City bigger at night - looking for novels and movies to avoid duplication

[Dannyalcatraz]

Neverwhere is a good’un, and was made into a miniseries.

Nightside stories are plenty of fun, but are very “action hero” in feel.

 

[DeviousQuail]

The night districts could be part of their own city that exists in a different dimension/universe. Don't leave before the dawn and you're stuck there until the next night comes around. The environment in this other place could be quite hostile to peoples from the day side. Food isn't edible, water makes you sick, healing and regeneration don't work, etc.

I'm also a fan of Neverwhere and think Spirited Away could give some inspiration as well.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

Love this concept, nothing more to add to the convo than that; and also now I'm watching the thread...

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Perhaps the city is unstuck in time. The shifting walls, layout and size are its manifestations from other times. That means if you know “when” the city is, you can navigate it more easily.

In a sense, the city’s denizens are living in a temporal CT scan of a city.

If so, who is flipping through the layers…and why?

 

[MarkB]

Perhaps the city is unstuck in time. The shifting walls, layout and size are its manifestations from other times. That means if you know “when” the city is, you can navigate it more easily.

In a sense, the city’s denizens are living in a temporal CT scan of a city.

If so, who is flipping through the layers…and why?

Whatever the mechanism, the idea that it becomes easier to navigate as you learn more seems like a good one.

So, at low levels, you have to abide by the out-by-dawn rule or you're lost, maybe ending up owing a big favour to someone more experienced to get you back home. Then at mid levels you understand it just enough that you can get back home with only some minor misadventures. And at high levels you're navigating those paths with confidence to reach other places / times / planes.

 

[Blue]

Whatever the mechanism, the idea that it becomes easier to navigate as you learn more seems like a good one.

So, at low levels, you have to abide by the out-by-dawn rule or you're lost, maybe ending up owing a big favour to someone more experienced to get you back home. Then at mid levels you understand it just enough that you can get back home with only some minor misadventures. And at high levels you're navigating those paths with confidence to reach other places / times / planes.

I think this is a good one. Common knowledge is that those who stay beyond are lost, so players plan around that. Later they find out methods, usually expensive (in some term, likely not gold) and one shot. And at highest levels they may even intentionally want to stay there to get access to things that aren't accessible when the Night Districts are present in the city - perhaps at that point it is co-terminous with an even darker place.

 

[Janx]

For about the same reason we don't send a squad of knights into a fairie ring.

um, isn't this exactly why we send a squad of knights? It's the core of D&D.

Heck, it's the premise of a TV series with 10 seasons, plus spin-off and made for TV movies, all based on the original film.

 

[Blue]

um, isn't this exactly why we send a squad of knights? It's the core of D&D.

Nah. An adventuring party, sure. But a squad of non-PCs being sent by the local lord are not going to clear up a deep issue like a portal to the feywild. And if they do and take the adventure away from the PCs,that's pretty much the opposite of D&D.

Heck, it's the premise of a TV series with 10 seasons, plus spin-off and made for TV movies, all based on the original film.

Not sure which you are referring to, but I have to bet that it's a bunch of individual characters with quirks and their own skills that you care about, e.g. PCs, and not a generic squad of interchangeable people.

 

[Mad_Jack]

Not sure which you are referring to, but I have to bet that it's a bunch of individual characters with quirks and their own skills that you care about, e.g. PCs, and not a generic squad of interchangeable people.

Pretty sure that's a Star gate reference...

 

[Janx]

Nah. An adventuring party, sure. But a squad of non-PCs being sent by the local lord are not going to clear up a deep issue like a portal to the feywild. And if they do and take the adventure away from the PCs,that's pretty much the opposite of D&D.


Not sure which you are referring to, but I have to bet that it's a bunch of individual characters with quirks and their own skills that you care about, e.g. PCs, and not a generic squad of interchangeable people.

Star Gate.

My point is, somebody in power is gonna send teams in to explore.