Cool Urban Sites

[thedearhunter]

So, tell us about your city?

Also, use the news to your advanage. Example: The ex-senitor that died in the plane crash. For me, this would become an ex-city father was killed while travelling through the swamp lands south of the city. He was know for supporting his city ward and fighting to try and get a bridge built from his ward to the eastern bank of the river but every one knows there is nothing over that way. He had to leave office because of a scandal but nothing was proven. Later this week, the ward will be honoring him.

Great! thanks a bunch, this is all incredibly helpful.

This city (Padmir) is the largest city in the world, just over a million residents, so i can do whatever i want with it. I have a few big landmark bridges, an obsidian pyramid that floats over the city, and lots of different neighborhoods within the city, all distinct.

The PC's have been pissing off the thieves guild, various covert networks, etc. So much of their time is spent in buildings now. Also, i'm building up to breaking into the thieves guild proper.

My only other thing is having outdoor envrioments within a city that are not necassarily public places. Still thinking about that...

 

[Hand of Evil]

Right off the bat, lets talk about that obsidian pyramid, IF i is big enough and not all that far from the tops of the buildings, the area under it is going to be in shadows all the time. It is also going to have an interesting effect on the weather, any rain will run down the sides of the pyramid making a curtan / waterfall to the city below, some flood and run off. Also, the ares in shadow, about 20 degrees cooler. Now that is an interesting location.

 

[Tonguez]

Now besides the under city and the streets don't forget the rooftops either - as the Free Running craze has shown us a good city exists in three dimensions with a whole different world on its rooftops and its verticle interface (ie walls).


And I definately support the idea of explaining the Undercity.

In my younger years we use to play down under the city and it was amazing just whats down there. Lots of maintenance tunnels and water pipes and rail lines (both subway and maintenance) but there were also old military tunnels which led to bomb shelters under the civic park. Apparently there was also an old gun beneath the some park but I neither got to see it
(Later I was involved in a archealogical investigation of an old tomb beneath the Memorial in the same Park, eek!).

 

[Hand of Evil]

Do a chart for events in your city. This is how offent things happen and creates a flow to the city. Morning traffic flows one way, evening the other, when is pay day, the holidays. What parts of the city sleeps and which parties? Where is the bad side of town, the high? All this marks what your players see, they are boundies.

Other things to chart:

• Murder - how offent dose it happen, now break it down - knifing, shooting, being thrown from the top of a building, feed to the crabs, dismembment? This is news and life.
• Smuggling - what goods are brought in? Why, okay to avoid taxes but could there be other reasons? New stuff hitting the streets or is there a dry spell and cost goes up? These make up the rumors players hear.
• Thieft - Muggings, break-ins, art, bank, diamonds? Again, news.
• Big Shippments of produce - things are made, stored, then shipped out and the other way coming in. Could mean more day labor on the streets and like a pay day, more activity.
• Drug raids and other police actions? Always find New York interesting, it is 300 square miles in size and has a police force of 30,000 - that is a 100 police men for every square mile, why do they have crime? Once, you start to see how many are on the street during the day and the night, those that are protecting areas, you realize that the number is not that large.

 

[LurkMonkey]

If you are looking for some inspiration with underworld gangs, I would reccommend The Gangs of New York by Herbert Asbury. It really gives an interesting overview of New York's underworld during the 19th Century and their connections to the political/cultural landscape of the time.

 

[jaerdaph]

In addition to the sewers and underworks of a city, I also like encounters set in back alleys and on rooftops. Every good rogue or thief should know how to get from one end of the city to the other without being seen.

 

[GandalfMithrandir]

you could make the point very clear that the PCs are in a bad neighborhood, by having no one on the streets after dark, and even in daylight have people never go out alone, at night have the sound of fighting be very clear with the screams of dying people every so often, have the PCs get jumped by robbers or people with knives and intentions to kill every so often, or have two factions fighting and the PCs have to dodge stray arrows, starting to sound like my old neighborhood, huh.

EDIT:: not so much cool, but more realistic.

 

[TarionzCousin]

The villains HQ is an old, "abandoned" theater. All the obvious exits are boarded up, so one can only gain access through the upper level windows or secret tunnels.

The theater is rumored to be haunted, but none of the villains believe that... until weird things start happening....

That's where the PC's come in, having tracked or divined their way there.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

you could make the point very clear that the PCs are in a bad neighborhood, by having no one on the streets after dark, and even in daylight have people never go out alone, at night have the sound of fighting be very clear with the screams of dying people every so often, have the PCs get jumped by robbers or people with knives and intentions to kill every so often, or have two factions fighting and the PCs have to dodge stray arrows, starting to sound like my old neighborhood, huh.

Or simply by having them cross some railroad tracks!

 

[Hand of Evil]

some other sites:
Hangers - If there is an airport (or airports), you will have hanger. If you don't use drydocks. These are big buildings, lots of space and maze of passages.

Station Houses - Train, subways, or stages - in a major city these can be big, just based on the goods being moved in and out of the city. Did you know Grand Central Station has a secret level no one is allowed in!

Construction Sites - any city of size will have them and based on the amount and size of the job, you may have a mini-city form in the construction area. It will have its own loading area, food court, toliets, security and waste disposal.