have to go hungry altogether.

Personally, my choice list would be:

• Los Vegas
• Bogota
• Chengdu
• Bucharest
• Cairo
• London
• Saigon

-Frank

Shadowrun Las Vegas...

I'll only play if I get to put my smart glasses on dramatically while making witty quips.

I second any sort of vote for Saigon, I personally don't think Asia gets nearly enough love in the SR world (but thanks for giving us Hong Kong). Vietnam is perfectly located for all sorts of smuggling, magical bits, and general craziness.

London, in my opinion, is a must. It's a great place to run with a very different feel from other printed settings, certainly qualifies as a city of intrigue and hopefully will get the treatment it deserves. Not to mention the other 2 Inferno clubs have already been done .

Wasn't London already done in depth in the London Sourcebook and Shadows of Europe? If you MUST do an English city, do Liverpool. Liverpool is more cyberpunk than the smoke is. I mean heck, right now the mayor of Liverpool refuses to go out at night because of the crime. Can't say that about London, now can you? Just look at Liverpool's city motto, "we probably won't kick your arse". That's cyberpunk, right there.

Cyberpunk is about glamor and plastic in addition to pain and crime. Cities of Intrigue is more about the former than the latter. You aren't looking for places that have a large number of people living in fear of being rolled for their boots (though that is always a plus), you're mostly looking for places that James Bond would go in a tuxedo and engage in witty repartee with other spies.

James Bond handing a package to someone on London Bridge? Awesome. James Bond getting yelled at by Orkish hooligans in Manchester? Lame.

---

Although I do agree that after Feral Cities they should do a sequel about cities paralyzed by crime.

-Frank

I'd love to see Las Vegas done up nicely for Shadowrun. My concern is if it goes in to Cities of Intrigue it would be a minor player, where I'd really like to see Vegas is headlining a future supplement called something like Dens of Vice along with Bangkok, Monte Carlo, Metropol, and a few more to round it out.

...yeah but that is now seven years out of date (though some of the location info could still be useful) just like all the other pre-crash fluff.

And I agree with Frank. Intrigue is also style.

I think it should be cities that have yet to get a writeup. Alot of the ones people have mentioned have several. Of course ones that have had MAJOR changes would make sense too. That's why I really want to see a book with Austin/Houston area, I mean the stuff with Aztlan, wow, lots going on there I would think. Also like I said, St. Louis would be great too. You know it's a smuggler stop, or a chokepoint to try to nab said smugglers down the big muddy. I know I'm posting twice, but I was on my psp last night and needless to say you don't do lengthy typing on that.

Hey here's an idea. What if there was a fan collaboration? Pick a city that seems like it would be important and have people submit ideas for it. It would be a city that they hadn't planned on working on, obviously. Make a fan sourcebook. Granted it wouldn't be canon but if enough people worked on it and liked it, people might want to use it in there games. Of course I know most everyone would prefer to have their stuff in a published official book, but I figure they can only make so many books a year. So0me things we want to have will most likely never get touched. Just a thought.

Anaheim and Disneyland are covered in Corp Enclaves, the LA chapter ("Fun City"). Because how could anyone talk about LA without talking about Disneyland??? (can you tell I'm the mother of two young children?)

Or maybe a location theme, seems like a lot of people want info on Border Towns (which does not by definition make them Cities of Intrigue) maybe we could try to put one together on some of those.

Also since a few of us (including me) have suggested cities already covered, for reference:

I'll third (or fourth) London. It's the home of the quintessential spy thriller, for goodness sake! Would need to be written from the outsider's point of view. Mind the gap, chaps! Knights, magic, terrorism, crime, Brit-pop music!

I know Washington, FDC was covered in the President Dunkelzhan campaign but for those of us who weren't playing SR at the time and don't want to drop money for out-of-date and out-of-print campaign materials we might like to see it. If not Washington, then definitely Atlanta or one of the NAN capitals. Or Miami. Shadowrun beach party!

As for non-Anglophone cities, Moscow seems like it would be a good choice for obvious reasons, comrade chummerskis. Madrid, Rome, Tel Aviv (with Jerusalem), and whatever Rio is called now would be cool as well.

I also wouldn't mind see a quick blip on McMurdo or one of the other Antarctica outposts. Think you can't have intrigue in the world's biggest frozen desert? Check out Greg Rucka's "Whiteout". But maybe that would qualify more for a future Fringe or Bordertowns supplement.

Did I mention Portland?

You mean George Smiley, right?

Actually, I like the idea for the crime-ridden cities. There's your Baltimore book right there.


Uh... Macao, maybe? I mean, its size and growth will soon make Las Vegas the Macao of the West.

Plus the brief blurb in Runner Havens begs for an expansion.


No, actually. It wasn't.

There was one run set in Washington. Almost all other canned runs were still set in Seattle. There was a blurb about the government in Dunk's Secrets. Nothing of substance was ever written about the city in the sourcebooks. The Dragon Heart Saga did a more thorough job of fleshing out the city, and that's not saying much. It's only been covered twice in more detail than "The Watergate Rift is here." Once way back in 1990/91 in Neo-Anarchist's Guide to North America. Once in SoNA--and that was written so vaguely so that the writeup could apply to any national capital anywhere.

So, yeah, I think it's due.


Strange Places, or whatever the placeholder name is.


Yes. Thank you.

Am I the only one who would thoroughly enjoy watching James Bond get harassed by orzet spewing hooligans?

ok, didn't know you live there you poor chap, that would mean you'd be the perfect guy to do the write-up *g*
as long as it does get covered somewhere explaining how people manage to get by there with that beast of a continent below their feet, i am content to wait a bit ^^

Most likely it will be included, because of the one reference you missed: The one in System Failure. The prominent inclusion of FDC in Cities of Intrigue would be a strong indication that the "New American Revolution" (or whatever their name is) group plotting to reunite the United States is going to feature heavily in the developing meta-plot.

Only if he then kills them for not knowing their place.


I didn't miss it.

But that hasn't been a reason for Atlanta, Quebec City, Santa Fe, Sacramento, Portland, Bellingham, Cheyenne or the capital cities of the upper NAN states to be used. Nor has it appeared to be much concern in any of the SR4 books. That's perfectly fine with me, in fact. Frankly, they had the opportunity to make a startling break with SR1-3 which would have diminuated Seattle and created a storyline similar to DMZ or Jericho (which has actually begun to ape DMZ). But they screwed that all up in System Failure.

DeeCee has one aspect which may or may not even matter: One of the conspirators is now President of the UCAS. It's not even that clear that Zincan was (Personally, I think he's a pawn. Everything he did was done too cleanly to make him like like the triumphant hero returning from semi-exile to lead the Tir into a new era of greatness for me to believe he actually is in any way the brains of, well, anything). And even if it did come out, so what? She could have admitted to it in her nominating convention acceptance speech and I would bet that people would have voted for her because of what she did. One, because UCASans are insane when it comes to voting behavior. Two, because she's done everything in her power to make the UCAS a Great Nation again that Dunkelzahn (See point 1) and Haeffner promised and failed to deliver for seven years, and that her predecessor basically went backwards on in toadying to "the megacorps."

Of course it doesn't say which corps, and Emergence has megas specifically putting pressure on her which makes me suspect she's not exactly made of stone. But going back to Point 1, as far as the world is (or should be, because they make opinion) concerned The Corporate Court Saved The World. Yeah, they didn't succeed, but they also kept the world from collapsing under the pressure of Crash 2.0 and have since advanced the world faster in five years than the world had been lagging, often through acting counter to the Court, for decades.

Not true. There was also Just Compensation, which I believe was set in, and contained details of Washington DC.

True.

But that was set in August 2055.

We get you don't like Seattle, but seriously moving Shadowrun away from Seattle to make it more like other games would have been a major branding mistake for the entire franchise. I think in that aspect they are handling things correctly by trying to add in more locations, hence why I support trying to include locations which have little or no previous development, particularly for the secondary locations in the new setting books over updating and rehashing the same old locations over and over.

...for me, it's not so much that I hate Seattle, as I am just burnt out on the location after 18 years. Hard to get players here interested in other locations though when the RL metroplex is about a 3.5 hr drive away & dominates the regional media.

Woah. Yeah. After almost two decades it might be time to take a break. I'm a n00b when it comes to GMing Shadowrun so Seattle still holds lots of interest for me. I can see how your players might find running in a place that's nearby in RL would be appealing... but I live smack dab in the center of fly-over country so, frankly, ANYplace is better than where I live.

Shadows of Indianapolis... steal some genetically modified corn seeds and sabotage an open-wheeled racing event.

That actually does have some potential you know. Don't forget you also have one of the larger Pharmaceutical companies in Indy too.

...it'll probably be a long break as CoI is not due out for another year at least and I would really, really like to set a campaign in Portland again. Don't think the players here would find that difficult setting to identify with.

...though, I still also like London & the UK because of he challenge they present.

...PC: I'm looking for the London gun show.
...GM: Checking the Times^™ Dataterm, you discover it's over at the Royal Exposition hall
...PC: cool I head over there
...GM: as you approach you notice a number of NP paddy wagons parked out front on the street. You see patrons being led away by uniformed officers to the paddy wagons after they pay the 20 ₤ admission.

(actually has a PC ask this question in all seriousness...)

Tokyo
New York
Atlanta (captial of CAS right?)


London was covered in its own SB years ago. Would there be that much change?

Both are in Corporate Enclaves.

-Frank

...Letsee, that was what, 2052? 18 years ago? Before Dunkies assassination, the Arcology Shutdown, the comet, the Pendragon mess & Lord Marchmont, the crash, the advent of the wireless matrix...

Seattle has also received spotlight mention, if not full sourcebooks of it's own, with nearly every edition change.

Seattle:

SR1: Neo Anarchist's Guide to North America and chapter in fluff section of the core book.
SR2: Seattle Sourcebook
SR3: New Seattle
SR4: Runner Havens (1 of two featured cities)

London:

SR2: London Sourcebook
SR3: Shadows of Europe (part of UK Chapter)

...not saying it needs its own book but at least a dedicated chapter in CoI would be nice.

I ... I what? I love Seattle. I hate the Seattle chapter in Runner Havens. Big difference.

My point is not to draw focus away from Seattle. That decision was made when SR4 came out, and the first two core settings were Seattle and Hong Kong, plus now Los Angeles and Neo-Tokyo, and soon coming Chicago and so on (to include another from Feral Cities; and two from the following placeholder titles: Awakened Haunts, Cities of Intrigue, Strange Places. I'm not the one who wants 12+ core sprawls. Well, I want more major cities covered in depth and know that whole books on individual cities (or even nations) are never going to come again. The developers have done that. I'm just trying to help out.

At this point, I have seen a great deal of support and good reasons for Washington and London. Are they the best cities in the world? No. Are they familiar cities with some background material already, combined with existing or seeded plot ideas? Yes? Are those ideas 'intrigue'? Yes. If nothing else, look at the Technocratic Party entry in Emergence and then look at the end of System Failure where the husband and consort of the Queen of England is Johnny Spinrad, who brings any number of plots across Portugal and France with him to England.

The other problem being that other cities that might be wanted are omitted because they've just been covered in other books. It's been two years since Runner Havens came out, and since SR4 is using its own time and not necessarily 1:1 real years:game years it's not as pressed for time as it may have been before to cover some location that was just written up a little while ago.

Frank's coverage seems pretty good if there is some sort of template: North America and Far East Asia (or Europe) get the two major cities. Minor cities include Africa (finally), Europe (or Far East Asia), Near East Asia, Latin America. Corp Enclaves also added Manhattan because, quite frankly, it was the first and the standard bearer for corporate cities. Omitting it would have been a crime.

However, I am not particularly inclined to regional affirmative action. I didn't make up my own list with that in mind, but I did consider which cities would have different types of intrigue.

Washington, FDC - internal and external conflicts. Post-upheaval conflicts. Espionage. Politics. Pretty much everything that most capitals would have, including Moscow through an easy addition of more aggressive internal factions and conflicts.

London - Internal conflicts. Now a base for larger global intrigue involving the NEEC and various corporations from NeoNET and Spinrad/S-K. Its role as a major city outside of government, which does not apply to Washington, also places it in the situation of being more than just governmental and international intrigue to financial, cultural and media pressures Washington wouldn't cover.

Geneva - Fair enough this could be Brussels as well, but it would be nice to have a proxy city where everything is generally foreign and requires a lot of foreign work--hence the point of it being covered for shadowrunners--without much commitment to social niceties since getting in doesn't require knowing much. It's nothing local, and they'll be gone before it matters.

Mogadishu - A provincial (occupied?) capital with access to the entire world. Finally overcoming its internal problems and much of its external ones, it is still a city where government and private interests collide: from people wanting it to be part of Ethiopia to freedom fighters straining against the yoke of oppression from Addis Ababa. People who want it to lead the 21st century, and people who want it to be a caliphate, to people (foreigners) who have bought into the idea that by the turn of the century Mogadishu had become the prototypical example of anarcho-capitalism, or even just anarchy.

Dushanbe - the mirror reflection of Geneva. It's a chessboard for foreign proxies, but the conflicts are most definitely rooted with the locals. Unlike Geneva, it is a place where someone can essentially pick up a short-term merc contract, but it has the unfortunate problem of being a place where knowing the history and locals is a necessity.

Bogota - Border city (so it also replaces Austin and St. Louis) stuck between two countries that are on the verge of war, as is also a city stuck between their influence and the influence of the locals. Locals who include the ghost cartels. Smuggling. Espionage. War. Oh my.

Boise - a bit of a mirror to Bogota. It's location on the Tir-Salish-Pueblo border place it at a crossroads where the countries are all generally neutral to friendly with them. Except that it's also a smuggling route, and most of the people on the Pueblo side are actually Utes whose country was annexed by 'radishes' and pinkskins.

Manila - Manila has always been a mess. When things looks better in 2064, the bottom fell out and it just got worse.


Well, there was quite a bit of change between then and Shadows of Europe. Since then things haven't seemed to get any more sedate.

It's a pretty solid list of locales, a few just seem better suited to other products than Cities of Intrigue in my estimation.

Bogota is a great location for a feature, I just don't think Cities of Intrigue is the best place for it, as you mentioned it is a stomping ground of the Ghost Cartels. Hopefully it will be featured in enough detail there, along with enough of the supply chain locations that the Ghost Cartels product will be a really solid campaign / event book.

If the old Smuggler Havens book gets a redux (which it really should) Boise bould be a great Feature City, especially being the mid-point of a lot of Denver-Seattle smuggling routes.

It'd be nice. But if Emergence is any indication, it isn't going to happen.

Unfortunately you're probably right. Paradise Lost is the last campaign/adventure book I can think of that really did much to detail a location as a stand alone.

It would be interesting to read about some of polish cities in Sixth World

After reading SoE, my types are Krakow, Warsaw-Lodz sprawl, Tricity (Gdansk-Gdynia-Sopot) Katowice (vampires mafia) or Wroclaw (german name: Breslau).

And I think it important to point out that Paradise Lost presented a timeline for the Kingdom of Hawaii which was not compatible with the timelines presented in other source books. Not especially important for characters running in the area, but the secession of the Kingdom was presented as having happened at a wildly different time from when the tribal lands seceded according to the rest of the storyline presented elsewhere.

-Frank

Which probably explains why it hasn't happened since.

I'd say it's because only Nigel Findley could get away with that stuff.

damn I miss him. Well as a writer I mean. It's not like I actually knew him personally.

Personally, I want something on the Caribbean League that isn't grossly out of date, edition wise. Anything on Havana would make me happy, although Kingston, Miami, and Port Au Prince would be nice, too.

Juno Alaska

Havana would be a decent stand-in for the Dushanbe concept.

...Juneau, Alaska.

If it were Juno, I wouldn't be posting this as that is a 340 KM long asteroid which, if it impacted the Earth, would most likely have caused an ELE.

heh I didnt think my suggestion was funny enough to warrant looking up the correct spelling
lol

...actually been to Alaska. Juneau is the main terminus point for the Alaska Ferry from Seattle. Also minored in Astronomy in college & been fascinated with the subject since the 4th grade.

Why Dushanbe? Since Tajikistan got subsumed into Turkestan back in 2041 along with Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Uighurstan wouldn't the capital in Tashkent be a more logical choice? It's the main local transportation hub, political centre and location-wise it's only about a hundred miles or so north of Dushanbe. Just curious about what you thought would make this a good location.

His book-fu was weak.