What products (if any) bring you the best city-related experience?

[TheAuldGrump]

Hmmm, did a book for the city of Freeport ever come out? Given the spotty nature of my late, not so great, local game store I may well have missed one if it came out.

And are there any good Steampunk style city books out there? I am making an attempt on a portion of an alternate London in 1887...

The Auld Grump

 

[francisca]

Yep, 1E Lankhmar again. Hound, and many others, are right. I'm starting a lankhmar game sometime this fall using the Conan d20 rules.

TW and Cities by Chaosium has served me well.

The old Judge's Guild Tarantis is pretty good.

Cityworks is well written, but I've gotten just about no use out of it.

Lots of good stuff in the old GAZ series.

Seven Cities I've gotten good mileage from.

AEG's Toolbox has been handy at times.

Finally, since many RPG situations occur in the obligatory tavern, Necromancer's Book of Taverns is handy.

I still have a soft spot for Flying Buffalo's City setting stuff as well.

 

[francisca]

Reiterating what others have said:

Just about any version of CSIO or Lankhmar rocks. .

I would caution you against most of the other Lankhmar setting stuff. Much of it is crap. But either the 1e or 2e citybooks are good starting points.

 

[Crothian]

I assume you're referring to the trilogy of Foul Locales books and not just "Urban Blight". Hearing this does my heart good.

Those rocked. They were the first things I pulled off my self when I started my new campaign. The second things were Atlas' series of books that are very similar.

 

[S'mon]

I would caution you against most of the other Lankhmar setting stuff. Much of it is crap.

I think I said that.
The Swords of Deceit & Swords of the Undercity 1e adventure packs are tres bien though.

 

[S'mon]

My copy of 3.5e CSIO arrived last week, it looks a load of fun; it reminded me of creating my own cities age 12-13 with every house detailed... a few actual scenarios as in the Greyhawk box would have been nice, but it seems like a great base for a swords & sorcery campaign that still uses standard D&D races & rules (unlike Lankhmar).

 

[Joshua Randall]

This is kind of random -- and I certainly don't think it's the best city idea ever -- but I once got a lot of mileage out of the Sorcery! gamebook Khare - Cityport of Traps. (Sorcery! was a more sophisticated successor to the Fighting Fantasy gamebooks.)

Khare certainly lives up to its name, with a variety of potentially deadly traps around every corner. It's also got some bizarre and interesting NPCs (in D&D terms). But, bear in mind, the feel of the Sorcery! series(*) is much different than your standard D&D game.

Worth a look if you can find it.

(*) The full series runs as follows:
1. The Shamutanti Hills
2. Khare - Cityport of Traps
3. The Seven Serpents
4. The Crown of Kings

 

[Mystery Man]

Soon, Ptolus will join them.

640 Pages!!!???

 

[Arnwyn]

This is kind of random -- and I certainly don't think it's the best city idea ever -- but I once got a lot of mileage out of the Sorcery! gamebook Khare - Cityport of Traps. (Sorcery! was a more sophisticated successor to the Fighting Fantasy gamebooks.)

Your post just reminded me that I use the Fighting Fantasy locale Port Blacksand IMC. A great city, IMHO.

 

[Psion]

This is kind of random -- and I certainly don't think it's the best city idea ever -- but I once got a lot of mileage out of the Sorcery! gamebook Khare - Cityport of Traps. (Sorcery! was a more sophisticated successor to the Fighting Fantasy gamebooks.)

Khare certainly lives up to its name, with a variety of potentially deadly traps around every corner. It's also got some bizarre and interesting NPCs (in D&D terms). But, bear in mind, the feel of the Sorcery! series(*) is much different than your standard D&D game.

Worth a look if you can find it.

(*) The full series runs as follows:
1. The Shamutanti Hills
2. Khare - Cityport of Traps
3. The Seven Serpents
4. The Crown of Kings

I'm wondering if you are aware this series has been ported to d20?

http://enworld.rpgshop.com/default.php?manufacturers_id=394