Odd Places that Make Decent Locations in Game

MGibster · Jul 12, 2019

I'm running a Vampire 5th edition chronicle set in modern day San Francisco. The Malkavian primogen is very religious and I was hoping I could find an abandoned church for him to live in. And I did! Sort of. Thanks to the wonders of the internet I came across the Church of 8 Wheels which is a very large former Roman Catholic church which was converted in a roller rink.

The primogen is very old and religious but when I found this skating ring it changed how I envisioned the character. Instead of being a fire and brimstone type of preacher I made him kind of a hippie. He's nearly 1,000 years old but he was influenced by hippie Christianity in the 1960s and 70s. He's a holy rollerskating vampire.

Anyone have a real life location serving as an influence for their game? Any setting.

uzirath · Jul 13, 2019

MGibster said:
Anyone have a real life location serving as an influence for their game? Any setting.

The internet is especially helpful for modern or alternate-history modern games. I love the roller skating vampire idea. Brilliant.

For my fantasy games, I can't think of anything I've used directly from the modern world, but I constantly pillage maps. I use a lot of real-world topographical maps to represent wilderness locations. I have a city in a bunch of canyons that is based on maps of badlands and canyons in the American West. My tropical archipelago is mostly made up of Indonesian islands rotated and rescaled so that it doesn't appear like Indonesia to casual observation. I used before and after maps of Thera/Santorini to model an island volcano that blew during an adventure (including this one from 1848). I've used a lot of historical layouts of Egyptian, Aztec, and Mayan architecture (e.g., the Karnak Temple Complex). I use these as a base and then add fantasy elements (floating pyramids, planar gates, rivers of molten mana, all the usual stuff). In my rare forays into a more European setting, I'll pillage historic maps of cities, towns, villages, and castles (I love Dan Howard's Compact Castles). For some European urban settings, a modern map redrawn to appear old works pretty well since many of the roads were laid out prior to the automobile.

I used to have a fairly large library of reference books that basically supported my gaming (other things too... but I'd be lying if I said it wasn't mostly for gaming). With the rise of the internet, I rarely hit the books anymore. It's just so easy to find information and useful media (maps, diagrams, photos, etc.).

Dannyalcatraz · Jul 14, 2019

When I was a kid, we visited the ruins of Knossos, the palace of King Minos of Crete. Years later, I photocopied the map from the tourist material onto graph paper to use as a dungeon.

I also look at unusual architecture and locales on the internet for locations, like the Gates of Hell in Turkmenistan:

Catatumbo Venezuela:

Gilroy Gardens:

The Cave of the Crystals:

The Buludzha Monument:

And right now, I’m looking hard at the Centralia Mine Fire:

uzirath · Jul 14, 2019

Dannyalcatraz said:
I also look at unusual architecture and locales on the internet for locations

You included some awesome ones, some of which I'd never heard of. They reminded me of a few more that I've used:

The Sedlec Ossuary:

Cappadocia's Fairy Chimney houses:

Derinkuyu (underground city):

Dannyalcatraz · Jul 14, 2019

The Ossuary is a cool one I’ve looked at before. Good one to use.

dragoner · Jul 14, 2019

In the Bay Area -

Grande Vista Sanitarium, later known as Belgum Sanitarium in Alvarado Park (across the bay from SF), it's largely burned by now, but my ex-wife and I used to ride horses around there, it's a fairly creepy area.

https://logdriver.tumblr.com/post/107069551757/belgum-sanitarium
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvarado_Park

Claremont Hotel in the Oakland/Berkeley hills, old and historic, another creepy vibe, like the Shining could have happened there.

https://www.fairmont.com/claremont-berkeley/

Sutro Baths is kind of a trippy place: https://www.nps.gov/goga/planyourvisit/cliff-house-sutro-baths.htm

There are a ton of old fortifications on the coast, as it was once one of the most heavily fortified coasts in the world, and many of the hills in the Marin Headlands are said to be filled with old military tunnels:

http://fortwiki.com/Harbor_Defense_of_San_Francisco

Angel Island in the Bay that has had a military base, Quarantine Station, and Immigration Station:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel_Island_(California)

There is a Mission on the southern part of the city, it called "Mission Dolores" or the Mission of Sorrows or Pain, where legend has it that they built the Chapel, held a huge festival inviting 1000's of Native Americans, and at the end told them to come in to be converted, some came in, the doors were closed, and then the Conquistadores rode from the surround forests and massacred those that didn't go inside to be saved.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_San_Francisco_de_Asís

The Legion of Honor fine arts museum is a beautiful building housing many great works of art and interesting historical objects:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legion_of_Honor_(museum)

I know this isn't exactly what you asked for, but I thought they might be of help in an SF based game.

Dannyalcatraz · Jul 14, 2019

Which reminds me...

The Bridge is a documentary about the Golden Gate Bridge, in particular, its status as the #1 location in the world for suicides.

In the context of a V:tM campaign, that could be prime hunting for a vampire of the right type. Not only as a place to hide their kills, but also as a way to feed guilt free on “willing” victims.

(If the vampire has an issue with that, of course.)

MGibster · Jul 14, 2019

dragoner said:
The Legion of Honor fine arts museum is a beautiful building housing many great works of art and interesting historical objects:

I've been using Google Maps, Wikipedia, and other online sources to get a better idea of what's in San Francisco and selected the Legion of Honor museum as the location of my chronicle's next Elysium. While I'm sure I could have used any general art museum it's really nice to be able to use real locations. I've also been using real businesses and locations in my game. One of my player's character owns The Power Exchange (club) in San Francisco and I have a Ventrue set up in the Transamerica building.

MGibster · Jul 14, 2019

Dannyalcatraz said:
In the context of a V:tM campaign, that could be prime hunting for a vampire of the right type. Not only as a place to hide their kills, but also as a way to feed guilt free on “willing” victims.

I hadn't given the bridge much thought but now I think I'll find some poor vampire whose been given that as a territory. And of course it's haunted. Thanks for the suggestion!

dragoner · Jul 14, 2019

MGibster said:
I've been using Google Maps, Wikipedia, and other online sources to get a better idea of what's in San Francisco and selected the Legion of Honor museum as the location of my chronicle's next Elysium. While I'm sure I could have used any general art museum it's really nice to be able to use real locations. I've also been using real businesses and locations in my game. One of my player's character owns The Power Exchange (club) in San Francisco and I have a Ventrue set up in the Transamerica building.

Legion of Honor's location is one of the most beautiful I have ever seen, right on the bluffs above the pacific at the mouth of the bay.

Getting out of SF, not too far up north there is Bohemian Grove, which is pretty well known among conspiracy theorists:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohemian_Grove

Down south there is Hearst Castle, a huge and ornate mansion:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hearst_Castle