Arkham City: The Landscape
In looking to turn Adventures Into Darkness into an ongoing campaign, my first consideration was location. Nowhere other than Arkham fit my bill, with Miskatonic University right there to provide all the weird science and strange magic a gamemaster could ever need. The problem is, a sleepy New England college town just doesn’t cry out “superheroes” to me. Since we’re already dealing with alternate realities here (hello, superheroes!), I decided that my alternate Arkham must be a bustling metropolis more akin to Boston than Salem, and that other Lovecraftian locations like Dunwich, Innsmouth, and Kingsport are either nearby towns or suburbs. Some may call this geographical tampering blasphemy, but that’s only appropriate to a Cthulhu Mythos game, right?
To illustrate that we’re in a superhero world, Arkham at some point in history becomes Arkham City. So many places in the Golden and Silver Ages had “city” in the name, from Gotham City to Midway City, Star City, Coast City, and more. It just feels superhero-y to me.
Other than Lovecraft’s map of Arkham (above), which I’m using as a downtown/historic area where the University is located, I’m using a map of Boston, turned sideways. Boston will exist, as a much smaller city.
As I’m playing with history, I’ll be moving historical events from other Massachusetts locations to Arkham City. This gives me plot hooks to play with. This Arkham was important to the American Revolution in the way Boston was in our world. Here’s a three-word hook for you: Innsmouth Tea Party. Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, is about the Arkham Witch Trials and will have “King in Yellow” overtones to its performance.
Never forget, it’s a superhero game with Mythos influences, not a Mythos game with supers. At least, not the way I’m running it.
More to come.
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