Good fantasy cities have flavor!
My favorites are walled, with a Nobles' quarter, a Trading quarter, and a Rabble quarter. Streets may have names, and there are many alleys, some too small for human traffic. The cityLord's keep is at the center of the Nobles quarter. Magic is indemic, everywhere. For example, the gates to the Nobles' quarter automatically cast a number of detection spells as a person (one at a time by construction) passes thru it coming in, to keep out thieves, Barbarians, and rabble with no business there. Flying cats live on housetops, preying on pigeons, rats, and the occasional small humanoid.
But there are many other possible fantasy cities that I could like, as long as they have a consistent flavor, and so long as, even if they do blend into the background, I as a player do not get the feeling that the city has been patched together from a set of generic 'fantasy city parts'. I'm not saying such part should never be used, but once a city has been so patched together, the GM needs to 'smoth over' her/his presentation of the city so that no-one ever sees the 'seams'.
Size is far less important than consistency. Whatever the size, it is important to maintain certain ratio-s, and figure out the 'ecology'. What are the city's business concerns? How many people does it take to do that? How much does that pay? Can such workers afford a home and a family? How many of such workers will a marketplace supply? Is there order? If so, how many city guardsmen to how many workers? Are there Nobles? Are they land-based (ie, detest commerce), or commerce-based (own but never manage or own and manage?)? Etc.
Karen Cravens wrote:Are good fantasy cities historically-accurate-with-grudging-mods-for-magic, or
more like wave-at-the-history-as-we-drive-by Renaissance-Faire sort of
things? Or something else?
Do they have a lot of in-your-face "personality," or does a good city blend into
the background?
How big are they (the ones best for gaming in, not necessarily all cities in the
gameworld)?
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