Monday 3 January 2011

Into the Sewers of New York

"It must have been the third or fourth day -- time, at that point, had started to dissolve..."
-Alan Feuer





In December 2010, Norwegian explorer and publisher Erling Kagge, together with urban adventurer Steve Duncan, and The New York Times journalist Alan Feuer delved into the tunnels of New York's sewer system. Five days later they emerged.


It is not a long leap of imagination to add unnameable tentacled horrors, wererats, or perhaps a murderous cult of demon worshippers to the tale -- especially if you have the roleplayer's inherent ability to interpret everything as a potential scenario or plot-hook. Even if you were to disregard all those angles, Feuer's article (see below) offers an interesting view of one of the greatest cities in our world. There are, and will always be, a myriad of things we do not see because of our ingrained perspective on the world we inhabit.


Click to see full size


The article written by Alan Feuer, invited along as the expedition's chronicler, is well worth the read, and the pictures, by Steve Duncan, are a must. You should also visit Duncan's homepage, for images from this, and other urban expeditions. For Norwegian readers, this link will take you to NRK's article about the delve.




[Picture source: The New York Times]

4 comments:

  1. Interesting stuff! You'd probably enjoy this book: http://www.amazon.com/Mole-People-Life-Tunnels-Beneath/dp/155652241X which I managed to use as the basis for an entire Dark Matter campaign, NPCs and all!

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  2. This is highly relevant to my interests. :)

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  3. @Ken:
    Neat! I'll put that on my list.

    I'm sure you've read Neverwhere. I am now a little ashamed I didn't think of that one when I wrote the post...

    @Trey:
    Haha. I kinda thought so.

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    I also have to say that the quote by Feuer is one of the coolest sentences I've ever read in any news-article. Ever.

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  4. Thanks for sharing - great stuff (BTW Mole People is sitting in the pile of books by my bed waiting to read one day!)

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