West of the Rockies

[Rockwolf66]

I'm currently running a Discord PBP and one of my players mentioned exploring west of the Rocky Mountains and seeing the Pacific Ocean.

Now I know that there is Arnzo, Spirit West, New West, Undersees and Canada with some west coast Information. I'd just like some help finding it and sorting it out.

[mobuttu]

Hello,

I'm aware there are some Native American territories there. I think you could find information on them in Spirit West and Canada (maybe).

Take a look at my Tribal Wars map:

[Grazzik]

I've run a game or two in the area, but there isn't much info. This is what I know of offhand. The region west of the Rockies is a large place. It would be helpful to roughly know what part you are thinking... BC? Pacific NW (Wash/Oregon/Idaho)? Northern Cali/Nevada? This will affect the flavor of your setting.

Peoples your party may run into, in addition to Simvan throughout and the occasional Horune on the coast, are:
WB30 pg 44 - Centaurs
WB30 pg 51 - Cyber-horsemen
WB30 pg 173 - Sasquatch
WB30 pg 151 - Obsedai

You might be able to glean some flavor from their descriptions.

Communities in the northern portion that are named include the City of Ixion (see Cyber-horsemen) and Water Point (WB15 pg 206).

To the south into Nevada, you are getting into territory covered by New West and Arzno, in addition to Spirit West. If the trip goes that far south to get to the Pacific, don't forget the Bandito Arms material in the Black Market Sourcebook.

[Rockwolf66]

Thanks for the Input. My characters just suggested heading west and well I know that with PCs it's like herding cats in a laser light show.

I'm going to be slowly gathering up various mentions of the area west of the Rockies and put them into a single file. In some places like Arnzo I am just noting to look in world book X for more information.

Eventually I'll drop in various IRL data to flesh things out. Like it turns out that Silverrino having a Renegade Apache as a Sheriff is not that far fetched. The Jicarilla Apache are just inside South East Colorado. Western Colorado is Dominated by the Ute tribe. So in theory the man could have traveled.

[glitterboy2098]

worldbook 7 underseas mentions kingdoms there that the New Navy trades with. (which means they're probably predominantly human). the one trade good mentioned is New navy tanks but i'd guess they'd also trade body armor and infantry weapons. the items the NN gets are probably mostly foodstuffs.

one thing that is worth bringing up, since it wasn't mentioned so far in the thread. crossing the rockies themselves are near impossible. the mountain range experianced some heavy D-shifting or something during the cataclysm, and the geography has become an order of magnitude more rugged and all the old maps useless. so you'll probably need to go around them but crossing through New Mexico, Arizona, and Nevada/southern california. which are worth noting are also mostly mountain ranges, and might have had some degree of the same effect.

this is one of the reasons that no one in the game's setting thus far has canonically visited the west coast and returned, leaving people with just rumor and speculation. (though there are hints that the Cyberknights have had some people go there, even have a few bases out there)

[Grazzik]

worldbook 7 underseas mentions kingdoms there that the New Navy trades with. (which means they're probably predominantly human). the one trade good mentioned is New navy tanks but i'd guess they'd also trade body armor and infantry weapons. the items the NN gets are probably mostly foodstuffs.

one thing that is worth bringing up, since it wasn't mentioned so far in the thread. crossing the rockies themselves are near impossible. the mountain range experianced some heavy D-shifting or something during the cataclysm, and the geography has become an order of magnitude more rugged and all the old maps useless. so you'll probably need to go around them but crossing through New Mexico, Arizona, and Nevada/southern california. which are worth noting are also mostly mountain ranges, and might have had some degree of the same effect.

this is one of the reasons that no one in the game's setting thus far has canonically visited the west coast and returned, leaving people with just rumor and speculation. (though there are hints that the Cyberknights have had some people go there, even have a few bases out there)

Also, don't forget the reference to anomalies like the Shifting Veil Wall (WB20 pg 101) which might spring up, blocking a party's path forward through the mountains forcing a detour or an indeterminable delay... perhaps as bad weather and other threats approach or supplies run out.

[taalismn]

one thing that is worth bringing up, since it wasn't mentioned so far in the thread. crossing the rockies themselves are near impossible. the mountain range experianced some heavy D-shifting or something during the cataclysm, and the geography has become an order of magnitude more rugged and all the old maps useless. so you'll probably need to go around them but crossing through New Mexico, Arizona, and Nevada/southern california. which are worth noting are also mostly mountain ranges, and might have had some degree of the same effect.

(Booting up the Atomic Mole) We're going THROUGH them.

[thorr-kan]

one thing that is worth bringing up, since it wasn't mentioned so far in the thread. crossing the rockies themselves are near impossible. the mountain range experianced some heavy D-shifting or something during the cataclysm, and the geography has become an order of magnitude more rugged and all the old maps useless. so you'll probably need to go around them but crossing through New Mexico, Arizona, and Nevada/southern california. which are worth noting are also mostly mountain ranges, and might have had some degree of the same effect.

(Booting up the Atomic Mole) We're going THROUGH them.

Oh, *THAT'S* going to end well!

I'll start a new group of PCs for a rescue mission.

[Blue_Lion]

There are 4 locations off the top of my head that make good bases for tech nations.

-The area around Seattle, you have Microsoft, Boeing and the Bremintion naval ship yard.

Joint base Lewis McCord(JBLM) could also be a tech center.

Yakama in western WA has another large military training base that could have had resources for a nation to build around.

Portland OR has several tech Manufactauring areas including Intel RD FaB.

So that could give you basis for 4 tech nations (two in close contact Seatle and JBLM)

*Other things that can be used to base things around.

The Olympic Pensila has the worlds only non tropical rain forest. Good place for an elf nation or environmental friendly nation.

(If I put elves in the pensila I typically put a dwarf nation in the cascades. you could also have hidden military bunkers in them.)

Mt St Helens, Mt Adams and Mt Hood are often linked in native American lore, so they could be bases for traditional tribes of native Americans or centers for elementals (fire and earth as they are active volcanoes.) or markers for an area of heavy ley line activity.

Mt Rainier is another location that can be used to tie into things. -It could be an evil magic nation that fights with the tech nation in Seatle or JBLM, it could aslo be a major nexus point with a significant rift.

The Columbia river valley is good area for farming and wind farms so could be farming comunites supporting a tech nation out of Portland Or.

(not as informed on Orgeon (not where I am from) but I am sure there are good points there to tie things to as well.

[Grazzik]

The Olympic Pensila has the worlds only non tropical rain forest.

Well, the Lower Mainland, Haida Gwaii and western Vancouver Island in British Columbia is all temperate rainforest. It doesn't stop at the border...

Given how the books describe the excessive volcanic activity of the apocalypse, I just generally assume volcanoes from the northern Rockies to the southern end of the Sierra Nevada and over into New Mexico blasted any large communities for decades, leaving nothing but small communities behind. Yellowstone isn't the only super volcano in the US.

The largest community on the West Coast (I assume because it was mentioned in the books) is Water Point, which I put centered on Vashon and Maury Islands. They'd have access to all the salvageable resources in the urban ruins, the islands would offer protection from monsters on the mainland, and being in the middle of the Sound allows them to dominate local fishing and shipping. Plus there's the automated power armor factory somewhere in the northwest.

I also had the small villages of Potlach, Princeton and Onaway near Spokane. Not sure if they were canon or not... might have been some unnamed dots on a map somewhere, I don't remember.

[Curbludgeon]

Are specific elevations given for the Rockies? I'm away from books.

[Rockwolf66]

No there are not any specifics that I know of. IRL the highest peak is at 14,440 feet. Arguably the Rockies are so high that most flying Powered armor cannot fly at said altitudes. Most powered armor only has a 6,000 foot maximum altitude for flight.

Then you get such nice critters as the Slide Rock Bolter. The description is of a 20' tall fish like being that slides down mountains to devour anything that will fit inside it's mouth.

There are probably ways through the Rocky Mountains in Rifts but they are difficult at best and very dangerous. the terrain is unforgiving and Not only do you have Monsters but those Dimensional enomolies to deal with.