Interesting city locations

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I've used a city set on top of a messa and a city hidden in the
twistings of a canyon. What other nteresting places have people put cities?
Ken
 
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> I've used a city set on top of a messa and a city hidden in the
> twistings of a canyon. What other nteresting places have people put cities?
> Ken

There's always the ye old floating city in the clouds. Could put one in a
sea of magma... Could put one on top of a giant geyser (or series of
geysers) that rises up as the geyser(s) erupt. Perhaps tilting as the
geysers erupt at different levels. Delicately balanced atop a narrow
spire. Perched below a mountain that is floating above the city.
 
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In article <1vadnaY9X8TWWQ7fRVn-hw@rogers.com>, Ken Vale <k3nv4l3@r0g3r5.com>
wrote:

> I've used a city set on top of a messa and a city hidden in the
> twistings of a canyon. What other nteresting places have people put cities?

Under the Arabian Desert, and the under the snow at the South Pole. There's also
one at the center of the Earth, but my PCs never made it that far - damn their
oily hides! 🙂
 
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Lots of interesting places over the years. Two of the more interesting
were (1) slightly out of phase with the rest of the world so that there
were entry and passage of time effects and (2) at the nexus of the
entries to several outer planes. (This was about ten years before TSR
made it cool to think about a town with lots of gateways in it.)

In service,

Rich
http://www.drgames.org
 
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Ken Vale wrote:
> I've used a city set on top of a messa and a city hidden in the
> twistings of a canyon. What other nteresting places have people put cities?

I've used gigantic creatures in some of my city building.
One was built in and among the bones of what seemed to
be a huge dragon, one with ribs that stretched upwards
for miles. Another was built on the back of a mile-long
whale that always swam at the surface. A jungle
civilization built their towns in the branches of
very large ent-like creatures in a sort of symbiotic
relationship.

Cities in regular trees can be nice, or in the boughs
of a singular giant tree. Others have already mentioned
cities in the clouds, I've made ones ruled by cloud
giants or Djinn and I've made others that were built
on rock that was overgrown with a magical levitating
moss.

One ancient city was in a high, narrow mountain valley,
built into the cliffs on both sides and connected by
a web of bridges. The city's government center was
a tower hanging in space in the middle of the valley,
supported by several bridges that came together there.

While I haven't used them, I've seen fantasy works
that included city-sized sailing vessels.

One of my characters met a wizard who showed him
a bottle that magically contained an entire city.
I don't know if the bottle was a gate to where the
city was, or if the city was shrunk down like Kandor
(the bottled Kryptonian city in Superman's Fortress
of Solitude). The wizard may have simply had a
magical version of a snow globe, some sort of illusion.

Walt Smith
Firelock on DALNet
 
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<firelock_ny@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1117049945.325929.6550@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
> Ken Vale wrote:
>> I've used a city set on top of a messa and a city hidden in the
>> twistings of a canyon. What other nteresting places have people put
>> cities?
>
> I've used gigantic creatures in some of my city building.
> One was built in and among the bones of what seemed to
> be a huge dragon, one with ribs that stretched upwards
> for miles. Another was built on the back of a mile-long
> whale that always swam at the surface. A jungle
> civilization built their towns in the branches of
> very large ent-like creatures in a sort of symbiotic
> relationship.

Or a greater Tarrasque or god or a "normal" human...
>
> Cities in regular trees can be nice, or in the boughs
> of a singular giant tree. Others have already mentioned
> cities in the clouds, I've made ones ruled by cloud
> giants or Djinn and I've made others that were built
> on rock that was overgrown with a magical levitating
> moss.

Or in THE tree of life.
>
> One ancient city was in a high, narrow mountain valley,
> built into the cliffs on both sides and connected by
> a web of bridges. The city's government center was
> a tower hanging in space in the middle of the valley,
> supported by several bridges that came together there.
>
> While I haven't used them, I've seen fantasy works
> that included city-sized sailing vessels.
>
> One of my characters met a wizard who showed him
> a bottle that magically contained an entire city.
> I don't know if the bottle was a gate to where the
> city was, or if the city was shrunk down like Kandor
> (the bottled Kryptonian city in Superman's Fortress
> of Solitude). The wizard may have simply had a
> magical version of a snow globe, some sort of illusion.
>
> Walt Smith
> Firelock on DALNet
>
 
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In article <1117049945.325929.6550@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com>,
firelock_ny@hotmail.com wrote:

> The city's government center was
> a tower hanging in space in the middle of the valley,
> supported by several bridges that came together there.

I can see a coup being pretty easy to pull off in this town 🙂
 
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On Wed, 25 May 2005 11:00:17 -0400, Kent Allard
<evil@hearts_of_men.net> drained his beer, leaned back in the
rec.games.frp.gurps beanbag and drunkenly proclaimed the following

>In article <1vadnaY9X8TWWQ7fRVn-hw@rogers.com>, Ken Vale <k3nv4l3@r0g3r5.com>
>wrote:
>
>> I've used a city set on top of a messa and a city hidden in the
>> twistings of a canyon. What other nteresting places have people put cities?
>
>Under the Arabian Desert, and the under the snow at the South Pole. There's also
>one at the center of the Earth, but my PCs never made it that far - damn their
>oily hides! 🙂

On a series of small islands. Most of the city is made up of boats
and barges. Occasionally, entire neighborhoods drift off with the
tide.

Inside an extinct volcano.

The one thing to remember about cities, if you are clinging to any
remnants of realism, is that the inhabitants have three main
requirements that cannot be ignored:

1. Water.

2. Food.

3. Waste disposal.

Without these three, there will be no city.

--

Douglas E. Berry Do the OBVIOUS thing to send e-mail
Atheist #2147, Atheist Vet #5

"Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as
when they do it from religious conviction."
Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), Pense'es, #894.
 
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In article <pqi9915psua8sb8k27v6k4fdlu01l3bphv@4ax.com>,
Douglas Berry <penguin_boy@mindOBVIOUSspring.com> wrote:

> On a series of small islands. Most of the city is made up of boats
> and barges. Occasionally, entire neighborhoods drift off with the
> tide.

I'm working my PCs toward a floating city. Found some really good inspiration
here....

http://oceania.org/

No need for me to draw up maps 🙂
 
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Kent Allard wrote:
> In article <pqi9915psua8sb8k27v6k4fdlu01l3bphv@4ax.com>,
> Douglas Berry <penguin_boy@mindOBVIOUSspring.com> wrote:
>
>
>>On a series of small islands. Most of the city is made up of boats
>>and barges. Occasionally, entire neighborhoods drift off with the
>>tide.
>
>
> I'm working my PCs toward a floating city. Found some really good inspiration
> here....
>
> http://oceania.org/
>
> No need for me to draw up maps 🙂


Have you read The Scar? An interesting floating city with a
steampunk/horror setting.
 
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In article <8x4le.828947$w62.140578@bgtnsc05-news.ops.worldnet.att.net>,
"Michael W. Ryder" <_mwryder@worldnet.att.net> wrote:

> Have you read The Scar? An interesting floating city with a
> steampunk/horror setting.

Never saw it, but I generally know what I want when I go into my local game
shop, so I don't browse too much, especially in genres that might not seem to
mesh with my current scenario. (I love maps and especially maps with lots of
built in detail/history.)
 
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I have a gnome city in my campaign that is carved out of the inside of a
mountain. There are absolutely no bricks, stones, or masonry used in the
construction. The gemstone traces provide nice light play through the walls,
bridges, and stairways.
"Ken Vale" <k3nv4l3@r0g3r5.com> wrote in message
news:1vadnaY9X8TWWQ7fRVn-hw@rogers.com...
> I've used a city set on top of a messa and a city hidden in the twistings
> of a canyon. What other nteresting places have people put cities?
> Ken
 
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Kent Allard wrote:
> In article <8x4le.828947$w62.140578@bgtnsc05-news.ops.worldnet.att.net>,
> "Michael W. Ryder" <_mwryder@worldnet.att.net> wrote:
>
>
>>Have you read The Scar? An interesting floating city with a
>>steampunk/horror setting.
>
>
> Never saw it, but I generally know what I want when I go into my local game
> shop, so I don't browse too much, especially in genres that might not seem to
> mesh with my current scenario. (I love maps and especially maps with lots of
> built in detail/history.)


It's the second book in a series by China Mieville. Very good writing
and some neat ideas. The series includes a lot of detail about the area
and the people.
 
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Ken Vale wrote:
> I've used a city set on top of a messa and a city hidden in the
> twistings of a canyon. What other nteresting places have people put cities?
> Ken


In a large series of caves and caverns on a rugged coast. The only
entries were a couple of large ramp/tunnel/gates or small
stairways on the bluffs, and via ship or boat through the cave
entrances at the foot of the cliffs by the sea. Some of the
Subterranean caverns that were part of the city were only
accesssible by teleportation gates, or by travelling underwater
for a time.

Re,
Dirk
 
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Ken Vale wrote:
> I've used a city set on top of a messa and a city hidden in the
> twistings of a canyon. What other nteresting places have people put cities?
> Ken

I put a Half Orc city inside a volcano. It was under the floor of the
caldera crater and was lit by the red glow of the lava about a mile down
below.

--
The Kedamono Dragon
Pull Pinky's favorite words to email me.
http://www.ahtg.net
Have Mac, will Compute

Check out the PowerPointers Shop at:
http://www.cafeshops.com/PowerPointers

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Wrapped around a spire of stone (think Devil's Tower with a city wrapped
around it)

As part of a waterfall (the waterfall steps down several cataracts as it
passes through the various levels of the city - this is the main city in my
fantasy campaign)
 
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Torben Ægidius Mogensen wrote:
> "Sam Spade" <sam@spade.com> writes:
>
>
> > As part of a waterfall (the waterfall steps down several cataracts as it
> > passes through the various levels of the city - this is the main city in my
> > fantasy campaign)
>
> Have you read "Dinotopia" (or seen the movie)? It uses that idea.

Waterfall City, very visually impressive. The Dinotopia movie
was so-so, but some of the visuals were astounding and the
view of Waterfall City was one of them.

I remembered another city that one of my characters encountered,
but we never learned its name. There was a temple on a hill in
the city center with large bells in tall towers, and we guessed
that the bells cast some sort of magical silence over the entire
city and for a mile or so around it. I suppose this counts as
an unusual "setting" - a setting of silence. The inhabitants
were mostly illiterate, and communicated through a hand & body
sign language sort of like the Drow can use. The lords of the
city were some mysterious monks who didn't take kindly to
disruptive strangers.

Walt Smith
Firelock on DALNet
 
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"Sam Spade" <sam@spade.com> writes:


> As part of a waterfall (the waterfall steps down several cataracts as it
> passes through the various levels of the city - this is the main city in my
> fantasy campaign)

Have you read "Dinotopia" (or seen the movie)? It uses that idea.

Other interesting locations:

- On a narrow land bridge between two large land masses. Lot's of
trade and toll opportunities.

- On both sides of a narrow channel separating two large land masses.
Ditto.

- Floating on a matte of seaweed-like plants.

- On a narrow ledge on a cliff face. The houses would be built on
the out-facing side of the ledge, with a single street between the
houses and the cliff. A few dwellings may also be carved out of
the cliff.

- On a bridge: A bridge spans a shallow channel between two land
masses, with houses built into the columns supporting the bridge.

Torben
 
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In article <7zu0kqjthn.fsf@app-2.diku.dk>,
torbenm@diku.dk (Torben AEgidius Mogensen) wrote:

> - Floating on a matte of seaweed-like plants.

I did this once. In the sargasso sea, but it wasn't so much a city as it was a
collection of lost ships stuck in the swirling net of vegetation.
--
Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts and minds of men? The Shadow do!
--Flip Wilson
 
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Ken Vale wrote:
> I've used a city set on top of a messa and a city hidden in the
> twistings of a canyon. What other nteresting places have people put cities?
> Ken

A city I created, but never used, is situated on a narrow strip of land
separating an inner sea from the ocean. The sea level of the inner sea
is about 100 ft lower than the ocean.

This city thus has two harbors, one at the ocean side (inside a rougly
circular bay, the result of an ancient meteor crash), and another at the
shore of the inner sea. A system of pulleys and tracks is used to haul
freight between these two harbors.

A lot of land traffic between the southern and northern subcontinents
goes through the city - you have to pass through if you pass along the
land strip.

The citystate is protected by a rather large navy and by huge walls on
the land sides.

- Klaus
 
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Torben Ægidius Mogensen wrote:
> - On a narrow land bridge between two large land masses. Lot's of
> trade and toll opportunities.

Not necessarily. Moving goods by water is cheaper than
moving them by road.

GURPS Low-Tech (for 3rd Edition) says that river freight is
5 times cheaper than road freight, and sea freight is 5
times cheaper than river freight. That's taking the cost of
food, for the crew and for beasts of burden, into account.

--
Peter Knutsen
sagatafl.org
 
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Andrew James Alan Welty wrote:
> There's always the ye old floating city in the clouds. Could put one in a

But if the laws of magic in the setting are thus that
floating cities can be created, what *else* can magic do?
(And why is nobody doing those other things?)

> sea of magma... Could put one on top of a giant geyser (or series of
> geysers) that rises up as the geyser(s) erupt. Perhaps tilting as the

Again, if magic can do those exceedingly powerful things,
magic should also be capable of doing other exceedingly
powerful things.

And seeing as the setting is populated by Humans, a species
which is by definition aggressively ambitious, if something
is magically possible then Humans *will* be doing it.

> geysers erupt at different levels. Delicately balanced atop a narrow
> spire. Perched below a mountain that is floating above the city.

--
Peter Knutsen
sagatafl.org
 
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Peter Knutsen (usenet) wrote:

>
> Andrew James Alan Welty wrote:
>
>> There's always the ye old floating city in the clouds. Could put one
>> in a
>
>
> But if the laws of magic in the setting are thus that floating cities
> can be created, what *else* can magic do? (And why is nobody doing those
> other things?)
>
>> sea of magma... Could put one on top of a giant geyser (or series of
>> geysers) that rises up as the geyser(s) erupt. Perhaps tilting as the
>
>
> Again, if magic can do those exceedingly powerful things, magic should
> also be capable of doing other exceedingly powerful things.
>
> And seeing as the setting is populated by Humans, a species which is by
> definition aggressively ambitious, if something is magically possible
> then Humans *will* be doing it.
>
>> geysers erupt at different levels. Delicately balanced atop a narrow
>> spire. Perched below a mountain that is floating above the city.
>

Some human artifacts /are/ more or less one-of-a-kind though. Consider the
Great Wall of China or the Concorde*. Not everything that can be done will be
done more than once. It would be very easy to assume that such constructs
("city in the clouds" or "city in a volcano") are prohibitively expensive, and
thus, unlikely to be duplicated. Now, of course, you have to justify why it was
done the first time. But that's the fun part.

* not that there was only a single Concorde, but that despite further advances
in aviation technology, there has not been (though I could be mistaken) another
attempt to construct a supersonic commercial aircraft
 
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Aluddy wrote:
> Peter Knutsen (usenet) wrote:
>
>>
>> Andrew James Alan Welty wrote:
>>
>>> There's always the ye old floating city in the clouds. Could put one
>>> in a
>>
>>
>>
>> But if the laws of magic in the setting are thus that floating cities
>> can be created, what *else* can magic do? (And why is nobody doing
>> those other things?)
>>
>>> sea of magma... Could put one on top of a giant geyser (or series of
>>> geysers) that rises up as the geyser(s) erupt. Perhaps tilting as the
>>
>>
>>
>> Again, if magic can do those exceedingly powerful things, magic should
>> also be capable of doing other exceedingly powerful things.
>>
>> And seeing as the setting is populated by Humans, a species which is
>> by definition aggressively ambitious, if something is magically
>> possible then Humans *will* be doing it.
>>
>>> geysers erupt at different levels. Delicately balanced atop a narrow
>>> spire. Perched below a mountain that is floating above the city.
>>
>>
>
> Some human artifacts /are/ more or less one-of-a-kind though. Consider
> the Great Wall of China or the Concorde*. Not everything that can be
> done will be done more than once. It would be very easy to assume that
> such constructs ("city in the clouds" or "city in a volcano") are
> prohibitively expensive, and thus, unlikely to be duplicated. Now, of
> course, you have to justify why it was done the first time. But that's
> the fun part.
>
> * not that there was only a single Concorde, but that despite further
> advances in aviation technology, there has not been (though I could be
> mistaken) another attempt to construct a supersonic commercial aircraft

See Hadrian's Wall, see the Russian counter to the Concorde (dubed
Concordeski because it was very similiar to the Concorde). If it has
been done once it has been done many times (the pyramids in Egypt,
Thailand, Central America).
Ken
 
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Aluddy wrote:
> Peter Knutsen (usenet) wrote:
>
>>
>> Andrew James Alan Welty wrote:
>>
>>> There's always the ye old floating city in the clouds. Could put one
>>> in a
>>
>>
>>
>> But if the laws of magic in the setting are thus that floating cities
>> can be created, what *else* can magic do? (And why is nobody doing
>> those other things?)
>>
>>> sea of magma... Could put one on top of a giant geyser (or series of
>>> geysers) that rises up as the geyser(s) erupt. Perhaps tilting as the
>>
>>
>>
>> Again, if magic can do those exceedingly powerful things, magic should
>> also be capable of doing other exceedingly powerful things.
>>
>> And seeing as the setting is populated by Humans, a species which is
>> by definition aggressively ambitious, if something is magically
>> possible then Humans *will* be doing it.
>>
>>> geysers erupt at different levels. Delicately balanced atop a narrow
>>> spire. Perched below a mountain that is floating above the city.
>>
>>
>
> Some human artifacts /are/ more or less one-of-a-kind though. Consider
> the Great Wall of China or the Concorde*. Not everything that can be
> done will be done more than once. It would be very easy to assume that
> such constructs ("city in the clouds" or "city in a volcano") are
> prohibitively expensive, and thus, unlikely to be duplicated. Now, of
> course, you have to justify why it was done the first time. But that's
> the fun part.
>
> * not that there was only a single Concorde, but that despite further
> advances in aviation technology, there has not been (though I could be
> mistaken) another attempt to construct a supersonic commercial aircraft


Boeing had its SST before ending the project in the early 70's.
Supposedly it was capable of over Mach 2.
 
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