Rogue Games Tabbloid -- March 27, 2009 Edition

27 March, 2009

Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR [email protected]

ROGUE FEED

easier. From offering the Guard the former Empire State Building, to securing funding for the creation of a museum to honor the heroes, Koch linked himself with them tightly.

[Lost Works] History of Empire City, Part 4

By the end of his first term, Koch sought and easily won re-election on November 3, 1981. As the 1980’s, advanced Empire City became increasingly linked to American wealth and capitalism. With 200 commercial banks, 90 savings institutions, and hundreds of brokerage house, the city slowly moved from servicing strictly national investors to servicing international ones as well. Empire City was riding a finical wave, but there were some left behind in the wake.

MAR 26, 2009 10:21P.M.

This section, I really wanted to go into more detail, but the word count limit I was facing forced me to scale back. Still, there is a lot of good stuff here. I do wish I could have done more with the heroes and villains. I think GoO missed the mark on their “iconic” heroes and villains with SAS.

The gap between those with money and those without continued to grow. Coupled with this were a growing number of social problems impervious to fixing. Homelessness, drugs, poverty, and the beginning of the AIDS crisis, were problems not easily fixed with a new building. Though Koch made numerous proclamations he would deal with these problems, the mayor seemed more intent on concentrating on problems easily fixed with city improvement dollars.

New Heroes – 1980’s – 1990’s At the start of the 1980s Empire City seemed to be on the road to recovery. Tourism was up, employment was rising, and many flocked to see her remarkable revival. Besides upswings in business, the city enjoyed a cultural renaissance; the demand for Broadway and Off Broadway shows increased. This also marked the beginning of a new period in Broadway’s success when musicals such as Chorus Line, and Cats] began runs lasting long into the 1990s.

Koch easily won his re-election for his third term in 1985. With this victory, Koch wasted no time in planning to achieve something no other Empire City mayor had ever done—being re-elected to a fourth term. Sadly, Koch should have thought more about the present then the future, because his political fortunes were about to change. Empire City is cruel to her leaders, and refuses to let them grow complacent.

Empire City became both a tourist and business destination, and to meet the increased demand placed on rooms, six major hotels opened. Koch, who did all he could in his first term to rebuild the city, spent billions of dollars to rehabilitate roads, bridges, and sewers ignored during the financial crisis of the 70s. Besides seeing to the rehabilitation to Empire City’s infrastructure, Koch worked hard to rehabilitate the city’s relationship with the hero community.

A mayor embarrassed On January 9, 1986, Queens Borough President Donald Manes was found bleeding in his car on the Grand Central Parkway. As the investigation unfolded, it was discovered that he stabbed himself in a botch suicide attempt. During his recovery, a series of news stories written by Robert Hightower ran in the Empire Times.

The Koch era Before Koch, most mayors had little respect for the city’s heroes. The main reason for this was heroes’ tendency of destroying property in their fight against crime. A city always teetering on the brink of financial ruin found itself left with the tab to repair the damage. Beside the property damage, heroes had a tendency of poking their noses into things. A mayor only had to look into recent history to see how many former mayors brought down because nosey heroes uncovered their corruption. Heroes also had their good point—they fought crime.

The reporter had received evidence from Caliburn shedding light on a network of bribery and influence peddling. Even more shocking, political friends and allies of Koch had used their relationship with him to make millions at the city’s expense. Rather then facing arrest and enduring the embarrassment of a corruption trial, Manes successfully took his life on a second try. Investigators found they were only at the tip of the iceberg. Corruption is as much a part of Empire City politics as budget crisis, and no mayor is immune to it. Koch, who until this point had seen no scandals during his eight years in office, loved to brag that he had ushered in a new era into city government.

Never one to miss a photo opportunity, Koch recognized that by linking himself with the hero community, he could use their successes to increase his. From his first term, to his last days in office, Koch wined and dined the heroes, as well as going out of his way to make their lives

Between 1986 and 1987, numerous municipal officials and mayoral

1

Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR [email protected]

27 March, 2009

friends were indicted on corruption charges. Payoff rings existed in numerous city offices, which brought millions to the people running them. Though one implicated Koch directly, the scandal tainted him as a lax administrator more concerned with his own popularity than his city. Koch, meanwhile, learning Caliburn provided the evidence to the press, blamed the hero community for betraying him.

For many of the mayor’s critics, Dinkins four years as mayor is a failure. To some, it appeared as if the mayor was not in control. No matter what the problem was, no solution was offered, and people lost faith. Even though Dinkins helped guide the city through its economic crisis, many ignored these gains and concentrated on his lack of stemming crime. The one area where the mayor’s failure stood out the most was his handling of the attempted World Trade Center bombing.

Along with this scandal, social problems continued plaguing the city, immune from any mayoral attempts to fix them. One of these problems was the growth of crack cocaine, which became a commodity rival dealers and gangs fought over. This fighting led to rising crime rates and the transformation of some streets into battle zones. Despite the resident hero population, everyone seemed hard pressed to make any headway in dealing with the problem.

On February 26, 1993, terrorists attempted to blow up the World Trade Center by driving a car bomb into the underground parking structure. Though the attempt failed, there were casualties, and the building suffered structural damage. Dinkins, who was seeking re-election, blamed the hero community for the attack. Lashing out in a press conference, Dinkins blamed the hero community for everything that was wrong with the city. From the lack of a balanced budget, to the growth of crack, Dinkins said that if the heroes would get out of their ivory towers they would see the effect they were having on people. When a reporter blamed the mayor’s lack of hiring more police as the cause of the growing crime rate, the mayor snapped. For close to five minutes the mayor ranted stating the city had no money due to constant damage the Guard caused every time they choose to use the city as their personal playground.

Besides rising crime, the city faced a falling economy. Throughout the 1980’s, the economic boom helped Empire City grow rich. The boom turned to bust on “Black Monday.” October 19, 1987 the Empire City Stock Exchange fell from 2246 to 1738, losing 22.6% of its total value. From the start of the fall on Tuesday, October 13, to the close of trading on October 19, the Exchange fell by almost one third. This loss was significant in that all outstanding United States stocks lost of approximately one trillion dollars. This crash marked the end of a five-year period seeing the Exchange average rise from 776.92 points in August 1982 to a high of 2,722.42 points in August 1987. In the aftermath of this crash, the city lost nearly 9000 jobs, which lead to a slowing of economic growth, and a drop in city revenues. With falling revenues, Empire City’s budget quickly entered into crisis.

This was too much for a crime weary public that was tense from the attack. In response, they turned on the mayor. The hero community, who had picked up the slack after the mayor choose to not hire needed police to address a budget crisis, did not take the comments well. Sentinel put it best when he told reporters: “Where was the mayor when the Guard was helping save people from the World Trade Center? Where is the mayor when Iron Duke threatens the city? When the mayor takes to the streets to fight the problem he creates, he can criticize me. Until then maybe he should try doing his job.”

Historic firsts Despite the economic downturn, the corruption scandals, and growing social problems, Koch was determined to have a fourth consecutive term. Koch, whom the public had tired of, lost in his primary race against David Dinkins who would go on to become Empire City’s first African American mayor in 1989.

A new mayor brings law and order In 1993, Dinkins lost to his challenger Rudolph W. Giuliani who became the city’s 107th mayor. Pledging to fight crime, and to make the city safe once again, Giuliani backed the Empire City Police Department. Together they aggressively went after crime of all types. From cracking down on panhandlers to arresting drug dealers, law and order slowly returned to the city.

As the 1980’s ended, and the 1990’s began, Empire City entered the new decade with promise. You can attribute this to a new mayor, who promised to fix all the problems his predecessor ignored. Dinkins faced many challenges in his first year; much was due to the influx of new residents. Drug arrests rose and millions of dollars were spent in the hopes of finding a way to deal with a growing homeless population and deterring crime.

One of his first actions was the formation of the Marvels Tactical Unit. The brainchild of Police Commissioner William Bratton, it was Giuliani who saw its creation as a way for the city to handle powerful threats. Giving Bratton full control, the MTU sole purpose is to handle the growing problems associated with supervillains and metahumans. To strengthen the police department, Giuliani and Bratton used the reports of police corruption as the means to reorganize the entire force. To have better control the Regular, Transit and Housing forces merged into one unit. Bratton, who reported directly to the mayor, controlled the entire force.

Upon taking office, Dinkins also learned there was a large budget deficit. Tough choices were made, and it was decided the best way to deal with a deficit was not hire more police. The nation was still in recession, and Empire City was not immune to it. The recession hit the retail community hard leading to the closing of long-time Empire City retail presences of Altman’s Department Store, Gimbel’s, Korvette’s and Alexanders. The closing of these family run, and historic business, was seen by many to be the end of an era.

Together with this tough on crime stance and the pro business tax

2

Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR [email protected]

27 March, 2009

breaks, Empire City rebounded from her problems. Tourism flourished, and more people moved to the city to live. The financial markets on Wall Street also saw a boom. All of this success led to Giuliani easily winning re-election in 1997.

ROGUE FEED

Many felt that during his second term Giuliani lost interest in the city because he developed loftier goals: becoming senator. Entering the 2000 Senatorial Race, he was soon forced to quit after he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Out of the race, Giuliani focused his efforts on recovering, and healing his public image.

Once again, Knockspell Magazine is running all old-school advertisements for free. If you have a blog, or a free module, or a website, or you’re an artist (here we are a bit arbitrarily selective - you’ve got to be part of the old school community), or you’re a retro-clone publisher, or publish materials compatible with 0e, 1e, Basic, etc ... whatever.

Empire City Population

Email Matt Finch at mythmere at yahoo dot com with the text of a classified ad, or with a quarter-page or smaller graphic (which must contain any text you want attached). Graphic ads will need to be approved - no photos, and artwork needs to be roughly in the general style of the magazine’s internal appearance. Clip art is fine.

Free Ads in Knockspell #2 MAR 26, 2009 04:04P.M.

1920 — 5,621,000 1930 — 6,930,000 1940 — 7,455,000 1950 — 7,892,000 1960 — 7,782,000 1970 — 7,896,000 1980 — 7,000,000 1990 — 7,589,000 2000 — 8,080,798

Mythmere Games does this to show the full strength and resources of the old school renaissance, as a service to the readers, and as an expression of gratitude to those who are producing free (and paid) material for all the rest of us to game with.

Data from the US Census Posted in Games Tagged: Empire City, Games, Lost Works, thoughts ROGUE FEED

A few random things… MAR 26, 2009 02:41P.M. ROGUE FEED

Light Posting

…about time.

MAR 26, 2009 04:08P.M. I do not wear watch. I have not worn one for close to ten years. I’m a bit busy today, at least one of which I hope to unveil in the next day or two (I wonder what that could be?), so my posting today may be light. I also have a large backlog of comments and emails to answer. My apologies for the delays in doing so. Such is the nature of actually having a life outside of blogging.

I am addicted to podcasts, and I have not listened to the “radio” for close to three years. I listen to my favorite radio shows, via the full episodes podcasts. For me, the iPod/podcast has turned into my “radio dvr.” A slingbox will be in the house by the end of next month. What this says about me, I have no clue. All of this “high tech” is really about making life easier for me. Posted in Life, Technology Tagged: Random, thoughts

3