Geinrich, the city of merchants, Fate RPG

So for the past few months I've been working on putting together a Fate RPG setting. Life has been getting in the way of my normal nerd related pursuits so this has taken me a lot longer than I expected it to, but I’m pretty happy with how well it has turned out so far. I’m basically doing this to get myself back into the swing of things because it has been a long time since I've run anything, especially anything worthwhile. With Fate so much closer to what I learned to GM with (Everway) I think it will give me the practice I need before I finally run the Eternal Seas campaign setting I've been cooking up.

So, as previously mentioned, the system being used is Fate RPG. This is a system based off of the Fudge System and uses Fudge dice to determine the outcomes of actions. See my previous posts for the explanations of that type of thing. Since I’m rusty and suddenly got excited by the fact that there were people who were willing to play this system I decided to go with a smaller, more “intimate” style setting and build a large city for the players to be based out of. I wanted the setting to be to my taste so I decided that the setting will be the equivalent to a “low” magic DnD setting, which basically means that it has the equivalent magic level of Everway. (No level 8 clerics with all the powers of Jesus. Magic might be common depending upon the area, but it isn't world shattering stuff most of the time.) I also want the players to be able to do cool things so I’m thinking of starting the PCs off at a Refresh level of 4 or 5, maybe 6 depending upon people’s preferences.

As is my style, I started calling this setting “Generic Fantasy World #12” as a placeholder for a name because I’m so creative like that. This setting being based out of a large city meant that I needed to figure out why this city would exist, and what types of conflicts could be found in it. I got to thinking about it and went with a centrally located Trading Hub style city with a river running through it because that gives you quite a lot of options to work with. You have the ability to have characters with very diverse backgrounds show up, a constant stream of new people, goods, etc flowing through, and plenty of employment opportunities for PCs seeking adventure. The river gives you access to the ocean and implies a mountain range or other source for the river coming from upstream somewhere. The river also gives me the ability to split the city and make a section that is the “ghetto” side of town which has all of its own implications.

Okay, off to a good start. So now some more specific things were needed. I eventually settled on Geinrich (Gyn-Rick, like gynecologist and the name Rick) because it sounds faux German and is totally isn't based off of the fact I might have been watching a Bobby’s World episode and was reminded of his last name.  I needed to come up with some distinct landmarks and areas/districts for the city, and some NPC organizations, a government, and a little bit of information on the surrounding areas to help as a kickstart for not only myself, but the players for when we sit down for the planning session.

With this being a centrally located trading hub it made sense to me that there would be a large number of roads leading to the city. Old cities would have to have walls to protect themselves from invasion so I figure that there would be a limited number of roads leading into the actual interior of the city. I settled on 5 roads because it was a nice number that made my poorly drawn map look a little prettier. Each road would have its own gate and all roads would meet in the middle of the city where the Great Market of Geinrich is set up. The roads and the gates are all named in pairs; Beggar’s Road/Gate, Golden Road/Gate, Merchant’s Road/Gate, Council Road/Gate, and Fool’s Road/Gate.

There are two gates on the river as well so that they can control entry. These gates are called South Bend Gate and River Gate. River Gate is upstream, South Bend Gate is downstream. There are 4 Bridges that cross the river. 3 in the city, 1 just down river from the South Bend Gate outside of the walls. Starting upstream you have North Bridge, Market Bridge, Hope's Bridge, and Outwall Bridge. Hope's bridge collapsed about 10 years ago and hasn't been rebuilt, or even really cleared away more than enough to allow river traffic through. (That's not symbolic AT ALL!!!).

I started off with the river through the city going straight through and dividing the city neatly in half, but I didn't like that too much. Just seemed too perfect to me for the city to be divided like that, so I turned the river into an almost C shape through the city. So the river enters the city through the river gate from the North West and exits it from the South through the south bend gate. The Western piece of the city makes up about a third of the city's area.

I decided to break the city up into 7 different districts because of the way that I drew the roads and river made that the easiest way to do it. The west bank of the city contains the city's poor district, also called the West Bank or Westside. Through the middle of West Bank is Beggar's Road and Beggar's Gate which leads directly through the district to Market Bridge. Over the river reside the other six districts. The Smith's Quarter sits on the northern district of the city between the river and [Fool's] Road. It is an industrial district, connected to its primary source of workers by the North Bridge. The district has so many businesses and warehouses in it that it has spilled over to outside of the walls.

Next up in a clockwise direction you have a  Middle class district that is currently unnamed bordered by [Fool's] Road and Merchant's Road that is unnamed at this time. The next district is an upper-middle class area bordered by Merchant's Road and Golden Road. this district is also unnamed at the moment. Next you have The Gilded Quarter, the rich/ruling/upper class area of the city. This district is bordered by Golden Road and Council Road. Finally you have another middle class district. This one is bordered by Council Road and the river (which I really need to name). This middle class district is a little bit lower in the wealth department because this was where the poor from the West Bank tended to go when they were able to rise out of poverty and cross Hope's Bridge before it collapsed.

At the center of the city, where all roads meet you have The Great Market of Geinrich. A place where merchants from all over the continent congregate to sell their wares on their way through. It is a veritable menagerie of goods. Anything is potentially available given enough time and searching. This area is heavily regulated by the Council (more on them later) and also the area that they station the most guards because this is the source of most of the city's tax income.

Since I mentioned them now's as good of a time as any to start talking about some of the major organizations of the city. I only created these as a starting point since the players will be adding their inputs into the world as part of the character/world design session we will have before we start playing (as per Fate's world building rules). So with that in mind, here are 4 of the many organizations active in the city.

First off you have the Guild Council. This is the actual legislating/ruling body of the city. The city's government is basically a Mercantile Republic where each officially recognized guild has a vote in government policy. The number of guilds is always shifting, but there tends to be a few dozen officially recognized guilds at a time. The Council votes to appoint a Lord to ensure the day to day running of the city and to faithfully execute the laws of the city (for those who understand government structure, the lord is the executive branch while the council is the legislative branch). A lord is appointed by a simple majority vote of the Council and is in office until removed by council vote or death. To remove the appointed lord from power the Council requires a two thirds vote. So historically it tends to be easier to remove the lord by assassination rather than by vote.

Guilds can gain official recognition by the Council and obtain a vote by following an application process and a simple majority vote. In order to revoke their official status it is also a majority vote. It is an accepted, if rather looked down upon, practice to use this revocation to shut down political opponents. Which is why the numbers of Guilds are always fluctuating.

The rest of the government is a bureaucratic nightmare of appointed officials "selected" by the lord (or one of his representatives) and appointed by the Council. These officials tend to be issuers of licenses/permits and tax collectors for a particular area. When officials have to do these things over in West Bank they tend to have to have an armed escort because of the rampant crime and general hatred of the residents.

The second organization I created is the City Guard. This is an organization that tries to do its best, but is significantly undermanned for the amount of things they have to do. The Council won't let them hire more full time guards for political/fiscal reasons but keeps telling them to do more and more. The captain of the city guard, Captain Michael Greggorson, has resorted to using some of his budget to hire whomever is willing to help as well as post bounties so that he doesn't have to waste his men on such things.

I decided immediately to give the organization the Aspect "Too many things, not enough bodies" because that perfectly fits their situation. Without manning at the levels they need, organized crime has been flourishing within the city and West Bank has been basically abandoned by the City Guard, outside of guarding the gates and bridges that lead to it.

I mentioned organized crime so let's get to that. I'm pretty tired of the semi-friendly and noble thieves guild style organized crime you normally see in fantasy settings. That's not how criminal enterprises operate. I don't like that interpretation of it at all, so after watching some Guy Ritchie movies I figured out a perfect way to represent the organized crime in Geinrich.

The first criminal organization is a Mafia-like group (probably going with "the Syndicate" as a name) that basically controls all criminal enterprises on the East Bank (the "civilized" side of the river). They are led by a mysterious boss known only as "the Baron." very few people know whom he actually is, but his influence is felt over most of the city. This group has a full command structure and initiation practices. Once you get to the point of being a "made man" you gain various benefits of their organization. They take care of you.

They are typically involved in prostitution, smuggling, "high-class/high stakes" gambling (including rigging high profile sports and tournaments), bribery, some extortion/protection, and drug running/dealing. They also are the exclusive importers of Opium (a highly illegal substance) into the the city and violently hold a monopoly on it. Anyone who gets caught dealing in it without their permission is dealt with in a very public way that shows their death was not quick.

The other "organization" out there are the various small groups, gangs, and criminal rings of West Bank. Think of these guys as the petty criminal groups you'd see in Guy Ritchie's movies. Some of them are pretty brutal characters with small organizations, while others are just underground pit fight promoters looking for a new wagon. The groups are diverse and sometimes work together with or against each other.

One of the most infamous groups right now are the Bonny Lads, lead by a man called The Laughing Man. (So named for the large "smiles" he leaves in people's throats.) They are primarily into extortion, robbery, and gambling (mostly pit fighting based). They are an extremely brutal and nasty gang to cross. Anyone who is in their way or that causes them trouble will be hurt or killed in a particularly brutal fashion. Those who survive are typically crippled for the rest of their short lives and are a nightmare to look upon.

I'm trying to think if there's anything else in particular to go over at the moment. I've got some NPCs built, I've got some history thrown together, and I have some initial adventure hooks planned. This setting is basically ready to go following some minor details, which can be filled in with the help of the players.

Edit: I forgot to mention that I decided to place this city on the continent of Wasslund from my Eternal Seas campaign setting. I just didn't feel like creating a new continent from scratch. This is going to take place prior to the Cataclysm that screws magic up globally and is also taking place prior to the Sacred Empire taking over the entire continent. Geinrich is an independent city-state located in a central part of  the continent. I haven't put it on the map yet, but it's in a generalized spot in case the players want to head somewhere else. I've got a bunch of notes on the current state of the continent somewhere, but can't find them at the moment so maybe I'll just write a different post about it when I do find it.