http://shadowrun.12south.com/phpbb2/viewto...pic.php?p=17#17

I'm getting ready to start a campaign set in Pittsburgh (yes, Pittsburgh) and so I've had to create a back story for this city. I don't have a SR3 sourcebook yet (its on order) so I'm wondering if any kind sorts would look over what I've come up with and comment. Particularly, I'm trying to stick very close to "canon" while still creating a unique corner of the Shadowrun universe. I think the most far out thing I've done is create a new dragon, but I thought that would be better than moving an existing one. Any constructive criticism would be appreciated. Please ignore the typos, I'll clean those up later.

Also, here is a map of the "lower city"

http://shadowrun.12south.com/maps/pittsbur..._lowercity.html

intersting ideas but a few points: There are no Reservations in PA, and very little in the way of historical claims that are being pursued (to the best of my knowlege). There is however The Alleganey Reservation on the NY PA border, which would have the ability to play around with the water flow to pittsburgh along the Alleganey river.

Why Pittsburgh-Washington Metroplex? There is next to no large cities between the two, and very little in the way of connecting infrastructure, with the exception of CSX railroad (B&O from Monopoly). A Pittsburgh-Cleveland Metroplex would make a lot more sense given their historical, economic and physical connections, as well as the Browns Steelers rivalry.

EDIT
Just a few points, this does sound like a fun run area.

Thanks for the reply. The Native American connection to the Pittsburgh area is historically strong (just look at the names of the rivers.) Pittsburgh started life as a frontier fort. It is true that the bulk of the natives have long ago moved west and given up on this area but the idea is that the remnants of the local tribes were emboldened by happenings elsewhere on the continent and made their own mini-powerplay. Mostly out of apathy, they actually won some territory. I tried to insinuate that the native americans are not much of a force, at least nobody considers them to be ...

"Washington" is not "Washington D.C." Washington is an area surrounding downtown proper. Pittsburgh's famous incline is located on Mt. Washington, for example.

The reason Pittsburgh was chosen was familiarity. Myself and two of the players were raised in that area. Pittsburgh's unique geography (it is locked in by either rivers or mountains on all sides) made for an interesting twist. It couldn't sprawl outward, so it grew upward.

Any other thoughts. I particularly interested if my treatment of ghouls is remotely correct, and how everyone feels about introducing yet another dragon.

Great! I live right next to Nevile Island. Looks like my choices are die in a toxic wave of chemical death or move before the penol colonies move in. Actually now that I think about it a toxic wave of chemical death from nevile island isn't so far fetched.

jeez, i totally forgot about Mt. Washington, silly me.

I really like the idea of people doing Shadowruns in their own backyard. People should do this more often. I don't remember seeing anything about Pittsburgh in Shadows of North America, so you should feel free to get creative. Probably a hotbed of conflict between Ares/Cross/Novatech for dominace since those three AAA's main HQs are not very far away. Either a North American Casablanca where runs are formulated and information trades hands constantly and quietly or a free-fire shatter-zone for corps to take potshots at their competition using expendable assets for plausible deniability. You'll have to decide if the fracturing of the old U.S. actually reinvigorated the local economy, shattered it entirely, or just continued on in a funk and then go from there...

Thanks for the continued comments.

Yes, all of the major corporate interests will have at least a token representation in the upper city. The "Upper City" is almost like a corporate mall in which the University is the hub. But, perhaps everyone "plays nice" up there. They all realize that it is in their best interest to be near the University's research and so are uncharacteristically cooperative, each contributing a member to the governing board (not dissimilar to the Zurich Orbital Court.)

So, shadowruns in the Upper City would be rare, and ultra-hush-hush.

The Lower City is another story completely. It's all but abandoned by the corps, and there really is no government. Organized crime, gangs, and ghouls pretty much have free reign so long as they don't impact the biz of the upper city. The dragon keeps to himself. The corps pay a tax to keep the DMZ's enforced, but that's the extent of their involvement.

I like the Casablanca direction. A good hidey-hole for runners to base and launch their operations into other locales. They learn very quickly not to stir up trouble in the Upper City. If they can learn the rules of the street, the Lower City provides a fertile ecosystem of weapons trade, biotech trickle-down and data leakage.

I'm also trying to decide on the logistics of the elevator between the two cities. I was originally thinking of a platform roughly the size of a medium warehouse that worked via a complicated combination of cabling, hydraulics and mag-lev technologies. The damn thing would always be breaking down at the most inopportune moments. Any better ideas? What about a catchy name for it? "Skybox", "the Lift" ?

Here's a few ideas from my past runs in da burgh:

Combined Pitt & CMU into a giant education corporation which I rated as A. Talk about bad credit transfer U.

Mellon Banks are definetly a AA.

Neville is a serious toxic zone.

Don't forget those river pirates. Arrr maties it's a gang of water skiers.

I'm sorry but the NAN has made absolutely no claim in this area. All the native tribes moved into AMC lands. Besides which this area was traditionally heavily fought over, hence no tribe has a historical claim. Just a series of invaders.

I think Pitt and DC is a serious stretch. Besides which once upon a time the skins and stillers had a heavy rivalry to boot.

Arz,
Thanks for the comments. It's "Washington" as in Mt. Washington et. all, not "Washington D.C."

I know that the Native American thread is a bit of a reach, but I really want to establish a dynamic with some "Land Lovers" in opposition to the industrial rapist that have characterized Pittsburgh throughout its history. Having an elf pretense didn't seem to fit at all. At least with the Natives there is a connection.

I'll try to make it clearer exactly how marginalized they are:
Basically a group of opportunists, a rag-tag bunch of Indians fired-up by current events decided "what the hell" it can't hurt to make a claim. Everyone else is. If the area they claimed had been anything other than a toxic wasteland they probably would have been promptly rebuffed. But since it was, and because nobody was certain that they couldn't duplicate the magical power demonstrated elsewhere, they were left alone. Nobody was more surprised than they were that their magic actually worked and that they were able to restore the land to some semblance of "natural." To this day, the Pittsburgh tribes find themselves largely ignored by all parties, including the NAN (of which they are technically a member.)

How does that sound?

I could buy that a group of local Native Americans seized control of a largely abandoned area and appealling for NAN membership, only to be rebuffed. It just doesn't fit with their strategic/security aims and recognizing them would be 100% liability. Also, a bunch of the eastern tribes were regarded as being "too Anglo" even before the Ghost Dance... Still, they could be affiliated in some way, much as the Ancients are supposedly acting as the eyes and ears of the Tir.

Thanks Canvasback, that makes sense and won't detract from my devious plans.

Pretty much all the indians left in the east were forcibly relocated to NAN when the whites were kicked out of the west. As for place names, I grew up in Mamaroneck, New York, and there isn't an indian in the place.

Some current data to help you stretch your Native American tie-in. Pittsburgh had two former Nike missile sites established during the cold war that were kept in operation until post-Vietnam. After sitting silent and being decomitioned they were sold in the late 1990's to a native group funded by AMI(I think). They used to hold pow-wows AKA revivals at this site for a few years. Haven't checked on this in few years but it could still be going. This site was in the North Hills just outside of Blawnox.

Arz,
Awesome information! I'll definitely work that in.

Your welcome.

To any body from outside the burgh I can't stress enough the affect of having a confluence in a metro area. Just factor in the 12 downtown bridges. Then start moving out into the burbs and you get literally hundreds of bridges. Too bad none of them are covered.