The Campaign Builder's Guild

Hey CBG'ers.

I have read threads on the WOTC boards called "Build a city". Where several posters work together to build a city by taking turns describing what happens in a 1, 2 or 3 month span. It was very popular at the WOTC boards.
Is this something you have already heard of or simply tried already?

If people are willing I would love to get one such thread running and see where it leads. This might even be a good opportunity for the "alliance" to create something together.

(I would give some more information, but dinner is ready and I have to run. "I'll be back".)

Sounds like fun, please elaborate!

Okay, I blatantly stole this from another post on the WOTC board.

QuoteThe Build a City (BaC) is a joint venture between posters and gamers at a board such as this with the purpose of creating a completely new city for everyone's free use, complete with all the background, history and stats and secrets needed to DM adventures in it.

From what I have seen so far, it looks very fun and gives a great living city.
The following link is to the first "Build a City Thread" on WOTC's forum. http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?p=12239430
All the chronicles for each year is linked in post number 9, if you wish to read them.

Okay, this is the process in a nutshell.
After geography and other facts has been agreed upon, a prelude is given to set the stage. After that, people take turns describing what happens during one or several months in the hamlet/village/city - this is call a chronicle. You can also make a journal entry, which is basically the thoughts of one or a group of villagers in the city, but which does not carry the city forward. It's layout can be like that of a journal page or simply just a description of the thoughts of an individual, in case you want to give something or someone more depth.

There are a few rules, but nothing big. Those are only in place to make sure that someone suddenly posts something that screws the entire city (and the other posters) over - such as artifacts, undead invasions or the like. If these things has been agreed upon, that is fine then.

A short example for a chronicle with a hamlet called Oakhurst might look like this:
Year 1, Month 3
Two trappers decide to settle down in the outskirts of Oakhurst.
A young missionary, Brother Atil, also arrives and begins preaching about Obad-Hai to the villagers.
Old Egna's house catches fire and all the villagers help putting it out. Not much progress is made until the newly arrived Brother Atil comes running, casting "create water" on the flames.

Oh, ok, I see. This could be very fun! ^_^

I wouldn't mind doing a city that resembles the placement of Vladivostok

Sounds fine for me (though a fantasy city I suppose?), but we can discuss the specifics if enough people are interested.

Any specific reason you want it to be there?

I just like the idea of a city bing this far off wonderland that no one's heard of, lol. We don't have to place it in a place like Vladivostok, that was just the first thing to come to mind. :)

I would prefer a Fantasy setting, real life stuff is so common, I lead a 'real life' after all. Maybe a Wide Magic type city, rather than a High or Low Magic city. But anything will be fine, lol.

Might want to establish eventual parameters or some outside data, such as racial makeup, involvement of other cultures, game rules (or not), only from a big picture standpoint, but enough so no one gets out of control and ruins it for the rest of the group.  
(Perhaps since I am skill-based and classless, i am a little more sensitive to this)

Yes, I admitted I have no class.  I might as well say it before someone else does.

Racial makeup would be determined through the posts. The city would be built from the ground up, starting out as a hamlet and growing bigger.

It is actually a very fun way to build a city - one which I have thought about doing myself for the cities in my world.

I am aware that everyone has their own world/campaign setting which might make it hard to decide culture, which races exist and even classes.
That is the first thing that should be taken up for discussion. I think either deciding on a setting or simply running with standard D&D rules would be easiest. People wanting to use the city in their own setting would then be able to change names of races and classes if needed.

This sounds good. Standard DnD rules... or we could do Wonders. :P

Sounds like loads of fun to me.  I'm more than willing to play if we get enough people.  Regular D&D sounds solid enough to me.

Yeah, standard D&D is fine with me :)

Glad to hear people are interested!

Before we get started, lets get some of the facts decided upon.

1) Ruleset/setting. This can be a campaign setting on this board, regular D&D or something else. But let's keep it to something that we all can relate to.

2) Geography (this might influence import/export). What should be the dominant terrain in this area and which other types of terrain would be nearby (this is not something that needs to be decided right away, but it might be nice if we are all on the same page in regards to which general terrain the city is built on. This might also affect #3).

3) Why a city? This can happen for many reasons. It might be a place many travelers go through and someone chooses to set up an inn, or it might be "commissioned" by the king. It could also be near a mountain, if a valuable resource has been found there.
On the WOTC boards, a fighter emptied a keep of orcs and settle down in the keep.


My suggestions are:
1) Standard D&D, core rulebooks only (3.5 edition).

2) Plains, but lets keep some woods and possibly mountains nearby.

3) No suggestions yet. I would like to see what you can conjure up.


I'll follow (and join in on) the discussion for a few days so everyone can have their see and see what we decide.
Then I'll make a new thread with the few rules we have to adhere to and a prelude to get us rolling.
Enjoy! :D

1) Standard D&D, core rulebooks only (3.5 edition).

2) I was thinking on the water with woods nearby  

3) Maybe it's an easy spot to land when going to a large city further inland.  Or, maybe it was a thieves camp that turned into a small town when somebody built a tavern (or other building).

In regards to your #2:
On the water, or nearby it? If you mean on, I would like some more details as to how etc :)