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I had an evil thought today while doing notes for my Cyberpunk RED Bay Area setting. One of the standards of the established setting is that large container ships are a thing of the past due to economic collapse and world instability. Sea trade has gone back to smaller freighters carrying crates and bales of goods.
In my setting, the quake that destroyed Los Angeles (Learn to swim!) set off a sympathetic quake on the Hayward fault that devastated Oakland and leveled the Port of Oakland. This has led to a renaissance of the San Francisco waterfront as smaller vessels working the Pacific Rim come to one of the last three deepwater harbors on the west coast. I'm having fun with having the long-derelict Hunters Point Naval Shipyard roar back to life, controlled by a co-op that has transformed the Bayview-Hunters Point area into a thriving industrial area filled with vehicle shops and support industries.
Most of the cargo work would be at the even-numbered piers which would make SOMA (South of Market Area), China Basin, Dogpatch, and other areas close by the piers a bustling port area, filled with sailors (aka sea-going Nomads in game terms) from around the Rim and beyond. Seedy bars, nightclubs, restaurants, and houses of ill-repute would fight for space with ship chandlers and tech shops.
Of course, sailors and longshoremen work mainly during the day, so the place really comes alive at night, so most people call it. . .
. . . please. If you ever even touched a Cyberpunk RPG, you know what they call it.
But the evil idea. San Francisco is once again a crossroads for the world. The characters are approached by a woman searching for her missing sister, who has been linked to a notorious booster gang boss. She needs the party's help, and she can pay!
Almost everyone reading this will recognize this as the opening to The Maltese Falcon. Done right, it could be a fun set of scenarios.
I like how my brain works.
In my setting, the quake that destroyed Los Angeles (Learn to swim!) set off a sympathetic quake on the Hayward fault that devastated Oakland and leveled the Port of Oakland. This has led to a renaissance of the San Francisco waterfront as smaller vessels working the Pacific Rim come to one of the last three deepwater harbors on the west coast. I'm having fun with having the long-derelict Hunters Point Naval Shipyard roar back to life, controlled by a co-op that has transformed the Bayview-Hunters Point area into a thriving industrial area filled with vehicle shops and support industries.
Most of the cargo work would be at the even-numbered piers which would make SOMA (South of Market Area), China Basin, Dogpatch, and other areas close by the piers a bustling port area, filled with sailors (aka sea-going Nomads in game terms) from around the Rim and beyond. Seedy bars, nightclubs, restaurants, and houses of ill-repute would fight for space with ship chandlers and tech shops.
Of course, sailors and longshoremen work mainly during the day, so the place really comes alive at night, so most people call it. . .
. . . please. If you ever even touched a Cyberpunk RPG, you know what they call it.
But the evil idea. San Francisco is once again a crossroads for the world. The characters are approached by a woman searching for her missing sister, who has been linked to a notorious booster gang boss. She needs the party's help, and she can pay!
Almost everyone reading this will recognize this as the opening to The Maltese Falcon. Done right, it could be a fun set of scenarios.
I like how my brain works.
