Bath Imaginable

It’s been about a year since I visited Montreal and got inspired to make a borough for Electric Bastionland.

This was my original map, but after I wrote and released two adventures for the Deep Country and Deep Water respectively, I want to zoom in a little bit and think smaller for my borough.

Dare I say, I want to lean a little *cozier* for this borough. I want it to feel like somewhere the Players would actually want to spend time and invest in between adventures.

Montstatique, the Borough on the Coast

Nonnegotiables. (1) The entire borough will be visible in a detailed, isometric map. The dollhouse perspective oozes charm, and I want the Players to be able to imagine themselves walking every step of this borough. (2) For the first time, I want to do hand-drawn portraits of each NPCs. I’ve really been into having quotes for NPCs to show off their character, so I’ll put those over each portrait like it’s video game dialogue text. (3) A mystery that involves each major location in the borough, if only in a small way.

Montstatique West. A massive warehouse and boardwalk slough into the sea, it’s the home of the Machinists’ Union. A small, sheltered streetcar station in its shadow (the streetcar enters and exits a tunnel to the city and continues southbound toward the harbour–concrete steps into darkness; a steel door to the Underground. A 24-hour grocery store called Kwiki-Stop with two apartments above (tilting balconies overlook the park).

Central Montstatique. The mountain and a museum at its peak. It’s a collapsing wooden mansion, a radio tower juts out on top. The Mountain Broadcast Compay operates from here, surrounded by steep hills and overgrown, sealed-off ruins. At the base, there’s a park and a statue. A hydraulic bridge crosses the canal (its controls locked inside an operator’s booth). The ruined gondola marks the bike path to the mountain’s peak. There’s a middle tower and hanging passenger cabin just above the trees.

Montstatique East. At the edge of the canal, there’s a ramp toward the tunnel (a long drive to the Deep Country). Traffic is perpetually backed-up. Baby Cool Boutique is a clothing store and cafeteria popular with the locals. There’s rooms for rents upstairs and a sketchy basement weapons’ dealer below. Further east are ruins draped in beautiful textiles; the homes of local fishers and artisans (they hide many routes to the Underground and the hidden lair of the Canal Syndicate).

Key Locations

1. Boardwalk.
2. Warehouse.
3. Warehouse Rooftop.
4. Streetcar Station/Steps to Underground.
5. Kwiki-Stop.
6. Apartment A.
7. Apartment B.
8. Park and Statue.Brutalist. A monument to nothing, really, but taken care of by the locals (who only work a few hours a week). A man throws a ball for his disinterested hound.
9. Lift-lock.
10. Operator’s Booth.
11. Ramp.
12. Bike Path.
13. Ruined Gondola.
14. Abandoned Gondola.
15. Museum.
16. Radio Tower.
17. Forest Graveyard.
18. Baby Cool Boutique.
19. Basement Weapon Store.
20. Ruins/Rooftop Garden.

Factions

Mountain Broadcasting Company. Revolutionary youths broadcast weird hypnoses over radio waves. Recently they stole machine parts from the Union. They’re funded by the Syndicate through fronts throughout the borough.

Machinists’ Union. Consultants ritualistically rearranging the tangled wires of the broken-down gondola and interpreting divine providence from their everchanging conduction patterns. They’re contractually funded by the City of Bastion for another half-century.

Canal Syndicate. The Canal is ruled by subterranean monster-men hoarding treasure in the Underground. They deal in hallucinogenic river eels and smuggled goods. Recently they sabotaged the Highway Tunnel to try to seize control of the borough.

The Mystery/Spoilers for an Adventure that isn’t Written Yet

A body inside the gondola passenger cabin. It’s the Professor, a newly-elected city councilor and a sympathizer of the MBC. He’s found well dressed, but no shoes and no watch. There’s a hole in his forehead, and £125 in his jacket pocket.

Before he was the Professor he was a regular customer of the Canal Syndicate who tried a new drug called slug. He opted for 100% purity, insisting he could handle it (he could not). The slug moved to his brain, hijacking control of his body. The slug-man was elected Councilor of the borough, and led the MBC. When they upgraded their radio technology, the slug burst from the Professor’s head (at the base of the trail). The Machinists who witnessed it moved the body to avoid any further issues with the locals (and maybe to blame the youths? I haven’t decided on them yet).

One of the Machinists, a young fisher brought in for his talent with rope, recognized the situation as involving the Canal Syndicate and ran (is still missing?). The Machinists stashed the body on the gondola passenger cabin at the top of the mountain. When the MBC youth discovered the body, they pushed the gondola down (but took the melted shoes and expensive watch). And I want one of the machinists to be a big, big guy who carries machinery on his back while he cycles. He took the body to the top of the hill, leaving deep gouges in the mud.