Feb 7, 2022 7:26 am
This is a sketch of an RPG setting that I want to share here because I don't know anyone IRL that would be interested in these thoughts.
Lately I've had an idea that's been eating away in my head for the past couple of weeks. I was reading through the game Electric Bastionland when I reached the part talking about the "the underground". Around the same time I read an article about the Moscow diggers. The diggers are basically urban explorers who explore the tunnels under Moscow for fun. Some stories I hear are finding abandoned Soviet bunkers, tunnels and catacombs built during the Tsarist period, unused subway stations, rumors of a "secret subway", underground rivers, old quarries, underground monasteries, and communities of squatters and homeless taking up sections of the underground. I know a lot of other cities have these features, but for some reason the post-Soviet setting really made my imagination run.
Reading about these things reminded me of something from my childhood. I spent a huge chunk of my childhood/teenage years in Kyiv, Ukraine. For a short period during that time my family gave foster care to a kid that was a few years older than me. He lived in an abandoned tunnel with other kids. While he was living with us, he would tell me and my brothers strange stories of the Kyiv tunnels, ghost stories, grisly stories surviving, funny situations, etc. It left an impression on me.
All that to say, I think it would be really cool to have a setting set in a fictionalized underground of a post-soviet city. Areas of the tunnels could feature abandoned Soviet labs with weird experimental equipment and mutants, medieval era dungeons with strange magical artifacts and monsters, and other fantastic things. The themes could range from sci-fi to fantasy to political intrigue to pretty much anything else.
I'm thinking of coming up with some random tables and maps and running a short Electric Bastionland game in this setting. I'll post more about my ideas in this thread.
I know some PC games have similar concepts about exploring a Soviet wasteland, most notably STALKER, Metro 2033, and the upcoming Atomic Heart.
- Would you be interested in playing in a setting like this?
- Do you know of a TTRPG setting similar to what I described?
- Do you have any underground urban exploration experience?
- Have you heard weird things about the underground of your city?
Lately I've had an idea that's been eating away in my head for the past couple of weeks. I was reading through the game Electric Bastionland when I reached the part talking about the "the underground". Around the same time I read an article about the Moscow diggers. The diggers are basically urban explorers who explore the tunnels under Moscow for fun. Some stories I hear are finding abandoned Soviet bunkers, tunnels and catacombs built during the Tsarist period, unused subway stations, rumors of a "secret subway", underground rivers, old quarries, underground monasteries, and communities of squatters and homeless taking up sections of the underground. I know a lot of other cities have these features, but for some reason the post-Soviet setting really made my imagination run.
Reading about these things reminded me of something from my childhood. I spent a huge chunk of my childhood/teenage years in Kyiv, Ukraine. For a short period during that time my family gave foster care to a kid that was a few years older than me. He lived in an abandoned tunnel with other kids. While he was living with us, he would tell me and my brothers strange stories of the Kyiv tunnels, ghost stories, grisly stories surviving, funny situations, etc. It left an impression on me.
All that to say, I think it would be really cool to have a setting set in a fictionalized underground of a post-soviet city. Areas of the tunnels could feature abandoned Soviet labs with weird experimental equipment and mutants, medieval era dungeons with strange magical artifacts and monsters, and other fantastic things. The themes could range from sci-fi to fantasy to political intrigue to pretty much anything else.
I'm thinking of coming up with some random tables and maps and running a short Electric Bastionland game in this setting. I'll post more about my ideas in this thread.
I know some PC games have similar concepts about exploring a Soviet wasteland, most notably STALKER, Metro 2033, and the upcoming Atomic Heart.
- Would you be interested in playing in a setting like this?
- Do you know of a TTRPG setting similar to what I described?
- Do you have any underground urban exploration experience?
- Have you heard weird things about the underground of your city?
[ +- ] Related Articles and Videos
Last edited February 7, 2022 7:29 am