If you’re plugged into the TTRPG blogosphere you might already be familiar with some of the other blogposts creating writing and worldbuilding challenges. Whether it’s something more akin to Sean McCoy’s Dungeon23 or last year’s April Foundry from Permanent Backlog, these do a great job of fostering community and driving everyone to get creative. We did the April Foundry on our Discord and had an absolute blast with it. Daily prompts that pushed us to think creatively AND building these prompts into our community was a lot of fun. So this year we’re putting out Fantasy City 26, a set of prompts to help drive that same creative energy, foster positive community and create that same feel as others of these we’ve done in the past. Your City could be set in the far future or distant past, "Fantasy" just means another world of your creation.
The Structure!
For each day we have a main prompt within a category or domain. These main prompts will help you slowly develop all of the major aspects of your city over the course of the month. Each prompt also has a sub-prompt. These sub-prompts are optional, additional prompts that let you expand on the narrative elements of that domain, create some mechanical element, or build something that is a little more focused. Engage with each prompt and sub-prompt as much or as little as you feel necessary in order to get the creative juices flowing and remember: the end goal is to create. Don’t stress out too much and just engage with the project as much as you can!
Creative Resources
Take a look at some of these links if you’re looking for inspiration on what your city might include or ideas about both real and fantasy cities/architecture.
Prompts
RESOURCES - What resource caused the city to be built where it is? Has that abundance waned? Is the city forced to rely on trade and imports for their continued existence?
Detail a conflict that started over the resources that your city is rich in. Who wants what, what happens when the resource runs out or the control over it changes hands?
FOUNDING - What is the founding myth or legend of this city, as told by the people? Who does the continued telling of this tale benefit?
Write a short counter narrative. The story that is told by those who disagree with or despise those in power. Maybe it is a speech to rebels, a controversial newspaper, or a secret story told to intiates.
FOOD - Are there outlying farms? Is there a culture of foraging or gardening? What is the city's most popular cuisine or food? What ingredients are rare and which are common?
Create a d10 table "Regional Dishes from the City." Include ingredients and flavor notes for each, hunting or foraging if applicable.
FASHION - How is fashion influenced by weather, labor and the day to day in the City? What clothing has been imbued with a cultural or religious meaning beyond its function? (Consider gender, class, race, disability and other major defining characteristics)
Create a d10 table of fashion styles for different social groups or city districts.
REVELRY - Describe a club, dancehall, or raucuous tavern. Is there a district for pleasure or fun in your city (for tourists? for locals)? What is usually frowned upon or taboo that is allowed in the confines of this place?
Describe a place or make a scene about a place of revelry. What dark secret or unexpected truth lies under all the dancing and cheering?
LAND - How does the terrain guide the growth and layout of the city? Does the city build itself into the hills, rivers, valleys and other terrain as it sprawls outward or does it terraform and level the area to fit its own needs?
Take a moment to consider how the cities and towns you've lived in have joined or conquered nature. Write about a district in your City that is notable for the way it engages with the terrain.
FAITH - Don't worry much about the faith of a wider region, but think specifically about this city. What faiths are present (or not present)? Is faith associated with the city's founding, holidays, or rituals?
Create a d10 table of rituals or festivals/celebrations. Consider detailing: food, color, smells, dance, art.
NORMS & HIERARCHY - Who makes the rules, who enforces them? What is the most commonplace rule that is impotant for the city to function? What rule is just in place to oppress people? What norms are in place due to cultural/social reasons?
Create a d10 table of Things You Should Know for visitors to the table. For instance: staring, appropriate voice volume, handshakes, or cultural taboos like sticking chopsticks up in a bowl of rice.
WEALTH - What does money/capital look like, if it even exists? How is wealth distributed (or not distributed at all)? How do you get wealth through merit, crime, labor, exploitation? Who gets wealth just by being born rich?
Create a d10 table of ridiculous luxuries the wealthy love in your City.
CITY CENTER - What is the center of the city? What does it say about the city? It doesn't need to be a traditional plaza. For instance, in some towns a strip mall might be the center of the town.
Draw, map, or describe in sensory detail the plaza during an average day in the City. Who moves through the plaza, who is selling what?
MARKET - What's typically sold here? What do people want to buy in this city, what goods is it known for? What illegal or taboo products draw people to market?
Let's build a Market. Is it open air, indoors? Describe one stall in descriptive detail using the 5 senses. Then describe the things that are sold under the table.
PUNISHMENT - How does the city punish? What offense is the most reprehensible? Who is punished, who is not?
Describe the place of punishment: how visible is it or is it hidden? Are there stockades, a guillotine, a prison, or other such place of reformation? Who is being punished there?
ARCHITECTURE - Is the architecture of this city ornate, simple, or something in-between? What real world architectural style(s) is closest to the architecture of this city?
Did the city builders intend for architecture to be used one way and now it is used a different way? (for example, a factory becomes a club)
WILDERNESS - Think of what surrounds the city, or maybe even a particularly wild park. What creatures make this wilderness their dominion? What hermits live out there? Why has it become so wild and why is that a problem?
What actions does the city take to beat back the wilderness that encroaches? Describe a group of rangers the City deploys to deal with these incursions.
WASTE - How does the city deal with garbage, refuse, and waste? What infrastructure or systems are in place, or not in place? What opportunities are there in waste for criminals or the desperate?
Create a d10 table "Things You Can Find in the Trash." Consider checking out waste workers' experiences like here: https://www.vice.com/en/article/garbage-collectors-grossest-trash/
HISTORY - Are there historians or archivists who keep track of the truth? What's the official narrative, and what is repressed or forgotten? What oral traditions tell different histories?
What groups work to hide the truth or reveal it? Are there secret cults, societies, or revolutionary movements?
HOLIDAY - What holidays are officially recognized by the City and which are not? How are holidays used socially, politically, or financially by the powers that be?
Describe a holiday from an outsider's point of view who is visiting the City. What is strange or unexpected to them?
LABOR - What labor would certain social groups never consider doing? What labor is undesirable, and who does it?
Create a d10 table of types of labor in the city.
THE DEAD - A city of any size will need to deal with its dead. What buildings are responsible for it (crematoriums, temples, funeral homes)? What rituals, holidays, or celebrations remember the dead? What taboos exist around the dead?
Create a d10 table of rare artifacts to find in a mausoleum/tomb/catacombs.
THE CRIME - What's something (service, resource) that people want or need that is denied by the city? Why? How do criminals bend the official rules?
Describe a criminal hideout or HQ, make a map if that's your thing. Where are the illegal resources kept, how do they keep things secure and protected?
IMMIGRANTS & REFUGEES - Why do people migrate to the City, are they fleeing something or seeking a particular opportunity? Where do they settle? How are they treated by locals? How do they bring their own culture but also take on the dominant culture?
Detail a specific migrant form of art, architecture, a dish, religious practice, or form of magic. What about it shows both its original heritage and the City itself?
INDUSTRY - How has the city utilized the resources they have access to (naturally or through trade) to grow and become a larger power? Who works the factories and workshops to power this growth?
Describe a scene between someone on the first day in a workshop or factory. Are they an apprentice, or another cog in the machine? What is it essential they learn about the City's industry?
EDUCATION - Who is educated, who isn't? (children, elites, non-citizens etc) Describe a great university or place of learning, what's special about it? What is a trade that many people need to be apprenticed in order for this city to function?
Write about the most important scholars, and their roles at the university. Provide their specialty, why they're important, and their strange quirk as an academic. Maybe provide some juicy details about the conflicts in the academy between scholars.
LEISURE - What occupies the idle time of the people who live here? How does it differ between those who might be separated by hierarchy? (Ideas: city plazas, parks, trails, spas, cafes, massage parlors)
Create a d6 table of sports and/or games that are commonly played by the people.
OUTSKIRTS - What's on the outside of the city, and why is it there? Why is it necessary for the city center to function? What is forgotten, maligned, or secret there?
Create a map or describe with sensory details a specific place in the Outskirts. Is it a criminal HQ, a cult's commune, or an abandoned castle with ghosts from the city's past? Why is it on the outskirts and why does the City fear it?
POLITICS - What institutions or people work against the status quo? Where do they find support among the people and where do they get pushed back against the hardest?
Write about some political insider NPCs. Not famous politicians, but secretaries, staffers, bureaucrats, or even spies. What makes them political assets? Are they conniving, or do they try to be noble?
WAR & PEACE - Why is war coming, or why is this a time of peace? How do the people prepare for catastrophe or keep it away?
Take inspiration from https://thecastlemap.com/ and design a castle, fort, or some other kind of fortification built to protect the city.
THE RULERS - Who or which group rules the city, are they elected or did they inherit the job? Are they connected to a bigger system (empire, kingdom, etc)? Now think of the day-to-day decision making, who handles everything else?
Write a short scene about a coronation, inauguaration, or some day commemorating the transition in power. Amid all the celebration, what is tense or uncertain? How does the City feel it?
COMMUNICATION - What is different or special about the language (or dialect) in this City? Do some city districts speak a different variation or dialect? Do other groups influence language? What is/are the language(s) of politics, commerce, religion?
Create a d10 table of City specific words/slang used in the daily goings-on.
SECRETS - What hidden groups, secret dossiers, twilight meetings or other strange things go on within the walls of this city? How are they kept secret and what is done when people learn about them that shouldn't?
Write a letter from the perspective of someone who has just learned more than they should about one of these Secrets.
Thanks for Reading!
Make sure you’re tuned in for our upcoming release of Drove to Chicago, an introspective, hopeful game of figuring out who you want to be as a teen graduating high school. This is the last summer to see your crush, to be with your friends, before everything changes.
Hope you have a great time creating a fantasy city of your own! Post your daily prompts on bluesky with the #fantasycity26 and tag us @storygameschicago.bsky.social. We’ll be hosting a channel on our discord where we post each individual prompt and sub-prompt every day. Come join us if you want to join in with the community and make your city together with everyone!