City campaigns [Archive] - Wizards Community

City campaigns [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
cacheek
04-10-07, 01:46 PM What book is good for city/town/village campaigns and building cities/villages etc.?
MagicMouth
04-10-07, 02:04 PM What book is good for city/town/village campaigns and building cities/villages etc.?
I would say Cityscape.
Kadasbrass
04-10-07, 02:43 PM Cityscape offers advise, but perhaps isn't the best book. The Waterdeep book gives good stuff for a pregenerated city, but is a huge high magic city.

Dungeon Master Guide 2 would be better to be honest. Expands on what the DMG did, and on top of that offers a mid-magic town with very detailed information on places and people within the town with plenty of plot hooks for a campaign.
GrimshofHighSorcery
04-10-07, 03:32 PM There is also an old issue of Dragon magazine from a few years back where in their columns they did a few articles on building a fantasy city. I think it was about a 5 issue article.

I would skip Cityscape and go with the DMG II.
Frugal
04-10-07, 03:43 PM I don't have it myself but I've heard the Ptolus has a ton of useful stuff that can be used for a city campaign even if you're not going to use the city itself (although I've heard it's really good for that too). Expensive but supposedly well worth it.
MagicMouth
04-10-07, 03:46 PM Ya, Cityscape seems to be more of a book focusing on how to build campaigns based in and around cities, rather than how to build an actual city. Don´t own it, but it looks rather interesting in that aspect.

Sharn: City of Towers could possibly give some interesting guidelines in building something other than a typical fantasy city.
wrecan
04-10-07, 05:13 PM Ya, Cityscape seems to be more of a book focusing on how to build campaigns based in and around cities, rather than how to build an actual city. Don´t own it, but it looks rather interesting in that aspect.
It's not particularly useful for that either. I think of it as a guide for people who have never actually been to a city. Other than a handful of interesting environmental hazards, there isn't much useful.

Go with DMGII.
Kirtanus_Albacron
04-10-07, 06:00 PM I like Races of Destiny, because it has things like districts, and economy ratings, etc.
Fireclave
04-10-07, 06:14 PM Sharn: City of Towers might interest you.
krichaiushii
04-10-07, 09:35 PM City Works from FFG is pretty good.

You might also look at all of the pregenerated cities you can find, both from WotC and 3d party companies.

Freeport
Bluffside
Mithral
Hollowfaust
Raven't Bluff
Citystate of the Invincible Overlord

These are but a tiny few of what is available in print and/or pdf.

There are also collections of "city" adventures from d20 and other systems. Mystic Eye Games has the Foul Locales series, Flying Buffalo had Citybooks (http://www.flyingbuffalo.com/catalyst.htm), GURPS has lots of worldbooks (http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/) to loot.

You get the idea. Happy hunting.
Patrakis
04-10-07, 11:58 PM I can't recommand enough this book from Expeditious Retreat Games called: A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe. You'll get everything you need in there. Tables, charts, historical views, etc. etc.

Very good book.

Pat
die
04-11-07, 06:03 PM Building a City
http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20030719a

A Magical Medieval City Guide
http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=1678
mapping
http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=2444

city generators
http://etherstorm.net/~tedberg/cgi-bin/towngen.cgi
http://nine.frenchboys.net/city.php

city maps
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/mapofweek/City_map_overview_432hr98_150dpi.jpg
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/mapofweek/Dec03_Necropolis_3_150_dpi_dxh29.jpg
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/mapofweek/city802.jpg

more maps
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mwa/archiveall

city encounters
http://www.necromancergames.com/pdf/bg_random.pdf

Medieval Demographics Made Easy
http://www.io.com/~sjohn/demog.htm
http://qzil.com/kingdom/
http://www.rpglibrary.org/utils/meddemog/
http://www.lucidphoenix.com/dnd/demo/

NPC generator
http://www.aarg.net/~minam/npc.cgi

Useful DM Links
http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=328817

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
cacheek 04-10-07, 01:46 PM	What book is good for city/town/village campaigns and building cities/villages etc.?
MagicMouth 04-10-07, 02:04 PM	What book is good for city/town/village campaigns and building cities/villages etc.? I would say Cityscape.
Kadasbrass 04-10-07, 02:43 PM	Cityscape offers advise, but perhaps isn't the best book. The Waterdeep book gives good stuff for a pregenerated city, but is a huge high magic city. Dungeon Master Guide 2 would be better to be honest. Expands on what the DMG did, and on top of that offers a mid-magic town with very detailed information on places and people within the town with plenty of plot hooks for a campaign.
GrimshofHighSorcery 04-10-07, 03:32 PM	There is also an old issue of Dragon magazine from a few years back where in their columns they did a few articles on building a fantasy city. I think it was about a 5 issue article. I would skip Cityscape and go with the DMG II.
Frugal 04-10-07, 03:43 PM	I don't have it myself but I've heard the Ptolus has a ton of useful stuff that can be used for a city campaign even if you're not going to use the city itself (although I've heard it's really good for that too). Expensive but supposedly well worth it.
MagicMouth 04-10-07, 03:46 PM	Ya, Cityscape seems to be more of a book focusing on how to build campaigns based in and around cities, rather than how to build an actual city. Don´t own it, but it looks rather interesting in that aspect. Sharn: City of Towers could possibly give some interesting guidelines in building something other than a typical fantasy city.
wrecan 04-10-07, 05:13 PM	Ya, Cityscape seems to be more of a book focusing on how to build campaigns based in and around cities, rather than how to build an actual city. Don´t own it, but it looks rather interesting in that aspect. It's not particularly useful for that either. I think of it as a guide for people who have never actually been to a city. Other than a handful of interesting environmental hazards, there isn't much useful. Go with DMGII.
Kirtanus_Albacron 04-10-07, 06:00 PM	I like Races of Destiny, because it has things like districts, and economy ratings, etc.
Fireclave 04-10-07, 06:14 PM	Sharn: City of Towers might interest you.
krichaiushii 04-10-07, 09:35 PM	City Works from FFG is pretty good. You might also look at all of the pregenerated cities you can find, both from WotC and 3d party companies. Freeport Bluffside Mithral Hollowfaust Raven't Bluff Citystate of the Invincible Overlord These are but a tiny few of what is available in print and/or pdf. There are also collections of "city" adventures from d20 and other systems. Mystic Eye Games has the Foul Locales series, Flying Buffalo had Citybooks (http://www.flyingbuffalo.com/catalyst.htm), GURPS has lots of worldbooks (http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/) to loot. You get the idea. Happy hunting.
Patrakis 04-10-07, 11:58 PM	I can't recommand enough this book from Expeditious Retreat Games called: A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe. You'll get everything you need in there. Tables, charts, historical views, etc. etc. Very good book. Pat
die 04-11-07, 06:03 PM	Building a City http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20030719a A Magical Medieval City Guide http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=1678 mapping http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=2444 city generators http://etherstorm.net/~tedberg/cgi-bin/towngen.cgi http://nine.frenchboys.net/city.php city maps http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/mapofweek/City_map_overview_432hr98_150dpi.jpg http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/mapofweek/Dec03_Necropolis_3_150_dpi_dxh29.jpg http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/mapofweek/city802.jpg more maps http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mwa/archiveall city encounters http://www.necromancergames.com/pdf/bg_random.pdf Medieval Demographics Made Easy http://www.io.com/~sjohn/demog.htm http://qzil.com/kingdom/ http://www.rpglibrary.org/utils/meddemog/ http://www.lucidphoenix.com/dnd/demo/ NPC generator http://www.aarg.net/~minam/npc.cgi Useful DM Links http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=328817