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TheQuestionable
2007-08-29, 10:51 PM
Can someone help, or direct me, to a guide or advice concerning town/city creation and random clever plot twists (So random I wouldn't think of it and it's opinional and doesn't relate to the campaign at all (sometimes)). I want to make a believable town. I even started on a history (why it's their, who rules it and why, impacts and evolution, etc.) But I find my towns/cities to be a little...bland. I lack a map because I don't know where what should go where. I have the key elements but not the good stuff that make towns/cities fun to venture into.

My towns usually consist of:

-Church(es)
-guard station (prison/watchtower)
-Inns of variety
-Stronghold or castle
-lower city
-Courtyard/town square
-Merchant area/venders

Any advice on how to make my towns/cities unique and fun to explore?

Stormcrow
2007-08-29, 11:08 PM
The best answer is either Dungeon Master's Guide II or Cityscape I think.

From a personal point be wary of size, if its too big or too small it wont be believable and (and this is a real personal point) make sure the city can support itself. Don't forget the farms, the hunters, the weavers etc that support the community.

JackMage666
2007-08-29, 11:23 PM
While it doesn't make a map (regrettable), or tells you what buldings to put, I found this to be EXTREMELY useful (you might want to change the names/races of people in the town)

Town Generator (http://www.aarg.net/~minam/towns.cgi)

It gives you a detailed list of the NPCs in the town, as well as the total town population, guard count, total wealth, ect. All it leaves you to do is map it out.

SilverClawShift
2007-08-29, 11:34 PM
Speaking as a player, not a DM here.

Especially when going by verbal descriptions, the things that are really going to stand out in a players mind are...the things that stand out.
That might sound like a cop-out, but think about it. To make a fun and interesting city, think about things that will make it memorable beyond "We killed something there". Landmarks, mistakes, interesting people, oddities both naturally occuring and man made.

The statue of Lathander, god of light and righteousness, is holding the holy symbol of asmodeus.
"Why in the heck is that statue of lathander holding asmodeus' holy symbol?"
An old man with a bad eye and three teeth overhears your question and lets out a small chuckle. He insists on leaning uncomfortably close when he talks to you, and is gesturing wildly as he talks, patting your shoulder and prodding your chest. "Well that's an odd story... see long time ago the town council brought in an outsider to build the statue... turned out he was secretly a devil worshipper! Tried to slip one by us he did! we strung him up in town square an left 'im there for 5 days. Kept the statue as a reminder that you can't trust everyone! You folk be careful around here, a lot of people never really stopped worryin about you outsiders after that. Ya'll have a good day now though!"

There. Now anytime your players want to go back to that city, they're going to say "We need to head back to that city with the lathander statue and the creepy old guy".

Or maybe there's a burned out orphange that people just don't like talking about. Maybe something plot hooky happened, or maybe it's just a sad story that people try not to really think about. Maybe there's an underground "Subway" tunnel system that people used to use during a war or time of troubles, but now is empty (really empty) and just a quirky way to get from one area to another if you want to avoid the bigger crowds.

A map can really help drive things home though, personally speaking. Just start from the beginning, and think to yourself "They didn't build this entire city at once, they put it up one place at a time" and go from there. Did the city start out as a small town with a few houses? Are those houses still there in the middle of an otherwise more elaborate area? If the place was used to being under attack, did they build it out in concentric circles, starting with key stuff (a temple, a few homes, and a market), falling back during wartimes and building outwards during peace times?
Don't underestimate the power of dividing your city into section either. It's easy to remember that the only way to the healing house is to get through (or over, or under) the inner wall to the city core. Or that North Quarter is the slums, or that everyone in the Shadebell district is having bad nightmares.

Is there a wizards tower? Abandoned? One wizard lives there? It's the arcanists meeting place in the town and it weirds people out to see magical lightning pulsing out the windows every freaking night?

Water. Creek dividing the town in half? Lake? Some of the town is even submerged maybe? Lighthouse?

Oooor maybe the city central (government building, temple, ect) is built at the top of a hill, and getting around the city means going in circles, or trudging up a steep surface.

Stop me, seriously, I'll just keep rambling. I hope I helped a little though, I've never built a city.

TheQuestionable
2007-08-30, 08:06 AM
The Town Generator is nice, if I don't have time myself. The Npc stats are nice on the spot though. It doesn't really give you an idea of the layout and unique design and story.

I love your advice SilverClawShift, I guess I should be seeing my city as a place that I would like looking at and enjoying pulling/or being dragged/ the players to. Also liked the staute idea, thought that was hilarious and certain unspoken scars and old lost building and tunnels all really helped.

Please tramble on if you want. I plan on using these

elliott20
2007-08-30, 08:30 AM
you also need to consider the position the town is placed and the role it plays vis-a-vis the other cities/towns. It's geographical position effects its natural resources, which in turn effects it's development potential as well local industry and other aspects of the city.

so, if you have an area that is mineral rich, chances are the city in that area is going to be utilizing that will have an active mining industry. And chances are, you'll see either a lot of dwarves or a lot people using modified dwarven technology. And if the area snows a lot, chances are, people who live there will tend towards having houses that insulate heat better or some such. People who live in certain geographical areas are going to try to leverage whatever advantage they have and try to mitigate whatever unfavorable factors in some fashion.

However, once you've set up that basics, you have to consider how it interacts with other cities. Manhattan was nothing but a small island port city but it is also the financial capital of the world. Most of it's resource needs such as food and what not are brought in from the rest of the world at a premium price.

So if you say, had a city with no natural resources what so ever, and isn't even that farm-able, (what's the word for that? ariable?) you now have a question you need to answer... how does it manage to sustain its own population? Maybe the city sits upon the cross roads that leads to all other cities and is just a place where a lot of traders congregate... or maybe it's kind of like Las Vegas, where it is supported mostly by a tourist industry.

This, of course, is a lot more work.

Matthew
2007-08-30, 03:15 PM
Probably the best D20 Town Building Resource out there is A Magical Medieval Society - Western Europe (http://e23.sjgames.com/item.html?id=XRP1002). In combination with the above supplements, you're probably onto a winner.