Inventing a city from scratch can seem like a daunting task. There’s too many moving pieces to imagine all at once. People! Buildings! History! Government! Laws! Culture! Economy!

Here's the secret: start with a single seed, and let your ideas branch out from there. It works for the smallest hamlet up to the largest metropolis. Start with one single idea, then ask yourself a question.

How about: A city that worships chickens.

Then ask yourself a question about that. It could be any question: What does that look like?

Maybe you start to imagine a ridiculous religious costume. Or you see a market overrun with wild chickens, so everyone wears big high boots to avoid getting pecked or scratched. Then maybe there’s a whole economy of people taking care of them. And everybody probably eats a lot of eggs...

We’ve put together a list of 10 questions you can ask to kickstart your idea. We’ve then offered 10 possible answers to each question. Go with whatever idea jumps out at you first, then follow that path as far as it takes you. When you’re ready, ask yourself a different question, and take off in a new direction. Sometimes a great question to ask is: what is a person that lives here? Any piece of information could spark a colorful NPC.

You’ll be amazed at how quickly your ideas start flowing. So let’s do it!

Table of Contents

1. Who’s in charge?
2. What do they believe in?
3. What dangers lurk inside the town?
4. What dangers lurk outside the town?
5. What do they do for fun?
6. What industries does the town have?
7. What major events do they hold?
8. What was here before?
9. What do they eat?
10. What can’t you do in town?
11. Creating a city: El-Kay

Who’s in charge?

Even if you don’t expect your players to actually meet the person in charge, they’re still likely to set the tone of a town. A tyrannical lord who viciously taxes his populace will create a very different atmosphere than a benevolent elected leader who feeds the hungry.

Ask yourself, whose voice carries the most weight in town?

What do they believe in?

As well as the religions in the town, think about other significant beliefs your city might hold—be it widespread belief in a god or pantheon of gods, a superstition about a monster in the lake, or even the cultural narrative of the city’s history. A place that sees itself as the last bastion of an ancient and glorious civilization has different priorities than a scrappy port town looking to grow and expand.

What dangers lurk inside the town?

Calling Mos Eisley a “hive of scum and villainy” tells you in five words the kind of place Luke and Obi-Wan are walking into. Just a few words can go a long way to define the feel of a place.

In a small town, this might simply be one nasty gang that the players encounter. Maybe rival families have a feud going on, and the violence between them sometimes spills out into the streets. In larger cities, these could be full-blown crime rings, criminal conspiracies, or feuding corporations in a futuristic setting that have no problems with hiring gun-toting mercenaries to intimidate or eliminate the competition.

Perhaps the danger is related to the town’s politics or industry. Maybe the boss of a mining town doesn’t mind losing a few miners if it boosts the bottom line. Maybe factory workers have gotten fed up with poor conditions and the owner has called in a group like the Pinkertons to break the strike.

Any of these decisions can lead you to other elements in your city. If the local mob holds the real power, what is their relationship with the town's nominal ruler? Does the government oppose them, or has the Chief of Police been bought off? How brazenly do they show their power?

What dangers lurk outside the town?

Sometimes the most important building is the city wall. Everyone might be more than happy to pool half their wages to make sure there’s always ten guards on duty. What is it they want protection against?

External dangers can also provide great hooks to pull players into the action. What if defenses fail, or the threat is somehow compounded unexpectedly? Your population may need a hero or five.

What do they do for fun?

Sports and entertainment can be a defining element for any city. Think of the gladiator fights of ancient Rome—it evokes a hardened, scrappy underclass and a privileged, soft elite. Or perhaps they’ve turned to the arts, and poets recite on street corners.

In a small town (or a dull place), the mere arrival of new characters might be enough to capture local interest for an evening, especially if they’re desperate for news of the outside world.

What industries does the town have?

How has your city survived economically? The engines a city runs on can affect all sorts of things, from the distribution of wealth, to the food available at market, to the skillset of the citizens.

Is it self-sufficient, growing its own food and recycling its waste, or is it an export town that ships in weekly supplies? What do they bring in? Perhaps they manufacture the highest quality weapons in the land. What kind of customers come to Swordsville?

What major events do they hold?

There doesn't always have to be a major celebration going on when the players come to town, but a harvest or solstice festival can be a fun backdrop for the players to interact with. Even in the off-seasons, it gives the people in that town something to look forward to, fret about, or reminisce over.

As a hook for adventures, an event provides a lively setting. Perhaps the dictator is coming to kiss a few babies, or a murderer is taking advantage of the crowds. Perhaps a parade provides cover for the players to stage a heist.

Beyond festivals, these events could include tournaments, visits from local aristocracy, or even a royal progress as a queen or monarch surveys their kingdom. On the smaller scale, this could include the wedding or anniversary celebration of an important person in town, visiting carnivals, or bonfire nights.

What was here before?

Before the city was built, what used to sit on this spot? A city built up around a trading post may not have ruins beneath it, but a port town might. And who knows what a desert’s sand might conceal.

Cities built on the remains of older civilizations might have catacombs and dungeons, which may or may not have ancient artifacts or horrors. And how could your city’s history, ancient or not, affect daily life now?

Players or significant NPCs might trigger some long-awaited event from history. And surely there’s a local historian with a crackpot theory.

What do they eat?

While you don't have to come up with a whole menu, a city’s diet has a whole series of implications. It can hint at the environment and how connected it is to other places. A polyglot of cuisines might imply a safe haven for refugees, while dried spider’s legs could suggest a lack of trade.

Who’s the best cook in town? How do they get along with the food critic? Is making soup against the law?

What can’t you do in town?

What’s against the law? Just think of a few things for now—you can improvise the parking fees later. And how is that law enforced? A small town where the only law is the townspeople themselves is a very different environment than a city with a regiment of guards.

A town that outlaws dueling is going to be a very different place than a town that outlaws dancing. A ridiculous ban like “No one can wear green after sundown,” might have been enacted because of a local curse or superstition. Or maybe an event in the town’s past led to a ban on something innocuous, like dancing. Was the ban motivated by a particular political force or was it the brainchild of the local religious authorities?

Consider also how the locals feel about the laws. They might all keep tabs on each other, like a neighborhood watch, or they might lie for each other when the police show up.

Creating a city: El-Kay

Using some of the examples above, let’s spitball a city called El-Kay. Let’s start with choosing an option from the Belief table above, then flesh it out with some of the other questions.

Belief (Table 2)

It would be interesting for the players to come across a genuinely pacifistic town, so let’s make that the defining characteristic of the city.

Bans (Table 10)

It makes sense to have a ban on weapons within the city walls. But how is that ban enforced? How about: the city limits are enchanted somehow, but there’s also incredibly tough guards at every gate.

Outside dangers (Table 4)

Pacifism as a belief will stand out best when it’s threatened, so let’s add some danger. A neighboring, conquest-happy city-state has set its eyes on the pacifist town. But why? How about...

Industries (Table 6)

The conquering neighbor needs a reason to invade, so let’s give our pacifist town a thriving economy. Trade would probably do well in a pacifist, weapon-free town, so let’s have it serve as a neutral ground for trade and negotiation. These treaties will be tested as the tension rises with the rowdy neighbors.

History (Table 8)

Why does this town have its pacifistic stance? Let’s say a century ago, the town served as a location for a treaty that ended a great war. As part of the peace terms, no blood could be shed in conflict within the city walls. The fort where they signed the treaty is an historic site, and still used as the seat of government today. Speaking of government...

Rulers (Table 1)

A decision needs to be made about the aggressive neighbor. Who will make that decision? There would probably be a democratic council, elected by everyone over the age of majority. They want to wait for their allies to act, arguing that history forbids them from protecting the peace by force. But not everyone on the council agrees...

Internal dangers (Table 3)

Some of the council members have subtly manipulated trade in order to build up large fortunes. They’re afraid of the invasion and are planning to empty the city coffers and flee. Local factions are arguing to break with history and take up arms against the invaders.

Entertainment (Table 5)

Things are already pretty tense in El-Kay. Let’s say the most popular game in town is kickball, and teams of children from the surrounding region have come to compete in a tournament. The specter of war is heavy on the minds of the parents and coaches, and tempers are quick to flare. They usually take it out on the referees.

There’s plenty going on here already, so we won't tack on a cultural event or a cuisine yet. By starting with a single seed, we quickly came up with a setting, people to meet, and problems to solve (or at least interfere with). If we run a game in El-Kay, we have a lot more to work with when we need to improvise.

There’s no right or wrong way to use these questions or prompts. Enjoy, and share what you’ve created on the LegendKeeper Discord!

Happy worldbuilding.