Fantasy Architecture

Tinker Gnome

Adventurer
One thing that i like to look at in fantasy settins is the architecture. I am fond of columns and pillars, as well as "open" spaces. I like stone to be a sort of almost ivory color, as well as there be some plant life around the area. So, what do you like in your fantasy architecture?
 

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Galeros said:
One thing that i like to look at in fantasy settins is the architecture. I am fond of columns and pillars, as well as "open" spaces. I like stone to be a sort of almost ivory color, as well as there be some plant life around the area. So, what do you like in your fantasy architecture?

Depends. I like my dungeons dark and wet. I like my cities tall and stone. I like my palaces gilded and filled with marble. I like my villages rustic with thatched roofs. I like a lot of different things depending on the area. I think keying areas to architecture is an excellet addition to a campaign world and can really lend a feel.
 


I like to mix it up - but I tend to go for a combo of the Greco-Roman look in some areas and a more Gothic look in others. I like to use architecture as one more clue to PCs that they have journeyed into a new area or culture.
 

Galeros said:
So, what do you like in your fantasy architecture?

Soaring arches. Impossibly tall and thin towers and spires. Dark buildings with gargoyles and lots of corners and angles. Thatched roofs on villages. Impossible structures here and there on the landscape, such as keeps on cliffs hanging out far over a valley, or inhabited statues two hundred feet tall. Giant skulls decorating the gates of villain's strongholds. You know.
 

By and large I use Grecco-Roman, however my girlfriend has an extensive collection of books of different architecual styles and after flicking through them I have an urge to start including Moorish styles.
 

Working at an arch/engineering firm really lets me borrow old classics on architecture. Usual books have massing, spatial relations and such, and it really gives an idea of where you are at vs. a 5' grid. Terrain becomes real and more 3D, giving the players a sense of limitation in some respects, but opens new doors in others.

I use greco-roman arch in some cities of culture and splendor, and use gothic for the newer large cities. The a few of the desert cities have a middle eastern feel, while dry grasslands and steppes get adobe.

In short, arch sparks imagination more than anything, IMO. Use it all where you can is my motto, as my homebrew has a little of everything if you travel there to see it.
 



How about a lighthouse inspired by a common piece of hardware? ;)
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