How to create a Sci-Fi city

=Jeremy’s Guide to Writing Transmissions=

Posted by Jeremy Keller (writer of Tech-Noir RPG) on June 8, 2011

So a lot of people have been talking on twitter, forums, and blogs about writing
their own
transmissions for Technoir. This is amazing. This is exactly what I was hoping for.
I want
to help you as much as I can to do this. …and do this well. …so you will do it
more. So I
decided to write a brief guide explaining my process as I’ve written the Twin
Cities and
Los Angeles transmissions.

=Exposition=
Write three paragraphs about your city. One is about its unique take on technology,
one is
about the environment in the region, and the third is about its society—especially
given
the influences of technology and environment. Think of what themes you want to
address
with your transmission and talk about them here. This is the most wordy you get to
be in
the entire document, so enjoy that freedom while you can.

=The Nodes=
You’re going to come up with 36 nodes. Six connections, six events, six factions,
six
locations, six objects, and six threats. Each one is going to have a short, one-
line
description. Don’t write so much that you explain what the node is—write just
enough
that the GM reading is inspired to define what the node is herself as she connects
it to
other nodes on her plot map.

=Connections=
Come up with six connections. It helps if they’re part of the criminal underworld
in some
sense, because that’s what ties the protagonists into the seedy underbelly of the
city. They
should be characters who you can imagine as both best friends and bitter enemies
with
the protagonists depending on the context. They could very well start as one and
quickly
become the next.

=Connections Stats=
Connections are made to be on par with new protagonists or one step better. You can
distribute 18 points among their nine verbs with three adjectives or your can
distribute 21
verbs and four adjectives if they should be a bit more powerful. Pawn shop owners,
drug
dealers, and scientists should probably be on par. Crime bosses and deadly
assassins
should probably be more powerful. Assign whatever objects seem to be appropriate.
There isn’t a lot of space here to list out the object stats, I figure the GM can
pop open a
player’s guide for that and pick whichever upgrades seem appropriate at the time.
Favors should be assigned to fit the connection’s character concept. There isn’t
any
formula to who gets what favors or how many. I would make sure that shark and
splice
are represented at least once. You don’t have to have all the favors in your
transmission.
Twin Cities doesn’t have chop. It helps create a meaningful difference between the
transmissions. Want chop? Better head to L.A. or Detroit.
You’re going to want to wait til your done creating all your nodes before you make
the
connections’ lead tables.

=Events=
Come up with six events. This one is the hardest section for me usually. Look at
other
transmissions for ideas. But try think of things that could only happen in your
city as
well. Crazy weather is good too as it makes a cover for other nefarious deeds. Keep
them
open so they can be things that have occurred, are occurring, or threaten to occur
in the
plot. Keep them open enough that many of your connections, factions, and threats
can be
responsible for them.

=Factions=
Come up with six factions. Here’s where you’re really going to nail down the theme
of
your city. Twin Cities is about cybernetics, so there’s two corporations here that
are big
on that. Here are the big categories I think of when I’m trying to come up with
factions:
corrupt government, heartless corporations, political activists, fringe religious
groups,
large gangs, organized crime, and secret societies.

=Locations=
Come up with six locations. Try to think of the most cyberpunk places in your city.
These
are set pieces for cool scenes to play out. What architecture in your city sets it
apart and
how can you represent that as a location? My favorite location in the Twin Cities
is the
skyways. They seem futuristic (even though they’ve been around as long as I can
remember), and they’re awesome for chases and urban labyrinths. There are actually
probably a lot more than six locations in your city that you want to talk about. So
you can
hide other locations in the other nodes by mentioning, in their descriptions, where
the
connections hang out, where a faction meets, or where an event takes place.

=Objects=
Come up with six objects. These are your classic MacGuffins! The things everyone in
the
story wants to get their hands on. Prototype tech, money, drugs, scary-ass weapons,
doomsday devices, statues of birds. Some can be cool weapons, implants, vehicles,
or
other gear that are usable by the protagonists. These can be a cool way to add new
technology into the setting. Twin Cities has a full cyberbody.
=Object Stats=
Just come up with the capabilities of your object and codify those as tags. Use the
tags of
the existing objects catalog as a guide. Add some cool story tags like stolen or
fingerprints or tracking device.

=Threats=
Come up with six threats. These are teams of people that are designed to fight
protagonists. Each one should have at least two heavies and anywhere from zero to
four
henchmen. Envision your favorite cyberpunk and hardboiled scenarios in your head
and
think of who the heroes would be fighting. Those are your threats. Security forces,
teams
of assassins, military units, gangs, and so forth.

=Threat Stats=
Make sure each threat has a name. Heavies should be made with 21 points distributed
between the verbs and four adjectives (one step better than the protagonists).
Henchmen
are made with 18 points among their verbs and one adjective. Write a list of
objects, fully
statted out, that cover everything they have together. Then you can just name which
of
those objects each individual has in their own section. Just come up with whatever
objects are appropriate for that group. You can even make up custom objects that
aren’t
in the object catalog or anywhere else (but try not to go to that well too often).

=The Master Table=

The master table is pretty easy to come up with. It’s just all of your nodes listed
out in
order. Each row is one category with the nodes listed across the columns
alphabetically.
There’s an equal chance of rolling any node, so the position doesn’t really matter
as long
as you list each node once.

=The Connection Lead Tables=

These tables are a bit harder to do. You’ll want to open an extra copy of your
transmission so far so you can scroll through one copy while editing the tables on
the
other. Each node should be represented twice among all the lead tables. I try to
make sure
that a node is in the un-connected column of one table and the connected column of
another table—that’s just something I shoot for, it’s not absolutely necessary. If
you look
at the existing transmissions, you will notice that each row of the table is a
particular
category.

Other than those guidelines, I just try to think of what nodes in the city that
connection is
most likely to know about and fill the table with that.
Fill the space by mashing up existing, modern cities with each modern city becoming
a
sector of your mega-city. Working from U.S. cities, you may have:
- the government sector (D.C.) Large marble government buildings; lots of statues
and
monuments; no sky-scrappers. Government clerks and lawyers.
- the business sector (New York) Very, very dense. Home of bank headquarters, stock
market, publishing industry. Capitalists.
- the entertainment sector (L.A.) Sprawling. Entertainment studios. Mansions of the
stars.
Celebrities.
- the night-life sector (Las Vegas) Corporate owned casinos & pleasure palaces and
very
little else. Mafia.
- the industrial sector (Newark). Factories, ports, pollution. Blue collar.
- the struggling sector (Detroit). Half-built construction, deserted "downtown." No
jobs.
High crime. Struggling poor.
- the ruins (News Orleans, post-Katrina). Neighborhoods in ruins or completely
abandoned. Memories of better times.
When it's time to tackle a sector in detail, just look at a map and borrow as
necessary.