9. Create Your City

To help you create cities in the frame of the game, picture them as battlegrounds where factions compete for power. Inside those factions are people with their own agendas, putting them in conflict with others. Truces are temporary and any state of equilibrium doesn’t last. As the people living in them, cities will change in the course of your campaign. Some might even die, perhaps even at the hand of the heroes.

Nothing is ever clean or safe. Any weapon you buy still has blood on it. If you go to a library, someone else is looking for the same information. The moment you step inside a tavern, you’re being sized up — are you predator or prey? Cities are not a place to rest and recuperate. Tensions are visible everywhere: the innkeeper has a black eye, a sweet little kid is being bullied by the city watch, the dockers are on strike, a crowd gathers for yet another public execution... Cities are dangerous and dirty.

9.1. Birth Of A City

You need three things to run an urban session: people, places, and problems. The good news is you don’t have to come up with everything at once. Pick a name for the city, think about the place the heroes will stay in or the NPC they’ll meet, and build from there.

9.1.1. City Name

1. Nastoria11. Vikaruun
2. Golgorod12. Kaltassar
3. Aklamakan13. Anaximandia
4. Itasadum14. Cronopolis
5. Summabira15. Tarentus
6. Golsundria16. Castigaris
7. Infernus17. Holmensar
8. Decimation18. Alissar
9. Beleth-Nagar19. Malranbator
10. Manduris20. Ashkenbeck

9.1.2. People

You need the following information: a name, an occupation, an affiliation – it all fits on one line, and it is enough to give you a rough idea of their looks, demeanour, and objectives. No need to flesh them out further as some hero might crush their head as soon as they meet them.

9.1.3. Power

Factions gain power by controlling a specific domain: politics, religion, organised crime, labour, etc. Their main goals usually revolve around keeping the power they have or gaining more. Faction members often have specific or personal goals, and use their faction to achieve them.

9.1.4. Places

People and factions are related to places. These can be obvious (the imperial palace) or hidden (the warehouse where the revolutionaries meet). Whenever the heroes are in a city, share a map or sketch, no matter how crude. The players can refer to this representation at any time. Encourage them to write on it: they can note points of interest and NPC names. These notes will bring the city to life for your players.

9.1.5. Problems

And by problems, we mean conflicts. Between people, between factions, and of course inside factions. No organisation is monolithic, tensions come from diverging points of views (“do we strive for a peaceful revolution or a violent one?”) to more personal matters (“our leader caused the death of my brother, she must pay!”). To solve these conflicts, factions often need outsiders and that’s where our heroes come in.

9.1.6. The city is known for...

  • 1. Being built upon the skeleton of a Leviathan
  • 2. The gigantic brain that rules the city from its dome of flesh and steel
  • 3. Having a city watch composed exclusively of ghosts
  • 4. Being made entirely of metal
  • 5. The 1,000-foot tall granite stairs that lead to the floating city above
  • 6. The sorcery-cancelling storm that protects it, the city being in the eye of the storm
  • 7. The lake of blood at its centre. Anyone’s reflection in it is surrounded by everyone they killed. Its shores are usually empty except for judges and murder suspects...
  • 8. The fact that it takes the form of a gigantic statue
  • 9. Its residents are all undead, keeping their sentience as long as they stay here
  • 10. Its floating black obelisk is known to give visions to some visitors
  • 11. Being entirely covered by a thick coat of vegetation that kills everyone engaging in combat
  • 12. Being entirely underground, warmed by a miniature sun
  • 13. Its hundreds of forges produce weapons made with the red iron from beneath the city
  • 14. Its seven cyclopean buildings made of unbreakable crystal
  • 15. The fact that the only buildings in the city are interconnected towers with no streets below
  • 16. The fact that it’s a dead city: you must be dead to enter it. Executioners wait for you at the gates. When you exit the city, you must roll on the Helpless table
  • 17. The frozen volcano it stands upon
  • 18. The jade portals connecting its people to three other cities
  • 19. Petrifying its criminals and using the resulting statues as ornaments
  • 20. Moving to another dimension during each full moon
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