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Author Topic: city size  (Read 4310 times)

Offline Rubycon

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city size
« on: July 24, 2011, 06:54:00 PM »
Hi,
I'm planning to GM a group and for this, I'm loking for a good place to play.
As there are many very convenient cites in Germany who could be a nice place, most of them aren't very big. So I asked myself if there should be a minimum size (or number of inhabiltants) for a city to us it for a campaign?
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Offline UmbraLux

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Re: city size
« Reply #1 on: July 24, 2011, 07:01:04 PM »
Quote from: Rubycon on July 24, 2011, 06:54:00 PM
As there are many very convenient cites in Germany who could be a nice place, most of them aren't very big. So I asked myself if there should be a minimum size (or number of inhabiltants) for a city to us it for a campaign?
Not necessarily.  I seem to remember someone doing a game based around a motorcycle gang once.  Think they created the area along a stretch of highway rather than a city.

I would look for locations with interesting features.  Ports, water (river / lake / ocean), terrain (mountains / swamps / etc), rail hubs, financial centers, etc (not all of them but a few that interest you) - and with enough people for you to have interesting things occur without everyone knowing of it. 
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Offline Rubycon

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Re: city size
« Reply #2 on: July 24, 2011, 07:07:34 PM »
the most interesting thing about most european cities (for me) are that they are so old and have so much history. So i want to take one of these old cities. For geographic features, I have to take a deeper look at some maps, so the history part and the size should be the first step for me... or should I go a different path?
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Offline bobjob

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Re: city size
« Reply #3 on: July 24, 2011, 07:14:27 PM »
If you're worried about the size of the city, try a grouping of cities, each one with a dominant supernatural influence.

My game is technically in Austin, Tx, but I have sent them after supernatural threats all over the greater Austin area (45 minutes to an hour in any direction, with a dozen different cities). Their home range isn't just limited to the one city.
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Offline Rubycon

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Re: city size
« Reply #4 on: July 24, 2011, 07:42:01 PM »
Could be a very good idea. In Germany, we have the "Ruhrgebiet", which is the largest area of settlements in europe. Actually, there must be dozens of cities directly bordering to the next without even the slightest gap.
This, however would mean a LOT of work...
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Offline Tsunami

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Re: city size
« Reply #5 on: July 25, 2011, 07:58:39 AM »
We have... well had... a campaign going in Bonn. It was quite nice, but fell apart because out characters were messed up... (They were our first tries for the DFRPG...)

Bonn is not really big, but that's not really an issue. We had some very nice locations and Faces. And there are lots of Tales and Legends around Bonn.
Drachenfels, Siebengebirge (Dwarfs anyone ?), Father Rhein and his Daughters, Der Ring des Nibelungen (Ring of the Nibelung) and many more.

If you want to stat up the Ruhrgebiet... simply start with one city and add more as the campaign progresses. You'll be doing that anyways, since you don't want to repeat stuff all the time. You don't need a fully fleshed out Ruhrgebiet to start with, just some key Faces for the PCs to interact with... the rest is background.
« Last Edit: July 25, 2011, 08:02:29 AM by Tsunami »
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Offline Masurao

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Re: city size
« Reply #6 on: July 25, 2011, 08:08:47 AM »
And don't forget to visit us in the Netherlands to satisfy your vices! Xp
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Offline Tsunami

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Re: city size
« Reply #7 on: July 25, 2011, 08:49:09 AM »
I bet there's some nice Folklore to play with in the Netherlands too.

Maybe some Fomors are planning to blow up the dykes and flood the Country to make their own underwater Kingdom :-)

I could also imagine making the Polders into contested territory between summer and winter... Could be interesting.
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Offline Rubycon

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Re: city size
« Reply #8 on: July 25, 2011, 10:43:07 AM »
I found many interesting things about Aachen. While not exactly the Ruhrgebiet, it is close enough to it to  start with and is really interesting as a former roman settlement and imperial city of Karl the Great. And lots of legends, too... :)
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Offline Radijs

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Re: city size
« Reply #9 on: July 25, 2011, 10:53:10 AM »
I'd have to start digging but I'll bet dollars to donuts that we've got our own nasty folklore and historic bits that can work very nicely.

First thing that came to mind where the 'veenlijken' http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veenlijk which could have become all sorts of nasties.

There's the 'heksenwaag' a massive scale used to weigh witches. http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waag_(Oudewater) Nobody was convicted but I'm sure that the terror all those poor women felt would have left an imprint of some sort.
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Offline Rubycon

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Re: city size
« Reply #10 on: July 25, 2011, 11:03:01 AM »
I think nearly every place in europe has a ton of fitting history and legends for the dresdenverse. Maybe we should collect them in a special thread... ;)

As Aachen goes: It has about 250.000 inhabitants. That should be large enough. Better even that, it has some sulfur-wells which were used a century ago but are since this time covered and nearly forgotten... 8)
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Offline Radijs

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Re: city size
« Reply #11 on: July 25, 2011, 11:58:07 AM »
Quote from: Rubycon on July 25, 2011, 11:03:01 AM
I think nearly every place in europe has a ton of fitting history and legends for the dresdenverse. Maybe we should collect them in a special thread... ;)

Yes we should.
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Offline Tsunami

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Re: city size
« Reply #12 on: July 25, 2011, 12:22:02 PM »
Quote from: Rubycon on July 25, 2011, 11:03:01 AM
As Aachen goes: It has about 250.000 inhabitants. That should be large enough. Better even that, it has some sulfur-wells which were used a century ago but are since this time covered and nearly forgotten... 8)

Actually, they are not forgotten at all. They are widely known, and there is a massive structure (http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisenbrunnen entry is german only, sorry folks) in the Center of town where you can drink the water.
They were already used by the Romans, and the water is used for therapeutic purposes even today... or to torture freshmen just starting at the University... ah, good times...  ;D
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Offline Rubycon

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Re: city size
« Reply #13 on: July 25, 2011, 12:50:29 PM »
O.K.,... forgotten should not mean they have vanished, sorry for the misunderstanding. "Forgotten" means that there were a lot of wells and as they were not used anymore, they were covered to build streets and such like. You can assess any of them even now, but in the live of Aachen's inhabitants they have no role anymore, so most of them don't care abiout them and don't even know where to find them. There is an initiative in Aachen to cartograph them all, but it's work in progress. There is even a legend about the Bahkauv (http://www.aachen-markt.de/sagen/bahkauv_ba.htm, sorry also only in german) living in one of the lairs built by the hot water of the sulfuric wells. That's the beginning of a great story, I think... ;D
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Offline Tsunami

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Re: city size
« Reply #14 on: July 25, 2011, 01:34:30 PM »
Ah, thanks...i was trying to remember what it was called... I could remember the statue, but not the name.

Why not give the water some magical properties, or maybe have a watery-ley line well up there. The Bahkauv could be a Genius Loci. It would obviously not be as powerful as demonreach, and also not as hostile to humans, but still... lots of potential.
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