Similar to this thread, tell me about interesting cities you've created for a homebrew world.
Moonpool
Built on a collapsed crater of a volcano filled with a lake. Basically like Crater Lake in Oregon.
Because of its elevation, the lake would be permanently frozen. But due to geothermal activity on the western side of the lake, most remains ice-free, except for a small crescent of relatively stable ice around the east side of the lake. This is where most of the human residents live, in buildings built right onto the ice. The shore is crowded with abandoned and collapsing buildings built in an earlier era when the ice extent was greater. The elite of the city, mostly aarakocra, but with a few elves and humans, live in a small area of level ground on the western short of the lake. Many of the aarakocra live in dwellings built onto or dug into the cliffs.
On the north side of the lake, built into a canyon, is the Shadowbrook Institute, an internationally acclaimed wizard college.
The city is governed by the Council of Elders, each appointed by a different faction within the city: the nobility, the merchants, the Shadowbrook Institute, etc.
Nothing I have fleshed out, yet, but I just watched a video about shaping continents and coastlines for your world, and got the inspiration of a dwarved coastal city.
I imagine it to be at a cliff rising out of the ocean, rising into a huge mountain range. No way a natural harbor could have formed, but the dwarves mined so deep into the mountains, that they 'hit' the sea level. Now the harbor is carved out of the cliff, and the face of the mountain to the side, above, and inside the mountain houses the clans' work and living spaces.
The harbor is open to all who want to trade, and there is 'common' city structure directly around the harbor, but the actual dwarven city is secluded further inside.
Nothing I have fleshed out, yet, but I just watched a video about shaping continents and coastlines for your world, and got the inspiration of a dwarved coastal city.
I imagine it to be at a cliff rising out of the ocean, rising into a huge mountain range. No way a natural harbor could have formed, but the dwarves mined so deep into the mountains, that they 'hit' the sea level. Now the harbor is carved out of the cliff, and the face of the mountain to the side, above, and inside the mountain houses the clans' work and living spaces.
The harbor is open to all who want to trade, and there is 'common' city structure directly around the harbor, but the actual dwarven city is secluded further inside.
I have a somewhat similar place in terms of geography, but it's a kuo-toa colony at the entrance to a secret subterranean tunnel. They don't mind visitors and traders, but they are always on the lookout for another sacrifice.
Deephaven: a mining town built inside a mountain that has been formed over the ruins of multiple cities in layers. A dark presence is seeping from the depths of the mountain, and many adventurers stay in Deephaven to restock supplies and prepare for excursions down into the ruins below.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Never walk away from home ahead of your axe and sword.
You can't feel a battle in your bones or foresee a fight."
I have a Dwarven city that is a natural product of the dwarves mining activity.
After entering the mine through an oversized main gate, you walk along a gently ascending passage for over 300 feet. When you pass through a second pair of large doors into an enormous barrel vaulted cave hewn from the rock by dwarven stone workers. The first vaulted chamber ascends for at least 100 feet with columns and arches supporting the excavation, and the chamber is 150 feet wide and a bit longer. One the main level the floor slopes to the sides away from the center and back toward the entrance at a 2% grade to get the water that collects to flow back out the entrance. The first floor of the main chamber is home to a stable on the right and a facility to support 100 guards and their officers on the left. One of the duties of the guard is to rind the hour. A brass bell is suspended next to one column. At the hour, a sentinel walks over and rings the bell as they do for ships to mark the watch. Eight bells is the end of the watch.
The second level is the "Slums" where mine workers and other laborers live until they can make a success of themselves. A Cleric, with the title of "Caretaker", runs this level. The "town watch" is not allowed to intervene on that level without the Caretaker's invitation. The Caretaker assigns housing depending on need and attitude. Young adults are usually housed in dormitory sleeping rooms. Families are given room for privacy.
The third level is where the "commercial" level operates, so this is where most shops are located, and taverns and things of that sort. The fourth level is where the lower middle class live in small single family quarters, although they probably share a wall with one or more neighbors. At the end of the fourth level there is a passage that leads to the next chamber. A single chamber can only be built so big before there are worries about a collapse. So the entire things has similarities to an ant colony.
The miners are way deep into the mountain. Engineers and surveyors are preparing great 3-dimensional maps of their work. Planners use these maps to decide how to extend the "city excavation" further in to make use of the existing excavations and keep the workers closer to the front of the work. Not all the miners tunnels are used and absorbed into City Plan, so there are tunnels here and there that act as shortcuts to different portions of the city. Sometimes thieves use these tunnels for their infiltration/exfiltration to the target. Once the City planners decide to make a new chamber, stone masons go in and shape the inside of the chamber to make a smooth floor, walls and ceiling. They carve elaborate columns to support the roof with vaulted ceilings supported by ribs connecting the columns. Most of the spaces are illuminated by magical lights that appear as torches, but being magical, the emit no fumes or smoke, and they burn without being changed.
Once the stone workers are finished, a team of carpenters come in and build the "shelves" that will support each level. After these carpenters are finished, other carpenters come in and furnish the levels with "spaces" for living, cooking, commercial space, or whatever is needed.
Of course, there are a few "Great Halls" where the Dwarven leaders have their banquets, receive guests and listen to disputes for adjudication. But these are the exception and not the rule. There are also large but low ceiling spaces for farming mushrooms and other low light "crops", and other spaces for farming animals. There is a remarkable efficiency to the process, but it also lends itself to dreariness if you are not a dwarf or other underground dwelling species not used to the absence of sunlight and the cold wet conditions of living inside an excavation.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt
Turntide is a city carved into the side of a mountain. It's completely covered by an overhang, making the natural light that shines there almost nothing. During the abyssal incursion known as the Demon War, Turntide held off the assault of the demon lord Ladrora, led by the paladin Raviscor and the powerful mage Xhandras. During the war, a large wall was build around the section of the city that was not guarded by the mountain.
The walls of the cave that Turntide are in are made of an unusual ore that's all but indestructible. It's a deep purple color, light shimmering off of it. Every attempt to mine it has failed, even magical ones.
All stars fade. Some stars forever fall. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Homebrew (Mostly Outdated):Magic Items,Monsters,Spells,Subclasses ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If there was no light, people wouldn't fear the dark.
A city-state in the sky, Emis and its surrounding sky islands were kicked up from the Khantine Mountain Range when a fallen celestial crashed into the mountains like a speeding comet. The force of the divine impact not only shook entire sections of the mountain loose, but also suspended them in the air, held aloft by a magic not entirely understood. Elves managed to ascend the largest of these islands using flying mounts, and established the city of Emis, carrying resources up slowly over a period of centuries until a grand citadel of solid marble stood on this once barren slab of rock. It remains independent from the affairs of surrounding kingdoms and empires, protected by the stones which surround it; many smaller, whale-sized chunks of rock levitate around Emis, like a minefield. The magic which sustains their flight also makes them magnetic, making any attempted invasion by airship impossible. The stones would immediately sail towards the giant iron vessels, ripping them apart as if they were nothing but paper boats thanks to the divine energy they are imbued with. Emis is also largely self-sustaining, thanks to the common rains of the Khantine Range that fills their cisterns, and grand artificial gardens built within the city or nearby large islands that provide them with food.
The two cities of the western deserts are Ralnoris and the Shifting City. Ralnoris was once built atop the back of a collossal dragon-tortoise, who would carry them through the desert. for over 200 years, it has remained stationary, the dragon tortoise dead. It is inhabited by dragonborn with kobold servants, and trades with other races but doesn't allow them to get in. The dragonborn have grown fat and lazy, embodying greed whilst giving up pride and strength.
The Shifting City is built on the sands, and so needs to change with it. Every morning, the town is propped up on scaffolding to bring the buildings level, making it impossible to make accurate maps of the place.
Sahaugin Stop is an old Wyvarnian colony transformed into a pirate haven controlled by two groups: the Coalition of Pirate Lords and the Underside Network. The largest buildings are designed from old warships overtaken by the Coalition, and some are split in half to create space for roads.
Lady G's Library and the Panopticus provide arcane service and magical items within the city, while the Roc's Perch (owned by a human who is in fact a permanently polymorphed roc) provides tavern and inn services.
I have more information on my blog, Tiefling Corner.
Similar to this thread, tell me about interesting cities you've created for a homebrew world.
Moonpool
Built on a collapsed crater of a volcano filled with a lake. Basically like Crater Lake in Oregon.
Because of its elevation, the lake would be permanently frozen. But due to geothermal activity on the western side of the lake, most remains ice-free, except for a small crescent of relatively stable ice around the east side of the lake. This is where most of the human residents live, in buildings built right onto the ice. The shore is crowded with abandoned and collapsing buildings built in an earlier era when the ice extent was greater. The elite of the city, mostly aarakocra, but with a few elves and humans, live in a small area of level ground on the western short of the lake. Many of the aarakocra live in dwellings built onto or dug into the cliffs.
On the north side of the lake, built into a canyon, is the Shadowbrook Institute, an internationally acclaimed wizard college.
The city is governed by the Council of Elders, each appointed by a different faction within the city: the nobility, the merchants, the Shadowbrook Institute, etc.
Nothing I have fleshed out, yet, but I just watched a video about shaping continents and coastlines for your world, and got the inspiration of a dwarved coastal city.
I imagine it to be at a cliff rising out of the ocean, rising into a huge mountain range. No way a natural harbor could have formed, but the dwarves mined so deep into the mountains, that they 'hit' the sea level. Now the harbor is carved out of the cliff, and the face of the mountain to the side, above, and inside the mountain houses the clans' work and living spaces.
The harbor is open to all who want to trade, and there is 'common' city structure directly around the harbor, but the actual dwarven city is secluded further inside.
More Interesting Lock Picking Rules
I have a somewhat similar place in terms of geography, but it's a kuo-toa colony at the entrance to a secret subterranean tunnel. They don't mind visitors and traders, but they are always on the lookout for another sacrifice.
Deephaven: a mining town built inside a mountain that has been formed over the ruins of multiple cities in layers. A dark presence is seeping from the depths of the mountain, and many adventurers stay in Deephaven to restock supplies and prepare for excursions down into the ruins below.
"Never walk away from home ahead of your axe and sword.
You can't feel a battle in your bones or foresee a fight."
- Havamal, The Sayings of Odin
I have a Dwarven city that is a natural product of the dwarves mining activity.
After entering the mine through an oversized main gate, you walk along a gently ascending passage for over 300 feet. When you pass through a second pair of large doors into an enormous barrel vaulted cave hewn from the rock by dwarven stone workers. The first vaulted chamber ascends for at least 100 feet with columns and arches supporting the excavation, and the chamber is 150 feet wide and a bit longer. One the main level the floor slopes to the sides away from the center and back toward the entrance at a 2% grade to get the water that collects to flow back out the entrance. The first floor of the main chamber is home to a stable on the right and a facility to support 100 guards and their officers on the left. One of the duties of the guard is to rind the hour. A brass bell is suspended next to one column. At the hour, a sentinel walks over and rings the bell as they do for ships to mark the watch. Eight bells is the end of the watch.
The second level is the "Slums" where mine workers and other laborers live until they can make a success of themselves. A Cleric, with the title of "Caretaker", runs this level. The "town watch" is not allowed to intervene on that level without the Caretaker's invitation. The Caretaker assigns housing depending on need and attitude. Young adults are usually housed in dormitory sleeping rooms. Families are given room for privacy.
The third level is where the "commercial" level operates, so this is where most shops are located, and taverns and things of that sort. The fourth level is where the lower middle class live in small single family quarters, although they probably share a wall with one or more neighbors. At the end of the fourth level there is a passage that leads to the next chamber. A single chamber can only be built so big before there are worries about a collapse. So the entire things has similarities to an ant colony.
The miners are way deep into the mountain. Engineers and surveyors are preparing great 3-dimensional maps of their work. Planners use these maps to decide how to extend the "city excavation" further in to make use of the existing excavations and keep the workers closer to the front of the work. Not all the miners tunnels are used and absorbed into City Plan, so there are tunnels here and there that act as shortcuts to different portions of the city. Sometimes thieves use these tunnels for their infiltration/exfiltration to the target. Once the City planners decide to make a new chamber, stone masons go in and shape the inside of the chamber to make a smooth floor, walls and ceiling. They carve elaborate columns to support the roof with vaulted ceilings supported by ribs connecting the columns. Most of the spaces are illuminated by magical lights that appear as torches, but being magical, the emit no fumes or smoke, and they burn without being changed.
Once the stone workers are finished, a team of carpenters come in and build the "shelves" that will support each level. After these carpenters are finished, other carpenters come in and furnish the levels with "spaces" for living, cooking, commercial space, or whatever is needed.
Of course, there are a few "Great Halls" where the Dwarven leaders have their banquets, receive guests and listen to disputes for adjudication. But these are the exception and not the rule. There are also large but low ceiling spaces for farming mushrooms and other low light "crops", and other spaces for farming animals. There is a remarkable efficiency to the process, but it also lends itself to dreariness if you are not a dwarf or other underground dwelling species not used to the absence of sunlight and the cold wet conditions of living inside an excavation.
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt
Turntide
Turntide is a city carved into the side of a mountain. It's completely covered by an overhang, making the natural light that shines there almost nothing. During the abyssal incursion known as the Demon War, Turntide held off the assault of the demon lord Ladrora, led by the paladin Raviscor and the powerful mage Xhandras. During the war, a large wall was build around the section of the city that was not guarded by the mountain.
The walls of the cave that Turntide are in are made of an unusual ore that's all but indestructible. It's a deep purple color, light shimmering off of it. Every attempt to mine it has failed, even magical ones.
All stars fade. Some stars forever fall.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Homebrew (Mostly Outdated): Magic Items, Monsters, Spells, Subclasses
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If there was no light, people wouldn't fear the dark.
Emis
A city-state in the sky, Emis and its surrounding sky islands were kicked up from the Khantine Mountain Range when a fallen celestial crashed into the mountains like a speeding comet. The force of the divine impact not only shook entire sections of the mountain loose, but also suspended them in the air, held aloft by a magic not entirely understood. Elves managed to ascend the largest of these islands using flying mounts, and established the city of Emis, carrying resources up slowly over a period of centuries until a grand citadel of solid marble stood on this once barren slab of rock. It remains independent from the affairs of surrounding kingdoms and empires, protected by the stones which surround it; many smaller, whale-sized chunks of rock levitate around Emis, like a minefield. The magic which sustains their flight also makes them magnetic, making any attempted invasion by airship impossible. The stones would immediately sail towards the giant iron vessels, ripping them apart as if they were nothing but paper boats thanks to the divine energy they are imbued with. Emis is also largely self-sustaining, thanks to the common rains of the Khantine Range that fills their cisterns, and grand artificial gardens built within the city or nearby large islands that provide them with food.
The two cities of the western deserts are Ralnoris and the Shifting City. Ralnoris was once built atop the back of a collossal dragon-tortoise, who would carry them through the desert. for over 200 years, it has remained stationary, the dragon tortoise dead. It is inhabited by dragonborn with kobold servants, and trades with other races but doesn't allow them to get in. The dragonborn have grown fat and lazy, embodying greed whilst giving up pride and strength.
The Shifting City is built on the sands, and so needs to change with it. Every morning, the town is propped up on scaffolding to bring the buildings level, making it impossible to make accurate maps of the place.
Make your Artificer work with any other class with 174 Multiclassing Feats for your Artificer Multiclass Character!
DM's Guild Releases on This Thread Or check them all out on DMs Guild!
DrivethruRPG Releases on This Thread - latest release: My Character is a Werewolf: balanced rules for Lycanthropy!
I have started discussing/reviewing 3rd party D&D content on Substack - stay tuned for semi-regular posts!
Sahaugin Stop is an old Wyvarnian colony transformed into a pirate haven controlled by two groups: the Coalition of Pirate Lords and the Underside Network. The largest buildings are designed from old warships overtaken by the Coalition, and some are split in half to create space for roads.
Lady G's Library and the Panopticus provide arcane service and magical items within the city, while the Roc's Perch (owned by a human who is in fact a permanently polymorphed roc) provides tavern and inn services.
I have more information on my blog, Tiefling Corner.
The ruins of an old civilization where dwarves and elves lived in harmony deep within an ancient forest.
Only spilt the party if you see something shiny.
Ariendela Sneakerson, Half-elf Rogue (8); Harmony Wolfsbane, Tiefling Bard (10); Agnomally, Gnomish Sorcerer (3); Breeze, Tabaxi Monk (8); Grace, Dragonborn Barbarian (7); DM, Homebrew- The Sequestered Lands/Underwater Explorers; Candlekeep
Is it still occupied?