You may want to check our Great City Campaign Setting and the related products here:
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City Design - best supplements? rpg cities? advice?
You may want to check our Great City Campaign Setting and the related products here:
Great City Products
enjoy
meomwt
First Post
There's two more great Necromancer Games cities: Endhome in Lost City of Barakus has some great NPC's and detailed settings; and Dun Eamon, the eponymous city in The Grey Citadel. Both have good tips on running city-based adventures, sites, etc., so you can drop them into your campaign and look like things have been prepared...
TarionzCousin
Second Most Angelic Devil Ever
Fallen Seraph
First Post
If you are fine with looking beyond fantasy then Damnation City for Vampire: The Requiem would be a fine book to pick up. While it is for the Vampire like there is enough good stuff in there for any game.
I am sure too lots of stuff from that book despite being in a modern city would fit into a medieval fantasy one as well.
I am sure too lots of stuff from that book despite being in a modern city would fit into a medieval fantasy one as well.
Voadam
Legend
Bits of the Boulevard by Tabletop Adventures. Descriptive read aloud boxed text for different areas in cities.
I've used their wilderness and cavern ones and love them.
Conceptualize your city in your head on a big level and you don't need a ton of specific details. Be ready to make appropriate stuff up on the fly and go from there. I did this with a planar city in Lord of the Iron Fortress which has about two pages detailing the city and three of adventure stuff. My PCs were there for months of gaming.
I am currently reading through Pirate's Guide to Freeport and really enjoying it. It has a great level of detail for getting a sense of things and atmosphere along with tons of flavor and adventure hooks without detailing every person in every building. No statblocks, every NPC is given race, sex, and a three tier competency evaluation (apprentice, journeyman, master). I started using the city with no problems before getting the guide however based on the background info from the module trilogy.
Old edition Lankhmar, Greyhawk boxed Set, and 3e Silver City, Bluffside, World's Largest City, and Ptolus are more of a detailed comprehensive breakdown for everything. I tend to find these masses of information unwieldy and overwhelming. Having Ptolus on pdf with search capabilities has given me a handle on it as well as having played in the city in the banewarrens module and another Ptolus game and having read the player's guide.
I've used their wilderness and cavern ones and love them.
Conceptualize your city in your head on a big level and you don't need a ton of specific details. Be ready to make appropriate stuff up on the fly and go from there. I did this with a planar city in Lord of the Iron Fortress which has about two pages detailing the city and three of adventure stuff. My PCs were there for months of gaming.
I am currently reading through Pirate's Guide to Freeport and really enjoying it. It has a great level of detail for getting a sense of things and atmosphere along with tons of flavor and adventure hooks without detailing every person in every building. No statblocks, every NPC is given race, sex, and a three tier competency evaluation (apprentice, journeyman, master). I started using the city with no problems before getting the guide however based on the background info from the module trilogy.
Old edition Lankhmar, Greyhawk boxed Set, and 3e Silver City, Bluffside, World's Largest City, and Ptolus are more of a detailed comprehensive breakdown for everything. I tend to find these masses of information unwieldy and overwhelming. Having Ptolus on pdf with search capabilities has given me a handle on it as well as having played in the city in the banewarrens module and another Ptolus game and having read the player's guide.
Bishop Odo
Explorer
Fantasy cities have always held a certain level of curiosity for me. While it easy to use the Roman or any historical model as a touchstone, the prevalence of magic, Devine or Mundane changes all we seem to know about medieval technology and life in a city. I would submit that a more accurate model of a Fantasy City would be London around 1700s, with all its problems and benefits.
Also, I would point out that the medieval monarchy model would also be strained. With strong guilds such as, merchants, crafters, magicians, and religious sects, power would most like be shared even democratic.
In some systems as, Rolemaster and Traveller, there are scales used for Technology levels, I would be interested if any product exits that uses a similar scale for magic use and technology in a society and how it would affect society in general. While I’m not into Steam punk, no need for guns, I sure I’m getting close to it.
It has been a long time since I have read my Waterdeep books, but at the time I was not impressed by all the magical modern conveniences. Now, I think, I would be more forgiving. So, if you want to play in a medieval world use Harn.
Where can I find the S John Ross's article ?
Also, I would point out that the medieval monarchy model would also be strained. With strong guilds such as, merchants, crafters, magicians, and religious sects, power would most like be shared even democratic.
In some systems as, Rolemaster and Traveller, there are scales used for Technology levels, I would be interested if any product exits that uses a similar scale for magic use and technology in a society and how it would affect society in general. While I’m not into Steam punk, no need for guns, I sure I’m getting close to it.
It has been a long time since I have read my Waterdeep books, but at the time I was not impressed by all the magical modern conveniences. Now, I think, I would be more forgiving. So, if you want to play in a medieval world use Harn.
Where can I find the S John Ross's article ?
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I'm surprised no one has yet mentioned the classic Cities by Midkemia Press. Midkemia Press Products has not been updated since December 2000 -- but I got a copy by mail order just a year or so ago (and there are free PDFs of Towns of the Outlands and Black Tower, in any case). A version titled RuneQuest Cities differed but little if memory serves, and might be easier to find if Midkemia has sold out.
David Macauley's City (not a game supplement) tells "a story of Roman planning and construction" in drawings and text.
Chaosium published a Thieves' World boxed set depicting the shared-world anthology's setting of Sanctuary.
David Macauley's City (not a game supplement) tells "a story of Roman planning and construction" in drawings and text.
Chaosium published a Thieves' World boxed set depicting the shared-world anthology's setting of Sanctuary.
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Wik
First Post
As previously mentioned, Mike Mearls' Cityworks is a good place to start. I used it in a farily recent city campaign, and it turned out great.
In regards to population/building ratio, I think Rome had one around one building for 20 people, keeping in mind the fact that servants often lived in the same building, and many buildings were tenements (some were six floors high!). I think 10:1 is a good ratio to work with - though I wouldn't even bother with that. Personally, my city maps are just a few grids on graph paper, describing where the districts are, and then lines representing the major roads. I sort of build up from there, but I never go into major detail regarding specific streets and whatnot.
as for my favourite city sourcebook? I dunno. Probably one of the Shadowrun books, but that doesn't help much. (Corporate Enclaves, maybe, or Runner Havens? Both were good city sourcebooks).
In regards to population/building ratio, I think Rome had one around one building for 20 people, keeping in mind the fact that servants often lived in the same building, and many buildings were tenements (some were six floors high!). I think 10:1 is a good ratio to work with - though I wouldn't even bother with that. Personally, my city maps are just a few grids on graph paper, describing where the districts are, and then lines representing the major roads. I sort of build up from there, but I never go into major detail regarding specific streets and whatnot.
as for my favourite city sourcebook? I dunno. Probably one of the Shadowrun books, but that doesn't help much. (Corporate Enclaves, maybe, or Runner Havens? Both were good city sourcebooks).
RichGreen
Adventurer
Hi,
I started designing my city just over a year ago (see this thread) and started running adventures in it just before Christmas. I've already used Sellswords of Punjar but probably won't be able to fit Scions in to my campaign.
I agree with other posters that Mike Mearls' CityWorks is one of the best "how to" supplements out there although I actually think the district information in Cityscape (itself adapted from the 3e DMG supplement Building a City) is pretty useful too. You can find locations, NPCs and all sorts from the dozens of city supplements and adventures available. I've used stuff from Pathfinder, Punjar, Forgotten Realms and Ptolus so far. Ptolus is, IMO, the best city supplement out there but there are lots of other good ones - Guide to Korvosa is one I like that hasn't been mentioned.
The other bit of advice I'd give (which is from Ray Winninger's original Dungeoncraft columns in Dragon) is that whenever you come up with a location, NPC or whatever for your city, always come up with a secret to go with it.
Have fun building your city!
Cheers
Richard
I started designing my city just over a year ago (see this thread) and started running adventures in it just before Christmas. I've already used Sellswords of Punjar but probably won't be able to fit Scions in to my campaign.
I agree with other posters that Mike Mearls' CityWorks is one of the best "how to" supplements out there although I actually think the district information in Cityscape (itself adapted from the 3e DMG supplement Building a City) is pretty useful too. You can find locations, NPCs and all sorts from the dozens of city supplements and adventures available. I've used stuff from Pathfinder, Punjar, Forgotten Realms and Ptolus so far. Ptolus is, IMO, the best city supplement out there but there are lots of other good ones - Guide to Korvosa is one I like that hasn't been mentioned.
The other bit of advice I'd give (which is from Ray Winninger's original Dungeoncraft columns in Dragon) is that whenever you come up with a location, NPC or whatever for your city, always come up with a secret to go with it.
Have fun building your city!
Cheers
Richard
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