Cities are great to include in your campaign. Sometimes you want your city to be the feature location or a character all its own in your game, like in a cyberpunk or urban crime drama. Other times, you want the convenience a city has in goods, connections, quests, and politics to spice up your high-fantasy or sci-fi game, acting as home base for your explorations.

Either way, before you can play in a city, someone has to make that city. A realistic city is a lot of work to craft! Why should your Game Master do it on their own?

That is where Tales of a City comes in. This setting-neutral tool gives you a way to collectively build a living city together, complete with unique geography, a basic history, starting landmarks, and major NPCs... all in one small zine.

What do I need to use this?
All you will need is the manual, at least one 8-sided die, and some paper. Any blank paper will do, but would be easier to use a copy of the map and the NPC Creation Guide found inside. Most of the mechanics are done through picking or rolling on rolling tables in a series of stages as your city evolves from a small, initial rural settlement to the urban center it is at the time of your game.