D&D Quest Creation Quandry - Not Getting Locked in your City

[nakedonmyfoldin]

In my campaign, I plan to base my characters in a city, where they will pursue their interests and probably align with one of many factions: organized crime, royalty, rebellion, guilds, etc. The city will be dynamic, with many options for whatever type of heroes the players want to be. But I don't want questing to be restricted to the city.

My quandary is this: what are some ways that I can forward the story arcs that are anchored in the city without confining my adventurers to the city. I want them to have to embark on a classic dungeon crawl, I want them to participate in some naval warfare, and I want them to wander through a dark forest. What are some ways that I can further the city story, outside of the city?

[RogueDM]

"Fetch" quests. They must venture forth from the walls of the city to Location 2 to obtain McGuffin A and return with it to NPC B.
Maybe they are hired to retrieve a particular relic from a dungeon,
... a certain book from a lost archive,
... capture a fugitive alive,
... bring back proof of death of a faction traitor
... Simply return for payment
-- McGuffin requires facilities in the city to be used (Alchemist's lab, etc)

Any standard adventure hook can get them out of the city, you need either a Quest Part 2 or a juicy quest reward to get them back to the city.

To keep them from settling in other cities I would scatter cities far apart, City-States maybe with only drab little villages beyond.

[Red Fel]

Here's a dangerous thought: What if they don't want to leave your city? What if you did such a good job creating a sprawling metropolis, full of infinite possibilities, that they find they prefer to adventure there? Would that be so bad?

Admittedly, it would limit them. They'd have to keep collateral damage down to a minimum, and sweeping, epic battles would be limited to those just outside the city gates.

But, ultimately, if they chose to adventure in your wonderful city, would you be disappointed?

[nakedonmyfoldin]

Of course I would be honored that they love my city so much. But I guess I just wouldn't want to limit them OR myself in creating "city only" quests.

So addressing your concern and my concern, i'll ask another question. How can I keep the players in my city, but give them numerous "looks"? What I mean by this is, sure they are in the city, but where can they go that feels like a classic dungeon? The sewers? The Slums? A tavern full of hostiles?

[Red Fel]

Of course I would be honored that they love my city so much. But I guess I just wouldn't want to limit them OR myself in creating "city only" quests.

So addressing your concern and my concern, i'll ask another question. How can I keep the players in my city, but give them numerous "looks"? What I mean by this is, sure they are in the city, but where can they go that feels like a classic dungeon? The sewers? The Slums? A tavern full of hostiles?

Well, think of all the stuff they can do in a city.

Naturally, there are diplomacy quests. Talk to this guy, negotiate this, etc. Each of the characters could eventually build their own niche; the Paladin becomes part of the Royal Guard, the Wizard starts an Academy, the Rogue joins/infiltrates/takes over the local Ye Guilde of Sneakie Guyyes, etc.

You want exploration? Say an entire sector of the city (let's assume it's large enough to be a city-state) suddenly went "dark." Maybe it's suddenly sprawling with plants overnight (attack of the killer druids) or maybe people hear strange moaning sounds (evil spirits, anyone?) or something.

You want dungeon-delving? The castle has an actual dungeon! What if a prisoner did something horrific and released something evil down below, and the heroes have to hurry to stop it from reaching the privileged idle nobles above? Or what if someone was digging out in the graveyard and found a hidden hole leading Deep Down? Or what if something/someone took over the catacombs of a local church (we know how they love them some catacombs)?

Yes, it is limiting, and yes, it may start to look the same after awhile... But that's up to your players. After all, it's your world, but it's their adventure.

Now, if they do want to leave the city, I agree with the above poster, start with fetch quests. King wants them to get this. Guardsman needs them to find so-and-so. And so forth. Diplomatic missions are a possibility, as are escorting trade caravans. Maybe dispatch to protect a local teeny-tiny village on behalf of their Big City Cousins. Remember, if your city is appealing to them, they'll come back to it. If they really want to leave the city for a long time, or forever, you'll be hard-pressed to stop them.

EDIT: And how could I forget? D&D published an entire book on stuff you can do with a city, Cityscape. In fact, they published several (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20070228a) web (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20070307a) enhancements (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20070314a) to that book which you can peruse at your leisure.

[Monivey]

One thing that might help the quests feel less "fetchy" is if players can directly see the impact of their actions on the city. That diplomatic mission that you used as an excuse for naval combat led to a major trade treaty with the elven republic. As a result, there's all sorts of new magic items in the market (rewarding players materially), and there's new fashions catching on, expansion of the docks, and fewer beggars on the street (rewarding players story-wise).

[Mirakk]

This inevitably happens to me when I DM. I'll set the players up in their first city, hoping that they'll strike out on their own and start to adventure, but they just seem to get caught up in events in that city, and never really decide to pull up stakes and explore unless told to do so. Entire campaigns become centered on one city. That's not bad, but it's just not the grand sense of exploratory D&D that everyone was hoping for. I wasn't the only one who felt this way. A player told me that they felt like they weren't really dungeon crawling much, and that the game was too centered on people and politics. And that's when I revealed that I was waiting for them to leave and go explore!

I really don't like railroading folks, but it happens commonly where I'll have to have them physically sent somewhere else looking for someone or something in order to get them to go. The shipwreck thing has been done to death, and it's tired now. So I started to think , as you have.

How can I get the players to naturally want to move around more?


And the answer was simple.


Start them off in a little hamlet, and not a big city. Use a simple story arc like Timmy never came home last night and they have to find him. Someone saw him outside of town by the old mine... and soon you've got yourself an adventure. Well the hamlet doesn't have a lot going on, so shortly after Timmy's been saved and the wolves attacking the cattle are gone, there's really not much more to do.

Rumors begin to come in about other towns nearby in need of workers. Give them 3-4 different towns nearby that have put up a posting for work, and let them decide. These towns are a little larger, and there are more quests involved, but again, they'll become played out after a little bit.

The good news here is that by making 3-4 towns with different questlines, the next time they decide to move, you can just use another of your prepped towns complete with story arcs. Making each of the towns visually different gives a grand sense of exploration, and rewards the players imagination.

Using this method seems to help those early levels where players develop their party's leadership system and habits. If you can train them to keep moving, and that going from one place to another is a good thing, they'll keep it up. You've taught them to move around, and everyone will be happier.

[Mirakk]

(Ugh, after reading more closely, I can see the problem more clearly now. I'm going to leave my post, in hopes it still helps in other ways!)

Some ideas:

The characters are assigned escort duty, which takes them outside the town to another city. This also gives them a small amount of time in a different city, and when they return from the mission, they're handsomely rewarded. Perhaps ties between the two cities are strengthened. Or maybe there's a breakdown in diplomacy, and a war begins!

Bandits or orcs are raiding the trade routes outside of town, and need to be deterred/cleared out of the foothills. This can be a several session excursion in itself.

A blight has fallen upon the land, and now every night undead come shambling toward the city, terrorizing the citizens. Nobody is sure where they're coming from, but their numbers seem to increase nightly. The party sets out to discover the mystery of what force is behind these nightly terrors.

[nakedonmyfoldin]

I'm getting a lot of ideas from these posts, thanks to everyone!

[Captnq]

Murphy's Laws of GMing

No Plot line will survive contact with the players.

If the map has a boundary, the players with charge straight for it.

If the campaign has no boundaries, the players will go nowhere.

If your NPC has no known vulnerabilities, the players will invent an attack just to kill it.

If there are obvious good guys and bad guys fighting each other, the players will side with the bad guys for reasons so byzantine as to give Asmodeus a headache.

The main NPC who is behind the evil will be ignored.

The throwaway NPC shopkeeper will enthrall them.

Left by themselves, PCs tend towards maximum rules abuse.

Combat will take longer.

99% of everything you keep track of will never come into play.

The 1% you forget, the players will bury you with.

If you're feeling good about how your campaign is going, don't worry, you'll get over it.

An NPC that took 6 hours to min/max will be killed by a magic item you gave the players six months ago and completely forgot about in less time then it takes to delete the file you keep the NPC in.

Gygax's Statement: Don't Lose Heart.
Dave's Addition to Gygax's statement: The players want to cut it out.
Bob's Commentary on Dave's addition to Gygax's statement: And they want to avoid a lengthy search.

[nakedonmyfoldin]

Murphy's Laws of GMing

No Plot line will survive contact with the players.

If the map has a boundary, the players with charge straight for it.

If the campaign has no boundaries, the players will go nowhere.

If your NPC has no known vulnerabilities, the players will invent an attack just to kill it.

If there are obvious good guys and bad guys fighting each other, the players will side with the bad guys for reasons so byzantine as to give Asmodeus a headache.

The main NPC who is behind the evil will be ignored.

The throwaway NPC shopkeeper will enthrall them.

Left by themselves, PCs tend towards maximum rules abuse.

Combat will take longer.

99% of everything you keep track of will never come into play.

The 1% you forget, the players will bury you with.

If you're feeling good about how your campaign is going, don't worry, you'll get over it.

Gygax's Statement: Don't Lose Heart.
Dave's Addition to Gygax's statement: The players want to cut it out.
Bob's Commentary on Dave's addition to Gygax's statement: And they want to avoid a lengthy search.

An NPC take took 6 hours to min/max will be killed by a magic item you gave the players six months ago and completely forgot about in less time then it takes to delete the file you keep the NPC in.

Well aren't you a glass half full. Fortunately, i'm going to be as prepared for this as possible (sounds paradox-y). I plan to have a loosely planned sandbox type area prepared, and as players move in a direction, i'll plan more and try my darndest to anticipate possible moves. But thanks for the tips, I do tend to spend all night writing up info that is never unearthed.