Cityscape

[Razz]

A drop of 60+ pages is what really ruined the book for me. I could've seen more crunch, more mechanics, more tables for specific city material, more spells, feats, monsters, more detail ont he districts, more hazards...

But again, I feel there's just huge gaps in each chapter that I feel needed to be shown, explained, or given. Even the last page cuts off rather abruptly. I agree with another poster here, WotC needs to quit the 160 page crap and get the ball rolling with 224+ pages and up.

Either that, or give us a WE for ALL the cut material in a book. I don't understand why they haven't done that already?

 

[GQuail]

A drop of 60+ pages is what really ruined the book for me. I could've seen more crunch, more mechanics, more tables for specific city material, more spells, feats, monsters, more detail ont he districts, more hazards...

But again, I feel there's just huge gaps in each chapter that I feel needed to be shown, explained, or given. Even the last page cuts off rather abruptly. I agree with another poster here, WotC needs to quit the 160 page crap and get the ball rolling with 224+ pages and up.

The issue we have with book sizes is, as we all know from 3.0, that soft-back books are not what the market seems to support - so everything comes out as hardback now, even when it's substantially smaller than previous offerings. I dunno if cost is a big issue in forcing the smaller books recently as well.

I appreciate Ari's points regarding why this book focuses less on crunch than it's predecessors - stilll, since it came out under the same banner as those books, it's no surprise some people are dissapointed that it doesn't ape their style. I wonder if that's a problem with how it was advertised and packaed than it's contents, though - his comments about how it shouild be seen more like a Heroes Of.... book is perhaps rather telling.

Either that, or give us a WE for ALL the cut material in a book. I don't understand why they haven't done that already?

....because it's only just out? Heck, the previews only jsut went up today, yeah?

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

But Felon has a good point indeed. How much did you focus on BUILDING the town and how much on RUNNING the town around the characters? Because it's true that knowing where exactly the temple is located or how much it costs to build one is nowhere near the usefulness of knowing what can you do with a temple in town rather than when there isn't one.

Indeed. That's one of the reasons I was looking into getting the book, and now may not. I'd love a resource for, say, determining how much income a district brings in (and thus is taxed), determining population growth, plague outbreaks, crime, etc.

Anyone know of a good city running resource?

 

[Mouseferatu]

Hey, all.

First, I can't speak to web enhancments. I'd love to see some of the material we wrote put out as such, but I have no control over whether that's done or not.

We tried to find a balance between "city-building" and "city adventures," but I suppose we did lean a bit more toward the former than the latter. I'm of the opinion that a DM who understands how and why a city works the way it does is better able to construct his own adventures, but I'll admit that we could have done a lot more with more word count. Alas, 'twas not to be.

Having run a long-term urban campaign myself, rest assured that I understand the players can't just memorize the layout and details of the city. They're not supposed to. Once the DM has them established and uses them consistently, however, the PCs should start to learn the city--just as they would a real one.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Indeed. That's one of the reasons I was looking into getting the book, and now may not. I'd love a resource for, say, determining how much income a district brings in (and thus is taxed), determining population growth, plague outbreaks, crime, etc.

Anyone know of a good city running resource?

It's not 100 percent of what you're looking for, but a lot of this is covered in A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe, which is as close to a must-buy for a homebrewing DM as any book I can think of.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

What's the CR on the ripper abberation?

 

[Mouseferatu]

What's the CR on the ripper abberation?

6. I wanted the ripper to be something a relatively low-level party* could face.

* (Particularly one that likely lacks the necessary divination to learn out of hand if a murderer is human or not.)

 

[Treebore]

Hey, all.

First, I can't speak to web enhancments. I'd love to see some of the material we wrote put out as such, but I have no control over whether that's done or not.

We tried to find a balance between "city-building" and "city adventures," but I suppose we did lean a bit more toward the former than the latter. I'm of the opinion that a DM who understands how and why a city works the way it does is better able to construct his own adventures, but I'll admit that we could have done a lot more with more word count. Alas, 'twas not to be.

Having run a long-term urban campaign myself, rest assured that I understand the players can't just memorize the layout and details of the city. They're not supposed to. Once the DM has them established and uses them consistently, however, the PCs should start to learn the city--just as they would a real one.

I totally agree. When I "build" the city I also usually right down one to two HUNDRED story ideas I come up with. So city building is extremely conducive to coming up with story lines and understanding ways they can play out, and therefore quickly understanding what rules mechanics you need to use in order to resolve the challenges faced.

However, in order for the owner of the book to see if it works this way for htem is to use to to acutally "build" the city in the first place.

Between this book, Gygax's "World" books and XRP's "MAgical Societies" books, City Works, et al... any DM who owns many, or all of them, will be able to build a very rich and coherent world at all levels, even the cosmology with G.G.'s new Cosmo's Builder book.

Its to the point where I am considering spending the next year or two playing around with building a new homebrew for the first time in almost 20 years.

 

[TarionzCousin]

Mouseferatu, I (and many others, I'm sure) appreciate your willingness to respond to comments and criticism. Truth be told, you're doing your best and are constrained by various factors.

Thanks for your comments. Keep up the good work.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

6. I wanted the ripper to be something a relatively low-level party* could face.

* (Particularly one that likely lacks the necessary divination to learn out of hand if a murderer is human or not.)

Thanks. Probably too high for the Legend of the Ripper module, though.