Metropolis
City of Tomorrow
The “City of Tomorrow” is a medium-sized city located in Pennsylvania on either side of the Lackawanna River where it connects to Lake Leni; shipping travels through the Lackawanna if it's a large ship, or from Lake Leni through the locks to Lake Wallenpaupack and then the Lackawaxen River if it's a barge. Metropolis is home to the mysterious vigilantes, Silverwing and the Shadow, to a very loosely organized collection of homemade Masked Menaces known as the Metropolis Rogues, and to the superhero team known as Wyldfire.
Neighborhoods and Districts
- Bankhurst
- Blackbridge
- Chinatown Metropolis
- Hob's Bay
- the "Hollows"
- Ironworks
- LeMastre Park
- Pierpoint is the last finger of land on the north side of the river, with Owl Bay on its north side and the Bankhurst business district west of it. Pierpoint is filled with docks, warehouses, and a few factories; many of the warehouses have been bought up by those who survived the bursting dotcom bubble, and converted into upscale lofts and apartments. Trendy little restaurants and boutiques have replaced several of the blue-collar dives and bars, and northwestern Pierpoint in general is now one of the most fashionable addresses in the city.
Within Pierpoint, the Metropolis Flower Market is located on the waterfront, west of N. Jefferson Street and at the end of Ilderton Street. - Red Hill is south of the river by several blocks and hard up against Lake Leni. This neighborhood was very insularly German and Polish until sometime after WWII. It's still basically working-class, a sometimes chaotic mix of residential and commercial zoning, with a fairly high crime rate. Several masked mystery men worked hard to fight the fifth columnists and enemy agents who tried to gain a US foothold here in the nineteen thirties; they were successful, but the neighborhood maintains an air of distrust in strangers to this day -- most people who grow up here will speak of the neighborhood fondly, but move out to raise their own families elsewhere in the city.
Red Hill contains the Metropolis Farmers' Market despite being one of the more difficult parts of the city in which to drive or park a panel truck full of fresh vegetables.
History
Metropolis was founded in 1634 by Dutch colonists outside of nearby Fort Hobb. They dubbed the location, De Vries Village, after well-known fur trader Paul De Vries. Not long after the town’s founding, local natives felt they had been short-changed by De Vries in their trade for the land the town and fort sat on. Just as they prepared to attack, a rain of meteorites almost destroyed the fort, town and the nearby native villages. Both sides agreed the ‘rain of fire’ was a warning from the heavens and maintained peaceful relations there after.
- Case of the “Mal-teased” Falcon - Feral's notes
- Double Take - Feral's notes
- Energy Crisis
- Specter of Peace, Chapter 1: Ooze, Spice, and Things Not So Nice Report
- Specter, Chapter 2: What Are Little Supers Made Of? Report
- Specter, Chapter 3: Appointment for a Rescue Report
- The Silent Seven
- To Be the Fly
- AIMing to Misbehave
- AIMing to MIsbehave: Chapter 2
- AIMing to Misbehave: Chapter 3
- AIMing to Misbehave: Chapter 4
- AIMing to Misbehave: Chapter 5
- AIMing to MIsbehave: Chapter 6
- AIMing to Misbehave: Chapter 7
- AIMing to Misbehave: Chapter 8
- Specter of Peace
- Specter, Chapter 1: Ooze, Spice, and Things Not So Nice
- Specter, Chapter 2: What Are Little Supers Made Of?
- Specter, Chapter 3: Appointment for a Rescue
We are using the Hudson City map and sourcebooks from Hero Games as our Metropolis. The location of the city replaces real world location Scranton, PA, the ZIP codes are 185xx and the area code for phones is 570. The (real world) Dunmore Reservoir and the Number Seven Reservoir are combined with Lake Scranton and this entire body of water is increased in size into Lake Leni, now the fourth largest lake in Pennsylvania; Lake Leni is big enough for river-based shipping, which can travel down the Lackawanna River or pass through the locks to Lake Wallenpaupack and then the Lackawaxen River.
Comments
Author's Notes
Our version of Metropolis uses the Hudson City: The Urban Abyss resource by Steven S. Long et al, published by Hero Games -- it's currently available for purchase at DriveThru RPG, or one could save some money by purchasing only the Hudson City Map. At one time, they offered free PDF downloads for the Hudson City Neighborhood Reference Guide and Hudson City Hotel, Bar, and Restaurant Guide. The two GMs for this campaign heartily recommend all three resources to anyone who needs a detailed but entirely fictional modern city map. Obviously we changed many particulars to suit our story, and transmogrified particular landmarks or businesses to match the protagonists' stories, so your setting will absolutely look different from ours!