The Great Antarctic Hexcrawl pt. 7c - The City of Jouissance (& Cities in General)
St. Weirlund's Folly, my stocking procedure test site, has its regional capital at hex 261-269. I've been naming the regional capitals by whim & this one's called 'Jouissance'.
What Do I Even Want from A City?
City adventures in D&D-type games are a big old can of worms, and, to be terribly honest, not really something I want to wade into -- with a setting this gigantic, adding another dimension of potential adventures would detract from the effort I'm putting into into hexes and dungeons. Thus, I envision the cities as havens from which one can explore a prefecture.1 They don't need to be 'deep', but they should be distinct.
Furthermore, since there's only one city per 300-400 hexes, players won't run into them very often. I'm more willing to go light on the random generation and do mapping & fleshing-out by hand if the need somehow arises.
So for my 'minimum viable city' I came up with the following elements:
- 'Spark table'-like adjectives to give a rough vibe for the place (e.g. 'squalid', 'bustling', 'sleepy' or 'traditional')
- A couple of defining architectural features (e.g. 'arches', 'colonnades', 'canals', 'lavish gardens', 'antennae') -- stuff to give the city a distinct mental image without laborious description
- A list of what shrines/temples are available (this is relevant because in Archons & Armigers, hierodule characters can guarantee that a particular god's blessing will appear in their random draw by praying at a shrine)
- A list of 3-6 points of interest, like guilds, arenas, libraries, power plants, thaumaturgical academies, etc. It's another hook to give a city personality, and if needed I can expand these into keyed entries.2
- The city's core commerce center (e.g. 'agora', 'flea market', 'general store').
- A sentence about how the city is ruled, and from where (so I know what to describe if/when players seek out an authority figure).
- Any complications that could affect the core gameplay loop (e.g. weapons banned, gratuitous taxes, magic illegal, etc.). The AD&D DMG has a great section on ways to nickel-and-dime players and while I don't want to get quite as elaborate as Gary I do want to make the world a bit more difficult & unfair for players.3
Tables
These use my janky Perchance-clone formatting. These will grow over time; my complications list is especially lacking right now.
To generate a city:
[City_adjective] and [City_adjective], known for its [City_architecture] and [City_architecture]. [City_temple_situation]. Notable points of interest include [City_POI_situation]. Most commerce occurs at the [Commerce_center]. [City_rulership_situation]. [City_complication]. Travelers can find accomodation at the [City_accomodation].
And the tables referenced above:
>>City_temple_situation
There is a single cathedral dedicated to [Icosidyadic_god]
There is a temple to [Icosidyadic_god] and a temple to [Icosidyadic_god]
There is a cathedral to [Icosidyadic_god] and smaller shrines to [Icosidyadic_god], [Icosidyadic_god], and [Icosidyadic_god]
There are shrines to [Icosidyadic_god], [Icosidyadic_god], [Icosidyadic_god], and [Icosidyadic_god]
>>City_POI_situation
[City_poi], [City_poi], and [City_poi]
[City_poi], [City_poi], [City_poi], and [City_poi]
[City_poi], [City_poi], [City_poi], [City_poi], and [City_poi]
[City_poi], [City_poi], [City_poi], [City_poi], [City_poi], and [City_poi]
>>City_rulership_situation
Ruled from {a lavish palace|a mouldering keep|a modest mansion|a decadent manor|afar} by House [Exultant_house]
The city council meets in {a dusty rathaus|an open-air ampitheater|a rotating selection of private homes|a mouldering keep|a lofty assembly hall}
Governance decisions are made by an ancient administrative mainframe
The city is 'ruled' from an ominous central tower from which instructions are occasionally dispatched
The city was recently conquered by the Warlord [Name_warlord] who rules from {a camp outside the walls|a palace formerly belonging to House [Exultant_house]}
>>City_complication
All weapons are illegal here, not just firearms
A [25-75] percent tax is levied on all treasure sales
Thaumagurges are banned from entering
Cyberians are banned from entering
Lemures are banned from entering
A fee of [5-100] besants is required to obtain an entry permit
{Armigers|Hierodules|Thaumaturges|Cyberians|Lemures|Non-humans} must pay double the nightly fee at any inn
And the list of specific things:
>>City_adjective
Squalid
Colorful
Sleepy
Electric
Ramshackle
Stately
Bustling
Repressed
Decadent
Geriatric
Youthful
Banners
Bastion
Mechanical
Teeming
Depopulated
Orderly
Crooked
Erudite
Boisterous
Culinary
Striated
Sepulchural
Secretive
Declining
Ascending
Sprawling
Towering
Well-planned
Efficient
Clean
Treelined
Shady
Aglow
Polluted
Abandoned
Sacked
Micromanaged
Exploited
Extorted
Rebellious
Aloft
>>City_architecture
arches
canals
spires
district built from a ruined [Ruin_type]
many antennae
domes
stained glass windows
[Color] and [Color] awnings
[Color] and [Color] banners
colonnades
[Exultant_villa_adjective] fountains
surveillance system
[Exultant_villa_adjective] gardens
[Demihuman] minority
[Monolith_material] buildings
gargoyles
brick buildings
tree-lined streets
balconies
>>City_poi
a colosseum
an arena
a library
a university
a [Lab_type] laboratory
a slum
a weapons manufactory
an animal breeder
a cosmodrome
a fulgrinator's guild
a philosopher's guild
a broadcast brotherhood shrine to [Orbital_angels]
a warehouse district
a barracks
a manor district
a foreign quarter
a theatre
a vincula
an agrodome
a wind farm
a hospital
a sanatorium
a pitchblend pile
a bathhouse
an agora
a botanical Garden
a thaumaturgical academy
an aqueduct
a plaza
a renowned restaurant serving cuisine from [Region]
a junkyard
a colossal statue of [Statue_of]
>>Commerce_center
Open plaza with market stalls
Rows of windowed shops
Enormous centralized warehouse
Chaotic open-air bazaar
Indoor flea market
Seedy black market alley
Archo-Mart
General store
>>City_accomodation
Caravansarai for [5-45] numens per night
Tea house for [30-100] numens per night
Coffee house for [20-145] numens per night
Tavern for [5-45] numens per night
Inn for [15-85] numens per night
Hostel for [1-25] numens per night
Motel for [5-45] numens per night
Spa resort for [5-20] besants per night
[City_accomodation] or [City_accomodation]
Jouissance
For the capital of Weirlund's folly, I generated the following (lightly edited):
Treelined and Teeming, known for its silver metal buildings and canals. There are shrines to Rilya, St. Alanthe, THE BOUNDLESS COSMOS, and Vestia. Notable points of interest include a bathhouse, a philosopher's guild, a foreign quarter, an aqueduct, and a university. Most commerce occurs at an open plaza with market stalls. The city was recently conquered by the Warlord Krang the Cacogen who rules from a palace formerly belonging to House Solaris. A 51 percent tax is levied on all treasure sales. Travelers can find accomodation at the Motel for 17 numens per night or the other Motel for 35 numens per night.
I'm picturing a beautiful, futuristic, quasi-utopian city where gondoliers trawl canals lined with tall, ancient sycamores. Elegant metallic buildings are encrusted with a venerable patina. Given the name and the presence of the bathhouse, philosopher's guild, and university, I imagine Jouissance is a hotspot for libertine intellectuals.
How has Krang's conquest affected daily life in the city? Will he bring ruin, or will he be assimilated into the erudite culture of the metropole?
'City' per Antibor's fictional conceits specifically refers to a large walled settlement of the Alabastrine culture that 'governs' a 300-400 hex prefecture. There are other settlements & villages out there, with their own assumptions and rules.↩
In general, since most cities are assumed to be big, if a type of feature isn't listed as a POI it's the most generic version of its type. A city with 'library' as a POI will have a grand library with many rare & special books where players have a decent chance of learning useful lore; a normal city without a library POI might still have a library but only for municipal records or something.↩
I think this also is a way to manifest a sense of 'deep time' where traditions have stagnated and become arbitrary -- drawing some inspiration from Titus Groan here.↩