A City is a Forest
Sanctum, by Makaana
The Cairn 2e Warden's Guide claims that, "While a forestcrawl has some of the same properties as a traditional dungeon delve, it swaps stone walls and ceilings for the dense, non-linear design of a heavily wooded area... Points of interest are defined as clearings or major changes in the forested landscape. However, unlike exploring a dungeon, characters can take shortcuts, go "off-trail," or climb trees to get a better look around."
I submit that the same is true of cities, both populated and ruined.
In light of that theory, let's put it to the test.
I'll be replacing instances of "forest" for "city," but using Cairn 2e's Wardens' Guide "Forest Seeds" section to roll up a city crawl.
Let's see what happens!
Usvaki, The Crystal City
City Description: Crystalline & Misty
I picture hexagonal spires reaching into the sky, with walkways neatly latticed (built? grown?) between those spires. The stone of the city is rose-hued quartz that grew naturally, but the great shafts were carefully carved out by master artisans to become homes, markets, temples, and courthouses. All around these crystalline structures hangs a mist. Perhaps the city is coastal, and the crystals naturally grow from their interaction with the salt-water mist.
The Spirit of the City: Cultivating & Predatory
This is a city with something to grow, but it cannot grow unless it first takes from something else. We've already mentioned the growing crystals, but I think this is a more metaphorical kind of growth. Something new is forming here, some new system of belief. It is also predatory. Predation does not mean evil, necessarily, but it does mean something else must die so that this city may live. Perhaps we'll say it is a center for learning, that education and information is growing here, but the way this information is gained is often through a bit of mad—even occult—science.
City Agenda: Goal - Awakening, Obstacle - Leadership
The city wants to awaken. It is burgeoning with knowledge, but in a court of equals, the city is unmoving, weak, susceptible to outside influence.
A charismatic leader could pull the city after them, but to what end? At what cost?
Points of Interest
I rolled these up without much modification. I did drop "fair folk" from the stables, but the trained animals is cool. The assumptions we bring to the random tables helps fill in a lot of gaps.
Hazard - Spike pit, animated armor. Overzealous guards will absolutely throw you in prison if you look like trouble. Animated armor watches over you. Most folk will be interrogated and released in a few days.
Shelter - Stable, trained animal guards. Mongooses (mongeese?) clean, feed, water, and guard the horses of this way-station. They are not to be trifled with. The trainer rents out rooms above the stable, but any coins left laying on flat surfaces mysteriously go missing over night.
Monster - Treant, Destroying. Far overhead, a crystalline giant slowly tears away at a spire. It clears room for the view of a noble in the upper city (a strictly forbidden place for low-towners). It doesn't notice if some of the boulders it drops happen to fall on people. This portion of the city is avoided by everyone, save those with nowhere else to go.
Ruin - Manor, unusual flora. A scientist lives here, studying plants, attempting to awaken them. Her botched experiments (she can't quite give up on them) litter the grounds, many are carnivorous, poisonous, slightly magical, or capable of speech, but only to repeat what they've heard said.
Monster - Skeleton, fighting. The bone-pit is an arena for the dead. Death-row inmates fight for spectacle in the pits below. Anyone who wins three fights in a row is given a "new life" in the city above, though they never come back down. The losers are also taken.
Ruin - Statue, hidden cache. A carved crystalline statue of a warrior holding a sword, point down, handle in hand. The sword is real, and magical, but tightly gripped in the statue's unbreakable hands.
Ruin - Cloister, broken portal. The faithful still worship old gods here. Faith is frowned upon in the city. If there are gods, did they not give us eyes and ears to see and investigate? If they wished us to worship, would they not appear in mighty form? If there are gods, they wish to test us, so let us not tug at their skirts like children asking for answers in the middle of the test. - so the attitude goes, but some still worship here, at an old forgotten temple. A door in the back of the temple has never been opened, and it is said the gods will emerge from it when we have shown ourselves worthy.
Hazard - Animal Trap, Invisible webs. (I'm a little stumped, some kind of scam artist for the weak-minded?) Discount potion shop. Everything is just strong alcohol, but no one messes with this guy, as his uncle is a high-city leader. His uncle doesn't much care what happens to him, actually, but will punish anyone who harms him in order to maintain a semblance of control.
Trails
Here's where I hit some turbulence. But I found you can make street names or "vibes" pretty easily with this list.
- Serpent's Way - A winding street through the center of town. Old and venerable, lined with an open-air market from one end of town to the other.
- Bell-way - A circuitous route with a trolley that strikes bells as it comes around, warning folk to get out of the way, as it doesn't stop until it reaches a stop.
- Sewer - Runs from 5-8. A massive snake-skin has been molted down here.
- Pilgrim Way - Connects 6-7. Secret. Follow the painted hands (difficult to spot unless you've been clued in about them).
Some after-thoughts
I feel like this is a very runnable city. Streets and points of interest create a natural flow for exploring. "Districts" are a common theme I see when we talk about city-building for dnd, but real cities are gradients. It's much easier for players to follow roads than to imagine themselves moving through districts, especially if those districts are unexplored.
I think I have some useful factions between the law, the scientists, the low-towners, the persecuted faithful, etc.
This city is weird. I would not have created this on my own. It also feels good and ripe for adventure.
"Hazards" needed the loosest interpretation. Spike pits and animal traps are very common in forests, but it took a bit of interesting thinking to get to an interpretation I liked in the city.
I think I could convert this to a ruined city in a heartbeat. The people are gone, the structures and streets remain. The town is probably overrun by intelligent mongeese, horrible plants, and a few gladiatorial skeletons fighting for freedom they'll never find. Also whatever shed its skin in the sewer is definitely getting hungrier. Maybe the high-city folk are still there, completely unaware of the ruin they've left below.
So there you have it folks.
A city is a forest.