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<blockquote data-quote="Wik" data-source="post: 4667597" data-attributes="member: 40177"><p>My quick answer:</p><p></p><p>Take a piece of graph paper, and give it a scale. Then, divide your city up into regions - the Merchant District, the Royal District, the University District, the Slums, and so on. Write down, in point form, the defining characteristics of each district. The Slums, for example, could be a series of hovels placed on top of each other, and probably stink. </p><p></p><p>Next up, figure out where your city walls are. Slums are probably on the outside of the city, or near dock areas. Many cities have an inner wall and an outer wall - the wealthy live within the inner wall, and many of the upperclass areas will be here, as well. </p><p></p><p>Then, draw your major roads - not alleyways, or anything like that. Just the major roads - one will lead to your main market area, one will lead to the dock, and one should lead to the centre of the city. </p><p></p><p>That's the basic design of a city.</p><p></p><p>After you do that, start adding details to each district. Try to think of some of the obvious things that would happen in each district (i.e., the University District will have a sizeable student population, will attract the fairly wealthy, and should have a few taverns catering to the students), and then try to think of some creative ideas that will generate adventures (The University district is home to two schools - an artisan school, and a magical school. They both vie for limited funding, and have been locked in a non-violent "cold war" for years. There are often pranks played from one school against the other). </p><p></p><p>Do this for buildings, too - a general description of how the buildings in the slums differ from the university buildings. In the old world, slums would often have more floors, while the wealthier preferred one- or two- floored dwellings. SLums are also probably more closely packed, and riddled with alleyways. </p><p></p><p>Next up, write up a random encounter list for each district. I'd go with 12 each, so you can roll a d12 if things start getting boring. These probably shouldn't be combat encounters, but instead interesting RP encounters. The University District could offer an encounter with some panicking students, a political protest rally, or a pub crawl; the slums could offer an encounter with a thug gang, a pickpocket, or a "lady of the evening" hoping to sell the PCs some information. </p><p></p><p>Try to figure out how the districts interact. Think about how your city would actually work. Write up a bunch of NPCs, and feel free to drop them in the campaign liberally. And re-use them, even if it doesn't always make sense! If the PCs bump into a bureaucrat in the Civic works section that they like, don't hesitate to have him pop up a few months later working for the library, and then a few months after that as a dockside authority! </p><p></p><p>When running the game, mention the main streets, and use those names whenever possible. Always mention district names (and it could be an idea to give at least half of the districts evocative names - "The Black Stink" is a much better name than "The Slums"). Describe the area in a sentence or two, and don't describe as PCs move from street to street. Encourage the PCs to use Coachman services, and even the use of city guides. </p><p></p><p>Remember that, in real life, we don't partake of every part of the city we live in. There are probably five or six places in my entire city that I go to for dinner on any sort of regularity. We are creatures of habit, and your PCs will probably be the same. Once they first find a weapons shop, odds are they'll keep going back there, unless the NPC is a pain in the butt. So, don't go overboard writing up descriptions. I'd just write down a few inn names and a few shop descriptions, and drop them when the PCs go looking for 'em (and reflavour as necessary, depending on which district they're in at the time).</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Wik, post: 4667597, member: 40177"] My quick answer: Take a piece of graph paper, and give it a scale. Then, divide your city up into regions - the Merchant District, the Royal District, the University District, the Slums, and so on. Write down, in point form, the defining characteristics of each district. The Slums, for example, could be a series of hovels placed on top of each other, and probably stink. Next up, figure out where your city walls are. Slums are probably on the outside of the city, or near dock areas. Many cities have an inner wall and an outer wall - the wealthy live within the inner wall, and many of the upperclass areas will be here, as well. Then, draw your major roads - not alleyways, or anything like that. Just the major roads - one will lead to your main market area, one will lead to the dock, and one should lead to the centre of the city. That's the basic design of a city. After you do that, start adding details to each district. Try to think of some of the obvious things that would happen in each district (i.e., the University District will have a sizeable student population, will attract the fairly wealthy, and should have a few taverns catering to the students), and then try to think of some creative ideas that will generate adventures (The University district is home to two schools - an artisan school, and a magical school. They both vie for limited funding, and have been locked in a non-violent "cold war" for years. There are often pranks played from one school against the other). Do this for buildings, too - a general description of how the buildings in the slums differ from the university buildings. In the old world, slums would often have more floors, while the wealthier preferred one- or two- floored dwellings. SLums are also probably more closely packed, and riddled with alleyways. Next up, write up a random encounter list for each district. I'd go with 12 each, so you can roll a d12 if things start getting boring. These probably shouldn't be combat encounters, but instead interesting RP encounters. The University District could offer an encounter with some panicking students, a political protest rally, or a pub crawl; the slums could offer an encounter with a thug gang, a pickpocket, or a "lady of the evening" hoping to sell the PCs some information. Try to figure out how the districts interact. Think about how your city would actually work. Write up a bunch of NPCs, and feel free to drop them in the campaign liberally. And re-use them, even if it doesn't always make sense! If the PCs bump into a bureaucrat in the Civic works section that they like, don't hesitate to have him pop up a few months later working for the library, and then a few months after that as a dockside authority! When running the game, mention the main streets, and use those names whenever possible. Always mention district names (and it could be an idea to give at least half of the districts evocative names - "The Black Stink" is a much better name than "The Slums"). Describe the area in a sentence or two, and don't describe as PCs move from street to street. Encourage the PCs to use Coachman services, and even the use of city guides. Remember that, in real life, we don't partake of every part of the city we live in. There are probably five or six places in my entire city that I go to for dinner on any sort of regularity. We are creatures of habit, and your PCs will probably be the same. Once they first find a weapons shop, odds are they'll keep going back there, unless the NPC is a pain in the butt. So, don't go overboard writing up descriptions. I'd just write down a few inn names and a few shop descriptions, and drop them when the PCs go looking for 'em (and reflavour as necessary, depending on which district they're in at the time). [/QUOTE]
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