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Golden Ladybug
2013-05-16, 04:20 AM
Hey everyone, how are you?

So, I've decided that I'll be starting off my real life campaign in a city this time around. Hopefully the urban environment will encourage my group not to go pick fights with things way out of their weight class and get slaughtered due to their lack of strategic thinking and gung ho attitude :smallamused:

But, now that I think about it, I don't actually have many ideas about how to start a campaign in a fantasy city. What sort of things should a low level party be doing to make their names in the big city?

So, I come to the wise and knowledgeable Playground for advice; what's are some good ways to start up a campaign while in a city?

mjlush
2013-05-16, 04:37 AM
Hooks are useful, but you need at least one good nail to keep them in the city if things get hot.... (OTOH city slickers all at sea in the wilderness could be fun).

Malak'ai
2013-05-16, 04:44 AM
Something keeps making the sewers overflow even though no blockages can be found.

Kids keep turning up mutilated (either alive or dead).

A spike in the crime rate that can't be explained by the usual habits of the cities criminals.

Depends on the starting level of the party and whether they know each other to start out.

hymer
2013-05-16, 04:49 AM
My thoughts, suggestions, experience:

If the PCs come wandering into town for the first time, it's probably a good idea for them to get stopped by the guards at the gate, who could direct them to an appropriate place, where hooks can be found.
Town criers (Hear ye, hear ye, gladiators wanted!), wanted posters (Misty the Cat gone missing or Hank Deadeyes dead or alive) and encounters in the street (bullies with a connection to something, a connoisseur of arms asks to see a PC's weapon, etc.) are things that can contain hooks for players going anywhere at all.
The most readily swallowed hooks, I find, have to do with established relationships. In a city, there should be countless NPCs, and once the PCs grow closer to some, these are probably some important sources for hooks, or at least for getting the PCs to see the hook.
Build up a large set of rumors (Count Drago is a vampire, the Thieves' Guild's hideout is in the sewer, smugglers climb the city walls at night, etc.). They don't have to be accurate, but they may get the PCs to go look at something that may then turn into an adventure. Add to them every now and again and remove some that have grown stale. Throw a few of them at any PC that cares to chitchat, and give more accurate ones to those who make a good Gather Information check.

Sampi
2013-05-16, 04:51 AM
Hooks are always best prepared in the character creation process. Give the characters ties to the city; to individuals and organizations therein, or to locales. These contacts then prove useful to both the characters (providing info, gear and services) and the DM (providing hooks).

Thieves' guilds, wizard academies/masters, city guards, wealthy merchant/noble patrons et cetera. Give these in the character background, or better yet, ask the players to come up with them. If they do it themselves, they will be happy when you use them in-game.

The character's homes/neighborhoods. Why have there been many arsons in the Low City, where the fighter grew up, and why isn't the guard investigating them? The owner of the character's favorite bar is missing, and a new proprietor is running the place as if nothing had happened.

When the hooks are centered on the characters, they will keep the players interested and on track.

Golden Ladybug
2013-05-16, 05:48 AM
Hooks are useful, but you need at least one good nail to keep them in the city if things get hot.... (OTOH city slickers all at sea in the wilderness could be fun).

I can only hope, with my group, that things at least start smoothly.

...especially since one player told everyone that his first act was to go find the town gate and leave :smallannoyed:


Something keeps making the sewers overflow even though no blockages can be found.

Kids keep turning up mutilated (either alive or dead).

A spike in the crime rate that can't be explained by the usual habits of the cities criminals.

Depends on the starting level of the party and whether they know each other to start out.

Hmm, I'll keep them in mind. I have some cool ideas for the Sewers as it stands, and nothing screams "something's up" like poop coming out of the sewer grates while mutilated children are dropped across the city.

The city I've devised has something of a criminal culture, and I've got some plans for them in the long run. Not sure how I can really get the party involved at this point, but drawing attention to the rising crime rates is a good start.


Hooks are always best prepared in the character creation process. Give the characters ties to the city; to individuals and organizations therein, or to locales. These contacts then prove useful to both the characters (providing info, gear and services) and the DM (providing hooks).

Thieves' guilds, wizard academies/masters, city guards, wealthy merchant/noble patrons et cetera. Give these in the character background, or better yet, ask the players to come up with them. If they do it themselves, they will be happy when you use them in-game.

The character's homes/neighborhoods. Why have there been many arsons in the Low City, where the fighter grew up, and why isn't the guard investigating them? The owner of the character's favorite bar is missing, and a new proprietor is running the place as if nothing had happened.

When the hooks are centered on the characters, they will keep the players interested and on track.

If only I could've done that :smallsigh:

This campaign is starting after three weeks of downtime, due to various people leaving for different states or otherwise being able to attend after the end of the last campaign, and in that time its been like herding cats. Over email. With the first session on this weekend, I've yet to see a completed character sheet and most of my players still haven't told me what they're playing.

So far, I've been given two pieces of "backstory", only one of which is really applicable here and I'm already taking steps to interweave that into the city (considering it involved an ecoterroist and druidic warforged, this proved a rather interesting experience). Talking to players about where their characters grew up in the city will be my priority for tommorrow, or if they didn't why they're here in the city now.

I love the idea of having the regular bartender disappear and be replaced. I'm totally going to use that :smallbiggrin:

Bulhakov
2013-05-16, 06:02 AM
Family members make for excellent hooks with strong incentive to participate in the side-quests. Some examples:

- a PC's older brother is a captain of the guards
-- a crime the competent brother is stumped with and the PCs can try to impress him by helping out
-- someone is framing said brother for a crime, PCs need to clear his name
-- corruption in the ranks of the watch, the brother asks PCs to investigate

- a PC's aunt owns a tavern in town
-- local gang extorts protection money from her
-- the aunt overhears a regular meeting of a conspiracy takes place in one of the rented rooms

- a PC's grandfather from the mage's guild/university
-- needs help to quitely catch and hush up an escaped creature/demon/summon/construct
-- asks to collect an unusal ingredient (preferably something that can be found in the city, like the urine of a dwarven berserker)
-- asks to dig up dirt on a rival wizard

JusticeZero
2013-05-16, 08:31 AM
...especially since one player told everyone that his first act was to go find the town gate and leave :smallannoyed:"Okay, bubbye. Here's another character sheet for when you come up with a concept that works with the party in the city."

mjlush
2013-05-16, 09:06 AM
I can only hope, with my group, that things at least start smoothly.

...especially since one player told everyone that his first act was to go find the town gate and leave :smallannoyed:


In that case place the city in the equivalent of Iowa

From the Diary of Franklin Cityleaver;

Day 86. More unremarkable farmland... had a random encounter with a chipmunk.... Highlight of the week!! Can see a settlement in the distance... Not sure if I'll go there farmers discussing that bad storm come three years ago in a thick Mummerset (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mummerset) accent start to shred my soul.

LibraryOgre
2013-05-16, 10:15 AM
An easy first hook is some kind of monster of the week... ghouls are good, since they may or may not have a necromancer behind them, and they're somewhat able to be handled by a low-level party.

A good second hook, after the party has a touch of fame and some ready cash or valuables, is the classic thieves guild. Someone nicked your purse. The one with the hundreds of gold in it. And suddenly everyone's a sheriff and they're hunting down the miscreants.

Golden Ladybug
2013-05-17, 09:18 AM
Well, despite all my worrying, things turned out okay; the Player's decided that I clearly would have a Notice Board in a public place where odd jobs and bounties could be posted, so they went off in search of one immediately.

I wasn't sure whether to feel confused about my player's sudden decision that my world works like a Video Game or that they hadn't kicked up a fuss and tried to leave the City.

This did lead to a large amount of exploration through the city, looking for a Half Orc gangster I made up on the fly called Chana Swiftly. This lead them into a series of tunnels beneath the city streets, a furniture warehouse, a public restroom and finally the hideout of a small gang (which lead to a brief scuffle with some enforcers) along the way. They didn't find the Half-Orc, but they had a lot of fun looking. This also opens up a way for me to get the group involved, in some fashion, with the cities organised crime scene.

Thanks for all the great suggestions everyone, I'll keep them on hand to make sure that something interesting is always happening.

Scow2
2013-05-17, 10:09 AM
Well, despite all my worrying, things turned out okay; the Player's decided that I clearly would have a Notice Board in a public place where odd jobs and bounties could be posted, so they went off in search of one immediately.

I wasn't sure whether to feel confused about my player's sudden decision that my world works like a Video Game or that they hadn't kicked up a fuss and tried to leave the City.
Not works like a video game. Works like an RPG. People dismiss the classic tropes of the Tavern of Meeting and Quest Board because they're considered cliche - but they REALLY make things easier for the party.

JusticeZero
2013-05-17, 12:48 PM
I put those up in the guard house. I have no problem with the information of adventure leads being in the inn, but the actual meeting up part takes a bit more detail than just a location. "You meet in an inn" is no more descriptive than "You meet in the grocery store".

Golden Ladybug
2013-05-17, 07:56 PM
Not works like a video game. Works like an RPG.

Well, yeah, but it was pretty clear from the Party searching for Glowing Yellow Exclamation Marks above people's heads and asking Guards where the Chantry could be found (I think this is a Dragon's Age reference... :smallconfused:) that they were taking the inspiration from Video Games.

Not that I'm complaining. Made my life a lot easier.

I used a Watchmen to inform the Party about how and where Bounties could be handled, and let them loose.

And I've got no problems with Adventure's taking place in and around inns; I agree that starting there is rather uninspired, but they're a useful place to sit down and relax after a long day. You can get rumours there and everything, and if you plan on getting in a bar fight, the more the merrier.

Scow2
2013-05-17, 08:38 PM
Well, yeah, but it was pretty clear from the Party searching for Glowing Yellow Exclamation Marks above people's heads and asking Guards where the Chantry could be found (I think this is a Dragon's Age reference... :smallconfused:) that they were taking the inspiration from Video Games.

Not that I'm complaining. Made my life a lot easier.

I used a Watchmen to inform the Party about how and where Bounties could be handled, and let them loose.

And I've got no problems with Adventure's taking place in and around inns; I agree that starting there is rather uninspired, but they're a useful place to sit down and relax after a long day. You can get rumours there and everything, and if you plan on getting in a bar fight, the more the merrier.

No campaign is functional without crass pop-culture references!

And, taverns also offer a bit of immediate unity - At least by sharing a table, the characters are all in the same place, and able to have plot hooks dumped in their lap!

JusticeZero
2013-05-18, 10:49 AM
Yeah, taverns are a great place for people to go to to get their leads. It just isn't really optimal for gathering the party in the first place, because it needs more narration than that.

Sampi
2013-05-18, 11:56 AM
If you still want to tie your character backgrounds to the city: here's a simple idea.

Write descriptions of allies/friends in the city on identical cards (as many as you have players, or more). Write the same amount descriptions of enemies on similiar cards. If you want, write as many locales/organizations/whatnot on cards. Make sure all the description have something interesting in them (

Next session, tell each player to draw one card from the friendpile, and one card from the enemy pile each. Presto! Your characters now have contacts in the city.

Make them write their character names on the friend/enemy cards. If you like, you can use the cards as inspiration for adventures, now with instant hooks. Just draw a card and see which enemy has it in for the characters next adventure. Or which friend is in need/has a job for the party.

Man on Fire
2013-05-18, 01:51 PM
If you need any help, you may look at the published adventure Speaker In Dreams - for some reason I like it and you could always easily combine it with other adventures and suddenly you have Ilishid and his gang trying to take control over the city's underground.

Trog
2013-05-18, 11:04 PM
Have PCs witness/thwart an assassination attempt on the head of the city. Afterward, have said head of the city invite the PCs into his castle to thank them for their efforts with a nice private sit down dinner. The head of the city doesn't do any public speaking and upon hearing him converse it is obvious why as he has a horrible speech impediment.

Midway through dinner the waiter (a kenku assassin, as it turns out) suddenly kills the head of the city and leaps out the window. The head of city is resurrected by the head of his church as per his wishes prior to death. The watch on the castle is doubled and no one is allowed in or out. A day later the head of the city makes an announcement during his first time speaking in public. The man announces, in a very powerful voice oddly lacking speech impairments, that a reward is offered for his assassins - the PCs!

They are now wanted criminals and need to both hide from the authorities and bounty hunters, and they need to find a way to clear their names. Cue an adventure dealing with all the local power groups (both the legitimate ones as well as the seedy ones) and trying to get to the bottom of what has happened to the head of the city and their false accusation.

Er, anyway, that's how I ran an urban campaign once, set in Marsember in the Forgotten Realms. It was a lot of fun. Everyone had an opening one-on-one session running through their character's individual adventure hooks and leading them all to the one event that would unite them - the initial attack on the head of the city. One was a thief running from twin brothers of the girl he was wooing with her diamond ring (she was betrothed to another) in his hand, one was a member of the watch investigating undead rising from the sea and haunting a tower in the city, one was a bounty hunter after a mysterious kenku assassin (yes, that one - he jumped out the window after him and fought him in the air before being kicked free, plunging into the canals as it turned out), and one had a simple-minded rat catcher friend who was killed under mysterious circumstances and whose ghost kept reappearing to the character trying to communicate something to her. Anyway, these all were woven into the events happening in the city and made for a lot of fun. :smallsmile:

Buddha's_Cookie
2013-05-19, 09:28 AM
I agree with most of the posts above, theft is a wonderful motivator for the PCs. It does not need to be gold or valuable items, I have heard of goblins stealing the players boots and other warm items in winter. Don't fiat that the theft happens, if the thief is caught, so what, but when the thief gets away you can lead most players to the tomb of horrors and back. A DM can only get away with this a few times though, so use it sparingly.

Man on Fire
2013-05-19, 12:49 PM
I agree with most of the posts above, theft is a wonderful motivator for the PCs. It does not need to be gold or valuable items, I have heard of goblins stealing the players boots and other warm items in winter. Don't fiat that the theft happens, if the thief is caught, so what, but when the thief gets away you can lead most players to the tomb of horrors and back. A DM can only get away with this a few times though, so use it sparingly.

- They stolen our boot! They're wearing our boots!
- They aren't actually wearing them, they're twice their siz..
- They're wearing out boots!

Nice to meet another Counter Monkey's Fan.

Speaking of which, I recommend to OP, when fishing for ideas:
Spoony's Thieve's (http://spoonyexperiment.com/2012/03/04/counter-monkey-thieves-world-part-1-poor-impulse-control/) World Campaing (http://spoonyexperiment.com/2012/03/04/counter-monkey-thieves-world-part-2-the-chicago-way/) (Warning, talking about NFW content, through nothing is ever shown). Game of d20 live might be a good ource of inspiration too.

Biotroll
2013-05-20, 03:03 PM
I played a short city campaign some time ago and it was fun. What was going on in short story not so short story:

A well paid and respectable guard of one of the nobles was guarding his treasure. However one night he was beaten up by thief badly and failed to protect the treasure: a big diamond with mantis-like creature trapped inside. Even though his bones were broken and he was almost dead, the noble was furious and kicked the guard without payment. This in turn made the guard angry and when he healed up, he joined the thieves guild and he started selling secrets of all nobles he found out in his years of being trusted guard. He was also searching for the thief who did all this to him, but had no luck with this. Eventualy, because rummor spread, town guard and bounty hunters hired by nobles started hunting him and his companions down. This ended with civil war of poor people and thieves guild against town guards and nobles. (Middle class was mostly victims in it.) This is when we actualy entered the city.

We later found out, that it was all planned ahead of time. The beaten guard and head of town guard figured out what the diamond with mantis actualy is. Together they hired a thief (monk actualy, more then few levels above us, was pretty scarry meeting him) to take it and break the guard guy, so it looked real. They paid the thief and took the diamond. Together they made all they could to spark the civil war, because the mantis thing in the diamond was some ancient god of slaughter, that happened to be trapped inside of it. They made some rituals and with every death that happened in some radius from the hidden diamon (read, in the city) made the small slaughter god spawn a small pearl inside the diamond. With enough deaths, the diamond would then actualy crack and the god would be free (feeding himself with another deaths and growing in power and size and whatnot). The pearls, which were actualy digested souls, were why these two guys did.

Most of the campaign happened either in sewers (if you read Neverwhere you get the idea of what it looked like) or in the streets where the war was going on. When party found out what is going on, after spending some time helping little people and thieves guild out, they tried to stop it. After searching through info, kidnapping a wizard from one of the nobles and geting info from him, making some divinations, finding out the thief who also found out what was going on we went into sewers to find the diamond with god and make a final battle. No suprise here though, since the beaten guard died and the god broke free, leaving behind him few corpses and lot of pearl souls which the greedy town guard leader tried to grab and run away. The god ran somewhere into sewers and town guard was captured by party. This is where we ended it and moved to another sandbox adventures as DM had enough of being DM and wanted to play a bit too.

You can go ahead and use some ideas from it if you want. I think nobody would mind it. :smallsmile:

kieza
2013-05-20, 09:40 PM
Cribbing from an adventure I wrote but never got to run:

The party is attacked, on their way back from the tavern late at night, by a strange monster which flees into the sewers when they fight back. As they prepare to go after it, the Watch arrives with several men carrying nets. To their dismay, they are informed that the "monster" was actually the beloved, domesticated but rambunctious pet of an influential local wizard. It has a habit of escaping from its enclosure and scaring the pants off of visitors, but this is the first time the visitors have fought back and injured it. The Watch sergeant, tired of catching the beast every time it gets loose, deputizes the party, noting that it's in their best interests to track down the animal and capture it alive, lest its owner take out his grief on them. However, that's even harder than it sounds, because the fleeing beast has run through the lairs of seemingly every dangerous creature in the city's labyrinthine sewer network.

In my planned adventure, the beast was the product of one of the wizard's experiments, crossbreeding hellhounds...with miniature poodles. It may have had three firebreathing heads, but it also had a poodle cut and a rhinestone collar that said "Fifi."

LibraryOgre
2013-05-21, 11:08 AM
Cribbing from an adventure I wrote but never got to run:

The party is attacked, on their way back from the tavern late at night, by a strange monster which flees into the sewers when they fight back. As they prepare to go after it, the Watch arrives with several men carrying nets. To their dismay, they are informed that the "monster" was actually the beloved, domesticated but rambunctious pet of an influential local wizard. It has a habit of escaping from its enclosure and scaring the pants off of visitors, but this is the first time the visitors have fought back and injured it. The Watch sergeant, tired of catching the beast every time it gets loose, deputizes the party, noting that it's in their best interests to track down the animal and capture it alive, lest its owner take out his grief on them. However, that's even harder than it sounds, because the fleeing beast has run through the lairs of seemingly every dangerous creature in the city's labyrinthine sewer network.

In my planned adventure, the beast was the product of one of the wizard's experiments, crossbreeding hellhounds...with miniature poodles. It may have had three firebreathing heads, but it also had a poodle cut and a rhinestone collar that said "Fifi."

Did you also crib that a little bit from Shadowrun's "Awakenings" sourcebook?