My trip to NYC was incredible.

Highlights included: being in the audience for different morning shows, sitting behind the cameras on the Glenn Beck show and talking to him afterwards, visiting the Statue of Liberty, being given an exclusive tour inside the gates of Ground Zero itself, visiting Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, being in the audience of the Late Show, walking through Times Square to going on tours of both uptown and downtown Manhattan, singing Karaoke in Greenwich Village, being given $2000 seats to the Yankees game, three rows back from the first base line, and eating lunch in Hell’s Kitchen (the patrol-grounds of Daredevil, the Man Without Fear).

It was an incredible trip.

I also realized a great many things about gaming.

1. Make your cities real. I was told by one tour guide that it’s rare to find something in New York City that lasts more than 100 years or so. As he said, “the city is constantly erasing itself”. It’s possible to find things, but more often than not, they are torn down to make room for the ‘new’. In this same way, the skylines of cities in both your fantasy and sci-fi games should change as well. If your group played 3.5 Forgotten Realms, and now have jumped ahead to 4e, 100 years later, many of their old stomping grounds should be gone by now, replaced by new locations. Perhaps new walls have been constructed, better than before. Art styles will have changed, as well as the way things are built.

2. Make your locations real. Walking through New York, I was able to identify lots of locations I’ve read about in fiction. My favorites were the Marvel Comics locations. “Hey look, there’s the Daily Bugle!” or “Hey, that’s Hell’s Kitchen!” or “We’re in Greenwich Village! That’s where Doctor Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum is!” or “That’s where Stark Tower would be located!” All of these things contribute to really making the comics now seem more alive than ever before. Looking around Times Square and imagining it destroyed by the Marvel Civil War was chilling, seeing how many people are crammed in there every day. It inspires me to start my own Marvel Comics Superhero game, using NY as the backdrop and being as geographically accurate as possible.

3. Make your people real. I happened to walk past Lauren Graham on Broadway my first day in town. I got to meet Glenn Beck, as well as Dane Cook, and saw Adam Lambert perform live only a few feet away on the CBS Early Show (it should run tomorrow morning). I even met Spider-Man in Battery Park (whose costume was looking worse for wear). The point is, your heroes should be welcome to interact and meet famous characters in the game world. If you’re playing Star Wars, don’t be afraid to have them pass Dash Rendar on the street. Many DMs fear that seeing a canon character would cause the players to want to kill the character to screw with the timeline, but if you’re not playing with a bunch of asses, this wouldn’t be an issue. Their characters wouldn’t know what future events transpire in that character’s life.

In the end, I learned a lot from NYC. Next time you’re in a big city, pay attention to things around you for inspiration for your RPGs.