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

[Psion]

Hey all, just a little curious. What city related products (be they campaign settings, setting supplement/city books, or utility books like Cityworks) have contributed to great city games for you.

Because, y'know, I am finding this topic in particular to be few diamonds and a lot of rough.

 

[cincinnati reds]

The Sharn sourcebook kicks my butt. Especially the Power and Politics chapter.

 

[HellHound]

The original (1e AD&D) Lankhmar book.

Great book, great map, and FANTASTIC idea about handling the back alleys using geomorphs.

 

[Crothian]

First place I goto is Bluffside. And now that there are some relaly cool Bluffside PDFs coming out and they have a nice site and everything, it is very useful.

The next place I goto are the old Flying Buffollo city books that I wish I had more of.

After that I tend to goto the Atlas and MEG books that have little encounters in them like the Foul Locale series and Atlas's En Route and 7 whatevers. Necromancers Book of Taverns is also one I really like to use.

Lastly, and this is a bit more odd ball, Palladium Fantasy Western Empirtes has some very well done and described cities and places in it.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

GAZ 3: Principalties of Galantri

Great, great, great city book for oD&D.

Another great one is Seattle Sourcebook for 2nd edition Shadowrun. The official site lists it as just-about-out-of-print. I poured over this book forever and there are a zillion GM ideas and they're not in the format of being labeled as such (I really don't like that for some odd reason).

Also for Shadowrun is Sprawl Sites. GREAT BOOK! GREAT BOOK! It is out of print, but I really reccomend it for Shadowrun and it is still good for any modern city based game. This really captures the feel of ShadowRun and it doesn't even have a city map. A solid reccomendation from me.

 

[Desdichado]

I tend to pluck diamonds from all kinds of rough, and mix in non-RPG city sources there too. Krondor, from the original Riftwar Series by Ray Feist is how I play a lot of city games.

I don't actually have too many city sourcebook, come to think of it. I like Sharn and Freeport well enough, but I only borrow some elements from them. Shackled City has contributed Cauldron (as a stand-in for other cities, mostly) too, as have other Dungeon adventures. That "vile" Dungeon adventure; can't remember the name of that city, but I've used it too.

 

[Psion]

First place I goto is Bluffside. And now that there are some relaly cool Bluffside PDFs coming out and they have a nice site and everything, it is very useful.

The next place I goto are the old Flying Buffollo city books that I wish I had more of.

After that I tend to goto the Atlas and MEG books that have little encounters in them like the Foul Locale series and Atlas's En Route and 7 whatevers. Necromancers Book of Taverns is also one I really like to use.

Lastly, and this is a bit more odd ball, Palladium Fantasy Western Empirtes has some very well done and described cities and places in it.

I see we are hitting on some of the same cylinders here.

I love the citybooks for plot ideas. I ran two whole campaigns around subplots in the city books. And Bluffside remains one of my preferred city setting, mainly because it has the most distinctive feel and some great looking locations (that said, unlike citybook, I have only had a bit of play experience with bluffside, and was hoping for people who could tell me "yeah, we had this long running city game, it was great, and this is what we used.") And I liberally ripped off the Palladium Old Ones book for cities and towns.

 

[Desdichado]

I have only had a bit of play experience with bluffside, and was hoping for people who could tell me "yeah, we had this long running city game, it was great, and this is what we used.

drnuncheon's Freeport Story Hour

 

[GVDammerung]

My Top Three Best -

1st The original City State of the Invincible Overlord ("Red Edition") was amazing - (1) Great map (4 poster maps), (2) lots of detail in very little space (compared to "modern" city products); and (3) a "wahoo" elan that nearly perfectly captured the D&D "feel" of the time.

2nd Lankhmar, as another poster mentioned - (1) Great map; (2) innovative use of geomorphs to run detailed locales in back allies, side streets and neighborhoods; and (3) detail that seemed "fantasy real," probably because it used the source material particularly well and built on it in consistent fashion.

3rd Sharn:City of Towers for Eberron - (1) innovative "vertical city" of fantasy skyscrapers; (2) over 100 districts within the city described and given individual personalities; (3) big city "feel" prehaps stronger than any other city product.

Honorable Mention - The City Books, as mentioned. A city described at the "business level" in six/seven books. No map but with the detail provided (including maps) on nearly 80 businesses almost no need for one.

Honorable Mention - Original Sanctuary (Thieves Guild, Chaosium). Provided height/stories for buildings so it was possible to run rooftop chases like in no other city setting.

Worst City: City of Greyhawk Boxed Set - (1) Looked like a meadow, not a city; (2) didn't live up to the "reputation" of the city for being big, dense and full of dark intrigue; and (3) included some of the worst/silliest NPCs this side of anywhere.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Yeah, those old Shadowrun sourcebooks were great. I don't think any of our campaigns ever left that city. There was so much to do.

I really liked Volo's Guide to Waterdeep. Almost entirely fluff, but it added a rich level of detail and provided a lot of adventure ideas.

I've always said that Hollowfaust will always have a place in any campaign I run. I love the idea of a city ruled by non-evil necromancers, along with the cultural adaptations presented here. I'm not sure where it's going in my C&C homebrew, but it'll fit in somewhere.

Another great one is Seattle Sourcebook for 2nd edition Shadowrun. The official site lists it as just-about-out-of-print. I poured over this book forever and there are a zillion GM ideas and they're not in the format of being labeled as such (I really don't like that for some odd reason).