Campaign Setting: Cyberpunk Boston

Well, as I start off, I'll run off things I've done in various games I've played in/ran. Hopefully, by the time I run out of stuff to say, either I'll be in another game, or somebody will actually read this. I've had successes with my games, and I've made mistakes, so hopefully my experiences provide an interesting look into how people run their games, and how you may end up running your game.

I first ran Cyberpunk in the Night City setting because it's easy. The location neither helped nor hindered the game, and I mostly focused on characters, who were of my own devising, or PCs. My last campaign I ran in my own setting, called Cyberpunk Boston, because it's Cyberpunk in Boston. What I did is good procedure for anyone interested in creating a campaign setting based on a real city. I went to the MBTA (Boston area transit) website, and downloaded the biggest map of Boston I could find, and printed it off. It was about 17 x 22, or four sheets of printer paper. Perfect. After I started writing material, creating NPCs, and so on, I marked important things on the map. Where character's lived, important locations, places where stuff happened, etc. The most important thing about the map, though, was that it had all of the subway stations and bus stops on it. The campaign was low-level, so of course, no one owned a car. Even if they did, a road map is great material for car chases. "The road is a dead end. Which way do you go?" "Left!" "And, you're...stuck at a tollbooth." So, having the information is always good, even if you don't know if you'll use it. And besides, maps are good for mapping out all sorts of things, be it gang turf, new corporate developments, what the neighborhood looks like...that is an important thing.
I wrote down descriptions of each different area/suburb of Boston. You know, Southie became a Combat Zone, the Back Bay was really corporate, Cambridge became crowded, poor living area, etc. I had basic descriptions for any place in town you would care to happen upon. The most useful thing was that since I knew where my players were, I could offer interesting bits that would connect them more to the area. That being said, not living directly in Boston, this wasn't always possible. Strangely enough, one big encounter towards the end of the campaign took place in Concord, where most of my players lived...
I liked the campaign, but it taught me that NPCs can be written for whenever. The one thing I really failed to do was broaden out the demographics to provide hooks outside the central plot. The bits about the two or three central corps were written, and I had focus on one gang, but they were too isolated. My players went right along the plot though, so I never really suffered for it. The plot was pretty non-linear, anyway...as a personal preference, I like a little room to make it up as I go along. Towards the end, I found that notecards are really useful for scratching down stuff you just made up.

I really enjoyed running that campaign, despite some shortcomings. If anyone has any experiences/tips from running campaigns or playing in them, do drop a comment.