What's In the City?

[su_liam]

Hmm. University(ies), bars, pubs & liquoraria , sports stadia, theatres(high-class opera houses to honky-tonks and burlesque shows), marketplaces(everything from enclosed shops to stands in a market-square to guys standing on a corner in Knifeside hawking stolen watches), hotels & inns, parks & greenspaces, palaces(not just of the king but of nobility and pretentious merchants), temples(mustn't forget temples), mills, dives, docks, caravansaries, barbers & surgeries, stables, wells, ditches for...stuff, and... um... did I miss anything?

[NeonKnight]

What should a city have? Well, I have this here list of businesses kicking around that I have had for around 20 years (I know it's that old, cause it was printed on DOT MATRIX!). So, here we go:

Accountant, alchemist, animal dealer, animal trainer, apothecary (Druggist), bait shop, bakery, barber, bank, barrel wright, bath house, beautician, bindery (book maker), black smith, book shop, bordello, bowyer (bowmaker), brass worker, brewery, broom/brush maker, builder, butcher, cabinet maker, candy shop, carpenter, carpenter, carpet maker, cartographer, chandler (candle maker), cheese shop, cobbler (shoe maker), cooper (wooden cask maker), customs house, dagger shop, dairy, distillery, engineer, fabric shop, farmer's market, financier/lender, fishmonger, fletcher (arrow maker), florist, forger (gerneral metal worker), foundry(metal casting), freight company, furniture maker, fortune teller, furrier, gambling house, gem smith, glass blower, gold smith, granary, healer, herbalist, inn, jeweler, Kiln (shop for drying material), Lamp/Oil Shop, lapidary (gem polisher & engraver), lawyer, leather worker, limner (illustrator/painter), locksmith, lumber shop, magic shop, mason (stone worker), metal smith, mill, money changer, painter (of structure, not pictures), perfumery (perfume maker), potter, rope maker, sage, sail maker, seamstress, scribe, ship wright, silver smith, slaughter house, soap maker, stable, sword shop, tack shop, tailor, tannery, tavern, taxidermist, thatcher (thatch roof maker/repairer), tinker (household utensil fixer/seller), tool maker, toy shop, trading post, undertaker, wainwright (wagon maker), weaver, weapon smith, wheel wright (wheel maker), wood carve

Now, the above list is not exhaustive by any means. Other things cities need but not neccessarily be present is:

Sewer workers, town criers (herald news, etc), lamp lighters, porters/taxis (The existed in some form or another for centuries), street sweepers and privy cleaners (these people removed the waste from streets and outhouses), messengers.

In other cities, there would be slave dealers and other sorts dealing with aspects of our society that we no longer have.

Additionally, cities would have colleges, universities,churches, temples, public offices for senates, bureaucrat, mayors, nobility etc.

[LutwikWienholdt]

A town / city grows from a small settlement to a huge metropolis. new marketplaces will be established, f. exp. if the old one is too far away or merchants will group wares. City walls will be expanded, if the new settlers beyond the walls need cover, etc. And over the years of development many houses will be used in different ways. So I don't think there's an universal list of things a town needs. It depends on the citizens, the surrounding / region (are wares imported or selfmade, which wares are forbidden, are there cultural restrictions - no alcohol, no pigs), and many many other cultural, enviromental & political influences.

[Aval Penworth]

Well thanks everyone. We certainly have an excellent little resource here for any newcomers wanting to plan and populate a city.

[Al. I. Cuza]

So I don't think there's an universal list of things a town needs.

Of course there isn't. But there certainly is a list of basic buildings you will find in any city, and there is another list of possible things you could find. For me personally it is hard to think of a city out of frame. That's why I always get backtracked. For me to be able to draw a city, I must have all the details about the land it is in, the trade routes that go through, the resources that exist or have to be imported. I have to think about the different races that exist in the world, what their role is and if they are so important, that they need a separate neighborhood. Then comes the history. Like many of you said, you should be able to see the growth of a city. Small outdated buildings may be torn down, newer ones build on top of them. Wars or fires may devastate the city, making room for areas were the ruler could plan the city in strict geometrical patterns, etc...

In my opinion a city is the hardest mapping objective one could think of.

[NeonKnight]

Of course there isn't. But there certainly is a list of basic buildings you will find in any city, and there is another list of possible things you could find. For me personally it is hard to think of a city out of frame. That's why I always get backtracked. For me to be able to draw a city, I must have all the details about the land it is in, the trade routes that go through, the resources that exist or have to be imported. I have to think about the different races that exist in the world, what their role is and if they are so important, that they need a separate neighborhood. Then comes the history. Like many of you said, you should be able to see the growth of a city. Small outdated buildings may be torn down, newer ones build on top of them. Wars or fires may devastate the city, making room for areas were the ruler could plan the city in strict geometrical patterns, etc...

In my opinion a city is the hardest mapping objective one could think of.

Exactly.

Something I try and always incorporate into my cities that I seldom see in any other cities is (beyond my usual complaint of buildings that are never cramped together) is a sense of versimilitude. Where are the granaries for the storage of food/grain? These should often be located near the docks for easier transport. Another thing is the tanneries. Far too often I see these situated within the city walls, somewhere they would never be situated. Tanneries, because of the sheer stench of the chemicals they worked with were often relegated outside the city walls, and in a location where the prevailing winds would put them downwind.

These are just a couple of examples any city mapper should contemplate and perhaps do a little pre-mapping research on.

[Xyll]

The issue with mapping a city and determining real values is all based on what type of city you are making. To build a city in a fantasy world would indicate a different set of values due to the possibility of magic or just a different concept of how things should flow together. To model a different race or culture on a middle age European design seems absurd. Also you are assuming human baseline technology. Also perhaps a dictator requires building codes that would have never existed. The options are endless and to apply real world limitations on a fantasy world is kinda silly unless that is the style you want.

I do agree that most cities should be built small then expanded based on growth much like Cyotemax did on his town.

[Al. I. Cuza]

Well, a city didn't even have to expand. Some cities were planned and build by large wealthy states from scrap (these are the ones with strict geometrical patterns).

And of course it is stupid to apply only real world limitations. But you have to make the city believable. Some limitations may apply, even if they are fantastic ones. I for one don't like to think only of cities in medieval times, but also in ancient times, maybe even the Victorian or Napoleonic eras. You have to start somewhere, even if the city is set in a completely fantastic frame. And to explain every illogically placed building or resource, etc.. through magic is something I don't like to do.

[Xyll]

Unless you label every structure it should be assumed to fill the roles proper to the area. Besides who ever said city builders had to be logical

Sorry do not want to fight but strict thinking in a fantasy world often irks me such as the river police. but that is another story.

[Al. I. Cuza]

It's probably mainly about how fantasy your world really is. Clearly you can build a world, where rivers flow up the mountains or where the rules of physics and economics generally don't apply. The question is just how difficult you want to make it for yourself and the ones who will use your maps/read your stories/play your campaigns.