Towns Part 2: Clockwork City; Room Design and Towns

My sister-in-law came to visit us in March and the three of us conquered the Doomvault in a weekend. It ended with our adventuring duo bruised and broken on the shores of Norburg, ready to drag themselves into the city to claim their Kingly Rewards. She returns the end of May, which has given me plenty of time to think of how to design and run the city of Norburg and their next Adventure.

My opinions on Towns hasn't changed since my last post. Norburg is a hub of activity and life, essential to their story and Journey. But the details on designing the town have developed and matured since then and much like my Journey post, I've approached the creation of Norburg with the concepts and principles of ICRPG Room Design: the TTT's, L.O.G., and D.E.W.. There is intention and purpose to everything within the high walls of the city. There is danger. There is drama. There is Adventure. And there is the chance for Rest, re-supply and information gathering before setting out for the Journey to their next great adventure in Iradrum, should they choose. After all, there are at least two more adventures currently possible in the city itself.

But you didn't click this post for a history of Norburg, City of Reavers. You came here for the continuation of Towns in ICRPG, How to Design Them.

Behold: GM Grizzly's Clockwork City

Every Turn is a day, and of course there is a Timer. What Room in ICRPG doesn't have at least one? Unlike a Journey, days spent in Towns do not consume supplies. It is assumed they are staying in the Inn (more on Building Mechanics later). Buildings are special locations in town providing specific functions for the players on their Turn for the price of Time (either a Half or Full Day), Attempts and possibly Coin. Every Town has its own flavor, slightly different Event Tables, different City Quests, perhaps a different Building Composition, but many Towns will have a similar core Building set and Event tables. In short, this prep work should (hopefully) be relatively universal and modular once complete.

Turns and Timers

Each Turn, the Player describes what their character will do: Spend the day at the Inn recovering their HP, learning a Power/Spell/Item, or Crafting something, or gathering information and spending time in one of the other Buildings. In general, each Building will require a Half or Full Turn to perform its Function. This should make Turns quick and simple until Events happen, making Time a precious thing even in downtime and tension high in Towns.

The Timer is a countdown for a City Event, much like the Random Events in JOURNEYS. This can be anything from a Festival of Pigs (gain 1D4 Ire Bacon), to a City Attack (Roll for Encounter), to the automatic beginning of a City Quest (Roll for which one, if multiple). Depending on how meta you want to be as a GM, you may wish to inform players that Events can vary wildly and to manage Turns wisely. I made a much larger nested Event roll table than JOURNEYS, several of which required me to prepare Encounters per standard Room Design principles.

Buildings as CHUNKS

I was inspired by the CHUNKS concept in CORE and its expansion in WORLDS and chose to apply it to Buildings. Buildings are made of CHUNKS, each CHUNK consisting of one Heart and a Function. Buildings may have more than one CHUNK, and therefore multiple Hearts and Functions. And with a City composed of aggregate CHUNKS, a City or Town is assigned a total Heart value.

Each Function has a cost in Time, either a Full Turn or a Half Turn, + COIN and/or a Check for Success. Failing these checks does not mean failing the task, only that it takes longer.  

Now hang on a darn minute Grizzly... Buildings and Cities have Hearts now? Why? 

I'll tell you why: Sieges, Fire, Doomsday, and Room Design.

Room Design and the Clockwork City

The Timer, and maybe even the Threat(s) are clear just in the nature of this design, but what is going on here, really? How is Room Design applied to the City?

The L.O.G.

The L.O.G. can be as broad as the town itself (You're in the city of Norburg, you want to explore the lost Iradrum kingdom, but you are badly wounded and out of Supplies) or as specific as the Building (You are in the Tavern, you want Information and Rumors, but the patrons are a little intimidated by you. Roll CHA for Half Turn or try COIN). 

The T.T.T.'s

The Timer is the Event Timer. I pondered the true nature of Threat and Treat in this setting for some time and came to a realization. The Treat(s) of the city are the Functions provided by the CHUNKS of Buildings. Therefore, the actual Threat of a City is not the chance of a random attack on the players, but anything that might destroy CHUNKS of the City itself. Things like sieges, fires, and natural disasters. If players develop an attachment to the City and its inhabitants, then the drama of these events in particular becomes palpable.

The D.E.W.

What is failure in a city? What are the consequences? Honestly, the question of danger stumped me for a bit as well, until I thought in terms of CHUNKS. Failure in town is a far subtler thing than on an adventure (unless you have a City Quest, of course). Failure in town means not being prepared for the journey to the next adventure. Failure in town means failing before you even arrive at the next destination. Failure can also mean the death of important people, the complete alteration of the World Map when towns are destroyed, and the disruption of events leading to the rise of greater evil in the hearts of Men.

Energy is created through the continual passage of time in Turns with the Timer, the smooth function of the city and vibrant action within its walls. There is Energy in the anticipation of the Event: will it be joyous, sad, violent, mysterious, or devastating? There is Energy because within the city there is life and change.

Wonder is the clamor of the crowds, the pungent odor of densely packed and unwashed bodies, the sweet aroma of festival feasts, the nervous chattering of onlookers to a murder most foul. Wonder is the in the Drama, the people, the flavor-text of the city. It's in the smokey hall of the tavern, the homey, albeit cramped space of the Inn, the roar of the bloodthirsty crowds in the Gladiatorius.

Conclusion

I realize I wasn't as specific as I was in the Journey post, but that's mostly because I'm nearly finished with the final version, Grizzly Encounter CIVILIZATIONS, which should be up on my DriveThruRPG store page in the next couple weeks. Grizzly Encounter JOURNEYS should be up there as soon as it goes through the approval process!

Until then; Strength, Honor, and Gar!

And as always, happy gaming!