The Expansion Districts of City of Mist TTRPG
We’re back for another exciting tour of the City of Mist! Last week, we went over the main Districts of the City, including the various hotspots and urban legends that can be found from Downtown to the Old Quarter. But in today’s article, we’re taking a different turn down the road as we explore more of the City’s Districts!
We’ve got five Districts to cover, so let’s start off hot with the wildest District in town!
TOURIST TRAP
Whether you’re a resident or from Just Out of Town, the Tourist Trap is the perfect place to visit, cut loose, and have a good time. From nightclubs to arcades to boat rides, there’s no shortage of attractions for people of all ages!
Of course, this wouldn’t be the City if there wasn’t a darker side. Just like Downtown, the Mist here is thick and filled with colorful distractions. But once Rifts make it backstage and get the glitter out of their eyes, they begin to see a District full of people waiting to be enchanted.
Just ask Ekram Din, Rift of Dionysus and bartender at the Bacchanalia Nightclub. Ekram makes sure the people around him are having a good time, even if he needs to make their wildest wishes come true. Just be careful what you wish for after he’s handed you your tenth glass of wine.
The Tourist Trap is perfect for setting up all kinds of cases, like piecing together a wild night gone wrong or investigating a dockside smuggling ring. You can also have a fun downtime session here between cases. Allowing the Crew to take a break from the main plot and live it up a little can provide the perfect time for interesting character moments.
FORTUNE ROW
If you’re looking for a different kind of entertainment, one with higher stakes and just a bit more booze, then Fortune Row is for you. This is the District of glitzy casinos, exotic dancers, and the biggest payoffs for those willing to risk it all.
The most prominent street in Fortune Row is The Snake, a coiling road that loops around the major casinos and uses literal, magical Feng Shui to keep fortune flowing through them. The result is the perfect place to win millions one night and lose it all the next. You can find tables to bet on anything in Fortune Row, including some where you can bet your Mythos!
Of course, you don’t have to play the house’s game to win your payoff. Fortune Row is also the perfect District to plan a heist. The PDF holds a ton of information on how to design a heist, and even includes a heist generator if you’d like to leave the planning up to chance as well. Just try to remember that in Fortune Row, there’s no such thing as a safe bet.
INDEPENDENCE
Just south of Fortune Row is a city within the City, one built on the desire for freedom. Independence is a primarily black community of honest people struggling under the oppression of a Gatekeeper organization known as Ward 9.
The people of Independence are warm and hospitable, in no small part to the legends that live there and guide the community. Crews that are active in the area may come across Rifts of High John de Conqueror, Harriet Tubman the freedom fighter, and John Henry the folk hero. The Rifts of these legends rebel against the Ward 9 Gatekeepers that control the area from Town Hall and seek to impose their own mysterious agenda on the community.
Moreso than most, Independence is a District that hits on real world issues of systemic oppression. It’s the most likely place you’ll end up wielding a magic sword against a squad of corrupt riot squads. But while the conflict between Independence and Ward 9 runs throughout the District, it’s also a place where players can find support within the community and research some of the oldest places in the entire City for insights into the Mist.
LA COLONIA DE SOMBRAS
We’re moving to the other end of the City to visit one of my favorite Districts. La Colonia De Sombras is a Latin immigrant District that is constantly bringing new blood to the City. It’s also the current battleground between the crime syndicate run by kingpin Tio Tez and the masked vigilante known as La Àguila de Plata.
Also known as The Silver Eagle, La Àguila is a powerful ally and a very easy hook to bring your Crew into a case. Even if none of them live in the District, one newspaper photo of a buff luchadora fighting armed gangsters with her bare hands will have them running to the District in no time at all. If La Àguila survives the final conflict with Tio Tez, she can even become a permanent Ally that joins the Crew’s other capers!
There’s also a chilling amount of spookiness in the District, which shouldn’t be surprising with a name that literally means Colony of Shadows. Drawing on Latin myths, there are many urban legends in the District worth investigating, such as the river where people can sometimes hear wailing in the wind, or the meat packing plant where just a few too many people seem to end up in the machines.
THE UNDERTRASH
Our last District has it’s own flavor of spookiness, although you won’t find it on a map. The Undertrash is located in the murky sewers and forgotten subway tunnels that snake beneath the City. A secret society of the homeless and dispossessed is ruled by the Cold Queen Yasmin, a sorceress who can magically strip away the power and dignity of those who disrespect her.
The Undertrash is a place where everything discarded ends up. Most of the people there are abandoned and ignored, including by the Mist for the most part. Independent Rifts of dark legends can spread their magic wide or concentrate it into their own domains. In the Undertrash, you can make a case that feels like a dungeon crawl, complete with abandoned tunnels, magical foes, and monstrous creatures.
For all of the mystical elements in the Undertrash, there’s also a very gritty layer to this society of the abandoned. The Undertrash is a place where characters can lay low if they’re in too deep. It’s also a place where the wrong turn could end with them getting mugged. If a character has lost a theme that was a core part of their life, they could even end up in the Undertrash as they hit rock bottom. Essentially, the Undertrash is where you go when you’ve got no place else to go.
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Every District, from the Tourist Trap to La Colonia de Sombras, holds a story that is just waiting for your Crew to become a part of. You can find all five of these Districts as PDF’s on the City of Mist website at cityofmist.co.
Which Expansion District is your favorite? What else would you like to know about the City? Tell us about it in the comments, on social media, or on the City of Mist Discord.
Until then, have fun!
