Note on the Hardcover: Currently City of Arches is only available in PDF. If you purchase the PDF now, we'll email you a coupon code for $19.99 off the hardcover when it's published. That way you can enjoy the PDF now and decide later whether or not to purchase the printed version without losing a single gold piece!
Two thousand years ago, a tyrant of unimaginable power conquered a city on a site of powerful planar magic, letting him build portal archways to hundreds of worlds he intended to conquer. A thousand years after his defeat and exile, all remnants of the tyrant, including his very name, have been magically washed from history. The extraplanar archways this Nameless King built are mostly dormant now, but beings still sometimes step into the city through one of these archways, usually with little memory of where they've come from.
Today, the city is a bustling metropolis filled with people of many races, species, ancestries, and heritages. Yet in the depths and outer reaches of the city, secret cults sense the void where the lost tyrant once ruled, and seek to bring the Nameless King back to power.
City of Arches is a high fantasy sourcebook compatible with D&D 2014, D&D 2024, other 5th edition variants, and other high fantasy tabletop roleplaying games. Built from the ground up upon the principles of the Lazy Dungeon Master, this book makes it as easy as possible to create and experience your own adventures in this fantastic city and its surroundings. Start your own campaign here or use the hundreds of scenarios, locations, backgrounds, hooks, tables, guidelines, designer notes, and tools included in the book to fuel your imagination and expand your existing campaign.
"There's a lot of juicy material in this book for running a city. I believe it will be considered a seminal work on how to present a fantasy city that is actually usable, actionable, and engaging in Mike's signature style — no small feat!"
— Kelsey Dionne, creator of the Shadowdark RPG
Download the 42-page sample of the City of Arches! This ready-to-play sample includes a one-hour introductory scenario, a short adventure, a gazetteer of the city, an example campaign arc, and a Player's Guide—enough for you to begin your own adventures in the City of Arches!
The City of Arches sourcebook includes:
- A one-hour introductory scenario to introduce you and your players to this unique setting.
- A Player's Guide featuring a custom background, as well as background hooks to help your players understand the City of Arches and draw their characters into the city's story.
- Nine regions of adventure, including the City of Arches, the Lower Reaches beneath the city, the Cliffs of the Dead that stand above it, the deeper catacombs of the Endless Warrens, the ruined city of Sunken Revvia, the three regions of the Borderlands near the city (the Revlend Marshes, the Doorish Hills, and the Deadlands), and the lost and secret Vaults of the Nameless King.
- Hundreds of adventure hooks tying every location and NPC to a potential drive for adventure.
- Random tables to build your own items, monuments, quests, NPCs, and entire worlds.
- Designer notes all throughout the book offering tips for GMs to run the city and learn the intentions behind its design.
- Guidelines for running the city in both high-fantasy and grim-and-dark RPGs.
- Random encounters customized for each region.
- Quick-reference location summaries to make it easier for GMs to run each region.
- Eleven "Worlds Beyond the Arches," including Arkus, the World of Dead Temples.
- Legendary figures tied to the City of Arches and its surrounding regions.
- Three campaign arcs you can run, customize, or mash together to build your own epic campaigns.
- Three short adventures that can be played as standalones, or which can be linked to take characters from 1st to 4th level.
- An adventure toolkit to help you model and build your own site-based heist or infiltration adventures built around the mysterious Summervine Villa.
"After GMing CoA with a group of new players, we played another mini-campaign in a different setting—and halfway through, they were begging me to return to CoA! They said 'I feel like there is so much left to explore that we haven't even touched' "
— PapaDruu, a Patron of Sly Flourish
Enter the City of Arches and enjoy fantastic adventures with your family and friends!