City maps, floor plans, character dossiers, cultural traditions, fiction... an exhaustive exploration of a massive city...

If you're a gamer, a writer, or just into this kind of thing, I can promise you a veritable cornucopia of content you can use in your games and stories (or just be entertained by).

What are "The Shattered Worlds", what is "Palaethos"?

The Shattered Worlds has been the setting for all the fantasy role-playing games I've run for over a decade. It's a story universe where the continuum of existence has failed and reality has shattered into hundreds of pocket dimensions called Shards. They are referred by the local populace as "The Many Worlds".

Palaethos is one of those shards, small by most standards, but it is dominated by a sprawling mega-city that extends for miles.

Where is all this coming from?

Recently, I started running a campaign where the players were part of the City Watch of Palaethos. I roughed out a map of the city and that served for a while, but as the story grew richer and more complex, a more detailed schematic became increasingly more necessary.

But the city is HUGE!

Undaunted, I started mapping 1 ward in 1 district of this incredible city. The result is the file attached to this post.

And it's astonishing how the simple act of drawing in tiny buildings fosters the story of those buildings. As I was scribbling away, my imagination was filling in who lived where, what kind of business that was, and a whole spectrum of details about the streets and neighborhoods I was sketching in.

As I put the finishing touches on the map, my head was buzzing of dozens of characters and businesses and cultures deeply woven into the tapestry of this small part of the Palaethos metropolis.

I know I had to explore it and there was no way my players would have the time (or the stamina, inclination, or hit points) to do it all themselves.

So what to do... what to do...?

That's where WE come in, huh

Yup. I want to share all this stuff with you... the character dossiers, the enterprises and cabals, the floorplans of the bars and universities... all of it. Use it in your games, use it in your stories, let it inspire you the way it's inspired me!

I'll even be sharing the stories that arise during our explorations because make no mistake, I have NO idea where this is going. I really don't. I've roughed out dozens of places, but it's not until you start digging into the bones of an idea that you truly understand what it is you're creating.

So I invite you to join me in this adventure of discovery, adventure, and deep DEEP nerdiness as I endeavor to uncover the secrets of the greatest city in all the Many Worlds!