Ninjaxenomorph
2015-08-12, 05:25 PM
A possible opportunity to run a campaign recently fell in my lap. Me and two others have been working on a setting, and we were a bit oversuccessful when recruiting new players. In that we now have six others, in addition to us three, making for possibly an 8-player group. I had the idea to run a second campaign, so we could break up the group into more manageable chunks, and so the GM for the first game isn't overwhelmed. Since the three designers will likely be at both sessions, I can count on roughly five players.
Now, about the campaign itself; I came up with the idea for a flying city, New Laqueta. The campaign concept is that of an urban campaign. Players come to the city, have to deal with the gangs, work their way up. Let me put the description I came up with for the city here:
New Laqueta
Overview-
Alignment: N
Notable NPCs:
Races and Monsters: Humans, harpies, domestic gnolls, gnomes, mana wights, among others (setting has several custom races)
Resources: Airship maintenance and construction, trade in exotic goods, services
New Laqueta was once an airborne anomaly, a floating conglomeration of lost airships, a flying city (Old Laqueta), a floating castle, and at least one pre-barrier helicarrier. The halls were infested with mutants and monsters, all ruled by a cult to a dead sky-god. The place was cleansed by an adventuring party led by Regina Red-Rook. In a rare moment of prescience, she realized she could establish a homeland for her race, apart from any others. But what started as a social experiment evolved into an economic service; the airships that plied the skies started docking, and more and more non-harpies moved onto the floating city, christened New Laqueta, improving the city, eventually finding a way to control the movement. In the present day, New Laqueta is controlled by the Airman’s Council, made up of representatives from the different districts, which often overlap with different airship companies. Since relocating near a continent often brings great wealth and exotic goods, the movement of the city is decided by bidders from all corners of the world, representing cities and nations. The knowledge held by the city itself can be seen as a resource, having some of the most developed technomagical knowledge on all of Coria.
The floating city is known as a place of adventure. Its dingy sub-districts have all sorts of gangs controlling the streets, while intrigue runs rampant in the aristocratic districts of Old Laqueta. The strategic importance of the city was realized early on (especially when the functionality of Old Laqueta’s offensive weaponry was discovered), and the Airman’s Council established several major treaties, all of which had two major effects. One, that New Laqueta is neutral ground. In times of war, warships are not approach the city. Second, that New Laqueta may not fly over a signatory nation or settlement. In addition, should a hostile action be taken against New Laqueta, all signatory nations will provide forces to retaliate. New Laqueta itself can muster quite a defense force, as it can draft local airships into service if necessary to complement its own master-crafted warships, as well as harpy skirmishers. The most famed defense, however, are the Dark Riders, professional soldiers that ride into battle astride black riding birds. Rumors hold of a family that have even tamed drakes to ride into battle.
So, flying metropolis. I've been using the settlement rules (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/other-rules/settlements) to stat the city up. The biggest obstacle I've faced is the population; I'm not entirely sure where to peg it. A metropolis (which New Laqueta certainly is, it's a nation-state in and of itself) has a minimum population of over 25,000, and they can go up to 300,000 in some settings. While the flying city itself is huge, space is at a premium; I've been considering multiplying cost of living rates, as well as some item prices. That said, I have been somewhat inspired by Renaissance-era Venice, with the Venetian Arsenal being similar to the shipyards of New Laqueta. Venice had a population of approximately 150,000 then, if my scant research is correct. If I can get a number pinned down, I can split that up into proper demographics easier, and start on the actual layout of the city.
For the layout, I know the 'flying city' of Old Laqueta makes up a significant portion of the entire structure; it's modeled after Laputa from Castle in the Sky, and the top has both the aristocratic district and gardens, very much the 'nice' section of the city. I'd imagine prominent businesses would have their offices here. The interior of the city would be more mysterious; workings of the actual flight mechanisms, the superweapon, forgotten tunnels, and such. Only the outside would really be habitable, probably a combination of actual habitats built into the shell and extra housing built along the sides. Furthermore, I mentioned several other components in the description: Specifically, the helicarriers, flying castle (itself a modified Cloud Castle of the Storm King, with many of its spells modified to provide arcane power to engines), and airship conglomerations. The castle has probably been converted into the seat of government for New Laqueta, with the spells provided by the artifact converted into arcane power for the rest of the city. The helicarriers have likely been converted into cheap housing; modern aircraft carriers hold up to 3,000 crew, and while there would certainly be less aboard a flying version, these semi-functional ones have likely had a lot of unnecessary stuff stripped out and have small towns on top. The last would have to be the wrecked airship conglomerations, along with manifolds constructed specifically for the city; these would probably be more utilitarian in use, holding the extra infrastructure, more independent businesses and buildings, along with being the actual shipyards and docks for the airships that are constantly arriving and departing. This would kind of fill in the gaps in the city. Beneath the city is probably some sort of magic Alarm setup, for when creatures fall. Items that facilitate Feather Fall are practically mass-produced in the city, since there's so much verticality. That said, the gangs jealously guard areas that have holes in the Alarm field...
As for gangs, I've come up with five: the Rooks, a violently racist all-Harpy gang (harpies are a player race in this setting) with a long history, the Union, a semi-legitimate group that is ostensibly formed to do what normal union groups do. In practice, its the largest gang in the city. The Lo and Ve Tongs are two mana wight groups. Mana wights are a very weird player race, and these organizations reflect that, full of arcane casters and strange motives. They are, however, much less belligerent than the other gangs, but fiercely territorial all the same. Last is the Retali-Town Tailors, the most 'normal' out of the gangs, though they are very egalitarian. They are based off of one of the helicarriers, formerly called the 'Retaliator', but some of the letters have been worn off.
So, all in all, I need help determining approximately how big the city is, and how many people can live there, along with any other suggestions.
Now, about the campaign itself; I came up with the idea for a flying city, New Laqueta. The campaign concept is that of an urban campaign. Players come to the city, have to deal with the gangs, work their way up. Let me put the description I came up with for the city here:
New Laqueta
Overview-
Alignment: N
Notable NPCs:
Races and Monsters: Humans, harpies, domestic gnolls, gnomes, mana wights, among others (setting has several custom races)
Resources: Airship maintenance and construction, trade in exotic goods, services
New Laqueta was once an airborne anomaly, a floating conglomeration of lost airships, a flying city (Old Laqueta), a floating castle, and at least one pre-barrier helicarrier. The halls were infested with mutants and monsters, all ruled by a cult to a dead sky-god. The place was cleansed by an adventuring party led by Regina Red-Rook. In a rare moment of prescience, she realized she could establish a homeland for her race, apart from any others. But what started as a social experiment evolved into an economic service; the airships that plied the skies started docking, and more and more non-harpies moved onto the floating city, christened New Laqueta, improving the city, eventually finding a way to control the movement. In the present day, New Laqueta is controlled by the Airman’s Council, made up of representatives from the different districts, which often overlap with different airship companies. Since relocating near a continent often brings great wealth and exotic goods, the movement of the city is decided by bidders from all corners of the world, representing cities and nations. The knowledge held by the city itself can be seen as a resource, having some of the most developed technomagical knowledge on all of Coria.
The floating city is known as a place of adventure. Its dingy sub-districts have all sorts of gangs controlling the streets, while intrigue runs rampant in the aristocratic districts of Old Laqueta. The strategic importance of the city was realized early on (especially when the functionality of Old Laqueta’s offensive weaponry was discovered), and the Airman’s Council established several major treaties, all of which had two major effects. One, that New Laqueta is neutral ground. In times of war, warships are not approach the city. Second, that New Laqueta may not fly over a signatory nation or settlement. In addition, should a hostile action be taken against New Laqueta, all signatory nations will provide forces to retaliate. New Laqueta itself can muster quite a defense force, as it can draft local airships into service if necessary to complement its own master-crafted warships, as well as harpy skirmishers. The most famed defense, however, are the Dark Riders, professional soldiers that ride into battle astride black riding birds. Rumors hold of a family that have even tamed drakes to ride into battle.
So, flying metropolis. I've been using the settlement rules (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/other-rules/settlements) to stat the city up. The biggest obstacle I've faced is the population; I'm not entirely sure where to peg it. A metropolis (which New Laqueta certainly is, it's a nation-state in and of itself) has a minimum population of over 25,000, and they can go up to 300,000 in some settings. While the flying city itself is huge, space is at a premium; I've been considering multiplying cost of living rates, as well as some item prices. That said, I have been somewhat inspired by Renaissance-era Venice, with the Venetian Arsenal being similar to the shipyards of New Laqueta. Venice had a population of approximately 150,000 then, if my scant research is correct. If I can get a number pinned down, I can split that up into proper demographics easier, and start on the actual layout of the city.
For the layout, I know the 'flying city' of Old Laqueta makes up a significant portion of the entire structure; it's modeled after Laputa from Castle in the Sky, and the top has both the aristocratic district and gardens, very much the 'nice' section of the city. I'd imagine prominent businesses would have their offices here. The interior of the city would be more mysterious; workings of the actual flight mechanisms, the superweapon, forgotten tunnels, and such. Only the outside would really be habitable, probably a combination of actual habitats built into the shell and extra housing built along the sides. Furthermore, I mentioned several other components in the description: Specifically, the helicarriers, flying castle (itself a modified Cloud Castle of the Storm King, with many of its spells modified to provide arcane power to engines), and airship conglomerations. The castle has probably been converted into the seat of government for New Laqueta, with the spells provided by the artifact converted into arcane power for the rest of the city. The helicarriers have likely been converted into cheap housing; modern aircraft carriers hold up to 3,000 crew, and while there would certainly be less aboard a flying version, these semi-functional ones have likely had a lot of unnecessary stuff stripped out and have small towns on top. The last would have to be the wrecked airship conglomerations, along with manifolds constructed specifically for the city; these would probably be more utilitarian in use, holding the extra infrastructure, more independent businesses and buildings, along with being the actual shipyards and docks for the airships that are constantly arriving and departing. This would kind of fill in the gaps in the city. Beneath the city is probably some sort of magic Alarm setup, for when creatures fall. Items that facilitate Feather Fall are practically mass-produced in the city, since there's so much verticality. That said, the gangs jealously guard areas that have holes in the Alarm field...
As for gangs, I've come up with five: the Rooks, a violently racist all-Harpy gang (harpies are a player race in this setting) with a long history, the Union, a semi-legitimate group that is ostensibly formed to do what normal union groups do. In practice, its the largest gang in the city. The Lo and Ve Tongs are two mana wight groups. Mana wights are a very weird player race, and these organizations reflect that, full of arcane casters and strange motives. They are, however, much less belligerent than the other gangs, but fiercely territorial all the same. Last is the Retali-Town Tailors, the most 'normal' out of the gangs, though they are very egalitarian. They are based off of one of the helicarriers, formerly called the 'Retaliator', but some of the letters have been worn off.
So, all in all, I need help determining approximately how big the city is, and how many people can live there, along with any other suggestions.