Jack7
First Post
Real World Adventuring: Ancient and Medieval Cities of the Western World
I thought I would make a few posts in a series called Real World Adventuring.
I'm thinking right now about the following posts in the series:
Ancient and Medieval Cities of the Western World
Ancient and Medieval Cities of the Eastern World
Ancient and Medieval Cities of the Middle East
Ancient and Medieval Geographic Locales
Favorite Ancient and Medieval Legends, Myths, Miracles, and Folklore for an Adventure or Campaign
Ancient and Medieval Wonders, Artifacts, Items, and Devices of the World
Ancient and Medieval Books, Manuscripts, Artwork
Ancient and Medieval Science and Technology
Ancient and Medieval Organizations, Guilds, Institutions, and Organizations
Ancient and Medieval Buildings, Structures, and Architecture
Real World Exploring and Adventuring versus Game Exploring and Adventuring
The intent is to post about real world places, events, people, things, than can be incorporated into a game, adventure, mission, scenario, etc. to make it more relevant and fascinating. For the first post I'm gonna list some of my favorite Ancient and Medieval Cities of the Western World that I think would make extremely good adventuring locations, both for what they really contained, and how, with slight modification, they could be "fanaticized" and made into incredible game locales, and maybe even in-game operational bases.
You're welcome to add your own suggestions to the list of course, and comment on why you think they would make great locales, if you wish. I'll add more later but for now two cities I truly admire.
My list is as follows:
Constantinople (New Rome) - This is where my parties play, and is the base of operations for most of the teams that adventure in my/our games (the ones I DM). We have been playing Constantinople as the base of operations for ten years or so. It had everything as far as I'm concerned, from the Golden Horn to the Great Chain, from ancient documents to monasteries galore, harbors, the almost unbreachable city walls, the treasures of the Old Roman Empire, it was the end of the Silk Road, had the Hagia Sophia, the hippodrome, enormous monuments, a complex system of underground cisterns and the underground ruins of the older cities, an incredible military, an advanced and sophisticated Navy, Greek Fire, it was the home of Orthodox Christianity, hermits and holy men were all around, miracles were often said to abound, it was in contact with the Middle East, Western Europe, many parts of Africa, Eastern Europe, Russia and the Black Sea, optical intrigue abounded, it was possessed of tedious libraries, and at one time was the wealthiest (by far) and one of the most well-populated cities in the world. And that's just the real city. If I could have called any ancient city home, this would have been it. Bar none.
Alexandria - Alexandria would have been my undisputed second choice for city living (though I'm personally not much for city living) and if I had not lived there I would have certainly visited every chance I got. The catacombs, the greatest library the ancient world ever saw, the Pharos, the incredible buildings and structures, the proximity to the Pyramids and to Karnak, the naval traffic, the Gateway to Africa and the middle East, the constant commerce, the proto-science and advanced technology (for that day), the number of truly fascinating people who lived, worked and visited there, the incredible diversity of the people types, the incorporation of ancient knowledge into even the city design, the learning, the secrets, the buried treasures, the almost limitless opportunities for adventure. The vadding must have been incredible too. Absolutely incredible
I thought I would make a few posts in a series called Real World Adventuring.
I'm thinking right now about the following posts in the series:
Ancient and Medieval Cities of the Western World
Ancient and Medieval Cities of the Eastern World
Ancient and Medieval Cities of the Middle East
Ancient and Medieval Geographic Locales
Favorite Ancient and Medieval Legends, Myths, Miracles, and Folklore for an Adventure or Campaign
Ancient and Medieval Wonders, Artifacts, Items, and Devices of the World
Ancient and Medieval Books, Manuscripts, Artwork
Ancient and Medieval Science and Technology
Ancient and Medieval Organizations, Guilds, Institutions, and Organizations
Ancient and Medieval Buildings, Structures, and Architecture
Real World Exploring and Adventuring versus Game Exploring and Adventuring
The intent is to post about real world places, events, people, things, than can be incorporated into a game, adventure, mission, scenario, etc. to make it more relevant and fascinating. For the first post I'm gonna list some of my favorite Ancient and Medieval Cities of the Western World that I think would make extremely good adventuring locations, both for what they really contained, and how, with slight modification, they could be "fanaticized" and made into incredible game locales, and maybe even in-game operational bases.
You're welcome to add your own suggestions to the list of course, and comment on why you think they would make great locales, if you wish. I'll add more later but for now two cities I truly admire.
My list is as follows:
Constantinople (New Rome) - This is where my parties play, and is the base of operations for most of the teams that adventure in my/our games (the ones I DM). We have been playing Constantinople as the base of operations for ten years or so. It had everything as far as I'm concerned, from the Golden Horn to the Great Chain, from ancient documents to monasteries galore, harbors, the almost unbreachable city walls, the treasures of the Old Roman Empire, it was the end of the Silk Road, had the Hagia Sophia, the hippodrome, enormous monuments, a complex system of underground cisterns and the underground ruins of the older cities, an incredible military, an advanced and sophisticated Navy, Greek Fire, it was the home of Orthodox Christianity, hermits and holy men were all around, miracles were often said to abound, it was in contact with the Middle East, Western Europe, many parts of Africa, Eastern Europe, Russia and the Black Sea, optical intrigue abounded, it was possessed of tedious libraries, and at one time was the wealthiest (by far) and one of the most well-populated cities in the world. And that's just the real city. If I could have called any ancient city home, this would have been it. Bar none.
Alexandria - Alexandria would have been my undisputed second choice for city living (though I'm personally not much for city living) and if I had not lived there I would have certainly visited every chance I got. The catacombs, the greatest library the ancient world ever saw, the Pharos, the incredible buildings and structures, the proximity to the Pyramids and to Karnak, the naval traffic, the Gateway to Africa and the middle East, the constant commerce, the proto-science and advanced technology (for that day), the number of truly fascinating people who lived, worked and visited there, the incredible diversity of the people types, the incorporation of ancient knowledge into even the city design, the learning, the secrets, the buried treasures, the almost limitless opportunities for adventure. The vadding must have been incredible too. Absolutely incredible
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