Designing a city for my pirate campaign

[Imaculata]

I've been working on a map for a new city this week and I thought I'd share my process. Perhaps this can serve as inspiration for other DM's.

I'll probably refine the map more in the time leading up to the next session, but I'm already pretty happy with how it is turning out. At first I made a version that had all the names of important locations right on top of the map, but this makes the map look really cluttered. I like this style better, where the points of interest are indicated with numbers as if it were a tourist map. I still like having the names of districts on the map itself, but everything else is in a list to the side. I really like using icons for important locations, again like a tourist map would have. Most of the buildings on the map are indicated by simple shapes and I let the imagination of the players do the rest.

Petite-fort Lucia
The concept behind this city, is that it started out as a small fortified town (named after a local saint), which over time grew into this giant fortification surrounding a huge cathedral. It is ruled by a powerful and zealous order of paladins, who have used their vast wealth and influence to expand the city into something amazing. The town's people are extremely pious and loyal to the faith. I imagined that the cathedral should be something akin to the vatican, so I simply plucked a topdown picture of the vatican from a real map, and repurposed it. I then drew the city walls around it. Because religion is so important to the city and its people, I made sure to add multiple smaller churches to fill some of the empty space.

The city is built against the side of a mountain, and so all of its streets curve upwards. So if you're standing in the harbor, you can pretty much see the entire city sprawled out in front of you. I decided that lumber would be the city's primary export product. Behind the city is a dark and misty forest from which a network of logflumes snakes its way down through the city, towards the lumbermill. The forest and the logflume will be at the heart of some of the side plots that I have planned for the upcoming session. Some 'evil' from the forest has been attacking and killing the local lumberjacks, causing much fright among the locals. The church has capitalized on these fears to make people even more loyal to the church, by giving the people a clear evil that the church fights. The players will probably want to investigate this matter.

The basilique is also a very important location. So much so, that I'll probably need to make a separate map for it. There's still a lot to flesh out there plot wise, but I've already written down a couple of important characters.

However, I feel there's a still a lot of unused space in the city. I scattered some of the standard taverns and blacksmiths around, because the players are sure to visit those. I'll also need to add some inns. But I also think the city still needs some more plot locations and landmarks. So in the next couple of days I'll be diving into that further.

 

[Fenris-77]

The map looks cool. From a design standpoint the first thing I'd point to as 'missing' is factions. Who does what, who hates who, who's secretly trying to do X, all that shizz. That's what gives an urban setting it's own life and teleos.

 

[Imaculata]

That's a good suggestion. There probably should be multiple factions and perhaps guilds as well. And they probably should tie into some of the plots.

 

[Fenris-77]

That's a good suggestion. There probably should be multiple factions and perhaps guilds as well. And they probably should tie into some of the plots.

When your NPCs have actual reason for making decisions not only do they seem far more like characters they are also a lot easier to roleplay. Factions and knowledge of the political currents in a location also give the PCs some nice handholds not only for deciding who to talk to, but also how to parse the information they do get based on actual information.

 

[aco175]

How does the pirates tie to the city? Has the church split into sects where at least one favors more evil actions in their interpretation of faith? Are poor people searching for aid from the paladins and flock to the city, overrunning the relief services?

Certain things in a religious city seem like they would tie to larger events. Does the paladins rule the city or is there a government from merchants or random picking of all citizens, and how would this be corrupted in the choosing. Do pirates have a secret cove the law does not know about or silently tolerates since the pirates can smuggle in herbs the city needs but the priests outlaw. What about evil cults coming to the city to convert the lawful. Certainly Asmodeus would be trying to tempt locals.

Throw out a bunch of hooks and see what the players want to look into further.

 

[R_J_K75]

Thread title says "Designing a city for my pirate campaign" but there is no mention of pirates in the post. I'm confused. Seems like its more of a religion based campaign and is even reflected in the location names on the map. Are you planning to include more information on the pirates later?

 

[Fenris-77]

Well, at the very least it seems reasonable that the first two factions to get some attention would be the pirates and the church.

 

[jasper]

Go on line and steal the tourist maps from cities which had actual pirates. And lose some of the walls.

 

[Imaculata]

Thread title says "Designing a city for my pirate campaign" but there is no mention of pirates in the post. I'm confused. Seems like its more of a religion based campaign and is even reflected in the location names on the map. Are you planning to include more information on the pirates later?

Oh, the players are pirates. I should have mentioned that.

 

[R_J_K75]

Oh, the players are pirates. I should have mentioned that.

With some more details on the makeup of the party and their goals I might be able to offer some advice.