From:	Matb <mbreton@**.NETCOM.COM>
Subject:	Re: Target: UCAS
Date:	Sat, 27 Dec 1997 16:14:28 -0800

John E Pederson wrote:

> <<... and instead, there was a poor rehash of the Ork
> Underground, a nice laugh about how bad Boston Harbor is, and not much
> else.>>

> Well, I like the idea of the Catacombs, I got a sufficiently different
> picture of them to make it interesting. It seemed to me like a good > place to
stage meets, hideouts, bugs, houngans ("Mama" seems to me like
> a mambo...). And the gangs seemed interesting. But there just wasn't
> much else there, it seemed. Sort of a "Let's take the 'cool' stuff, and
> ignore the rest" kind of thing. I'd have gotten more out of a
> travel guide.

(gripe) While I understand the subterranean cities are the "in" thing
-- Tokyo-in-the-Bay looks to be pretty cool -- they don't need to
necessarily crop up in every city on the map. While Boston has had its
crop of sewer problems (iirc, the "fire at city hall" actually did occur
in the mid 1800s; it's just unrealistic to imagine it happening again in
the computer age), and the majority of it is basically a landfill, that
doesn't mean there's space or cause for an underground city of sorts.
(Boston really does have a cool, creepy subway/sewer/and so on system,
and I suppose the MIT tradition of building spelunking would add to the
possibility of it, so as a fiction it might stand.)

My main source of disgruntlement probably stems from the fact that I
work for the Central Artery -- we're the folks making all the holes in
Boston. I see what he's talking about all too clearly. (And I'll
admit, dammit, that this is probably the reason I didn't like it T:U so
much -- if Steve had just asked *me* for *my* opinion, it would've been
a much better book! :)

And while I'll let the Catacombs go -- heck, I actually make a reference
to them in a story for the SRCreate project -- it's my strong opinion
that a sourcebook set in the future should be in some way radically
different from the present (especially since I don't believe in playing
to expectations.. and especially where Salem's concerned!)


-Mb