The Burbs.

[Shorty Lickens]

Pics stolen from all over the internet:


https://i.pinimg.com/originals/a3/57/c7 ... c48fd5.jpg
https://i.pinimg.com/600x315/f6/4a/a0/f ... e3fdf8.jpg
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/70/fb/01 ... 4b3bf2.jpg
https://i.redd.it/rttr5tnpsof41.jpg
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/2e/29/27 ... 0034ee.jpg
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/b6/b7/7f ... a09f6f.jpg
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/1f/4c/4f ... 8f3b84.jpg
https://i.redd.it/14q07gcaqfuy.jpg

(none with monsters)

[Rifter_GM]

Nice pics!

[darthauthor]

The pics are nice.

I see a lot of materials that could be recycled.

[Grazzik]

Not quite how I'd envision the Burbs, but definitely apropos for soon after the apocalypse of Chaos Earth or Dead Reign

The last one of Toronto with what looks like habitation on the rooftops makes a lot of sense. As sea levels rose due to Atlantis, water would probably be pushed backwards through the St Lawrence, raising the lake levels and would likely flood the subway and streets south of city hall. This might also trigger an overturn of toxic gases in deep lake sediment, so people would take to rooftops to breathe. (Lake Ontario turns over every year, so this wouldn't likely happen, but the idea of a killer lake fart during an apocalypse is too good to pass up and "setting the ambiance" for a lakeside adventure is a great excuse for when a GM eats too many beans before a session... )

[Killer Cyborg]

I think The Burbs is supposed to be mostly temporary structures and such. Tents, trailers, cargo-units... yurts...?
Not sure what all that would include.
But I've always played it as having actual BUILDINGS be pretty rare in the Burbs.

[desrocfc]

I think The Burbs is supposed to be mostly temporary structures and such. Tents, trailers, cargo-units... yurts...?
Not sure what all that would include.
But I've always played it as having actual BUILDINGS be pretty rare in the Burbs.

I know this one is entirely groups-specific and GM decision. According to the books, however, there are Old Towns that are every bit as advanced and clean as inside the megalopolis of Chi-Town, perhaps more so. I've always envisioned a hodgepodge of walled modern cities, akin to the city in Mazerunner 3 (horrible film otherwise, ugh....), surrounded by tracts of less modern "towns" with shantytowns filling in the gaps and sprawling out from there.

Some of those pics are certainly eligible for a 'Burb that went through a purge and never recovered, which is a great catalyst for any 'Burb-based adventure. Myself, I'd use these picture to represent those zones as fodder for a host of badness now infecting surrounding towns, with CS patrols and encounters in and around. PCs clean-up/exploit the "purge zone" from there. <shrug>

These kinds of images are great for ideas though!

[Killer Cyborg]

I think The Burbs is supposed to be mostly temporary structures and such. Tents, trailers, cargo-units... yurts...?
Not sure what all that would include.
But I've always played it as having actual BUILDINGS be pretty rare in the Burbs.

I know this one is entirely groups-specific and GM decision. According to the books, however, there are Old Towns that are every bit as advanced and clean as inside the megalopolis of Chi-Town, perhaps more so. I've always envisioned a hodgepodge of walled modern cities, akin to the city in Mazerunner 3 (horrible film otherwise, ugh....), surrounded by tracts of less modern "towns" with shantytowns filling in the gaps and sprawling out from there.

Some of those pics are certainly eligible for a 'Burb that went through a purge and never recovered, which is a great catalyst for any 'Burb-based adventure. Myself, I'd use these picture to represent those zones as fodder for a host of badness now infecting surrounding towns, with CS patrols and encounters in and around. PCs clean-up/exploit the "purge zone" from there. <shrug>

These kinds of images are great for ideas though!

Well, ya done made me get out books and refresh myself!


RUE 28
The Chi-Town 'Burbs spread across the land for miles around the fortified city. They range from small city-like communities with 10 and 15 story buildings scattered among the homes and smaller 204 story businesses and dwellings, to the pathetic tents and shacks of the shanty-towns on the furthest outskirts.
and
With the possible exception of the Old Town 'Burbs, this outlying community is a den of iniquity... Except for the older, more affluent sections, nearest Chi-Town, such as City Side (with skyscrapers that tower as high as 30 stories) and Hillcrest (a wealthy residential sector), the squalor and lack of sanitation is appalling.

So you're absolutely right; I was remembering things wrong.
What's more, the RMB seems to have the same description, so I was remembering things REALLY wrong!


Or I slipped down the wrong trouser-leg of time.

[Grazzik]

Yup, that's how I play it. The adventure books with the Firetown Burb are great resources. Almost as good as Juarez and Merc Town descriptions.

[glitterboy2098]

most of those look way too overgrown and crumbling to be the burbs. they'd make great visuals for the ruins of Chicago though.

the burbs would be a mix of Megacity one from Dredd (especially in the older, more well off more areas like cityside.), the slums from Elysium, and the squatter communities and black market from Babylon AD. with elements of the border and rim worlds from firefly, where high tech and low tech mingle, and you get a lot of repurposed shipping containers and so on.

[guardiandashi]

most of those look way too overgrown and crumbling to be the burbs. they'd make great visuals for the ruins of Chicago though.

the burbs would be a mix of Megacity one from Dredd (especially in the older, more well off more areas like cityside.), the slums from Elysium, and the squatter communities and black market from Babylon AD. with elements of the border and rim worlds from firefly, where high tech and low tech mingle, and you get a lot of repurposed shipping containers and so on.

I would also throw in a lot of "district 9" old detroit from the first Robocop movie (not the reboot)

but in general I would say pretty much none of the arcology/ scyscrapers from Dredd

[SolCannibal]

most of those look way too overgrown and crumbling to be the burbs. they'd make great visuals for the ruins of Chicago though.

the burbs would be a mix of Megacity one from Dredd (especially in the older, more well off more areas like cityside.), the slums from Elysium, and the squatter communities and black market from Babylon AD. with elements of the border and rim worlds from firefly, where high tech and low tech mingle, and you get a lot of repurposed shipping containers and so on.

I would also throw in a lot of "district 9" old detroit from the first Robocop movie (not the reboot)

but in general I would say pretty much none of the arcology/ scyscrapers from Dredd

Agreed. The Dredd ones would be much more like the Coalition cities proper.

[Shorty Lickens]

I think The Burbs is supposed to be mostly temporary structures and such. Tents, trailers, cargo-units... yurts...?
Not sure what all that would include.
But I've always played it as having actual BUILDINGS be pretty rare in the Burbs.

In my mind the Burbs were always the bombed out SDC structures of pre-rifts Chicago, and places like that. Maybe some people will move in with either MDC cloth tents or try to set up flimsy MDC sheet buildings inside or in between the old concrete leftovers of ancient ruins. Put your illegal chem-shop inside the space that used to be Uno's Pizza, or something like that.

But I actually like your idea of tents and trailers and mobile and immobile cargo boxes. That also makes sense. people find a halfway safe place to gather and the little shanty town just keeps growing. But they are never able to build impressive fortifications because they are under routine assault by the CS, d-bees, or hostile neighbors. Maybe some of them accept extortion money to leave the residents in peace.

Actually, that could be a good campaign for a team of PC's. Either taking advantage of the local protection racket, or trying to fight it off so the locals can thrive and grow.

[SolCannibal]

I think The Burbs is supposed to be mostly temporary structures and such. Tents, trailers, cargo-units... yurts...?
Not sure what all that would include.
But I've always played it as having actual BUILDINGS be pretty rare in the Burbs.

In my mind the Burbs were always the bombed out SDC structures of pre-rifts Chicago, and places like that.

Minor aside, but i think the RMB itself mentions that pre-rifts Chicago is actually the place of one major nexus, in fact served as a base of sorts for the forces of the original Federation of Magic in the war that would lead to the foundation of the Coalition States proper and still is a regularly patrolled (and shelled) ruin occupied by the occasional monster or magic user trying to take advantage of the ley lines and rifts in the area.

Maybe some people will move in with either MDC cloth tents or try to set up flimsy MDC sheet buildings inside or in between the old concrete leftovers of ancient ruins. Put your illegal chem-shop inside the space that used to be Uno's Pizza, or something like that.

But I actually like your idea of tents and trailers and mobile and immobile cargo boxes. That also makes sense. people find a halfway safe place to gather and the little shanty town just keeps growing. But they are never able to build impressive fortifications because they are under routine assault by the CS, d-bees, or hostile neighbors. Maybe some of them accept extortion money to leave the residents in peace.

Adapted APCs or the occasional refurbished Behemoth Explorer or similars could also make for some quite convenient mobile homes, giving not only some degree of protection but the capacity to get the hell out of dodge when the Deadboys come in to blast anything they consider a threat, with little to no care for colaterals.

And you can bet in some places cells of either the black market, Coalition intelligence & military or even the Vanguard can be deeply involved with these rackets.

Actually, that could be a good campaign for a team of PC's. Either taking advantage of the local protection racket, or trying to fight it off so the locals can thrive and grow.

Not to mention some enterprising people using the burbs as a sort of recruitment area, looking for the resourceful but destitute - and possibly too educated to have real chances of acceptance into the fortified cities - among the shantytown populace for skilled people to join expeditions to unhearth some ruin that could turn into the seed of the next Free Quebec or fort El Dorado, if one gets the right ammount of resource and manpower.

[Shorty Lickens]

Rifts Adventure Book, Chi-Town Burbs, page 11:

" 'burb: A town or city of squatters outside a large Coalition city, typically a fortress city like Chi-Town, who hope to petition the State for residence into the fortress city."

That's the official book definition. But I see it could still be a basically a nice clean civilized area that just happens to not be under the official protection of the CS.