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<blockquote data-quote="Old Fezziwig" data-source="post: 2485799" data-attributes="member: 59">Hi, Chris.&nbsp; I think, as someone that's tried to do this before only to pack it in when things got a little too overwhelming, I'd do two things first: (1) See if you can find a historical antecedent or multiple antecedents for the city — you've mentioned that you want to work with a Victorian city, so the natural/immediate precedent is London, but is there another city from the late-19th century world that'd work?&nbsp; Vienna, Paris, Istanbul, and Boston all come to my mind for various reasons.&nbsp; Look at pictures, maybe read some snippets of history, just stuff to get a feel for how the city worked as a unit, and maybe to find some specific inspiration for neighborhoods.(2) Design from a neighborhood up — have a loose idea of the whole city, but really flesh out one of the neighborhoods first.&nbsp; The PCs have to come from somewhere, and a cohesive home environment can supply characters with appropriate plot hooks and motivations (if the PCs all come from someplace like Victorian London's Whitechapel, then you've got a firm basis for them adventuring — extreme poverty — plus some themes and conflicts — class divisions/social mobility, sanitation/disease/medical care, police attention/crime rates) that you can lay over the campaign and into the fabric of the city.&nbsp; You can have groups and some places of interest in other parts of the city, but I'd say that you shouldn't even bother with too much detail until you really need it.&nbsp; &nbsp; Plus, if said neighborhood's kind of small and insular (think ethnic enclaves in early 20th-century American cities, like Southie and the North End in Boston), you can play up the metropolitan aspects of the rest of the city when they get there. Just some thoughts.Nick</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Old Fezziwig, post: 2485799, member: 59"] Hi, Chris. I think, as someone that's tried to do this before only to pack it in when things got a little too overwhelming, I'd do two things first: (1) See if you can find a historical antecedent or multiple antecedents for the city — you've mentioned that you want to work with a Victorian city, so the natural/immediate precedent is London, but is there another city from the late-19th century world that'd work? Vienna, Paris, Istanbul, and Boston all come to my mind for various reasons. Look at pictures, maybe read some snippets of history, just stuff to get a feel for how the city worked as a unit, and maybe to find some specific inspiration for neighborhoods. (2) Design from a neighborhood up — have a loose idea of the whole city, but really flesh out one of the neighborhoods first. The PCs have to come from somewhere, and a cohesive home environment can supply characters with appropriate plot hooks and motivations (if the PCs all come from someplace like Victorian London's Whitechapel, then you've got a firm basis for them adventuring — extreme poverty — plus some themes and conflicts — class divisions/social mobility, sanitation/disease/medical care, police attention/crime rates) that you can lay over the campaign and into the fabric of the city. You can have groups and some places of interest in other parts of the city, but I'd say that you shouldn't even bother with too much detail until you really need it. Plus, if said neighborhood's kind of small and insular (think ethnic enclaves in early 20th-century American cities, like Southie and the North End in Boston), you can play up the metropolitan aspects of the rest of the city when they get there. Just some thoughts. Nick [/QUOTE]

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