AS A GAME SETTING

The domes of St. Basil's; the spires of the Kremlin; Red Square; the White House.

All features which symbolise Moscow, both as the former capital of the Soviet Union, and the current capital of Russia.

And for those reasons alone, I would say there is sufficient justification for setting a game there.

But of course, there is more to Moscow the just these things.

First, city is familiar enough that both GM and players should have some idea of the feel of the place, but also exotic enough that it has the feel of somewhere outside the normal range.

And there are, of course, many interesting sites in Moscow over and above those mentioned above:

• THE ARMED FORCES MUSEUM, commemorating the various conflicts in which the USSR/Russia has been involved over the years, with a T-34 tank and a ballistic missile mounted outside the front, and at the back, an armoured train from the Civil War, and a helicopter gun-ship and a MiG-25 from the war in Afghanistan. There are also many other museums in Moscow, from ones commemorating the arts, to the Toy Museum and the Kutuzov Hut.
• THE BOTANICAL GARDENS, adjacent to the VDNKh. In addition to this, there are a large number of other parks and gardens scattered through the city.
• THE CENTRAL ARMY THEATRE, near the Armed Forces Museum, in the shape of a huge five-pointed star, and one of many theatres in the city.
• GORKY PARK, a three hundred acre site with a retired Soviet space shuttle by the entrance, plus lots of woodland, two fun-fairs, a skating rink, and a roller coaster.
• THE GRAVEYARD OF FALLEN MONUMENTS, close by Gorky Park, which holds many of the sculptures and monuments which were removed in various ways with the fall of communism. Although these are still there, it has also become a more normal sculpture park, too.
• THE LUBYANKA, formerly headquarters of the Checka, NKVD and KGB, this building, that rises in tiers of caramel and toffee-coloured stucco from a stone-faced lower storey, now houses the Federal Counter-Intelligence Service (FSK); the Foreign Intelligence Service is housed in a modern block in the Moscow suburb of Yantsevo, near the Moscow Ring Road. It also houses a museum of the KGB. Opposite it is Moscow's largest toy shop, built there because the founder of the secret police also headed a commission on children's welfare.
• MOSCOW STATE CIRCUS, one of the world's premier circuses, particularly known for its clowns and animal acts. It has two sites in Moscow, but has lost much of its state funding with the break-up of the Soviet Union.
• THE MOSCOW METRO, allowing access to most of the city via its eleven lines, and, in places, highly palatial in decor (including sculptures, mosaics, stained glass with chandeliers), kept spotlessly clear and without advertisements. Still a highly efficient service, though not, perhaps, as good as it once was... Follow this link for a gallery of photos of the Moscow Metro.
• MOSCOW STATE UNIVERSITY (MGU), with its huge Stalin-Gothic tower and panoramic view over Moscow from its location in the Sparrow Hills (formerly known as the Lenin Hills).
• PETROVKA 38, a vast beige building on Ulitsa Karetniy ryad in the Zemlyanoy Gorod, it is the home of the Militia (that is, the normal Police) and the Criminal Investigation Department. As famous in Russia as Scotland Yard is in the UK, it was acclaimed in Soviet fiction from the 1970s, but since the fall of communism has been reviled for its lack of success against organised crime.
• UZKOYE, a historic estate in southwestern Moscow, housing a Neoclassical mansion, church and park. After the Russian Revolution the estate was given over to the Soviet Academy of Sciences, which used it as a rest home for its members. Who knows what secrets they might have hidden there? In 1995 the estate reverted to the Russian Orthodox Church.
• THE VDNKh (Exhibition of Economic Achievements), a vast exhibition of economic and industrial achievements with many pavilions devoted to various aspects of communism's (alleged) industrial, agricultural and technological greatness. It also includes the Space Obelisk, the vast statue of the Worker and Collective Farm Girl, and a suspended Vostok rocket.

• There are more than thirty former palaces from the Tsarist era scattered throughout the city; some have been turned into museums of various kinds; others have been allowed to sink into various degrees of decay.
• Likewise, in addition to St. Basil's, Moscow has a large number of notable churches and cathedrals, some of which have been used over the years for various non-religious purposes and which are now (since the fall of communism) being restored. There are also more than a dozen monasteries and nunneries in the city, whose current state is also quite variable.

The city has a population of some 10 million people, meaning that one in fifteen Russians live there. As such there is always lots going on, both culturally (e.g. the Bolshoy ballet, and the many musical and theatrical venues in the city) and otherwise. There are, of course, cinemas, casinos (of which Moscow has more than any other world capital), flea markets, music and night-clubs (some of which are fairly openly haunts of the Russian Mafia).

As the capital of Russia, obviously all the ministries, foreign embassies and the like are centered there, giving opportunities for dabbling in Russian politics. The headquarters of Russian law enforcement and security are based there too.

Also, it is a hub of goods and travel, being a major road, rail and river hub. It has eight main-line train stations, scattered around the Metro Circle Line, plus two bus terminals and five airports (one international, Sheremetevo-2; four domestic - Sheremetevo-1, Bykovo, Domodedovo and Vnukovo). Thanks to its ship canals, it is accessible from the Baltic, White, Caspian and Black seas. Who knows what sorts of things, legal and illegal, could be traveling through the city?

The place has a long history, having been settled by about 500 BC, and first being mentioned by name around 1147 AD. Obviously this leaves lots of opportunity for ancient things, both mundane and supernatural, to be hidden about and under the city.

Certain places around the city lend themselves to such supernatural occurrences. In particular, there are :

• THE LEFORT PALACE, where the 'Drunken Synod', dedicated to mockery of Church rituals, met to drink and debauch. What other darker, more Satanic, rituals might have taken place there under that cover remains as a question for the GM to answer...
• THE OLD BELIEVERS COMMUNE, a relic of an orthodox sect who rejected various church reforms starting in the 1650's. There were actually a number of such groups, and, again, what more suspicious activities might exist, or have existed, under the cover of such a group?
• THE TSARITSYNO PALACE, built for Catherine the Great and never completed, it stands in ruins. Over time, it has developed a reputation as a place for supernatural occurrences, and as a place where 'humanoid aliens' have allegedly been seen. Who knows what could really lurk there?

In addition to this, there are apparently many levels of tunnels and underground systems under the city, including things such as fallout shelters and a rumoured second circle line of the Metro system, apparently used for, among other things, secretly transporting nuclear weapons through the city. Two articles at the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and Outside Magazine describe some of what lurks below Moscow [Thanks to Pete Marshall for sending me these links.].

And then there is more recent history, pre- and post-World War 2 (or the Great Patriotic War). This gives plenty of scope for espionage or war-based scenarios. In Soviet times, characters operating covertly in the city would have had to face the threat of the KGB (or, in earlier times, the Cheka or the NKVD) and the state in general - I can't imagine the Soviet government would have been at all tolerant of independent adventurers operating in the Soviet Union. And of course, in WW2 there is plenty of scope for action against (for example) Nazi spies and saboteurs.

More recently still, events such as the fall of communism, the attempted coup of 1991, and the events of 1993 when Yeltsin had the parliament building shelled to forcibly dissolve parliament, also make for, if nothing else, an ... interesting ... backdrop.

And of course, for more conspiracy-based games, there could be any number of hidden and sinister real reasons for the fall of communism.

Now, since the fall of communism, the authorities are much weaker than they were, but instead there is extensive Russian Mafia influence (apparently, in the real world, the Russian Mafia are believed to control 40000 companies, both private and nominally state-owned, making the dividing line between organised crime and legitimate business highly blurred, to say the least), and, not unrelated to this, there is the fact that Moscow is now the murder capital of Europe. This gives the place, perhaps, a vaguely 'Wild West' feel (though of course, high as it is, Moscow's murder rate is no-where near that of many cities in the USA). The fact that at least some Mafioski groups have links to (for example) the Chechen rebels, and operate outside Russia in, amoung other places, Italy and the USA is also a source of potential plot ideas.

Likewise, the fact that many extremist groups have sprung up since the fall of communism also make Moscow ... interesting. In particular, there are various right-wing/ultra-nationalist groups such as those led by Vladimir Zhirinovsky.

Also, the weak economy of Russia has made it hard for the government to pay Russian military personnel, which has undoubtedly led more than one military person to look for ... less official ... ways of making enough money to live.

Russian Churches and Cathedrals

Russian Orthodox churches are not the same as western-type churches. First, their interiors are very highly decorated, with frescos of many kinds covering every square centimetre of the interior. Some of these are of saints, others of more commonplace scenes. One particularly striking feature of many Russian churches is that the interior reaches all the way up into the dome or domes of the church, and inside each dome there is usually a huge painting of a member of the Holy Trinity, staring down into the church. God is believed to look out through the frescos at the people inside the church.

There are no pews. Most churches are lit with candles rather than electric light. This means that in many places the frescos and so on still suffer from the ill effects of smoke.

All Russian Orthodox churches have an Iconostasis which separates the main body of the church from the altar. Covered with icons, it is intended to stop physical sight, but to allow the spiritual sight of the worshippers through.

The colours of the domes of a Russian Orthodox church having meaning, as follows:

• Black - submission. Black domes are found in monasteries.
• Green - the Holy Trinity.
• Blue - Mary.
• Gold - Jesus. Gold domes on top of tall drum-like towers also intentionally look like candles from a distance.

Silver domes are also found, but these simply indicate that the dome is modern, and has not been painted!

The number of domes also has meaning:

• One on its own indicates Jesus.
• Three indicates the Holy Trinity.
• Five indicates Jesus and the Four Evangelists.

The crosses on top of the domes have a crescent shape with the horns upturned as part of their base. This is actually an anchor, indicating that the church is a ship of faith in the sea of vanity.

Gold is God's colour. When used as the background of an icon it is not flat, but is instead intended to be of infinite depth. Icons are drawn in a flat, non-perspective style. This is intentional, not just a reflection on the skills of the icon painters. The flat style of the painting allows the icon to be viewed equally by all, regardless of position.

Some churches were funded by merchants. These often have large crypts, which were intended to serve as warehouses for those merchants.

Many churches, such as St Basils in Moscow, are not symmetric structures. This is also intentional, and is based on the assumption that symmetry is the enemy of beauty.

Russian Names

Russian people have three names: a given name, a patronymic, and a family name (surname). They are generally presented in that order, although the patronymic is sometimes omitted. Nicknames and pet names are also frequently used.

The patronymic of a person is based on the first name of their father, and always succeeds the first name. A suffix meaning either 'son of' or 'daughter of' is added to the father's given name to form the patronymic. Males generally use '-ovich', while females generally use '-ovna'; if the suffix is being appended to a name ending in a soft consonant, the initial 'o' becomes a 'ye', giving '-yevich' and '-yevna'.

Surnames are generally inherited from one's parents, although women often adopt the surname of their husband. Some Russian surnames have different forms depending on gender; in general a woman's surname will generally end in an 'a'. The patronymic is not so feminised.

See Wikipedia for more details on this.

For an example of a game set in Moscow, go to the Moscow Superheros Page.

Vladivostok and the Russian Far East as a Game Setting, another possible Russian game setting.

A Gallery of my Pictures of Moscow | A Gallery of Photos of the Moscow Metro.

See also Roleplaying In the Big Red - that is, in Russia - from Critical Miss Magazine.

Go back to My Roleplaying Page.

For more information on Moscow, try a search engine like Yahoo!.
Or, for more general information go to the Rough Guides on the Internet.

Copyright © Tony Jones, 2005. This work is licenced under a Creative Commons Licence.

The picture at the top of this page was taken from the Moscow City web site, used without permission, but not for any personal gain on my part - it just makes the page look better!