Step-by-Step RPG City Creation
Part 1 of 4: Creating Your City
This is Part 1 of a series. Be sure to read Part 2 - Populating Your City next!
So I lied (a little). This post was supposed to come out last week.
To make up for it, here is some honesty: I’m not a super experienced game master. What I share doesn’t come from decades of experience behind the screen. It comes from hours spent reading, watching and learning from people who are experienced. I gather good ideas, mash them together, try them at my table and keep what works.
That’s what this post is. I was prepping for a session and stumbled into a framework that helps me build a city fast. In about an hour I had enough material for a session or two plus plenty of hooks for later visits.
Here are the seven steps I followed, with examples.
The Seven Steps for Creating Your City
1. Concept
This is your hook. Every step after this should build on it. What makes your city cool?
Don’t worry about history or backstory here. What will your players find exciting or interesting about this city the first time their characters visit? Why will they want to stay for a full session or more?
Your concept can be a cool location, vibe or theme. If you’re stuck, try one of these for inspiration:
Rolling on a random table (any random table)
Using a random adjective generator
Mashing together two real-life cities
Borrowing a concept from a fictional city you love
Examples:
The capital of a holy kingdom that worships the sun goddess Aurora. Nearly every building is white with gold trim, and the city glows at night.
A Dwarven city that is part trading outpost and part defensive fortress. It is set in a mountain pass and serves as a gate between the Dwarven kingdom and the rest of the continent.
The military capital of a beast folk empire. The city is known for its lion-headed citizens and the red pyramid at its heart.
2. Name
When you have your concept, try to express it with an evocative name. Your city should sound cool when you introduce it to your players. If you’re having trouble, try using a mythological name or combining the adjectives you chose in step one.
Optional: After choosing your city’s name, give it a title. Try using an “X of Y” format to make it easy.
Examples:
Helios, Golden Fire of Hyperion
Heimdall, Guardian of the Peaks
Taremu, Fortress of Lions
3. Description
Describe the mood and feel of the city in no more than 2–3 sentences. These are the sentences you’ll use at the table, so try to include sensory details. This will help players feel like they’re really there.
Examples:
Helios is a gleaming city of marble and white granite. Gold filigree glints on towers and rooftops. Fountains murmur and breezes sing through the spires.
Heimdall is a city carved straight into a mountain. Its walls look grown from the stone itself. Hammers ring out through the crisp, snowy air.
Taremu is a bustling port of mud-brick and limestone. Lion-headed inspectors shout over the din of trade. Scarlet banners flap in the salt breeze.
4. Landmarks
These are the eye-catching features that tell your players what stands out and hint at what they can do.
Try to include 3–5 landmarks to start. That will give your players choices without overwhelming them. Describe each one with one or two short sentences you can use at the table.
Examples:
Helios: A towering ivory spire, ringed with pale blue mist.
Heimdall: A colossal horn of black steel, chained with links as thick as a giant’s arm.
Taremu: A massive red limestone pyramid capped with gold, towering over the heart of the city.
5. An event or situation
Your city shouldn’t feel static. Something should be happening there any time the characters visit. An event makes the city come alive and gives you a reason for the city to feel slightly different each time the party arrives.
Here are six types of events to choose from:
Competition: A contest of wits, strength or skill.
Holiday: A festival, religious observance or state commemoration.
Power Shift: Someone is rising to, or falling from, authority.
Mystery: Something strange is happening, but no one knows why.
Opportunity: Something promises gain or glory.
Threat: Something bad is coming, or is already here.
The characters shouldn’t know what’s happening right away, but there should be obvious signs. Try to think of how the event affects your city’s sights, sounds and overall mood.
Examples:
Helios: The first new Oracle has been appointed in over a hundred years. Her first prophecy is a dire warning of doom for Hyperion.
Heimdall: The city is covered in snow in an otherwise unseasonably hot summer. Inhabitants debate whether this is a good or ill omen.
Taremu: The Festival of Blood commemorates Sekhmet’s fury being sated with red beer with drinking, dancing and tests of strength.
6. Hidden Information
This is a reward characters earn by exploring your city and talking to NPCs. It’s the details that aren’t obvious about the city at first glance. Hidden Information can point characters to side quests and drop hints about bigger mysteries. I mark Hidden Information in my notes with an arrow (→).
Examples
Helios: The spire is the tower of Delphi, built over a supposedly extinct dungeon. A rare few are allowed to enter the tower and have an audience with the Oracle.
Heimdall: The Horn of Gjallarforge was forged from a thousand warriors’ weapons. Legend says it can summon their spirits.
Taremu: The pyramid is the Crimson Palace. A bustling market sprawls on the south side, separated by a vast moat.
7. Secret Information
This is the really deep stuff, the reward for clever roleplay and good dice rolls. Think of this as the “why” behind your mystery or the plan behind your threat. You can also include secrets about the greater campaign here.
In my notes, I enclose Secret Information in square brackets ([ ]).
If the characters don’t uncover these secrets, don’t worry. You can repurpose them and use them elsewhere, or just throw them away. Nothing is real until it’s revealed at the table.
Examples
Helios: The dungeon below Delphi isn’t extinct. It is dormant, but it’s starting to wake up.
Heimdall: The strange snowstorm is tied to something happening in the land of giants.
Taremu: Beneath the Crimson Palace lies the Kashtan Desert, a secret dungeon used for training and treasure-hunting.
Putting it All Together
Here’s the city of Taremu as it exists in my notes right now, ready for my kids to explore the next time their pirate ship heads to port:
Taremu, Fortress of Lions
A bustling port of mud-brick and limestone. Lion-headed inspectors shout over the din of trade. Scarlet banners flap in the salt breeze. → The Festival of Blood commemorates Sekhmet’s fury being sated with red beer with drinking, dancing and tests of strength.
A massive red limestone pyramid capped with gold towers over the heart of the city. → The Crimson Palace. A bustling market sprawls on the south side, separated by a vast moat. [Beneath lies the Kashtan Desert, a secret dungeon used for training and treasure-hunting.]
An imposing wall on the north beyond the pyramid. → The Sentinel Wall. Colossal lion-headed statues roaring at the desert. Red banners blow in the wind.
The Shardspire Peaks on the west. A cloud of steam wafts from an alcove. → The Ember Baths. Natural hot springs improved by master masons. Some pools open air, some in caverns. [A hidden grotto used for ceremonial purposes houses a sacred magical flame.]
An enormous waterwheel turning slowly at the base of a rise on the west. Bright orange and gold buildings on top of the rise. → The Saffron Quarter. Wealthy residential area that contains sacred breweries called the Drunken Temples.
An open-air colosseum to the northwest. White limestone. Plumes of flame burst from half-columns on the wall at regular intervals. → The Lion’s Maw. Hosts tournaments for unarmed combat or blunted weapon fighting. [Scores of golems stored underground for deadlier matches.]
One nice thing about this method is it scales. I use it for all of my locations, including large and important landmarks within other locations. For example:
The Crimson Palace
Massive red limestone pyramid. Guards in gold armor give loud, clear commands as they inspect each visitor before allowing entry.
A clear moat, at least a hundred feet wide, surrounds the palace. → The moat is cool and at least as deep as it is wide. [The water of the moat is considered holy water. Hieroglyphs carved in the bottom act as wards against evil and hostile intent.]
A pristine white bridge over the moat on the east side of the palace. → The guards require a reason to let you across and won’t allow visitors or tourists. If allowed to cross, they will hold any weapons, magical artifacts or other gear.
A sprawling market on the south side. Smells strongly of garlic, mint and less familiar spices. Fire dancers perform in open spaces and singers compete to be heard over the haggling. → The Crimson Market. Just about any food or personal item is available for sale. [A few black market shops deal in potions, poisons and other items.]
A golden pyramidion caps the palace. Each side is engraved with a large eye. → The eye is the Eye of Ra, a representation of Sekhmet. People say the pyramidion is able to project the power of the sun to burn Ra’s enemies.
I can drill down as much or as little as I need to feel comfortable running sessions in the city.
The Eighth Step
So I lied (again). There is an eighth step: populate your city. To make the city really come alive, it needs NPCs, factions and similar. That’s a bigger topic so I’ll give it its own post.
Other Thoughts
Credit where credit is due (note that none of the following are affiliate links):
Step 1 (Concept) owes a lot to the “Creating an Island” chapter of Agon by John Harper and Sean Nittner. The chapter also helped me organize my thoughts for this post. The islands in the book are also a great source of inspiration for locations and adventures.
I got a lot of my inspiration for evocative naming and use of secrets at my table from Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master by Michael Shea/Sly Flourish.
Step 5 (Event or Situation) is adapted from The Ultimate RPG Game Master’s Worldbuilding Guide by James D’Amato.
Deficient Master introduced me to the concepts of Landmarks, Hidden Information and Secret Information:
Pointy Hat taught me that cities should be gameplay-forward and got me thinking about this whole idea to begin with: