At last - recognition! Now, come on, son-of-Prof, how can your father, who wears so much beige, stink? I don't think you've thought this through properly.
Well done, once again. I've had a lot of trouble explaining to newer players that, unless you are in a large port city and/or capitol, the locals are going to be suspicious of you because you didn't grow up here. Combine that with being 'adventurers' (read, trouble follows you) and are some odd-ball race and folk give you the cold shoulder pretty quickly. A comment regarding Sumptuary laws....if a PC/NPC can afford a 10gp hat and a 100gp embroidered tunic, the 2-3sp 'fine' is a pittance to show exactly how wealthy you really are. This is grounded in late-medieval Europe, where the sumptuary laws were flouted with abandon, as it says not only can I afford an ostrich plume, I can afford the fine to wear it every day.
Frances and Joseph Gies have written several books on medieval history, and culture. One item which stands out, in their works, for D&D games, is the Merchants' Fairs: basically wholesaler's bring their mass of goods to cities in a Fair, once per year, to sell them to customers, and retailers. The Fairs travel around the continent, moving goods. They were a huge festival! I put them in my game world, at fixed times, in various locations. PC's plan to visit these cities, during the Fair, because it is full of adventure! The Fairs are a month-long party... It usually takes the city several months to recover from the Fair: narcotic, highly addictive, wines are sold/traded, and drunk. The churches make bank healing/curing. There are jousting/fighting tournaments, for prizes (money, armor, horses, weapons, etc.). Thieves, and prostitutes, make bank, plying the exuberant crowds. They are a wild time, but they only last one month, per location. Then the Fair vendors, and others, move onto the next location, to do it all over again. The cities welcome it because it brings in huge amounts of cash in taxes, fees, and punishments for those caught doing naughty 's. The churches love it because they charge for healings and curing of diseases, and addictions; they also make converts because of their efforts. It is chaotic, exciting, adventurous, and fun! It is relatively easy for the DM to come up with interesting, challenging, adventure ideas to seed into a Merchant Fair. There are sooo many possibilities... It will also suck the PC's into the life of the city. Cheers!
Professor, you have been a huge inspiration for me to return to D&D. I haven’t played since the 90’s, and I’m now getting ready to start an epic campaign online. You are a rock star! Keep the great advice coming.
I was in the same boat 6 years ago when I got back into the game. Professor DM has been a great resource. I’ve watched all of them (I think) he gives great advice on all levels.
Invincible Overlord was an excellent campaign setting. I played back Advanced D&D (called 1e but at least the third set of rules published). Its been awhile but the charts and detail really made the city a thing of itself.
Thought; a great reward for early players would be getting citizen ship to a city. Maybe without it they pay higher taxes/can't go everywhere. But earning it by helping someone out would be a great hook to open up the space and get them invested in it.
Watch a few BBC show on Life in Medieval London. New comers get the chance to shovel horse and other animal crap off the streets into carts and dig out drainage ditches for ten months. If you can do the time you gain citizenship and get paid three years worth of income. After wards you can live cheap and kick up your feet for two years or work to make more of a better life for yourself. Most new comers if they could do the time, with nearly a 70% drop out rate, bought a permit to train at one of the many trade craft guilds.
You should make the player-characters arrive in whichever district you feel like making them arrive in. They don't want to sit around for forty-five minutes watching you build a random city with your dice.
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 LOL. A few weeks ago I drew a funny cartoon of people having funny mishaps because they met a friend of theirs who was doing urban adventure. Real life is more than enough adventure for me thanks.
“Thieves World” by Chaosium is also a great resource for city adventures. Based on the Tales from the Vulgar Unicorn books by Lynn Abbey and Robert Asprin. It was also multi-system so you could use it with D&D, RuneQuest, Tunnels and Trolls, and even Traveller!
Very informative! Thanks. The innkeeper telling the authorities on the shifty rogue with a grappling hook sounds like a great start to an adventure. I always loved when players did that sort of thing.
Thanks for the advice, I am starting a city adventure for my players. All of them a still very new so I want to have many different types of action. I needed some guidance on how to populate the city.
I like running city and village adventures. I try to emulate video game RPGs - basically, walk around and gather clues from quirky townspeople, buy or barter for supplies, find hidden goodies, maybe have a confrontation or two. To keep players on the ball, I apply ICRPG-style timers. When the timer goes off, they notice that they're missing supplies (pickpocketed? accidentally dropped it and won't find it again?), or a gang confronts them for a fight, or something bad that might happen in a city or in a village of strangers. I like to keep it nicely structured, so it's one move + one action in a building and/or with an NPC in an "hour" turn time in the game, and the players go one at a time. The action can be talk/search area/mend/shop etc. That's where I use neat things like bird's eye view town maps. Most buildings are considered locked up and "unplayable," so the players focus on node-hopping their mini-figures from one important building or map feature to another. Wherever they land, they can "search" and sometimes they'll find a narrow alley (not marked on the map, because I like to keep maps kind of vague) leading to something interesting or useful. It's as much fun as combat. If a fight breaks out, I lay down cardstock drawings of buildings and features of the fight area on UDT so that the background can be utilized. I'm pleased with how smoothly it works. I play with my wife and kids, and they get a kick out of it.
Thanks for the thoughtful reply. I do the same with my UDT. Some people want Ultimate City terrain but I don't know what to do with it, other than to draw cobblestones. Cheers!
What the hell, professor... I have been seeking UA-cam help and advice for a good decade to be a better DM and player and today is the first time I have ever seen your channel mentioned anywhere. Finally, pure substance. THANK YOU.
I've never before imagined such depth in City Adventures... I will never look at them the same way again. This video will be a massive help. Although, I now find myself conditioned to *always* look at a City's roads and streets, to see if they are paved or muddy... it's an OCD thing.
If anyone is looking for a good resource on cities in D&D, get The City of Greyhawk from DriveThruRPG. It's designed for the Greyhawk setting, but it can easily be used in just about any medieval fantasy D&D campaign, or you can use it as a blueprint for creating your own fantasy metropolis in D&D. It has a much greater deal of verisimilitude to it, and is more believable and logical than the later Forgotten Realms based city supplements Wizards have released, while still containing a great deal of character, factions, and possibilities for plot hooks. Greyhawk was the first major city in D&D history, and the City of Greyhawk boxed set was its first official release, as well as the first full fledged official D&D boxed set centered on a single location. Its contents have aged remarkably well, and it is, in my opinion, the best city supplement ever created for any TTRPG. It's available on DriveThruRPG as a PDF and a print-on-demand book (they condense all the contents into a single tome), and I'd advise getting the PDF+POD bundle so you can print out any maps and sheets/handouts it contains.
I had a player who hated the fact his character would require not to wear plate armor in a city location. I compromised by letting him convince and pay a leather smith and a blacksmith to construct a chainmail shirt that hid the chainmail links. It was heavy and didn't rattle as loudly. So if he needed to sneak around, he would roll a d20 and then roll a d4 to subtract to it. I felt like disadvantage was too severe of a penalty. Turns out, the player really liked it and essentially developed his character to a tailor but for practicality.
Brilliant. One of your top videos ever. Love the quick random city generator especially. As I've often told aspiring DMs, you don't have to map the ENTIRE city and every shop! Just some of the more important locations. "Is this a talking mission, or a killing mission?" :D
Man I so often disagree with the choices and opinions you promote, but I still watch every video because it is massively thought-provoking. Not this time though, this was just flat out great input and an awesome summary of city building. Thanks a lot!!
When rats had easier access due to construction methods (bubonic plague), or sewage seeps into the fresh water (cholera), city dwelling in ancient times wasn't necessarily safe, either.
@@DM_Chromie What does that even mean? Throughout most of history what you would define as a “white person” was a very small minority of the population.
@@mattm4557 Huh? Western world “Whites” populated their own cities for millenia. What you’re referring to is a recent development particularly since 1965 Anno Domini (year of the U.S. Immigration Act which literally opened the U.S. to mass immigration from non-white nations). This “open border” leftist doctrine has since afflicted all remaining Western/European nations. Western and European nations were literally homogenous people and this was for millenia. Isn’t TRUE history grand? Our academia can no longer be trusted.
@@inhocsignovinces1419 I never said “whites” didn’t have their own cities. Only that throughout history what people define as “white” wasn’t this dominant oppressive force across the world. CRT, Post-modernist thinking and revisionist history has crippled an entire generation at this point.
Great video! I am going to check out your city builder system. Seems much easier. I have used ProFantasy software for almost 20 years now and the City Designer has a random building builder. You just draw a road and it populates buildings on either side of it. Then I go back and fill in details based on the map drawn. However I have had to make up city layouts on the fly and this system seems like a big help. Thank you!
Again, it's a consistently great video. Love the historical context. I limited the no weapons and armor to nothing above light armor and no heavy weapons.
If magic is an abudant ressource in a campaign, it should be a game changer for cities. In my campaign, there is about one magic user per 300 to 400 residents in a city as a rule of thumb. Resident mages are regulated into guilds, and the mage guild has to provide public service to the city. They are pretty efficient to stop fires from spreading, for example.
Loved the mention of the invincible orverlord... I’ve used that one a lot. Also the “Sanctuary” boxed set is awesome... nothing like having the party navigate the “maze” or swap rumors with Hanse (Shadowspawn). Enjoy the channel! Keep up the good tips and tools!
Dungeon Craft start with “Thieve’s World”. Read the forward to get a feel of how the anthology came together... Your take on corruption and magic is exemplified by the “Enos Yorl” character. Enjoy!
I can recommend Life in a Medieval City as well... plus there are two others... Life in a Medieval Village and Life in a Medieval Castle... Highly recommended.
I think when you're talking about cities in fantasy RPGs you can't forget to mention Tekumel. I've only played in it a bit, but every city has its own character, and you're expected to stay with members of your clan (or priesthood, if you're a priest), and your actions reflect on that organization. So behaving in a way that's counter to your clan can see you exiled, and without a place to stay (there really aren't inns or public houses).
So much cool info! One of the things I like about RPGs in general is that you get the chance to enrich your historical knowledge, and put it to use in a creative way. Thank you for the great content 😎
Regarding Fritz Leiber's Lankhmar, I always thought that Lankhmar reminded me of New York. It was a port city, surrounded by swamplands (Brooklyn, Queens and The Meadowlands are swampy), Lankhmar was connected to the mainland by a causeway that was usually underwater except during low tide so that mimics the heavy traffic that blocks the various bridges to and from the city except during the off hours. NYC, has so many people and districts it is easy to lose yourself and hide. Just my 2cp.
In my opinion, Fafhrd & Grey Mouser are must reading for for the D&D player. So many ideas in their stories. I actually like reading fantasy more than playing D&D....esp. Appendix N fantasy,.
as GM, I put in the time to create a list of people and businesses for Neverwinter. then I made separate spiral notebooks ( one per player) listing various npcs that their characters knew. the players all hail from this city and have lived there for several decades (elves and dwarves). these are not random npc's. they are the baker or blacksmith or candlemaker. people the character would see either daily or weekly and would know. this means the character is a part of the town and things that happen are important. again, it takes some effort to set this up, but it allows the players and GM to make the town/city a living experience!
Great video! 👍 Another resource I would recommend is The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England by Ian Mortimer. It's a very well written snapshot of life in the 14th century, and gives great flavour to any low fantasy RPG. Incidentally it also contains a list of the top 30 most populated cities in England in 1377. With the exception of London (est, 40,000) none has a population larger than about 10,000. It always makes me chuckle when I see D&D backwater towns with populations much larger than this 😀
Fun video! City adventures can require thoughts about infrastructure, classes, order, and how the city maintains a way of life rather than just being a place for adventurers to run rampant
So helpful and objective. Thank you for these precious tips and for the quick format in which you deliver them. You've made the best channel for busy DMs.
Fantastic 👏 👏! Your quick city generator sounds like a convenient resource tool which I will have to try. Keep the campaign building videos coming they are super helpful. Thanks for the 📚 recommendations!
Enjoyed this a lot. Love hearing how it really was back in the medieval days. The more you think about it, not much has really changed. Great job using Chris DeSilva's build. Huge thumbs up there. Now THAT is a great city build. Cheers!!
Good video for creating cities. I was hoping for more information on urban plot hooks, stories, and creatures however. I run games in a pre-built setting so the cities are already ready. Maybe you could do a video on urban encounters?
The Cities of Harn offer excellent medieval cities supplements (by Columbia Games). A series of 7 supplements: City of Aleath, City of Cherafir, City of Coranan, City of Golotha, City of Shiran, ity of Tashal, and City of Thay. They contain history, economy, government, military, religion, maps and many locations.
This was helpful, even though I’ll be running a Cyberpunk game for new players, elements can still be used. Gonna start them off in an East coast city for a bit so they get their feet wet. The city building generator will come in handy.
Wait until you see the follow-up. It’s a random city adventure generator. It’s the best thing I’ve ever done. Look for it in June. Probably May on Patreon. Cheers!
This is a stellar crash course that i got a lot from. will incorporate a lot of this into my campaign. i didn't realize till i was half way through that i needed to be taking notes!
this video came in the nick of time. I am currently running a caster only game where the pcs are building a cabal and it is based in one of the biggest cities in the game world. thanks professor dm
do you believe stories about villages being destroyed? I haven't seen the monster myself. When I was in Muckley the other day-- Muckley? That's a ways. Two miles or more, easy. Gosh, I'd like to travel someday.
Years ago I ran an entire fantasy campaign in a major city. It was a cyberpunk game converted to fantasy. The levels of the city above & below ground were dungeon levels.
You'll see less of it because DungeonCraft is taped in an attic where the temperature is 100 degrees in the summertime. It will return in the fall. Cheers!
I mentioned that in the extended version on Patreon. In a greedy play for cash, GW split Power into two books. Warhammer City is the lesser of the two, IMO. It’s got a great map of Middenheim, but it’s so slim, it isn’t worth the money to me.
Great video professor, this was very insightful, I learned a few thing I never got in any other sources about settlement creation, specially how you can't enter wearing armor, very educational. Question, if they can't enter wearing armor, would they be allowed entry after stripping it?, And do they keep their armor or must they handle over until they leave? That's my remaining doubt.
They would probably allowed to keep it, just warned to keep it off and their innkeeper would keep an eye on them. In the event of an attack, they would be expected to put it on and defend the city.
Very well done, sir. Excellent video, as always. This was more enlightening than I expected and not for lack of expectations. Caveats well into your other videos, as well.
I did the "Demon's Skull" last week. It's set in a city. I'll do another similar city adventure in the fall. This one will be political intrigue. Stay tuned!
other than your actual crafting videos where you build terrain, i've watched most of your videos now.... I buy warlock tiles and am happy to support my local game store that provides me with people to play the game with
I had lots of fun putting my party of young fighty types in the big city and having them do some undercover missions after arriving and winning the annual tournament. It’s really hard to stay hidden and stealthy wearing the Royal coat of arms on your armour that 3000 people saw you win. It’s nice to give them that local recognition but it remains important for them to get those reality checks … young men in plate mail should stick out in the crowd even if they don’t have to surrender it!
Thank you, I dont know how many campaigns I've played in with land locked capital cities, with no water ways... I much prefer the idea of the Greek polis (dont know that i spelled that right) with all the outer countryside wild lands filled with bandits and monsters.
My party was lucky because my character is the heir and princess to Neverwinter. Upon entering the city my character was immediately recognized by the guards and civilians. As such, the party (3 vampires at the time) was welcomed with open arms and allowed to stay at Castle Never as honored guests. One of the vampires was Alexander Von Roeyen (second brother of Strahd Von Zarovich and forgotten prince of Barovia) was welcomed into the castle to have an audience with the queen. He played up his noble status while the other two vampires tried to act respectful and follow my lead. As the princess of Neverwinter I granted them protection and shelter while in the city. I wonder what our dm will have planned next for us while in Neverwinter.
I don't think that would work because it would be too much like Seth Skorkowsky's NPC. Instead, I think we should start sending PDM big D20s so we can watch his collection of them grow on that shelf behind him. Besides, DMs and D20s go together like fish and chips, hotdogs and mustard, and beer and chicken wings.
2:30 Cities don't ALWAYS have walls, just usually. If the city is located somewhere considered reasonably safe from major outside threats then walls would be seen as just an unnecessary expense. Many cities during times of plenty and safety outgrew their walls and even took down sections to enable better traffic and open up space for commerce, rendering them largely ineffective in the process and little more than relics of a more dangerous time. Then there's cultural reasons, Sparta famously had no walls, any society that puts a great deal of emphasis on its military prowess and dominance may forgo walls as an act of propaganda.
similar comments can be said about rivers... there are cities without a river. Obviously every city needs a sufficient supply of fresh water, but that source does not have to be a river. Mexico City, for example, was founded on an island in a freshwater lake. As for the concern of how to move cargo... roads are still a thing. Yes, rivers are better than roads but you don't NEED them to move people & goods. And if a city is on a coast of some kind, it doesn't need a river at all. Most striking is probably Atlanta, Georgia... which is near NO navigable bodies of water. It instead grew as a crossroads for trains & airplanes (cue Eberron style alternate magi-tech forms of transport). And then there are a whole host of cities built NEAR BUT NOT ON RIVERS... eg Milan, or Timbuktu. There are also reasons for a city developing beyond being a natural crossroads... eg. look up Butte Montana. It's success was entirely due to being a copper mining boom town. Johannesburg South Africa is similar... and not being anywhere reasonably near a river or coastline to boot. Basically, there are options... not every city needs to have a waterfront, especially specifically a river waterfront. You need to come up with a believable water supply & reason for the city to exist, but neither of those 2 have to involve a river. Eg: a city on an mountain island in a area with very heavy precipitation.... the city acts as a maritime trading hub, and gets it's water purely from runoff from the mountain. Or a desert city build on an oasis, fed by a massive underground lake, and near a rich supply of gold ore.
In a feudal system, all citizens of the city owe their fealty to the lord or noble who is in charge of the city. Commoners and tradesmen may be one step up from serfs, expected to commit a portion of their time and labor to tasks that that lord assigns to them, while nobles living within the city would be expected to pay tribute in gold or other valuables on a yearly basis. This is how "taxes" typically worked in medieval times, where labor was readily available, but gold was not.
Hell's Kitchen: sounds like a great place for a D&D campaign, don't it? Would have to resist the temptation however of creeping into 19th C fashions; having rival thieves guilds fighting it out in the streets with cleavers and hatchets; and describing NPCs wearing tall cylindrical brimmed hats and handlebar moustaches.
How would you handle the situation where the party got captured by mercenaries as per your random charts from the Bone Road? Seems like a crazy change in the campaign story most DM's wouldn't know how to handle. Should I set up an escape? Should they be forced into the front lines of a war? Maybe they can rise up the ranks of this new organization. I'm curious to know how you would handle that!!
Wait, if your cities are so law-enforcement-driven, with such drastic punishments dealt out for (arguably) minor crimes, how does your NPC named "Scratch" survive when he is so obviously an agent of evil? Wouldn't the local authority immediately seize and interrogate him for information on the underworld and then use him to get to the criminals? [Your city setting is so intriguing to me that I immediately want to dive in and find out things like this. Proof of good design. Well done.]
Great video PDM. Very useful. Love your city generator. Also enjoyed the reading list. I do have a request when you are feeling a little light on content or ideas for a video. Could you go over some good ways to build a West Marches style campaign from the ground up? I’d love to hear your take on it especially since your style meshes with my own very well. Thanks again for your hard work and the consistent videos each week. I look forward to them. Take care and stay healthy.
Dungeon Craft no it is a type of campaign allowing a pool of players to play, but not at regular times or even with a typical party of characters all within the same campaign world and with the same dungeon master with an emphasis on exploration. Yes Matt Coleville talks about running one but has not as far as I know. The original idea came from a guy named Ben Robbins. Here is a better description on what defines it arsludi.lamemage.com/index.php/78/grand-experiments-west-marches/
At last - recognition! Now, come on, son-of-Prof, how can your father, who wears so much beige, stink? I don't think you've thought this through properly.
Lindybeige I’m going to show him this.
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 Best of luck!
@@lindybeige Two of my favorite pundits on the same page... this is a good day. :)
No one expects the Lindybeige!
lindy! love your vids man!
Well done, once again. I've had a lot of trouble explaining to newer players that, unless you are in a large port city and/or capitol, the locals are going to be suspicious of you because you didn't grow up here. Combine that with being 'adventurers' (read, trouble follows you) and are some odd-ball race and folk give you the cold shoulder pretty quickly.
A comment regarding Sumptuary laws....if a PC/NPC can afford a 10gp hat and a 100gp embroidered tunic, the 2-3sp 'fine' is a pittance to show exactly how wealthy you really are. This is grounded in late-medieval Europe, where the sumptuary laws were flouted with abandon, as it says not only can I afford an ostrich plume, I can afford the fine to wear it every day.
Happens in CA today, with annual smog check & registration fees .... It's cheaper to pay the fine jtgan register a fancy car!
Fahfrd and the Grey Mouser is great stuff 8>D And City-State is one of my fave JG contibutions ever! Helped a great deal during my early years
Frances and Joseph Gies have written several books on medieval history, and culture. One item which stands out, in their works, for D&D games, is the Merchants' Fairs: basically wholesaler's bring their mass of goods to cities in a Fair, once per year, to sell them to customers, and retailers. The Fairs travel around the continent, moving goods. They were a huge festival! I put them in my game world, at fixed times, in various locations. PC's plan to visit these cities, during the Fair, because it is full of adventure!
The Fairs are a month-long party... It usually takes the city several months to recover from the Fair: narcotic, highly addictive, wines are sold/traded, and drunk. The churches make bank healing/curing. There are jousting/fighting tournaments, for prizes (money, armor, horses, weapons, etc.). Thieves, and prostitutes, make bank, plying the exuberant crowds. They are a wild time, but they only last one month, per location. Then the Fair vendors, and others, move onto the next location, to do it all over again. The cities welcome it because it brings in huge amounts of cash in taxes, fees, and punishments for those caught doing naughty 's. The churches love it because they charge for healings and curing of diseases, and addictions; they also make converts because of their efforts. It is chaotic, exciting, adventurous, and fun!
It is relatively easy for the DM to come up with interesting, challenging, adventure ideas to seed into a Merchant Fair. There are sooo many possibilities... It will also suck the PC's into the life of the city. Cheers!
Bruce Laue I do this as well!
Great idea
Agree very good series of books they wrote and a must-have for the shelves
Seeing your older videos coming up is way cool
That IS a good video. Check out my latest: ua-cam.com/video/bLAsnpNP4zw/v-deo.html
Professor, you have been a huge inspiration for me to return to D&D. I haven’t played since the 90’s, and I’m now getting ready to start an epic campaign online. You are a rock star! Keep the great advice coming.
Thanks. Keep posting. Rock stars have more views. If I were a rock star I think I'd be Lou Reed: low record sales but other rock stars dig him.
I was in the same boat 6 years ago when I got back into the game. Professor DM has been a great resource. I’ve watched all of them (I think) he gives great advice on all levels.
Invincible Overlord was an excellent campaign setting. I played back Advanced D&D (called 1e but at least the third set of rules published). Its been awhile but the charts and detail really made the city a thing of itself.
Gotta check it out. Thanks for the comment!
Thought; a great reward for early players would be getting citizen ship to a city. Maybe without it they pay higher taxes/can't go everywhere. But earning it by helping someone out would be a great hook to open up the space and get them invested in it.
Watch a few BBC show on Life in Medieval London.
New comers get the chance to shovel horse and other animal crap off the streets into carts and dig out drainage ditches for ten months. If you can do the time you gain citizenship and get paid three years worth of income. After wards you can live cheap and kick up your feet for two years or work to make more of a better life for yourself.
Most new comers if they could do the time, with nearly a 70% drop out rate, bought a permit to train at one of the many trade craft guilds.
YES!
Professor DM is the best!
Thanks!
This is not hyperbole
You should make the player-characters arrive in whichever district you feel like making them arrive in. They don't want to sit around for forty-five minutes watching you build a random city with your dice.
I hear you. For more urban adventure, check out this video: ua-cam.com/video/95zr1mmx4vM/v-deo.html
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 LOL. A few weeks ago I drew a funny cartoon of people having funny mishaps because they met a friend of theirs who was doing urban adventure. Real life is more than enough adventure for me thanks.
“Thieves World” by Chaosium is also a great resource for city adventures. Based on the Tales from the Vulgar Unicorn
books by Lynn Abbey and Robert Asprin.
It was also multi-system so you could use it with D&D, RuneQuest, Tunnels and Trolls, and even Traveller!
Loved those books!
Very informative! Thanks. The innkeeper telling the authorities on the shifty rogue with a grappling hook sounds like a great start to an adventure. I always loved when players did that sort of thing.
Thanks, Art. May all your rolls be 20s!
It's nice to see the d12 getting some love.
Tom Kerruish I use it as the bonus damage for a natural 20 as well. Great die!
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1
Ah, some Runehammer ICRPG flavor, nice.
true. from a purely mathematic and fractional angle, d12 is great. can be divided into fourths or thirds or halves.
@@midshipman8654 this is why I use d12 for the mirror image spell
City States of the Invincible Overlords got that 80s Metal song title feel to it.
The text also has a metal feel to it.
Yep.
Lol
Our Lady of Perpetual Vengeance. I LOVE it!! There will be one of these in every city going forward.
This is a gold mine of info
Thanks for the advice, I am starting a city adventure for my players. All of them a still very new so I want to have many different types of action. I needed some guidance on how to populate the city.
I like running city and village adventures. I try to emulate video game RPGs - basically, walk around and gather clues from quirky townspeople, buy or barter for supplies, find hidden goodies, maybe have a confrontation or two. To keep players on the ball, I apply ICRPG-style timers. When the timer goes off, they notice that they're missing supplies (pickpocketed? accidentally dropped it and won't find it again?), or a gang confronts them for a fight, or something bad that might happen in a city or in a village of strangers. I like to keep it nicely structured, so it's one move + one action in a building and/or with an NPC in an "hour" turn time in the game, and the players go one at a time. The action can be talk/search area/mend/shop etc. That's where I use neat things like bird's eye view town maps. Most buildings are considered locked up and "unplayable," so the players focus on node-hopping their mini-figures from one important building or map feature to another. Wherever they land, they can "search" and sometimes they'll find a narrow alley (not marked on the map, because I like to keep maps kind of vague) leading to something interesting or useful. It's as much fun as combat. If a fight breaks out, I lay down cardstock drawings of buildings and features of the fight area on UDT so that the background can be utilized. I'm pleased with how smoothly it works. I play with my wife and kids, and they get a kick out of it.
Thanks for the thoughtful reply. I do the same with my UDT. Some people want Ultimate City terrain but I don't know what to do with it, other than to draw cobblestones. Cheers!
What the hell, professor... I have been seeking UA-cam help and advice for a good decade to be a better DM and player and today is the first time I have ever seen your channel mentioned anywhere. Finally, pure substance. THANK YOU.
Thanks, Christopher. The GOOD news is I have 130+ videos. Some of them are even good. Enjoy!
I've never before imagined such depth in City Adventures... I will never look at them the same way again. This video will be a massive help. Although, I now find myself conditioned to *always* look at a City's roads and streets, to see if they are paved or muddy... it's an OCD thing.
If anyone is looking for a good resource on cities in D&D, get The City of Greyhawk from DriveThruRPG. It's designed for the Greyhawk setting, but it can easily be used in just about any medieval fantasy D&D campaign, or you can use it as a blueprint for creating your own fantasy metropolis in D&D. It has a much greater deal of verisimilitude to it, and is more believable and logical than the later Forgotten Realms based city supplements Wizards have released, while still containing a great deal of character, factions, and possibilities for plot hooks. Greyhawk was the first major city in D&D history, and the City of Greyhawk boxed set was its first official release, as well as the first full fledged official D&D boxed set centered on a single location. Its contents have aged remarkably well, and it is, in my opinion, the best city supplement ever created for any TTRPG. It's available on DriveThruRPG as a PDF and a print-on-demand book (they condense all the contents into a single tome), and I'd advise getting the PDF+POD bundle so you can print out any maps and sheets/handouts it contains.
finally, some good old school dm advice. i started with a Dm like you and it's been my personal favourite ever since
Thanks, Bob!
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 SEMPI NOTICED ME!
I had a player who hated the fact his character would require not to wear plate armor in a city location.
I compromised by letting him convince and pay a leather smith and a blacksmith to construct a chainmail shirt that hid the chainmail links. It was heavy and didn't rattle as loudly.
So if he needed to sneak around, he would roll a d20 and then roll a d4 to subtract to it. I felt like disadvantage was too severe of a penalty.
Turns out, the player really liked it and essentially developed his character to a tailor but for practicality.
Brilliant. One of your top videos ever. Love the quick random city generator especially. As I've often told aspiring DMs, you don't have to map the ENTIRE city and every shop! Just some of the more important locations. "Is this a talking mission, or a killing mission?" :D
Man I so often disagree with the choices and opinions you promote, but I still watch every video because it is massively thought-provoking.
Not this time though, this was just flat out great input and an awesome summary of city building. Thanks a lot!!
Ancient times: let’s move to the city for safety
Modern times: let’s move out of city for safety
When rats had easier access due to construction methods (bubonic plague), or sewage seeps into the fresh water (cholera), city dwelling in ancient times wasn't necessarily safe, either.
In any era; "safety" is a relative and subjective term.
@@DM_Chromie What does that even mean? Throughout most of history what you would define as a “white person” was a very small minority of the population.
@@mattm4557 Huh? Western world “Whites” populated their own cities for millenia. What you’re referring to is a recent development particularly since 1965 Anno Domini (year of the U.S. Immigration Act which literally opened the U.S. to mass immigration from non-white nations). This “open border” leftist doctrine has since afflicted all remaining Western/European nations. Western and European nations were literally homogenous people and this was for millenia. Isn’t TRUE history grand? Our academia can no longer be trusted.
@@inhocsignovinces1419 I never said “whites” didn’t have their own cities. Only that throughout history what people define as “white” wasn’t this dominant oppressive force across the world. CRT, Post-modernist thinking and revisionist history has crippled an entire generation at this point.
Great video! I am going to check out your city builder system. Seems much easier. I have used ProFantasy software for almost 20 years now and the City Designer has a random building builder. You just draw a road and it populates buildings on either side of it. Then I go back and fill in details based on the map drawn. However I have had to make up city layouts on the fly and this system seems like a big help. Thank you!
Let me know how it works out!
"LINDYBEIGE!" - seriously though love both you guys - learn something every time. thanks for all the work you put in to make these videos
Inspiration Forge Who DOESN’T love Lindybeige? Great channel.
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 yours is also a great channel just recommended it again today this time to my son who is really the big D&D guy in our house
Professor. I just realized you have Dril-bu and Dorje casually lying there on a table :). Now it all suddenly make sense!
Again, it's a consistently great video. Love the historical context. I limited the no weapons and armor to nothing above light armor and no heavy weapons.
1:53 warrhammer poster. haven't seen that since 1991. LOVE IT!!
If magic is an abudant ressource in a campaign, it should be a game changer for cities.
In my campaign, there is about one magic user per 300 to 400 residents in a city as a rule of thumb. Resident mages are regulated into guilds, and the mage guild has to provide public service to the city.
They are pretty efficient to stop fires from spreading, for example.
Loved the mention of the invincible orverlord... I’ve used that one a lot. Also the “Sanctuary” boxed set is awesome... nothing like having the party navigate the “maze” or swap rumors with Hanse (Shadowspawn). Enjoy the channel! Keep up the good tips and tools!
I have to read that.
Dungeon Craft start with “Thieve’s World”. Read the forward to get a feel of how the anthology came together... Your take on corruption and magic is exemplified by the “Enos Yorl” character. Enjoy!
I Love ALL Dungeon Craft videos! Especially his back catalog.
One of the best episodes yet! I would love to see a part 2 of this video, focused on adventures in cities.
Rapidly becoming my go to place for GM advice.
I can recommend Life in a Medieval City as well... plus there are two others... Life in a Medieval Village and Life in a Medieval Castle... Highly recommended.
Absolutely! Great call.
I think when you're talking about cities in fantasy RPGs you can't forget to mention Tekumel. I've only played in it a bit, but every city has its own character, and you're expected to stay with members of your clan (or priesthood, if you're a priest), and your actions reflect on that organization. So behaving in a way that's counter to your clan can see you exiled, and without a place to stay (there really aren't inns or public houses).
EOTPT represent!
So much cool info! One of the things I like about RPGs in general is that you get the chance to enrich your historical knowledge, and put it to use in a creative way. Thank you for the great content 😎
Regarding Fritz Leiber's Lankhmar, I always thought that Lankhmar reminded me of New York. It was a port city, surrounded by swamplands (Brooklyn, Queens and The Meadowlands are swampy), Lankhmar was connected to the mainland by a causeway that was usually underwater except during low tide so that mimics the heavy traffic that blocks the various bridges to and from the city except during the off hours. NYC, has so many people and districts it is easy to lose yourself and hide. Just my 2cp.
Me too! I lived in NYC and especially in the 1980s, it WAS Lankhmar. Leiber lived in San Fran, though he modeled it on Seville.
In my opinion, Fafhrd & Grey Mouser are must reading for for the D&D player. So many ideas in their stories. I actually like reading fantasy more than playing D&D....esp. Appendix N fantasy,.
@@BTsMusicChannel I am working on a city adventure that involves the rat folk. Plenty of inspiration from Lankhmar.
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 Lived in Queens NY for 35 years. I drove an ambulance all over NYC. It sure as Hell wasn't Tanelorn.
@@haveswordwilltravel Sounds fun. :D
I think most players would feel more at home with an Enightment era city.
as GM, I put in the time to create a list of people and businesses for Neverwinter. then I made separate spiral notebooks ( one per player) listing various npcs that their characters knew. the players all hail from this city and have lived there for several decades (elves and dwarves). these are not random npc's. they are the baker or blacksmith or candlemaker. people the character would see either daily or weekly and would know. this means the character is a part of the town and things that happen are important. again, it takes some effort to set this up, but it allows the players and GM to make the town/city a living experience!
Great video! 👍
Another resource I would recommend is The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England by Ian Mortimer. It's a very well written snapshot of life in the 14th century, and gives great flavour to any low fantasy RPG.
Incidentally it also contains a list of the top 30 most populated cities in England in 1377. With the exception of London (est, 40,000) none has a population larger than about 10,000. It always makes me chuckle when I see D&D backwater towns with populations much larger than this 😀
Absolutely. It's on the shelf behind my in the video. Great book.
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 Lovely stuff! Looking forward to your next video. Keep up the good work 😀👍
Fun video! City adventures can require thoughts about infrastructure, classes, order, and how the city maintains a way of life rather than just being a place for adventurers to run rampant
Yep. Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment!
So helpful and objective. Thank you for these precious tips and for the quick format in which you deliver them. You've made the best channel for busy DMs.
Thank you. That means a lot. Keep sharing these vids on the interwebs. Growth is starting to slow. Cheers!
A giant brick of advice gold!I believe that I may need to watch this video 3 times or so to get everything.
Fantastic 👏 👏! Your quick city generator sounds like a convenient resource tool which I will have to try. Keep the campaign building videos coming they are super helpful. Thanks for the 📚 recommendations!
Enjoyed this a lot. Love hearing how it really was back in the medieval days. The more you think about it, not much has really changed. Great job using Chris DeSilva's build. Huge thumbs up there. Now THAT is a great city build. Cheers!!
Yep. He's a genius.
Really good information for a low fantasy / realistic campaign
I love the modelling shown throughout this video.
(9:38) Well done, Lloyd. Now, to restart the video to watch and appreciate it from the beginning.
I'm running Waterdeep Dragon Heist now. This video is helpful. Thank you.
Cities of Hârn is a great resource for what a reality based medieval city can look and feel like.
Great advice to point out the details of a medieval town to my players. I am going to put these tips to good use!
Thank you for commenting and liking the video.
“ title text here”
Don't know how that happened.
Thank you PDM. Your videos are constantly making me a better dungeon master!
Good video for creating cities. I was hoping for more information on urban plot hooks, stories, and creatures however. I run games in a pre-built setting so the cities are already ready. Maybe you could do a video on urban encounters?
The Cities of Harn offer excellent medieval cities supplements (by Columbia Games). A series of 7 supplements: City of Aleath, City of Cherafir, City of Coranan, City of Golotha, City of Shiran, ity of Tashal, and City of Thay. They contain history, economy, government, military, religion, maps and many locations.
This was helpful, even though I’ll be running a Cyberpunk game for new players, elements can still be used.
Gonna start them off in an East coast city for a bit so they get their feet wet. The city building generator will come in handy.
Yes! I should have mentioned that modern cities are pretty much the same.
Even useful for post apoc, running a Gamma World (90"s rules) Star Frontiers mash-up
Have been reading Discworld. All I can think of is Ankh-Morpork.
Another video that completely revolutionizes and streamlines my dming. Thank you pdm
Wait until you see the follow-up. It’s a random city adventure generator. It’s the best thing I’ve ever done. Look for it in June. Probably May on Patreon. Cheers!
Vornheim from Lamentatons of the Flame Princess is the best city toolkit that I've ever see.
It’s a very good book. I didn’t mention it because of the allegations against the author.
Another great video. Ive watched it 3 times, and I keep coming back!
This is a stellar crash course that i got a lot from. will incorporate a lot of this into my campaign. i didn't realize till i was half way through that i needed to be taking notes!
Watch it again!
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 saved it to rewatch for my next planning session! 👍👍👍
this video came in the nick of time. I am currently running a caster only game where the pcs are building a cabal and it is based in one of the biggest cities in the game world. thanks professor dm
You are welcome!
Could be your best video yet.
A+
100%
Full marks.
I'll get you an apple.
do you believe stories about villages being destroyed?
I haven't seen the monster myself.
When I was in Muckley the other day--
Muckley? That's a ways.
Two miles or more, easy.
Gosh, I'd like to travel someday.
Years ago I ran an entire fantasy campaign in a major city. It was a cyberpunk game converted to fantasy. The levels of the city above & below ground were dungeon levels.
This is a fantastic video. I had to break out a notebook
Thanks
One of your best!
Maybe the +1 Jacket of Insight should be worn in every vid! 😁
Thanks for all the good advice!
You'll see less of it because DungeonCraft is taped in an attic where the temperature is 100 degrees in the summertime. It will return in the fall. Cheers!
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 I am sure your game insight will be just as sharp sans jacket. 😁
Holy Christ, I was reading the DMG just now and I realized that, in my mind, I was hearing it in your voice.
Cool! I actually hear Gygax, cuz' I met him.
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 nice humble brag there Prof.
I'd also recommend on the WFRP front, Warhammer City: A Complete Guide to Middenheim City of the White Wolf
Fun book. For those not familiar, the Tim Miller piece at 1:42 is the cover art.
I mentioned that in the extended version on Patreon. In a greedy play for cash, GW split Power into two books. Warhammer City is the lesser of the two, IMO. It’s got a great map of Middenheim, but it’s so slim, it isn’t worth the money to me.
Thanks PDM. I like learning how to structure any part of a D&D game!
You are welcome!
Really good video.
Great video professor, this was very insightful, I learned a few thing I never got in any other sources about settlement creation, specially how you can't enter wearing armor, very educational.
Question, if they can't enter wearing armor, would they be allowed entry after stripping it?, And do they keep their armor or must they handle over until they leave? That's my remaining doubt.
They would probably allowed to keep it, just warned to keep it off and their innkeeper would keep an eye on them. In the event of an attack, they would be expected to put it on and defend the city.
That sounds reasonable, thanks a lot.
Very well done, sir. Excellent video, as always. This was more enlightening than I expected and not for lack of expectations. Caveats well into your other videos, as well.
Thanks. That means a lot. May all your rolls be 20s!
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 , sir, thank you and likewise. 🙏🏻
Thank you. I’m running a city based campaign so I’d love if you did more city based videos
I did the "Demon's Skull" last week. It's set in a city. I'll do another similar city adventure in the fall. This one will be political intrigue. Stay tuned!
other than your actual crafting videos where you build terrain, i've watched most of your videos now.... I buy warlock tiles and am happy to support my local game store that provides me with people to play the game with
Theres some really cool ideas I've never heard or thought of here very interesting
The Deathbringer bit made my laugh out loud. Subscribed!
I had lots of fun putting my party of young fighty types in the big city and having them do some undercover missions after arriving and winning the annual tournament. It’s really hard to stay hidden and stealthy wearing the Royal coat of arms on your armour that 3000 people saw you win.
It’s nice to give them that local recognition but it remains important for them to get those reality checks … young men in plate mail should stick out in the crowd even if they don’t have to surrender it!
Excited for this one!
Yeah I hope it has alot on city building too 🙂
Thank you, I dont know how many campaigns I've played in with land locked capital cities, with no water ways... I much prefer the idea of the Greek polis (dont know that i spelled that right) with all the outer countryside wild lands filled with bandits and monsters.
I am about to run a city session so this is perfect!!!
Glad to be of help!
Convenient that this is exactly what I needed for game preparation this week!
Cool!
My party was lucky because my character is the heir and princess to Neverwinter. Upon entering the city my character was immediately recognized by the guards and civilians. As such, the party (3 vampires at the time) was welcomed with open arms and allowed to stay at Castle Never as honored guests. One of the vampires was Alexander Von Roeyen (second brother of Strahd Von Zarovich and forgotten prince of Barovia) was welcomed into the castle to have an audience with the queen. He played up his noble status while the other two vampires tried to act respectful and follow my lead. As the princess of Neverwinter I granted them protection and shelter while in the city. I wonder what our dm will have planned next for us while in Neverwinter.
We need to get Professor DM some Deathbringer armour so he can do episodes as him.
I don't think that would work because it would be too much like Seth Skorkowsky's NPC.
Instead, I think we should start sending PDM big D20s so we can watch his collection of them grow on that shelf behind him. Besides, DMs and D20s go together like fish and chips, hotdogs and mustard, and beer and chicken wings.
@@swaghauler8334 He actually tried something like that... it didn't work '-'
@@swaghauler8334 Lol. I did ONE episode where I did impressions of players and got called out for ripping off Seth. Of course, he does it better.
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 I love Seth!
What a great video as always! So much helpful information about city building! Thank you Professor Dungeon Master!
fabulous video, as always. This could be a nice article.
Very well crafted as always, here is a cookie for the metric, see you next week!
Thanks, Aaron!
Very interesting Professor ! I'm definitely taking notes
Elegant city solution - well done as always.
Really enjoying the creative use stuff.
Prof: "Walls help protect against the three big city killers; invasion, fire-"
Me: "and Mongolians"
Prof "-and plague"
Me: "Oh..."
2:30 Cities don't ALWAYS have walls, just usually. If the city is located somewhere considered reasonably safe from major outside threats then walls would be seen as just an unnecessary expense. Many cities during times of plenty and safety outgrew their walls and even took down sections to enable better traffic and open up space for commerce, rendering them largely ineffective in the process and little more than relics of a more dangerous time. Then there's cultural reasons, Sparta famously had no walls, any society that puts a great deal of emphasis on its military prowess and dominance may forgo walls as an act of propaganda.
similar comments can be said about rivers... there are cities without a river. Obviously every city needs a sufficient supply of fresh water, but that source does not have to be a river. Mexico City, for example, was founded on an island in a freshwater lake.
As for the concern of how to move cargo... roads are still a thing. Yes, rivers are better than roads but you don't NEED them to move people & goods. And if a city is on a coast of some kind, it doesn't need a river at all. Most striking is probably Atlanta, Georgia... which is near NO navigable bodies of water. It instead grew as a crossroads for trains & airplanes (cue Eberron style alternate magi-tech forms of transport).
And then there are a whole host of cities built NEAR BUT NOT ON RIVERS... eg Milan, or Timbuktu.
There are also reasons for a city developing beyond being a natural crossroads... eg. look up Butte Montana. It's success was entirely due to being a copper mining boom town. Johannesburg South Africa is similar... and not being anywhere reasonably near a river or coastline to boot.
Basically, there are options... not every city needs to have a waterfront, especially specifically a river waterfront. You need to come up with a believable water supply & reason for the city to exist, but neither of those 2 have to involve a river.
Eg: a city on an mountain island in a area with very heavy precipitation.... the city acts as a maritime trading hub, and gets it's water purely from runoff from the mountain. Or a desert city build on an oasis, fed by a massive underground lake, and near a rich supply of gold ore.
Monsters.
IRL there are no monsters, just bandits and armies.
In a feudal system, all citizens of the city owe their fealty to the lord or noble who is in charge of the city. Commoners and tradesmen may be one step up from serfs, expected to commit a portion of their time and labor to tasks that that lord assigns to them, while nobles living within the city would be expected to pay tribute in gold or other valuables on a yearly basis. This is how "taxes" typically worked in medieval times, where labor was readily available, but gold was not.
Unless the city has a "charter of freedoms" from the king.
Cities were NOT feudal estates, and nobles held land from the king, not the city.
Hell's Kitchen: sounds like a great place for a D&D campaign, don't it? Would have to resist the temptation however of creeping into 19th C fashions; having rival thieves guilds fighting it out in the streets with cleavers and hatchets; and describing NPCs wearing tall cylindrical brimmed hats and handlebar moustaches.
How would you handle the situation where the party got captured by mercenaries as per your random charts from the Bone Road? Seems like a crazy change in the campaign story most DM's wouldn't know how to handle. Should I set up an escape? Should they be forced into the front lines of a war? Maybe they can rise up the ranks of this new organization. I'm curious to know how you would handle that!!
Wait, if your cities are so law-enforcement-driven, with such drastic punishments dealt out for (arguably) minor crimes, how does your NPC named "Scratch" survive when he is so obviously an agent of evil? Wouldn't the local authority immediately seize and interrogate him for information on the underworld and then use him to get to the criminals? [Your city setting is so intriguing to me that I immediately want to dive in and find out things like this. Proof of good design. Well done.]
Great video PDM. Very useful. Love your city generator. Also enjoyed the reading list. I do have a request when you are feeling a little light on content or ideas for a video. Could you go over some good ways to build a West Marches style campaign from the ground up? I’d love to hear your take on it especially since your style meshes with my own very well. Thanks again for your hard work and the consistent videos each week. I look forward to them. Take care and stay healthy.
Give me some info. West Marches is Matt Coleville's world? It's a sandbox thing?
Dungeon Craft no it is a type of campaign allowing a pool of players to play, but not at regular times or even with a typical party of characters all within the same campaign world and with the same dungeon master with an emphasis on exploration. Yes Matt Coleville talks about running one but has not as far as I know. The original idea came from a guy named Ben Robbins. Here is a better description on what defines it arsludi.lamemage.com/index.php/78/grand-experiments-west-marches/
Bloody magnificent video! What do adventurers do with the armor they take off at the front gate tho...
They leave it locked in their room.