Dwarven Cities—how big?

[VoxRationis]

So when one is making fantasy settings, what sorts of scales do people use for dwarven architecture? In visual media, there's a lot of variation. The LotR movies and their less worthy brethren have dwarven cities of enormous scale, and though some of it was likely based on existing caverns, at least certain spaces imply that the dwarves excavated preposterous quantities of stone. (Presumably, they had a very profitable quarrying business going once upon a time, or else the elf/dwarf rivalry in Middle Earth must come from the dwarves dumping gravel all over Lothlorien.) By contrast, in Skyrim, the dwarves have fairly subdued buildings, with most hallways being no larger than those of a public school and the largest spaces definitely being preexisting caverns—and this in spite of building robots that would make moving large amounts of stone much easier and living in a setting where rings of Fortify Carry Weight is something you can pick up in shops. So what does the Playground do here?

[Lvl 2 Expert]

To be fair, everything is small in Skyrim. The cities are no bigger than some of those remaining dwarven ruins, and the ruins are often only meant to represent something like a fort, not an entire city. Even the mountain ranges are tiny in that world, because it's much more fun this way than if you would spend an entire day walking through a city looking for that place where you saw that awesome bow last time.

[VoxRationis]

All true, but I still think it's ironic that the dwarves who have armies of robot laborers as well as a regular slave labor force and lots of magic that could help make the job easier seem to have built spaces that are restrained and sensible in scope, while the dwarves who have none of those things have cities that look like the underground sections in the first Halo.

[sktarq]

For me it changes depending on how dwarves fit in my "current" world. Though admittedly I've faded to less DnD over the years and they have become the least interesting of what I meddle with.

But for years I've had them as pretty small scale builders. Not because they can't build big but because space requires so much work for them. And with that work comes food needs, water needs, and transporting the rubble away needs. So while there would be a few larger public spaces but most areas are cramped. Japanese tube hotel type cramped at times. Also all the rubble getting dumped outside mark the dwarven populations at the head of scree slopes.
But other times I have had them as builders in the outside world instead of living underground and had them be in love with grand building and earth works in order to keep them feeling dwarf-y. This way has been a lot more variant over the years. Everything from a massive irrigation works and psudo-celtic henges and stonecuts types in the desert to Vienna/Bavaria type cities with great castles, cathedrals, clanhomes, and walls to protect the mine fueled economy of their mountain home to Chinese City wall and irrigation builders. . . it was my thing for the weirder worlds I cobbled together for a single campaign or half built worlds that never went anywhere.

My two takes on them. But I never combined the huge spaces and the underground living for logistical reasons.

[goto124]

Underground spaces are usually small because it takes a lot of effort to dig out the earth. SInce the dwarves are not likely to have modern technology such as drills, and have to do all the work by shovelling, they'll use either natural caves or just use shovels. Small spaces tend to be cramped too, but the dwarves will find a way to use the limited space efficiently. The ceiling may even be a bit low for a standard human, because the caves are made for the shorter dwarves.

Look up underground spaces in real life for inspiration, too.

[Mastikator]

Underground spaces are usually small because it takes a lot of effort to dig out the earth. SInce the dwarves are not likely to have modern technology such as drills, and have to do all the work by shovelling, they'll use either natural caves or just use shovels. Small spaces tend to be cramped too, but the dwarves will find a way to use the limited space efficiently. The ceiling may even be a bit low for a standard human, because the caves are made for the shorter dwarves.

Look up underground spaces in real life for inspiration, too.

This is very true, it would take hundreds if not thousands of years to make a big subterranean city. There should only be one or two big dwarven cities and they should be truly. Everything else should be small outposts with lots of surface exposure. Anything less than a few hundred years old should barely even be subterranean.

Another thing to consider is the air and sanitation, if the ventilation fails the city asphyxiates. Perhaps they make use of a waterfall to drive the ventilation, the entrance to the city could be inside a ravine.

[Yora]

Size is largely a matter of whether you are building practical or monumental. When you build spaces to be used, you make them as big as you need them. When you build larger, you are doing it to show off.

In Europe and South Asia we have stupendously big churches and temples. Not because they need to be to be efficient to use, but because they are monuments to god. And also always a little bit to your own wealth.