June 16, 2004
Subway Mashup
This mashup is the New York City subway system, but I'm going start by crossing out New York City. My experience of that particular underground system is limited to a few clips in Buffy.
That leaves us with subway system.
I cannot let this pass without a quick nod to Neverwhere, a truly fantastic work from the author of Sandman. His premise is that there is another London where the people who slip through the cracks go. Knightsbridge becomes Knight's Bridge, where there really is a knight, and the hero of the tale goes on a quest to find the Angel Islington (who has wings). Make sure you mind the gap. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately as he has done so well with the idea), Mr. Gaiman has got there first, so I need to come up with a different idea.
Underground railways have been with us for a very long time, and while it was only in my lifetime that the channel tunnel opened, there have been plans for something similar since the early 19th century. What if it had been built, and opened, at the turn of the century?
It is 1933, Mr. Hitler has just become Chancellor of Germany, the British Empire is still going strong, Queen Victoria is still on the throne, and we are playing in a steampunk-ish pulp-ish alternative history setting.
The player characters find themselves in need of transport to mainland Europe and naturally take the Channel Tunnel to British France. Their problems begin when a group of French rebels collapse part of the tunnel as their train passes beneath.
Can they escape? Can they save the tunnel? Can they capture the revolutionaries?
Only one thing is certain: Queen Victoria is not amused.
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