How to create a city in Dungeons and Dragons

[@namelessspook7987]

Well now I need to add a giant city destroying monster named Titch that can only be appeased by fish and open doors.

[@TalesArcane]

Legendary action: falling asleep on my keyboard.

[@namelessspook7987]

@@TalesArcane the most devastating of attacks.

[@bharl7226]

2/3 of my cats are equally disturbed by not having full access to the whole house at all times, lol.

[@sheridankelly8772]

Cats are very territorial and constantly need to patrol their territory to protect themselves (and you). A closed door prevents them from doing this.

[@40yearoldninja61]

I like the idea of a few flavored quarters. One thing I've done to save time in prep is not listing the shops and workers for each city, but have a master list of pregenerated NPCs and shops I can pick from. The amount of times my group went into a town and didn't check out certain shops is staggering. This way the NPCs and shops aren't wasted. Once the group interacts with any, I move them off the master list and put them in the specific town.

[@TalesArcane]

Love this! Recycling unused content is always a great idea - on many occasions, my players have ignored a certain store, only to have it appear under a new name in the next town. They don't realize, of course, so all's well that ends well. "Work smarter, not harder."

[@mrmediocre1532]

I do list shops and workers, but I only have one shop for each city, not guaranteed of each kind either. All cities will have a general store, but maybe not all cities have an apothecary, or a jeweler, so on and so forth. My reasoning for this is that most shops are gonna be for the common folk that live off of 1 silver or less per day, and aren't equipped to handle the amount of business a PC might bring, so I have one store, and lore-wise, that's the shop in the city that's welcoming towards "Adventurers and travellers", AKA PC's. This helps avoid overthinking it, and if they stay in a city for long, they will get to know the main merchants. Helps out a lot as opposed to thinking about every merchant that would realistically exist in a city of thousands or tens of thousands.

[@Alexander-z6x]

Dont forget to add bazaars/market squares with dozens of sellers, a fishmonger, a few farmers selling produce, maybe a perfumer or a wandering trader, a weaver or tailor but not a butcher or a baker (needs own house, farmers dont sell meats or bread but maybe mead, beer, produce like carrots, onions and grains for gruel), a big town may have 2-3 maybe more squares for 10.000s people, a few butchers and bakers and not all can be bought at one place (the idea of general stores is very new, supermarkets didnt really exist until the... 1950s) Add a few extras, like a baker also baking beans (very historical, eg in the 1800 americas the village baker used to heat an oven in the morning to 3-400 degrees celsius, baking flatbreads or pizzas first, then loaves at 200-300 during the afternoon, then in the evening-morning when the oven still had 120-150 they used to fill clay pots with beans, onions, rasins and molasses, maybe a carrot and some butter and bake it during the night until the next day (either they prepared them or they got some from the locals prefilled, cost like 2 pennies (better 2 pennies than nothing, 2x 30-50 is still a dollar a day, which is enough to feed yourself for a day or 2) and the oven was hot. In iran and persia people STILL do the same with rice, meats, onions and spices and ofc both with a lid. Same with lentils or the likes.

[@reecemurphy4106]

this is by far the best guide i have found on building towns and cities. So glad I found this channel, has severely upped my DMing game because of it

[@devintown8667]

I thought the cat was an editorial effect added in for Gothic aesthetic. A+ voice acting, kitty!

[@Alexander-z6x]

Dont forget to add bazaars/market squares with dozens of sellers, a fishmonger, a few farmers selling produce, maybe a perfumer or a wandering trader, a weaver or tailor but not a butcher or a baker (needs own house, farmers dont sell meats or bread but maybe mead, beer, produce like carrots, onions and grains for gruel, foraged stuff like nettles or mushrooms, maybe a hog or a sheep or the local nobles selling a steed or cows or sheep*), a big town may have 2-3 maybe more squares for 10.000s people, a few butchers and bakers and not all can be bought at one place (the idea of general stores is very new, supermarkets didnt really exist until the... 1950s) Add a few extras, like a baker also baking beans (very historical, eg in the 1800 americas the village baker used to heat an oven in the morning to 3-400 degrees celsius, baking flatbreads or pizzas first, then loaves at 200-300 during the afternoon, then in the evening-morning when the oven still had 120-150 they used to fill clay pots with beans, onions, rasins and molasses, maybe a carrot and some butter and bake it during the night until the next day (either they prepared them or they got some from the locals prefilled, cost like 2 pennies (better 2 pennies than nothing, 2x 30-50 is still a dollar a day, which is enough to feed yourself for a day or 2) and the oven was hot. In iran and persia people STILL do the same with rice, meats, onions and spices and ofc both with a lid. Same with lentils or the likes. Addendum: cities in medieval times really werent that big, maximum of 8-10 kilometers x 8x10 kilometers, which is about 2 hours worth of trravelling time per pedes (wake up at... 6-8 and be at work at 10-12, work your 8-12 hours a day and walk home, although usually people either walked 30m or had their own shops. ) cities with natural features like venice were of course larger since you could ferry around which is faster and also costs less energy and IF they were larger (athens or greek cities in general, rome lateron) they had more than one market area for the people, rome had several market areas even one was dug in a hill. Also most cities in medieval times had no districts per say (see vienna, just 1 and towns and villages nearby, paris was on an island, and just basically that island) untill the 1450-1550 when, eg viennas riches were not containeable anymore and rich people moved to villages now comprising the 8-9th districts as the area was nice and not floodprone, so cities went poorer but villages grew and went beautiful, more populous and villas around everywhere. You could use that transitioning just happening in one of your cities, see paris like cities just growing outside the island and being less defended etc. but cities used to organize... less savoury businesses like tanners or fishmongers/fishsauce makers or smelly stuff in general like the tyrian purple (dye) makes and ofc dye workshops in one area (either wet, keeps smell down, or windy areas) (dyeworksops and tanners used to work alot with urine to lock in colours or tan stuff, fermenting areas like tyrian dyeshops or fishsaucemakers smelled alot too), dung was collected mostly outside or sold to farmers (the tossing of chamberpots wasnt a thing until the 1600-1700 when houses went 3-4-5-6 or more stories tall (dont want to haul a smelly chamberpot up and down 2x a day when you got to carry water and daily supplies too) carrying momentum and thus the infamous killing of people with a chamberpot, if one hits ya from the 2nd story (ground/1st) does hurt like a bitch but wont necessarily kill you (.7kg hitting you from 6m is different than .7kg hitting you from 30m) Puuh, anything else thats interesting? *Slaves were generally sold at either a harbour or a slavemarket/designated area on the docks or on the outskirts of town or via nobles Oh yeah, generally by the 12th century places were densely enough populated that you could travel from town to town in a days travel on well established paths. 3 types of inns: locals inn, brew and food but no beds, non local inns with beds, food and well ale and on the road inns with ameneties like a spa (sedere per aquam, more of an early medieval thing up to the 9th-11th century carried over from the romans, 3 baths consecutively, cold, warm and HOT, had stables and maybe designated drinking areas, maybe outside during winter and were itself closed off/walled off) Kinda like this: Main building, stables, WALL W. W A (entrance). A L. L L Spa WALL entrance WALL And until the invention of red brick in the 1450s-1500 (shakespearean times was the era of 2 story housing), housing generally had but one floor in cold climates and one room, with heating and cooking being done in the center and furs on a wattle room divider to... Divide the rooms. Normans tried to get around this by installing multiple wall-heating places in multiple rooms and leaving 2-3 holes in the back for ventilation but that didnt wor out too hot as these castles were hard to heat with no chimney (red bricks solving said problem of needing to chisel out stones and thus limiting supply gravely, being for the rich only), cities generally had 1-2.5 stories of fachwerk from the 1400 onwards (halfcellar or halfattics included) and temperate areas using 2 storied houses since antiquites since you did not have to heat these housings very much, only a small fire for cooking. (Rome being an outliner with their insulae being built one after the other with a famous greek being invited to rome, travveling there, to the city of worlds desire and upon laying eye upon the city being promply underwhelmed at its size, barely a small village in greece worth of size. Murmuring unimpressed and pissed off at the audacity of such a small plot of land being called the city of worlds desire and beimg praised and praised until, of ciurse entering the city and promptly beig stuck in traffic and mauled by the amount of populace (1 million on a smaller area than a quarter of athens, a city of 250-380k inhabitants) Dependant on style of city, either use the above template for a greek style home/city and copy paste it 4x with a semi-japanese layout (sleeping room is general hangout area, behind a small womans room for textile work, next to it a mens room and before that a small workshop) or in case if a roman insulae city, one room per family: Entry. Family shrine small fireplace flowing over into a generalhangout space and sleepingpartment (lateron the fireplace, due to constant fires were forbidden) Thts the general layout for the single roomed insulae and domi are well enough known to not need a layout

[@BearCobb]

5:52 Cat wants to join the gothic setting! 🖤

[@backonceagainitstherenegad9786]

Love this! Thank you so much for the guidance. As someone about to embark on their DM journey this is invaluable!

[@TalesArcane]

That's so good to hear, mate! Good luck in all the games to come 💪

[@ImperialValues]

Came for DM’ing advice. Stayed for the cats.

[@Griff1011]

Unique cities is something seriously lacking in my current campaign, which is also my first time DMing. We have two sessions left in this campaign, and the next one is going to have more towns and cities, and I intend to make each one feel a bit more unique and interesting. These tips are great to get me started and remind me not to overwork myself.

[@TalesArcane]

I really appreciate the comment, thank you! It's always tricky to find that balance between not overworking yourself horribly and also arming yourself with enough content in case of unexpected player actions. Hopefully the tips helped a bit with that 🙏

[@maxherzog3287]

I've watched a lot of "building a city vidoes" and even though you aren't reinventing the wheel, the way you get your points across make its seems so much more manageable and I've never wanted to build a city more than I do now :)

[@ericsplittgerber5154]

Every time you say "do it on the night" I imagine Nick Frost in Sean of the Dead and it's great

[@SpiritWolf1966]

I enjoy all of Tales Arcane videos

[@Maxagorn]

Thank you for this great video. Nice cat.

[@rogerreed9885]

Thank you for a lot of good, solid, actionable advice. I'm GMing a Superhero game and running the city was giving me a lot of anxiety. This helped me think of ways I could break things into smaller bits. Thank you.

[@resilientfarmsanddesignstu1702]

Great job! I would add a few things though. First, how do important NPCs and the organizations and factions that they belong to support themselves? What is their means of subsistence? (where subsistence is everything they need to support their existence). Consider the means of subsistence for individuals, organizations and factions and the city as a whole. Second, design conflict within this city as a “war”, cold, warm or hot, for control of this life supporting means of subsistence. Being immersed and caught up in these conflicts constitute the adventures for the PCs. The PCs actions will make new NPC allies and new NPC enemies. They will respond accordingly. Third, How does the town relate to other towns? What are the resource conflicts and mutual aid relationships between town? Now flesh out your town with what is needed for the initial PC hook adventures including NPC, organizations, factions and resources and their locations. Now, rather then merely exploring a town that presumably was designed exclusively for their benefit (which is bad), instead, the PC feel that they are ignorant strangers immersed in a vibrant city full of mysteries and intrigue that exists for the benefit of its NPC citizens (which is good). Following each adventure, upgrade the city with all the new NPCs, places, needed to expand each adventure taking the PCs actions into account. After several adventures in the city, the PCs will now be part of it rather than just visitors exploring in a static city. I run all my locations this way, not just cities. Parts of the city, such as the Tavern are run that way as well. Initially, the PCs are strangers but after that they are not. Also, cities may be known to some PCs or may have been visited by some PCs, Based upon a PCs backstory. When this is the case, I provide information to that PC so that they can be the guide for the other PCs. I may even involve them to some limited extend in the initial design of the city or it’s politics.

[@Fyrz1]

New favorite ttrpg youtuber. You are good and REAL! Love it. Your advice is valuable and reasonable, unique and super useful.

[@Teraclon]

My players are about to enter a big dwarven city. These advice will come in handy! Cheers, mate!

[@TalesArcane]

Thanks for the comment! Also, I love dwarven city adventures, dwarven mines, aaaaall that stuff. Dwarves are definitely one of the coolest fantasy races.

[@loki.odinson]

CAT was 10/10, would definitely visit city again.

[@p_to]

This is freaking gold! New subscriber incoming, thanks a bunch!

[@injusticeforall]

You are seriously doing excellent work. Keep it up man!

[@TalesArcane]

That's good of you to say, mate, thanks! I'm really enjoying the long-form videos, they're really rewarding to make.

[@sadgeleaf_4915]

Your cat is very cute, and your advice is super helpful. I’ve been looking for help on running cities and this is perfect for me!

[@TalesArcane]

Thank you, from me AND from Titch 🐈

[@BW022]

I'll add a few tips... 1. Have a bunch of pictures of old cities for your own use. It's easier to come up with a theme or describe places if you have a picture. 2. Add culture, dress, languages, mannerisms, architecture, and world cycles. Look at the climate, have some weather planned out, look at calendars, etc. In a hot climate, the market might close at midday. Most places have worship days. Imagine rainy market day or a big celebration, or a wedding happening. Thing colorful clothing as in India or the drab dress in a Scandinavian village. The city activity should change based on the time of day, day of the week, and key events. 3. Add a "guide" NPC. From a street kid willing to show you around the city for silvers to a helpful tavern patron who knows people. You want someone the PCs can go to for basic information, directions, etc. Also, consider if any of the PCs have even been here. If so, feed them information from inn names, to locations of key buildings, to cultural norms, etc.

[@dungeonpastor]

My favorite campaign cities so far: Ring City: A city built at the base of a mountain that has continuously built walls to surround the city, but as the city grows they have added more walls. Built near a magic school that is on. A source of weave energy in the world. Rota: a city built on a mountain sized rock kept aloft by magic. Colony: A city made of hundreds of interconnected ships in a port.

[@TalesArcane]

Love the idea of Colony! As a fan of swashbuckling pirate settings, that's right up my street 👏

[@dungeonpastor]

@@TalesArcane My players loved it. They also blew up the Capital ship of the Colony fleet. They all have bounties on their heads from the Pirate King since it was his ship.

[@debuyarou7463]

Thank you for this great video. There are many nice advice in it. I usually go with 3 steps: 1. Turn on my Gaming Brain and put shops like: Blacksmith, General Shop, Magic, Alchemy Shop, Inn etc. What they can buy in each shop depends on location of shop. In Magic shop that is in Magic District they can find more powerful magical items etc. 2. Then I think about quests, adventures and hooks. Adding like: Guardhouse, Tample of some Deity, Thief Guild Hideout, House of some nobleman etc. 3. Then it’s time to turn off Gaming Brain and turn on Realistic Brain. Military Places - Military Academy, Armory, Barracks, Watchouse. Law Places - Prison, Courthouse, Privy Council. Cultural Places - Theater, Mausoleums etc. Knowledge/Information - Library, University. Civic - Great Manor House, Hall of Record, Post Office, Reservoir, Aqueduct. Transport - Stables, Transport Hub. Financial - Banks, Treasury, Mint, Exchange. Other things like farms outside of city, tanners, tailors, lumber mill, carpenters, quarry, stonecutter etc.

[@TalesArcane]

I like the gaming brain vs realistic brain approach, I think that could apply to a lot of areas of world building 👏

[@Scarletraven87]

You're from Glasgow? OMG Best town & best D&D youtuber

[@TalesArcane]

Hey, you're too kind! And yeah, I never picked up a strong accent, for some reason, but I'm a Glaswegian 😁

[@ravenvega1370]

Thank you! For every video you make being packed full of information and ideas to use as a DM.

[@durff1232]

5:50 The cat! Loving these guidelines. I've had to make a few huge cities before as centerpieces for a campaign and there were always a few things I was missing. I'll be coming back to this video next time around.

[@TalesArcane]

Glad I (and the cat) could help!

[@garyguy4826]

Thank you for this Video, Kitty appearance was Awesome too😊

[@JPGoss]

Thank you for all this great content! I'm a complete newbie and might have to start off as a DM for fellow newbie friends. I'll obviously be starting off small and simple, but it's great to see the big bits made so less daunting!

[@GontltsufOgrpwr]

Great stuff! Lovin it from across the pond

[@based_NAYe]

I'm running my campaign using The Explorer's Guide to Wildemount and I've enjoyed putting my personal spin on some of my favorite cities from Critical Role. My party just recently arrived in Nicodranas and this video is really helping me structure everything in a way that's compelling, fun, and unique. Keep up the good work!

[@TalesArcane]

Thanks for saying so! Wildemount is such a fun setting, I keep meaning to pick up the Explorer's Guide. Would you recommend it as a book?

[@based_NAYe]

@Tales Arcane I would recommend it for DM's of any experience because the information about the world is so expansive and charming. When I decided I was going to DM, I knew I was going to use Wildemount, but I didn't realize when I bought the book that it's really suited for newer dm's. The foreword really helped me get an idea of what my DM philosophy would be, and now that I've been running my game since July 2022 it's one of the most fun and rewarding experiences I've ever had. The Wildemount bestiary is very unique, and it can not be overstated how absolutely awesome Vestiges of Divergence and Arms of The Betrayers are. I've even homebrewed some items that level with my players as well, my favorite of which is a mystical fishing pole that can fish in other dimensions and is connected to the Wildmother.

[@itallianmoose5250]

I have a continent city capital that the rest of my campaign should be played in and this helped so much. Thanks 😅

[@amesng2706]

this was really cool. i will definitely use these tips

[@Buddy74656]

Loved the video, city building is always so much fun for me. Titch sorta stole the show though.

[@TalesArcane]

That's really good of you to say! I love city adventures, too - most of my favourite campaigns have been the ones that played out in sprawling cities, with warring criminal factions and rival guilds.

[@Buddy74656]

There is something about being able to stay in a location, developing the area, characters and story that becomes very satisfying

[@bensimms7746]

😂love how the cat was going off at the door.

[@DoctorBright]

This is amazing advice and I can’t wait to apply it! Do you have any advice for how to create these quests you mentioned? I want to have maybe 4 or 5 side quests during a festival all contained within the city to incentivize the players to explore and engage with the districts and it’s characters

[@DungeonsAndDrams]

Perfect timing. Group is entering their first major city on Monday

[@TalesArcane]

Heeey, just in time! I love when a video pops up just when someone needs it. Good luck in the city!

[@DungeonsAndDrams]

@@TalesArcane thanks! It's a Yuan-ti city, so I didn't make it easy on myself

[@jaydenleveille8181]

I keep the cat outside so they can't disturb the show Cat: Am I a joke to you?

[@TGFitzpatrick]

Have you bought a new camera? The this video feels so much more crisp visually, good job in any event - I'm only like 20 seconds into the vid and it's already noticeable

[@Jack.A.C]

Lmaooo i thought that was my cat! 😂

[@jimmybrook7119]

Good stuff!

[@TalesArcane]

Thank you mate! Hope you found the video useful 💪

[@BradFonseca]

Interrupting cats! A gold content star for you, sir!

[@TalesArcane]

My cats have Proficiency in Interruption 😂

[@thorbartzi994]

That cat wanted to come in and hear about your cities man

[@JessPoetics178]

This is awesome!

[@TalesArcane]

Thank you mate, glad you enjoyed the vid!

[@kayle995]

that was great thx for making it

[@TalesArcane]

Glad you enjoyed it, mate - thanks for watching!

[@TNTNinja2]

Is that Rimworld background music I hear? Great video!

[@seemlystuff]

I am about to run my first ever campaign that is set almost entirely in a homebrew city, so this is great timing for me! Super helpful video. Any advice for developing a city for a whole campaign rather than just a few sessions?

[@ckrysl7]

Can you do a video on some tips/tricks you use to make maps on Inkarnate?

[@KaiserDragoon77]

I came for the tips, I stayed for the cat.

[@mr.norman627]

12:25 Or candlestick maker? lol

[@reedbeazley3914]

Your cat sounds Scottish. great content man

[@Manuel-ud9sy]

what mapping tool should i use for cities?

[@hinturi4293]

would the same logic work for creating and running villages as well?

[@TalesArcane]

Everything but the multiple districts would work there, I think! Otherwise, this would all be applicable, especially when it comes to prepping stores.

[@Rajibudgy]

Titch looks JUST like my cat.

[@DidierPilon]

Did you make those maps? Are there cities in your patreon?

[@xKessa]

Haha, I was thinking, that it was my cat meowing :D

[@TalesArcane]

Yeah, every cat owner's ears are tuned to pick up that distant wailing 😂

[@silverturtle1105]

Comment for the algorithm 😊

[@TalesArcane]

I always appreciate that, mate, thank you! Spreading the word 😁

[@johnmagowan6393]

Cat content is a plus. You should have taken on a New Jersey accent though when you dropped to the green screen just to mess with everyone.

[@TalesArcane]

Turns out I was never Scottish, I just put on an accent so no one got mad at me for putting out Scottish-themed D&D supplements 😂

[@johnmagowan6393]

@@TalesArcane lol accents matter I always wonder if some guy from the hills of Tennessee has solved fusion and no one will listen.

[@Frederic_S]

„… or in any TTRPG.“

[@TalesArcane]

100%! That's why I went out of my way to highlight the system-agnostic nature of the tips in the video. Sadly, for SEO purposes, a short D&D-focused title is always going to be my best bet for getting the video in front of my subscribers.

[@flyingcamel74]

First!

[@flyingcamel74]

Hi Titch

[@TalesArcane]

​@@flyingcamel74 Titch says "Hello, but also, when is dinner?"

[@alabamaslammer3921]

Ive basically gave up on playing real dnd because the rules r too much for my group to follow with no experience so im just making the setting modern day chicago ☠