Town Adventures

[Captain Kablam]

Yo, I'm thinking of DMing a campaign and I want to be the general focus of the adventure to be within a city during a time of war, forcing the players to deal with such issues as refugees, food shortages, smugglers, and spies, and whatnot.

I want the stage to more or less be just that one town, and I want to do this with as little railroading as possible. My original plan was to make it so the players roll out their characters as town guardsmen, but I was wondering if there were other ways to get what I wanted and still afford the players more freedom.

So I turn to you guys. Talk to me.

[ArcturusV]

Well, the real answer I feel is make them start at level 1. Which may not be a popular solution in your group. If you're a level 1, no matter what your affiliation is, when a city is besieged you're going to have to deal with it. You're not going to be able to just sneak past all the beseigers, nor fly/teleport away. Barring something like a Hengeyokai I suppose. And it lets people have a variety to their characters that they might not have if you're all town guard. If you have even any skills like a level 1 character has, chances are someone is looking for you to do something to help out. You're a thief? Who cares, you're pardoned as long as you help us do something like weed out spies in our town helping the enemy. A priest? Well go help our wounded. Etc, etc, etc.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

* Con the Con Man. A character ends up getting set up with a scam and falling for it. Can be anything from Three Card Monty/Cups n Balls to getting cheated at a store. The character tried to scam them, and ended up getting scammed in return. So, now what? You go to the law enforcement, they're going to be rather unhappy with you for trying a scam in the first place. Try and take it into your own hands, and they will be even less appreciative and you might end up a guest at the maximum security prison.

* Rationing Supplies. With the oncoming threat of war and possible siege, prices for certain commodities, including food and beverages, are going through the roof. This price gouging is being run by a group of three or four merchants. You've been ordered to try and deal with this problem. However, these merchants are wealthy and thus connected with higher levels of government, and can make your life very unpleasant. Little things like being put on the MagicMart blacklist or having caravans unwilling to have you along. They also have quite a few hired swords. Sure, they're mercenaries, but they're skilled mercenaries. Alternately, your superior officer could have told you to leave them alone, but your sense of duty and justice demands that you act on the people's behalf...

* Arms for the Poor. With the impending war approaching, people are being Impressed (that is, Conscripted) into military service in the Irregular Militia. You are, for your varied sins, charged with training them and leading them. However, there's been some... irregularities... with the weapons. Apparently, the supply sergant at the arms warehouse has been selling 'surplus' weapons and pocketing the change. Or maybe some bean-counter didn't think the town needed that many spears in inventory. Whatever the case, the weapons you are supposed to equip and train your militia with aren't there. Obtaining said arms, equipping your militia, training them, and leading them into combat (when they are just Level 1 Commoners) are entirely up to you.

* Omega Company. You've heard of the 'best of the best'? Well, this company is the worst of the worst. To end up here, you had to have pissed someone off. Either incompetent, politically obtuse, failed to grease the right palms, or were simply too good at being a soldier and made your superiors look bad. For whatever reason, you're dumped here. And guess who gets to be on the front line? So now you've got to get these misfits together to save all of your arses.

* Get To Da Choppah!. War is coming. Your job is to get the civilians out. Safely. By any means necessary. The fewer mouths to feed in town, the longer it can last a siege. However, the evacuation point is three days away in territory which is no longer being patrolled, and might have enemy scouts in the area which are inclined to do hit-and-run tactics against your caravan. The civilians are just that... most of them don't know what end of a spear to wield, they are likely to panic at the first sign of hostilities and do stupid things like run out into the middle of the field... real idiots. Oh, and if you really want to be an evil GM... there's no real reason why your evacuation point is actually safe. Maybe the enemy bypassed the town you are evacuating and sent some calvary (or other equivalent rapidly-moving troops) to cut you off at the pass? Or, for that matter, the town you could be evacuating TO has decided that they simply don't want the fugitives in their town. You'll have to keep going to the next one.

[Captain Kablam]

Okay, allow me to clarify a bit, the city isn't on the frontlines, not just yet, but the effects of the war are felt and reverberate throughout. As a matter of fact one of the big plans I had, back when I was fixing to pigeon hole the players into being the guards, was basically the army is clouted elsewhere and the standing forces retreat to rally elsewhere, so the city more or less becomes occupied by the enemy, forcing the players to act as either resistance fighters or collaborators. Think Paris during WWII.

Anyways, the war isn't at the gates, but it certainly paints the tone of the the town. Furthermore, this place is supposed to be the players home more or less, and I want it to be the main theater of the adventure, is there anyway I can make it so the players stay within the area without it seeming like railroading, or should I just do nothing and trust the players to stay through the virtue of the place being their home?

[ShneekeyTheLost]

* The Don and the Duke. Organized Crime has always been around. However, with the shadow of war, they've been a bit more... pesky... than usual. The Duke has let it be known that he would greatly reward anyone capable of breaking the power structure of this organized crime syndicate. Of course, that's easier said than done...

* Grifters R Us. The war is on the horizon, people are getting nervous, and shysters are more than willing to take advantage of that by selling bogus stuff. Maybe one of the Players got taken advantage of, maybe someone came to them asking them to do something about the problem. Maybe you've got some players who are Guardsmen which are ordered to take care of the problem.

* For Sale Sold!. Merchants recognize the potential profit in war, and the safety in being somewhere OTHER than the direct front lines. But this merchant has decided that it is best to cash in his chips and go elsewhere. However, it seems that there have been some accusations that he was spying for the other side, which has made a rather... ugly situation. Are the accusations true? Should you just let the mob have him? Is the Guard sent out to protect the honest merchant or arrest the spy? That's up to the GM to decide.