How would you make a canal city work as a fantasy RPG setting?

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Canal cities look cool, but are they suitable for fantasy RPG settings?

Is there a way to have extensive dungeons?

What sort of basic setting assumptions follow from having a canal city?

Are there things having a canal city would enable? Are there things it would limit?

 

[MGibster]

You could always have underground dungeons located outside the city. But I do define dungeons rather loosely. Castle Ravenloft is a dungeon even though most of it is above ground.

 

[JAMUMU]

Things I'd like answered in a canal city setting, to make it interesting?:

a) What's under water in the wet areas?

b) What's exposed in the areas where the water has dried up, or where certain areas are flooded by tidal forces?

c) Which factions control the gondoliering?

d) Who and what exists on the islands?

e) Where do all the dead bodies go?

f) What's going on with the weird dwarf in the red cloak?

 

[Cruentus]

I'd say they'd be rather good for RPG's.

Right off the bat, you end up with a pretty 3D environment to build on and around - buildings are going to be multiple levels, you'll have the canals instead of streets between, then likely bridges of all sorts across the canals, and the buildings as dungeons could go up (as suggested by @MGibster or have them go down into water filled basements, or buildings that have sunk and been built on top of.

Or, have there be access via canal into subbasements or dry areas beneath the city (from before a flood? how are they dry? magic? natural forces?). So many options, and they don't have to necessarily make logical sense.

I also think I'd lean, as a player, into quicker, thief/rogue like characters, or swashbuckling types, just given there would likely be a need to sneak around a lot, hide, not fall into canals, jump from boat to boat, etc. Though this wouldn't be necessary, it would just feel very cloak and dagger.

It also opens up some interesting worldbuilding possibilities, some as mentioned above.

 

[JAMUMU]

There's a decent amount of the setting in Blades in the Dark that's canal-based. At least a couple of the city neighbourhoods use canals rather than streets, and it came up quite a bit in the Blades games I've run. Might be worth a look if you can find the pdf or whatevs.

 

[J.Quondam]

I haven't finished reading the setting yet, so I don't have many details, but....

The Swords of the Serpentine RPG is by default set in a canal city, with a "Lankhmar meets Renaissance Italy" sort of vibe heavy on intrigue, heists, and the like. The historical premise is that the a goddess pulled up a bunch of islands from the bottom of a wide river delta, and the huge chaotic city was built among them. The city is called "Eversink" because its buildings are always slowly sinking back into the ground; this isn't a geological effect, but just a supernatural fact of life in the city.

As expected, the city is criss-crossed by a network of canals large and small, so boats figure heavily, of course. The city's many islands are also connected with bridges, ranging from rickety wooden planks to elaborate stone spans. As well, the islands naturally separate the city into zones or quarters with different atmospheres and influences. There's also a clear contrast between old architecture and new development constantly being added on top of the submerging buildings. Though the game isn't really about delves, afaict, the fact of sinking buildings imply there's a massive, ancient underground world - partially dry, partially flooded - suitable for hiding, exploration, and illicit activity.

 

[TaranTheWanderer]

I would like to summon @Piratecat for this. Wasn’t Eversink a canal city? It was pretty cool. Let me find the link to the story hour…

Edit: I think there’s even a setting book for it now.

Edit 2 @J.Quondam beat me to it.

 

[Thourne]

Canal cities look cool, but are they suitable for fantasy RPG settings?

Is there a way to have extensive dungeons?

What sort of basic setting assumptions follow from having a canal city?

Are there things having a canal city would enable? Are there things it would limit?

Gonna go with boats.
I was thinking stilts at first but to much trouble.

 

[Thourne]

Now I have this whole thing going in my head simply because I briefly wondered who would be responsible for mucking them out...

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Now I have this whole thing going in my head simply because I briefly wondered who would be responsible for mucking them out...

Dwarves and/or wererats. Either would be grumpy about it.

 

[Thourne]

Dwarves and/or wererats. Either would be grumpy about it.

You know they could be both right? Dwarven wererats?

 

[deganawida]

You know they could be both right? Dwarven wererats?

GRUMPY dwarven wererats

 

[Richards]

The Lies of Locke Lamora takes place in a canal city - it's an excellent read in any case, but it would be worthwhile for mining for RPG ideas as well.

Johnathan

 

[Benjamin Olson]

Is there a way to have extensive dungeons?

I mean parts of the city could have actual landmass under them. A small island city eventually expanding into a sprawling Venice makes a lot of sense, and the original city becoming all government fortress, with associated dungeon, or all a temple enclave, with associated catacombs, is consistent with the pattern of many historical cities (just with a fantasy rpg amount of dungeon).

But really I think the main "underground" thing a canal city in a typical fantasy rpg needs is a criminal underground run by some sort of waterbreathing species. Don't mess with the merfolk mafia.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

But really I think the main "underground" thing a canal city in a typical fantasy rpg needs is a criminal underground run by some sort of waterbreathing species. Don't mess with the merfolk mafia.

Which aquatic groups are included makes a big difference. If they can't walk on land, that gives them a tremendous power in the water but allows PCs to run away from them, and it means the water-dwellers have to have specific land-walking agents.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Canal cities look cool, but are they suitable for fantasy RPG settings?

Is there a way to have extensive dungeons?

What sort of basic setting assumptions follow from having a canal city?

Are there things having a canal city would enable? Are there things it would limit?

So in addition to what others have said, I’d research the underground city underneath Las Vegas, in its water drainage system. In a fantasy canal city, an extensive water displacement system might well provide both a hidden city and a dungeon.

Also to get a feel for the 3D nature of such a city, and have some fun doing, play a bit of Assassn’s Creed 2.

 

[nevin]

Canal cities look cool, but are they suitable for fantasy RPG settings?

Is there a way to have extensive dungeons?

What sort of basic setting assumptions follow from having a canal city?

Are there things having a canal city would enable? Are there things it would limit?

with magic a dungeon would be doable. Or you could have a dead city underneath that's flooded in some area's and not in others.

 

[Lord Shark]

Glantri City, from Mystara, is also a canal city and has its own setting book.

 

[Aldarc]

As a reminder, this scene in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade took place in the catacombs of Venice:

I also ran a game of Fate set in a fantastical faux-Renaissance Venice. Play involved the noble family associated with the players having to gather materials to perform an exorcism to banish the otherworldly spirits haunting an abandoned monastery on an adjacent island that was mostly destroyed in a siege by the city's rival city-state (totally not Genoa).

If you are still curious what dungeons could look like in a Venetian city, I would also recommend checking out Assassin's Creed 2, which takes place in Venice for the latter part of the game.

 

[niklinna]

There's a decent amount of the setting in Blades in the Dark that's canal-based. At least a couple of the city neighbourhoods use canals rather than streets, and it came up quite a bit in the Blades games I've run. Might be worth a look if you can find the pdf or whatevs.

Yes, the canal stuff in Blades is pretty cool. And most of the city is built up high enough that you still have dungeons and catcombs and such, and some of the bridges also have buildings along their length, with the passsageway down the middle. And there are THINGS in the water. It's very immersive.