Fantastic Locations: The 6 Weirdest Cities People Actually Live In

I have to thank Fustians So Sublimely Bad for this one.  The linked Cracked article describes some of the stranger places people actually live.

In descending order:

  1. Neft Dashlari: A Russian oil rig that got out of hand
  2. Manshiyat Naser: Cairo’s garbage town
  3. Miyake-jima: A Japanese volcano town that is frequently covered in deadly sulfurous gas
  4. Yellow Fleet: A small fleet of abandoned ships in the Suez Canal
  5. Dwarf City: A Chinese city full of little people
  6. Kowloon Walled City: An anarchic city of 33,000 in 0.01 square miles that apparently actually worked for thirty years, until the Chinese government tore it down.

If you’re looking for inspiration for a cyberpunk or distopian future setting, I’d start my research here.  Wow.

What is a Fantastic Location?

I have found that generally the most memorable places in my campaigns have had fantastic elements.  The more mundane places are useful.  They provide framework and context to make the other places stand out — if everywhere were special it would be a funhouse and would not, to me, make …

My Favorite D&D

Every time I get drawn into a conversation regarding the relative merits of D&D 4e and D&D 3.x I end up saying much the same thing. While I do like the consistency of my position, I think it’s time I posted something here I can just point at the next time the question comes up.

TL;DR (for those with no patience — and this is long, about 2700 words worth): I don’t play 4e, I don’t have the books, I don’t expect to every do so. But I don’t particularly dislike 4e on a system design level.

Back to Top