In what format do you want your fantasy city presented?

[Romnipotent]

A combined product of seperatable parts with resin version of town, and large central wizards tower with a "map."

The Penance stuff in the Oathbound book is rather good.

 

[painandgreed]

Hmm... Following that train of thought, would it be usefull to you to have a document for players new to the city, one for players that have lived in the city for some time, but do not have any knowledge (local) skill points, and others for players that have knowledge (local) X skill points (so the more skill points they have invested in the skill the more they know of the city)? Maybe not very economical, but would it be usefull and/or appreciated?

I could see one for what anybody with no skill points would reasonably know or could be told by a passing traveller. Another for those with skill points. For anything else, I think it would be too dependant on what the party actually does while in the city and discovered in game. There are too many different paths for parties to take and too many different ways a DM might want to run the city. I'd keep the PC info to a minimum to help the DM if he wants it but not cut into the product if he doesn't. Two pages for that.

If there was anything more complicated, then for each major NPC, store or feature of the city, have a block of flavor text that could be read to the PCs. Reprint all of these blocks on a sheet or two in the back of the book that could be cut out or photocopied and then chopped up and handed out to the PCs if the DM desired so. perhaps different cards for the such that might have different levels of knowledge to know about them. One card for the inn that is of good quality. When the party discoveres that it is the base of the theives guild they get the next card. Still, i'm not sure I'd ever use such a tool, but if I wanted something besides Dm information to give to the players OOC that I didn't write up myself, I think that would be the way to go.

 

[RichGreen]

Hi,

I agree with Gez -- a combined book, with the DM's secrets in a chapter at the back.


Cheers


Richard

 

[diaglo]

one for the referee with Player handouts.

none for the players only.

 

[jmucchiello]

Hmm... Following that train of thought, would it be usefull to you to have a document for players new to the city, one for players that have lived in the city for some time, but do not have any knowledge (local) skill points, and others for players that have knowledge (local) X skill points (so the more skill points they have invested in the skill the more they know of the city)? Maybe not very economical, but would it be usefull and/or appreciated?

No, I'd find all of that a waste. There could be any number of things that the DM decides to excise from the city and if it's in the player's handout, the handout is useless. As the original poster (painandgreed) said: Only a DM book, no player stuff beyond an overview map. Someone else compared a city book to an adventure module. I think that's the best idea.

Also, I think a city book MUST have a full index and more whitespace than usual for adding notes right where they are needed.

 

[ivocaliban]

The best example I've seen of this sort of thing wasn't a d20 book at all. In fact, it wasn't even D&D related (thought in some ways it later became so). The boxed set in question was AEG's City of Lies for Legend of the Five Rings. It includes a GM's guide (where the plot and secret information is held), a Location guide (pretty much common knowledge for PCs), a Journal of a character that figures into the main plot, and a highly detailed and stylized map of the city itself. My only regret is that I never actually got to run a game there.

I'd never thought much about it before that boxed set, but it convinced me that that was the way to go.

 

[nopantsyet]

I'd like to see a player's guide that's actually a player's guide; PrCs and feats do not a player's guide make.

I'd actually prefer to see it in a PDF, and I'd like it to serve the function of a tourist's guide--only a "local's guide." There should be player-related information about people and places that are documented in the DM's guide. So The players might know that Tazzo's is a great place for broiled mutton, but the DM also knows the prices and that they run an illegal lace-tatting sweat shop out of the basement.

Uh....you know. That kind of thing.

 

[Thunhus]

I would like to have book for DM and PDF for players. The PDF should be relative short, because my players are lazy to read fluff text (they want PrCs, feats etc.).

Thunhus

 

[Angel Tarragon]

I'd prefer the info to be split.

 

[Cergorach]

Some of you might have noticed that i didn't mention any specific medium in the initial question. Having a print book that's mostly aimed at the DM and a pdf that's mostly aimed at the player is also a seperate product, it seems that some people don't see a pdf as a seperate product (or any product at all).

@Cthulhu's Librarian:
Thanks for the recommendation, i've seen it before, but i'll take another look at it.

@painandgreed:
I'm pretty certain one could fill a book with a lot of interesting fluff about a city that doesn't include any info on the local thief guild, beyond the fact that the traveller should be aware of his purse in the dock district.

@Turjan:
Who said anything about buying, an option could be that they can download it for free. Foremost i'm interested in what's preffered (although goldleaved boxed sets with lots of toys is stretching it a bit ;-)

@jmucchiello
A full index i agree with, lots of white space in the book for notes i kind of balk at, i never ever write in my own books (just a personal preference).

Remember with the computer age it becomes easier to create applications that reduce the work the user needs to perform to get good results. I've been experimenting with dynamic pdf creation, and dynamic story threading. It could be possible that the DM chooses what he wants the players to know and generates content dynamically, this could be a seperate program or a website (although a website would be more feasible initially). This could be as simple or complex as the programmer likes, but the end result would be that you have a custom pdf (you can print) that you can give your players. You could then send it to Kinko or any other print on demand printer and let them print and bind something a little more professionally for you...

@ivocaliban:
Ohh! How could i forget City of Lies, thanks! I should take a look at that, i loved that, but my players aren't really motivated to adventure in an oriental setting... *sigh*

@nopantsyet:
I so agree with you, while i don't mind a couple of feats, PRCs, and similar stuff, it better be really appropriate and fluffy for the player!

Why wouldn't the players know what a piece of broiled mutton costs at that shop?

Have you ever looked at Volo's Guide to Waterdeep? It's pretty great, but i kind of miss the more common and general aspects of waterdeep in that guide...