Urban plot-hooks anyone?

[Seth1221]

Hi playgrounders!

I'm currently preparing a snad-boxish city for my players. They are close to reaching level 5. I want to collect as many ideas for encounters in the city as possible. The place itself is a wealthy, mining city with access to undercity (think Mirabar from FR). I want to give them the feeling of a big, living city by throwing at them a lot of plot-hooks (feel the freedom:smallwink:). Here are some of my ideas:

- A group of bards is hipnotizing the patrons of one of the taverns
- There is a vigilante running around the city at night
- A lot of women start to wear blue bracelets or rings
- At night goods disappear from the docks
- A dead prostitue has been found in the river, another one found in the sewers
- They stumble upon on of their old enemies - a good pursuit is in order! (any ideas on how to make the chase more dynamic are welcome)
- One on One fighting contest
- Some creepy noises at the cemetery turn out to be a bunch of kids trying to scare of people

What can you guys come up with?

The ultimate goal of my players is to reach the undercity (closed of for outsiders) to speak with a VIP. Any ideas for an interesting (preferably non-fighting) challenge to access undercity will be extra appreciated.

[Malak'ai]

Have a read through this thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=283861). Same thing you're looking for.

[Regitnui]

I plan to have the PCs cause the trouble in their first urban adventure; They've been sent to kidnap a small girl. Of course, I tell them they're fetching a very valuable item for a dragon's hoard, who will reduce their airship base to a cloud of hovering splinters. We'll see how that turns out...:smallbiggrin:

[ArcturusV]

Industrial Espionage is always a fun one to go to. Can involve a lot of different skill sets, endlessly malleable to the situations at hand. Players often like the feeling of a Spy Mission. It's easy to spin something even as simple as a smash sabotage job into an overarching plotline if you want. Or just leave it at what it is.

[Seth1221]

Thanks for the ideas. Any thoughts on the second part question?

[ArcturusV]

Accidental and one way is perhaps my favorite. Because as much as it might sound like railroading, it's not really. Because the players will have a different objective and thus the VIP becomes a choice in the matter rather than a must.

So what I'm talking about is something where, during one of their espionage missions for example they sabotage a foundry for one of the local mining guilds. In the course of that the building collapses and BAM. You find yourself in the sealed undercity as the gaping hole where the foundry used to be leads right to it.

Unless your party has some flight/teleportation usually they can't go back the way they came in. So the immediate goal is "Find a way out".

This does allow you to drop hints about the VIP on the way for them to find a way out.

And already being on the inside allows them a way to scope the problem from the other direction. Finding something that will allow them reentry later. Finding weaknesses in the security that is keeping them out of the Undercity that they might not have found otherwise. Finding a "Secret" entrance that is much easier to find on the Undercity side than it ever would have been to find on the surface side.

[Callin]

A spell duel between two mid level casters breaks out and causes a ruckus.

Any wooden buildings/structures around? Fire is bad. Fire spreading throughout a town is worse.

[AlanBruce]

The Hunter's Guild has "successfully" sedated a wild beast from the surrounding wild lands, bringing it to the city for a show and tell before turning it into a rug. Alas, the beast, having some measure of intelligence, was playing possum. Now the monster has escaped into the main square and is tearing the place apart.

A mad transmuter, exiled from the city years ago for his gruesome experiments, has apparently returned. Evidence points out to unnatural monsters slain in the poor parts of the city. Is it him...or did he leave a legacy?

A cabal of druids wants to retake the city. They have formed a community in the park- a large expanse of wildlife within the urban boundaries. Although the reserve is large enough for druids and citizens to live at peace, a few believe it's time to retake everything- by claw and fang.

[LOTRfan]

-A cabal of gargoyles are gathering atop random buildings each night, staying there for about an hour as they plan raids/kidnappings. These kidnappings could be to gather food/playthings or for ransoming purposes.

-A white tiger has been seen prowling the streets of the undercity three consecutive nights a month, resulting in extremely gruesome maulings. There has been only one surviving witness, who himself was badly bitten.

-In the past five months, nine bodies have been found in seemingly random areas of the city. Each has a very precise pattern of cuts along the inner thighs and neck, along with a symbol carved into the chest (each symbol being unique to that corpse, and each resembling a warforged ghulra). All have their lower jaws removed.

-A horde of "feral" zombies have taken control of the park, eating any who enter. Their creator cannot be found, so the town guard keeps them locked in. One particularly intelligent corpse seems to be testing the fence for weak points.

-A group of spiretop dragons and pseudo dragons are engaged in a gang war, as both battle for the desirable nesting perch found on top of the local church dedicated to Saint Cuthbert. The clerics who reside within are not amused.

-In a local cemetery, the recently dead are found exhumed from their graves at dawn. Most of the bodies are badly damaged, with bite marks evident. The throat/tongues of the corpses are always intact, however.

-A local druglord has hired a cadre of minotaurs and a troll to work as his personal muscle. They have taken up residence in a series of interconnected (but abandoned) basements.

-A local animal specialist is trying to establish a zoo, and is looking for someone to bring him a particularly dangerous (CR 9+) magical beast.

[Seth1221]

Accidental and one way is perhaps my favorite. Because as much as it might sound like railroading, it's not really. Because the players will have a different objective and thus the VIP becomes a choice in the matter rather than a must.

So what I'm talking about is something where, during one of their espionage missions for example they sabotage a foundry for one of the local mining guilds. In the course of that the building collapses and BAM. You find yourself in the sealed undercity as the gaping hole where the foundry used to be leads right to it.



Cool idea, one that I'd definitely use without giving it a second thought but in this particular scenario the PCs go to the city exactly to speak with the VIP, they already know they need to find him. I don't want them to stumble upon the way to him by accident. I think they will appreciate it more if it will be their concious effort to find and question him.