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[Worldbuilding] Crystalshore
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Author:  trappedslider [ Mon Sep 23, 2013 2:10 pm ]
Post subject:  [Worldbuilding] Crystalshore

So this is the city I wrote up a while back for a D&D game, this is all just fluff so it can be used in any fantasy setting or whatever.

The city of Crystalshore sits at the mouth of the River Crystal. It's a major shipping harbor for the kingdom it lies in. Along with also being a major overland trading route. This made it one of the richest cities in the kingdom. It's current population is 50,000. One of the major taverns is "Demon's Run". The city is ran by the Lord Mayor who acts upon advice given to him or her from a council made up of business members and members of the upper class. The city is also home to a number of different religious orders that also give advice to the Lord Mayor.

Crystalshore is dived into sections with the largest being the Trade district along the river and the Harbor, this is where Demon's Run is located and along with a number of drunk sailors. This is also the home of the shipping company Merakesh LTD. The company employs a large number of workers from officer workers to ship hands to warehouse workers.

North from the Trade district is the city center where the government offices are located along with a number of buildings belonging to foreign Governments . Then to the east and west are residential areas, and scattered around the city are the various churches and temples.

Along the outer edge of the city are also a number of farms that grow food and raise animals.

EDIT: I'll add more later

The Harbor


Trade district


The Civic district



Demon's Run


Merakesh


Angelic Shadows



Politics and such


Moonflower International

Author:  trappedslider [ Mon Sep 23, 2013 2:25 pm ]
Post subject:  Temp - Trapped's world building

Who's who of Crystalshore


Marcos Marakesh



Serena Moonbrook



Lord Mayor Alfonso del Reno


Council of Elders


Lady Amelia Ridgeway


Kerean Jalrva


Conall Vulmar

Author:  trappedslider [ Mon Sep 23, 2013 2:25 pm ]
Post subject:  [Worldbuilding] Crystalshore

In relation to the capital city of the kingdom of Calmarnock Image

Author:  Arcane Archer [ Mon Sep 23, 2013 5:50 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Crystalshore

Lol, that cracks me up. I developed a seaport named Southport that has a number of similarities, but is much larger. It boasts an army, the largest navy on the continent, and a magic academy (actually psions, but the PCs don't know that!) :plot: A guy I know let me use his idea for a special place called the Drunken Lemming, a "tavern" that might well spawn a number of adventures. I will definitely keep an eye on this thread. I like, no, LOVE, sea or other on-the-water adventures. A great d20 book I highly recommend is "Seafarer's Handbook", a Legends and Lairs guidebook from It gives you a wealth of information to use for sea campaigns. You can probably pick it up in a used book store.

Author:  trappedslider [ Mon Sep 23, 2013 6:34 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Crystalshore

Arcane Archer wrote:
Lol, that cracks me up. I developed a seaport named Southport that has a number of similarities, but is much larger. It boasts an army, the largest navy on the continent, and a magic academy (actually psions, but the PCs don't know that!) :plot: A guy I know let me use his idea for a special place called the Drunken Lemming, a "tavern" that might well spawn a number of adventures. I will definitely keep an eye on this thread. I like, no, LOVE, sea or other on-the-water adventures. A great d20 book I highly recommend is "Seafarer's Handbook", a Legends and Lairs guidebook from It gives you a wealth of information to use for sea campaigns. You can probably pick it up in a used book store.


I prefer Urban adventures,so I have Cityscape, and yeah i plan to add to it. I just need to find the rest of my notes

Author:  trappedslider [ Mon Sep 23, 2013 7:02 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Crystalshore

The Harbor is home to a number of warehouses that belong to a number of companies, but a large group of them belong to Merakesh LTD and is guarded by their own group of security forces. Along the harbor are also a number of taverns the most famous being "Demon's Run". It's always packed with sailors, travelers and locals.

EDIT: Some of the ships currently in port are : The Maru the largest cargo ship belonging to Merakesh LTD. The Golden Lilly a passenger ship. Rivers Dream a river boat that hauls both goods and people up and down the river. The Emissary an ambassadorial class ship from another city ( or kingdom) A number of other ships belonging to Merakesh LTD and fishing trawlers belong to private owners and a few other cargo haulers from other companies.

Author:  miss_bun [ Mon Sep 23, 2013 9:17 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Crystalshore

I really think the idea of a trade city as hub is smart. I know you said it could be used for any kind of game, but is there particular edition you run?

Author:  trappedslider [ Mon Sep 23, 2013 9:33 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Crystalshore

The Trade district is a very cosmopolitan area. You can hear a number of different accents and languages from all over. One of the largest shops is called Moonflower International. They seem to have items from all over the place and always filled with shoppers. There are also a number of places to get food one of the more popular eatery is Kismet Cantina. It's famous for it's Purple Heaven which is a a drink that is colored violet with silver flecks and spices mixed in. The drink smells like licorice and tastes heavenly. Many deals have been made over glasses of it. There are also a number of smaller specialty shops and stalls lining the streets, that are paved to help with the transfer of goods and people from the harbor. The streets are also paved for the whole city.

Author:  trappedslider [ Mon Sep 23, 2013 9:34 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Crystalshore

miss_bun wrote:
I really think the idea of a trade city as hub is smart. I know you said it could be used for any kind of game, but is there particular edition you run?

3.5 is what I run when i did/do run D&D, but it's generic enough to be used for any game really.

Author:  squinty_eyes [ Tue Sep 24, 2013 12:09 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Crystalshore

trappedslider wrote:
3.5 is what I run when i did/do run D&D, but it's generic enough to be used for any game really.

See, that was my thinking. I just don't know that much about 4E or really, anything besides Pathfinder, but as long as the game revolves around a d20, aren't a lot of these world's fairly interchangeable? I just don't see all the major differences that make people scream: "Oh gods, why did you do this WotC? Why?"

~SE++

Author:  trappedslider [ Tue Sep 24, 2013 12:14 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Crystalshore

squinty_eyes wrote:
See, that was my thinking. I just don't know that much about 4E or really, anything besides Pathfinder, but as long as the game revolves around a d20, aren't a lot of these world's fairly interchangeable? I just don't see all the major differences that make people scream: "Oh gods, why did you do this WotC? Why?"

~SE++


When it comes to building cities no matter what game i'm running I always end up using cityscape to help me make the city. It's a really good environment book. And the fluffy stuff cane be used with any system.

Author:  Bounty Hunter [ Tue Sep 24, 2013 1:31 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Crystalshore

I'm going to have to look into Cityscape. I just started branching into DMing, and while I'm going to run some 4E easy modules to get used to it... I know in the back of my mind that I'll want to do a homebrew world and campaign. So I'm going to have to start a long ways out ahead of time.

I've played with a few ideas.... the first of which would have the party starting out in a city similar to Ravnica's guild system. My long term plan would to have two groups actually playing in the same world and have their events effecting each other. But we'll see.

Author:  trappedslider [ Tue Sep 24, 2013 5:42 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Crystalshore

Bounty Hunter wrote:
I'm going to have to look into Cityscape. I just started branching into DMing, and while I'm going to run some 4E easy modules to get used to it... I know in the back of my mind that I'll want to do a homebrew world and campaign. So I'm going to have to start a long ways out ahead of time.

I've played with a few ideas.... the first of which would have the party starting out in a city similar to Ravnica's guild system. My long term plan would to have two groups actually playing in the same world and have their events effecting each other. But we'll see.


Good luck finding a hard copy of it, the crunchy bits ofr the book are for 3.5, but like i said the fluffy stuff can be used for anything

Author:  trappedslider [ Tue Sep 24, 2013 6:25 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Crystalshore

The Civic district is home to government offices, the largest being City hall. It is here where the Lord Mayor has his personal office and his meeting room. The meeting room is where he meets with the Council of Elders, who are made up for members of the business community, the upper class,and some of the Churches. There are also a number of offices for the Lord Mayor's staff.

Aside from City hall the other government offices include:

The Exchequer which deals with the city's finances (rumors abound that the department is receiving kick backs from an unknown party)

The Justice Department deals with law enforcement ( bribes are said to be made to the Justice minister in order for him to trun a blind eye to anything happening in the Red Light District)

The Courts

Then there is Embassy Row which houses the offices that belong to Foreign Governments.

However in between both the Trade and Civic district is a narrow strip of the city that is the Red Light district. Inside of this area that is only a couple of blocks are a couple of brothels (one is rumored to be owned by Merakesh LTD) There are also a few pawn shops with good of dubious legality for sell. There are also a number of cheap flop houses willing to rent out sub par rooms to those willing to pay or provide a service depending on the owner's needs. This area is lightly patrolled by the city guard.

Author:  draco1119 [ Tue Sep 24, 2013 1:38 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Crystalshore

trappedslider wrote:
So this is the city I wrote up a while back for a D&D game, this is all just fluff so it can be used in any fantasy setting or whatever.

The city of Crystalshore sits at the mouth of the River crystal. It's a major shipping harbor for the kingdom it lies in. Along with also being a major overland trading route. This made it one of the richest cities in the kingdom. It's current population is 20,000. One of the major taverns is "Demon's Run". The city is ran by the Lord Mayor who acts upon advice given to him or her from a council made up of business members and members of the upper class. The city is also home to a number of different religious orders that also give advice to the Lord Mayor.

Crystalshore is dived into sections with the largest being the Trade district along the river and the Harbor, this is where Demon's Run is located and along with a number of drunk sailors. This is also the home of the shipping company Merakesh LTD. The company employs a large number of works from officer works to ship hands to warehouse workers.

North from the Trade district is the city center where the government offices are located along with a number of buildings belonging to foreign Governments . Then to the east and west are residential areas, and scattered around the city are the various churches and temples.
*Yoink*

Author:  trappedslider [ Tue Sep 24, 2013 7:22 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Crystalshore

Yoink? So it's that good huh? I think i have more notes somewhere...

Author:  miss_bun [ Tue Sep 24, 2013 10:24 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Crystalshore

Hahaha.

Author:  Zherog [ Thu Sep 26, 2013 9:35 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Crystalshore

trappedslider wrote:
I prefer Urban adventures,so I have Cityscape, and yeah i plan to add to it. I just need to find the rest of my notes


Since you prefer urban adventures, allow me to drop in a plug for The Great City Campaign Setting from 0one Games. ;) (And I'd link you directly to the product on the Publisher's website, but my employer blocks it. And if you want more info about the setting, let me know and I'll start a thread about it so as not to completely hijack yours.)

A bit of quick advice for your city: make sure you include conflict. Groups that have subtle wars (financial or actual hit-and-run murders etc), political opponents of the Lord Mayor, churches that have opposing beliefs and want to eliminate each other, etc. Those conflicts are what allow GMs to build out hooks for their campaign and give something for a player to latch onto - even if they don't know they're latching onto a specific political inrigue conflict at the beginning.

Author:  trappedslider [ Thu Sep 26, 2013 9:43 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Crystalshore

Zherog wrote:

Since you prefer urban adventures, allow me to drop in a plug for The Great City Campaign Setting from 0one Games. ;) (And I'd link you directly to the product on the Publisher's website, but my employer blocks it. And if you want more info about the setting, let me know and I'll start a thread about it so as not to completely hijack yours.)

I have monte cook's Ptolus
Quote:
A bit of quick advice for your city: make sure you include conflict. Groups that have subtle wars (financial or actual hit-and-run murders etc), political opponents of the Lord Mayor, churches that have opposing beliefs and want to eliminate each other, etc. Those conflicts are what allow GMs to build out hooks for their campaign and give something for a player to latch onto - even if they don't know they're latching onto a specific political inrigue conflict at the beginning.


I have notes somewhere on whos who and guilds and such i'm still looking for them lol once i find them I can add to this thread.

Author:  draco1119 [ Thu Sep 26, 2013 10:02 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Crystalshore

trappedslider wrote:
Yoink? So it's that good huh? I think i have more notes somewhere...
I plan to build a world around the area laid out in Red Hand of Doom. I already have a replacement for Dwellin's Ferry (starting town); you just gave me a replacement for Bridgeport (ending town).

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