Novocastria is a dream given form… no, sorry, that’s Babylon 5!
Actually Novocastria is something that started out as a daydream, wandering around my home city of Newcastle and riffing off the place names and street signs. A few days later, I did the same with my daughter and we spent an entire afternoon looking at signs and buildings and architectural what-nots and spinning stories about them. A few weeks after that, I revisited the places of interest we found and started to take photos on my phone. Lots of photos. Since then, I have been throwing around the ideas we came up with then, convinced that they can be part of a great gaming experience.
I did bring it to the table for a couple of sessions and it worked but life complications meant it never really came to fruition. It did, however, give me some pointers about how I wanted to progress with writing this idea up. Pinning it down to one system is never going to work – it has to be a resource that you can use for your own adventures rather than a system-limited xerox of mine. What I’m aiming for is a gazetteer style entry for each point of interest, with bullet pointed GM resources in call out, looking at key information, key NPCs, sensory triggers and potential conflicts. Each area will have a little random rumour table and text/images linking it to real world Newcastle. A two-page spread should give you everything you need for that particular environment.
Obviously, the entire project is based on Neil Gaimen’s work on Neverwhere, a favourite of the entire Gow clan, but I want this to be a focused look at a city through an urban fantasy lens. So if the work can double up as a great city environment for an urban fantasy adventure, as well as a framework for you to do this to your own city, then that’s brilliant.
I’ll be starting work on this in September. No idea about format or finish time yet, but I reckon it’ll be a great work out for my imagination before I start into the major work I have planned for 2017!
So, until later, remember … BEWARE THE KEELMEN!
