The Last City is exactly what it seems like - the last city, holding out before the darkness.
Most people live in walled towns now, and perhaps in the old days, this “city” would have been considered merely a large town. But now it is filled to the brim. It is perhaps the definition of overcrowding. The large walls, the reason it held out in the first place, have become supports for multiple tiers of buldings, connected by raised walkways. The highest tier is covered with protective material of all kinds.
The city sat beside a river running out into the sea, but a part was diverted to quench a fire in the past, and nobody could restore this. Perhaps they didn’t want to, because at least it keeps the sewage out. Overcrowded, part-inundated, often dark, still, this is home to the largest collection of humans (in Middarmark?).
There is no one ruler, just factions yearning for power. If they could stand together, repair some of those old hulks in the bay, establish some contact… Only if.
(For me, this is like tiny Lankhmar meets Venice.)
You could write up your own Town Event Tables for the Last City, with things like:
Bad Shit
Riots have begun as the Town Watch pushes the poorest out of the gates to huddle against the walls as the sun descends.
Plague has hit and anyone with the telltale black veins will be driven from the city. Health check to avoid leaving the city sick.
Two rival factions have declared their conflict as a key conflict between the forces of Law and Chaos and are treating a street feud in the Last City like a holy war. Buying weapons and spells is suddenly far more expensive and selling them requires a high priced license and a signature from a City Elder. Any failed Circles tests means the NPC is somehow embroiled in this feud turned to zealous violence.
Tired of their over-crowded, plague-ridden neighbor, a nearby region is laying siege to the Last City when you arrive.
Armies are being mustered and the city is bustling as the city’s militias are being put into motion to take much needed food from the nearest city or series of villages (choose a PC with the least conditions and it is their home town).
A borough in the city is on fire and the populace have given up trying to put it out. When you seek something out in the Last City roll a die, on a 1-3 you find it but on a 4-6 it is caught in the fire.
Good shit
The city is being built up in order to hold its populace. +1s for finding any craftsman on a Circles test.
The city is desperate for heroes and the local bards attach themselves to all of you. For one and only one resources roll, your 6’s will explode if you tell the merchant a story about your adventures.
An Angel of Law is somewhere in the city on some errand for some unknowable immortal. +1D to any roll to recover from a condition. Paladins and Clerics can attempt to circle up the angel if they wish.
A seemingly benign cult has clogged the city streets, camping out in every square and dried out fountain. If you listen to their nonsense, you can attempt to recover from a condition if you take the time to listen to their cult’s doctrines. All of your conditions are erased and you leave town Fresh if you join and allow them to tattoo you with their cult’s mark.
A Chaos Duke is visiting the Last City. The gargoyles are crying blood and the temples have closed their doors. However, it is a +2D to any Criminal roll and +1s to any Circles test that involves finding an assassin, poisoner or thief.
A wild-eyed pack of apocalyptic, screaming doom-sayers are screeching the end of the world from every corner but what is odd is that the things they are saying eerily mirror things that happened in your last dungeon. If you take one of these madmen on as a henchmen, they will lead you to a ripe dungeon only a few days away, offering +1D on any Dungeoneering tests because the tunnels have haunted the doom-sayer’s dreams.
Ok, so let me add 6 and 6 to those, and we’ll let god sort’em out… Errr… Distribute them into 2d6 tables as needed.
Your 6 and 6 are Crom, Grey Mouser and Eldric, high fantasy, living up the Law vs Chaos divide. That’s got flavour. I’ll choose a somewhat different angle just to mix things up.
Bad shit:
Something malign managed to get into the city, probably through the grates on the waterways. People are disappearing on the lowest level of the city. It hasn’t gotten the entire city’s attention yet. (Some Angry/Afraid condition consequence)
Those rotting hulks out there? Turns out they were a great nesting place for pirates. They struck just before you arrived, and now food is scarce and circling up seafolk will be harder.
Maintenance is a b!tch. All that protective cladding on the top layer has become a menace, as things are now falling off, and randomly tearing down into the lower levels, crushing things as they go (trap-like twist?)
One group has temporarily ascended to power and is milking it for all its worth. They have something called the ‘bounty tax’ now. Those gate guards are really examining your stuff closely…
Those really big and ancient walls were built from some impressive stones, all black and chilling to the touch. They were covered with material that’s much more practical to make structures from. People have been taking it to mend their houses with. Those same people are now fever-ridden, and frothing at the mouth. Symbols have started to appear on those black blocks. The authorities, such as they are, have offered you ‘free lodging, guests of the city’ - right next to the wall. Sleep tight.
The city has made an awesome trade deal with the dwarves. Small problem - you can’t eat fancy dwarven crafts. Food is much more expensive. There are some opportunities fornthe enterprising thief, however… (Is this possible, mixed blessing?)
Good shit:
Some of the guilds have managed to come to an agreement to construct three large water wheels in and outside the city. They will provide power and fresh water/irrigation. They are also safe should someone accidentally fall into the river. +2D on your next resouces check if you help the fourth guild disprove that claim by pushing some poor beggar into the water.
You enter the supplies store you’ve been wanting to replenish your stuff at, and you discover the three people running it lying there, throats cut. Grab 3 things each for your pack before you scarper off. Or did you want to become a store owner?
The Last City has come into some intelligence and now it wants to strike out against some centers of nastiness. They’ve offered 2D cash to any returning band of rabble, no matter their station, that bring back monster trophies from Skyless Forest, the Ruins of the Keep on the Border and the Isle of Red.
As you enter the city, a man bumps into you and runs on, chased by the guard. In the packet he dropped you find some white powder. Using it will remove Tired and Afraid conditions, but will require a Will test to avoid a nasty, detriorating, Sick condition.
In order to break the impasse in the power struggle, the City Guard has declared that a ruling guild will be chosen, at swordpoint if need be. The voting is in 2 days, all human men (yes, males) over 14 eligible. Lots of favors are being sought. +1D Circles for the faction you vote for. The City Guard has declared themselves not eligible (this cycle).
The sword of Kings has been returned to the city! Rodderick the Bold has sworn it will grace the temple of the Lords of Life and Death, once a suitable place for it has been created. Clerics that tithe to help create this place will forever be welcome at the temple.
Huh. It’d be neat to make a city map so huge that it hit every note of how to make the world map. Sort of like Gormenghast is, just vastly scaled up. Thirty or forty miles across, with enormous walls surrounding it. You could have entire districts of tenements that were retaken by forest, a dwarven undercity, and all of it packed into a single urban area. Food production would be pretty interesting, but maybe you could do something like Science Fantasy Quorn, grown in huge vats. And lots of rooftop gardens.
The dwarves arent in the Undercity: they inhabit the outer wall (yes, that massive).
The lower city and tunnelwarren belongs to the ratmen.
Rooftop gardens for the elves.
The intermediate levels, and the harbour, for the humans. The humans are by far the most populous, but even in their own Last City, they are encroached upon on all sides!
The halflings live in isolated pockets, just a few families.
(This is a somewhat different Last City from my original concept. I especially like the idea that the walls are so massive, dwarven halls can be in them.
My apologies if I came across as snarky - I blame a raging tooth infection. Anyway, a good start to Mobu city would be here, Judd’s first post on the subject. Yes, there’s no map, but it could be used as a concept to guide TB’s mapping guidelines.
John