Neighborhoods for the City of Orléans

Why Orléans?

Richelieu has heard rumors of unrest in the army against the King and even that someone has  been trying to suborn members of the elite Swiss Guard. Some of the PCs are sent to Orléans to investigate some of those rumors. Another PC decided, after an encounter with a fiendish torture device wielded by a mad villain, that the air in Paris right now is unhealthy for him. Thus a sudden and unannouced trip to Orléans seemed just the thing for him. As a result I've been spending a lot of time researching Orléans in the early 17th century. None of the PCs are from Orléans and we haven't had any adventures set there before this, so I haven't done anything with Orléans prior to this set of adventures. 

Now for some cities (like Paris) and provinces I've been able to use information from Black "call me Mike" Vulmea's Obsidian Portal site for his  Le Ballet de l'Acier campaign. But nothing is available on the province of Orleannais or the city of Orléan. Mike may have information, but it isn't publicly available. So I've had to do my own research. Since the city is new for the PCs, one thing I wanted to do was facilitate a process of exploring the city for the players (more on that later).

Maps of Orléans 

I found two very useful maps of the city. The first is an 1849 facsimile reprint of the 1648 Plan et profil au naturel de la ville d'Orleans by Giles Hotot. It is available in zoomable versions from Digital Commonwealth, here or from the Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library, here. The second map, from the Bibliothèque nationale de France, is the Plan de la ville d'Orléans, an engraving by Charles Inselin dating from 1700. Which makes it anachronistic, but it has street, plaza, and building names written out. So I use it to confirm the locations for places that are difficult to decipher from the first map and to fill in gaps. It too is zoomable.   

What's Old is New Again

Not long ago I read Handling Cities Idea: Neighborhoods are Terrain on Aeons & Auguries by JD Jarvis who had this to say.

Notion towards getting cities right: Neighborhoods in fantasy RPG cities are best treated as terrain. Let the players see the map, do it up tourist map style with some key neighborhoods indicated along with key features/goals and let the players see it, even present it like a hex map board game.

Each neighborhood can have a movement rate, a chance to get lost, a random occurrence or two, maybe a chance to catch disease by eating iffy street food and meat pies from alley shops, taverns where you get drunk and lose movement points could be treated like traps as could harlots. Maybe the placement of city guards checkpoints is relevant and the players will be trying to dodge those so they can move about with all their armor and double-sized magic swords.

Cities and respectably sized towns are big and a DM is going to go crazy and waste a lot of time tryign to detail it in the same manner (even in passing) as a dungeon. The difficulty and hazards of Fisher's Row and Slopside can server as a swamp and mountain hexes do in wilderness travel.  Keep it big, treat it big and you don't have to sweat the small stuff ; no one ever tries to map every tree in a forest, the sames sort of treatment can apply to buildings in a city if they are not important features.

Not long afterwards while checking out some of the Collected Information on the Wicked City blog, I came across a series of random encounter tables (here's one for The Rubble) for the Wicked City . 

Now creating custom encounter tables by area and organizing cities into neighborhoods isn't a brand new idea, though I think it is a good idea. Custom encounter tables are in the original 1974 D&D rules and using neighborhoods dates back to sometime in the 1970s or early 1980s. But sometimes I need a reminder (or two) to dust something off and reuse it. This was just the pair of reminders I needed. 

I've used neighborhood or area maps for cities before, mostly in Sci Fi settings like Traveller and Star Wars. And it has worked well in the past for giving the players enough information so that the city isn't a big blank without giving them so much information that they are drowning in details. So I decided to create neighborhoods for Orléans. To do that, I decided to divide the 1648 map into neighborhoods.

Divide the City into Neighborhoods

To do that I gave myself a few guidelines.

• Look for distinctive areas: focal points (markets, churches, palaces) and geographical boundaries (rivers or heights). Try to get some degree of uniformity in economic status and function (weavers quarter, nobles quarter, dockside)
• For real history, parish boundaries can help, see here.
• Draw rough borders either on a city map or directly below.
• Create a simplified node and path map showing the neighborhoods as polygons and the connections between neighborhoods. 

The Neighborhoods

It took a few tries before I had something that seemed to cover the city using my guidelines. Here's what I came up with. 

As you can see, there are 12 neighborhoods. I'll need to add a few more for the suburbs, but best to keep things more simple for now. I used more colors than I needed. There is a way to color it with only 4 colors. But I like colors and frankly, it's been a century since I've done math theorems and working out a 4-coloring was way too much trouble just to be minimalist. 

Next I named the neighborhoods. Here I didn't try to be historically accurate, though I did name some neighborhoods based on locations that probably could and possibly would have been neighborhoods in reality. So some neighborhoods have simple names like North Side and West Side based on simple map geography, some are named for landmarks like Place du Martroy or Les Halles, and others are named by function like Dock Side and The Abbeys. Here's all twelve.

█ North Side: residential.

█ Place du Martroy: this is a big city center type of square so a mix of market and residential.

█ West Side: residential.(It actually also has a market, but a solution I used to another problem nicely handles this as well.)

█ Old Marke: market and residential.

█ Dock Side: stuff you would find at the docks. This area had a custom table all its own.

█ Les Tournelles: this is the city's one bridge across the Loire and the gate is probably the busiest in the city, so this used a table called, gate.

█ Les Halle: residential, market, gate, and a new table for the ducal castle.Having a separate table for the castle will be helpful as at some point the PCs are going to need to be around the  man who is both a Duke (duc) and the Provincial Governor (governeur).

█ Place L’Estape:this is a noble neighborhood, mostly these are robe nobles and wealthy merchants, but I needed at least one neighborhood for nobles. This ares has a lot of big shot 16th and 17th century mansions that still exist today.

█ Maison de Ville: residential, marketplace, and the area for city government functions. I created a custom table that blended the short table of tables with the custom single table like Dock Side. 

█ Saint Croix: I created a modified version of the Church table in Flashing Blades to use.

█ The University: a special University table and residential.

█ The Abbeys: named for the two big abbeys, this has residential, university, and it includes much of the length of the Grand Rue de Bourgogne which is one of the cities main transportation arteries and a location with a lot of businesses and shops, plus, of course, the abbeys. Here I used marketplace, residential, university, church (there are quite a few other churches here), and 10 entries chosen for the abbeys. 

Next, I needed to do some work for each neighborhood. My guidelines here were the following.

• Determine an average time to traverse the neighborhood.
• Travel or traversal time should be modified by local knowledge (even city residentes will not be familiar with every neighborhood), mode of travel, social rank so determine a table of modifiers.
• Determine chance for becoming lost. Same modifiers apply as above.
• For each Neighborhood list the important locations, include focal points and geographical boundaries.
• Determine presence of any major Factions.
• List secondary locations, include any named NPC residents, any known taverns, inns, shops, mansions, etc.
• Create a unique encounter table(s) that includes typical inhabitants or travelers as well as typical events for the Neighborhood. Many neighborhoods should have different tables for Daytime and Nighttime. On the encounter tables include a special result that ties to a table for named NPCs who live or work in that Neighborhood.

I decided to do the last bullet first. I started with the encounter tables from Flashing Blades which include encounters with the King or Queen, Cardinals, and Dukes. Clearly the tables are for Paris not your local village. So the first thing I did was prune the tables for people too regal to be normally wandering about Orleans. Then I added in details like the name of the current governor and bishop of the diocese of Orleans. I knew that research would come in handy eventually. 

One problem I encountered was that dividing the city into even as many as 12 neighborhoods meant that most neighborhoods were a mix of economic levels, types of activities, landmarks, etc. I managed this, by creating a small table for most neighborhoods that then referred to 2 or more of a set of common tables such as Encounters at a Marketplace. Another thing I wanted was for there to be some blending between neighborhoods. So for most neighborhoods I included entries for encounters using tables for the adjacent or neighboring neighborhoods. 

This also solved an earlier issue for West Side - how to include markets. Since the adjacent neighborhoods are marketplace areas, by including an entry to roll on those tables, West Side has a chance for Encounters at a Marketplace.

Here's what the complete set of tables look like. (Apologies for the wacky font and alignment. I brought this in from MS-Word using the create a blog feature and some copy paste. Apparently I still don't understand Blogger.)

Neighborhood Encounter Tables

█ North Side (roll 1D6)

      1-4            Roll Encounter at a Residential Neighborhood

      5-6            Roll on Place du Martroy table

█ Place du Martroy (roll 1D6)

        1              Roll Encounter at a Residential Neighborhood

      2-3            Roll Encounter at a Marketplace

        5              Roll on Place L’Estape table

        6              Roll on Old Market table

█ West Side (roll 1D6)

      1-4            Roll Encounter at a Residential Neighborhood

        5              Roll on Place du Martroy table

        6              Roll on Old Market table

█ Old Market (roll 1D6)

        1              Roll Encounter at a Residential Neighborhood

      2-4            Roll Encounter at a Marketplace

        5              Roll on Place du Martroy table

        6              Roll Encounter at a Tavern

█ Dock Side (roll 1D20)

          1            1D6 River Pirates

          2            1D6 Boatmen

          3            1D6 Boatmen

          4            1D6 Dockworkers

          5            1D6 Dockworkers

          6            A Fishwife hawking her wears

          7            A Fish seller’s booth

          8            A Housewife shopping

          9            1D6 Townsmen

       10            1D6 Townswomen

       11            1D6 Townsmen from the nearest town

       12            A Nobleman and 2 Servants traveling by fast boat (a possible Patron)

       13            1D6 Gentlemen traveling by boat

       14            2D6 Soldiers (from a random regiment)

       15            An Official of the Realm, and 1D6 Guards, in a fast boat (a possible Patron)

       16            A Gentleman on horseback looking for river passage

       17            A Troupe of 2D6 Entertainers

       18            A Bishop and 1D6+1 Guards in a fast boat (a possible Patron)

       19            A Mail Boat (with a driver and a guard)

       20            A Wealthy Merchant with 1D6 Guards in a boat (a possible Patron)

█ Les Tournelles (roll 1D6)

        1              Roll on Old Market table

        2              Roll on Les Halles table

        3              Roll on Dockside table

      4-6            Roll Encounter at a Gate

█ Les Halles (roll 1D20)

        1              Roll Encounter at Residential Neighborhood

      2-3            Roll Encounter at a Marketplace

        4              Roll Encounter at a Gate

      5-6            Roll Encounter at the Chastelet (Ducal Castle)

█ Place L’Estape (roll 1D6)

      1-2            Roll Encounter at a Noble Neighborhood

        3              Roll on Place du Martroy table

        4              Roll on Saint Croix table

        5              Roll on Maison de Ville table

        6              Roll on Les Halles table

█ Maison de Ville (roll 1D20)

      1-2            Roll Encounter at Residential Neighborhood

        3              Roll Encounter at a Marketplace

        4              Roll on Saint Croix table

        5              Roll on University table

        6              Roll on Place L’Estape table

      7-8            Roll on Les Halles table

        9              A Criminal and 1D6 Guards

       10             1D6 Bureaucrats

       12             A Gentleman

       13             1D6 Students of Law

       14             A Lawyer (a possible Patron)

       15             A Minor Official (a possible Patron)

       16             A Wealthy Merchant (a possible Patron)

       17             1D6 Townsmen

       18             A Petitioner

       19             A Nobleman with 2 Attendants, and 1D6 Guards (a possible Patron)

       20             Magistrate and 1D6 Lawyers (a possible Patron)

                       

█ Saint Croix (roll 1D6)

      1-2            Roll Encounter at a Church in Orléans

        3              Roll on Abbey Side table

        4              Roll on University table

        5              Roll on Maison de Ville table

        6              Roll on Place L’Estapes table

█ The University (roll 1D6)

      1-2            Roll Encounter at a University table

        3              Roll on Saint Croix table

        4              Roll on Abbey Side table

        5              Roll on Maison de Ville table

        6              Roll Encounter at Residential Neighborhood

█ The Abbeys (roll 1D20)

      1-2            Roll Encounter at a Shop

      3-4            Roll Encounter at Residential Neighborhood

      5-6            Roll on Saint Croix table

      7-8            Roll on University table

     9-10           Roll Encounter at a Church in Orléans

       11             An Artist

       12             A Widow

       13             A Monk

       14             A Monk on a Mule

       15             1D6 Monks

       16             1D6 Nuns

       17             A Prior (a possible Patron)

       18             A Prioress and 1-3 Nuns (a possible Patron)

       19             An Abbott and 1D6 Monks (a possible Patron)

       20             An Abbess and 1D6 Nuns (a possible Patron)

Roll        Encounter at the Chastelet (Ducal Castle)

          1            Roll on Place L’Estape table

          2            Roll on Place L’Estape table

          3            Roll on Place L’Estape table

          4            Club Chief and 1D6 Club Members (a possible Patron)

          5            A Chevalier

          6            1D6 Chevaliers (a possible Patron)

          7            Master of an Order, with 1D6 Chevaliers (a possible Patron)

          8            A Baron and 2 Attendants (a possible Patron)

          9            A Baroness (a possible Patron)

       10            A Viscount, Count, or Marquis and 1D6+1 Attendants (a possible Patron)

       11            A Viscountess, Countess, or Marquess and 1D6 admirers (a possible Patron)

       12            A Magistrate (a possible Patron)

       13            A Royal Official (a possible Patron)

       14            A Colonel, Brigadier, or Major General, with 1D6 Aides (a possible Patron)

       15            A Spy

       16            Bishop de L'Aubespine with 1D6 Curia Members (a possible Patron)

       17            Duke de Fronsac with 2D6 Attendants & 1D6 sycophants (a possible Patron)

       18            Duke de Fronsac with 2D6 Attendants & 1D6 sycophants (a possible Patron)

       19            Duchess de Fronsac and 1D6 admirers

       20            Duchess de Fronsac and 1D6 admirers

Roll        Encounter at a Church in Orléans

          1            A Widow

          2            A Gentleman and Lady

          3            1D6 Gentlemen or Ladies

          4            A Nobleman and 2 Attendants (a possible Patron)

          5            A Member of an Order (holding vigil)

          6            An Officer of an Order (holding vigil)

          7            A Seller of Holy Water

          8            An Altar Boy

          9            A Monk or Nun

       10            A Priest

       11            A Curate

       12            A Pastor (a possible Patron)

       13            A Pastor and 1-3 Priests (a possible Patron)

       14            D6 Members of Bishop de L'Aubespine 's Curia

       15            Bishop de L'Aubespine and 1D6 Priests (a possible Patron)

       16            Bishop de L'Aubespine and 1D6 Members of his Curia (a possible Patron)

       17            Archbishop d’Eschaux and 1D6 Members of his Curia la possible Patron)

       18            An Artist

       19            Construction impedes traffic: scaffolds, ropes & pulleys, men at work

       20            Construction blocks traffic: scaffolds, ropes & pulleys, men at work

Roll        Encounter at a Gate

          1            1D6 Peasants

          2            1D6 Townsmen from the nearest town

          3            A Caravan with  1D6 Wagons

          4            A Nobleman and 2 Servants in a carriage (a possible Patron)

          5            1D6 Gentlemen in a carriage

          6            An Ambush of 1D6 Highwayman

          7            1D6 Gentlemen on horseback

          8            2D6 Soldiers (from a random regiment)

          9            2D6 Cavalrymen (from a random regiment]

       10            A Company/Troop of soldiers on its way to/from the front

       11            2D6 Highwaymen

       12            A Monk on a Mule

       13            An Official of the Realm, and 1D6 Guards, in a carriage (a possible Patron)

       14            A Gentleman on horseback

       15            A Troupe of 2D6 Entertainers

       16            2D6 Gypsies

       17            A Bishop and 1D6+1 Guards in a carriage (a possible Patron)

       18            A Mail Coach (with a driver and a guard)

       19            A Wealthy Merchant with 1D6 Guards in a carriage (a possible Patron)

       20            A Caravan with  2D6 Wagons and 1D6 Guards

Roll        Encounter at a Marketplace

          1            D6 Beggars

          2            D6 Cutpurses

          3            A Banker (a possible Patron)

          4            D6 Merchants

          5            A Wealthy Merchant (a possible Patron)

          6            D6 Entertainers

          7            D6 Acrobats

          8            A Wealthy Gentleman (a possible Patron)

          9            D6 Soldiers (from a random regiment)

       10            A Nobleman and 2 Attendants (a possible Patron)

       11            An Investor and 1D6 Clerks (a possible Patron)

       12            A Housewife out shopping

       13            A Magician

       14            A Military Officer (from a random regiment) (a possible Patron)

       15            D6 Dandies

       16            D6 Gentlemen

       17            A Fortuneteller

       18            D6 City Guards

       19            A Magistrate and 1D6 Lawyers (a possible Patron)

       20            D6 Thieves

Roll        Encounter with a Named Person

1.        Charlotte de Moreau Lady in waiting to the Duchess
2.        Thierry Poirer  the Duke’s Guard Captain
3.        Marie-Louise Baroness de la Vernet, a lady at court
4.        Seigneur Pierre Briçonnet
5.        Jeanne Begon wife of Seigneur Pierre Briçonnet
6.        The Duke’s cook Jeanne
7.        François II de Beauharnais Bailiff of Orléans
8.        Anne Brachet wife of François II de Beauharnais
9.        DeHugh chamberlain François II de Beauharnais
10.        François III de Beauharnais
11.        Lady Charlotte de Voire, François III’s mistress
12.        Jean de Beauharnais or Michel de Beauharnais
13.        Anne de Beauharnais or Madeleine de Beauharnais
14.        Lady Jocelin Duhamel neighbor of the Beauharnais
15.        Henri Marquis de la Ferté-Senneterre
16.        Henri the younger, Baron de la Ferté-Senneterre
17.        Sergeant Michaud valet to Baron de la Ferté-Senneterre
18.        Beatrijs van Tilborgh mistress of Baron de la Ferté-Senneterre
19.        Diane, ward of Marquis de la Ferté-Senneterre
20.        Charles de la Ferté-Senneterre

Roll        Encounter at a Noble Neighborhood

        1              1D6 City Guards

        2              A Gentlemen on horseback

        3              A Gentleman and Lady

        4              1D6 Gentlemen

        5              A Wealthy Merchant (possible Patron)

        6              A Banker or Investor (a possible Patron)

        7              1D6 Bureaucrats

        8              A Lawyer (a possible Patron)

        9              A Magistrate or Minor Official (a possible Patron)

       10             A Nobleman and 2 Servants in a carriage (a possible Patron)

       11             An Official of the Realm, and 1D6 Guards, in a carriage (a possible Patron)

       12             A Nobleman with 2 Attendants, and 1D6 Guards (a possible Patron)

    13-20         Roll Encounter with a Named Person

Roll        Encounter at Residential Neighborhood

          1            D6 Beggars

          2            D6 Thieves

          3            A Housewife out shopping

          4            A journeyman on his way to/from work

          5            1D6 Townswomen

          6            1D6 Townswomen

          7            1D6 Townsmen

          8            1D6 Townsmen

          9            D6 Merchants

       10            A Banker (a possible Patron)

       11            D6 City Guards

       12            1D3 Soldiers or an Officer (from a local regiment)

       13            1D6 Bureaucrats

       14            A Lawyer (a possible Patron)

       15            A Minor Official (a possible Patron)

       16            A Priest or Curate

       17            A Pastor 50% chance accompanied by 1-3 Priests (a possible Patron)

       18            An Artist

       19            A Gentleman and Lady

       20            1D6 Gentlemen

Roll        Encounter at a Tavern

          1            A Barmaid

          2            1D3 Gentlemen carousing

          3            1D3 Unemployed Rogues

          4            1D3 Dandies

          5            A Wealthy Merchant (a possible Patron)

          6            1D3 Gamblers

          7            A Nobleman and 2 Guards (a possible Patron)

          8            A Nobleman (disguised) (a possible Patron)

          9            A Pickpocket

       10            A Master Gambler

       11            A Master Gambler who cheats

       12            A Tavern Brawler

       13            1D3 Tavern Brawlers

       14            1D6 Tavern Brawlers

       15            1D3 Soldiers (from a random regiment)

       16            A Military Officer (a possible Patron)

       17            A Drunk

       18            A Drunken Nobleman (a possible Patron)

       19            The Tavern keeper or Manager (a possible Patron)

       20            A Master Thief (a possible Patron)

 Roll        Encounter at a University

1. Charlotte de Moreau Lady in waiting to the Duchess
2. Thierry Poirer  the Duke’s Guard Captain
3. Marie-Louise Baroness de la Vernet, a lady at court
4. Seigneur Pierre Briçonnet
5. Jeanne Begon wife of Seigneur Pierre Briçonnet
6. The Duke’s cook Jeanne
7. François II de Beauharnais Bailiff of Orléans
8. Anne Brachet wife of François II de Beauharnais
9. DeHugh chamberlain François II de Beauharnais
10. François III de Beauharnais
11. Lady Charlotte de Voire, François III’s mistress
12. Jean de Beauharnais or Michel de Beauharnais
13. Anne de Beauharnais or Madeleine de Beauharnais
14. Lady Jocelin Duhamel neighbor of the Beauharnais
15. Henri Marquis de la Ferté-Senneterre
16. Henri the younger, Baron de la Ferté-Senneterre
17. Sergeant Michaud valet to Baron de la Ferté-Senneterre
18. Beatrijs van Tilborgh mistress of Baron de la Ferté-Senneterre
19. Diane, ward of Marquis de la Ferté-Senneterre
20. Charles de la Ferté-Senneterre

And since the formatting on that is crap, here is a link to a PDF version of the neighborhood encounter tables.

Well that's enough for now. Later I'll go through creating the other details for each neighborhood and maybe even add in a faubourg or two.

EDIT: This post adds in two new neighborhoods, the Mottes and the Fauxbourg Saint Vincent.