Cross-posted from RPG Pub

So, I've been preparing a chronicle for my college's gaming club that is set to debut this Friday. Originally I was going to set the game in Chicago (1E style with the 1E rules) but I talked it over with my two prospective players so far and they aren't interested in Chicago (neither of them are familiar with VTM though).

I am thinking I could base a chronicle right here in the Roanoke Valley, but with a population of less than 400,000 in the combined metro area, that may be too small for a decent Vampire game, even if I don't adhere to the 1:100,000 Kindred-to-Mortal ratio (which I don't). I also had ideas for Los Angeles, most likely using 1E for the tabletop rules.

However, I'm going to ignore the whole "Anarch Free State" storyline from 2e and Revised, and instead design L.A. as a Camarilla stronghold with a heavy Anarch presence, similar to Chicago. I may or may not include characters from VTM: Bloodlines, I'm not sure. Rules will still most likely be done with First Edition and the campaign run in the First Edition style.

I've been doing research into what Southern California was like in the 1980's, particularly in terms of gang culture as well as the Punk Rock and Heavy Metal scenes in the area. Apparently, there were a lot of Punk gangs and even a few Metalhead gangs. Most notably, MS-13 originally started out as a gang of Salvadoran Metalheads (many of them came over as refugees from the Salvadoran Civil War in the 70's) in the early 1980s before they grew in number and became what they are today. Other examples include Venice 13, a Hispanic punk gang based in Venice Beach, the Suicidals, La Mirada Punks, and before they adapted a Far Right ideology, Public Enemy No. 1 was originally a punk gang (and we'll leave it at that, as I don't want this thread to get political).

While there is a rivalry between the Punk and Heavy Metal scenes today, my research has indicated that in parts of Southern California, the Punks and Metalheads were on friendly terms and in some cases, were outright allies in the early-to-mid 1980's (it helps that both were rooted in anti-establishment ideology and rebellious rock music), though this was not universal and varied from place to place. And given the fact that early Vampire was heavily influenced by the Goth, Punk, and Heavy Metal subcultures, this would be fairly important to a L.A.-based 1E Chronicle, especially one set in the 1980's or very early 1990's.

Anyone else have information on 1980's Southern California, or even just 1980's youth culture in general? I'd particularly like information on the Punk, Metal, and Goth scenes of the 80's. Being born in 1993 in rural Virginia, I can safely say that secondhand sources and online research can only get me so far.

Are you familiar with New Wave Requiem? Since it's a VtM sourcebook about the 80's, it seems relevant to what you're doing.

And of course, vampires + 1980's California = The Lost Boys, though I'm not sure if that's the feel you're going for.

I actually spent several months there in the 1980s visiting family.  One of my cousins was into metal, the other one was a goth. But I'll be damned if there was anything particularly notable about either that sticks in my head. I think actual gang members were quite rare, most people who are fans of music are just fans of music.

With that said, you might watch some movies (besides The Lost Boys). Repo Man is the obvious one regarding punks. Vamp is somewhat in the same tone and while it's mostly about three college guys, they interact with strange denizens in LA, including a gang

I lived in LA from the early 70's into the mid-90s. My two-cents if you care.

Quote from: Doc Sammy;997435Cross-posted from RPG Pub
I've been doing research into what Southern California was like in the 1980's, particularly in terms of gang culture as well as the Punk Rock and Heavy Metal scenes in the area. Apparently, there were a lot of Punk gangs and even a few Metalhead gangs. Most notably, MS-13 originally started out as a gang of Salvadoran Metalheads (many of them came over as refugees from the Salvadoran Civil War in the 70's) in the early 1980s before they grew in number and became what they are today. Other examples include Venice 13, a Hispanic punk gang based in Venice Beach, the Suicidals, La Mirada Punks, and before they adapted a Far Right ideology, Public Enemy No. 1 was originally a punk gang (and we'll leave it at that, as I don't want this thread to get political).

Depends on when you're setting it. Gang culture in LA has always been there - but in the prevalency of what you're talking about, punk "gangs" and metalheads were nothing remotely as formal as the Bloods and Crips. Nor were they even *close* to the size of those gangs. Mexican gangs? Sure. MS-13 didn't become a thing until way later. They were around but Surenos and Nortenos were already well established - MS-13 were the new kids on the block down on Pico. Punks back in the day. They pretty much took out a chunk of the turf and absorbed a piece of the Surenos (basically - anything with "13" for the non-gang speaking. in reference to SoCal vs. NorCal gangs "Nortenos" who use 14). MS-13 didn't really blow up until later.

That SAID... Bloods and Crips were still the most notable sets in southcentral. East LA was firmly Mexican Mafia (and to a greater extent - diversified with the Central American exodus less Mexican than most assume). And Coast cities had a smattering of everything. Shoreline Crips in Venice and Santa Monica, mixed with skate-punks and headbangers, and lots of Sureno-gangs (Venice 13 - punk bitches). But you won't see much gang activity in the coast cities of Hermosa, El Porto, Manhattan Beach, El Segundo, Marina Del Rey - fucking cops will crush that shit with ferocity. Even Santa Monica and Venice - gangs tend to be on much better behavior. They'll scrap with one another, but once the normies are affected, the cops will come in and squash it, hard.

Quote from: Doc Sammy;997435While there is a rivalry between the Punk and Heavy Metal scenes today, my research has indicated that in parts of Southern California, the Punks and Metalheads were on friendly terms and in some cases, were outright allies in the early-to-mid 1980's (it helps that both were rooted in anti-establishment ideology and rebellious rock music), though this was not universal and varied from place to place. And given the fact that early Vampire was heavily influenced by the Goth, Punk, and Heavy Metal subcultures, this would be fairly important to a L.A.-based 1E Chronicle, especially one set in the 1980's or very early 1990's.

Anyone else have information on 1980's Southern California, or even just 1980's youth culture in general? I'd particularly like information on the Punk, Metal, and Goth scenes of the 80's. Being born in 1993 in rural Virginia, I can safely say that secondhand sources and online research can only get me so far.

Punk and Goth scenes back then intermingled. The penultimate "goth industrial" club was Helter Skelter hosted at The Probe (which on "normal" days was a gay club). Helter Skelter was pretty much the staple of the LA goth scene. There were "gothier" places (the notorious Club Fuck - which really was BDSM Goths being pervy in the open) but Helter Skelter was it. Seven Seas nightclub hosted "Scream" on Mondays, and it moved to some other places so depending on which incarnation, Scream was a staple too - and *everyone* from the Goth/Industrial/Metal scene at some point played there from SoCal. Chilis, NiN, GnR, Faith No More, TSoL, etc. plus all the underground favorites.

Metalheads were doing places like the Troubadour, Gazzaris, The Waters Club, The Whiskey, etc. all the usual stops up and down Sunset.  I would never classify metalheads as "gangs" nor punks for that matter. They were distinct tribes sure, and if you fucked with them - gangbanger or not, they'll generally throw down. Usually "real" gangbangers and punks and metalheads didn't really run into one another unless you were down in Hollywood or the beach.

Punks - most punks I knew hung out down in Venice and Hollywood. Live shows - The Starwood. Straight up. I was young the first time I went there, and it was scary as fuck. Mayhem was pretty much all that mattered. Beer, urine and B.O. and loud ridiculous music. The Starwood was the punk response to the Troubadour - though their crowds cross-pollinated. The Troubadour was far more "polished".

What specifically did you want to know about? What kind of booze and drugs we did?

I did write a huge Vampire by Night: Los Angeles submission to White Wolf around 1993 but it was too large. They guy they went with knew essentially nothing about LA. It was a sad sad sad book. The funny part is it was supposed to be the Anarch Free states - but the author just made the Anarchs a bunch of weak ass bitches that divided up the city much like the Camarilla does with baby-princes called "Barons". Dumb.

My idea was much more tribal. Much more lethal. No city of the size of LA could possibly not stand independent of the Camarilla or Sabbat without some leeches of actual power and in some degree - solidarity backing them. I had a couple of powerful leeches (Robin of Leeland and his "Merry Men" heh) being one of the warlords of LA. Along with a guy that rode with Pancho Villa - Paco Camacho, who was a diablerie obsessed Brujah that held sway over the Mexican Mob. And the Bloods and Crips I had under the control of Chicago By Night's Kevin Jackson - so there was a thread to connect the books. Plus a ton of other stuff. A lot of the stuff I had ironically ended up being portrayed eerily similar to the Bloodlines game by Troika.

If you're interested I can toss out ideas I remember. I don't think I have the manuscript anymore.

Quote from: tenbones;997823I did write a huge Vampire by Night: Los Angeles submission to White Wolf around 1993 but it was too large. They guy they went with knew essentially nothing about LA. It was a sad sad sad book. The funny part is it was supposed to be the Anarch Free states - but the author just made the Anarchs a bunch of weak ass bitches that divided up the city much like the Camarilla does with baby-princes called "Barons". Dumb.

My idea was much more tribal. Much more lethal. No city of the size of LA could possibly not stand independent of the Camarilla or Sabbat without some leeches of actual power and in some degree - solidarity backing them. I had a couple of powerful leeches (Robin of Leeland and his "Merry Men" heh) being one of the warlords of LA. Along with a guy that rode with Pancho Villa - Paco Camacho, who was a diablerie obsessed Brujah that held sway over the Mexican Mob. And the Bloods and Crips I had under the control of Chicago By Night's Kevin Jackson - so there was a thread to connect the books. Plus a ton of other stuff. A lot of the stuff I had ironically ended up being portrayed eerily similar to the Bloodlines game by Troika.

If you're interested I can toss out ideas I remember. I don't think I have the manuscript anymore.

Sounds interesting, and I would love to know more of what you remember.

As for the gang culture, I knew from my research the punk gangs were much smaller and less organized than the Surenos, Bloods, Crips, or other more traditional gangs. I just was surprised they even existed at all. But I do appreciate your information and I'll be sure to include hotspots like Scream and Helter Skelter in there too, and I love the ideas behind your proposed LA setting from the 90's.

Quote from: Doc Sammy;997849Sounds interesting, and I would love to know more of what you remember.

As for the gang culture, I knew from my research the punk gangs were much smaller and less organized than the Surenos, Bloods, Crips, or other more traditional gangs. I just was surprised they even existed at all. But I do appreciate your information and I'll be sure to include hotspots like Scream and Helter Skelter in there too, and I love the ideas behind your proposed LA setting from the 90's.

Sure! As I recall....

LA I had broken up into large sections of the city with appropriate industries ubiquitous to LA being vied for obvious reasons. In order to "make it fit" within the context of 1e Vampire - with the assumptions of the Camarilla and Sabbat well established by 1992, anyone living in LA would immediatly understand that LA would be a warzone for vampires sects.Trying to make it fit as an Anarch stronghold almost demands that - because anarchs as individuals or small tribes would *easily* get picked off by more organized and powerful vampires of the two big sects. To this effect it meant, to me, that independent vampires had to be here in sufficient number and of sufficient power to make it 1) not worth the Camarilla/Sabbat's time to roll in strong 2) make it nearly impossible due to the fractious nature of the environment. 3) all of the above. I chose #3 because it makes it far more interesting.

Los Angeles as a Reef

It's not that the Warlords are "Princes" per se. They are merely the Great White Sharks on the reef that mutually agree to not kill one another while tending to the overall condition of the reef itself. Other fish, some great predators in their own right come and go, as long as they don't shit everywhere and leave a mess - or they don't have designs on taking over the reef - it's generally "all good". But when shit has to go down, lessons need to be taught, they handle their business with ruthlessness worthy of the Sabbat.

In my game there were five warlords that maintained a general peace among the Vampire. United in one thing: to keep the Camarilla and Sabbat out - beyond that, everything is negotiable. Each warlord loosely controlled a specific territory and/or "sphere of influence" that the others generally agreed to. This also meant that vampires that fucked up in a certain territory - it was expected that those warlords would take care of it via their network or do it personally. This doesn't mean that the rules of LA were the same as the Camarilla or Sabbat. Rather it was the Masquerade, and that's about it. If you make progeny and you fuck up, or they fuck up, someone, depending on whose territory you were in would deal with you. It might warrant your life - it might mean a lifetime of servitude - or worse. But breaking the Masquerade, that's generally a death-sentence. Diablerie is a no-no only if caught. Otherwise it was almost anything goes. And by "almost" I mean that you could do what you want until someone more powerful than you on the reef decides otherwise.

The Warlords created a necessary arbiter among the disparate Anarch groups in the city. Even visiting Sabbat and Camarilla vampires could feasibly come and go in peace (but at minimum they would be watched by *somebody*). There are always disputes, and ultimately even Anarchs are predated upon because... yeah there's a slight werewolf problem among other nasty things attracted to the free-wheeling nature of WoD LA. If you couldn't solve the problem yourself, you'd have to go up the pecking order to eventually one of the Warlords. Prestation of course is slightly different. and tends to be less drawn out because Anarchs value freedom. Favor for a favor among anarchs is good business. That dangling favor bullshit is irritating. But it depends on the circumstances. The vampire population is high and it fluctuates. But there are permanent residences of various cliques throughout the city.


Below the Warlords were individuals and crews that had "permanent" residence. And after that - newbcakes that were learning the ropes and essentially had no place dug out for themselves, or soon wouldn't be around long enough to matter. Because LA had several problems...

1) The Thing Under the City - So I had this "thing" under the city of LA picking off vampires and other denizens alike. I left it somewhat ambiguous but made it four options: a really nasty pack of Sabbat infiltrators masquerading as Anarchs, a pack of Black Spiral Dancers collecting vampires for this huge ritual to wake the Wyrm-beast at the Hyperion Plant in El Segundo, a Niktuku! WHEE!, or a Camarilla Justicar and his Archons looking to infiltrate and kill the warlords, setting the stage for a Camarilla takeover.

2) The Hyperion Plant - in real life the Hyperion Plant is a water treatment facility that routinely overflows and spews ginormous amounts of raw pollutants into the ocean semi-annually. At one point it had the record for the most EPA violations of such facilities on any given year. It makes the perfect place for a Black Spiral Cairn. Yeah I know it's not Vampire - but LA is kinda boring without acknowledging all the potential for the WoD stuff. Otherwise I left options for it being owned by a powerful Nosferatu that concocted various poisons that could affect Kindred here.

3) Werewolves - Palos Verdes Estates. The entire peninsula is wealthy, wooded, and rises above the filth of LA from the South. The entire peninsula was the protectorate of a Silver Fang Tribe rank 4 cairn. the *vast* majority of kindred that live in LA don't know what's up there. They're given fair warning that vampires that go there, never come back. Several locals know the truth - but they don't talk about it. The problem is that there is another smaller cairn in downtown - the Glass Walkers. And while these two tribes don't really like one another - they're unified in their general war on the Wyrm, ironically the leeches are the least of their issues. The Hyperion Plant in El Segundo is a Black Spiral hive, and something has kicked off
something bad in their juju-alarm. To the north - Hollywood hills are forested and the perfect place for the garou. Kindred don't go up there. (Ironically in the Bloodlines game - this was true there too).

4) Tremere/Setite War - The Tremere are here in force. They have means to travel to the city (various Masonic Lodges in LA - are massive gated affairs) allow Tremere to come and go "usually". But they're plotting something. They've been waiting and watching, and of course I gave several options on what it was they're doing:  The Setites are deeply ensconced in LA. And the irony is the Setites are fighting with the Anarchs to keep it indepedent, but the Tremere are trying to bring it down. They know a lot of the secrets of LA - but can't easily manipulate things yet. The Setites can't go to the Warlords yet because they want to corrupt the Tremere and take their toys. To confound things - a couple of Tremere have switched sides, breaking away from the strong authoritarian Pyramid for the lust of power the Setitites offer - including a potential cure for their connection to whomever sits at the top. I had some other details about this shadow-war that spilled out into the setting via other NPC's and groups connected in one way or another to each side.

Places and Things of note: (Most of this info are real places that you can consider)

The Underground - During the 30's and 40's Los Angeles had many tunnels dug in beneath the city proper. The Army Corps of Engineers (or so my neighbor told me) dug in military tunnels that crisscrossed downtown and several that allegedly ran from Riverside to the north all the way underneath Palos Verdes into the ocean (Sunken City). It was said those tunnels dug out by the ACE connected to the earlier tunnel systems that were used for bootlegging downtown during Prohibition, as well as connected via various passages to the larger sewer system and the LA River system (which you see in all the movies whenever you see a chase scene in LA: Terminator 2, Heat, etc. A *lot* of stuff happens in these tunnels - parties, murder, drug-deals - and it's a massive set of distinct networks that could easily house anything you want.

Sunken City - The tip of the Palos Verdes peninsula has these houses that essentially collapsed and fell into the sea decades ago. It's a great place to go partying as a teen, it's right on the ocean. However, it connects to a tunnel system created by the ACE - during WWII they had several missile bases secreted throughout the peninsula (most residences had no idea). Well into the cold war, these bases were serviced by a network of tunnels that you can find entrances to if you know where to look. They retired the bases in the 70's but the rumors are the tunnels connect to the Underground networks that allegedly can go all the way to Riverside. I've personally been in the tunnels and gone pretty deep with my friends. Never really found the end. Got in so deep we got scared we'd not find our way out...

Sunset Strip - Yep, it's everything you ever heard about and worse. In the 80's it is rock clubs and bars, hotels and shitloads of liquor stores and refugees from Mad Max chilling at delicatessens and bar-hopping in transit. Homeless, hookers, poseurs, tourists, dreamers looking to break into the entertainment business, cops, runaways, street-performers and even occasional residents! It's the literal ultimate hunting ground for a leech. Plenty of iconic clubs - The Roxy (personal favorite), Whiskey A Go Go, Viper Room, Troubadour etc. - I've thrown up/passed out in them all (cept the Viper Room, which oddly I've only to been to once) - each has its own storied past. In vampire terms these places would likely be controlled by various ghouls or the occasional intrepid leech themselves. Largely a place for nocturnal activities it would provide a massive amount of blood-resources. Likely this would be a place where the "free for alls" would get ugly.

Hawthorne Masonic Temple/Hawthorne Math & Science Academy - In the 80's/90's the Hawthorne Masonic temple was a huge gated building in an otherwise lower-middle/middle-class suburb of Hawthorne in the South Bay. It stuck out like a gigantic palatial structure surrounded by cheap houses and apartments. It was WEIRD, not just by it's appearance, but by the neighborhood it was in. It enjoyed being across the street from the Hawthorne PD. The places was turned into the Math & Science academy in the early 2000's. Perfect place for the Tremere>Technocracy>Silver Ladder folks depending on your game, to have their HQ. Naturally they control the police across the street.

(more later)

No, no, no, you should be doing vampires in Miami in the 1980s!  Picture Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas with fangs. They're already halfway there stalking the night and sleazy clubs full of cocaine and gangsters.

Quote from: Doc Sammy;997849Sounds interesting, and I would love to know more of what you remember.

As for the gang culture, I knew from my research the punk gangs were much smaller and less organized than the Surenos, Bloods, Crips, or other more traditional gangs. I just was surprised they even existed at all. But I do appreciate your information and I'll be sure to include hotspots like Scream and Helter Skelter in there too, and I love the ideas behind your proposed LA setting from the 90's.

Also you focus a lot on Goths, but the 80's was also the decade of MTV and New Wave.  Don't forget the Mods, as much as you might like to.

Quote from: Dumarest;997961No, no, no, you should be doing vampires in Miami in the 1980s!  Picture Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas with fangs. They're already halfway there stalking the night and sleazy clubs full of cocaine and gangsters.

This. Would. Be. Glorious.

Quote from: CRKrueger;998038Also you focus a lot on Goths, but the 80's was also the decade of MTV and New Wave.  Don't forget the Mods, as much as you might like to.

Mods and all the Ska people were far more prevalent in the Valley or down in OC (but they had their smaller enclaves in LA). Definitely deserves to be in the 80's pantheon of "things" as the rest. But I wasn't much into those scenes other than the occasional coincidence I happened upon them.

Orange County - in particular rubbed me wrong for years. A rabid element of the punks turned into skinheads and it simply became unsafe. I have been in more than half a dozen altercations down in OC because of their "Locals Only" attitude, especially down in Newport and Huntington Beach. Surfers, Skins, punks, - they all have this territoriality thing about OC when I lived there. No love for outsiders. Dunno if it holds true today.

Surf/Skate culture - there is a HUGE part of SoCal. Beach Boys were from Hawthorne (my home town) - and all the beach cities Long Beach, Redondo, Hermosa, Manhatten, El Porto, El Segundo, Dockwiler, Marina Del Rey, Santa Monica, Venice and Malibu - all have their own distinct mini-tribes. But they all share this thing where everyone from all the other sub-cultures of LA would, at some point, rub elbows with everyone else. Though it needs to be said - some beach cities were *not* welcoming to everyone. Redondo, Venice and Santa Monica are the touristy meccas. If you want classic SoCal beach-scene - Manhattan, Hermosa, and El Porto cannot be beat. If you want to buy drugs, get into fights with gangbangers and see all the non-beach people congregate at night where you can build bonfires - Dockwiler. If you want rides, and dining, cheap dates, fishing, and the circus - go to Redondo Pier. All of those places make *SUPERB* feeding grounds for vampires.

Quote from: tenbones;998161X

All of this, what you said, is fascinating. Absolutely fascinating.

The crazy thing is, it really, *really* sounds like someone who's from LA. Like really sounds it. No-one else mentioned Venice, Santa Monica, D-Rey and even East LA (and I assume Chino beyond?)

It's funny, our current game at the club is held in LA. The idea you've had for the Anarchs makes a lot more sense than what they came up with (the idea of Barons is hypocritical -- and not in a good way like WW most likely wanted). We're doing a Mage game and I've built it so that the independent, Unaligned Mages have solidified together into quasi-criminal syndicate styled Consilium that is strong enough to ward off encroachment into their turf from the far more established and bigger Orders. Events in-game -- and with our timeskip four years into the future into 2019 -- have made it so that they have fortified their grip on the metropolitan area and have reduced the Orders to a token presence in the area. Half our current regs are Unaligned, the other half have characters which are members of the Orders. It's gotten divisive politically and now its really about to get heated.

Los Angeles is the perfect place to set any World of Darkness game. It really is. It is the perfect city. You can sculpt it any way you want and it's pure platinum. I love that my players -- different ones, mind -- bring in maps of the region they've obtained from fuck-knows-where and then see the city and then they realise how absolutely massive it is compared to London. The scale is what catches them. So when I break down the Consilium into having Adjutants (street bosses) that control different districts within the metro, they had to catch-up at first but now they're used to it, the distances. And then when describing the areas -- industrial Gardena, buick-y Lakewood, ritzy Marina Del Rey, shithole Long Beach, street hawker Fashion District, racist-as-fuck Orange County blah blah -- they've now started to act as though these are properly different little fiefdoms in and of themselves.

A lot of the best rock and punk has come out of Cali, not just LA. Snot, Black Flag, Beth Hart, Alien Ant Farm, Thrice, Incubus, Audiovent, Motograter. The music scene is phenomenal. Hah hah, before this becomes too much a love letter, I'll just leave it at "yeah, I've got kind-of-a-thing about LA".

And I'm quite happy that our game is going very well! Even with newbies walking into Long Beach vape shops wielding M4 and decked out in ballistic vests and cargo shorts scaring clerks behind the counter into giving them the keys to the back which lead to underground Sleepwalker-run drug dens...

Quote from: tenbones;998154This. Would. Be. Glorious.

It's about the only thing that could get me interested in a vampire game.

I keep trying to get people willing to play Crime Fighter (by Aaron Allston, from Task Force Games) in a Miami Vice setting.

Quote from: PrometheanVigil;998209All of this, what you said, is fascinating. Absolutely fascinating.

The crazy thing is, it really, *really* sounds like someone who's from LA. Like really sounds it. No-one else mentioned Venice, Santa Monica, D-Rey and even East LA (and I assume Chino beyond?)

Beyond East LA - you're getting into the real outskirts which today are very fashionable and trendy (but comparatively much cheaper, but not for long). Pasadena and north into Palmdale - these would likely be vast tracks of dangerous suburbs for vampires. Great places to Mages that wanna stay off the radar. Things are far more trendier there now than when I lived there, but that's due to the prices of property skyrocketing in the mid-90's (sadly right before I left. My home there was $180k when I moved in. When I left it sold for $250k. Within three years after selling - it sold for $800k.) today most people can't afford to live there. In the '80's? Easily done!

Directly east of East LA - you're talking Covina, Pomona, City of Industry, Cucamonga - not really sure what they're like now. Haven't been there in years. When I lived in LA they were hubs for *lots* of newly arriving Asian communities (especially Covina, El Monte and parts of Downey). But you know there's large tracks of communities where ethnic groups intermix. Case in point Covina, El Monte and Downey all had large hispanic populations too - and the filipinos and Vietnamese would intermingle pretty deeply back then. The further east/south-east you went the more Asian and white it got as you closed in on Orange County in Fullerton and Irvine. (UC Irvine has a big influence on this too)

Not mentioning Venice and Santa Monica and East LA when talking about LA would be a fucking tragedy of epic proportions. LA wouldn't even be the same without those places.

Quote from: PrometheanVigil;998209It's funny, our current game at the club is held in LA. The idea you've had for the Anarchs makes a lot more sense than what they came up with (the idea of Barons is hypocritical -- and not in a good way like WW most likely wanted).

It *really* is a horrible book. It doesn't even begin to describe the horrid splendor of LA. The sheer transcendent crassness of the place, the decadent fake-ass glamour and desperate status-obsession, mixed in with frenetic energy of the place, and the scary period of the 80's leading up to the riots in particular. The author simply doesn't understand the city, and I'd heard he'd never been there. It reads like a religious pap-smear instruction kit. Lifeless and completely wrong.

Quote from: PrometheanVigil;998209We're doing a Mage game and I've built it so that the independent, Unaligned Mages have solidified together into quasi-criminal syndicate styled Consilium that is strong enough to ward off encroachment into their turf from the far more established and bigger Orders. Events in-game -- and with our timeskip four years into the future into 2019 -- have made it so that they have fortified their grip on the metropolitan area and have reduced the Orders to a token presence in the area. Half our current regs are Unaligned, the other half have characters which are members of the Orders. It's gotten divisive politically and now its really about to get heated.

Los Angeles is the perfect place to set any World of Darkness game. It really is. It is the perfect city. You can sculpt it any way you want and it's pure platinum. I love that my players -- different ones, mind -- bring in maps of the region they've obtained from fuck-knows-where and then see the city and then they realise how absolutely massive it is compared to London. The scale is what catches them. So when I break down the Consilium into having Adjutants (street bosses) that control different districts within the metro, they had to catch-up at first but now they're used to it, the distances. And then when describing the areas -- industrial Gardena, buick-y Lakewood, ritzy Marina Del Rey, shithole Long Beach, street hawker Fashion District, racist-as-fuck Orange County blah blah -- they've now started to act as though these are properly different little fiefdoms in and of themselves.

A lot of the best rock and punk has come out of Cali, not just LA. Snot, Black Flag, Beth Hart, Alien Ant Farm, Thrice, Incubus, Audiovent, Motograter. The music scene is phenomenal. Hah hah, before this becomes too much a love letter, I'll just leave it at "yeah, I've got kind-of-a-thing about LA".

And I'm quite happy that our game is going very well! Even with newbies walking into Long Beach vape shops wielding M4 and decked out in ballistic vests and cargo shorts scaring clerks behind the counter into giving them the keys to the back which lead to underground Sleepwalker-run drug dens...

Oh yeah - being an LA native, it really is an interesting place. It's radically different than NYC, or Chicago, or were I live now - Dallas. It really is oddly a "segregated cosmopolitan soup-pot" with a bizarre set of emergent sub-cultures that are unique. (Which I know you can say for any major metropolitan city). The music scene is seriously ridiculous, always has been. Beyond just its punk and rock scene - the hip-hop scene is bar-none *massive*. I know hip-hop is not the music of choice for most RP'ers, but if you're gonna do LA, hip-hop culture is as vital as any other to the setting. The entire West Coast rap sound is soaked into the culture (and largely irrelevant now) but back then, it was massively subversive and underground (circa '87 onward).

Long Beach is a shithole - BUT there are little unknown enclaves of Long Beach that aren't. They're gated government neighborhoods near the base of Palos Verdes and Long Beach. When I say government neighborhoods - I mean government agents. Not rank and file office workers, The interiors of those communities are quite nice. Good gaming fodder for you.

LA also had a great jazz scene from the 40s to the 60s/70s. Not sure what it is like now.