D&D 5E Which Urban Setting for D&D 5e?

[Blue Phoenix RPG]

If you like the King Authur vibe, try Cormyr. Waterdeep is good if you want a more racially diverse setting, you want to include pirate adventures off the Sword Coast or if you want to dungeon delve (Ruins of Undermountain). There were so many really cool accessories for FR from 1st to 3rd edition out there that you can find all sorts of different region/city settings, from dark goth, frontier cities, jungles, and even asian (Kara-Tur). The city with the most source material is probably Waterdeep.

Here's a list of all the FR Region / City accessories:
Anauroch (desert), also has a 3.5 update.
Calimport,
Castles (Box Set),
Cities of Mystery,
City of Splendors (Waterdeep, many different edition versions of this too),
City of Waterdeep Trail Map
City System,
Cormanthyr Empire of Elvesm
Cormyr,
Cormyr the tearing of the weave,
Elves of Evermeet
Empires of the Sands,
Empires of the Shining Sea,
Moonsea,
Moonshea (Isles),
Netheril Empire of Magic,
Pirate s of the Fallen Stars,
Silverymoon Gem of the North,
Skullport (tie-in to undermountain and waterdeep),
The City of Ravens Bluff,
The Jungles of Chult,
The North,
The Savage Frontier,
Volo's Guide to (cityname here, lol),
Waterdeep and the North.

And that's just a partial list. Reading those will help you figure out what city you want to play in or make your own. I personally have just always loved Waterdeep because of the diversity of races, classes, etc. It's also has Skullport, the Ruins of Undermountain, and other kind of tie-ins too. The city is so big it has basically cities within cities (or wards). Each ward has a totally different feel to it. Anyway, hope this info helps.

 

[The Grassy Gnoll]

I keep banging on about Pelinore from Imagine mag, originally designed for AD&D/Basic, but has exactly what you seek - NPCs, plot hooks, and just enough detail... http://www.gyford.com/phil/writing/2008/12/22/pelinore.php

 

[RichGreen]

Hi,

First of all this is a great thread – I love city settings!

I've run campaigns in both Ptolus and Freeport are using 3.x and both are superb cities – I don't have the new Pathfinder Freeport book but the first two sourcebooks from Green Ronin were excellent.

I'd also recommend the Neverwinter 4e book. It's chock full of adventure ideas and would work really well if you want to extend your Lost Mine of Phandelver campaign. It's set in a similar time period - maybe about 10 years before the Sundering - but there are lots of ideas you can use. I've been making good use of it when running my own Phandelver games.

Thanks to JTorres for giving my city sourcebook, Parsantium: City at the Crossroads, a mention. One of my key design goals was to make sure that it was easily used with as many D&D editions as possible, including 5e. It's a really fun place to set a campaign if you are looking for somewhere a bit different to the standard European fantasy city.

I keep banging on about Pelinore from Imagine mag, originally designed for AD&D/Basic, but has exactly what you seek - NPCs, plot hooks, and just enough detail... http://www.gyford.com/phil/writing/2008/12/22/pelinore.php

Lastly, thanks so much for sharing this link! I have a couple of ancient issues of Imagine and ran one or two Pelinore adventures back in the 80s, so it's great to be able to read more on the setting.

Cheers


Rich