Note: all references in this article to World of Darkness games are to these game’s Second Edition, because that’s what I’m currently running 😉 .
All but the most causual “beer-and-pretzels” games need locations — cities, kingdome, what have you. Another tool White Wolf included in their first edition Storyteller’s Handbook was a city worksheet. It included spaces for you to fill in the city’s name, population, places of importance or interest, TV stations, newspapers, mayor’s name, city council members, radio stations, etc.
Like with the Story Worksheet, I took White Wolf’s bare-bones sheet and expanded to fit my needs. I find that creating extensive location information helps me run better games; having it at my fingertips makes it much easier to determine the outcome of unexpected player actions. For example, if a group of Mage PCs decide (without warning) to attack the local Tremere Chantry, I already have the information about where it’s located and who it’s members are. These pieces of information alone can help me work up the Chantry’s defenses on the fly, based on the type of building, surrounding neighborhood, and the resources it’s local members have at their disposal.
The topics covered by my expanded World of Darkness city sheet are:
- City Name
- Mortal Population [number]
- Kindred Population [number]
- Wraith Population [number]
- Faery Population [number]
- Mage Population [number]
- Immortal Population [number]
- Mood — the overall “feel” of the city
- Theme — cities can have themes the same way games and campaigns can
- Description of the city’s “look”
- Places of interest/importance
- Mayor [name] controlled by [faction]
- Police Chief [name] controlled by [faction]
- Precinct Captains [names] controlled by [faction]
- Prominent Uniformed Cops [names] controlled by [faction]
- Internal Affairs Detectives [names] controlled by [faction]
- Newspapers [name] controlled by [faction]
- TV Stations/Networks [names] controlled by [factions]
- Radio Stations [names] controlled by [factions]
- City Council Members [names] controlled by [factions]
- Libraries
- Museums
- Mortal Information
- Society of Leopold
- Provincial
- Local Cenacula
- Abbes and members
- Factions, orders, and sects
- Arcanum
- Chapter house
- Chancellor
- Local colonies
- Lodges
- Colleges
- Other Prominent Mortals
- Society of Leopold
- Kindred Information
- Number of Camarilla members
- Number of Sabbat members
- Number of other kindred
- Prince
- Prince’s haven
- Primogen role (advisers to the prince, ruling body, figureheads, etc.)
- Primogen members and clans
- Tremere Regent
- Tremere chantry members and ranks
- Antitribu regent, if any
- Antitribu chantry members and ranks
- Archbishop
- Archbishop’s haven
- Bishops
- Anarch overlord (if any)
- Gangs and their leaders
- Notable neutrals
- Other Kindred of importance
- Vampire “Town Hall”
- Elysium
- The Rack
- Other places of importance to Kindred
- Number of each clan residing in city
- Changing Breed Information
- Number of Gaian Garou
- Number of Black Spiral Dancers
- Number of Gurahl
- Number of Bastet
- Number of Corax
- Number of Nuwisha
- Number of Ratkin
- Garou Information
- King (if any)
- Notable packs and their members
- Caers and who controls them
- Factions
- Number of members for each tribe (including Ronin)
- Mage Information
- Number of Tradition mages
- Number of Technocracy mages
- Number of Nephandi
- Number of Marauders
- Traditions
- Council members
- Chantries
- Number of each Tradition residing in city
- Technocracy
- Technocratic council members
- Constructs
- Number of each Convention residing in city
- Nephandi groups
- Nodes
- Labyrints
- Marauder groups
With some work, this sheet could serve as the foundation for any game, including fantasy games like D-n-D. For the next several days, I’ll take this sheet and use it to create a brand-new fantasy city. I’m going to try and make the city as game-mechanic free as possible, so that it could work for any fantasy game.
