What is Paradise City?

Paradi City, alternately known as Paradise City (a tongue-in-cheek joke), is a WoD setting created roughly two decades ago now by a friend and I. The two names are interchangeable and both are used in common conversation. The lore has since been greatly expanded upon over those following 20 years.

While Paradi City uses the NWoD/Chronicles of Darkness system, and derives its factions and supernatural types from the same, it's a custom setting as opposed to strictly following the origins or timelines of the published books. Think of Paradi as a 'what if' setting. You'll see some OWoD influences here too.

Paradi is a "layered metropolis", to use the popular trope; https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LayeredMetropolis. Comprised of Lower Paradi (ground level or close to it), Middle Paradi, Upper Paradi, and High Paradi. It was heavily inspired by such places as Midgar (Final Fantasy 7), Mega City One (Judge Dredd), Coruscant (Star Wars), Dark City (Film), Fifth Element (Film), The Matrix Series (Film), Altered Carbon (Netflix series), and other such futuristic inspirations.

While Paradi City has a number of Cyberpunk influences and inspirations, it's not strictly-speaking a Cyberpunk setting. It's a dystopian future where capitalism is taken to the farthest degree possible, at the expense of people's lives and souls.

Paradise City has a population of more than a billion souls and is spread out over a massive amount of area. High Paradi, at the very top, is its own district. Upper, Middle, and Lower Paradi are all divided into four quadrants (A, B, C, and D). So a location might be referred to as "Mid Paradi, Section A" to geographically narrow it down.

Where is Paradise City?

It's in the continental United States but in an alternate history where America won the war of 1812 (so spread north) and never fought a war with Mexico (so didn't expand south and west). The actual state isn't important and isn't specified; Paradi functions more like a city-state unto itself, like ancient Athens. It's far enough north that it experiences brutally cold winters with muggy to hot summers. It's a crossroads city of the world; a center of culture, commerce, and industry.

Is there a map of Paradi City?

Not at present but someday, if I develop the required mapping or art skills, I might make one on a lark. Thus location become more subjective than absolute, which is fine, because there's no real world correspondence to draw references from.

What's the city's history?

Deliberately nebulous and revealed in bits and pieces. Paradi City didn't evolve naturally over time; in the 1950's and 1960's, the greatest engineering minds of the world were brought together to create its inception. Thus, it was a planned city from the beginning. This isn't particularly world-breaking; there are mysteries in Paradi as to how it came about and its founding. Just as many of us couldn't list our hometown's founders, most people in Paradi are too busy with their day-to-day struggle to survive to worry overly much about it. Because of this, however, any powers that divine far into the past require an ST adjudication for what information they receive.

What year does the Paradi City setting take place in?

When it was first conceived, it was set in the late 2030's. That era is much closer now than it was two decades ago. Rather than specifically place it, Paradi City is generally 30 to 40 years ahead of our current era. Technology is more advanced, drones are more commonplace, major companies violate peoples privacy even more (and on a much larger scale), mega-corporations begin to take the place of government, but there's still no flying cars or the like.

What game lines are currently allowed in Paradi City?

At present, Paradi City supports Vampire the Requiem (Second Edition), Werewolf the Forsaken (Second Edition), and Mage the Awakening (Second Edition) for player characters. This includes ghouls, wolf-blooded, and proximi/sleepwalkers as well.

In the future, this may expand to Changeling the Lost (Second Edition), Demon the Descent, Geist the Sin-Eaters (Second Edition), and other splats. These beings, and more, also exist in Paradi City but aren't currently approved for player-character use.

I'm one person, and it can be a lot to manage because so much of the city is custom. That makes it harder to delegate to an ST/Moderator Team. I'd rather focus on the systems I know fairly well than try to do too many things half-assed. This is also a small venue which is invite-only, at present.

If the city is so big, how would anyone interact with anyone?

Because we're all adults and writers. This means we work to build story together, not to live on islands alone. Create ties to other characters, locations, and stories. Otherwise we'd just write fan fiction, not an interactive role-playing game.

How Do I Format Posts?

There's a great how-to right here; https://rpgpad.com/c/paradi_city/help/text

I also have character header examples available on the OOC board. All you need to do is copy, paste, then edit the information for your character.

Do characters all have to be new or can characters from other sites port over?

Both are welcome. It's fine to keep a characters original history but I'd encourage the player to view Paradi City as 'through a mirror darkly'. This is a version of that character in a new world. Since Paradi City is set 30 to 40 years in the future of our current timeline, it's easy enough to keep what you like about your character's background and advance them a few decades. For characters that aren't immortal like vampires, I'd encourage devising an alternate history for them. Keep the elements you like but adapt them to the new setting.

In terms of characters beginning play with more abilities or XP than the stated starting amount in the character creation pages, it's on an individual basis. Again, this is a small, invite-only site at the moment but if that changes, it'll likely have to be addressed further.

Is there crossover RP in Paradi City?

The potential exists for a fair amount of it, yes. While sentiment varies by player, different supernatural entities are bound to run into one another in the setting. In what capacity is up to the players involved. As with other WoD games, any Other should only be trusted as far as you're willing to risk your own neck. The goals of a vampire, werewolf, and mage in any given situation may differ and their respective societies are eager to keep their secrets away from those who might use the same to hurt them. There's less overarching interaction between whole factions of supernaturals and more individual agreements or spats. Dan the Mage may have some type of relationship with Julie the Vampire, but if they're wise, they'll limit how many others of their respective factions know that.