Where can you crawl other than a dungeon?

Skyrock · August 28, 2007, 08:05:18 AM

Corporate buildings like industry plants and research labs would be another classic, as Shadowrun and CP2020 teach us.

Melan · August 28, 2007, 08:40:54 AM

Quote from: One Horse Townor a huge hedge maze.

Yes; however, hedge mazes make for a sucky game experience.

Drew · August 28, 2007, 08:50:37 AM

The Natural History Museum in London would make a cool venue. As would The London Underground railway network (Commonly known as "The Tube").

Joey2k · August 28, 2007, 08:57:28 AM

Subway tunnels under NYC. I've always thought that would be the ultimate adventure. There could be a whole other society under there.

FWIW, the History channel had a series about underground tunnel complexes in various cities. It's worth watching.

DeadUematsu · August 28, 2007, 08:58:16 AM

Haunted mansions and houses.

Aos · August 28, 2007, 09:01:07 AM

submarine on the sea bottom, experimental seabase or Antartic/artic research facility, lonly light house on a spooky island, abandoned college campus, crack house.

KenHR · August 28, 2007, 09:29:19 AM

Quote from: TechnomancerSubway tunnels under NYC. I've always thought that would be the ultimate adventure. There could be a whole other society under there.

Actually, there kind of is. Populations of homeless and drifters live in abandoned portions of the subway system. There's a great anthro study called The Mole People, and at least one documentary that my girlfriend and I have watched. Extremely interesting view of how people can make their way...I had my GM thinking cap on while watching the movie, I have to admit...wouldn't take much to spice up the reality and make a crawl out of it.

jeff37923 · August 28, 2007, 09:43:09 AM

Using Traveller as an example, you could substitute a starship for a PC and explore a subsector or sector as a science fiction equivalent to a dungeon crawl. Each "turn" you jump into a new hex and superficially explore a star system. I say superficially, because this could be done as a solitaire game with detailed exploration happening when the referee and players can get together.

Aos · August 28, 2007, 10:42:14 AM

Quote from: KenHRActually, there kind of is. Populations of homeless and drifters live in abandoned portions of the subway system. There's a great anthro study called The Mole People, and at least one documentary that my girlfriend and I have watched. Extremely interesting view of how people can make their way...I had my GM thinking cap on while watching the movie, I have to admit...wouldn't take much to spice up the reality and make a crawl out of it.

"The Mole People", much to my disappointment, has been pretty convincingly debunked.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mole_People

Drew · August 28, 2007, 11:25:17 AM

One fantasy variant I always liked was the petrified forest from B10: Night's Dark Terror. The trees were so densely packed that effectively became walls that hemmed in the old game trails and clearings.

KenHR · August 28, 2007, 11:51:48 AM

Quote from: Aos"The Mole People", much to my disappointment, has been pretty convincingly debunked.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mole_People

Huh. Learn something new every day.

But the documentary we saw, Dark Days...that was real (wasn't it?). So there are people living there, maybe?

Aos · August 28, 2007, 12:01:21 PM

Quote from: KenHRHuh. Learn something new every day.

But the documentary we saw, Dark Days...that was real (wasn't it?). So there are people living there, maybe?

I think there are definitely people in those areas, but I'm not sure about the permanent society type of thing. Still reality is easily ignored in the context of rpgs.

KenHR · August 28, 2007, 12:04:22 PM

Quote from: AosI think there are definitely people in those areas, but I'm not sure about the permanent society type of thing. Still reality is easily ignored in the context of rpgs.

Indeed. Damn, and I just bought a copy of the Mole People for the nephew of a friend; he's interested in anthropology. Gotta tell him this is an example of how not to write an anthro text, I suppose...

Dr Rotwang! · August 28, 2007, 12:40:42 PM

Cyberspace, especially if you do it CP 2020 "datafortess"-style.

Sigmund · August 28, 2007, 12:57:00 PM

Malls are a good one, I've always wanted to participate in a huge paintball event in a big empty mall.

Other thoughts might be a large gorge or canyon (good for pretty much any genre), space station, casino/hotel/apartment building, large mansion (Castle Amber is a good fantasy example), train, carnival/amusement park at night.

I was even thinking that some thick jungle could emulate a dungeon-crawling experience because it's much much easier to follow roads/paths than to try to bushwhack through thick jungle.