There are dozens of ways to build and travel through cities for your RPG games that are concrete, solid, and have a decent amount of crunch. I'm too much of an idiot to use these kinds of methods, so here's my really subjective way, based on a popular earlier post, without needing maps but still having a physical representation to keep track of player location.
1. Choose a die. A D4 represents a village, a D6 represents a town, a D8 represents a city.
2. Choose at least two faces on your die. Mark down these faces as gates. These are areas that the players can freely enter and exit the village/town/city grounds through this location.
3. Start writing down the contents of each face. Each face represents a major landmark or general district. Generally, you should do the Last Gasp method of describing districts/landmarks/other locations by giving each place a wealth rating (Poor/Middling/Rich) along with descriptions of sights, smells, buildings, what goes on during the day, what goes on during the night, and etc. Each place should have at least one general quirk or faction present that makes it an interesting place to visit.
4. When playing, PCs can spend 10 minutes travelling from one face to another adjacent face on the die you're using. They can also spend 10 minutes exiting the village/town/city if they are on a face with a gate.
I was surprised that this worked out so well when I tested it. In fact, this kind of crawlspace-lite method worked out better on towns than it did on dungeons, the more you learn. The nice thing is that you don't need to have travel exceptions like you have to have in dungeons with the crawlspace method, since there are many ways you can get around a village/city/town like alleys, ferry rides, horses, sidewalks, and etc.
What's also really nice about this system is its support of gimmicks. For instance, lets say that your town (1D6) is really religious, and they constantly have extravagant marches to show off their faith. Whenever the players travel from one district to another, the GM may decide to roll 1D6, if the players are on the face that is rolled, there is a giant march of people in robes where they are, accompanied by crusaders. Or you could have special events for each individual location that occur when the GM roll 1D6 and the players travel to the exact same location on the GM's rolled 1D6.
Now, these are just off of the top of my head. With these exact mechanics, special events are less likely to happen in cities or bigger places, which you may need to modify to fit your purposes. You could also come up with your own gimmicks, if you even want your village/town/city to have one.
Anyway, here's 6 weird example districts:
Gristlemill
Red rivers of meat-water wind down the cobblestone canals and streets of this poor district, filling the air with a rancid smell. During the day, butchers and their kin slay the fattened dogs that feed on the meat water. During the night the dogs of war are let loose while the butchers hole up in their blood stained mills made of cobblestone to roast their meats. Inside of this district lives a well known contact, Gilow Tierney, a skilled sculptor who has moved here to perfect their golem-making arts and will pay handsomely for rare body parts to make even more elusive flesh golems.
The Ropes
Near endless lines of hempen ropes are strung up between buildings and streets in this poor district. During the day merchants and civilians walk the streets carefully, as to not anger anybody who would care about their jury-rigged rope contraptions being triggered. During the night, ropes move, gears creak, and there is the occasional scream, soon silenced. Inside of this district lives a taboo faction, the Gallow Boys, a group of urchin assassins who have a complex understanding of how the ropes work and are willing to carry out assassination contracts on anybody, as long as they are in the district during the night.
Wickwallow
The walls of this middling district are coated in colorful wax, like the people here lit candles on the parapets and let them drip in mass. During the day, the streets are basically abandoned as the students that typically crowd these streets are busy studying at the Wicker Academy. During the night, the students hole up in their waxen homes as they read their books in candlelight. The most well-known building in this district is the Wicker Academy, a luxurious palace made of black stone that dominates the district; its otherworldly inhabitants offer to teach the dark secrets of magic to those willing.
The Tributary
Almost every surface of this middling district is covered in religious frescoes in various states of ruin, the streets always smell of burning incense. During the day, devotees wail about the glorious tales their frescoes behold while they wave censer balls. During the night, small holy wars are settled in the streets while small groups of "heretic" researchers try to decipher the frescoes origins. There is one especially devoted person here who calls themselves Godlord Jack, and will pay handsomely for characters to spread his narcissistic fresco, no matter the cost, all shall know of Godlord Jack.
The Bakery
The rich streets of this district are plagued with excess, shown by the shambling monuments of rotting pastries and the corpulent inhabitants of these sickly-sweet smelling streets. During the day the bakers hound nearby people to sample their monumental mounds of sweets. During the night a warm glow and deep scent of fire fills the streets as the bakers furiously prepare their next batch, perfecting their craft. The richest person in this district is the ever-corpulent and ever-expanding Lady Isolde, who lives in a small palace and demands ever-more exotic sweets.
Labyrinth
Pastel colored buildings form complex hallways that only madmen or people who have lived here long would know, every structure is an architectural genius' life work, lingering clouds of perfume float down these halls. During the day the immensely mutated nobles of these halls hunt for new "pets", also known as anybody who is kept help in their houses. During the night, tea parties that verge on the obscene happen while nobles pit their pets in fights. While there is much gossip that permeates the labyrinth, there is a true rumor that there is a place deep within the labyrinth where escaped animals and humans mingle in deliciously deprived ways during the day and plot to usurp the nobles in the night.
I'll admit, some of these districts could be towns in and of themselves, with the faces just being notable locations within the district itself, but I digress.This post is a precursor post to the next Ashen Age post because I felt that the Ashen Age post would be a bit too long if I included these rules along with that sweet, sweet lore. Anyway, see you ladies and gents later!
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| Crawlspace Method - Settlements (Sam Hogg) |
1. Choose a die. A D4 represents a village, a D6 represents a town, a D8 represents a city.
2. Choose at least two faces on your die. Mark down these faces as gates. These are areas that the players can freely enter and exit the village/town/city grounds through this location.
3. Start writing down the contents of each face. Each face represents a major landmark or general district. Generally, you should do the Last Gasp method of describing districts/landmarks/other locations by giving each place a wealth rating (Poor/Middling/Rich) along with descriptions of sights, smells, buildings, what goes on during the day, what goes on during the night, and etc. Each place should have at least one general quirk or faction present that makes it an interesting place to visit.
4. When playing, PCs can spend 10 minutes travelling from one face to another adjacent face on the die you're using. They can also spend 10 minutes exiting the village/town/city if they are on a face with a gate.
I was surprised that this worked out so well when I tested it. In fact, this kind of crawlspace-lite method worked out better on towns than it did on dungeons, the more you learn. The nice thing is that you don't need to have travel exceptions like you have to have in dungeons with the crawlspace method, since there are many ways you can get around a village/city/town like alleys, ferry rides, horses, sidewalks, and etc.
What's also really nice about this system is its support of gimmicks. For instance, lets say that your town (1D6) is really religious, and they constantly have extravagant marches to show off their faith. Whenever the players travel from one district to another, the GM may decide to roll 1D6, if the players are on the face that is rolled, there is a giant march of people in robes where they are, accompanied by crusaders. Or you could have special events for each individual location that occur when the GM roll 1D6 and the players travel to the exact same location on the GM's rolled 1D6.
Now, these are just off of the top of my head. With these exact mechanics, special events are less likely to happen in cities or bigger places, which you may need to modify to fit your purposes. You could also come up with your own gimmicks, if you even want your village/town/city to have one.
Anyway, here's 6 weird example districts:
 |
| District Collection (Sam Hogg) |
Gristlemill
Red rivers of meat-water wind down the cobblestone canals and streets of this poor district, filling the air with a rancid smell. During the day, butchers and their kin slay the fattened dogs that feed on the meat water. During the night the dogs of war are let loose while the butchers hole up in their blood stained mills made of cobblestone to roast their meats. Inside of this district lives a well known contact, Gilow Tierney, a skilled sculptor who has moved here to perfect their golem-making arts and will pay handsomely for rare body parts to make even more elusive flesh golems.
The Ropes
Near endless lines of hempen ropes are strung up between buildings and streets in this poor district. During the day merchants and civilians walk the streets carefully, as to not anger anybody who would care about their jury-rigged rope contraptions being triggered. During the night, ropes move, gears creak, and there is the occasional scream, soon silenced. Inside of this district lives a taboo faction, the Gallow Boys, a group of urchin assassins who have a complex understanding of how the ropes work and are willing to carry out assassination contracts on anybody, as long as they are in the district during the night.
Wickwallow
The walls of this middling district are coated in colorful wax, like the people here lit candles on the parapets and let them drip in mass. During the day, the streets are basically abandoned as the students that typically crowd these streets are busy studying at the Wicker Academy. During the night, the students hole up in their waxen homes as they read their books in candlelight. The most well-known building in this district is the Wicker Academy, a luxurious palace made of black stone that dominates the district; its otherworldly inhabitants offer to teach the dark secrets of magic to those willing.
The Tributary
Almost every surface of this middling district is covered in religious frescoes in various states of ruin, the streets always smell of burning incense. During the day, devotees wail about the glorious tales their frescoes behold while they wave censer balls. During the night, small holy wars are settled in the streets while small groups of "heretic" researchers try to decipher the frescoes origins. There is one especially devoted person here who calls themselves Godlord Jack, and will pay handsomely for characters to spread his narcissistic fresco, no matter the cost, all shall know of Godlord Jack.
The Bakery
The rich streets of this district are plagued with excess, shown by the shambling monuments of rotting pastries and the corpulent inhabitants of these sickly-sweet smelling streets. During the day the bakers hound nearby people to sample their monumental mounds of sweets. During the night a warm glow and deep scent of fire fills the streets as the bakers furiously prepare their next batch, perfecting their craft. The richest person in this district is the ever-corpulent and ever-expanding Lady Isolde, who lives in a small palace and demands ever-more exotic sweets.
Labyrinth
Pastel colored buildings form complex hallways that only madmen or people who have lived here long would know, every structure is an architectural genius' life work, lingering clouds of perfume float down these halls. During the day the immensely mutated nobles of these halls hunt for new "pets", also known as anybody who is kept help in their houses. During the night, tea parties that verge on the obscene happen while nobles pit their pets in fights. While there is much gossip that permeates the labyrinth, there is a true rumor that there is a place deep within the labyrinth where escaped animals and humans mingle in deliciously deprived ways during the day and plot to usurp the nobles in the night.
I'll admit, some of these districts could be towns in and of themselves, with the faces just being notable locations within the district itself, but I digress.This post is a precursor post to the next Ashen Age post because I felt that the Ashen Age post would be a bit too long if I included these rules along with that sweet, sweet lore. Anyway, see you ladies and gents later!
This is cool! I've noticed in the last year or so that I've become very interested in locations, particularly "hub" locations, and how to use them effectively / maximally. Not exactly the same as this post, but one thing I'm really wanting to do with my current campaign is have a settlement building component. I've already built out the town (although I may use this or a system like it to flesh it out further or flesh out other towns if they go elsewhere), and I'm planning on implementing a stripped down version of the settlement building mechanics from Numenera Destiny. I'd be curious to see how you (or others in the blogosphere) would implement a settlement building mechanic or run a settlement building campaign. I posted on highlevelgames about this idea recently, but haven't actually built out the system yet:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.highlevelgames.ca/blog/5-tips-to-handle-settlement-building-in-tabletop-rpgs
The Crawlspace Method for Settlements is a brilliant and innovative approach to city building and navigation in RPG games. The use of dice to denote the size and complexity of a settlement is a simple yet effective way to create a dynamic and interesting environment. The concept of assigning districts or landmarks to each face of the dice is a great way to add depth and variety to the game.
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