I have formulated a not-so-novel theory about why many GMs feel intimidated by large cities. It’s the level of simultaneous detail they require that keeps them from neatly fitting into a standard unit. The dungeon has the room, and wilderness has the hex (or node in a point crawl), and generally, players and GMs alike know how to move between them. The density of a city map makes it hard to define neatly with tools like these.
In this article, I’m going to make the argument that you shouldn’t even try. Instead, you should define larger regions, such as neighborhoods or wards, and embrace abstraction. Why? Because your typical city map is actually presenting you with detail at multiple levels of fidelity, and “filling in the gaps” has rapidly diminishing returns. Instead, and in complete antithesis to OSR dogma, I suggest you give the map to your players.
The map is going to look like this (Using DCC Lankhmar’s Temple Quarter as an example):
Outlined Temple District, there are an additional 10 locations in my campaign not numbered on this map that are revealed through play.
Let them see the regions, and resist the overwhelming urge to fill the gaps. Instead, the level of detail presented here is where you leave it. Point out on that map all the popular, well-known locations. This “gamification” helps seed the area and gives the characters something to work with. This avoids the analysis paralysis caused by the seemingly endless options before them. But, it’s not everything they can find. It purposely leaves out lesser known locations, ones that adventures and purposeful exploration can reveal.
This approach leaves plenty of white space without having to dive into street-level detail, allowing the players to retain their imagined picture of the city. It’s this avoidance of zoomed-in detail that helps you keep the city feeling alive, as you can always drop a new business or residence into an empty building. It’s not until you get down to the 5’ square that another map should even be necessary (if that). By avoiding this “mid-resolution” detail, you avoid adding debt to your game that will slow it down and remove imaginative exploration from it. It’s the defined detail that makes you and the players reference “what has been,” instead of improvising “what could be.”
So What Are the Procedures?
Well, keeping with the spirit of avoiding as much debt as possible, there are very few. You roll random encounters when moving between the regions (neighborhoods, wards, etc.) you drew on the map. When the characters want to search the region for new locations, you roll on the table of locations in that ward (See my article “Running a City, the Ultimate Sandbox” for tips for creating this table). Depending on how long the characters search a ward, you may also decided to roll for another random encounter.
That’s it. Any more and I tend to forget, or I get too wrapped up in it and don’t effectively play the game.
What About Geomorphs?
Mayber you are familiar with the city Geomorphs from the AD&D Lankhmar box set. They fall in the mid-resolution space that I mentioned above, and yes they are cool. But, i’ve never played a campaign where they were actually necessary. And I would say that unless you plan on spending two or more sessions specifically in the area of your geomorph they become a piece of paper you pull out for a second, fumble around with, and then cast aside as the characters move on to something else. So avoid them, they are debt. A layer of detail you really don’t need.
Example Geomorph from the AD&D Lankhmar Box Set
Looking to Run a City?
I am kickstarting a zine series designed to aid faction play in city campaigns. The League of Dark Few saga details everything you need to run a guild of “influence brokers” who silently help the nobles pull the strings of society. It starts with a brutal initiation ceremony (a level 0 gauntlet) and helps you build a home for the characters inside the chaos of the city. Check it out and follow on Kickstarter.
Follow the project and download the free Level 1 adventure “The Crypt of the Forgotten Duke,” before the campaign ends on February 27th.
