D&D 3.5: Designing a City

[DukeGurren]

Ok, I'm planning a D&D 3.5 campaign for a city, the basic culture and size I've already got down and am ready to expand on, but my weak point is designing the city itself and it is pretty big. Now It will be my first time DMing and am doing a LOT of research and planning for this game and I already understand most aspects of what to de when in action, but regardless, I'm slightly stumped in making the layout of streets and such for this city and it's districts. WHat I'm looking for is maybe some resource that would help me, maybe a program that would help me keep track of the design and even be able to print it out or SOMETHING. Please no new guy bashing or anything, I'm working my but off and need all the positive support and whatnot I can get. Thanks and I hope to hear something soon :)

[VoxRationis]

"Cityographer" is just for that purpose. It costs a noticeable (at least to a penny-pincher like me) but not exorbitant sum of money, and generates as much of a city as you want, based on parameters you set. If you don't like something they put in, you can edit as you see fit.

[DukeGurren]

Looks promising. I'll try it out. Something I think that I forgot to mention is that my campaign is being design to take place ENTIRELY in this one city, which means putting in a hell of a lot of secrets, plots, etc. and while this isn't my biggest problem, my next thing is "How do I make an organized map big enough". My first idea is to make the city, map it to a large sheet of graph paper, and then laminate that after cutting it into sections. Any other ideas on keeping this map usable? (The jist of the main problem is that this city is friggin MASSIVE. Not attack on titan massive but still pretty dang big and I'm having an issue with how to present it once it's finished as well as the making of it itself)

[VoxRationis]

First, I would recommend a large-scale map with comparatively little detail, with just a few key things plotted out, plus the name of the districts you're looking for. Then go section by section, making a smaller-scale and more detailed map for each district, combined with more information on each one.

[Kaeso]

First, I would recommend a large-scale map with comparatively little detail, with just a few key things plotted out, plus the name of the districts you're looking for. Then go section by section, making a smaller-scale and more detailed map for each district, combined with more information on each one.

Iḿ going with VoxRationis. Think big first, then go to the smaller details. First of all you need to ask yourself the context: what/where is this city? Is it a capital, just a large city in a realm or an independent city state? What is the economy of the city like? Is it a major trade port city, a mining city, a city that produces textiles or a city dedicated to education or research? Maybe something entirely else?

When designing a city, IMHO the first question you need to ask is what kind of city it is. If I can name an example from my own campaign, the most important city in my setting is a trade sitting strategically positioned around a major river. On the East Bank we have the central trade district, which is where pretty much everything happens. It's where the main trade takes place, where all the rich merchants live, where the largest trade port of the city is and where the Duke lives. It's where pretty much everything happens. The North, East and South districts are somewhat middle class, the less succesful merchants and other middle class people live here. On the West bank there's the poor district. This is where the workers live, the actual backbone of the economy. They take the products that enter the city and fabricate them into something useful for the traders. They are for example carpenters, spinners etc. As you can see, this is a very class based city because every social class has more or less their own district. The religious caste falls more or less outside of this class system, which is why they have their own island in the middle of the river (more than a little inspired by the Tiber Island of Rome, which used to be dedicated to Aesculapius).

[Gravitron5000]

Perusing old city maps might also give you some ideas. I have provided some links that have some decent old maps to peruse.

http://www.oldmapsonline.org
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb...._pages/lon.htm
http://www.oldmapsofparis.com/
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Ca...maps_of_Venice

[Erasmas]

Also, if you have the time/patience and the money... you could have it printed at a local print store onto a poster-sized piece of paper and hang it on the wall.

I am currently running a (slightly) steampunk mystery game that centers around the Jack the Ripper murders in Whitechapel, London during the 1880's. I found a large resolution map from the era on the internet and had it printed out in something like 36"x48" and have it tacked up on the wall in my gaming room currently. It has proved incredibly useful, even using push pins to denote important locations (in this game, the murders specifically).

[DM Nate]

Honest question, why do you need a concrete representation of all the alleyways and byways? I usually just map the districts and major points of interest, and only map the actual streets and alleys when initiative is called for.

[~Corvus~]

What mamy of us seem to forget is that cities almost always have mkrr more (marklarr?) to find, that things are changing at a scale that is tough to keep track of even if you are mayor, and that places open up and move and close all the time. So design some shops on a street and throw out names. Keep a journal / excel sheet that has street names and then shops on those street names. Third cell could delineate the streets between (jackson and taylor).

That way you know where shops are. You can even keep a journal about the goings on about town. This can keep you entertained as well as goving the PCs some investment into its development.