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View Full Version : [D&D] What's in a Kingdom's Capital?



Muz
2009-07-08, 11:55 AM
So here's the thing:

In preparation for (possibly) running a D&D game in an urban setting (taking place almost entirely within the single capital city of a somewhat Arthurian kingdom), I'm realizing I'm no good at designing the layout/populace/districts/etc of such a city. I'd much rather find something already set up in detail that I could then tweak as needed and let my players run around in, sandbox-wise (at least until they/we find some direction).

Does anyone have any recommendations of sourcebooks (or even free online resources) for such a place? (Or even one of your own creation that you'd let me clone and usurp?) It's entirely possible something like this may exist in a 3rd/3.5 book, but I'm a crotchety "old" guy who's still running 2nd edition, so I don't know much about the newer resources that might be out there. (Please don't beat me about the head and shoulders! :smallwink: )

If it matters, this campaign would be highly thief-minded.

-Cor-
2009-07-08, 12:14 PM
Cityscape (http://dnd.wikia.com/wiki/Cityscape)?

Would give you an Amazon link, but that's blocked here at work.

Gerion
2009-07-08, 12:14 PM
http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/The_City_of_Ravens_Bluff

tada city of raven's bluff. (even in AD&D)

It's ruled by nobels instead of a king, but it won't be so hard to adjust this.

there is shackeld city, city based campaign from level 1-20. But i haven't read it, yet.

Kyeudo
2009-07-08, 12:22 PM
The single most detailed city in any sourcebook I know of is Sharn, City of Towers (sourcebook of the same name). Lifting the districts out, cleaning off the Eberron trappings and transplanting them exactly where you want them is as easy as sneezing.

Muz
2009-07-08, 12:48 PM
Ooh, much goodness in just 3 responses! I'm at work myself though, so I'll have to wait until later on to dive in and look around more. :smallsmile:

Oh, and Kyeudo: Do you have any idea how complex the human sneezing process is? :smallwink:

The Rose Dragon
2009-07-08, 12:55 PM
Ptolus? Maybe?

Muz
2009-07-08, 01:06 PM
What's Ptolus?

Kyeudo
2009-07-08, 01:14 PM
Oh, and Kyeudo: Do you have any idea how complex the human sneezing process is? :smallwink:

Mechanically, it's probably quite complex. In actual effort required? It's almost reflexive.

Sharn's just like any other city, except it has huge towers, dragonmarks, and brothels run by changelings. Replace towers with ground level, dragonmarks with related guilds, and the changelings with regular hookers. Problems solved.

Muz
2009-07-08, 01:23 PM
Bonus. I'll have to check it out. :smallsmile:

Frank Miller's Third Law: Ain't nothin' that can't be solved with the addition of regular hookers. :smallwink:

infinitypanda
2009-07-08, 01:52 PM
If you feel like expanding your city with some homebrewed stuff, this web enhancement is really helpful for grasping the larger layout of a city.

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20030719a

It says it's for 3.5, but nothing much actually references the rules, so it would work in any game.

bosssmiley
2009-07-08, 02:03 PM
Q: What's the thing that defines a kingdom's capital?

A: The presence of the king.

As the king is traditionally the font of law and justice, the CinC of the armies, granter of largesse, favoured of the gods, and the biggest conspicuous consumer and trend-setter in the area the following will all be dependent upon his presence:

Law courts
Parliaments
Courts of petition
Colleges of heraldry
Religious foundations
Makers of, and traders in, rare and exotic goods
Garrisons of burly hardmen designed to keep the oiks away from the presence
The royal household itself
All of these will require both people to staff them and a host of subsidiary services to look after the needs of the people looking after the needs of the king. These will tend to expand and ramify in complexity as the society becomes more complex, ultimately making the royal city the major settlement in the kingdom.

Before industrialisation monarchy was the single biggest, most labour- and capital-hungry part of a society. Not bad for an inbred dude in a shiny hat, eh?

Useful RP resources focusing on monarchy and its supporting structures:

3E Power of Faerun (explores large scale political play in the Realms)
AD&D Birthright
King Arthur Pendragon RPG
A Magical Medieval Society
Empire (Goodman Games?)
General City Sourcebooks:
Ptolus
Sharn
Waterdeep boxed set
City of Greyhawk boxed set
Lankhmar, City of Adventure <-- rocks! It even has random neighbourhood generators.
Infinity Panda beat me to the WOTC build-by-neighbourhood guide

pita
2009-07-08, 02:13 PM
What's Ptolus?

The only D&D book so big it's been handed out to people who could carry it.
It's a huge D&D book accompanied by CD and maps, all to describe one city.
Cityscape is an expletive deleted. My advice?
Cityworks. (http://www.warehouse23.com/item.html?id=FFGDD42)
It's cheaper by far. It's got 3 new classes that may not be exactly balanced, but are pretty cool (2 of them are city viable options for the barbarian and the monk, and the other one is the Assassin, possibly the greatest core class since some guy thought "You know, I think these tactical games could be fun when one mini represents one guy"). It's got a chapter on how cities work, one on how to build a city, and one on how to use a city in adventures. It has different ratings for different parts of cities on different aspects, and "city" threats. Not monsters, but things like fires, floods, riots, etc. It's probably my favorite sourcebook (The other one is Blood Bayou), and I swear by it in all of my adventures.
There's an amazon page for it, but the book featured there is not the one I have, so I didn't link it. My book is blue.