In our current game, I take turns DMing with another DM, and this week's my turn. Now, I've never DMed a game outside of Seattle, and the current one is taking part in LA. Other than the fluff in the core rulebook, I'm hard-pressed at finding additional background information on this setting.
So far, what I've figured out:
-Hollywood: Home to the rich and the beautiful. Your typical AAA area.
-Funtown: Another wealthy area, patrolled by Police-Academyesque law enforcement.
-the sea: polluted by toxic spirits, but rich in sunken treasures.
Anything else about LA that I should be aware of? E.g. which gangs are active where, what megacon holds sway over which domain etc.
Full Version: Shadowrun in LA
SR4 detailed out LA in Corporate Enclaves. It's a bit...weird. Even for SR.
QUOTE (HappyDaze @ Jun 9 2010, 03:27 AM) 
SR4 detailed out LA in Corporate Enclaves. It's a bit...weird. Even for SR.
Yes, like that Runners have to have Image Consultants. And, there are spots where they
go not to have secret meetings so much as to not have camera drones follow their every
move.
I dig the SR4 version of LA. It is weird though.
LA is the place where the insane Pink Mohawks go. You do everything with style.
Either use the old California setting and blatantly ignore the development of LA as a setting in SR4, or don't play there at all. SR4's LA is ... just not usable in a campaign that does not really go for comedy and parody, if you ask me.
You may also want to check your local used bookstores/Amazon/Ebay for the old California Free State book. It'll be out of date in the Shadowrun world, but there's info on LA there. It's almost like it's two different cities between those two books, and only about 15 years of game time separate the two.
15 years of concentrated WEIRD, though. Like, the sea flooding stuff dozens of feet above sea level weird.
QUOTE (hermit @ Jun 9 2010, 09:19 AM)
15 years of concentrated WEIRD, though. Like, the sea flooding stuff dozens of feet above sea level weird.
California finally got around into having a massive earthquake and sinking into the sea, so that all that stuff was above sea level isn't anymore.
QUOTE (Matsci @ Jun 9 2010, 10:52 AM)
California finally got around into having a massive earthquake and sinking into the sea, so that all that stuff was above sea level isn't anymore.
They said in Corporate Enclaves that massive geological changes too place during the last quake that just aren't scientifically possible, with some places rising as much as 150m. And yes, some of the new bays are actually above sea level.
QUOTE (Abstruse @ Jun 9 2010, 12:59 PM)
They said in Corporate Enclaves that massive geological changes too place during the last quake that just aren't scientifically possible, with some places rising as much as 150m. And yes, some of the new bays are actually above sea level.
The issue being that since some of the geological changes are magical in origin, or atleast that is my read on it, you cannot uniformly apply science to make it make sense.
QUOTE (Sixgun_Sage @ Jun 9 2010, 11:58 AM)
The issue being that since some of the geological changes are magical in origin, or atleast that is my read on it, you cannot uniformly apply science to make it make sense.
That's not just me speculating...the book states flat-out that the changes are not scientifically possible and completely against what current (2070ish) science knows about geology and plate tectonics.
QUOTE (Abstruse @ Jun 9 2010, 02:02 PM)
That's not just me speculating...the book states flat-out that the changes are not scientifically possible and completely against what current (2070ish) science knows about geology and plate tectonics.
MAGIC! Also, wasn't there a pretty big zoo in L.A. before the quakes? And wasn't the place pretty much a perfect breeding ground for a largescale HMHVV outbreak? I want to know how the place survived the sudden surplus of dropbears...
I love the L.A. idea. And it HAS to also to be a more social kind of setting, as everything is more high profile. So most of the time, all charts should have more empashis on social skill sets that would go as less important in other areas. Street Samurai must spend at least some karma on Con, Etiquette and Negotiation when he lives in L.A. just to get to the places that he needs to find his contacts... 
Partying in L.A. probably is not only fun, but also define work oportunities and your standing with your fixer/contacts.
Partying in L.A. probably is not only fun, but also define work oportunities and your standing with your fixer/contacts.
I love LA as a setting, but I'm biased, of the two games I've played, both were set there. 
if you think only pink mowhawks can run there, you lack some amount of inventiveness though. Must have skills for runners in LA are social and disguise. You may -need- that pito rating to get jobs, but thats no reason to get sloppy. My girl has ..four or five IDs off the top of my head, I'd have to check it, and a large number of wigs, and interchangeable outfits. (although not nearly as many as our face does)
I always like the term 'Gilded Distopia' for LA. Its a great place, with some age old tricks, show them something with one hand while taking something else away with the other
if you think only pink mowhawks can run there, you lack some amount of inventiveness though. Must have skills for runners in LA are social and disguise. You may -need- that pito rating to get jobs, but thats no reason to get sloppy. My girl has ..four or five IDs off the top of my head, I'd have to check it, and a large number of wigs, and interchangeable outfits. (although not nearly as many as our face does)I always like the term 'Gilded Distopia' for LA. Its a great place, with some age old tricks, show them something with one hand while taking something else away with the other
QUOTE (The Dragon Girl @ Jun 9 2010, 01:13 PM)
I love LA as a setting, but I'm biased, of the two games I've played, both were set there. if you think only pink mowhawks can run there, you lack some amount of inventiveness though. Must have skills for runners in LA are social and disguise. You may -need- that pito rating to get jobs, but thats no reason to get sloppy. My girl has ..four or five IDs off the top of my head, I'd have to check it, and a large number of wigs, and interchangeable outfits. (although not nearly as many as our face does)
I always like the term 'Gilded Distopia' for LA. Its a great place, with some age old tricks, show them something with one hand while taking something else away with the other
if you think only pink mowhawks can run there, you lack some amount of inventiveness though. Must have skills for runners in LA are social and disguise. You may -need- that pito rating to get jobs, but thats no reason to get sloppy. My girl has ..four or five IDs off the top of my head, I'd have to check it, and a large number of wigs, and interchangeable outfits. (although not nearly as many as our face does)I always like the term 'Gilded Distopia' for LA. Its a great place, with some age old tricks, show them something with one hand while taking something else away with the other
"Gilded Dystopia"
I Like that...
Keep the Faith
QUOTE (Matsci @ Jun 9 2010, 09:52 AM)
California finally got around into having a massive earthquake and sinking into the sea, so that all that stuff was above sea level isn't anymore.
And after the city falls 250 feet into a giant sinkhole where do they get the people to bury the bodies of all the residents? It's too dumb for words to convey.
QUOTE (kzt @ Jun 9 2010, 10:15 PM)
And after the city falls 250 feet into a giant sinkhole where do they get the people to bury the bodies of all the residents? It's too dumb for words to convey.
They didn't. Whats left now has a very very bad problem with a shedim infestation, bad enough that people had to stop trying to find survivors to rescue, because the undead were pretending to be them to lure the rescuers to their death. El Infierno is aptly named.
When you convert dozens of blocks of 50 story buildings into a 20-50 foot high pile of rubble you don't really have to mount much of a rescue operation. Even assuming people survived the fall, which they won't.
Just throw a few bottles of FAB3 into the pit and go away.
Just throw a few bottles of FAB3 into the pit and go away.
Thanks for the replies, guys!
(Un)fortunately, I will be limited to "modern" California, i.e. 2074, since I'll be CO-DMing this with another person, and he already started the campaign.
(Un)fortunately, I will be limited to "modern" California, i.e. 2074, since I'll be CO-DMing this with another person, and he already started the campaign.
QUOTE (kzt @ Jun 9 2010, 07:15 PM)
And after the city falls 250 feet into a giant sinkhole where do they get the people to bury the bodies of all the residents? It's too dumb for words to convey.
QUOTE (kzt @ Jun 9 2010, 10:25 PM)
When you convert dozens of blocks of 50 story buildings into a 20-50 foot high pile of rubble you don't really have to mount much of a rescue operation. Even assuming people survived the fall, which they won't.
Just throw a few bottles of FAB3 into the pit and go away.
Just throw a few bottles of FAB3 into the pit and go away.
Not as many buildings were destroyed as it seems, many survived the alchera although they were flooded and infested with shedim and other things...
Gexul
It doesn't hurt that a lot of what was destroyed was the area where they had walled the poor away where they didn't have to look at them 
They don't even know how many died because most of the casualties weren't SINners
They don't even know how many died because most of the casualties weren't SINners
QUOTE
Not as many buildings were destroyed as it seems, many survived the alchera although they were flooded and infested with shedim and other things...
Because ... buildings are so stable if you toss them around like that.
QUOTE
It doesn't hurt that a lot of what was destroyed was the area where they had walled the poor away where they didn't have to look at them. They don't even know how many died because most of the casualties weren't SINners
IMO, they wouldn't know the exact amount of dead SINners, either. Because, like in 9/11, the only real incident even remotely comparable, not all the dead have been properly identified. I imagine many people just vanished. Some may even have taken an opportunity and moved on to a new life. There might even be a plot there somewhere. But being a SINJner only gains youn something if your body is found. And I cannot see that in LA.
QUOTE (hermit @ Jun 10 2010, 10:55 AM)
Because ... buildings are so stable if you toss them around like that.
As a result of the Twin Quakes proper, yes. As a result of an alchera, no (or at least not necessarily). There is an example in one of the books where an entire plains village (in Africa I believe) woke up one morning on the side of an alchera mountain. Materializing Alchaera are not necessarily subject to such things as conventional physics and energy conservation (because they're not entirely physical constructs in the first place).
QUOTE (Elfenlied @ Jun 9 2010, 10:29 PM)
Thanks for the replies, guys!
(Un)fortunately, I will be limited to "modern" California, i.e. 2074, since I'll be CO-DMing this with another person, and he already started the campaign.
(Un)fortunately, I will be limited to "modern" California, i.e. 2074, since I'll be CO-DMing this with another person, and he already started the campaign.
That's what we are talking about..
We're not making this up, this the cannon about what's been going on in LA
QUOTE
2022—Massive race riots in LA cause the creation of “El Infierno.”
2027—First of the cold fusion water plants go online along the LA coast.
2028—First of the so-called “Big Ones.” LAX destroyed.
2045 – Green Tide—an offshore reactor explodes causing a radioactive tidal wave to hit along the coast, resulting in massive toxic destruction.
2046—Hackers in LA fix the gubernatorial election, causing the CalFree government to send in troops. After several days of fighting a losing street battle in El Infierno, the government in Sacramento declares LA a free city.
2061—Another massive earthquake results in the walls going down around El Infierno, Arcology Mile, and Fun City. Looting and rioting wrack the city. Less than a week later, the Pueblo Corporate Council moves in to quell the chaos and annexes LA with the blessing of city elders.
2063—Several high-profile media and industry players in LA meet and draw up the charter for the Horizon Group. They appoint former action simstar Gary Cline as their CEO. Almost immediately they sign a lucrative contract to provide PR and media relations services for Tír Tairngire.
2064—The Crash 2.0 takes out LA’s Matrix, crippling the city for weeks, until Horizon’s newly licensed wireless grids come online. Horizon becomes the wireless provider for LA and much of CalFree.
2068—Virtual World Disney is bought out by Horizon, officially making the corporation the largest in the LA sprawl.
2069—On March 8, simultaneous earthquakes from the San Andreas Fault line and the San Pedro Shelf rock Southern California. Los Angeles, at the epicenter, is especially hard hit. A major tsunami follows. 100,000 people perish as the geography of the Southern West Coast is forever changed.
2070—As reclamation and reconstruction ensues, researchers discover the presence of massive underground tunnels and chambers under much of Los Angeles, San Diego, and the rest of the coast. The tunnel network is named the Deep Lacuna
and appears to be only part of a major magical phenomenon that has changed the face of the City of Angels.
2027—First of the cold fusion water plants go online along the LA coast.
2028—First of the so-called “Big Ones.” LAX destroyed.
2045 – Green Tide—an offshore reactor explodes causing a radioactive tidal wave to hit along the coast, resulting in massive toxic destruction.
2046—Hackers in LA fix the gubernatorial election, causing the CalFree government to send in troops. After several days of fighting a losing street battle in El Infierno, the government in Sacramento declares LA a free city.
2061—Another massive earthquake results in the walls going down around El Infierno, Arcology Mile, and Fun City. Looting and rioting wrack the city. Less than a week later, the Pueblo Corporate Council moves in to quell the chaos and annexes LA with the blessing of city elders.
2063—Several high-profile media and industry players in LA meet and draw up the charter for the Horizon Group. They appoint former action simstar Gary Cline as their CEO. Almost immediately they sign a lucrative contract to provide PR and media relations services for Tír Tairngire.
2064—The Crash 2.0 takes out LA’s Matrix, crippling the city for weeks, until Horizon’s newly licensed wireless grids come online. Horizon becomes the wireless provider for LA and much of CalFree.
2068—Virtual World Disney is bought out by Horizon, officially making the corporation the largest in the LA sprawl.
2069—On March 8, simultaneous earthquakes from the San Andreas Fault line and the San Pedro Shelf rock Southern California. Los Angeles, at the epicenter, is especially hard hit. A major tsunami follows. 100,000 people perish as the geography of the Southern West Coast is forever changed.
2070—As reclamation and reconstruction ensues, researchers discover the presence of massive underground tunnels and chambers under much of Los Angeles, San Diego, and the rest of the coast. The tunnel network is named the Deep Lacuna
and appears to be only part of a major magical phenomenon that has changed the face of the City of Angels.
From the CFS SB it seemed to be the land of extremes. Ultra poor barrens used for prodecut testing by corps and ultra wealthy stars in walled estates and little to choose between them. I would hope the PCC has mellowed this out a bit.
If unchanged the current setting is a parody. It's like some writer decided to take it out on "Hollyweird" instead of writing about a living city.
For the camera's we kind of treated it like they are filming a lot of reality shows there. You keep blundering into idiots with film crews, paparazzi looking for events and so on.
If unchanged the current setting is a parody. It's like some writer decided to take it out on "Hollyweird" instead of writing about a living city.
For the camera's we kind of treated it like they are filming a lot of reality shows there. You keep blundering into idiots with film crews, paparazzi looking for events and so on.
QUOTE (Daddy's Little Ninja @ Jun 11 2010, 05:14 AM)
From the CFS SB it seemed to be the land of extremes. Ultra poor barrens used for prodecut testing by corps and ultra wealthy stars in walled estates and little to choose between them.
Yeah, that's uhm not really any different from how it is right now -- it's not a parody of something, that's real life. As far as corporations go, you have the giant Target/Best Buy store with the huge glass thing on the roof and the giant rotating Target symbol above the modern art front entrance like something from Las Vegas (but with less lights) just down the street from the Jim Henson company. But if you walk half a block to the alley behind them, there are homeless people living there. A few weeks ago when I was there, there was a homeless person camped out in front of the big McDonalds there. All of LA, but especially the West (towards West Hollywood) and the East (getting towards Montebello) is a huge city of contrasts. It's really amazing.
Traveling a couple hours East, you get to San Bernardino. Just 30 minutes up into the mountains above San Bernardino, you have Lake Arrowhead, where a lot of ordinary people live (like all parts of CA it has seriously poor people up here too), but you also have multimillion dollar mansions (like 40-50 million dollars asking price for the small ones) owned by movie stars and other crazy rich people.
QUOTE
According to statistics published by Morgan Quitno, San Bernardino was the 16th most dangerous US city in 2003, 18th in 2004 and 24th in 2005. San Bernardino's murder rate was 29 per 100,000 in 2005, the 13th highest murder rate in the country and the third highest in the state of California after Compton and Richmond. Police efforts have significantly reduced crime in 2008 and a major drop collectively since 1993 when the city's murder rate placed ninth in the nation. Thirty two killings occurred in 2009, a number identical to 2008 and the lowest murder rate in San Bernardino since 2002, but only a third of cases led to arrests.
There's a good sized homeless shelter in San Bernardino too as well as a sizeable homeless population that, like LA, pretty much blends in.
Southern CA has its seriously poor people and its seriously rich people, it really is a land of extremes. You can find middle ground wherever you go, though, there's always gradations.
There are probably awakened and paranormal critters wandering through all the woods down here. Despite the picture of LA as a gleaming city of metal, there's a lot of undeveloped forested area around it (as well as developed forested areas), then the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range starts roughly level (horizontally) with LA, right by San Bernardino. Seriously, whatever you want, skiiing, surfing, it's within a 3 hour drive down here, a small microcosm of the entire world.
IIRC, LA County is larger then the state of Connecticut.
Yeah I would argue that the write up in Corp Enclaves is a decent thought on how the city of (un)Angels could/would end up. Right now you have the clash of the beautiful people versus the hippies vs. the high powered art studios/lawyers/CEO's while as have been said you can have it all, beaches, mountains, and everything in-between. I could see it going the way of everyone doing the reality trid show, PR guys for your PR guys, constantly trying to be more then the guy next to you, against everyone else. I like it.
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