Knowledge of Real World Places Only Through Gaming

[Asmor]

Hmm...

I've learned of the famous French city of Carcasonne, famous both for its walls and for the fact that the surrounding countrysides are made of modular squares and can be rearranged.

I've learned that in Puerto Rico, everyone performs the same job at the same time and they take turns deciding which job to perform next.

I've learned that there are only nine blocks in Manhattan, as well as most other major cities.

I've learned that Australia is truly the key to world domination.

I've learned the truth behind Stonehenge: It is an alien race track, among many other things.

I've learned that in the desert, your camels can't touch someone else's camels unless they're different colors.

I've learned that in the fertile crescent between the Tigris & Euphrates, where civilization sprung up, there was a great war between bulls, lions, archers and potters.

I've learned that in France, they solve the problem of minefields left over during the war by marching cows through them.

 

[mmadsen]

This got me thinking, what other places in our real world do I know only from gaming?

Quasqueton.

 

[possum]

I learned a little bit more than I originally did about the Scottish city of Glasgow because I was planning on running a d20 Modern Torchwood game set in the city. It never got out of the planning stages, however, so no real in depth research went on.

 

[Psion]

Heh. I was in Washington when I was in the Navy. Puyallup had a fair they put on yearly with a silly ad whose annoying jingle instantly came into my head when the OP mentioned it.

I also have family in Puyallup and Olympia.

I won't say there are many real places I've only heard of through gaming, but when researching sites for my Spycraft game, I learned a lot more about places like East Timor, Hong Kong, and the Ukraine than I ever knew before.

 

[Tonguez]

Only the outback. The cities look like Bartertown. Except for Canberra, which is like a post-apocalyptic zombie capital.

What do you mean only the outback? Thats like 2.5 million square miles of country, like 70% of Australia. Even relatively wet Kakadu wouldn't be out of place in a Mad Max movie.

Which gets ne thinking - is there a Mad Max RPG?

 

[WotC_Dave]

I've never been to Poland, but I know its basic city/road geography like the back of my hand. Heck, it would be easier for me to name cities on the way from Lodz to Krakow than it would be to name cities on the way from, say, Atlanta to Houston.

Thank you, Twilight: 2000!

(And the fact that the most blighted urban zones in Shadowrun's Seattle were Puyallup and Redmond? I'll charitably call that "incongruous.")

--Dave.

 

[Jack of Shadows]

I've never been to Poland, but I know its basic city/road geography like the back of my hand. Heck, it would be easier for me to name cities on the way from Lodz to Krakow than it would be to name cities on the way from, say, Atlanta to Houston.

Thank you, Twilight: 2000!

(And the fact that the most blighted urban zones in Shadowrun's Seattle were Puyallup and Redmond? I'll charitably call that "incongruous.")

--Dave.

I'll second that,

I know far more about Poland than I normally would thanks to Twilight 2000.

JoS