Worlds of Design: Life in the Big City

Cities don’t just happen; as a GM it’s helpful to know how to build one from scratch.
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Picture courtesy of Pixabay.

“Cities are never random. No matter how chaotic they might seem, everything about them grows out of a need to solve a problem. In fact, a city is nothing more than a solution to a problem, that in turn creates more problems that need more solutions . . .” - Neal Shustermann

Cities don’t just happen, though it may look that way to those who live in one. As a GM/world-builder you can “do it that way” (they just happen), but I prefer a believable world, which means that cities must have reasons for being there. For this article, a city is a settlement much larger than others locally, but it can also apply to towns.

Centers of Trade and Protection​

Cities sometimes arise at locations that are natural hubs of trade. If patterns and routes of trade change then a formerly prosperous city can be reduced to a hamlet or less. (See also "The Cost of Trade")

Cities are also hubs of agriculture. Specialists within cities provided services that a village could not support. In preindustrial times, cities were surrounded by a network of villages providing food for the city-dwellers. Keep in mind, land transport was expensive so food-producing locations needed to be close by or on a good transportation route, such as a river or sea. Some famous cities had their own seaport several miles away, like Ostia for Rome and Piraeus for Athens. Athens actually had miles-long walls connecting it with its seaport, while Rome was on a river that emptied into the Mediterranean at Ostia (which is now somewhat inland, owing to silting up).

Really large cities almost have to be on trade routes to help make provisioning (“the action of providing or supplying something for use”) the city possible. A city is often a center of production. People in a city rely on those out in the country to grow enough food, so that the city-dwellers can do something else (productive, we hope). The evolution of human history includes improvements in agriculture to the point that many people can concentrate in one place working on something other than farming.

Thanks to production and trade, cities are centers of wealth. In Roman times, the much older eastern cities were not only more populous, they were wealthier. Some scholars have suggested that the East Roman Empire survived when the Western Empire fell, in part, because of the greater population and larger, wealthier cities of the East.

Other City Origins​

We can think of other reasons for cities to arise. Holy cities, for example, often existed before their religion, but became even larger because of their religious significance.

Pre-modern cities are also population sinks – places for disease. People tend to migrate to, not from, cities, but disease holds back the actual population growth. Disease is less likely to spread through rural areas – not many people to carry disease from one place to another, and typically very little movement of people in rural areas. Further, at least in modern times, people living in cities are likely to have fewer children than those living in rural locations.

Population Limits​

The practical limits on city population size are related to transportation, though in a fantasy world the limits may be different owing to magic and fantastic transport creatures. Insufficient transportation meant starvation (See "Medieval Travel & Scale").

How big was a really large city in the premodern world? Rome itself was only about 50,000 people at the time of the Second Punic War (264-221 BCE), a city built of wood, but it later became closer to a million and was a city of concrete and stone. (There were lots of Romans in the Republic, but a relatively small proportion lived in the city; in the Empire five centuries later, vast numbers of inhabitants of the city had no jobs and were there for the dole. Much of late Roman strategy revolved around providing food for hundreds of thousands of dole recipients.)

How does a city become the capital of a large country? Start as capital of a smaller one (e.g. Thebes of Upper Egypt)? As we can see from American states, the capital is not always the largest city or even a large city (Lansing MI, Tallahassee FL). Fayetteville, NC was the capital before it was moved to Raleigh. A lot of it is accidental, really.

Cities can become legendary for many reasons. “Miklagard” (The Great City, Constantinople) was legendary for the Vikings. Rome is “The Eternal City.” I even remember reading James Blish’s Cities in Flight series where “New York, New York” was legendary in the far future. (Written when New York was the most populous city in the world.) In typical RPG play, there may only be a small village or town nearby, with “The City” a long way off, perhaps as legendary as Miklagard. Big cities are vastly complex; RPG campaigns are probably easier to deal with if set somewhere near a frontier rather than in a great city.

City-Building in Practice​

In a fantasy world, better transportation can make a difference to where cities are, and their population. So can differences in agriculture. Non-human species have differing characteristics that will change the shape of a city too. Whatever your approach, thinking about why and how a city grew to its current size can go a long way towards making your fantasy world feel real -- and a place where many people choose to live together.

Your Turn How do you plan out cities in your campaign?
 

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Lewis Pulsipher

Lewis Pulsipher

Dragon, White Dwarf, Fiend Folio
I have no problems with the cities being on the coast. That makes perfect sense, and, if you know the history of Scarred Lands, it makes even more sense - the interior is basically a hellscape of monsters. So, yeah, pretty much like Australia :D It's a very, very bad place. But, again, looking at Australia, you don't have a trade center that only trades with Australia. Sydney is a major port because trade LEAVES Australia. You would not send goods from Perth to Adelaide by way of Sydney, obviously. But that's what's expected in Scarred Lands, because Shelzar is meant to be the "center of trade".
That's true, though I think it's important to remember that having a true to life simulation of a real world is probably overkill for most people. The idea is to have a feeling of verisimilitude that keeps the players invested. So Shelzar being the big trade emporium might be enough to tell good stories in the Scarred Lands.

(I've never actually run in Scarred Lands, but I pillaged a lot of ideas from it for my own campaign world.)

Of course, there are examples in history where there are metropolitan cities that are too big to expectations, often for a mixture of geography and state policy, possibly historical. Paris is one of the cases and Moscow is another in a lot of ways.
 

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The best advice I've heard about building fantasy cities is to treat them like a body.

  • how does the body get water?
  • how does the body dispose of waste?
  • how does the body get food?
  • what sort of immune system fights internally to keep the body healthy?
  • how does the body defend itself from outside danger?
  • what organ runs the body?
  • what are the veins and arteries that allow movement through the body?

... and do on.
This is fantastic!
 

But isn't the point of worldbuilding to make something exciting? Or at least part of it?

Maybe Waterdeep has galleons docking there? Which would be anachronistic, but that's hardly out-of-bounds for D&D and FR.
The largest ship in the world at the time, the Mahmudiye, a 2500 ton, 249 foot long warship that carried 1200 sailors was built in 1828. It had a draft of 21 feet. That's it. 21 feet. Now, this is incredibly anachronistic. This is FAR outside the anachronism of D&D. A galleon? According to a quick search, 14-19 foot draft. Again, ZERO need for a deep water port. Heck, the Thames is only 60 feet deep at its deepest. Deep water ports are around 50 feet deep. Which you need for modern ships. That's why places like Vancouver are such a big deal. But for D&D level of technology, a deep water port is completely unimportant.

Sure, the point of world building is to make something exciting. Totally agree. But, again, so many fantasy writers cannot be bothered to do any actual research, pick words that sound exciting - ooooohhhh, it's a DEEEP water port, and call it a day.

As far as Stonetown is concerned, you're talking a town of 20 000 people. It's 1/10th the size of Waterdeep. And that's the modern population mind you. It was smaller prior.

What I find probably the most frustrating is this unwillingness to just say, "Yup, that's a bad idea. Let's get out the magic eraser, fix that problem and make it more believable". Nope. Cannot do that. It's better to pretend that the problem doesn't exist and the come up with fifteen different justifications to fix the problem. I mean, good grief, move the mouth of the River Desserin about half an inch to the left on the map and now Waterdeep has a source of fresh water AND a means to transport goods into the interior. Hell, add a canal. But, nope. The mouth of the Desserin, for some bizarre reason, about 25 miles from Waterdeep, meaning that any goods brought in by ship need to then be transported two days to Zundbridge, then loaded again onto a barge in order to transport it inland. Or, you could simply GO to Zundbridge and avoid Waterdeep entirely because, guess what? The ships in D&D DON'T NEED a deep water port. 🤷
 

The largest ship in the world at the time, the Mahmudiye, a 2500 ton, 249 foot long warship that carried 1200 sailors was built in 1828. It had a draft of 21 feet. That's it. 21 feet. Now, this is incredibly anachronistic. This is FAR outside the anachronism of D&D. A galleon? According to a quick search, 14-19 foot draft. Again, ZERO need for a deep water port. Heck, the Thames is only 60 feet deep at its deepest. Deep water ports are around 50 feet deep. Which you need for modern ships. That's why places like Vancouver are such a big deal. But for D&D level of technology, a deep water port is completely unimportant.

Sure, the point of world building is to make something exciting. Totally agree. But, again, so many fantasy writers cannot be bothered to do any actual research, pick words that sound exciting - ooooohhhh, it's a DEEEP water port, and call it a day.
I don't know FR very well. Is there scope to imagine that, in FR, a deep water port means navigable approaches and docking consistently over (say)15' deep?

As far as Stonetown is concerned, you're talking a town of 20 000 people. It's 1/10th the size of Waterdeep. And that's the modern population mind you. It was smaller prior.
But I think it makes a pretty good model for a D&D city! The cities I've been in that have given me the greatest degree of D&D vibe are Fez (the old city) and Stone Town.

And in D&D, with its elementals and its wizards and its gods and its spirits and what-not, couldn't the use of groundwater (or other water sources) be expanded beyond what is happening in mundane Stone Town?

What I find probably the most frustrating is this unwillingness to just say, "Yup, that's a bad idea. Let's get out the magic eraser, fix that problem and make it more believable". Nope. Cannot do that. It's better to pretend that the problem doesn't exist and the come up with fifteen different justifications to fix the problem. I mean, good grief, move the mouth of the River Desserin about half an inch to the left on the map and now Waterdeep has a source of fresh water AND a means to transport goods into the interior. Hell, add a canal. But, nope. The mouth of the Desserin, for some bizarre reason, about 25 miles from Waterdeep, meaning that any goods brought in by ship need to then be transported two days to Zundbridge, then loaded again onto a barge in order to transport it inland. Or, you could simply GO to Zundbridge and avoid Waterdeep entirely because, guess what? The ships in D&D DON'T NEED a deep water port. 🤷
Well I'm not carrying any sort of torch for Waterdeep or the FR. I mean, just about everything I know about Waterdeep I know from your posts in this thread (and other threads where I think you've been similarly critical of the economic geography of the Sword Coast). I just think that a fantasy city doesn't need to be too beholden to mundane norms.
 

And in D&D, with its elementals and its wizards and its gods and its spirits and what-not, couldn't the use of groundwater (or other water sources) be expanded beyond what is happening in mundane Stone Town?
Yes, and aqueducts are a thing, too.

Adding to what you just said one really big issue that people are overlooking with the "but it's not realistic, bruh" argument is that in a fantasy world there might well be reasons for a city to be in an area that otherwise seems to make no sense. Waterdeep is an example with the crazy megadungeon it's built on. (Not that a megadungeon is realistic, either, but never mind that.) Even in the real world this can happen. Witness many cities built near mines, oil, etc. The Soviet Union did a lot of this but there are plenty of such settlements in other places.

What if those "cities that make no sense" happen to be built on important ruins that are being looted by <cough> adventurers< cough>? Or by an adamantine mine? Or whatever. Or some God says "build HERE"? Yes these are hand waving, but they are also good reasons for something being where it is as opposed to somewhere else.
 

I just think that a fantasy city doesn't need to be too beholden to mundane norms.
No, and I get that. But, at some point, it does have to pass the plausibility sniff test. I mean, sure, being a deep water port is great. But it's rather pointless when every ship you're going to see in the system doesn't need it. Being a hub of trade is fantastic until you realize that being on the rim of a wheel means you can't actually BE a hub of trade. On and on. Like I said, I have no problem with the fantasy aspect. I have a problem with the lack of research aspect where the setting stops actually making sense.
 

Even in the real world this can happen. Witness many cities built near mines, oil, etc. The Soviet Union did a lot of this but there are plenty of such settlements in other places.
And that's fair enough. Again, those cities have reasons for being built there. ((Note, the Undermountain dungeon does not predate Waterdeep actually - it came later)) Even if that reason is, "A god declared that here there shall be a city".

That's not actually what I'm talking about though. I have no problems with there being a city called Waterdeep in that location. Fine and dandy. But "it's the deepest port!" is not a good reason for having a city at this location. Because the "deepest port" is the reason given for having the city on that location. Waterdeep isn't there because of Undermountain. It's not there because a god declared that it should be there. It's not there because it's near mines or ruins or anything like that.

The reason given that Waterdeep is built at that location is because of the deep water port. Twenty miles away is the mouth of the river, presumably deep enough to bring ships in, because there IS a port there. It's importance is because it is a center of trade. Neither of which actually make sense in the context of the setting.

I'm not against a city being somewhere for somewhat illogical reasons. No problem at all. Look at a map of New Orleans sometime and it's FAR weirder than any fantasy author would make. I'm against the setting creator stating reasons for the existence of something that don't actually make any sense.
 


When I design cities for my campaigns I like to include a design "flaw", a major historical event, a quirk, and the current talk of the town. Four to six bullet points that give it flavor. Otherwise I assume things like water, food, government, etc. are roughly standard fair. In a campaign where one city takes on a much deeper focus I would expand upon that list. But if my players are hopping around I'm comfortable with making up anything I didn't write down on the spot.
 

I've always wanted to run a campaign in which, over time, the characters' small home town grows into a massive sprawling city. The characters (or generations of characters) can guide its growth, investing in certain industries and fighting back powerful influences of demons, dragons, mind flayers, etc.
I've pretty much done that. In 1974 it started as a castle and small town. PCs were locals. Every time I moved (college, jobs, etc.) or a new edition of D&D came out I advanced my timeline and reworked / expanded the town into a decent sized city (c.15,000 population, more at peak trade and adventure season). The city essentially has "growth rings" with a series in interior walls / districts. It's on the largest river in the continent / world, where a large waterfall stops traffic up and down the river. Trade flows from every direction and there is a vast interconnected set of ruins / dungeons on the other side of the river. PCs come up river to adventure in the Hollow Hills and meet on the way north. Saves on the whole "they met in a tavern" bit :D

And yes, I've used the same setting for my game since original D&D. The world (which started as a setting for Chainmail miniature campaigns before D&D) has a long history established both by lore and in-game action.
 

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