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

[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.