Portown is described as a small town in Holmes Basic, but my own version is between large town and small city. Anyone else have their own personalized designs of Holmes' famous city?
Holmes describes it as a city which attracts visitors from all over the world. I suspect he imagined it BIG. For me Portown is just a town and not a big one either.
I don't think there was a single real-world analogue which Holmes had in mind when he described Portown, so much as several influences. Besides those already listed, I've seen good discussion of San Francisco as one potential influence and another of Lankhmar (which itself may have some influence from San Francisco).
That aside, I think the key element for any version of Portown is that it is a border city/town - a port which has traders arriving from distant places, from northern seas to southern caravans. Being a border town, you've got a cosmopolitan place out of proportion to its size - so it could be town size (roughly 5k to 20k depending on the edition of D&D) or a large city (20k+) depending on how you want to run it.
As a "starter town" for a Basic campaign, I'd personally scale it smaller - a huge metropolis is (1) pretty daunting for a new DM and a huge design challenge for even an experienced DM; (2) too big for low level (Basic) characters to make a mark on the city, whereas in a town the PCs can take a role in bigger intrigues/challenges/events directly; and (3) offers too many adventure hooks for a starter / Basic town (unless you are running a city campaign, you want to get your PCs out exploring dungeons and wilderness rather than roaming about some huge city which in itself is a sort of megadungeon).
Just as low level PCs start small with dungeons and wilderness forays, my personal take is one should likewise start them in smaller towns and outposts, away from civilization where they can get into more trouble; once they get higher in level, then it's time to send them in the direction of the Big City.
Good ideas, Andy. I'm definitely in favor of a smaller scale for those reasons. Another idea is to use Restenford from L1 as Portown. You can also combine it with Saltmarsh, another unmapped town. See this 2006 DF thread: http://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=18711
Good points so far, and its nice to measure one's own attempt at Portown design against others' designs. I think my version of Portown is a little bigger than a beginning ref needs, but its big with the intention of letting it grow as much as the players need it or want it. The undeveloped parts should stay undeveloped as long as the players have no need for it, but I really think it should be big enough to accommodate as many initial ideas the referee and players have for it.
Mine is a seaside town with a bustling harbor and marketplace, heavily based on Marblehead, Massachusetts. As Zenopus points out, this is an influence on Lovecraft's Kingsport and, likely, Holmes' Portown: http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2012/11/kingsport-as-portown.html I have St. Toad's church with its cracked chimes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Michael's_Church_%28Marblehead,_Massachusetts%29 A squat, round wizard's tower barricaded with a steel door http://www.marblehead.org/index.aspx?NID=614 and SO MANY graveyards!
ReplyDeleteYes! Check this PDF out, I think you'll like it. It's by noted after-market Blue Box author R. C. Pinnell: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1EkzJN_zT8uaXM5ODNiMXEtVWs/view?usp=sharing
ReplyDeleteHolmes describes it as a city which attracts visitors from all over the world. I suspect he imagined it BIG. For me Portown is just a town and not a big one either.
ReplyDeleteThe Portown map made by Demos Sachlas (paleologos on DF) is my go-to map for the town. http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2012/11/portown-by-paleologos.html
ReplyDeleteI don't think there was a single real-world analogue which Holmes had in mind when he described Portown, so much as several influences. Besides those already listed, I've seen good discussion of San Francisco as one potential influence and another of Lankhmar (which itself may have some influence from San Francisco).
ReplyDeleteThat aside, I think the key element for any version of Portown is that it is a border city/town - a port which has traders arriving from distant places, from northern seas to southern caravans. Being a border town, you've got a cosmopolitan place out of proportion to its size - so it could be town size (roughly 5k to 20k depending on the edition of D&D) or a large city (20k+) depending on how you want to run it.
As a "starter town" for a Basic campaign, I'd personally scale it smaller - a huge metropolis is (1) pretty daunting for a new DM and a huge design challenge for even an experienced DM; (2) too big for low level (Basic) characters to make a mark on the city, whereas in a town the PCs can take a role in bigger intrigues/challenges/events directly; and (3) offers too many adventure hooks for a starter / Basic town (unless you are running a city campaign, you want to get your PCs out exploring dungeons and wilderness rather than roaming about some huge city which in itself is a sort of megadungeon).
Just as low level PCs start small with dungeons and wilderness forays, my personal take is one should likewise start them in smaller towns and outposts, away from civilization where they can get into more trouble; once they get higher in level, then it's time to send them in the direction of the Big City.
To use an analogy from a different genre, I would start my campaign in Mos Eisley - not Coruscant ; )
ReplyDeleteGood ideas, Andy. I'm definitely in favor of a smaller scale for those reasons. Another idea is to use Restenford from L1 as Portown. You can also combine it with Saltmarsh, another unmapped town. See this 2006 DF thread:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=18711
Good points so far, and its nice to measure one's own attempt at Portown design against others' designs. I think my version of Portown is a little bigger than a beginning ref needs, but its big with the intention of letting it grow as much as the players need it or want it. The undeveloped parts should stay undeveloped as long as the players have no need for it, but I really think it should be big enough to accommodate as many initial ideas the referee and players have for it.
ReplyDeleteI'll post more on my blog in a little while. :)