The Campaign Builder's Guild

What is this?
This is the Topic of the Fortnight Club. If you've ever been unsure as to what part of your setting to detail next, consider using our suggested topics! Even if you don't want or need a topic provided  to direct your creativity, you can still use the opportunity to read other people's work on the subject and talk with other authors about how they approach the topic in their particular world/setting. (Polycarp! came up with this great idea and Jharviss posted a good list of prompts)

What do I get for participating?
The TFC isn't a contest or competition; there are no judges, no winners, and no prizes. It exists purely to generate ideas and create discussion. However, if you do decide to write something for your world on the current topic, note it in this thread and I'll link to it in this post under "topic wranglers" so other people can read your work.

I wrote about this topic ages ago. Why haven't you linked it yet?
You are absolutely welcome (and encouraged) to share your past work that relates to the current topic. Please repost/ and or/ post links to relevant older stuff in this thread if you're interested in discussing it! New material, however, is preferred.

[ic=Cities]"In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.

So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round:
And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,
Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;
And here were forests ancient as the hills,
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery. . . ."
-- "Xanadu: Kubla Khan" by Samuel Coleridge

"I yearned mightily to enter this fascinating yet repellent city, and besought the bearded man to land me at the stone pier by the huge carven gate Akariel; but he gently denied my wish, saying: "Into Thalarion, the City of a Thousand Wonders, many have passed but none returned. Therein walk only daemons and mad things that are no longer men, and the streets are white with the unburied bones of those who have looked upon the eidolon Lathi, that reigns over the city."
-- "The White Ship" by H.P. Lovecraft

[ooc]A setting may be defined by the adventurers who walk its lands, but the lands themselves and the backdrops are defined by the cities of the world. The cities make the world unique in their flavour and in their opportunities for adventure.

Prompts

Practical Questions
- What do your cities look like? Who lives in the cities? What secrets do they hold? What organizations rule them?
- What is the history of your city? How long has it stood? Who has ruled it? Are their layers upon lairs in your city- like in Rome where the city is built on the ruins of older ages?
- What is the city's role in the world? Is it a financial center, a trade center, a government seat, a sea port?
- Adventure seeds in your city?

Theory/Philosophical Questions
-How do you go about designing a city?
-Fluff v. Rules in design of cities- how do you make one serve the other?

Go ahead, write for Cities! ; Set the landscape in which our heroes adventure.
[/ooc]
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
-- "Ozymandias," by Percy Shelley[/ic]

[ic=Topic Wranglers]
Topic Wranglers
Light Dragon - Soccath - Gloria http://www.thecbg.org/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?65170.0#post_65334

[/ic]

Previous Topics-
Brainstorming Thread
Festivals
Organizations
Trade
Famous Heroes

Below is an example from a city in the evil Socialist lands to the north of the Capitalist Utopia of Gloria. It contains a description of the city, a small explanation of customs, and then an adventure seed.  Many more cities are located in the Gloria thread, including that of Gloria itself, which takes up several pages on a word-processor. http://www.thecbg.org/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?65170.0#post_65334

[ic=Example from Gloria]Soccath (Justice)
Carved out of the massive Soccathian Cliffs and overhung by the solid Soccathian Glacier, Soccath is a network of tunnels both natural and hewn that stretches all the way until the Demonic Era shales. In the shales are found strange fossils of long-extinct races: the Predecessors, who existed side-by-side with the Demons for thousands of years before the current races evolved. There are many theories on how the humanoid Predecessors were created, and how they could survive, but few archaeologists make their way to Soccath due to the heavy regulations placed on visitors.

Every visitor to Soccath must labor in its (largely depleted) Shimmer and salt mines for a year before they may retrieve fossils or even before they are allowed to depart, once they have partaken of common goods that are given to all on their arrival to Soccath. Once one joins the society, one is expected to contribute to it. For everything taken from the city, something of equal value must be returned. Soccath's strict rules have resulted in only the most determined of explorers (usually academics), traveling to Soccath.

Soccath's laws are overseen by every able-bodied resident, all of whom carry ice picks and hammers to hew their way through the rock and to tunnel through and ascend the glaciers to harvest Glimmersun berries that can only grow where the sun's albedo reflectiveness is at its greatest.

Adventure - Infiltrate Soccath and return with wondrous fossils of Predecessor races. The Predecessor races were mostly monstrous and frightening- demonic spawn. But some scientists believe that it is possible the current races all evolved from these frightening creatures.

Such a hypothesis is terrifying to capitalist Glorians say the least-- to believe that our ancestors came from such humble origins may be inspiring in a way, it is very disturbing to believe that our ancestors came from such a strange faery tale regarding the hideous demons.

The Faithful however, hold fast to the evolutionary hypotheses and are very interested in extracting preserved marrow and chippings from the bones through Shimmer-based resurrection processes, in order to better analyze and document what might be secreted within the archaeological history.

Creationists and Absolutists will oppose you should you go to recover the bones; and within the walls of Succoth, adventurers may be assaulted by many-headed monsters, and ghostly beasts. Or, you may be part of a strike force dedicated to eliminating the historical record. Or, you may be part of an entrepreneurial group, insistent on bringing capitalism to Succoth and fighting the native socialists in order to establish a beachhead for the eventual construction of a grand museum and resort![/ic]

Not letting this fall down just yet; I just need a moment to get something up!

I'll go ahead and chip in later. No reason to leave you hanging.

AS cities and towns are centers for play, I tend to center my detail work on them.
And while this does not make them new, I have a tendency to add and add and add content to a gaming center the longer it is in play.

Igbar, capital of Trabler has been in continous use as a center of play for over 25 years.  I keep adding data a little at a time.  It was added to the celtrician wiki years ago, and as that page got too big, we started linking other pages to it.
there are now linked pages for the economy, the politics, the guilds and factions, some of the neighborhoods...and some of those pages link to others, so I can say with some surety that Igbar has grown into the most detailed city in Celtricia.

Igbar, Capital of Trabler

Thank you for the contribution Vreeg!

It, to even a greater extent than the city of Gloria in Gloria, is a good example for members to peruse to see how someone handled the development of a large city that has multiple districts and that has considerations of law, justice, and taxation.

One thing I wonder about the most isn't the designing of cities themselves but how to best run them in-game.  Should a GM describe every alleyway and shop, every square and statue, or should they allow their players to "fast travel" from district to district unhindered?  Achieving a balance between detail and freedom is always central in my mind when actually constructing the virtual space of a city for an active campaign.

That is a very good issue to consider, Steerpike. I suppose that the optimal choice really depends on what story a GM is trying to tell.

More sandboxy games will tend toward higher description and the chance for serendipity.

More story-driven games will tend to blur the background and concentrate on "encounters."

I really wonder why this thread didn't see a bit more activity.

Quote from: SteerpikeOne thing I wonder about the most isn't the designing of cities themselves but how to best run them in-game.  Should a GM describe every alleyway and shop, every square and statue, or should they allow their players to "fast travel" from district to district unhindered?  Achieving a balance between detail and freedom is always central in my mind when actually constructing the virtual space of a city for an active campaign.

This frankly devolves backward, into the type of game one wants to play.
I have often tried to play real dungeon crawls, such as were popular in the days of my youth, and I always try to rush folks back into the adventure...
But it never works out that way.  I am always far too interested in why the characters are adventuring, and what they are using the funds for, and what they are getting out of it and how they leverage the waelth or prestige in town.

So the type of game ends up partially dictating the level of detail in the city that is played.  

Is anyone else going to be checking out the Vornheim city kit when it comes out?

Now that I know about it, I might have to.

I'll get to this tomorrow.  Didn't notice it was here until now, but it's late and I need sleep before I can articulate this stuff.

This thread deserves more attention.

[ooc]Of course all the cities look different, but the general thread of most of the large cities is a look that combines the Renaiassance period with the Industrial age.  Cottages and half-timbered houses are mixed in with factories and smoke, and all surrounding castles and cathedrals.

Farnesis here is just one example of a city.  It is not complete per se, but I hope it gives a feel about the city and its goings on.  I tend to design my cities around an image.  I don't lay out the entire city, but I do create a snapshot in my mind of what you would see from a street corner, for instance.  I tend not to put much in the way of rules into my city design.  Rules are for doing things.  Cities are places for people to do things.  [/ooc][ic=Avayevnon Sample]Farnesis (Large City)
Population 75,000 (35,000 Gnome, 25,000 Ithai, 10,000 Human, 4000 Effigy, 1000 Changeling)
Government: Ruled by the Issach from Issachar
Local Government: Guild Republic arbitrated by Exarch.
Imports: Spices, Crystals, Alchemical reagents
Exports: Fruit, Grains, Fish, Clockwork
Organizations:  Guild Council, The Guilds, The Academy, The Watch-Men
Personalities:  Exarch Thruel, Hardy the Dockmaster, The wizard Matric

The City of Farnesis rests atop a plateau overlooking the Azure Sea.  A steep, snaking path leads down the cliff face to the shore and the docks where ships from Crimnsea are moored.  Sailors load up their cargo onto the hydraulic lifts which move the bounty safely up the cliff for unloading in the city proper.  These visitors find everything here just slightly too small.  This is a city of gnomes and dwarves, built with some consideration of the bigger folk, but catering to the locals, few of whom rise to the five foot mark.  The market square greets them'"half-timbered buildings swamped by vendors hawking fish and fruit beneath their carts' brightly colored awnings patterned with stripes and chevrons.  It is still morning, so the clock tower in the east casts a long shadow over the square.  In the distance, smoke from the factories drifts up to mingle with the handful of airships hovering over the skyway.  

They have to duck to pass the threshold into the tavern.  Once inside, they are relieved to find they can stand up straight, but the space feels claustrophobic nonetheless, with their heads only a few inches from the ceiling.  A Dwarven lass stands behind the bar, measuring out a glass of Issacharian vintage before passing it to the tiny barmaid, a gnomish girl of around twenty.  A table is overturned, and an Ithai cavalier shouts obscenities besmirching the honor of his human companion's mother.  Rapiers are drawn, but the brass-wrought bouncer is all but on top of them already, holding them at arm's length.  Hoisting the dwarf by the collar of his tunic, the Effigy carries his flailing form to the door.  The Ithai shouts threats invoking his clan heritage up until he hits the cobblestone outside.  

Across town, the Exarch and the Council of Guilds debate whether a professor at the Academy should be tried for Treason for teaching the pagan heresies.  Some argue that as Soleism is the official religion of the Empire, to teach youths these heresies constitutes an attack on the church and the state.  Others counter that this is a slippery slope toward the banning of all practices of occultism, Anthropism, philosophy and the entire intellectual movement.  Some argue that to forbid the presentation of a viewpoint would be ungnomely, as it would deny the opportunity to increase knowledge.  They state the precedent of inquiry, making sure to remember the history of the Empire, and the Gambodel region above all, as proponents of the exploration of learning.  To convict this man would be to pave the way to closing the Imperial Society of Alchemists, the Ordo Goetia, and the Academia Oscura in Teckalia.  Artificers all over the city would be in danger of losing their jobs.  And if this happened what would become of the Effigies, who owe the artificers their existence?  In response one remarks that the people's faith is Sol is dangerously waning, and something must be done to curb the flow.  The Rebuttal comes that the Artificers played a crucial role in making the city what it is today, and that it might never have achieved a position of significance without them.  In fact the professor in question died years ago, but the council brings up the old case every now and then to use as practice honing their skills at rhetoric, since it was always one of their favorite topics to debate.

Adventure Hooks

*An Alchemist is in need of reagents not found within the city walls, so he looks for a group of mercenaries or adventurers who can get it for him.
*The loggers have come under attack by mysterious 'spirits of the forest.'  Investigate and resolve the threat.
*Mutated rats and vermin stream out of the storm drains

[/ic]

Nice work, SH, love the mundane logger's threat