Best way to adapt A/T/L for mods

[lazorbeak]

So I'm working on my 70's Marvel mod that I've been piddling around with whenever I get the chance, and I'm kind of at a crossroads.

 

The default "locations" in the Infinityverse are generally cities, with the exception of "The Wastelands." Each of the cities has its own distinct group of heroes, its own style, etc., and tends to stay pretty separated from other locations, with the exceptions of loose alliance hero groups and traveling heroes. While this set-up doesn't really need any changes to be adapted to DC's Metropolis (Principal City), Gotham (Ravenholme), etc., Marvel's universe doesn't really work that way- there's pretty much New York, and... everything else, with teams like the Avengers and the Fantastic Four and heroes like Dr. Strange based out of New York but almost exclusively fighting threats based in some other location, area, or even dimension. But with the set-up I have now, Dr. Strange and the Avengers seem to foil schemes set down by the Kingpin. Basically things are too crowded in Manhattan and I'm trying to figure out the best way to play around with the location mechanic to fix things.

 

It seems like my choices are either: a) split up some of the heroes and put them in places where it makes sense for them to be, even if it means re-locating heroes or villains- send Thor to Asgard, Cap to DC, Iron Man to LA, Vision and Scarlet Witch to, uh... Chicago. The other option and the one I'm leaning towards is making location more like an editorial umbrella: that is, the "Marvel Knights" equivalents- Daredevil, Punisher, Luke Cage, etc., get put in one location, the "X-Men" characters and their villains get a separate location, the Avengers get another location, etc. That way you have a location that's populated by a hero, his allies, and his enemies, but not a bunch of other characters he doesn't regularly deal with.

 

For example, a location based around Spider-Man during my mod's timing (the mid-1970's) would have something like: Spider-Man, all the civilians he knows, Daredevil, Punisher, and maybe one or two more heroes. Then on the villains side you'd have a mix of Spidey's best villains (including the Kingpin, DD's best), around 3 Daredevil villains, 2-3 Punisher villains, and maybe a few more civilians. That way you don't have Spider-Man villains being beaten up by Thor, and from a game perspective you'd have a location that feels like it's a good fit for a mid-level character, sort of the way San Habberstrom does now. Plus, if you're playing as Spider-Man, I think you'd rather fight Dr. Octopus or Electro rather than the Blob or the Unicorn or ninjas. You'd still be able to "travel" but instead of geographic travel, it's more like making a guest appearance in somebody else's "comic." The end result may be more locations (and I would still keep some that are more "location based, because I want a Savage Land where dinosaurs go on rampages), but hopefully that would be preferable to having one super-crowded location (New York) and a dozen practically empty places.

 

Thoughts? Other ideas?

[djthefunkchris]

Split up New York into it's suburbs. I think Daredevil is located in a place called Hell's Kitchen, for example. You have the bronx, etc... Place your main hero's in these area's, with their own group of people that they ussually fight/hang out with.

 

Utilize Travel for each one. For example, all the places in New York could be considered modern urban. Pull can range from Medium to Extremely high, depending on how crowded you want it to feel (Spiderman's area probably has a higher pull then Daredevils, and The Avengers area might have even a higher pull). Use the checked area's for what types of criminals you want... Don't just check them all, try to match them up with the villians you want in that area.

 

Utilize relationships... Thor and Loki don't get along. Spider-man and Green Goblin, etc. Good use of Vendettas.

 

In the long run, it's totally up to you how you do it. A huge city like New York in the Marvel Database, easily with the most people that use it as a "base location", I see no reason why it can't be split up and feel realistic.

 

EDIT: And then I look for some more examples and find that just about everything is in Manhattan. Avengers, Daredevil, Fantastic Four, Heroes for Hire, New Avengers, Spiderman, X-Factor Investigations, Young Avengers, and Damage Control. So, well, I guess you could go by city blocks or something. Spider-mans on 8th street, Yancy Street *(yancy street gang) is on the lower east side, Dr. Strange lives close by on the other side of little Italy, south of that is X-Factor, Daily Bugle is between 34th and 42nd street, as is Kingpin's offices. Shield is north of there (close to 52nd street), Baxter Building is right by Shield Headquarters. Avengers Mansion is north of there. Hellfire Club nearby....

 

I don't know how they don't routinely run right into each other all the time to be honest. Your talking very close to each other.

 

I guess in hindsight I would just try to get them to be closer with each other through relations more then anything. No matter good or bad, it should help and I wish I could say I have tested those things more but I haven't. I don't know if it will actually work, sorry.

[lazorbeak]

Right, that's why I'm leaning towards putting things more in editorial groups rather than true geographic areas. You wouldn't expect to see the Human Torch foiling a Hellfire Club scheme or taking on the Kingpin even though they're extremely close to one another.

 

That's why I'm leaning towards the "umbrella" idea where every character that lives in the same general style is put into the same location. Again, Dr. Strange is located in the middle of Manhattan, but it feels wrong to put him there, since his job is basically fighting crazy supernatural threats, not maggia goons. I just like the idea of having a location that only puts characters you'd expect to see in a Spider-Man comic in a location with Spider-Man. You could still use the "travel" function to have Firelord or Juggernaut wander into Spider-Man's turf, but I like the idea that most of his time would be spent fighting characters you'd see him fight in the comics.

[djthefunkchris]

/nod. I hadn't messed with Marvel as much as DC, but when I do I'll probably handle it in a very similar way. Even if you use generic terms (Spider-Mans Turf, New York). I still say that relations might help a bit, but as I said, I haven't had a chance to test that out... as I haven't needed that to work like that yet.

[Rick Arnold]

I'd probably go...

 

Hell's Kitchen - Daredevil/Punisher with the Maggia and their respective villains

Harlem - Heroes for Hire -- although you could probably combine them with Hell's Kitchen.

Greenwich Village - Doctor Strange and his supernatural threats

Midtown - Spider-Man/Fantastic Four -- Spider-Man has always been on friendly terms with the four, and is best friends and occasional teammate with Johnny Storm.

Upper East Side - Avengers/SHIELD

 

I think that covers the big Marvel inhabitants of NYC. Well, there's Blade, who could fit into either Hell's Kitchen or Greenwich (if you wanted to keep the majority of the supernatural characters in one location)