Great Fantasy Cities (and what makes them so awesome)

[Switchblade]

While I rate New Croburzon (though I don't like the changes Iron Council brought in - I liked the secret police the way they were), Armarda, Sigil, Camorr and Tal Varrar highly my favourite has got to be 5 Fingers.

The city paladins fear to enter, who's patron "saint" of gamblers is an accendant of the dark twin, build on an old Orgoth fortress and prison where slaves were kept for the soul tithe years ago. Above the human city is a maze of ropes and ziplines where the gobbers have their own hanging town and make a good living as messengers traveling above the city. Gang warfare over turf, smuggling, politics and spying between great nations, trade wars over sea routes, cults and so much more.

The book addresses (in a relatively magic restricted setting) issues such as water (all weakly alcholic as the water isn't safe), smog levels, disease, crime and attitudes on the different islands. I love the little quirks such as Ogryn aren't allowed to be armed (everyone else is) and arson is seen as a worse crime than treason punishment wise due to the cramped wooden buildings.

Plus the large colour map (with side view for elevations) is awesome.

 

[DarkKestral]

I'm a fan of Sigil, A-M, and New Crobuzon, primarily for that 'scummy holes that are vibrant (if in a grimy sort of way) sorta work in most cases, and are getting cosmopolitan to the point that there's a middle class with actual civic power' feel that I like to see in urban fantasy, even that with a somewhat more classically medieval worldview. Bonus points if it manages to evoke a certain time period and place while keeping that same distinctiveness that makes it fantastic.

In my mind, no city is a proper fantasy city unless it is The Point of Light for a long distance, yet manages to be The Point of Darkness for an equally large radius. In a world full of forests of dangerous beasties, it should be that place which offers protection from the known ones while offering a few of it's own that the inhabitants watch out for. Definitely the kind of place one assumes parents will be warning their children about, but one that those same parents expect their kids to move to when they get older because of the opportunity.

 

[Dr Simon]

I'd always assumed that Ankh-Morpork was meant as a sort of parody of Lankhmar, as well as the many city-states found in the Conan books (Colour of Magic feels more like the old school fantasy of Leiber and Howard than later works).

I would have to say that, for me, Lankhmar sets the standard for seedy fantasy cities (having run a RuneQuest campaign based in and around Lankhmar for many, many years I could be biased!).

Pavis is nice, but New Pavis is pretty small, more a frontier town than a city and although it abuts the walls of Old Pavis it doesn't have that old, dirty feel of a good fantasy city, where layers upon layers of ancient buildings have gradually accreted upon one another.

Ptolus and Sigil are both interesting cities and good in the sense that they were designed specifically for D&D, and hence include things that make a game of D&D good, or make sense in a world that works the way modelled by D&D.

Freeport, well, I only have the original trilogy but from that there isn't a great sense of character about the city. Part of the problem I have is that the trilogy promises pirates and gives you Call of Cthulhu instead. Nothing wrong with CoC, but the wrapping feels wrong to me on this one.

I can't let this thread pass without pimping Llaza, from World of Conclave. Shanghai meets Venice, what's not to like? If only I could get around to drawing a map...

 

[evilgamer13]

I thought I'd throw in one of the city's from a game I was in; the city of the air baron was a city whose layout was actually planed by a ruler who was far longer lived then the primary human population. The air baron was also paranoid to the point that it would be considered a derangement in most people (this was in Palladium Fantasy and he was a Changeling though his persona was that of an Elf so no one would notice the life span). The city was arranged as a cerise of concentric circles, the city blocks were only one house wide but were quite long and the walls facing the outside of the city only had arrow slits for windows and the flat roofs had battlements, conversely the interior side of the house were where the doors were placed and had normal windows, the buildings were required to have stone exteriors. The districts of the city were divided up by the sort of large stone walls that never actually surrounded real city's but are a staple of fantasy literature, the city was also divided in half by a river that split into two around a large rocky outcropping where the keep was built.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

The Obscure Cities as portrayed in the comics by François Schuiten and Benoît Peeters. Their cityscapes are brilliant, and the architects who built these cities were often stark, raving mad. These works were a huge inspiration for Urbis, and I strongly suggest checking out some of their illustrations.

 

[Set]

I prefer cities that are on the edge of an active adventuring area;

Hollowfaust
Freeport
Stormreach
the City of Brass

 

[RangerWickett]

A good city is one that you can run a giant rampaging monster through. New York wins because of its vast number of visually memorable landmarks - the Statue of Liberty, the various bridges, Times Square, Central Park, the Chrysler building, the Empire State building, and for a long while the twin towers. Paris might come close - Louvre, Notre Dame, Eiffel Tower, Arc d'Triomphe - but I suppose the French aren't big on giant rampaging monsters.

I really don't get why Tokyo gets blown up so much. The only landmark I know of from there is Tokyo Tower. San Francisco is a good target, though, with Alcatraz, its iconic houses on hills, and of course the Golden Gate Bridge. L.A. is a good place for gang-vs.-cop movies, but not for giant rampaging monsters.

So my rubric is, does the city have:

• Bridges
• A big statue
• A unique tower
• An identifiable architectural style
• Some greenspace
• Memorable inhabitants
• Value to the rest of the world, so that when it's imperiled, people care

 

[heirodule]

Everway!

Everway Ruled by guilds of families with ancient traditions. Established by the Walker, who took stones from the 72 spheres approachable by the gates to form a pyramid at the center.

Very evocative of a particular fantasy type with mythological overtones.

 

[Psion]

My favorite cities have a unique nature, distinctive culture, and personalities and/or operating rules that invite adventure.

Sigil is strongest on all those suits
Hollowfaust is less strong on personalities, but has a different enough cultural take and operating rules that I think it comes off pretty strong.
Freeport has the personality. Operating rules are weaker, but it makes up for it by plugging into a well known and acknowledge "pirate" feel.

 

[DreadPirateMurphy]

I thought Paizo did a good job with Cauldron.

Of the D&D cities, Waterdeep always struck me as the one I would most like to visit.