Tag Archives: 2015 A to Z Blogging Challenge

RPGs

Day 8 H is for Heralds

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H – Heralds/Proclamations/News/Rumors

How does official government news get around? Is there a chief herald who directs all the district and neighborhood heralds with official proclamations? Is there a place where it is posted for those who can read?

How does news of the exploits of adventurers get around? News of foreign wars and monster incursions? Gossip and word of mouth are how most information gets around.

News will travel from city to city via merchants and the more hops the news makes the more blurred and distorted it is when it comes in. Rumor and gossip is how the commoners will hear of things, much like the game telephone where whispering down the line ends up with a totally different story than what started. How to determine how distorted the facts have become?

For a collapsed city, will there be remnants of a chief herald’s office? Will there be stellae or other carvings that depict information throughout the city? Will there be any trace of how information was relayed?

For some, using a more English flair, a herald would be in charge of Heraldry, as in the College of Arms. Heraldry in the Middle Ages arose out of keeping track of who was who on the battlefield, and it became formalized to indicate the arms, AKA heraldic device of a royal or noble house. Contrary to the belief of some Americans, if you have the same last name as a famous noble house, you do not “officially” get to use those arms. The exception is for those of Scottish descent, the clan lord, often a noble, may authorize a clan badge that all members of the clan may wear.

Inkwell Ideas has a Coat of Arms Design Studio program with a free and a fee version. Designing a coat of arms for even each nation in a campaign, like all the human kingdoms, plus the demi-human kingdoms, can take a lot of time. Some like the added touch of the visual aid. Others prefer to use clear and descriptive language for theater of the mind.

Unless you are going for realism for an RPG campaign set in a historical period or a “clone” of a historical period, going into the detail of a college of heralds, and all the detail involved can be quite daunting. I have tried to do that and end up spending more time on simple touches that I find are not necessary to actual play. As a world builder, I WANT that stuff. As a DM, I like the added touches, but can’t justify spending more time than I already have. Those little touches are nice, but if you aren’t going to use them in play, or as something that helps you as DM tie things together, is it really worth the time spent? My answer is if it helps you run a better game, then go for it. Each DM has to judge for themselves what that means.

Whatever level of detail your heraldry involves, will there be any signs of it in a living or abandoned city? Will monuments contain the insignia or the ruling families? Will merchant houses have their symbols? Will ancient marks of thieve’s long dead still exist? Will its meaning be lost or muddled to a current thief?

Taverns tend to have colorful names and we tend to expect them to have a sign depicting the name.

Will any of the symbols of an ancient empire still be in use? Will it span monuments, banners, tapestries, shield devices, mile markers, and coins? In my campaign, the ancient empire was symbolized by an iron tower or an iron throne. The tower theme has survived into some successor kingdoms. Some petty kingdoms have variations on the iron tower, each claiming to be the rightful emperor, but none able to make anyone outside their small area of influence recognize that.

I have a mercenary group my player’s have encountered, called the Green Shields, with green shields and cloak clasps that are also green shields. Would a famous mercenary group have survived over the centuries and players find an ancient pre-cursor to the current group, or might it only be a coincidence?

What groups can have symbols?

  • Royals
    • Senior branch and cadet branches.
  • Nobles
  • Nations/Countries
    • Could be same or variation on the Royal coat of arms/insignia.
  • Merchants
    • Specific Businesses, like Barber Poles
  • Guilds
    • Merchants
    • Magic Users
  • Adventurers
  • Temples/Dieties/Clerics
    • Theological differences between branches of the same faith need a way to recognize those in schism, heterodoxy, heresy, etc.
  • Mercenaries
  • Taverns
  • Tribes/Clans & their subdivisions
    • Scottish clans and their septs.
    • Orc Tribes, like the Bloody Hand.
    • Plains Tribes of horsemen, etc.
  • What kind of groups did I miss?

In March, 2014 I published an article on districts or quarters of a city.

 

RPGs

Day 7 G is for Graveyard

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G – Graveyard/ghosts/ghouls/ghasts/grue/tombs

What are the funerary rites? If cremation, then there is not much chance of there being a lot of undead, unless the collapse prevented the cremation of the dead. Some cultures have ritual cannibalism.

Large cemeteries with lots of bodies can make a near endless source of skeletons and zombies, and a haven for other undead.

Will the cemetery/graveyard be a single location, or many smaller ones throughout the city? Will the dangers by any undead be merely a barrier to treasure, or just a short trip to a quick death?

Types of Tombs

  • Mausoleum
  • Crypt
  • Tumulus/Burial Mound/Barrow
  • Cist Tombs
  • Cave Tomb (Yagura – medieval Japan)
  • Cenotaph (“empty tomb” in honor of a person)
  • Catacomb
  • Burial Vault
  • Sarcophagus
  • Bier/Catafalque (Platform for a corpse or coffin with a corpse.)
  • Tree and Scaffold Burial also called Sky Burial (Native American plains tribes did this.)
  • Domed/Thalos Tomb/Beehive Tomb
  • Columbarium (Building for storage of cremated remains/cremains.)
  • Ossuary for holding bones after decay of the flesh (Jewish and early Christian paractice)
  • Bed Burial (an Anglo-Saxon practice)

Will temples have burial vaults under the sanctuary? Are the royals/rulers of the city buried in a grand manner and somewhat on display, from a stone sarcophagus to some form of artwork?

Will there be battlefields where the fallen were buried en masse? Will there be any form of tombs with multiple burials, with multiple platforms, niches, etc., like a catacomb?

If cremation is practiced, is it done with an individual fire built as needed, like on a riverbank, or like a viking funeral? Are they so sophisticated in their technology as to have a crematorium? Do they let the wind scatter the ashes, or do they gather them up and scatter them later? Perhaps they preserve the ashes in urns and place the urns in a special building, called a columbarium?

If mummification is practiced, this is an indication that there will be the possibility for a lot of mummies as monsters. Mummification can happen in various ways, via dehydration of the corpse in a dry climate, like in Egypt or the deserts of South America. Mummification can be more invasive, including removing the blood and major organs to ensure removal of moisture from the corpse. With a more “modern” twist, the corpse can be embalmed, and the process of embalming prevents the decay of the corpse. Would a culture practicing some form of mummification display the deceased for all time? Sort of like Lenin on display in Moscow?

If the culture is a high magic one, or was in ancient times, how many liches are there? According to the AD&D Monster Manual, a lich is at least an 18th level magic user, or a magic user/cleric. If archmages were relatively “common” at some point, how many of them would be of the alignment and mindset to become a lich? Such powerful creatures would be rare and placed carefully. I have an idea for my campaign where the players can find an ancient wizard’s lab with an experiment incomplete, that if they fiddle with it, will complete the process for a long dead wizard to become a lich.

Would players find signs of a vampire infestation where burials involved decapitation, staking, etc?

All known religions or lack thereof, have some form of dealing with the remains of the dead and a ceremonial way to say goodbye to deliver the remains to a final resting place. One need not get too detailed with this, but a bit of thought to how each major group processes their dead will add a bit of flavor to help it come alive for the players.

[Updated] Alternatives to burial:

  • Burial at sea
  • Funerary cannibalism
  • Cremation
  • Excarnation (removing the flesh from the bones)
  • Hanging coffins
  • Sky burial (placing on a mountain top)

See also: Disposal of Human Corpses

RPGs

Day 6 F is for Farmers and Feeding

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F – Farmers/Feeding

Any sizable population needs to eat. There is limited potential to grow food within the city, unless there is a very regimented layout and everyone has access to garden space. There will be farmland nearby, or within easy shipping distance.

For example, when Rome conquered Egypt, they did so in part, to control the grain from Egypt – it was the bread basket for Rome with shipments about three days out from Rome, as I recall. Unseasonable storms and shipwrecks of grain shipments that caused a delay would lead to unrest. The grain ships were the size of the large shipping vessels of later centuries, many with two or three masts. Something not commonly mentioned in school. [I can’t seem to find the book I have where I read about this, and don’t recall the title.]

Cattle or other herds used for meat would also need to be close. Unless salted or cured, meat would not keep long. Thus there would be a market where livestock is slaughtered and the leather makers get the hides, the butchers get the meat, and the glue makers get the bones. There are other groups related to animal slaughter, such as drovers, herdsmen, stockyards, etc. Typically, animals were most often kept for their value in helping to plow or harvest, or the ability to harvest their wool or hair. Meat tended to be a rare part of a peasant’s diet, other than fish or fowl, most meat would be a rabbit or squirrel.

For a collapsed city, the remnants of surrounding farms and the stockyards and slaughter operations would be evident. Small hamlets where the farmers and resident smiths and carpenters and wainwrights lived to support an area of farmland. The module The Village of Hommlet is a farming hamlet with many adherents to druidical teachings and a decent level druid to lead the flock with a holy grove in the center of town, and a low level assistant. What kind of bonuses would such a farming community have to their output with druids around? They would easily have a surplus for sale or trade.

It is important to keep in mind that a portion of crops had to be kept back for planting the next year. Any famine that caused them to resort to eating their seeds for the next year’s planting would be devastating. If this happens, how far do they have to travel to get seeds for next year’s crops? In some areas, this could force a mass migration to get to an area where seed was available for planting.

Surplus grain that wasn’t sold is easily converted to beer. If fermentation is known in your world, the first step in making whisky is to make beer. The grains left after the beer making stage can be used for animal feed. Agrarian societies tended to use all they could and minimize waste.

My mother once told me that she asked her mother what she missed about living on the farm, where my grandmother grew up. My grandmother answered, “Fried blood.” That sounds really gross to me. I have no idea how it was prepared. I have an image of an iron skillet on a wood or gas stove, with cooking oil (lard) and adding blood from the latest beef or hog slaughter. For all I know, it might have been mixed with flour or cornmeal.

Farms will be on land that drains well, so land that floods every year after planting time will not be planted. Bottom land that floods unpredictably might be planted as it is today, but unless they have discovered marine cement like the ancient Romans, and use lots of labor or lots of magic to build flood control levies, the rivers will change course and flood far and wide. Just read about the floods in the 1930’s and 40’s that lead the Army Corps of Engineers to implement flood control with dams and levies to stabilize the course of the major rivers.

There are many kinds of natural disasters that can lead to crop failure:

  • Floods (Unless it is something like the annual flooding of the Nile to deposit silt. That is required for a decent crop in that arid climate.)
  • Droughts
  • Hail (after the crop has sprouted)
  • Frost (on tree buds or sprouted crops)
  • Unseasonable Temperatures (Extremes of cold delay planting or slow growth, and heat burns up plants even with plentiful water.*)
  • Naturally occurring disease or blight
  • Naturally occurring insect swarms or overabundance of crop pests (Without insecticides expect worms in apples, etc.)
  • Disease among the horses, mules, oxen, or whatever plow animal predominates, reducing the volume of land made ready to plant, if it comes before or during plowing.
  • Disease among farm workers during the time for plowing, planting, watering, or harvesting.

Unnatural occurrences affecting crops:

  • Invading Armies Burn Crops
  • Rampaging Monsters Uproot/Dig Up/Pull Up/Burn/Freeze/Etc.
  • Rampaging Monsters go after farmers and livestock.
  • Divine Intervention at the behest of the evil big bad, or some good big good.
  • Area druids, clerics, and magic users coming together to save crops, if they’re the good guys, or destroy them if they’re bad guys or at war with a nation.
  • Any natural disease can be caused by an evil cleric.

There are lots of simple engineering projects that ancient civilizations used that might be evident in your campaign. 

  • Terraces (Hilly or mountainous terrain will use terraces for flat area for growing crops. Only the sheerest of cliffs will not have a terrace. The Incas had impressive terraces in the Andes.)
  • Irrigation Canals (Long distance transport can be 20 feet deep and 50 feet wide. Smaller branches to agricultural lands will be shallower and narrower, until there is a ditch perhaps 2 or 3 feet deep and as much wide that is tapped to let water onto the fields.)
    • Irrigation canals could tie into navigation canals, if it would not limit the effectiveness of the navigation canal.
  • Aqueducts could carry water to hard to reach farmland.

Manure and composted vegetable matter would be the primary fertilizer. Manure was usually reserved for the gardens near farms. In your game, you might have cart loads or wagon loads of manure hauled from the king’s stables to the royal gardens or royal fields.

Every farmhouse will have a garden for herbs and vegetables for the farm family, and surplus for sale. Are there root cellars to keep fruits and vegetables cool and dry into the winter? What methods of preserving fruits and vegetables exist? The most basic is sun drying. Lay out on some sort of cloth or tarp slices of thicker fruit to dry. Smaller fruit, like grapes are laid out whole and dried for raisins, and plumbs for prunes. My last great-grand aunt (my grandfather’s youngest aunt) lived into her 90’s, when I was in my early 20’s. She would lay out a cloth on her bed covered with apple slices and open the curtains to dry them.

Ice houses could exist in areas where it freezes or near mountains. Until the development of mechanical refrigeration, ice would be harvested from lakes and ponds and put in underground ice houses. Dirt, sand, clay, and straw were used to maintain a steady temperature. Ice was able to be kept into the summer months. Toss in a wizard who can make a wall of ice and you have a year round deep freeze, or an air conditioner.

Cheese making is an early technology. Milk from any animal will not keep long without refrigeration and pasteurizing. The best long term storage of milk is to make cheese. Cheese properly sealed in wax will keep for centuries. Butter is related to cheese making. It can last several weeks if it doesn’t get too hot for too long.

Are there beekeepers? Without beekeepers, honey would be more rare and expensive, since it would all be wild honey. This would make mead non-existent to very rare. Honey does not rot, if it dries out just add water and heat it. I have an idea for giant bees being used for an apiary. Perhaps giants would use such bees.

Is the process of pickling known? You can’t have pickles without this. Nearly anything can be pickled, including meat.

Canning was not discovered until the late 1700’s  or early 1800’s. Napoleon funded early efforts at canning to help feed his army. Home canning using Mason jars is not that old. Would the quality of glass and pressure cookers be available to support canning? I don’t see that in my fantasy RPG, but if it works for you, go for it.

Is crop rotation practiced or known? It depends on the degree of realism in your game. Hand wave it unless it serves as a plot point, is my opinion. In the Medieval period crop rotation was letting land lie fallow, unused, for a season or two to renew itself. It was not until much later that it was realized that some crops used up certain things in the soil and other crops put it back. The prime example is corn (maize) using nitrogen and legumes, like peanuts or beans fixing nitrogen in the soil.

Giant or miniature animals.

In a fantasy setting what effect would there be on agriculture if giant or miniature versions of farm animals were used by human sized races? Huge horses and oxen could plow more land and give more manure. However, larger animals require more feed. Miniature as in the fantasy miniature animals could be used to plow gardens or small terraces. Specialized fruits and vegetables might require either giant or miniature animals in the planting for harvest. An extravagant ruler might delight in having miniature horses plow his personal garden for his own table. Of course, halflings would tend to use smaller animals and giants that planted would use giant horses.

Finally, a website I discovered in early March, Lost Kingdom, has many interesting articles on how medieval life can inform fantasy RPGs. I already mentioned The Porcelain Argument in a blog posting last month.

“Surplus food allows cities, trade and a large standing military – all the characteristics of a formidable nation.” From The Porcelain Argument at Lost Kingdom.

Various types of medieval farming implements are discussed here, at Lost Kingdom. I added a note to their article: “The development of the horse collar enabled the move to horses and mules for plowing. The collar distributed the weight on the horse and did not constrict its trachea, and gave it 50% greater capacity to work. The horse then could work more hours than an ox. This lead to the horse replacing the ox in many agricultural areas of Europe.” See Wikipedia.

The Lost Kingdom also has an excellent article on the Farming Year. One thing this article did not mention was pollarding. It was a system of pruning trees for either animal fodder, called pollard hay, or for wood, usually used for staves and poles. Since pollarded trees tend to live longer, I can see druids being in favor of this form of tree harvest.

* Three years ago we had extreme heat and I kept my garden watered. Most of it burnt up, but my pumpkins and squash went crazy.

RPGs

Day 5 E is for Entrances & Exits

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E – Entrances & Exits – gates, sewers, streams, rivers, etc.

There are many ways into and out of a city besides the gates. Think like a thief or assassin, or an intelligent or hungry monster. How to get in or out without being noticed, or without consequences?

Any opening in the walls, or over or under the walls, is a potential entrance or exit.

Rivers, streams, harbors, aqueducts, sewers, hidden doors, sally ports, and so forth.

If there is a blind spot on the wall between towers that a thief can climb over, the thieves guild will know about it.

If there is a subterranean connection to the cisterns or sewers, the thieves guild would know about it – unless there is no current connection. Or it could have something nasty, so the thieves guild knows about it, but can’t use it. Perhaps the thieves guild could hire a party of newcomers to go after the whateveritis under the guise of a merchant having a problem. The gold paid to adventurers to avoid risking guild members’ necks would pay for itself, if the adventurers are successful, and it opens up a new smuggling route.

News stories in recent years about underground cities being found during renovations in different towns in Turkey, give an idea to the type of things that can be discovered in an area that has been inhabited for thousands of years. In RPG’s this has an interesting twist by having many fantasy or science fiction races and their different activities setting the stage for events and discoveries in the current era of the game. The well-known concept that the truth is stranger than fiction is a wonderful source of ideas for constructing and modifying your cities, and other aspects of your game world.

Be creative and determine connections that are only partly known. What if a well used smuggling route suddenly opens up to an unknown cave complex after an earthquake, and the route is blocked by something bad. Or what if the something bad is smart and strikes up an alliance with the smugglers/thieves guild?

Is there a magical device to allow or control entrance into or out of the city? That is, is magical entrance and egress from the city blocked or controlled to only allow those with the right device to do so?

Known and Unknown Entrances & Exits

  • The city authorities can only control the things they know about, and have power to control.
    • If they know about teleportation, it does not mean they have the means to block it.
    • A forgotten portion of the sewer system may not have any bars or gates, or any form of patrol.
  • Likewise, the thieves guild and other shadowy groups can only exploit the things they know about, and have the power or ability to exploit it.
    • The leader of the thieves guild knows there is an excellent route into and out of the city, but there is a group of trolls down there, so they can’t use it.
    • Bribes and threats to a guard’s family may be better than trying to be sneaky and avoid paying or risking a fight with the town guards.

Types of Entrances & Exits 

  • Gates
  • Sewers/Drains
  • Rivers/Creeks/Streams/Harbors
  • Aquaducts
  • Bridges (Why go on top of the bridge, when you can walk on the bottom?)
  • Catacombs
  • Caves/Caverns (Connecting to Sewers, Rivers, Catacombs, Dungeons, Cellars, etc.)
  • Blind Spots between towers
  • Hidden Doors/Sally Ports (Wealthy persons along the wall may have a clandestine method of passage unknown to the city authorities.)
  • Air (Magical Flying Devices, Flying Creatures.)
  • Magical Entrance (Spells like Teleport or Gate, Teleportation Rooms, or Devices for magical transit of space.)

Means To Control Entrances & Exits

  • Guards
  • Tolls
  • Rules/Laws Governing Entrance
  • Mundane: Signs/Doors/Gates/Bars/Moats/Drawbridges/Portcullises/Murder Holes/Arrow Slits/Barricades/Pavises/Pits/Cauldrons/Mantlets/Etc.
  • Magical: Continual Light, Detection Spells, Glyphs of Warding, Protection Spells, and Special Devices to block teleportation, for example.
  • Patrols: Regular or Staggered Intervals. Irregular and infrequent patrols may be the same as non-existent if they are only once or twice a year.
    • The frequency of patrols is something the thieves’ guild will know well. The neighborhoods of the rich and powerful will usually have more frequent and larger patrols than the less well-to-do areas of the city. Areas where there has been recent trouble may have a show of force with large and frequent patrols until things go back to “normal”.
  • Other

Make a list of how normal and illicit access to the city occurs. If you have a map, note it on the map, or have a “cheat sheet” to remind you of these things.

RPGs

Day 4 D is for Dungeons

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D – Dungeons/prison, jail

Any large city will have a means to imprison law breakers and trouble makers.

A large enough city might have district jails for local/petty crimes, and a main prison for major crimes.

A prison could be an above ground structure, such as an island in the middle of a harbor with a tower.

It could also be a dungeon under the governor’s palace.

Some prisons can be intentionally imposing structures with a design aimed at intimidation and fear. Perhaps stone lions that come to life when there is a prison break. Maybe they have gargoyles that are bound to serve the warden. Jet black stone construction of sheer walls of an unusual height, with towers and battlements, and big, mean, tough guards on patrol. Magical wards to prevent magical ingress or egress, rooms with detect lie, or perhaps just the interrogation chair has that ability, so that the interrogators can lie. Huge banners flying with the insignia of the prison.

Are there pits where the worst prisoners are just dumped and forgotten, like a series of oubliettes?

Depending on how “nice” the government is, there could be shackles on the walls, torture chambers, a gallows or chopping block.

Some types of crimes might warrant putting someone in stocks in the local square. Public shaming was a formal type of punishment that lasted into colonial times in North America.

Is there a secret police? If so, do they wear a uniform so that everyone knows who they are, and fear them and listen to them out of fear?

Is there a standard uniform for constables? Does the city guard perform all policing functions? Is there a difference between the city guard and the army? In the Wednesday night online AD&D game I play in, one city we spent time in has different districts of the town controlled by different factions. Each faction has their own city guard for their area. It is sort of a miniature confederacy in the same city.

Are there any magical items to aid in enforcement? Are there any spell casters involved in policing? Is spell casting banned?

Are their hounds or other types of creatures, perhaps magical, or other worldly used to track down fugitives?

What does the judicial system look like? Are you guilty merely by being caught, or are their judges and/or a trial? Do punishments consist of monetary fines, or cutting off body parts? Is slavery or indentured servitude part of the system?

Are there rules that “everybody” knows, unless you’re an outsider, but you are still expected to know? Is “The Law” chiseled into a monument, or kept in a large scroll somewhere?

Is exile an option? Is such exile at one’s own expense, or are you shipped off to a penal colony? The ancient Athenian version of exile was ostracism. So named because they wrote the person’s name on bits of broken pottery, an ostraka, plural ostrakon. The person was banished for ten years, and thus was “temporary”.

A city with a strong bent to lawfulness will tend to have a consistent way of handling crimes. Do racial issues come into play? Do humans and dwarves get along, for example?

Is the justice system fair for all who live there?

What about adventurers just passing through?

If this is a ruined city, what are the signs left behind of the justice system? Prisoners still on the rack? A pile of bones from the last hanging? Will undead of unjustly condemned prisoners lurk about these places?

In March, 2014 I published an article on districts or quarters of a city.

RPGs

Day 3 C is for College of Magic

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In my campaign, the ancients were more advanced in their use of magic. This was supported by the Collegium of Mages. Each ancient city had its own college of magic that was a way for weeding out the bad apples and ensuring that the wisest and most skilled wizards powers were put to good use.

When civilization collapsed, those ancient halls became a dangerous place for all but the most intrepid or foolish of adventurers. That’s where all the good stuff is!

How does a current city in a high magic setting handle the organization or lack there of of its wizards?

For a fallen city, what kinds of things might there be found in the haunts of wizards?

In addition to magical devices, like weapons, armor, wands, ring, etc. there could be rooms, statues, golems, familiars, imps, homonculi, trapped creatures, magical traps, and many other kinds of things to make going their both interesting and dangerous.

What kinds of experiments might be found there?

Would lanterns or other devices with continual light or continual darkness be common in such a place?

Would there be special devices, phrases, or other means to safely access these areas?

In my campaign, there are different levels of amulets that enable the wearer to enter such areas, in addition to showing their rank.

Would a geas be placed on the unwary to get some item needed to restore the guards and wards making it harder to get in?

All magic users and illusionists had copper or bronze medallions that were non-magical and merely showed one as a member of the Collegium. As the medallion tarnished or aged, one knew their skill level was advanced. Much like the black belt derived from the accumulation of dirt and grime on the belt.

At the level of Wizard, 11th level, the wizard received a silver amulet, gold for Mages at 16th level, and platinum for Archmages at 18th level.

RPGs

Day 2 B is for Boats

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B – Boats/docks

Further related to water are boats and docks.

If a stream or river goes through a town, there will be traffic of some kind if they are navigable. Traffic that will either use the water for a road, or traffic over the water via a bridge, causeway, or ford.

Larger bodies of water will support ships and lead to a need for docks, landings, wharves, dry docks, cranes, shipwrights, boat wrights, carpenters, sail makers, net makers for fishermen, military docks for the navy, longshoremen/dockworkers, sailors, navigators, captains, admirals, taverns, fishmongers, markets, etc.

If there is navigable water nearby, it will have some effect on a city. Even if a few days ride away, trade from some places will be quicker by water to the closest point. This will lead to a town that is the docks for the city and then there will be roads from there to the city.

Canals can be either a constructed or a natural part of a city. For example, Venice is constructed in an area of low land and the canals have been used for the benefits of defense and transport.

Constructed canals would connect rivers to each other, or perhaps the sea. An extravagant city could have canals that are part of a moat system and rely on rainwater or the sea to keep it filled.

A city with extensive canals would have lots of docks and bridges or walkways to connect buildings. Cities with canals would have lots of boats for transportation of both goods and people. Would their be gondolas for hire that are polled, rowed, or towed? Would their be only one kind of power to these boats, or a mixture? Would magic be involved in powering boats?

Boats take many different sizes and shapes, from a crude log to a kayak, canoe, rowboat, barge, raft, flatboat, galleys, longboats, and sailing ships. Sails can be found on boats and ships of all sizes.

 

RPGs

Day 1 A is for Aqueducts

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A – Aqueducts/pipes/fountains/cisterns/wells/artesian wells/water towers/flood control basins/drains/Archimedes Screw/Dippers/Reservoirs

Without water to drink, a city cannot arise. There won’t be more than a large village or small town without plentiful water.

A few collected homes can manage with a nearby stream, river, or lake that does not run dry.

More reliable sources of water to avoid the problems of drought will result in wells, cisterns, rain barrels, or other means of collecting and accessing water.

The climate will affect water supply. For a large city to arise in an arid or desert region, even more water is needed to offset evaporation, or technology is needed to minimize evaporation. Unless the desert conditions developed after the city existed, and are part of the reason the city became abandoned, some consideration for this needs to be addressed in planning your city.

Except for a bunch of clerics using create water there would need to be a consistent and reliable source of water. Assume 1 gallon per person per day. And at least one gallon per animal per day. In an arid environment, drought resistant animals, like camels would be the long-haul beast of burden.

Fountains were used to make water available to the masses in the ancient world. The people would go to the fountain to collect water in jars each day.

Public and private baths. What is the cities cleanliness culture? How much water is required?

Rain cachement from runoff from roofs to underground cisterns. Such man-made or artificially enlarged caves/caverns easily make a dungeon.

Tera cotta roof tiles with terra cota drain pipes indicate a need for an industry in or near the city or easily shipped to the city from elsewhere.

Pipes or pipelike structures to aid and direct the flow of water would be well maintained in an inhabited city.

The city watch, any military outposts/castle/barracks, and the city government and leading class would have greater and more secure access to water.

Disruption of the water supply following an earthquake or other natural disaster, war, monster incursion, or “innocent” activities of player characters would result in unrest from mere grumbling to riots or organized revolt, depending on the mindset of the populace. Could some such action be the cause for the downfall of the city?

Water in excess is also bad. If there is sufficient rainfall to result in flooding of the city, rain cachement basins and storm drains to direct flood waters away from the populace would be present. Coastal cities could be subject to storm surges, tidal waves, and hurricanes. How much excess water can a city handle? Seawater and storm debris in the drinking water is not good. Usually the underground portions of aqueducts were only a few feet high and normally the water ran about half that height. Cisterns could be simple stone or cement lined pits to massive cavernous chambers like the Basilica Cistern of Constantinople that still exists in Istanbul today.

Would a sufficiently advanced magical civilization bind water elementals or other water based creatures to ensuring the continuation of the water supply? Similarly, earth elementals could be put to use in construction of passages through mountains and hills. Also wizards could do their public service using dig, rock to mud, or mud to rock, move earth, wall of stone, etc.

My campaign is a low magic setting, that is, the heights of magical creation and invention are in the past, but such past objects can still be found.

Whether a city is abandoned or not, water weirds and other water based creatures could be trapped in fountains, wells, or cisterns, or live there voluntarily.

Wells and cisterns make a good place to hide or lose something valuable. What if the party is hired to go retrieve a lost item in one of the wells or cisterns and discovers an entire under city full of adventure.

What does the local thieves/assassins guild know about the water system and any connection to an illicit trade route or a black market ran through the under city.

The water supply is separate from the sewer system. I will deal with sewers in a later posting in this series. The water supply is “clean”. What penalties would the party incur for contaminating the water supply? What if they or another actor/group cause the sewer system to flow into the water supply?

In a desert or arid region, there would be severe penalties for compromising or adversely affecting the water supply. In a region where there is less issues keeping the supply going, it would take much more to cause a problem, unless it is an authoritarian regime, or strict bureaucracy where it matters. Of course, anything to mess with the players is always fun!

In a desert or arid region, settlements might develop near oases, and oases would guide trade routes.

Water is also a source of power for mills.

Rivers, streams, lakes, seas, and oceans are also sources of food. Swamps and marshes have a surplus of water making the ground of little utility for settlements or farming. How does water and its surplus or scarcity inform existing and abandoned settlements?

Information on various ancient water technologies for further reading below:

Roman aqueducts supplied public baths, latrines, fountains and private households. Aqueducts also provided water for mining operations, milling, farms and gardens.

Fountains were originally purely functional, connected to springs or aqueducts and used to provide drinking water and water for bathing and washing to the residents of cities, towns and villages. Until the 19th century they operated by gravity.

The Nabateans of Petra had a sophisticated collection of desert based water technology. More on Nabateans with lots of pictures.

Iran – desert water transportation – Qanat – a series of underground connected wells that transports water over a distance. Can be used for cooling and ice storage.

The reservoirs for qanats were an anbars.

Persians had ice houses (evaporative coolers)  and Wind catchers for cooling.

Ancient Water Technologies Website

Cisterns

Wells specific to fortifications are Castle Wells.

Water well

Artesian Well: A water well under positive pressure.

Irrigation tools: Shadoof

Sakia or Persian Wheel

Archimedes’ Screw

Chain Pump 

Scoop Wheel – Similar to a water wheel, but works the opposite. A water wheel is water powered, but a scoop wheel is an engine powered by a windmill.

Windmill: can be used for grinding grain or draining wetlands for agriculture.

Water Mill

A type of water mill is the tide mill that uses the flow of tides rather than a river or stream.

Horse Mill: Can be used for any milling purpose, but most often grinding grain or pumping water.

Wishing Well

Fighting fires: The ancient Romans had the vigiles. They had a fire engine that was a double action pump. Until the advent of canvass wrapped rubber hose, fire hoses were made of leather with brass fittings. The first firehoses were developed in 1673, but brass rivets and brass connectors would not be outside the technology level of a fantasy world.

Saltern – Area for making salt.

[UPDATE] – I was reading an article about using the Byzantine Empire as a model for a campaign setting, and it referenced the Valens Aqueduct. It gives some information on water storage in Constantinople that is very impressive.

Following various threads, as I am wont to do when reading Wikipedia, I read of Constantinople’s three historic open air cisterns, Cistern of Mocius, Cistern of Aetius, and Cistern of Aspar, and the millions of gallons of water they allowed. These were open air cisterns built of brick and stone, not like the underground Basilica Cistern mentioned above.

[UPDATE: April 18, 2016 – I was reading an article about the puquios of Nazca, Peru, a pre-colonial water collection system. Wind goes down a spiral hole in the ground to help raise water from the ground.]

RPGs

2015 A to Z Challenge Theme Reveal – Cities/Cities As Ruins/Cities As Megadungeons

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Initially, I was struggling with the idea of a theme for this year’s A to Z Blogging Challenge. Last year I just picked a topic that fit the letter for that day and went with it. Then I remembered my half started project to help me deal with cities, ruined cities, and my thoughts that a large city was in many ways equivalent to a megadungeon. Indeed, a ruined city is but the surface level of a megadungeon.

I will be fleshing out general ideas and ideas for tables, and on-the-fly information for navigating a large city or ruin without advance preparation, or with a set base of preparation, like a map and a general idea of where the different quarters are, etc. Planning a ruined city relies on planning one that is inhabited, the only difference is that a ruined city needs a reason for why it is now in ruins.

This project is as much a tool to help me as it is to share my insights with others.

I will reference past articles on some of these topics. Some information I may have previously only collected information and not yet made an article. I wrote at least a rough outline of each article and have them scheduled to post. I have been going back to each one and adding, revising, cross linking, and otherwise trying to improve them. So far, I don’t have as many tables as I initially envisioned, but I do have many lists I will work to develop tables or clean up for a list of ideas on various topics. Since this topic is so much on my mind of late, I am linking to posts that have come up and continue to be published by others. One relatively new blog, Lost Kingdom, has coincidentally, published articles that tie very well into mine, and I link to their articles for more details. Trying to find the time to read all of their past articles is a challenge, but well worth the effort.

Building a city for an RPG, whether a living city, or a fallen, ancient one, requires thinking it through and populating it in a pattern that fits. Not everyone needs this level of detail to guide them in creating their cities. I often just determine that there are so many of this or that business and don’t worry about a map. This project is for improving the level of preparation by creating a sort of checklist to touch on, to help DM’s that aren’t so good at spur of the moment to have some ideas to help with improvising their cities.

I look forward to feedback and ideas to fill in gaps.

There will be new tables for some things, and my detailed slant on how to build cities/ruined cities. Of course, in the A to Z Challenge format, it won’t be a complete system, but will contain points and questions to ponder for anyone developing a city. Some of these ideas will translate into building cities for any genre of RPG.

I will quote myself from my Post-Con Write Up of Marmalade Dog 20 and a relevant conversation I had with Adam Muszkiewicz:

When Adam and I were talking the topic of random tables and drop tables and all the dice tables came up. I mentioned that I am slowly crafting an all the dice type table to help me generate area of an ancient “abandoned” city for houses, building, and other features. Adam pointed me to a display at Roy’s booth for Metal Gods of Ur-Hadad, Winter 2014, Issue #1. Pages 10 and 11 have a neighborhood generator, and pages 12 and 13 have a gang generator. The neighborhood generator has a lot of ideas that I am looking for so I bought it.

I am going to enjoy this!

All my posts on megadungeons, and cities.

I also have a list of those RPG bloggers that used the (GA) tag on the A to Z Sign Up Page. I didn’t have time to look for those that didn’t use a tag, so if you want to be on my list, just let me know your number on the sign up list. My list, 2015 A TO Z CHALLENGE – RPG BLOGGERS, is on the right side of my blog under the A To Z Challenge logo.

[UPDATE] I went to each of the RPG blogs signed up for this year’s challenge, and only a couple of them appear to be participating in the theme reveal, so I wait, as do all of us until perhaps later today, or April 1st, when the posts begin.

[UPDATE 2] Here is a link to the List of Those Signed up for the April, 2014 A to Z blogging challenge.

RPGs

Slower Signups by RPG Bloggers to this Year’s A to Z Challenge

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For last year’s A to Z Challenge I made a group of links of RPG bloggers that signed up for the 2014 A to Z Challenge. There were a lot of them, twenty-one by my count.

So far, there are nine RPG bloggers, counting me, signed up for the 2015 challenge. Will there be a slew of last minute sign ups, or will the trickle until the deadline be it?

I can see that this is not for everyone.

I find it a good way to get the creative juices flowing as it forces you to think. Coming up with a coherent theme even more of a challenge. As with the rest of my blogging, I use it to share my ideas, and to gather and organize ideas for my campaign(s).

Players don’t always appreciate or get to see all the details. Blogging helps to get the ideas out there and to distill them to the bare essentials needed for presentation in actual play.

Also four years of college note taking and three years of grad school note taking ruined my handwriting. If I’m not careful when I write, even I can’t read it. I used to get A’s in penmanship. So typing makes it easier for me to go back and read what I wrote.  :/