This thread will contain various resources for designing fantasy cities, particularly for D&D. Rules and NPCs will be 3.5 unless the information is on another site or thread. This first post contains links and discussions of two available free downloads containing city generation material.
*Wizards web enhancement
The Magical Medieval City from Expeditious Retreat Press at RPGNow .
Both of these free products allow the DM to generate city wards (neighborhoods), a mapping/keying style which is unquestionably the best method to use for any sort of city adventuring on a more detailed level than just the "buying equipment and visiting my mentor" trip. Both products provide descriptions of different types of city wards, with descriptions of the people and buildings that would be found in such a neighborhood.
If you have never read a book specifically about Medieval cities, I recommend that you start by reading through the Expeditious Retreat pdf. There will be some surprises for you about cities. The introductory material, though it is written about fantasy cities, is an accurate description of the demographics and historical development of real Medieval cities. They are smaller than most people expect, both in population and land area. They are tied into the feudal system, but are largely self-governed. DMs with familiarity with medieval history will find few surprises here, but useful tools in later parts of the book.
The Expeditious Retreat product also provides an alternate method for generating a city's NPC population, which a DM might choose to substitute for the method set forth in the DMG. This method has the DM assign "points" representing NPC levels to the different power centers determined by the DMG method. Obviously, a certain number of the city's NPCs are not actually attached to a power center. This is a more flexible, but more cumbersome method of determining a city's NPCs than the one in the DMG.
Both of these tools are useful for determining city demographics, and are a good starting point for DMs who like to start with random demographics and create from there. They are also very useful in that they describe the methodology for designing a city in such a way that it can be used for adventuring (ie, using neighborhoods as the building blocks of the city).
*Wizards web enhancement
The Magical Medieval City from Expeditious Retreat Press at RPGNow .
Both of these free products allow the DM to generate city wards (neighborhoods), a mapping/keying style which is unquestionably the best method to use for any sort of city adventuring on a more detailed level than just the "buying equipment and visiting my mentor" trip. Both products provide descriptions of different types of city wards, with descriptions of the people and buildings that would be found in such a neighborhood.
If you have never read a book specifically about Medieval cities, I recommend that you start by reading through the Expeditious Retreat pdf. There will be some surprises for you about cities. The introductory material, though it is written about fantasy cities, is an accurate description of the demographics and historical development of real Medieval cities. They are smaller than most people expect, both in population and land area. They are tied into the feudal system, but are largely self-governed. DMs with familiarity with medieval history will find few surprises here, but useful tools in later parts of the book.
The Expeditious Retreat product also provides an alternate method for generating a city's NPC population, which a DM might choose to substitute for the method set forth in the DMG. This method has the DM assign "points" representing NPC levels to the different power centers determined by the DMG method. Obviously, a certain number of the city's NPCs are not actually attached to a power center. This is a more flexible, but more cumbersome method of determining a city's NPCs than the one in the DMG.
Both of these tools are useful for determining city demographics, and are a good starting point for DMs who like to start with random demographics and create from there. They are also very useful in that they describe the methodology for designing a city in such a way that it can be used for adventuring (ie, using neighborhoods as the building blocks of the city).
