Cities of Phones

 So in a recent post I had some vague thoughts about laying a city out like a dungeon. This makes the city feel a certain way: lets you spotlight traversal, define areas and position them in relation to one another, use encounter systems to emulate a vibe. This city will probably feel busy, maze-like, claustrophobic and sprawling, with a stable concrete layout made ever-changing by its inhabitants and happenings.

But that’s not all a city can be. I don’t feel like I’m traversing a dungeon when I head out into my city. I’m not delving or dealing with encounters, I’m moving freely and easily. I don’t have to learn complex systems, I have them internalised or handled for me - I can roll onto a bus or train or DLR, zone out and my destination comes up to meet me. I barely think about where places are in relation to one another, except to decide if I should just walk or not. I don’t drive, so I don’t have personal dungeoneering costs or equipment to maintain. Apps and contactless payments handle my journey. It’s not a quest… it’s not a dungeon.

So if we don’t want to focus on traversal, or encounters, or even where locations are in relation to one another, how else can we define a space? And why might we want to, what new game modes or vibes could open up to us?

In that post I briefly mentioned a Big Thing I’ve been working on, so I figured I might as well share!

Short answer, it’s a phone book. d100 phone numbers, each with a location on the other end. (Yes these are landline phones, this is Mothership.) Players can use the phone network in-game, but also travelling around between these placers is just as easy as calling. It’s a table of contents, a list of locations they can pick from as and when they want. In the same way that I can just decide to stroll up the high street and walk into any of the shops in any order or combination, the focus here isn’t on movement and space but on an open and accessible list, the points without the crawl.

So here’s what I’ve been working on and a few things I’ve found out so far. Hopefully this is useful to anyone who might want to do something similar!

The biggest drawback as I’ve seen it is that you need all your bits written up front. In a big dungeon-city I can make one “floor” or less at a time, and expand as and when the players get to the edge of my map. Here, every phone number needs to work straight away or it all falls apart. I can mitigate this with generators somewhat - different reasons a number might be disconnected, “filler” entry tables. But it works best with a whole lot of bespoke, specific gameable bits, so that’s what I’ve been doing.

I’ve found it easiest to do what I normally do, small individual adventures, and mosaic those into a complete whole. So one phone number might have its own complete mini-adventure at the end of it, or one adventure could be spaced across a few locations that lead to one another. Each adds a little bit to the city overall, and while I prefer to keep things modular I can sprinkle in some interconnected-ness to keep the space feeling cohesive. And numbers can be reused ofc. I can also fill out more numbers with non-adventure-specific game bits, like some of the item-list vendors I’ve posted here already.

The space, btw, is not a whole city. d100 carefully planned locations is a whole lot of game for me to write but is maybe one road’s worth of landlines in the real world. So this is a high street, a typical commercial/residential space, on a space station to give the space clear edges. I’m folding in some of the “at the gates of dawn” setting stuff I’ve posted here too, but the overall size and shape is something like an airport mall in a Stanford torus.

That means I’ve got more than enough distinct locations to be getting on with, without overwhelming the Warden with millions of phone numbers and characters to keep track of. Keeping things modular in individual adventures with their own relevant subset of numbers helps here too. Also means I don’t have to write as much, so I can focus on those deliberately constructed details over generators to fill things out. Detail makes space in ttrpgs anyway. I don’t even have close to d100 yet and this place already feels huge.

So what kind of a city does all this give us, and what kind of a game? I’ll go into that next time!

Extradimensional Research Facility Theta

 ERFϴ is a private building on the Meridian city satellite. According to the satellite’s owners QGC, the facility researches the gate anomaly with the aim of improving their service.

This is where the mysterious persons in black aboard Meridian work. Investigating or tailing these individuals will lead the players here.

Anything locked can be opened only with a keycard.

1. Lobby. The only entrance. White tile, marble counters, healthy potted plants. Stylishly curved sofas that look as though they have never been sat on. There are security cameras in the upper corners. As with the rest of the building, there are no windows.

The unmanned reception has a computer, not connected to any network or containing any data. Files and folders behind the desk contain hundreds of blank pages. To either side are doors marked Research and Administration.

2. Research. A sterile, stock-photo laboratory. Brand new microscopes, empty flasks, Bunsen burners with no gas. Otherwise empty.

In the far wall is a large mirror, reflecting the lab. On the other side of the glass is Observation.

3. Administration. Spotless cubicles, each with a QGC branded mug and the same framed family portrait. Cabinets of blank files, unopened packets of stationary. Nobody here.

Anyone inspecting the cabinets notices a slight draft from behind the rightmost. Moving it aside reveals a door marked Observation.

4. Observation. Grey tile, floor to ceiling, and a single bare bulb. In the wall is a large window, the other side of the two-way mirror in Research. There is also a small door to Administration with a filing cabinet on the other side.

In the centre of the room is an adult female goat. White pads arranged about its head attach with twisting copper wire to a little machine, the size of a VHS player, sitting on a metal folding chair. The machine is on, lights flashing, but does not appear to actually do anything.

The goat is docile and unperturbed by visitors. Doors on the opposite side of the room are labelled Containment and Intelligence. The latter is locked.

5. Containment. A spacious corridor, bright white lights, spotless. At either side, glass specimen tanks are set into the walls, lit in ultraviolet. Several contain biohazards, one contains a crop of glowing mushrooms. Some are empty. All are locked.

A chute, torso-width, leads down into The Pit. It is unmarked except for various esoteric hazard signs. Next to it are black sacks, each containing an unconscious person in a smart black suit, drugged, bound and gagged.

At each end of the corridor is a door, marked Development and Observation respectively.

6. Development. A large cuboid room, neutral earth tones, soft lighting. The floor is slightly springy, faux tatami. The sound of gently trickling water plays from speakers in the upper corners, a repeating clip only a few seconds long. Beside the speakers are cameras, watching and feeding back to Intelligence.

In the centre of the room is a giant ivory chess piece, like a knight but with a ram’s head, over 10 feet tall. It is made of solid stone, or something equally heavy. Two persons in black stand either side of it, appearing to be in deep thought.

If anything distracts them from their training, they attack. [C:55 Subdue 1d10; I:55; W2(11), holding only a chess piece with a ram’s head containing a listening device]. One is holding a keycard.

The door to the right reads Containment. A door to the left reads Accommodation.

7. Accommodation. Dull cream walls, mottled green-brown carpet. Bunk beds, khaki hammocks taut on scaffold frames, enough for twenty or so. Each bed has a small, dense pillow containing a listening device which feeds back to Intelligence. 1d5 persons in black are asleep here, still in their suits and dark glasses. If one wakes, they all do.

The doors here are marked Development and Extraction.

8. Extraction. A long, wide hall. Occasional large, grey smudges on the otherwise pristine tile. The centre of the floor is a large grate with a hatch, locked from this side. Below is The Pit, a trench full of some slowly writhing gelatinous mass.

There is equipment here set up to extract elixir from the slugs below. This substance can be injected into the bloodstream to induce psychic awakening, though the results are unreliable.

Either side of the hall are exits to Accommodation and Intelligence. The latter is locked.

9. Intelligence. Cramped, musty, unlit except for banks of monitors and bleeping machine lights. Monitors show feeds from any security cameras in the facility. Banks of headphones, like a phone operator’s desk, monitor audio from any listening devices here or elsewhere on Meridian.

3 persons in black sit at the monitors here, wearing crisp white lab coats over their suits. They all have the PSI 1 skill and will use it in self defence, though they are largely unaware of its limits and may overextend themselves. Each has a syringe with a single dose of fast-acting knockout serum and a keycard. They may exit Intelligence to investigate if they notice more than one unusual occurrence.

The computers here contain files detailing the facility’s operations, scientific research mixed in with pseudoscience and veiled references. Agents are trained and tested here for psychic abilities. Candidates who react poorly to the tests are disposed of as food for the grey slugs, as are any interlopers.

The slugs are extradimensional aliens found through gate travel, as are the other life forms here. The ultimate aim of training these psychic operatives is unclear, but QGC’s research into extradimensional travel seems to be entirely predicated on mastering and understanding these abilities.

10. The Pit. Dank, dark, completely filled with forearm-sized grey slugs. Dim light from an overhead grate in the floor of Extraction, as well as a chute from Containment.

The slugs attach to the temples and consume brainwaves. Anyone not in an airtight suit must make a Body save in their presence or take 1 Stress per round as the slugs feed. A failed Panic check during feeding always results in a loss of 1d10[+] Sanity. Reducing Sanity to 0 this way results in brain death.

The Gutter

 The high street that runs the length of the residential quarter on the Meridian city satellite. Only the locals get to call it that.

Priced out of prefab QGC condos, the majority of the population live in a sprawl of shacks and shipping containers that grow up the slopes of the station’s artificial valley. Deep in their shadow, the city’s heart still beats.

What’s That Sound?

1. Sports fans gathered round a radio. You get all kinds of signals through the gate, if you have a machine that can handle them. Tune in from the other end of the galaxy.

2. Cassettes are a way of life for teenagers here. Expect to hear the same song copied and played until the tapes wear out, unless a spacer stops by with the next big hit.

3. The main way in which the Gutter’s myriad stall owners and street vendors compete is by being louder than the next person. Booming cries, tinny jingles, sizzling pans.

4. Excuse me, have you heard the good news? Pamphlets promise peace and prosperity. Flavour of the month is Godman Richard, a local healer nobody’s actually seen in years.

5. Screams from a back alley. Petty thugs, teen pranksters, community doctors, unlicensed casinos and sex workers all have their own ways of getting those noises out of a person.

Make Way!

1. The old street sweeper bot. Its AI is off, so it has no set schedule and doesn’t quite register people as obstacles. Can’t detect graffiti, either, but still does an ok job overall.

2. A bunch of kids playing a game. The one at the front has a big stick. Parents call them in from windows up above, past the laundry lines and lanterns.

3. Someone got a bike from Miracle Cycle and hasn’t figured out the brakes yet. Bicycles make a lot of sense on a station that’s one big circle. 100cr new, or plenty old and going spare.

4. Street performers. Nobody wants them, but nobody wants a Gutter without them. Lion dancers, musician troupes, folding tables for card tricks or the occasional honest game.

5. Some folk just aren’t used to the crowds. Spacers, stall owners, stray dogs, the high street’s always moving. Got to learn the flow or you’ll tread on someone’s toes.

Food and Drink

1. The Bent Spoon does the best bad coffee in town for 1cr a cup. Their herbal teas cost up to 5cr, but some are said to have medicinal properties.

2. Ragpickers flog whatever truckers bring through the gate. Even basics are expensive when imported, so get ready to haggle or you’ll be spending 10cr on a Goo-Chew bar.

3. Of all the busiest food stands, most agree that Mr Son’s Meat-Filled Buns are worth the queue. 2cr for a big mutton buuza. Mr Son’s smile, however, is priceless.

4. The food at The Golden Ass is surprisingly good for a strip club. Get a pitta platter, 10cr. TGA also donates old clothes, which explains some Gutter fashion idiosyncrasies.

5. Don’t get caught up in an argument over which unnamed kebab stall is the original. A lamb kofta box meal costs 4cr at either. They taste identical, but keep that to yourself.

Local Businesses

1. Giga Potato have all kinds of second-hand tech. The other stores get their neon signs and radios here. The owner Ellie also does tattoos and android repairs on the side.

2. Everyone knows that “Little” Jimmy Kozlov sells knock off weapons. Nobody says it to his face. 75% market price, break apart on a critical failure.

3. The fortune teller Madam Galkin is a charlatan, but her customers either don’t know or don’t seem to mind. 10cr for a reading and a weak cup of tea.

4. The Black Dog just opened and is already attracting unsavoury types. Just about the only place to get a drink around here, though.

5. Ratcatcher Keith retired when his dog Percy died. People say the old mutt must have trained the local strays to follow in his pawprints, though, because you rarely see a rat around.

Rumours and Gossip

1. That new pub, The Black Dog, used to be a club. It just suddenly closed down. The new dancer at the Golden Ass used to work there, I think.

2. Someone saw the men in black around that club that closed down. The Rabbit Hole, I think it was called. Anyway, the basement is all sealed off now for whatever reason.

3. You’ve seen them, right? The men in black. Always carrying those briefcases, but you never see them open. I bet they work for QGC. Some secret division. Keeping an eye on us.

4. How do QGC even know the gate is safe? I mean, think about it. Who really knows what that thing is? We could all be getting blasted with radiation, like, right now.

5. Aliens! It’s all aliens. They run the gate, they run QGC. Open your eyes, people!

OUTBREAK (a Mothership adventure)

 The Meridian gate is in lockdown. A potential biohazard has been detected at the abandoned Yefimovich Hospital on the city level. Until customer safety is confirmed, Qilin Gate Corporation protocol withholds all transport rights.

A 10kcr reward is on offer to any freelancers willing to inspect the site and contain any potential threat. Otherwise, QGC officials will handle the matter within 6-8 weeks.

 

What really happened? A secret document and alien specimen were stolen from QGC by one of their own agents who intended to hold them for ransom. In retaliation, the corporation remotely opened the biohazard containment briefcase that held the alien, knowing it would attack its captor.

The theft was of little concern to QGC. The alien is replaceable and they can easily deny any connection to the document, a training manual which contains no traceable information. QGC executed the traitor on principle and now only want the alien returned as an afterthought.

 

Biohazard [W: 4(10), C:70 Suffocate, I:50] Scabby little blood-black blob. Surprisingly agile.
- Haemoform. Can absorb exposed blood to restore a Wound. Immobilised by blood thinners.
- Self-preservationist. Attacks in retaliation only. Flees immediately upon taking a Wound.

1.     Lobby
Sealed hospital doors, 100cr entrance fee. Inside, dusty grey tile and flickering light. Empty benches, looted reception desk, wrecked bathroom. The air filter still works but can’t mask that pervasive, stale smell.

In the middle of the floor is a corpse in a black suit. No identification or records. Traces of blood around mouth not victim’s own. Cause of death, suffocation.

Beside the body is an expensive-looking briefcase, its interior caked in blood. The case hermetically seals and can be open or shut remotely, though no controller is present.

Signs over the doors ahead mark the pharmacy and ward. To the left, a door opens onto the upper level of the operating theatre, while a wide vent connects to the lower level.

2.     Pharmacy
A mess. Almost entirely ransacked except for 1d5 each:

-        Eight-Treasure Decoction. [+] to next attempt to stymie user’s bleeding.

-        Calm In The Sea Of Life Teapill. Promotes menstrual health.

-        Hidden Tiger Pill. [+] to next Body Save.

-        Seahorse Combination. Strengthens sexual potency.

-        Free And Easy Wanderer Plus Teapill. -1 Stress once per day.

Signposted doors to the lobby and ward.

 

3.     Ward
Thin curtains separate rickety bedframes. What remains of the medical equipment could be jury-rigged into a functional bioscanner.

Stashed in a pillowcase:

- roll of gauze
- stim-pak
- bottle of liquid blood thinner
- old syringe
- bag of O- blood

Doors to the lobby and pharmacy. Corridor to the lower level of the operating theatre.

4.     Operating Theatre
The upper level, accessed via the lobby, is a ring of plush seating overlooking the surgery through a skylight. No way down here except breaking the glass and climbing.

Below, on the brightly lit surgical table, the biohazard distractedly picks at bloodstains on an old scalpel. The lower level also has a washbasin in the corner, and a vent allows air to flow down from the lobby. Doors at either end lead up to the ward and down to the morgue.

5.     Morgue
Beneath the operating theatre. Cold, dim light on grimy chrome. A hundred freezers line the walls.

Working incinerator. Ejects remains into space through airlocked disposal chute. Inside, unscathed, is a small booklet in unadorned type: “PK-1 Training Manual”.

PK-1 (Trained Skill): Manipulate Nearby physical matter, not exceeding the user’s mass, with the power of the mind.

At the Gates of Dawn

 “Due to the explosion of the Lunar Gate, all data from before 2022 has been lost” - Jet Black, Cowboy Bebop

I know this is not one of the gates from the show but it’s a Strong Visual

Meridian is a satellite in stationary orbit around the astral anomaly X-108, a transport-regulated wormhole. Owned and operated by the Qilin Gate Corporation, the station’s central hub is a port offering access to the astral gate.

 

Airlocked elevators over a kilometre long connect from the zero-G port to the outer ring, a city bathed in X-108’s constant, golden dawn. The centrifugal force of Meridian’s spin creates approximately 1G of gravity on the city section’s inner surface, allowing citizens to traverse its 5km circumference as if planetside.

 

Once a bustling port, the advent of ship-based warp drive technologies have seen a decline in travel and tourism. These days, only those unable to afford modern conveyance still make use of it, and only those too poor or stubborn to leave still live here.

 

Qilin take payment via a subscription plan, with members allotted 12 jumps per year through any of the company’s outer rim locations for a monthly fee of 11kcr. There is no cancellation policy.

 

Thanks to a privacy waiver at sign-up, QGC are able to locate customers exactly using hyperspace latency tracking. As stipulated in the contract, failure to keep up with payments will result in forfeiture of equivalent value in biomass from the offending party. Collector Drone [W: 3(15), C:70 Scalpel, I:80]

Welcome to Meridian babyyyy

So this is a mini setting I’m working on for a Mothership game and I thought I’d share notes so anyone can use it or take bits as needed. I’ll update as I go.

If this were a book I’d include something useful along with that blurb up there, like a d5 table of spaceships you can encounter at the port. But since the Shipbreaker’s Toolkit isn’t out yet I’ll do that another time i guess

That means for now all you’re getting is an intro, sorry! But I suppose this post is good to link back to for other stuff I do in this setting, like an overview.

Expect mystery, investigation, janitorial work, corpo-governmental conspiracy, fancy briefcases, robot butterflies, lamb dumplings and the side effects of psychic psychedelia.

(also right now blogger isn’t letting me make or reply to comments? Idk. But you can still comment if you’d like)