Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Xante Flatnose 07-12-05, 06:48 AM	Greetings fellows. Here is the deal; Your players enters a city. You just don`t like to randomize it, so you have had it prepared before. The problem is; How much you have written or prepared? Did you just named city, mayor, important characters. Or did you created all the stuff you can? When it comes to big cities, preparetion is a big problem for me. But while it is a problem, it is important too, difficult to handle with big cities or Metropolises. Thanks & Good games.
Carn Vandoril 07-12-05, 07:07 AM	Greetings, For times sake, we do something like this: our 'pool' has about 20 D&D fans, of which are: 4 GrandMaster DM's (over 5 years of exp), 3 new DM's. The 4 Gr.M dm create the cities together to save time. This will include a map, major npc's, stores, important places, codes of conduct and laws&alingment. We áll use those cities, and if modified, we email the modifications. However, we do not keep track of all items in stores ect. Just the highrated magics (+2>, and over 10.000 gp). ps: for npc's we write down at least two 'features' of his personality or appereance.
Cantankerous 07-12-05, 08:17 AM	Personally I use pre-published cities as a template and then add or subtract and change around as needed. It's quick, it's easy and some many have been produced that you can pretty easily have a nearly inexhaustible supply readily available by just tweaking here and there. Isshia
Joe Khol 07-12-05, 10:51 AM	How much you have written or prepared? Did you just named city, mayor, important characters. Or did you created all the stuff you can? Somewhere in between. If you don't prepare enough, the players will catch you out but there is no point spending weeks detailing every alley, outhouse and dog. I'll start with a map, usually loosely based on a real medieval or fantasy one. I'll map to the level of districts - slums, dock, merchants, markets, palace/castle - with major roads and landmarks (anywhere big, bold or of interest to the PCs) but no more detail. Anything beyond that isn't that important and can be made up on the fly if necessary. More important is the description of the area - muddy streets and dark alleys in the slums, wide paved, tree-lined roads and fine houses around the palace. As for people, I quickly stat up any NPCs the party will interact (just basic stats, feats and skills) with in any detail then have a few generic sheets for citizen, guard, priest etc to use in case the players suddenly decide to con a merchant or storm the palace! Everything else is down to atmosphere and description. If the PCs have a time to wonder exactly which street they're on, you're not pushing them hard enough :)
Moonflyer 07-12-05, 11:04 AM	DMG II has a whole section and a premade city... I suggest going to your local hobby shop and reading the section, checking out the city, and if you think it will help buying the book. Premade cities are always good too, especially ones that have details, details, details... check out dungeon mags home page, D&D home page, and dragon mag's home page they have down-loadable maps.
Gort32 07-12-05, 12:30 PM	It depends on how much time I plan on them staying there. If this town is to be their home base for a while, I'll do quite a bit of prepwork. Otherwise I'll just randomize stuff as it comes up. 2 rules: *If you expect them to stay a while, still only put together a little bit - players are horribly for not staying put *If you are randomizing stuff (even a little bit), jot down the results in your notes - if you don't plan on them staying put, they just might stupid players :P
Gutcheck Hammerfall 07-12-05, 12:57 PM	All of the above is excellent. I have trouble mapping for two reasons: I have little knowledge of how to map (especially bigger cities), but I can usually figure this out by looking at sourcebooks with map. I've improved quite a bit. Its actually kind of a difficult skill. By far my biggest problem is that I am a horrible artist. I can't draw a straight line with a ruler. :weep: That doesn't keep me from having great cities though! I box out my districts so I know where they are, and with descriptive text I place important sites for myself (I am poet not an artist!). So, for any who can't draw, its ok!
Xante Flatnose 07-12-05, 03:28 PM	Yeah, I am a bad artist too. But as a student I earn some money from poetry and writings. This is a good thing for a DM. And thanks for the replies, They are very useful indeed.
misi 07-12-05, 04:31 PM	I was in your situation just a few months ago. I'm a fairly new DM (been DM'ing for about 3-4 years) and was a wreck when I realised I had to create a city for my PCs. Well, i found some great sites online, that have helped me out a lot! For taverns, shops etc. I use http://www.mathemagician.net/Town.html This site is great for small details that would normally take you hours to create yourself. When you need some NPCs, I would recommend this site: http://www.hailscape.com/ It's updated quite often, and works well, you might have to make some minor adjustments, but it still makes everything a lot easier. For names, search for the "Everchanging Book of Names". A quick search in google will find it for you, and it has different kind of Elven, Dwarven and Norse names. Some inspired and gathered from Tolkien's books, some are from Sagas etc. Absolutely a must. The new Dungeon Maste Guide 2 is also pretty good. I do not own it yet, so I have only looked through it briefly, and I will buy it soon. When creating cities I usually have a blueprint of a map, that I put more details into as we play. Remember to jot down everything!!! I usually have the name of the king, some of the most important warriors (and their stats), the most important councelor, and the king's family, if they're important. But the most important thing I have is a page full of names. I find it hard to make up names on the spot, especially names that would fit into the city they're in. (elven, dawrven etc). You should also have an idea of who and what controls the city. That is maybe the most important thing! What si the alignment, what kind of government (if any etc). Hope I could be of any help.. The ALmighty
Necron99 07-12-05, 04:34 PM	This is the method that I use. It takes me about 15-30 minutes to do all of this - It isn't a complete picture of the city, but it helps to give it a theme and makes it easy to add detail later when the creative juices get flowing. I usually start with a "Why" - why is this a city at all? Are there mines or quarries nearby, or a harbor, or a University...Basically decide what the city's reason for existance. Once you have the reasons for it being there, what makes it unique? Is it old, is it known as a center of learning or a center of villany? Also, does the city support any unique places, like the Fochulan College or Ise Zumi monastary? Thematically, try to answer the question "____, the city of ___! :D What kind of government does it have? Is it permissive or oppressive? Who is the boss? What are the demographics? What is the total polulation and racial spread, percentage-wise. What kind of security is present? how many foot patrols each shift, and how many men on each watch? How many men in the guardhouse? Next, I try to get out ahead of the what the players usually do in town. I usually roll up a few shops and locations, complete with a location name "Temple of Pelor, Black Hat Magics, etc), an NPC name, and the level of his/her expertise. a magic shop or two The best smithy in town (they always want the BEST, don't bother rolling up anything else) A few temples (in particular the location of the party's deities) a few Inns a few General Stores A few taverns (usually a "nice" place and a local dive) a ship and captain for hire, if they are in a seaport. etc. For a large city or metropolis, just add what district each of the shops are in. The last thing I do is pound out a quick synopsis of what the players would see when they enter the city - what they would smell, see, hear, and the kind of reception they will get from the locals. Quite easy if you have already established an atmosphere by answering the "why is it here" and "what makes it unique" sections above. The description doesn't have to be involved or eloquent, just something you can read off to the players that would give them the proper impression. That's the start, which should take all of 15 minutes.However, since players will ALWAYS blindside you, be prepared. I use a random name generator to make NPC's and locations on the fly - If, for some bizarre reason, the PCs want to talk to the best pie-maker in town, just *clicky* "Samton Goodberry" at the *clicky* "Dusty Lane Bakery." If you improvise on the little stuff you can save yourself a ton of work. Just don't forget to write the new stuff down so it is now part of the city permanently. After a while, the players actually help you put flesh on the skeleton by constantly demanding more detail. Maps of big cities are far too much work, I never bother. If you like, just keeps things geograhically correct by labeling them by region like "Eastern Ward," "Government District" or "Waterfront" Good luck.
Xante Flatnose 07-13-05, 02:24 PM	I was in your situation just a few months ago. I'm a fairly new DM (been DM'ing for about 3-4 years) and was a wreck when I realised I had to create a city for my PCs. Hope I could be of any help.. Yes indeed very helpful. But misi I am not new to Dming (7 years as I remember). Actually I am just curious for How other Dms get prepared. Thanks. Sites are great.
Xante Flatnose 07-13-05, 02:37 PM	This is the method that I use. It takes me about 15-30 minutes to do all of this - It isn't a complete picture of the city, but it helps to give it a theme and makes it easy to add detail later when the creative juices get flowing. I usually start with a "Why" - why is this a city at all? Are there mines or quarries nearby, or a harbor, or a University...Basically decide what the city's reason for existance. Once you have the reasons for it being there, what makes it unique? Is it old, is it known as a center of learning or a center of villany? Also, does the city support any unique places, like the Fochulan College or Ise Zumi monastary? Thematically, try to answer the question "____, the city of ___! :D What kind of government does it have? Is it permissive or oppressive? Who is the boss? What are the demographics? What is the total polulation and racial spread, percentage-wise. What kind of security is present? how many foot patrols each shift, and how many men on each watch? How many men in the guardhouse? Next, I try to get out ahead of the what the players usually do in town. I usually roll up a few shops and locations, complete with a location name "Temple of Pelor, Black Hat Magics, etc), an NPC name, and the level of his/her expertise. a magic shop or two The best smithy in town (they always want the BEST, don't bother rolling up anything else) A few temples (in particular the location of the party's deities) a few Inns a few General Stores A few taverns (usually a "nice" place and a local dive) a ship and captain for hire, if they are in a seaport. etc. For a large city or metropolis, just add what district each of the shops are in. The last thing I do is pound out a quick synopsis of what the players would see when they enter the city - what they would smell, see, hear, and the kind of reception they will get from the locals. Quite easy if you have already established an atmosphere by answering the "why is it here" and "what makes it unique" sections above. The description doesn't have to be involved or eloquent, just something you can read off to the players that would give them the proper impression. That's the start, which should take all of 15 minutes.However, since players will ALWAYS blindside you, be prepared. I use a random name generator to make NPC's and locations on the fly - If, for some bizarre reason, the PCs want to talk to the best pie-maker in town, just *clicky* "Samton Goodberry" at the *clicky* "Dusty Lane Bakery." If you improvise on the little stuff you can save yourself a ton of work. Just don't forget to write the new stuff down so it is now part of the city permanently. After a while, the players actually help you put flesh on the skeleton by constantly demanding more detail. Maps of big cities are far too much work, I never bother. If you like, just keeps things geograhically correct by labeling them by region like "Eastern Ward," "Government District" or "Waterfront" Good luck. Thanks Necron for this full of advise and long reply. It has motivated me for I understood what I do is just like yours. But I just can`t stop writing metarials for the city. I think I have a paranoia about my players and their playing style. :D