Building a city (Part 1)
Building a city for an RPG setting is quite a challenge, even for those GMs that have been running games for years! I’ve split this article into two parts, as it is pretty lengthy. While I’ve described much of a mediaeval-style city or settlement, the ideas here can easily be applied to any setting.
Defences
This is the easiest place to start for many GMs. Depending on the environment and ruler-ship, a settlement may have a number of possible defences. Whether it is a castle in the mountains or a village in the wilds, the importance of security is the same: keep the people safe and enemies out (whether they are animals, opposing countries, whatever). If a settlement is constrained by the walls, there will be an overspill of the population into the surrounding land – perhaps needing further walls to be created as a city grows.
The most basic defence is the wall, whether it is made of stone, living plants, wood or adamantium. This may be simple stockade where a village is concerned, or a huge stone construction with battlements and guard rooms. Magic, if available, may have been used to strengthen the walls with wards and other augmentation. If you’re feeling really nasty, the wall itself could be alive…
Depending upon the regime in power, access to the city may be restricted to only one or a few gates. Do all visitors have to produce identification papers or sign their names? Does a cleric cast Detect Good/Evil on all visitors? Does the city have only one heavily-guarded gate?
However, there is more to the defence of a city than just walls – does the city have a standing militia? Do all the citizens get some military training? Are there muster points and choke points throughout the city? Are the streets narrow? Do magic users regularly train with troops?
One final point: strongholds and castles. Every city will have some form of reinforced area: a castle, fort or armoury where the ruler can feel safe. Whether they allow the citizenry to shelter there during times of war is largely dependent on the ruler. If you can find it on eBay, the old AD&D Castles Supplement is a marvellous source for designing and building castles.
Housing
Everyone needs somewhere to live: from a palace to a hovel, every city will have its own distinctive architecture. Are the city streets clean? What are the buildings made out of? How many storeys are they? Are the streets narrow and dark with closes and alleys or are they large buildings with open grounds? Are they built with mud/marble/wood/mortar? Are the roofs flat or thatched?
Most cities have a variety of zones that correspond to social standing – the nobility and priesthood usually remain close to the positions of power, be they palaces or castles. The poor and disenfranchised usually end up in slums. Those in between comprise the majority of the city buildings – shops, inns and other dwellings.
Depending on the regime and climate, the houses may be large and airy or small and cosy. They may be built to fill the visitor with a sense of wonder or terror, or they may be functional and stark. If you pick up a book on architecture you’ll find a number of styles that may be of use.
Economy
Cities don’t spring into being overnight – usually they form where business is conducted, or for strategic military reasons. Either way, it brings money to the settlement – and those seeking money.
The economy of a city may be as simple as a market for livestock or goods, or a garrison town. A livestock market town is likely to have large open areas where the beast are sold and auctioned. Crops are stored in large silos and warehouses. If the city is as administration centre or capital, there will also be academical institutions and temples/cathedrals/mosques, etc.
Even when the city has one source of income, there are still support mechanisms for this. In a livestock market town livestock needs transportation, the beasts need fodder, and the farmers need to stay somewhere. Large sums of gold may change hands and both banks and thieves may flourish in such an environment.
Garrison towns usually have a large military presence. Blacksmiths and weaponsmiths may be commonplace, fixing soldiers gear, horse traders selling mounts to officers and the army, seamy bars and other establishments catering to the soldiers vices. At the end of the day, apply a little logic: try and make something stand out about the town; even if it is just “the finest pipe-leaf west of the Misty Mountains”.
Magic
First off, decide whether magic is legal – this in itself can provide you with a few ideas. How are those who practise magic viewed? Are they valued as professional members of the community or burnt at the stake?
If they are valued, are there academies? A wizards quarter? An Unseen University? Do they have any power within the city itself (see Guilds & Power Brokers in part 2)?
If wizards are a power bloc of their own, what magic is permitted? Demon summoning and necromancy may well be frowned upon, but spells that damage property or goods may also be banned. Do the wizards have their own process for dealing with rogue spellcasters? For instance, from the PC game, Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn:
“Spellhold is an insane asylum located on the island of Brynnlaw, one of the Nelanther Isles, off the western coast of Amn, under the command of the Cowled Wizards of Amn. They use the asylum to house the ‘deviants’ they have found in Amn, practicing magic without an official license.”
How do the local temples view magic and clerics of other orders (see Religion in part 2 of this article)?
In a city where magic use is commonplace, the citizens are less likely to react in fear to a magic users powers. However, in those where magic is outlawed or feared, there may be literal witch hunts – and a strong religious doctrine.
Food
According to some literature, civilisation is only a few meals from anarchy.
Unless the city is under siege, food will vary depending on climate, as will the abundance. A city will often buy in their food from nearby market towns, or acquire it from the sea. If the crops fail, it can be a famine disaster on a national scale.
As a GM, you can actually have some fun creating local delicacies and foodstuffs such as vegetables. Consider the humble potato – it didn’t exist in Europe until it was brought back as a curiosity in the 16th century. Just by altering some of the basic ingredients you can give a city a whole new flavour (if you pardon the pun!). In the New World for example, there are no cows or pigs: the local meat comes from dinosaurs. Spices also are a good way to enrich the setting: they can be expensive and can be used as an alternative treasure.
Cities also need to keep grain and other staples usually in granaries or similar storage. There may be large cold-stores for keeping meat but remember that there are no hygiene standards or refrigeration facilities (unless magical).
Water sources and drainage
Water, like food is critical to the survival of a settlement. It is also one of the settlement’s greatest vulnerabilities: it can be poisoned and contaminated, either by intent or accident (see Sewers below). No siege can be withstood without the defenders having access to fresh water.
In most fantasy settings, fresh water will likely come from subterranean wells or nearby sources of water. Wells would often be located in communal areas, such as market places. In many desert cultures, large catchment pools or cisterns will be created to collect water from the rare rainfall. More advanced civilisations may have large underground cisterns, and will also have drains, leading to the sewers (see below).
In a high-magic environment, gates to the Elemental plane of Water provide water sources, bound Water Elementals sweeping the streets clean on a nightly basis. One of my favourite monsters, the Cistern Fiend (from the Dark Sun D&D setting) actually purifies the water it lives in – it is a big bad-ass guardian monster and water treatment plant in one. Also, imagine the value of a decanter of endless water to a desert nomad.
One final thing to consider: does the settlement get flooded in heavy rain? Do the rivers burst their banks? If the undercity floods what are the ramifications – what gets driven to the surface?
Sewers
It’s almost a cliché now, but any city adventure will likely see your PCs in the sewers. Which just happen to be tall enough and wide enough for them to walk, fight and spell cast in. At some point one of your PCs will fall in the sewer where they will likely get munched upon. Don’t forget the luminescent moss in case the players haven’t brought illumination.
Oh, please. Unless you’re running a modern or Steampunk/Victoriana game, the sewers are likely to be be much smaller. For those games, subways are also cool – see the film Mimic for some ideas on how to create these kind of tunnels.
All is not lost though – many city areas are often built on the ruins of others (Mary Kings Close in Edinburgh for a real life example), post-apocalyptic or not. These forgotten buildings and ruins can easily be turned into their own city below, may be leading to the Underdark or other buildings long-forgotten. Neverwhere is also a good source of ideas for an undercity (London Below).
Subterranean sewers aren’t new. The Romans used them, but in fantasy they’re often far too elaborate (often based on a modern point of view of what sewers are like). Sewers are probably only a few feet wide and likely tall enough for however much water is expected – PCs will likely be stooped over with standing water in low areas, possibly with some nasty critters living in the muck that lies everywhere. In most cases the channels will empty into a nearby river, possibly contaminating a water source. Most sewers may flood during heavy rain or if the city has expanded without taking account of the drainage (see above).
What you want to go for with sewers is claustrophobia. There’s barely room to fight. It is dark, wet and cold. It stinks and you don’t want to touch the walls or be fall over in the filth. When the players emerge, they should be tired, wet, and stinking – and longing for a dungeon crawl.
One final point, consider how other fantasy races may deal with refuse: Elves may recycle theirs, as fertiliser where possible. Dwarves may burn it their forges. Orcs throw theirs in the street 
.
Related posts:
  |
