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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Clavis" data-source="post: 3963284" data-attributes="member: 31898">History has already asked the question of what happens when people feel like the outside world is hazardous, they have limited agricultural technology, and transportation is slow. The answer is they cluster together, and live as close to each other as they can. The pattern held true in places as far apart as Rome, China, India and Timbuktu (a real African city BTW).For me, the problem with the way WOTC maps out cities is that they look like modern American suburbs. And that's anything but fantastic! If characters are to experience the energy and excitement of a city, it needs to have a dense population constantly interacting with each other. I propose that the historically accurate model creates more opportunities for adventure than the so-called fantasy one.I don't stick to medieval European ideas.  But the Greeks had the same settlement pattern as later Europe. A central, very dense stronghold-city surrounded by farms. In fact, the Greek City-State model would be an excellent one for a POL setting.The Hyborian age setting was a deliberate mish-mash of later real-world cultures, because Howard was creating a secret history for the Earth. Aquilonia was meant to evoke medieval France, for instance. In such a case, applying real-world urban models is not just appropriate, it's exactly what was intended.Italy, for one, contains numerous examples of villages and towns built on the sides and tops of mountains. I went to High School ( and gamed) with someone whose family came from a town in Calabria that was literally built on the side of a mountain. He showed me pictures, and I remember asking him how nobody ever fell off.As for Tolkien, he would have preferred that you look to real-world Europe, It's exactly what he did when apprpriating names and cultures to populate Middle Earth!I would think of Venice, which is basically built on wooden pilings sunk into a lagoon. Other people have mentioned Tenochtitlan (now Mexico City). Of course, both those cities are currently sinking into the mud...Yes, but IMHO the real-world model is more exciting and evocative of far-away times and places. Medieval London, with its winding narrow streets and hidden recesses, is just a more interesting place than a fantasy town laid out like modern Levittown! Also, I prefer to not have magic integrated into the ordinary human life of my Campaign, so that when the players encounter it they can still have a sense of wonder. The contrast between the mundane and magical is what keeps the arcane wondrous. If everything is fantastic, the fantastic just become the mundane. It's simple to pull that off; I use the explanation that human wizards are deliberately and selfishly trying to keep magic to themselves, to maintain their own power. No mighty Wizard, wielding the powers of creation itself, is going to stoop to making a perpetual flame just so the common rabble can have better streetlights!</blockquote>

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