Creating the city of Bridges

A domed city split between (and controlled entirely by) four crime families.

A rigid patriarchal society with its major religious system based on a random deal of the cards.

One way in or out of the city, and one crime family controls it.

An ever-widening gap between rich and poor, with mobsters living like kings while their people starve.

A new faction threatening to disrupt the fragile peace.

Prohibition.

Corrupt police, violent religious groups, and an infrastructure threatening to crumble beneath it all.

Sound familiar?

To craft the multi-faction neo-Victorian society of Bridges, I began by looking at current books (Game of Thrones), historical events (Gilded Age, the timeline for the Chicago Mob), and after setting up the players, I asked myself the question: who benefits?

Who benefits? And its twin, "follow the money," and you can find out the reasons for just about anything.

Once I set up the factions, who they were, what they're doing, and who's doing who (sex is another great motivator) then all it took was to figure out what belonged in The Jacq of Spades - and what's going to happen to Jacqui. Once I got that figured out (which has taken many outlines and spreadsheets), all I've needed to do is fill in the details.

Would you like to know anything else about how I set up the city?

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