Lots of times, I struggle when it comes to making a city or location unique and interesting. There are certain things that are a staple of fantasy or sci-fi gaming that need to be present in practically every setting or locale. They become so familiar that often times too little thought is given to making them come alive and turning them into something interesting or memorable in their own right.
I'm thinking of the traditional inn/tavern meeting place, the healer's temple or herbalist's tent, the traditional D&D "magic item shop," the town square or marketplace.
I'm starting this thread so that the creative minds here can share ideas for making cities, tribal encampments, spaceports, or whatever more interesting, by converting these familiar places into memorable locales. The point is to create interesting buildings, proprietors, background or history, quirks, or the like. These in turn serve as inspiration that people can rip off and adapt for their own games.
Start with things from your own campaigns, or just random tidbits that you just don't know what to do with. There's no rules, but it is probably best to be comparatively neutral towards game systems and setting-specific races, so other people can use it or adapt it as they wish. I'll start in a bit with my own first contributions.
The Tower Inn
Most of the old fortification has crumbled into ruin, or been cannibalized for building material. But on this site, one of the old guard towers was purchased and restored by an eccentric and reclusive nobleman. He converted the entire tower to a rather unique residence, where he retired and remained alone until his death. On his death, his son took over the building, but did not find it to his liking as a residence. He decided to convert it to a peculiar, yet popular inn and tavern, which remains open to this day.
The tower itself has four levels:
The magazine/armory level is below ground, now used as a storehouse for food and ale.
The main level is outfitted as a spacious, but unique tavern and common room. In the center is the main bar. Against the wall opposite the main entrance is a large hearth, where a pig or deer can often be seen roasting. The rest of the space is open, interrupted at intervals by beams and pillars supporting the massive roof. The room is lit by oil lamps on sconces around the walls pillars. The decor is simple and sturdy - designed to recall the look of a military barracks while still allowing for both private meetings and boisterous celebration. The walls are decorated with historical weapons and coats of arms of significant value.
The second level has been refitted as an inn. The thick plank floors are overlaid with soft woolen rugs that muffle the sounds from below. There are ten rooms here: five simple bunkrooms, four private rooms, and one suite with sitting room and private bath. The halls are manned by quiet, soft-shoed attendants who provide for guests' needs and ensure a quiet, private, and restful night.
The top level is locked and serves as a business office and occasional quarters for the inn's owner. Those who are invited here report that it is luxuriously appointed, and most probably warded against any kind of unwanted intrusion or spying. The current owner is the grandson of the noble who originally opened the Tower Inn. He uses it as a base for his extensive business and political dealings in the city.
The Tower Inn is considered a local landmark - frequented by out of town merchants and reputedly by minor nobles or power brokers for their private trysts and meetings. The food is simple but excellent, and the wine and ale selection without compare.
The Old Barracks
Originally a noble's house, the Old Barracks was converted and fortified to be part of the city walls during various conflicts with local tribes. For a long time it served as housing for the soldiers until sold off to brothel owners. After a short while, the upper stories, long abandoned, were restored and the brothel owners moved upward. The lower floors now serve as a bazaar - knocked-through walls have extended the rooms for some shopkeepers, whilst one has even broken through into the cellar and is the envy of the others for her storage capacity.
This shopkeeper is Alissa, a strange individual who always wears a long dress and heavy headgear. She has a penchant for keeping snakes, and is an alchemist and folk healer. Her secret is that she is actually a medusa - a fact she reveals sparingly to her most loyal customers. She keeps a small selection of statues downstairs, but they tend to be rats and the occasional goblin rather than humans. She's not exactly evil, but she certainly isn't good.
The brothel - run by Varazzad duz-Averilla - is still popular among some of the nobles of the city, but its customers have dropped to a bare minimum.
Quote from: http://www.thecbg.org/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?12625.21Spawn of the Gorgon[/url] instead of medusa. And at the back of the market area, they'd have:
Shrine to Aphrodite
It is said that if you write the name of your intended on a slip, tie it with a strand of your hair, and leave it under the statue of the goddess, she will grant your desires. And for those who can't wait for the goddess to work her charms, there is a discreet entrance in the back of the shrine to the brothel above.
This is one site i've wanted to expand upon ever since I made Ghelon (see the front page).
[spoiler=Chaizo, Temple of the Restless Gods]
In a remote corner of the Empires, nestled among the peaceful Golden Blade Mountains, lies a temple to the Empirical gods.
It is a simple building, with it's decaying wooden slats haphazardly nailed into place. The interior shares this modest style; within lies only 3 small cots, a cauldron, a few animal cages, and the awe-inspiring shrine, bedecked in gold and luminous gems.
The three monks who regularly keep the temple clean do all the necessary tasks; they cut firewood, hunt animals (except as where prohibited by righteous customs), cook the food, wash the robes. Each and every day they do this, and they are able to keep a pleasant demeanor as well.
But they are not the reason so many pilgrims trek to the temple every day it is accessible by foot. No, they come to see evidence of the gods themselves.
Every 29 days, Chaizo is awaken by the Empirical gods, even if it is only to walk to a new spot a dozen miles away. The temple grows legs, similar in shape to those of an elephant's, but fashioned out of stone and mud. The crowd of pilgrims will follow the temple wherever it goes, most observing in silent prayer. It is during this time that the monks inside are in their deepest meditations, trying to become closer to the temporarily active gods.
When the transition ends, and the temple's legs finally disappear, the pilgrims will often leave charms (usually small scraps of parchment with their name on it)in the cracks of the temple's wooden sides. What the monks do with these charms, is kept a secret.[/spoiler]
Edit: Wow, I didn't know somebody else would use the name-on-a-slip-of-paper thing so fast.
The Familiar Retreat
This seems to be a normal shop from the outside. Inside, the only thing that differentiates it is a series of rails that pass around the shop overhead. Eventually an amulet on a hook rattles in on one of the railings, stopping behind the counter. A voice coming from that direction speaks "Can I help you?"
The Familiar Retreat is, in fact, a store that is owned and operated by an intelligent magical item. The shop itself is strongly magical, but only for facilitating the amulet (telekinesis for moving items, alarm spells, the whole rail system, etc.). No one knows how the shop was built, for it has been standing for as long as people can remember. Many rumors also persist as to why an amulet would want to become a shopkeeper, ranging from that it is actually the soul of a former merchant to an experiment gone wrong. There are also rumors that its looking for someone capable of constructing it a body to inhabit, although this is unconfirmed.
How's that?
Djed Djedson's Livery Stable
Once just a single building, Djedson's Livery has expanded as it required and is now made up of an entire crescent-shaped street. The street is no longer open to the public as a byway, and is blocked up at one end by a huge stable building. At the other end, an enormous pair of gates rise up, marked with 'Djed Djedson's Stable For The Accomodation Of All Type Of Mounts'. A smaller sign underneath is marked 'Transporte Within 5 Miles Of the City Ande Stagecoaches Also Provided'. The street is riddled with small, gated-and-locked alleyways and larger byways for horses. It also provides most of the private transport (coaches and rickshaws) throughout the city, as well as owning many of the stagecoaches travelling throughout the land as a whole. Almost anybody can be found working at Djedson's - as long as they can handle either animals or a shovel, they're welcome. Whole tribes of goblins live in the emptied and blocked-up sewers beneath the street, and gnolls and the occasional orc work here too.
The Livery is run by Djed Djedson (Dwarf Expert 7) himself, a surprisingly tall dwarf who has never seen his people's home and never wants to. He is extravagantly rich and dresses like a human. Although he has an apartment built atop the high spars crossing the street, it has never seen any use by Djed - it's just for show. He lives in a much larger and richer house in one of the more expensive parts of the city. He's said to be part of the city's large organised crime network, although whether this is true or not is debatable.
Within the Livery there are three main sections - at the end, near the great set of gates, are the huge stagecoach buildings and smaller coach stores, as well as stables for the coach-horses. As you get further back into the mess of sheds which forms one side of the road, you find coach repair pits as well as engineers' lodgings and building huts where they construct new carriages. At the back of these huts and buildings that mass around the main thoroughfare is a high stone-and-brick wall, interspersed with gates opening onto alleyways. Thin horizontal walkways run along it at levels, sometimes ending in thin, tall doors onto the surrounding houses and other buildings' upper levels. This section is mostly unroofed. Also here, near to the entrance, are ticket offices and other money intakes.
To be interviewed (or find the vaults, offices and other places where the real intellectual work takes place) you have to go to the other end, past the huge stablery building and the gates leading to the other stables at that end and to the huge arched gates near the centre of the stable. Coaches pass underneath, but above this roadway are offices built over the arches and (also) vaults built within the thick bases of the arch. This is also the location of Djedson's office.
In the centre and at the stable end of the crescent, three different types of stables are built - those for hirable horses, those for buyable horses, and those for stabled horses. To stable a horse costs 2GP/day, or 7GP for a week. Hiring horses costs 1/2 of the buying price, and buying is equal to normal buying prices.
These areas are roofed over at the buildings' roof level, but the roof is hard to see through the mass of supporting spars, lofts and connecting walkways. They have these elsewhere too, of course, but here it is the most. Lofts consist of large wooden platforms built over level areas of spars and stacked extremely high with hay. Most have at least one pulley system for lowering the oats and hay down to the ground, and are connected to others via thin rope walkways. There are very few safety nets. Along one edge of the roof (above the large stables at the end of the crescent), large and stable platforms form the base for several apartments, including Djedson's unused one.
Djedson's large establishment is protected by his own private army of well-trained half-orcs, humans and dwarves (Warrior 3). He arms them well, and they prowl through night and day, having apartments above smaller stables or coach pits.
Aristotle Arkinos, Legendary Adventurer
[Inspired by American legendary figures Pecos Bill and Judge Roy Bean, among others.]
In this neck of the woods, nearly everyone has heard of Ari Arkinos. He first rose to fame as an explorer, and later as a famous rogue and neâ,¬,,¢er-do-well. Exaggerated tales of his exploits are a favorite subject of storytellers and minstrels. Heâ,¬,,¢s said to have been able to steal the venom from a snakeâ,¬,,¢s fangs in mid-strike, or to sneak up and take the hair from a hareâ,¬,,¢s tail.
As an explorer, Ari opened up many new lands and areas for colonization. Stories tell of his bravery and cleverness in persuading the wild animals of various regions to leave for safer hunting grounds. Many a family still tells of their ancestorsâ,¬,,¢ encounters with him and his band. Often those ancestors owed their lives to his actions. Others lost small fortunes to his swindles, or their daughters to his silver tongue.
In later years, Ari brought his band to the island of Katros. Here, he persuaded the Dukes of Gadus and Demosthenes both to finance a mapping expedition in the interior of the island. In the process, he mapped out and opened up new overland routes that are still in use today. However, many claim that he omitted much from his reports.
Having been paid twice for the same work, Arkinos used the money to build a grand residence at the ford that now bears his name, and began charging tolls for safe passage across the river. Enraged at this betrayal, both Dukes sent forces to arrest him and his band; but once again, he outsmarted them by setting the rival forces to fighting each other. Despite repeated attempts, neither was ever able to dislodge Ari and his men from their wilderness redoubt. They were forced by practicality to submit to his extortions.
Over time, Ariâ,¬,,¢s Ford became a magnet for rogues and outlaws of all kinds. Ari lived out the rest of his years here, providing rough frontier law and justice. He remained a thorn in the side of the Imperial Dukes well into his 80â,¬,,¢s. When he died, his band remained together for a few years. But without his strong personality, the rogues and outlaws fell into disunity, and were eventually scattered.
Later, when the Empire fell, Ariâ,¬,,¢s Ford became a fortified outpost on the border between the now-independent duchies. During the Wars of Unification, major battles were fought here. Now, with the kingdom united, it is once again a remote backwater garrison. Ariâ,¬,,¢s fortified manor house has largely fallen into disrepair, although part remains open to this day as an inn for overland caravans.
FLESH: MUTATED MINDFLAYER
From the day he was ceremorphed, his cabal knew there was something wrong with him. The dead look in the eyes, coupled with his overlong arms and knuckled mouthparts, were hardly characteristic of his proud species. He was sentenced to be killed by the elder brain, but managed to escape by his wits and ferocity. He eventually managed to extract revenge, and now sells his bretheren for spare parts, as it were.
Flesh follows the rules for mindflayers found in the expanded psionics handbook. However, he specializes in psychometabolism, rather than telepathy. He also posesses several aberrant feats, from LoM.
Flesh spends most of his time disguised as a human. He runs a magic item shop where he sells symbionts made from mindflayer larvae. These symbionts sap customers' will, making them his slaves and (when necessary) supplying him with food.
He has also been known to augment his powers using a unique variant metaconcert, drawing power points from catatonic, limbless illithids.
Players may be called upon to investigate strange happenings, including disappearences, centered on Flesh's shop. Or, they may buy one of the tainted grafts themselves.
You're right that making places seem unique can be difficult. I did a lot of descriptions for inns, taverns, and what not for a previous campaign world. It might be some time before I get back to that world, but I'll dig up some information for one that you could build on.
Lost in the Sun
This large inn sits by the bay. It is three stories tall and has a donut-shaped design. In the center of the building is an open courtyard that serves both as the main reception area and a tavern. Some of the courtyard (including the reception desk and the bar) are covered by bright-colored overhanging canopies to keep rain off or provide shade. Tables are dotted around the courtyard, both in the sun and under the caponies.
The rooms, especially on the top floor, are only the finest, available to the wealthy. Any room includes complemetary breakfast, dinner, and scented baths. The rooms are decorated with plush curtains and pillows. The tavern is known for both its fruit drinks and fine fish fillets.
From the main walkway, it is only a short walk to the beach, where sporting events are common.
side note: This inn was in Crystal Bay, a city in the tropical utopian nation of Andair.
Feel free to use whatever you like. Obviously some information about the owner/staff might be good.
The Main Attraction
The Sign of the Mug and Skillet is an inn on the outskirts of a little crossroads town. It's not much of a place, really - the building is kept in repair, the rooms are kept neat, and the food is simple but wholesome fare. And the drink is cheap, but not too watered down.
But rarely does a night go by when the Mug and Skillet's main room is full to bursting with locals and well-informed out-of-towners. It is true that the tiny stage in the corner is sometimes graced by a visiting bard or quality, but frankly the bards come there for the same reason as everyone else - in the hopes of earning a smile from one of the more constant barmaids, Gioa.
Gioa was born not too far away, only child of a poor farmer and his wife who died tragically in a fire when Gioa was twelve. By that time it was clear that Gioa was to be an ugly duckling - she had never stood out as a child, but as she grew her features attained a combination of symmetry, posture and cheer that left no-one who saw her untouched. Her mouse-brown hair lengthened into a waist-long mane of auburn, her smile broadened into a frequent and sparkling favor, and her eyes, seemingly deepened by an orphans' grief, could soothe with a glance but never injure.
Her voice is a fine if untaught alto, and she sings well enough although she refuses to try to make a profession of it. She has worked hard to make it strong without being strident or coarse, and she is almost always flawlessly poised.
If that were all, she would be a draw. As it happens, she is also an excellent barmaid, easily memorizing the guests names, favorite drinks or meals, and at least some of the particulars of how they make their living. She has a gift for seeming to have time for everyone, and she can listen to three stories at once without getting confused, or break up an incipient barfight with a few deft references to telling a troublemakers' parents/spouse/priest/etc.
Gioa remains steadfastly unattached. She perpetually walks a tightrope between sympathy and dispassion, and it would appear that no one has what it takes to get her off it. It is common knowledge that she has the most devastating 'let's be friends' speech in any of the lands about. At this point, few people even try; her closest friends will say if asked that Gioa is happy to keep herself to herself.
Gioa can be a useful contact; she hears all manner of rumors and tales without even trying, and presumably draws her own conclusions. What those might be she keeps to herself, but she has been known to drop profitable hints to adventurers and other speculative businessmen. It doesn't appear that Gioa makes any money off of the information she provides, except for the occasional extravagant tip, but it is quite likely that she is keeping tab for future need. One never knows when a beautiful young serving girl might need a favor...
[spoiler=The Truth About Gioa]Gioa is a 10th lvl Commoner/Expert. She started out with CHA 18, and is putting every additional point there. Her INT and WIS are both 15, and the physical abilities are not terribly important although none of them are below 10. The only magical item she possesses is a plain-looking necklace that constantly projects an Undetectable Alignment effect; she goes to great pains to never remove it, and to keep it concealed whenever possible.
Gioa is Chaotic Evil. She experienced her childhood as a constant humiliation; perhaps she would have outgrown her continuing sense of injury as so many do, but one day she heard some knights talking about one of the spoils from a goblins nest. This trinket was found on a vicious little runt who had used it to evade the paladin's celestial sight, and had been able to say little of where it came from.
Gioa had waited and watched, and had at last managed to swipe this trinket, a tiny necklace, for herself. Before anyone had known it was missing, she had carefully killed a dog, the favorite pet of one of her fellow villagers, and got herself caught by the knights themselves. Under the gaze of the paladin, with specks of the pup's blood still on her skirt, she had claimed she hadn't done it. The paladin had actually smiled at her as he nodded; his robed friend had stared at her closely, but with the paladin's approval she went scott free. As far as she was concerned the experiment had been a success.
She herself had murdered her parents the moment she had been able to figure out a way to make a living for herself. Despite this, her actual deeds of malice are few and far between; she knows that her sympathetic reputation is one of her most effective tools, and she will not endanger it without a very good reason.
Gioa is genuinely helpful, and is a genuinely good listener, but more goes on in her secret counsels than anyone guesses. She is indeed keeping a careful tally of who owes her what, not just favors but injuries as well. Her hate-list hasn't grown much in recent years, but it hasn't shrunk either, and she is well acquainted with a few strong and ruthless types who would be willing to do her a rough favor, no questions asked. In addition, she has been making very quiet friends with a small colony of kobolds nearby.
Gioa should come across as a plot-development NPC, perhaps even as local color. At first. Ideally, it won't occur to anyone that she is actually one of the major local villains until numerous friendly encounters have passed. Who knows, she might even start flirting with one of the PCs...
BTW: The name Gioa is an anagram of the name of arguably the greatest villain in English literature, Iago of Othello. Gioa should have a similar narrative effect, being a merry little sociopath who nurses grudges from incidents unnoticed or forgotten by the rest of the world, and who has long outgrown the clumsy habit of committing her own murders.[/spoiler]