Buliding a large city

[Melvin the Mediocre]

I need to create a new city for my game world and I want a lot of view points to give the city breadth and life. Here is a dribble of information to give you a brief idea of what the city has to fit into:

The country was founded as a feudal system and has a high medieval flavor to it. However an evil religion has risen to extreme dominance and controls most of the kingdom. All other religions are illegal and practicing them is punishable by death. However other religions do still exist, mostly as secret cults.

The country has a long military history and warfare is a way of life. It is currently at war with its northern neighbor and renewed warfare with the elves to the west is a constantly bubbling threat.

To the east are hordes of barbarians and monstrous humanoids which raid constantly, but also provide mercenaries and trade.

The city itself is in the center of the western border and therefore not directly touched by war. It must, however, periodically supply troops and supplies to the northern front. It also must endure levies of church armies, as well as taxes to both the church and king regent of the nation.

By and large, the city should be a bastion of hope and glory amid a decaying and overtly evil kingdom. It is ruled by a proud and noble lord, and it has a glorious history which I hope will be reflected in its people, culture, and buildings.

So what I am asking is for any input, large or small, to help turn this city into a rich believable place where players will want to explore, adventure, and become attached to.

 

[krichaiushii]

Pick up the book Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe at
http://www.exp.citymax.com/page/page/351668.htm

There is a free PDF detailing the city-building chapters of MMS:WE at http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=1678&

The free DMG web enhancement is a wonderful tool, as well.
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20030719a

Another city-building tool is Atlas Games' Penumbra: Seven Cities at http://www.atlas-games.com/penumbra/pencatalog.html

You might also consider browsing through the many city books already available from numerous companies - for ideas or direct usage. Many others exist the net as places in numerous home campaigns.

Since you are aiming at medieval-flavor, consider the following for historical information:
http://www.netserf.org/
http://www.the-orb.net/
http://www.julen.net/aw/

Hopefully, the above gets you started.

 

[Dragon Warrioronline]

you could try!

Well, you could try adding some old run down churches from an older religion, or maybe the characters could stumble up on an old
church in the outskirts of town you know like a christian church or somthing like that thats as about as big as a castle so they can search through it, in there is where you could have your characters discover the history of the sity[in wich you could make the history kind of spooky]and any other vital information that the characters might need. Id also use a cult, vampires, or ghost
[you know somthing tripy like that] for your characters eniemies or monsters. you know whatever its all good.

 

[Melvin the Mediocre]

Re:you could try

Interesting... can you give me some ideas as to what you mean about a 'spooky' history?
DG

 

[Dragon Warrioronline]

give me some time

Ya Ill help you out just give me some time to think about it, as of
write now I have to go to the dentist, ill be back on around 3-5
tonight and Ill tell you what I come up with.

 

[Hand of Evil]

In building a city start with a time line:

Year 0: location and area
Year 1: Ranger Bob builds a way station
Year 2: way station adds on trading post, tavern
Year 4: loggers come in to log (or miners)
Year 5: Farmers
Year 6: Walls are added and city is named
Year 7: Growth
Year 8: Event - flood/fire/earthquake/?


Also think about resourses, why is the city there and what does it have going for it? Trade hub, mineral weath, tech?

NPC and NPC history, when setting up locations in the city, think about them as NPCs, build history and background for the location.

 

[VictorSim]

From your description it sounds like the city has basically a Lawful Evil power center, which I am assuming are designed to be the main antagonists against the party.

I suggest enforcing some nasty Laws similar to the anti-alternative religions that will really make the party hate the established authority.

1) Completely outlaw all weapons by commoners and other non-officials. Confiscate all weapons found, including magical weapons, and throw in some jail time for offenders. Add in an order of good monk resistors, who obey the law but are still effective unarmed fighters. Add in some weapon smugglers.

2) Completely outlaw non-official arcane spell-casters. Confiscate spell books and imprison all non-official bards and sorcerors (play up the anti-mutant style hysteria). Devise some underground resistors and magic smuggling organizations.

3) Randomly invade personal privacy by using random searches. Use invisible imps to locate good people, obviously heretics, and arrest them or throw them into concentration camps where they must either convert or be turned into undead that will be sent to the war front. Imps can also track down people carrying illegal magical items.

This would make for a very dark and gritty style campaign and players would hate all the restrictions but that hatred would also inspire them to implement some regime change.

 

[haiiro]

FFG just came out with Cityworks, which addresses city-building in detail. I haven't finished reading it yet, but what I've read so far is excellent.

(Edit: and apparently reading the book hasn't helped me read the title -- City Works, not Citycraft.)

 

[Sharack Bladestorm]

Plots within the walls

Melvin,

One set of plots you can play upon is the remaining Noble family vs the influence of the corrupt country itself. The capital and/or church can be continually sending agents into the city to attempt to weaken the standing of the Noble.

Perhaps the seeds of rebellion, vs the overall rulers, can be growing in this area (the west) and can either be covertly supported by the good Noble or not.

Seems to be some interplay intrique possibilities.

Ciao,
Sharack

 

[Cyclops]

How about an acropolis in the center of the city. All the grand temples of the older religions are sill there, but now serve as administrative buildings for the new ruling theocracy.

building on previous posts, adventures could be infiltrating the acropolis at night and sneaking into an old temple and retreiving a magic item for the church. The older religions planned for the day when the city might be taken over and the greatest treasures could still be hidden behind secret doors.

You could make this a Shadow Run type adventure. With hellhound guard dogs, ogre watchmen, and Gov't (corporate) mages. Of course the junior clerics will also be on guard duty.

A good party could really stir up an ants nest before they are done.

The early Christians met in catacombs beneath Rome. Having secret resistance meetings there could be fun. So could trying to loose city guards in the miles of twisting passageways as well.

Gov't necromancers could be an excellent assassination target for the PCs. They would look upon the dead of the old religion as great recruits for the theocracy's armies. The clerics of the resistance would want these guys dead. especially since they keep sending killer zombies into the catacombs to hunt down the resistance.

Of course we can't forget; The Inquisition! An Inquisitor would make an excellent foil/recurring enemy for a party.