How do you go about large cities?

[Ozreth]

Newer DM here looking to build a very large city. The players will start here and spend a LOT of time in it. I was thinking about scaling every section of the city so that each new district they enter can be placed on the table and the can navigate it with their miniatures. Because of current events, the streets will be very hostile and many parts of the city will offer brawls and battles for the players, depending on how well they can talk their way through the streets.

I would map out each district and have it printed out rather largely. Has anybody ever gone about things like this? Seems a bit tedious but i am up for the task.

On that note, I am thinking about adding some sort of transporation to different parts of the city. I am trying to figure out how some sort of train or tram could fit into a high fantasy setting but I am at a loss right now. Any ideas?

[Sstoopidtallkid]

My plan is to snag maps of cities from the appropriate time periods, then modify them as needed. Should be easier than starting from scratch.

[Soranar]

when in doubt , steal/copy/ripoff shamelessly

you can "buy" *cough* find through certain software many fully made cities that you can edit to your heart's content , which is a lot shorter than making them from scratch

if they're not big enough just stick a couple of neighbourhoods from other cities in there

[Ozreth]

Good suggestions. But what do you guys think about then scaling each small part of the city to the miniatures every time the scene changes? Any tips there?
We are playing 4e which is very mini dependent, so I want to scale every section of the city the table for street brawls and whatnot.

Any good resources you guys can recommend for a feat such as this?

Thanks : )

[Shademan]

GAH! BUY THE BOOK CITYSCAPE!
*frothing like a madman*
I LUB DAT BOOK!

srsly, it has everything you need to make a city and it even got four-five premade cities for you to use.
should be easy to use for 4E as well.
as for combat maps... well... but some graph paper and draw up the maps as your players engage something. or else youre likely to do alot of work thats not gonna be used

[infinitypanda]

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

[bosssmiley]

Zak's Urbancrawl Rules For Slacker DMs.

Build the city as and when you need it. Assume that everything a fantasy city is supposed to have is there, and map out the route to it as required by the game. It's practically the same way that Terry Pratchett wrote (and only later mapped) Ankh-Morpork.