Midpoint Mods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
midpointmods) wrote2020-04-14 10:29 pm
midpointmods) wrote2020-04-14 10:29 pm
Entry tags:
Setting
Setting
The game arena for Midpoint Saloon is a roughly circular area about fifty miles in diameter (approximately 2000 square miles). The area contains a flat scrub plain, melding into desert in the west and mountains to the north, dotted with small copses of trees and the occasional ravine. There is one river, passing just outside the town of Midpoint and running mostly straight from the mountains in the north to the flood plain in the south. The ocean is just visible further south, through the waves of heat, but any attempt to reach it results in various... unpleasant consequences.
A set of train tracks meanders around the game arena, with stations currently located in Midpoint, a mile outside Bank Town, to the west at the Ranch, and in the far north at Tycoon's Depot. The train schedule is erratic and unpredictable, especially as the train has an unfortunate tendency to get blown up.
At six equidistant points along the rim of the game arena are the starting jails. Whenever a new player is brought to the game, or a player dies, they wake up in one of these six jails. This is also where players receive their instructions for each new game round, even if no one needs to be picked up.
Scattered around the arena are small towns and even smaller homesteads, the former all important game nodes and the latter meant as way-stations and hideouts for players, and sometimes sources of information and supplies. Each listed town has a general store, a stable, and a bar, but only Midpoint and Tycoons' Depot have actual inns with rooms available to characters. Otherwise, the contents of the towns vary depending on their name. Tycoons' Depot has the main train station and the houses of the wealthy railroad, ranching, and bank owners as well as their families. Ranch Corner is where ranchers bring their heads of cattle and other animals to be sold, and where if you don't like your assigned mount, you can trade it and some points for a new one.
Then there is the Bad Jail. No one knows where it is, or if it's even inside the game arena itself. It's where you wind up if you break the rules too badly, or fail to be sufficiently entertaining. Nobody really likes to talk about it, but most people have been there at least once...
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The game arena for Midpoint Saloon is a roughly circular area about fifty miles in diameter (approximately 2000 square miles). The area contains a flat scrub plain, melding into desert in the west and mountains to the north, dotted with small copses of trees and the occasional ravine. There is one river, passing just outside the town of Midpoint and running mostly straight from the mountains in the north to the flood plain in the south. The ocean is just visible further south, through the waves of heat, but any attempt to reach it results in various... unpleasant consequences.
A set of train tracks meanders around the game arena, with stations currently located in Midpoint, a mile outside Bank Town, to the west at the Ranch, and in the far north at Tycoon's Depot. The train schedule is erratic and unpredictable, especially as the train has an unfortunate tendency to get blown up.
At six equidistant points along the rim of the game arena are the starting jails. Whenever a new player is brought to the game, or a player dies, they wake up in one of these six jails. This is also where players receive their instructions for each new game round, even if no one needs to be picked up.
Scattered around the arena are small towns and even smaller homesteads, the former all important game nodes and the latter meant as way-stations and hideouts for players, and sometimes sources of information and supplies. Each listed town has a general store, a stable, and a bar, but only Midpoint and Tycoons' Depot have actual inns with rooms available to characters. Otherwise, the contents of the towns vary depending on their name. Tycoons' Depot has the main train station and the houses of the wealthy railroad, ranching, and bank owners as well as their families. Ranch Corner is where ranchers bring their heads of cattle and other animals to be sold, and where if you don't like your assigned mount, you can trade it and some points for a new one.
Then there is the Bad Jail. No one knows where it is, or if it's even inside the game arena itself. It's where you wind up if you break the rules too badly, or fail to be sufficiently entertaining. Nobody really likes to talk about it, but most people have been there at least once...
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Towns
Starting Jails
While not exactly towns, these are still very specific and important places. Each one is exactly the same except for the supplies and papers waiting for the players, and the view outside: a small underground room with shelves for personal belongings, a jail cell that’s impossible to break out of without the proper key and which nullifies all magic, technology not needed for basic survival, and superpowers, and a tiny unpaned window; and an equally small room above-ground with a desk, shelves of supplies and clothing, and barred windows; and a hitch for your horses outside.LocationsNorth. The Lucky Break. An hour's ride from Tycoons' Depot. East-Northeast. Mountain Hole. Notable for being literally carved into the encroaching mountains, and notoriously hard to jailbreak. East-Southeast. Sooey Jail. The Bank Town ravine is visible from the cell windows. South. Southern Point. On the edge of the flood plains, and rumoured to also flood during heavy rain. West-Southwest. Swinger's Den. West-Northwest. Dead Man's Doorstep. Subject to particularly extreme changes in temperature due to its proximity to the desert.
Midpoint
At the central point of the game arena is the hub town of Midpoint: a bustling central town where players can mingle, form alliances, and just goof off between game rounds. This is the largest locale in the game, with a population in the low hundreds.Notable LocationsThere is also a variety of actual small houses that can be purchased by long-time game players if they save up their points and want some privacy. They’re not great houses, though, with outhouses for toilets, a water pump instead of a sink, and no fancy cooked meals unless you make ‘em yourself. If a dust storm blows through, you’re going to want to be in Midpoint Saloon anyway, because the walls aren’t really sand-proof, and it’s lonely in there by yourself for a whole day of storming.Midpoint Saloon. Ruled, rather than owned, by Nicholas St. North. Breakfast and dinner are available for free here, between set hours, but any other meals, or alcohol, require payment by points. North doesn't do tabs, but he does do dietary restrictions within reason. This is also the location where the majority of characters will be staying between rounds. Socialising is encouraged here, but North firmly draws the line at violence, and the twin sabers displayed proudly behind the bar (which also serve as the saloon's logo) aren't just for show, if anyone tries testing that. Stables. The largest set in the game arena is connected to the Midpoint Saloon, and largely run by Soap. Horses can't be bought here, merely stored somewhat indefinitely. Booker's General Store. One of a chain, in fact: Booker's is the only general store in the entire enclosure, and all of its stock is the exact same across their limited locations. The store prides itself on its range and competitive prices - meaning that they take not only points, but bartered goods and services in exchange. Each and every store is run by the titular Booker. The Library. A tiny mixed library-meets-museum, where knowledge about previous rounds that have occurred is stored. People can also borrow books! The Theatre. An equally tiny theater, with a slightly-anachronistic movie projector that plays actual film reels and also has a stage for performance shows. According to long-time locals, this is a newer feature, going up within the past dozen rounds or so; whether as a means of giving characters something to keep them occupied without getting drunk and killing each other, and also expanding upon the means of encouraging interpersonal ties, or something more sinister, no-one knows. The film reel selection is highly limited.
Tycoons' Depot
The largest town in the game arena that isn't Midpoint, located in the north quadrant. This is the final destination for the train, as far as characters are concerned, though the tracks do seem to continue on up into the mountains, and new trains keep coming south down along it each time one gets destroyed... hm. This is also where the three Tycoons live, as one might guess. This is the only town besides Midpoint to have an inn, and missions here tend to be longer and more involved, including interpersonal tactics that involve earning the rich people's good graces, rather than simple smash-and-grab events.Notable LocationsBullion Inn. The fanciest goddamn inn available, not that this is saying much. It has fancy meals, comfortable rooms, and other pleasurable company for those who want it - for favors, gifts from Game Makers, or points. Staff and patrons come and go, but the Madame who rules the roost is eternal, and allegedly hasn't aged a day since she first arrived in one of the earliest rounds.
Bank Town
Bank Town, predictably, houses the Town Bank, wedged up against the side of a ravine in the south-east quadrant. This is the end of the train line, with a small station and a switch-back a mile outside the town’s ravine entrance. It’s also the smallest town of the bunch, with only the general store, a bar and stables, and the bank itself. There's nothing to suggest people live out here, but there's still a solid working populace of nearly a hundred people. The bank itself is a frequent target for game missions, and has varying defense measures depending on the goal, the opposing team, and the whim of the Game Makers.Notable LocationsTown Bank. Literally the only bank in the game arena, staffed by a number of seemingly numb staff and one very anxious bank manager - it's not uncommon knowledge that the role is a death sentence, and typically a new one is appointed every half-dozen or so rounds.
The Ranch
This is less of a town and more of a train depot located in the far west, with a scattering of warehouse-like buildings, a single tiny bar, and lots and lots of animals. Herds of cattle are brought here to ship onto cattle cars on the train, horses are traded or straight-up purchased here, and if you want a dog or a cat or a parrot that badly, this is where you might be able to trade a favor or some points for it.Notable LocationsThe Markets. Where cattle is bought and sold, goods are traded and the most gold is seen outside of the bank itself. Lee Scoresby rules the markets and allows no funny business; the staff there are more loyal to him than anyone else, and rounds set on the Market have historically been worth greatly increased amounts of points - which is widely agreed to be the Game Makers trying to put Scoresby in his place. So far, no raiding party has successfully stolen from the Market while it's been under his command.
Miner Flats
Finally, there’s a small mining town and, predictably, mines in the mountains of the north-west quadrant, directly west of Tycoons' Depot. It’s a little bigger than Bank Town by population, mostly miners, but more densely packed. Most of the buildings are empty, but there are plenty of hanging baskets and scaffolding to climb around on, and no one’s entirely sure how deep the mines go. It seems to be mostly copper, gold and silver, but in recent rounds they have also struck iron in a new vein.Notable LocationsThe Miner's Tent. Not as much an official location as the closest locale to the entrance of the mines themselves, and distinctly larger than the rest of the tents occupying the designated living zone. Typically manned by Moloch Von Zinzer, and filled with paperwork of various kinds. Often, but not always, a total disaster.