The Campaign Builder's Guild

Quote from: snakefingSorry, ironpanzer, I'm not trying to write your setting for you. It's just that CYMRO's comments and Raelifin's little snippet created this image in my head, and I just have to write it... Use it or don't, as you see fit.

"I could hear the sound of the drovers leading a caravan of goods up from the docks. Bags of grain, bushels of fruit, crates full of potatos. The marketplace erupted in activity, as the merchants unloaded their wares.

"Amazingly, within minutes the nearly-deserted marketplace was crowded with buyers and sellers. Angry, diminutive housewives elbowing each other aside to get the choicest goods. Street vendors with hot pastries and meat-on-a-stick. Finely dressed servants contending with ragamuffins and hobos. Seemingly from nowhere, a crowd had materialized along with the food stuffs. Then, a few minutes later, it was gone, the stalls nearly barren once more.

"One of the soldiers gave me a cock-eyed glance, and I decided it was time to find somewhere else to be."

That is awesome. I just might use that very text, with your permission, of course.

@ Raelifin: While the knights and the army are two different organizations, that does capture the spirit of the army quite well.

Quote from: RaelifinOkay, a fort-town. Probably built by the goblins to control the river? Trade is going to be the biggest thing here, so make sure you have a large market near the center of town, far enough away from the waterfront to not be bothered by sailors, but close enough to unload cargo easily. How much conflict is in this region? The state and strength of the defenses will be dependent on this. If the river is the focus of the town, large towers would most likely sit on the river's edge. Inns will get the most business from sailors, so place most of them on the waterfront. How lucrative is fishing in this area?

Heh, I doubt anyone would turn down the friendship of someone with a sack of wealth and near-unmatchable power in a skirmish. Never underestimate the power of a full purse.

The region is fairly peaceful, with only the expected small-scale rebelliousness of a captured people. Good point about the towers near the river, I will add that to the city. The fishing is not very rewarding, a few salmon, but that is about it.

The second point is also a good one. I am not sure about what to do with adventurers.

Quote from: BRIGADIER CYMROWith that many people much more space needs to be diverted to food procurement and distribution.

I would think the undercity better situated under the ghettoes.

All in all a very promising start.

You might also think about locating the ghettoes outside the city walls.
The priveleged classes probably do not want the stink of povs sullying their fresh air. And such barios could be burned in event of a seige.

Most of the caravans and ships coming in to the docks carry food. The undercity is not planned, it is ruins left from a previous age, and therefore I put it near the river, and not always where it might seem most logical.

Thanks for the encouragements.

I had thought of moving the ghettos, but the halflings did not rearrange the city when they took it, and all of the city originally fit inside the walls. Due to the deaths in the fighting, the city will not need to grow outside the walls for many years to come.

Quote from: snakefingI'd like to see a bit more on the overall impression that a visitor (or resident) would have of the city.

How much have the halflings changed the city since they captured it? Have they built their own official buildings or are they re-using the goblin ones? Does it still look like a goblin city, or maybe the halflings razed all the goblin buildings and built their own?

Also, describe a couple of major landmarks. The government building, major temple, the most popular or richest inn, things like that.

Are the goblin residents mostly slaves now? 20% would be a pretty high percentage of slaves, I'd think. That might mean a fairly high presence of guards or troops to keep order and dissuade escapees.

Just some stuff to think about.

The city is, for the most part, still goblin in form. The west bank is in disrepair from the battles fought there, and has not really been repaired. The halfings level a portion of the city to build the temple district, and have several temples to their god there. Many of the halfling nobles that moved into the city had the goblin structures modified or even rebuilt, though this varies individual to individual. I am working on landmarks, and I will post them later.

When the halflings took the city, they took only the soldiers as slaves; they did not want to make the goblin nation too angry (Mosalia is HUGE... think Russia). Between the regular guardsmen, the army, and the knights, there are quite a few armed soldiers in the city. So far, Jadag Kachar (see authority figures) has kept the peace.

Raelifin, thank you for taking the time to pose those questions. They are precisely what I wanted to get when I posted this thread.

My world is considered ably more unusual than I have posted. What is here is just the tip of the iceberg, but the rest is not really important to the discussion at hand.

The city serves as the control base for the region. It is the headquarters of the guardsmen, military, and knightly orders that are deployed in the area. Water comes from the river on that map, and food is shipped in from more fertile regions of the Empire. The economy in the region is natural resource, in this case gold and precious stones. Most of the population lives in (rather large) mining town, with some living in farming villages along the river.

As to diversity, the reason the world is so integrated comes from its creation. Basically, the world was destroyed then recreated, scattering its people all over the globe. Therefore, only the most xenophobic societies are anything above 85% their original race. I thought it logical that since dwarves have such a tight family and clan unit, they would likely cluster in one area of the city, a la Little Italy.

I do not agree that lawful implies sober - dwarven society being my case in point. As to the tavern and caravan districts, the necessity of shipping in food requires that accommodations be made for large numbers of merchants and caravans, both coming in (with food) and going out (with gold and gems).

The issue with the adventurers is not how much money they have, it is how they got it. I think that noblemen would be distainful of men and women who kill things in underground dungeons for a living. I am considering bumping up the district to middle-class though.

Lord's keep is a very good point. Since I can't think of any reason that they wouldn't move in, I am moving them in. I think that the castle would make a very good home for the Order of the Hawk. The undercity is left over from a previous time, as cities were destroyed and buried, and sometimes modern cities are built on top of the old. Construction has reduced the risk of flooding, but not entirely, as most of the people who live there are doing something illegal.

By Necropolis, I simply meant graveyard... not city of undead.

Sounds good. In fact, that is pretty much the list of PC classes that I use in my own world (except the ninja - who is just plain annoying and should be a PrC). I agree with all of your points that you set out in numbers, and as a player would be fine with following them. Your world, in particular is quite unique. I like the concept of the sun as the home of the gods, and I may use it at some time in the future, if that is alright.

Greetings everyone.

I am an experienced DM, but new to the world of worldbuilding. I am working on creating a city that my PCs will (hopefully) spend some serious time in, but I need help. What do I need to define in order to create a living city? Are there any useful guides out there to creating a city like this? I think that the best way to get help is to post what I have, so here goes:

Note: I have a rather unusual campaign world. The Halflings have a stong martial tradition of my world follow a monotheistic religion (Toism) that holds them above all other races. Extremists believe that all of the other races must be exterminated for paradise to come, but most of their society does not believe this. This city Perasia is on the border between Etinia (Halfling Theocracy) and Mosalia (Goblin Monarchy). Mosalia ceded the region to Etinia in the last war between them, about 40 years ago. Goblins in my world are not inherently evil, either.

Perasia
Population 11,400
65% halfling, 20% goblin, 5% dwarf, 5% orc, 3% gnome, 2% other

[spoiler=Authority Figures:]Seagon Falconsflight (LN)
Captain of the Guard (Halfling Fighter 8 )
Full-time guardsmen: 114

Denor Sulus (LE)
Influential Aristocrat (Halfling Aristocrat 11)

The Temple of the Moon (LE)
Monastery
Leader - Eyon the Black (Human Monk 8 )

Gilbert Torius (LN)
Toist Praetor (Halfling Cleric 7)

Order of the Hawk (LG)
Etinian Knightly Order
Leader - Sir Tobory the Great (Halfling Knight 10, PHB 2)

Jadag Kachar (NG)
Local Hero (Goblin Commoner 6)[/spoiler]

History: When the halflings captured the city in the last war, they took most of the goblin soldiers as slaves. A good part of the city on the western bank was destroyed in the fighting as well. The goblin baron's keep now lies empty, as the halfling government hasn't thought of anything better to do with it. The ruler of the city is the Praetor, Gilbert Torius, though the captain of the guard and the Knight Commander of the Order of the Hawk wield influence as well.

I have a map of the city (done on Autorealm)and have divided the city into districts and wards (temple district, finance district, etc.) based on a DMG web-enhancement that I liked. I am beginning of mapping out the merchants that the PCs are likely to visit, as well as a few taverns and inn, etc. I came up with one of those demographic charts (though not the WOTC way...). Am I missing something? Is there some glaring inconstancy here?

Another link I found: http://www.io.com/~sjohn/demog.htm

Map:



[spoiler=Key]Key:
Upper Class
1. Civic District
2. Finance District
3. Noble Estates
Middle Class
4. Average Residential
5. Dwarf Neighborhood
6. Garrison
7. Guildhall District
8. Lordâ,¬,,¢s Manor, Vacant
9. Professionals
10. Shops
11. Temple District
Lower Class
12. Adventurerâ,¬,,¢s Quarter
13. Apartment Homes
14. Apartment Homes
15. Caravan District
16. Goblinoid Ghetto
17. Slave Quarter
18. Tannery District
19. Tavern District
20. Undercity
21. Undercity
22. Warehouse District
23. Waterfront District
24. Prision District
25. Necropolis
26. Remnant District[/spoiler]

Recently I have moved away from gods in the traditional D&D sense, mostly because of the problems of the lack of faith required to believe in their existence. Instead, I use an ancient, almost extinct, and immensely powerful race that parades as gods, and worship of philosophical concepts. This represent both extremes, the visible gods that interact directly with the world, and the conceptual gods that require true faith to believe in.