Creating a modern city

[Drakeburn]

I'm stumped as far as modern city settings go. In the past I've tried to make up things on the fly as the game progresses, but it doesn't work out in one way or another.

Does anybody have any advice on how to make a city for a modern day setting?

How much detail does a modern city setting need to have that isn't too much or too little?

How much of the city should a Game Master make it his? And how much of the city is okay for the Player-Characters to make it theirs?

What are some important things should the setting have, and what things can is okay to leave out?

[sktarq]

I'd recommend looking at near-fantasy published settings for this kind of thing. World of Darkness lives off the idea of tweeking real world cities for games and so their ST help on the matter is all based around this question and can be adapted to whatever system you are using.

And the answer is basically. It depends. Are you in a version of your home town? What kind of game are you running-a high action game will probably feel much more odd in your hometown as it will not match the normal tone of the city and you second adventure will have to deal with what local landmarks you've blown up etc. Vs an espionage game where the city never notices.
Or a game like Aberrant where the game and real world share histories until a few years before game starts when the weird stuff starts happening and changes you make to the city should be ones that are explainable as new things that happened in that time.

So what kind of game are you trying to run and how do it to feel in relationship to the city in question?

Other good advice - get a couple guidebooks and maps of the place if it is a large city that is not your hometown. Reality is often far weirder than what you can come up with on the fly. So it is a great source of adventure ideas backdrops etc.

If you comeing up with a city from scratch - then it realy matters what kind of game you want to play again. Home much of the city should the players decide? This is now different than how much they should in a pseudo 2th century rural system as a modern urban one. What you are comfortable with. But know that players tend to move base less in urban environments.

[hymer]

Most of the questions you ask depend a lot on the tastes of the players and GM and the habits of the table.
My suggestion is to use a real city as template, one from the general region and of the general size you want to portray. Ideally one the GM knows fairly well and the players don't. Rename it and you're off to a flying start.

[Thrawn4]

In my V:tM campaigns I had a lot of success by using a default city assumption. A specific city means you have to be familiar with it (tourist attractions, city districts, maybe shortcuts, other interesting places), whereas an unspecified city means you can come up with things on the fly without facts or player knowledge crossing your plans.

[Drakeburn]

I'd recommend looking at near-fantasy published settings for this kind of thing. World of Darkness lives off the idea of tweeking real world cities for games and so their ST help on the matter is all based around this question and can be adapted to whatever system you are using.

And the answer is basically. It depends. Are you in a version of your home town? What kind of game are you running-a high action game will probably feel much more odd in your hometown as it will not match the normal tone of the city and you second adventure will have to deal with what local landmarks you've blown up etc. Vs an espionage game where the city never notices.
Or a game like Aberrant where the game and real world share histories until a few years before game starts when the weird stuff starts happening and changes you make to the city should be ones that are explainable as new things that happened in that time.

So what kind of game are you trying to run and how do it to feel in relationship to the city in question?

Other good advice - get a couple guidebooks and maps of the place if it is a large city that is not your hometown. Reality is often far weirder than what you can come up with on the fly. So it is a great source of adventure ideas backdrops etc.

If you comeing up with a city from scratch - then it realy matters what kind of game you want to play again. Home much of the city should the players decide? This is now different than how much they should in a pseudo 2th century rural system as a modern urban one. What you are comfortable with. But know that players tend to move base less in urban environments.

To answer your question, I'm trying to make a modern city for a superhero game (Mutants and Masterminds to be a bit more specific).

I want to make a fictional city, like Metropolis, Gotham, Star City, Central City, etc.

[Grod_The_Giant]

The first and perhaps most important thing, I think, is to get the feel of the city right. Gotham is dark and gloomy and all gothic architecture and such, Metropolis is bright and futuristic, Opal City is all art deco and quaint... decide on that, first, and everything else can build from there. I suggest coming up with a few neighborhoods, so you can place scenes a little more consistently. Make a crude map so you can get the layout, and maybe mark down some major roads and landmarks. Every time you use a location in the game or give the name of the street, mark them down too; soon you'll have something pretty well developed.

For example, I use "Triumph City" sometimes-- the city in general is all art-deco-y and optimistic, but beyond that, I know that Eastwind is quietly residential, that the Delta is cramped and seedy while Northgate is spread-out and run-down, that Iron Hills has a lot of old factories and werehouses, that Little Spain is trendy while Highroad is full of old money, that the South Sprawl is full of new tech startups and Victory Row is right nearby with the colleges. And knowing that, I can say "hmm, this NPC has expensive tastes, he probably lives in Little Spain, I'll send the players there."

Beyond that, the Dresden Files RPG had some good suggestions. I'll summarize here:

Come up with some themes and threats-- the backround problems and active issues, if you will, that the players will run into. Invent some NPCs that tie into each one.
Figure out what the status quo is. Then for each force in the game, figure out if they're trying to maintain or upset it.
Invent a bunch of recurring places. Not just big neighborhoods and landmarks, but small places, too-- the bar your players always come back to, the experimental lab keeps creating and/or helping with villains, those sorts of things. Make an NPC or two for each one, someone you might regularly run into there. In other words, your recurring locations and your supporting cast. This is a good place to get players involved.

[sktarq]

Right the two things you need most. Themes and Mood. (yep totally agreeing with Grod)

How does the city feel? From this you can start to develop weather, architecture, layout, density, etc.

Also when you say Superhero game it needs more. High or low action? How much time will the PC's spend dealing with baselines vs their superpowered ilk? (if the population is going to barely register settings become more important - function less. What scale do you want to play at? If it is personal then focusing on things like backup water supplies are really necessary unless you are a completist like myself. But if the PC's will be defending the city as a whole from a mutant terrorist attack spree then something like a terrorist water borne virus or toxin may be in the offing and thus backup water supplies should be planned for. The more the city is a character and not individual people the more you need the nuts and bolts of how the city works.

A bit of history is also a good thing early on in developing the city. Can help you set up neighborhood ideas, ages of parts of town or allow you to throw seeming incongruent things together well. (a military depot in a wealthy area? - well that hill had a fort on it for years before the city expanded to and then up the hill and the military never sold the land type stories.

[Drakeburn]

This is really useful advice.

Thank you everybody for your help.

[Beleriphon]

The first and perhaps most important thing, I think, is to get the feel of the city right. Gotham is dark and gloomy and all gothic architecture and such, Metropolis is bright and futuristic, Opal City is all art deco and quaint... decide on that, first, and everything else can build from there. I suggest coming up with a few neighborhoods, so you can place scenes a little more consistently. Make a crude map so you can get the layout, and maybe mark down some major roads and landmarks. Every time you use a location in the game or give the name of the street, mark them down too; soon you'll have something pretty well developed.

I agree with Grod here. The biggest thing to look at is architecture of an area. It defines when the area was first built as well what its meant for. Look at New York's iconic skyline in Manhattan. The skyscrapers are largely products of the 1920s and 1930s, which means newer buildings tend to stand out as weird looking compared to the older art deco style.

I've been working on a DC game that updates the setting in a manner similar to the Marvel Ultimate comic line (it really just compresses everything to the last 10 years or so where it makes sense). The biggest thing I found in describing things was really highlighting what looks like, sounds like, and smells like. I decided that Gotham is a gargoyled combination of art deco skyscrapers and Neo-Gothic facades. Because everything is build on a series of islands the buildings are super close together, so the alleys and ratways are super tight, the buildings are packed together, and even older neighbourhoods of brownstones have the architectural finishes of the skyscrapers. In contrast Metropolis didn't see its building boom until the 70s and 80s so the buildings are modern with mirrored glass facades and lots of chrome finishes.


For example, I use "Triumph City" sometimes-- the city in general is all art-deco-y and optimistic, but beyond that, I know that Eastwind is quietly residential, that the Delta is cramped and seedy while Northgate is spread-out and run-down, that Iron Hills has a lot of old factories and werehouses, that Little Spain is trendy while Highroad is full of old money, that the South Sprawl is full of new tech startups and Victory Row is right nearby with the colleges. And knowing that, I can say "hmm, this NPC has expensive tastes, he probably lives in Little Spain, I'll send the players there."

It helps to have a few iconic spots in each neighbourhood the heroes will regularly visit. Downtown might have Scion's Tower, Police HQ and city hall. Little Tokyo could have the Tenjin Shinto Shrine, a low rent ramen joint that the yakuza use as an informal base, and a regional office for Toyotomi Electronics.


Beyond that, the Dresden Files RPG had some good suggestions. I'll summarize here:

Come up with some themes and threats-- the backround problems and active issues, if you will, that the players will run into. Invent some NPCs that tie into each one.
Figure out what the status quo is. Then for each force in the game, figure out if they're trying to maintain or upset it.
Invent a bunch of recurring places. Not just big neighborhoods and landmarks, but small places, too-- the bar your players always come back to, the experimental lab keeps creating and/or helping with villains, those sorts of things. Make an NPC or two for each one, someone you might regularly run into there. In other words, your recurring locations and your supporting cast. This is a good place to get players involved.


I support this fully. Dresden Files has a wicked good system for building a city.

For example the predominantly Russian district of Mosha (that's roughly the diminutive of Moscow) might have be represented by Ivan Ivanovich Ivanov, who owns a Russian restaurant and used represent the area on city council. The biggest problem in the area is 1) the Bratva and 2) former Soviet superbeings.

[Mr Blobby]

Once again, I fly the flag for Chronicles of Darkness book 'Damnation City'. It is in effect a walkthrough for building your own city.

I am more on the 'realistic' end of city-building [if the game is based in a world similar enough to RL], that is I like the places to be real. This is a help for both player and GM as it means both can lift wholesale landmarks, history etc of the RL place and drop it in. It also means that players can look up pictures etc. However, I'd say simply make up the minor details of said places. [which is part of the reason it's a benefit for the place to be one the GM knows but the players don't.]

I will partly disagree with the above about the architecture of the place. Yes, sometimes it is a good hint of the area, but I live in a town where timber-framed Tudor, red-brick Edwardian, 60's concrete and a brand-new metal / glass buildings all sit within 5 minutes of each other. Though admittedly I do live in Europe.

[Bogwoppit]

Whenever I think about cities, I always consider my school days' lessons in urban geography - where's the central business district, the middle class housing, the run-down suburbs, etc?
Here's a link to a short guide on that, in case you find it helpful:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/geography/urban_environments/

[Mr Blobby]

That topic was one half of the things I learned in five years of Geography lessons which actually proved useful in RL [the other half was how to read a weather map. Reading an OS map doesn't count as I already knew this].

One thing I would point out is that above source is British, and may not fully represent the American experience of urbanisation.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

Once again, I fly the flag for Chronicles of Darkness book 'Damnation City'. It is in effect a walkthrough for building your own city.

I am more on the 'realistic' end of city-building [if the game is based in a world similar enough to RL], that is I like the places to be real. This is a help for both player and GM as it means both can lift wholesale landmarks, history etc of the RL place and drop it in. It also means that players can look up pictures etc. However, I'd say simply make up the minor details of said places. [which is part of the reason it's a benefit for the place to be one the GM knows but the players don't.]

I will partly disagree with the above about the architecture of the place. Yes, sometimes it is a good hint of the area, but I live in a town where timber-framed Tudor, red-brick Edwardian, 60's concrete and a brand-new metal / glass buildings all sit within 5 minutes of each other. Though admittedly I do live in Europe.

Even mixed architecture tells a history, of continued or waves of prosperity. It says that in each era you see buildings, the city was rich and powerful enough to build in that era. Being mixed like that tells you another story; it says that either the buildings there were not in good repair or they weren't considered worth saving and we're bulldozed for newer construction. It sets the themes of "progress" and "continuance", how a city can look forward and backward at the same time.

[GungHo]

I will partly disagree with the above about the architecture of the place. Yes, sometimes it is a good hint of the area, but I live in a town where timber-framed Tudor, red-brick Edwardian, 60's concrete and a brand-new metal / glass buildings all sit within 5 minutes of each other. Though admittedly I do live in Europe.
We also have this in the US. We have very few truly "old" buildings, particularly in the midwest, southern, and western parts of the country. Furthermore, even in relatively new cities, without a lot of zoning or building restrictions, you can quite easily see a very odd set of differing architectures and intermixing of industrial, commercial, and residential buildings. The only time you really see uniform architecture is when you get to planned communities and cities (e.g. adobe in Sante Fe) with tight zoning.

[sktarq]

The only time you really see uniform architecture is when you get to planned communities and cities (e.g. adobe in Sante Fe) with tight zoning.

Actually I'd say the most common reason I'd say for such architectural similarity is fast building boom. This either comes from explosive growth (say NYC in 1920's, Houston 1970-80's) or a major rebuilding effort (Chicago Fire, Boston Fire, SF earthquake, Postwar London, Tokyo, etc etc)


This one of the major reasons I mentioned getting a rough history is good early on.

[5a Violista]

I believe a helpful site to look at would be Wikipedia: it even has its own category page on city layout models (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:City_layout_models). Each of the pages has its own picture to give a quick idea, as well.
For example:

Concentric Zone Model theorizes cities are built in concentric circles around the business areas in them, and matches many USA cities.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1a/Burgess_model1.svg/800px-Burgess_model1.svg.png

Core Frame Model has a inner expensive core with frequent travel in the city center.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/de/Core_frame_model.svg/1134px-Core_frame_model.svg.png

Fused Grid is mostly a street network pattern that may or may not be useful.
The Grid Plan was a street planning tool that planned the lots and streets into grids, and was frequently used historically.
The page on a Linear City (along a river) explains each of the zones (railway, production and enterprise, buffer zones, residential areas, park areas, agricultural, and how it expands) and where they would normally be placed in a linear city.
The page on Linear Settlements are similar to the above, except less structured.

The Sector Model is modified from the Concentric Zone model to allow growth and fits many British cities, and is somewhat helpful for creating a fictional city as well.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0f/Hoyt_model.svg/708px-Hoyt_model.svg.png

...and Wikipedia has many more pages on city planning, such as the multiple nuclei model. Reading the basics of these pages (sometimes even the first paragraph and the accompanying image image is enough to have a good idea on how cities are laid out) will help you design believable large cities for fiction.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8f/Multiple_nuclei_model.svg/1024px-Multiple_nuclei_model.svg.png

At the very least, reading some of these pages will tell you which zones/areas in cities are crucial and which ones are frequently nearby each other.