Great Fantasy Cities (and what makes them so awesome)

[barghus]

Moorcock's Tanelorn and Imryyr, the Dreaming City or am I dating myself?

 

[barghus]

Moorcock's Tanelorn and Imryyr, the Dreaming City or am I dating myself?

 

[Dr. Prunesquallor]

Random fantasy cities that come to mind...

Tindalos - beyond time itself, the hound-like creatures that haunt its streets hunger for something in humanity. "They are lean and athirst!"

Mos Eisley - a wretched hive of scum and villainy.

Middenheim - the WFRP city on a rock, rising above the surrounding woodlands. The rock is wormholed with dwarven tunnels now filled with mutants, goblins, and worse. You'll probably catch a horrible disease from a one-legged beggar.

With a tip o' the hat to barghus I think he missed one of Moorcock's more interesting cities... Londra, the capital of the empire of Granbretan, from the Hawkmoon series. Swarming with military orders that go masked as beasts, insects, etc., and neurotically refuse to unmask, speaking in secret languages, and favoring different weapons, filled with weird fantasy pseudo-science, and ruled by a freakish emperor kept alive by insane machinery, Londra is perfect for exploration by hardy PCs.

And I would be remiss if I did not mention Gormenghast, with its vast tenantless halls filled with the relics of dead dynasties, its government by ritual, and its freakish remant of a population and their curious relationship with the folk of its limpet-like suburb.

 

[Hjorimir]

I gotta go with Adrilankha from Steven Brust's Jhereg novels.

 

[The Little Raven]

Krondor: With landed nobles rubbing elbows with guild thieves and trappers, this town represents the threshold between the civilized areas of the eastern Kingdom and the frontier of the western Kingdom. Plus, it's got a thieves guild whose leader takes on titles like "The Upright Man." This town has definitely inspired the design of my cosmopolitan cities.

 

[Wombat]

For my money, here is a list...

Lankhmar -- gotta love an impossibly huge city with The Street of the Gods. Long live Issek of the Jug and the original Thieves' Guild!

Camelot -- maybe not a city, per se, but it might as well be!

Sanctuary -- while the stories were up and down, I still love the grit of that city.

Tashal -- I will let this previously mentioned city stand in for all the cities of Harn (etc.). The attention to detail and the depth of description make them great cities for almost any system.

Minas Tirith -- the White City looms in my mind and my heart. Gondor!

Hollowfaust -- this game-city presents another side of necromancers and how the inhabitants would actually interact with them, including festivals and funerary rites. Excellent!

Theudurb -- Okay, I'm cheating here. This is a city from my own campaign. But ask my players; they love it to tears!

 

[Dan Bell]

I haven't played in or used a ton of pre-made cities (my early DMs were all do-it-yourself types, and I sort of adapted their style), so I can't contribute much, but it's certainly an interesting thread to read!

I like the sounds of Sharn, Ptolus, Tashal. Does anyone know how each is released?

Hi MissingDividends,
Ask your local FLGS to order Tashal (a Harn product from Columbia Games) or buy it here: http://www.columbiagames.com/cgi-bin/query/cfg/zoom.cfg?product_id=5611

The free stuff that expands on the CG article is below:

And for one’s convenience here are the links:
Upper Eastside City Block
Eastside City Block and the
Caldeth Townhouse (a noble’s townhouse).

Enjoy!
-Dan

 

[sckeener]

Moorcock's Tanelorn and Imryyr, the Dreaming City or am I dating myself?

nah...you're not dating yourself. Moorcock is still putting out books and Stormbringer was updated to 3rd ed.

I think Tanelorn is a good choice. In one of my long standing groups that has been playing since the early 80s, we have one city based off Tanelorn.

 

[DrunkonDuty]

Ooooh: Londra. Good call.

For RPG settings gotta go with Lanhkmar as my fave. Plenty of detail, but still plenty of gaps (literally) in the map to fill in and make your own. ANd more than enough adventure fodder for many years of playing.

 

[WereSteve]

City State of the Invincible Overlord -- Evil is not so bad in this convincingly functional evil city.

Agreed ... tho' it's a shame that new/updated versions of Virdistan, Tula, Ralu, and Tarantis never made it into print while 3.5e was going strong.

My other votes would go to Tulan of the Isles and The Free City of Haven (old version).