Making cities feel alive?

[Darkmantle26]

In my current campaign, the one I mentioned in my thread about gold and magic items. It's kind of a cityscape style campaign. And outside that book I'd like to hear some ways to make a city feel alive. the way it's kind of working so far is that the players will explore the town and interact with people, and something will come along and give them something interesting to do. One of the players is having a (sort of) romance with a silver dragon, another is in serious trouble for murder, and the last is a secret member of a counsel of aberrations. erm But what about the little details?

 

[The Grassy Gnoll]

Try and track down Blacksand on Scribd - an Advanced Fighting Fantasy thing with great ideas for people and atmosphere. Or Pelinore from Imagine. Great details and ideas for npcs and the wider life of the city.

In general, describe everything- sights, sounds, smells. Stress the busy nature of the streets, the cries of the merchants, the urchins, have important people in carriages barrel past, just try and convey its life - dungeons are usually more episodic but cities are dynamic.

Contrasts - the quiet of the store compared to the bustling street. Pace and tone can help with this.

But in larger view, who ruled the city, what guilds are there, who runs them, are all good starting points to flesh it out in your mind so that the little details add up to the whole (eg that carriage? Whose was it? The Duchess Maria, on her way to a scandal? The Guildmaster of thieves fresh from a dressing down by the ruler?)...

 

[Ath-kethin]

Have the whole city rise up after being fed magical energy, like the city of Farpoint I'm they Star Trek episode. The city comes alive indeed!

 

[Celebrim]

The broad details are filled in when you create the city.

You should note the system of government and the major factions.

You should note the main sources of conflict and at least what each group would like to accomplish.

You should note the important NPCs, and give each at least a blurb (preferably a seven sentence write up). You can't really go overboard here, especially if you are going to linger in the city for a whole campaign. Ideally, you'd have a 1000 NPC's with a brief write up for each, but that's impractical. Do what you can and keep making them up as you go. Consolidating a session by recording what you did and created as soon as possible after you did so is very important, preferably the next day.

You should note the important buildings, public areas, and sources of danger and very briefly describe each.

You should divide the city into important wards and briefly describe each.

You should invent secrets and things buried.

It sounds like you may have already done most of this. For the little details, nothing is better for the inspiration than a very well designed random encounter chart. The more you know about the city, the more detail and life you can put into the random encounter table. And the test is to roll encounters on the table, and see if you can work with the results in creative ways. The record your ideas so that you can use them later. Just because an encounter is random, doesn't mean you can't script it to contribute to existing plots.

An example table from my game:

Wandering Encounters in the City

Normal Encounters by Day (the streets are busy, always roll for two results)
01-04 Street Sweeps 1d4+1
05-07 Litter Bearers 1d3+3 + 1d2
08-11 Fiacre 1
12-14 Carriage 1
15-16 Caravan 1
17-19 Drover 1d6
20-22 Apprentice 1d6
23-24 Foreign Merchant 1
25 Feral Elf Pack 5d4
26-28 Urchins 5d6
29 Cats 3d6
30 Songbird Flock 1
31-33 Doves & Pigeons 5d100
34-36 Touts 1d6
37-41 Laborers 3d8
42-45 Porters 1d12
46-48 Teamsters 2d4
49 Mastadon 1
50 Orine Bravo 1
51-52 Rakes 1d4
53-54 Students 1d6
55-56 Acolytes 1d6
57 Knight 1d4
58-60 City Watch 2d4
61 Hurin’s Soldiers 1d10+10
62-64 Pilgrims 5d6
65 Idreth Youth 1
66 Prostitutes 1d6
67-68 Elf Party Goers 3d4
69-72 Craftsman 1d4
73-75 Street Performer 1d3
76-77 Shopkeeper 1
78 Tourist 1
79-81 Waif 1
82-83 Almsman 1
84 Tumesi Gypsies (Bodger, Tailor, Tinker, Fortune Teller, Entertainers (Minstrels, Plays, Puppet Shows)) 1d10
85-87 Masons 3d10
88 Funeral 1
89 Wedding 1
96-00 Special

Normal Encounters by Night
Dice Roll (d%) Encounter Number Appearing
01-06 Litter
07-13 Fiacre
14-21 Carriage
22-23 Feral Elf Pack
24 Youths
25-29 Cat Pack
30-34 Thugs
35-42 Merchant
43-50 Rakes
51-53 Sidhe Troop
54-59 Dissidents
60-67 Revelers
68-69 Cultists
70-76 City Watch
77-82 Prostitutes
82-87 Elf Party Goers
88 Assassin
89-90 Vagrants
91-95 Monster
96-00 Special

Special Encounters
1 Guild Parade
2 Royal Procession
3 Ambassador
4 Esoteric Order Member
5 Cat Spirit
6 Songbird Spirit
7 Domestic Dispute – A domestic dispute is a public violent argument between two individuals who formally had friendly or at least cordial relations. This could be partners in a business, a husband and wife, young lovers, two rival street performers, a waif and her guardian, a prostitute and a client, or anything else of the sort.
8-9 Brawl (between rival thieves guilds, rival teamsters or porters, dissidents and royalists, elves and men, or two groups of rakes)
10 University Professor
11 Runaway Cart
12 Pegasi Cavalry

An example entry reads:
"Acolytes – Acolytes are students of one of the great temples, either being trained to serve in the laity or initiated into the priesthood. They occasionally are granted leave from their studies and liberty, and then act much like any of the other students of the city save that they are generally fiercer, more fanatical, and more purposeful in their zeal. All are 1st level; 40% are clerics, another 20% experts, and another 40% have a class appropriate to their particular deities’ purpose. They will be adherent to one of the following faiths: (1)Lado, (2)Showna, (3)Aretos, (4)Aynwyn, (5)Aymara, (6)Urian, (7)Shalimyr, (8)Jord, (9)Sesstra, (10)Tinel, (11)Justian, (12)Nuati, (13)Corwin, (14)Labelas, (15)Aerdrie, (16)Diancetta, (17)Raniclus, (18)Umdios, (19)Thellos, or (20)Pyrnetta. Ten percent of the time, there will be an additional group of acolytes from a compatible faith, since the churches encourage fostering intersect relations and the forging of future alliances between the priesthoods."

Of course, that's pretty meaningless without context. But the more you know about the life of the city - the more you know about an individual priesthood - the more you are likely to know about the life of this acolyte and what he might be about and how encountering him or her might draw the PC's into some element of the cities life.

Another thing that I've always found inspiring is to as often as possible never roll for a single encounter. 'Roll again twice' or simply 'Always roll twice' is often far more interesting than rolling single encounters, and often gives you a more usable hook. An encounter of a waif and laborers might imply a damsel in distress, or an urchin stealing something from the wrong group of toughs. The PC's of course don't have to intervene in any conflicts they come across, but many will have compelling reasons to do so or simple curiosity. The other thing to keep in mind is that if you bother to roll for an encounter, you are automatically suggesting that the encounter has at least some interest in the party - even if they have no interest in it. They may be seeking aid of some sort and consider the PC's likely helpers - even if they are only asking directions to something or inquiring if the PC's know of something or someone they wish to find. They may see the PC's as well suited to mediate some petty dispute, or see the PC's as a source of potential succor from danger. They may mistake the PC's for someone else. They may have taken some offense at the PC's for an unintentional insult, even just bumping into the PC's while they were looking the other way. They may have some demand to make of the PCs, as of a magistrate wishing to clear the street or seeking a suspect - the PC's might even find themselves deputized unwillingly. They may be interested in the PC's faith if the PC's openly display religious signs, or they may see the PC's are foreigners and ask them if they have news from some distant place, or they may recognize the PC's as compatriots of the same nation and seek to by them a drink out of feelings of homesickness. They may be related to someone to whom the PC's have done a favor and wish to offer thanks. They may beg alms or charity or implore the PC's to buy something. Or they may be unwisely trying to con or steal from the PC's, or lead them into an ambush. In short, while you can use such table to answer questions like, "What do I see in the street?", if you are initiating the action some sort of action should take place.

 

[Jester David]

I did a blog series on worldbuilding a while back. My article on cities is here:
http://www.5mwd.com/archives/531

Generally, think about why the town exists and why people live there rather than anywhere else? How do people make a living and what is the dominant industry?
Consider local habits as well as food and drink.
What are the major landmarks and festivals? What is the town known for? What stereotypes do neighboring towns and regions have of residents?

 

[THEMNGMNT]

I like both Vornheim and Ptolus as examples of great urban campaigns.

 

[Luz]

Cities are so wide open and big environments, but can be a lot of fun. If you've laid down the basic groundwork, let the PCs do some of the work bringing it to life. If they are already familiar with the city, you could have each player come up with a favourite (or least favourite, or both) npc, location, and faction. It doesn't need to be highly detailed, just broad strokes that can be done at the table in 15-30 minutes or so. Even if they aren't familiar with the city, have them do this after some exploration of it. Npc cards are really useful aids for this sort of thing. This will generate a lot intrigue and interest for the players and gives you some fresh ideas to build on.

 

[Draegn]

When my players started in their "home town" they were given ten possible quests to go on. They chose the one they wanted to do. When they returned I had the other nine completed to varying degrees and they learned of the results through rumors, other adventurers bragging, and so on. This created a sense of a local news broadcast that made the city feel alive in the sense that things changed while they were out.

 

[Rune]

Cities provide great opportunities to have unresolved hooks come back to haunt the PCs. Because most of the people the PCs will meet will be total strangers, it becomes no problem for you to take an old hook, introduce a new interested party and a developing complication, and have them seek out the PCs.

 

[Rune]

Also, just for fun, have someone come up to the party and offer to buy their magic items. Instant distrust 100% guaranteed (or your money back).