Fictional Companies in my Campaigns Part 4- Podtel

Well this post is in anticipation of the upcoming Podtel by Christopher Roe (aka Mel Ebbles) as part of his new partnership with World Works Games. Even though the Podtel's are supposed to be for a future setting I do plan on getting the set and building one or two for my Mayhem City Campaign. now on to the Fluff, again this is being written on the fly and may require some further editing, so please don't count it as a final version of the Podtel fluff.

Podtel- The Hotel of the Future Now

Envisioned by the eccentric billionaire, Ian McCauldwell, as the future of hotels. Ian got his idea after visiting Japan and seeing and staying in one of the Capsule Hotels there. Ian though that he could improve on the idea, instead of little cubes for the guest they would be larger and offer some amenities such as a small kitchenette and a bathroom, which the Japanese Capsule Hotels lacked.

Ian chose Mayhem City as the location for his first set of Podtel's. Each complex would consist of 2-4 towers surrounding a pool house for the guests. The first Podtel complex opened in 1989, with great popularity. Ian had another three complexes built in Mayhem City, along with another 2 dozen built across the USA, with 3 in Las Vegas, 3 in Miami, 3 in New York, 1 in Tuscon, 2 in the Washington DC area, 2 in Atlanta, 2 in Detroit, 2 in Boston, 3 in Los Angeles, and 3 in San Fransisco. For the next 12 years Podtels seemed to be doing great business, unfortunately this wasn't the case. Due to some shortcuts construction crews took in building the Podtel's outside of Mayhem City, they began to fall into disrepair faster then they could be maintained. Soon after this news came out Podtel went bankrupt, and all but the mayhem City Podtels closed their doors.

The ones in Mayhem City remained open but were soon put up for sale due to the lack of customers, two of the complexes were bought and turned into cheap apartments, McCauldwell Heights and Mayhem Towers Apartments, with the pools filled in and the pool houses torn down, due to the low cost to rent one of the pods as an apartment they condition of them has also deteriorated over time, where as the other was bought for almost nothing compared to the original building cost and continued to function as a hotel, though the new owners slowly let the condition deteriorate, before selling it. It was again purchased, now it operates as a low cost hotel, still under the original Podtel name, where one can rent rooms buy the hour, day, week or month, while the pool and pool house are still open it isn't advised you use the facility, the occasional body has been found floating just below the scum on the waters surface in the pool. Mayhem PD does rent two of the Pods for use as a mini police station, unfortunately those who live in the neighborhood, know unless you have paid the officers the monthly protection fee not to expect a prompt response time from the officers stationed there, even then those who have paid might be waiting for a officer to arrive well after the crime has been committed. Many in the neighborhood see the cops as nothing more then armed thugs using the name of the law as a way to do what they want, and not to start problems in public about the officers being crooked cops, if they value their lives.

Currently Mayhem Towers, McCauldwell Heights, and Podtel, are all on the Mayhem City Health Departments watch list, and it is expected that within the next 5 years all three will have been condemned due to the deteriorated conditions, unless something is done soon to renovate them.