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City Builder: A Guide to Designing Communities

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City Builder: A Guide to Designing Communities is a resource specifically designed to help storytellers create exciting and compelling urban areas and other sorts of communities and places within them. It is a universal sourcebook that can support the needs of any ancient, Dark Ages, Middle Ages, Renaissance, or fantasy fiction or role-playing game setting. 

This comprehensive, fully-illustrated book includes:

* An Introduction that describes the scope of the book and how to use the material it contains;

* A chapter on Communities that examines the Characteristics of Communities, including thorps, hamlets, villages, towns, cities, military bases, and plantations, along with regional and racial influences on their development; Buildings; the Physical Characteristics of Cities, including fortifications, lighting, and conditions on, above, and below city streets; and Disasters.

* Chapters devoted to 10 specific sorts of places, including Craftsman Places, Entertainment Places, Professional Places (with a sidebar on Guilds that discusses organization and regulations and includes tables for random guild generation), Tradesman Places, Mercantile Places, Service Places, Scholarly Places, Religious Places, Governmental Places, and Underworld Places.

 * Descriptions of 85 different sorts of places, including eight created specifically for this book that have never before appeared elsewhere.

* Two to three Adventure Hooks tying in with each described sort of place. 

The contents of City Builder were initially released in 11 different volumes and these have been combined and expanded in this unified edition of the book.

"City Builder is one of the most useful city building tools to come around in this half of the decade," DriveThruRPG staff reviewer Nathan Collins wrote of the individual volumes. "Strong writing accompanies fantasy element nicely. Whether you need to develop one isolated building the PCs are set to encounter, or a city that needs to 'pop up' quickly, there is something in this set that will greatly help you." 



~ TSRPG (Travel-Sized RPG) ~

Be sure to check out Skirmisher Publishing's popular and Platinum-bestselling TSRPG (Travel-Sized RPG)! This rules-light storytelling game can easily be played anywhere, from the airport waiting area you are stuck in, to the overnight in some hotel where there is nothing to do (and also, of course, in your own home). All the basic rules fit on one page; no dice are needed; characters have just two stats; and any bookkeeping that might be required can be done on a cocktail napkin with a pen borrowed from a waiter. TSRPG is fully supported with sourcebooks that include "Arms, Armor & More," "Wands, Wagons, Whips & More," and "OS-TSRPG," along with 10 compelling scenarios, "A Long Way to the Top," "Beating Around the Bush," "A Midsummer Night's Scheme," "On the Plane of Magma," "A Violet Shade of Death," "A Rose for Erato," "Into the Terrorium," "Whiskey in the Jar," "Krampusnacht: Night of the Krampus!," and "Temple of the Banished Suns," all of which include pregenerated characters and the basic rules for the game, allowing them to function as quick-starts for it. We have also had TSRPG translated into a number of other languages, including German (along with three adventures, „Eine Rose für Erato,“ „Auf der Ebene des Magmas,“ and „Tempel der Verbannten Sonnen,“ along with the „OS-TSRPG" supplement), Spanish (along with four adventures, "Una Rosa Para Erato," "Un Tono Violeta de Muerte," ""¡El Plan de Una Noche de Verano"," and "En el Plano de Magma" and the "Armas, Armaduras y Más" and "Varitas, Vagones, Látigos y Más!" supplements), and Ukrainian

English TSRPG      Espanol TSRPG   Deutsch TSRPG   Yкраїнська TSRPG      Aesopia Aesopia

TSRPG Wands TSRPG On the Plane of Magma A Violet Shade of Death A Rose for Erato Into the TerroriumTSRPGTemple of the Banished Suns TSRPG TSRPG Beating Around the Bush Krampusnacht!

Espanol TSRPG TSRPG TSRPG TSRPG El Plan de Una Noche de Verano TSRPG   Deutsch TSRPG Magmas TSRPG TSRPG

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Reviews (5)
Discussions (16)
Customer avatar
Mathew P November 29, 2023 8:31 am UTC
PURCHASER
What is the difference between the "Standard Color" and "Premium Color" editions?
Customer avatar
Osiris T December 04, 2022 9:32 am UTC
Does it have any random tables?
Customer avatar
David L April 25, 2022 5:14 pm UTC
PURCHASER
I ordered the PDF of "City Builder: A Guide to Designing Communities" back in 2014 and it is no longer in my library. Did you remove the old version? If so do I get some kind of discount on the new one? Or a refund since I can no longer access what I paid for?
Reply
Customer avatar
~ Skirmisher Publishing ~ June 23, 2022 3:36 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
David, we released the initial complete version of "City Builder" in 2008, so it sounds like you never had it and instead had one of the individual volumes that we ultimately consolidated into the main book and then deleted. If you email us at PDFs@skirmisher.com we will send you a discount coupon you can use to obtain the newest, complete edition of "City Builder."
Customer avatar
George F June 15, 2021 8:53 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Whatever happened to the Castle Builder series? I'd love to see that compiled into a PoD as well.
Customer avatar
Kyrinn E November 18, 2020 11:51 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Is this the Platinum Edition from the most recent Kickstarter?
Reply
Customer avatar
~ Skirmisher Publishing ~ November 19, 2020 9:14 am UTC
PUBLISHER
Yes, Kyrinn, it is! Our Kickstarter campaign for it concluded in September 2019 and we released this Platinum Edition of the book in February 2020 (and just released an updated version of the PDF that has a number of minor text corrections throughout it).
Customer avatar
Christopher B November 18, 2020 1:36 am UTC
PURCHASER
There was a notice from DMsGuild of a new file update released, but the most recent version file listed states 7-09-2020.
Reply
Customer avatar
~ Skirmisher Publishing ~ November 19, 2020 9:09 am UTC
PUBLISHER
Yes, Christopher, we released an updated file for "City Builder" at DriveThruRPG on Tuesday, November 17! It had that date in its file name but was in fact the most recent version of the book. For the sake of clarity we have renamed the current correct download file so that it does not have that date as part of its title.
Customer avatar
James G May 01, 2020 5:36 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Just picked this up in hardcover...the artwork is washed out and/or grayed-out. The text is readable, but this does not look very nice and I had intended on making this a gift.
Reply
Customer avatar
~ Skirmisher Publishing ~ May 02, 2020 2:02 am UTC
PUBLISHER
Jim G., what you are describing, particularly "grayed-out" images, is something we would typically associate with a file-reading problem when a print-on-demand copy of a book is being produced. We have reviewed the files we provided to DriveThruRPG for purposes of printing copies of "City Builder" and cannot identify any errors in them, nor have we had any reports of similar problems from anyone else, so what you have experienced would seem to be an anomaly. This is nonetheless a matter of great concern to us and we are committed to making sure you and all customers end up with print copies of "City Builder" that appear the way we intend them to, so we have contacted DriveThruRPG about your feedback and suggest you do the same in case providing a replacement copy of the book for you is warranted.
Customer avatar
Vivianne C April 07, 2020 6:25 pm UTC
PURCHASER
So it says that I have purchased this product... Yet it does not seem to offer a pdf of the full document? Listing only the following:
(City Builder Volume 9: Religious Places Hi-Res)
(City Builder Volume 9: Religious Places Hi-Res Cover)
(CB_Platinum_Preview(08-04-2019).pdf)
(City_Builder_Vol9(01-23-2020).pdf)
Reply
Customer avatar
~ Skirmisher Publishing ~ April 07, 2020 7:56 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
Thomas, we are looking into this right now and reaching out to our publisher services people at DriveThruRPG! We will get it sorted out. Thank you for providing a thorough description of the problem.
Reply
Customer avatar
~ Skirmisher Publishing ~ April 08, 2020 9:43 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
Thomas, it looks like we have gotten this issue resolved! You should now be able to download the correct files associated with this title, "City_Builder(03-05-2020)" and "City_Builder_Reduced(03-05-2020)."
Reply
Customer avatar
Vivianne C April 11, 2020 4:05 am UTC
PURCHASER
Thank you very much for getting this fixed!
Customer avatar
Michael A April 07, 2020 5:56 pm UTC
Hi, does this have a complete economics price list, like for armour, weapons, trade goods, etc.?
Reply
Customer avatar
~ Skirmisher Publishing ~ April 08, 2020 8:37 am UTC
PUBLISHER
No, Michael, our sense is that price lists need to be associated with particular game systems. "City Builder" is a rules-free resource and we decided that anything we might create along those lines would have limited value to people playing specific games, which all have their own monetary systems, relative values of goods and commodities, etc.
Customer avatar
Jim J March 18, 2020 3:02 pm UTC
How can you claim this product has been "thoroughly rewritten, re-edited, redesigned, re-illustrated" when the VERY FIRST SENTENCE contains a typo?

"Characters in a typical fantasy role-playing game setting spend much of their time trudging through teem ing wilderness."

Asking $25 for a product that hasn't been proofread doesn't seem reasonable to me.
Reply
Customer avatar
~ Skirmisher Publishing ~ March 25, 2020 6:31 am UTC
PUBLISHER
Jim J., we have checked the most recent files for this book, dated 03-05-2020, and what you are describing simply does not exist in them. You may be seeing an error in an old preview of the book as a result of DriveThruRPG not updating these views but it does not appear in the current Platinum Edition of "City Builder."
Customer avatar
Thomas A February 27, 2020 8:49 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Will a print version of this be available in the future?
Reply
Customer avatar
~ Skirmisher Publishing ~ March 15, 2020 12:01 am UTC
PUBLISHER
Hi Thomas, yes, we are actually in the process of proofing the print version of this title right now!
Reply
Customer avatar
~ Skirmisher Publishing ~ April 04, 2020 9:51 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
Thomas, wanted to let you know that we have just made available a beautiful, full-color, hardcover print edition of "City Builder"!
Reply
Customer avatar
Michael A April 07, 2020 6:31 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Is there any discount if I have already bought the PDF?
Reply
Customer avatar
~ Skirmisher Publishing ~ April 08, 2020 9:44 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
Yes, Michael, there will be, and we will address that in an email message via DriveThruRPG within the next several days.
Customer avatar
Douglas B September 26, 2019 12:44 am UTC
Will this be updated with the recent Kickstarter that was done? Also some of the reviews mention it’s system free which is great but then the product description mentions a D20 ruleset alignment. Is it still a system “free” source book? Fingers crossed it is...
Reply
Customer avatar
~ Skirmisher Publishing ~ February 27, 2020 10:03 am UTC
PUBLISHER
Douglas, we have indeed updated this product listing with the complete updated, expanded, and re-illustrated Platinum Edition of "City Builder" that we funded with a very successful Kickstarter campaign!

Yes, "City Builder" is indeed entirely system-free, and really always was; when we originally released this book it included some rules-free content from the d20 SRD, but we have replaced that with original fresh material in the most recent edition and thus no longer include an OGL license in it.
Customer avatar
Lon N March 01, 2019 4:41 am UTC
PURCHASER
I have really enjoyed this product. It gives the GM a variety of ideas to add roleplaying opportunities in urban settings, and will certainly give you inspiration by helping you to create more substance to your villages, towns, and cities. Overall, a very good product!
Customer avatar
Jay N September 20, 2018 4:58 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Hello.
I have just purchased your product and I see in the bookmarks you have what appears to be bookmarks for Experts 3.5 (the Hi-Res 12-14-2016).pdf file.

Yet when I click on ANY of these bookmarks (technically any bookmark after Open Game License Version 1.0a) nothing comes up.

Was there an intent to include Experts v.3.5 in this product and then it was changed for some reason (thus the bookmarks are an artifact from an earlier part of the development/assembly cycle) or is the file on here not the correct one for customers?

Look forward to your response,
Jay.
Reply
Customer avatar
Jim C October 16, 2018 10:50 am UTC
PURCHASER
Hello Jay,
Appears to be an error. Experts v3.5 is a separate product.

Jim
Reply
Customer avatar
Michael V January 06, 2019 10:51 am UTC
PURCHASER
Jay, that was just an error with the bookmarking and nothing nearly as complicated as some of what you have postulated! No, we certainly never intended to jam two large, unrelated books together into one volume and, had that been our intent, certainly would have noticed that one of them was missing. We have, in any event, replaced the previous "City Builder" PDF file with one for which we have corrected the bookmarks and made a number of other minor adjustments.
Customer avatar
Ralph T March 03, 2018 10:54 pm UTC
PURCHASER
You might want to check the titles for the Appendix I section for it looks like you have one labeled Appendix II when it might be an Appendix I, and you definitely should check out the bookmarks; especially after the Open Game License Version 1.0a.
Reply
Customer avatar
Michael V January 06, 2019 10:53 am UTC
PURCHASER
Ralph, we have fixed all that and you should be able to download an updated copy of the "City Builder" PDF that reflects those changes.
Reply
Customer avatar
Ralph T January 07, 2019 11:37 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Thanks Michael. That is great to hear.
Customer avatar
Matthew V February 20, 2018 12:19 am UTC
PURCHASER
How does this differ from the City Builder Volumes 1-11?
Reply
Customer avatar
Matthew V February 20, 2018 5:25 am UTC
PURCHASER
Ah, ok. It *is* the compilation of the other volumes.
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Product Information
Adamantine seller
Pages
240
Publisher Stock #
SKPE0925
File Size:
196.86 MB
Format
Original electronic Click for more information
Scanned image
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Original electronic format
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File Last Updated:
October 01, 2022
This title was added to our catalog on March 03, 2008.