Capital City [Archive] - Wizards Community

Capital City [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Kedami
08-03-07, 04:02 PM I was looking to see if there were similar threads to this and there was a thread on helping someone design their capital on the first page... Anyway, I'm still going to ask.

The city has many areas for ships along the coast (to the south) and a castle in the centre of the city. Would it be smart to build a single entrance to the city or should I place two entances like I originally planned? (This doesn't include the docks, they're already well defended).

I ask because there is a small farming town to the east of the city and a large town to the north. I want both to have easy access to the city, but I feel that two entrances may be tactically unsound, especially for a capital city.

This is more of a flavour question, really, now that I think about it, but it may be one that my players will ask about. This is going to be a long-running campaign hopefully, so I need to work out all the problems before it starts.

The PCs in this campaign will be Neutral or Evil and be working from inside the city anyway, but I still have other plans that involve the city on a larger scale (most likely war with a different nation across the sea).
Ell
08-03-07, 04:24 PM Actually one entrance is not enough even for a small trading town, not to mention the capital. I'd say at least four (if that's a capital, there are many trade routes), if you have a sea - tree. If you are worried about tactics, build some fortresses.
BlackWeasel
08-03-07, 04:32 PM Persoally I don't think having two gates is less sound than having a wall people can fly over so I would make something to deal with that.

Ideas I've used have been a few bound air elementals, a constant magical storm in the sky above, gargoyle, clouds of permanently summoned crows or traps of some sort. I just feel it's silly to have huge strong gates when a few goblins on medium eagles could fly right in.
GoriceXII
08-04-07, 08:39 AM Actually it can be sensible. In modern warfare you have fortifications and you have anti-air defenses too. It seems to make sense to me that you'd also have that in a D&D type setting. For instance in mine there are towers with ballistae that can be aimed upwards, wizards on call to enhance the attacks and a squadron of hippogriff riders.

It is not a bad idea when doing D&D to think in terms of modern warfare, substituting tech for magic.

cities may have multiple gates. There might be for instance a defending wall separating the port area from the rest of the city to prevent seaborne attacks, so there would likely be a gate there. Then there might be two or three others facing the other roads unless the city only connects to one major road.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Kedami 08-03-07, 04:02 PM	I was looking to see if there were similar threads to this and there was a thread on helping someone design their capital on the first page... Anyway, I'm still going to ask. The city has many areas for ships along the coast (to the south) and a castle in the centre of the city. Would it be smart to build a single entrance to the city or should I place two entances like I originally planned? (This doesn't include the docks, they're already well defended). I ask because there is a small farming town to the east of the city and a large town to the north. I want both to have easy access to the city, but I feel that two entrances may be tactically unsound, especially for a capital city. This is more of a flavour question, really, now that I think about it, but it may be one that my players will ask about. This is going to be a long-running campaign hopefully, so I need to work out all the problems before it starts. The PCs in this campaign will be Neutral or Evil and be working from inside the city anyway, but I still have other plans that involve the city on a larger scale (most likely war with a different nation across the sea).
Ell 08-03-07, 04:24 PM	Actually one entrance is not enough even for a small trading town, not to mention the capital. I'd say at least four (if that's a capital, there are many trade routes), if you have a sea - tree. If you are worried about tactics, build some fortresses.
BlackWeasel 08-03-07, 04:32 PM	Persoally I don't think having two gates is less sound than having a wall people can fly over so I would make something to deal with that. Ideas I've used have been a few bound air elementals, a constant magical storm in the sky above, gargoyle, clouds of permanently summoned crows or traps of some sort. I just feel it's silly to have huge strong gates when a few goblins on medium eagles could fly right in.
GoriceXII 08-04-07, 08:39 AM	Actually it can be sensible. In modern warfare you have fortifications and you have anti-air defenses too. It seems to make sense to me that you'd also have that in a D&D type setting. For instance in mine there are towers with ballistae that can be aimed upwards, wizards on call to enhance the attacks and a squadron of hippogriff riders. It is not a bad idea when doing D&D to think in terms of modern warfare, substituting tech for magic. cities may have multiple gates. There might be for instance a defending wall separating the port area from the rest of the city to prevent seaborne attacks, so there would likely be a gate there. Then there might be two or three others facing the other roads unless the city only connects to one major road.