Fria Ligans forum

Loremasters,
soon our TOR group players will find out that Tharbad has lost all its glamour of past ages and that also Lond Daer is totally not the New Haven it once was. When the players learned during the last session, that these places might be their next journey destinations (traveling from Michel Delving to continue campaigning TftLL), they were pretty excited to see these "big cities". And there was no far-travelled dwarf merchant or so around in the Green Dragon to correct their overly high expectations when they chatted about this during the fellowship phase.
Big cities in Eriador? Well, I guess I need to repeat some background to them concerning history and geography of nort-west Middle-earth... however, I understood that they have a craving for some sort of big city adventures. But RotLR does not provide for this, for plausible reasons.
I heard that Minas Tirith could have around 100.000 inhabitants (max), but since I don't see that a respective TT RPG sourcebook exists for this, does anyone have any idea what description to use instead?
How about adapting the Symbaroum Agrella city sourcebook (which I haven't read) for our TOR 2e sessions?
Any other suggestions on which sourcebook might be appropriate?

There isn't a supplement for city stuff at the moment. The nearest is Tharbad in Ruins. However, a Gondor/Rohan Kickstarter is expected to be announced soon, potentially at GenCon. However, judging by previous experience, we .may not get a PDF until 2027.

If you can find a copy of the Minas Tirith sourcebook for MERP, that might provide some of the background you need. Iron Crown also produced a supplement for Pelargir if I remember correctly.

I did homebrew the dwarven city of Hargrod in the southern Blue Mountains for TOR 1e, but that doesn't seem to be the kind of thing you're looking for. Still, here's a brief description:

Hargrod
The Dwarf-city of Hargrod (‘South Delving’) was founded in the year 40 of the Second Age by survivors of ruined Nogrod and Belegost, together with other Dwarves of the Blue Mountains, who refused to abandon the Ered Luin to resettle with Durin’s Folk in Khazad-dûm. This makes it one of the oldest and largest remaining Dwarf settlements in the Southern Ered Luin. Located where the ridge of the Emyn Romen extends eastwards from the southern range, the road from Hargrod to Mithlond stretches for one hundred sixty miles, following the base of the mountains past the complex of the Mines of the Dwarves about fifty miles to the north. The mines of Hargrod are rich in iron ore and other metals: copper, tin and even modest veins of gold, as well as silver extracted from lead deposits. The Dwarves of Hargrod trade their metalcrafts with Elves of the Grey Havens, the Hobbits of the Shire and the few Men of Eriador who still dwell in the region, principally the folk of Bree-land.

The rulers of Hargrod have traditionally been descendants of the Dwarves of Belegost. This has changed with the current Lord Draupnir whose father Dolgthrasir is descended from the Dwarves of Nogrod who warred long-ago with the Elves of Doriath in Beleriand.

If you want larger settlements in eriador, Bree, Tharbad, and the elven settlements in Ruins of the Lost Realm work.

Alternatively, head east of the misty mountains for Erebor and Dale? Albeit the 1e supplements are only available second hand, unless you speak French/spanish and can still read the PDFs, as those are still available.

Otherwise, waiting for the Rohan/Gondor book (coming next) would work, but doesn’t help immediately.

Tharbad would be suited for a classic city adventure. It is still big enough to include merchants, thieves, nobility, remnants of the Dunedain, a big library, intrigues snd so on. Bree and Lond Daer are too small for my taste for a city adventure.

If you go East I‘d throw in Laketown, which is a vibrant settlement with Dale and Erebor nearby.

Gondor is the only realm with multiple bigger cities, but for that I‘d wait like half a year/one year until we have Rohan/Gondor.

Esgaroth (Lake-town) does have potential. It falls under the rule of Dale but can be argued to be semi-autonomous. Bard is the first King of the restored Dale until his death in 2977. He is succeeded by his son Bain from 2977 to 3007. King Bain is himself succeeded by his son Brand (rule: 3007-3019). The New Master of the rebuilt Lake-town was reported in the Lake-town Sourcebook (TOR 1e) to be the former captain of the guard, though I don't recall his name being revealed or how long he served as Master. His rule is described as "pleasant" and "splendid" so I expect he served as Master for more than one term (however long those terms would have been).

Esgaroth could have a criminal underground that might not be able to thrive in Dale, as well as dodgy businesses such as gambling dens and "cat houses" that cater to outsiders and the less savory residents. I can also see networks of spies operating out of Lake-town.

Thank you for the quick and helpful replies, very inspiring!
To explain (SPOILER ALERT):
Only in our last four adventures, the player-heroes have been hunted and nearly been slain by Trolls (a Troll-Hole, TftLL), been chased by Undeads and nearly died in orcish traps in Mount Gram, narrowly escaped being eaten alive by that fearsome Beast in the Old Dwarf Mine and then instead of spending an edifying time at the White Towers nearly succumbed to insanity after futile attempts to look into that Palantir IOT see a bright future (instead seeing their worst nightmares), so I understand that they need an adventure episode with some civilised city flavor, before they continue campaigning.
So I believe Sebastian's suggestion to use Tharbad and the provided background in RotLR is the best way forward. Indeed the setting offers enough complexity for some sophisticated adventure on the city society level, becoming entangled in that political spiderweb of Gurnau and the like.
Besides, we can finally use that awesome Tharbad map that comes with RotLR, provided the player-heroes manage to convince that Tharbad librarian to lend it to them...
Otaku-Sempai, I believe I read your description of Hargrod a while ago in Otherminds, if I am not mistaken. Awesome work! Our group definitely will go and explore this city one day!