Urban Legends for A City Campaign?

[Palanan]

So, we know the kind of urban legends we have in our own day and age. What kind of urban legends would you expect from the streets of Stormreach or Waterdeep?

:smalltongue:

[VoxRationis]

Well, I'd expect there to be a lot of urban legends that are within the realms of possibility for a fantasy campaign, but just aren't true. Analogy: It's possible in our world that the mayor of Little Rock, to name a random place (I have no idea who the mayor of Little Rock is and don't actually suggest that this is true), is the secret leader of a clandestine order of geneticists conducting secret long-term experiments on the population of Arkansas, but it's not true. Similarly, you could have urban myths that are possible for a fantasy world, but don't reflect reality.
Then you get the really crazy stuff, stuff that is impossible even for the setting, and that depends on the optimization standard of your campaign.

[Blackhawk748]

Well its always fun to have a Bloody Mary or Candyman style urban legend, which in fantasy could very well be real. Also the haunted house over there could actually be haunted, or just a base of operations for smugglers just waiting to have their plans messed up by some meddling adventurers. ;)

[BowStreetRunner]

An infamous member of the Waterdeep teamster's guild disappeared many years ago and some think his body is buried under the paving stones of the High Road.

[Phelix-Mu]

A collection of young people, social outcasts by many accounts and primarily male, secretly manipulate the lives of important adventurers, governing their actions through inscrutable means that make mindrape look tame. These men call their puppets "characters" and meet in secret "sessions" to play out the contrived plots of the "dungeon master," whom many say wields the power of a god (perhaps a particularly trollish Ao).

But almost no one believes such legends are true.

:smalltongue:

[Blackhawk748]

A collection of young people, social outcasts by many accounts and primarily male, secretly manipulate the lives of important adventurers, governing their actions through inscrutable means that make mindrape look tame. These men call their puppets "characters" and meet in secret "sessions" to play out the contrived plots of the "dungeon master," whom many say wields the power of a god (perhaps a particularly trollish Ao).

But almost no one believes such legends are true.

:smalltongue:

*falls off couch laughing*

[veti]

There's a half-celestial who hangs about in pubs, disguised as a regular mortal, and listens to depressed drinkers' hard luck stories. If he takes pity on them, later the same night they die in their sleep and go directly to Celestia.

There's a dread vampire lord buried under one of the busiest crossroads, and a legend that if the gravesite ever makes it through half a night (sunset to midnight) without someone walking across it, he'll rise again. That's why the guards are careful to patrol that way at least once an hour.

The sewers are protected by an army of clay golems, who just stand there and if they see anything larger than a rat, and it doesn't know the password, they kill it. More than one sewer worker has died because they had a coughing fit at the wrong moment.

Some rich dude has been hoarding long-lasting food, buying surplus every week and storing it in some huge warehouses. No-one knows why, but Our Irene's Friend's Shane's Dad got a job patrolling at one of the warehouses and apparently it's absolutely stuffed.

This is easy. Just remember to make it slightly creepy, and if there can be overtones of cosmic justice, even better.

[Afgncaap5]

Well, for Stormreach it might be interesting to see what the children would come up with...

The red-eyed kuo-toa walks through an alley every night at dusk. It's only interest is children, and the adults don't seem to notice it. I heard he's related to one of the original kuo-toa tribes that lived here before humans created the settlement, and he's looking for the boneyard that isn't here anymore. It thinks its child was buried alive, and it loved the bones of monkeys from the nearby jungles for gnawing. But there aren't any monkeys in the city any more. All it can get are the children.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by BowStreetRunner
An infamous member of the Waterdeep teamster's guild disappeared many years ago and some think his body is buried under the paving stones of the High Road.

I nearly fell out of my chair at this one. :smalltongue:


Originally Posted by Phelix-Mu
...But almost no one believes such legends are true.

*smack*

:smallbiggrin:


Originally Posted by veti and Afgncaap5
*good stuff*

These are some really cool ideas, thanks. Half-legend, half plot point, all excellent. Keep 'em coming!

.

[Phelix-Mu]

Alright, I kind of phoned in the first one. Here's three for the road:

1.) The vacant lot over there, see it? Yeah, that's where it happened. Accounts vary as to how long ago it was, but some guy died there one night. And no one noticed. People just walked on by while he was dying, ignoring his calls and pleas for help. They say that, ever since that night, no grass grows on the lot, and anyone that stands on the brown dirt for more than a couple minutes gets this chill that won't go away. Then, three nights later, that person has a dream. A terrible, terrible dream, so bad they sweat while still asleep, and moans can be heard throughout the neighborhood.

At dawn, the person dies. And the spirit of the dead man has its revenge on the world of the living.

2.) You've heard of the King's Guard. Of course you have. Everyone has. But, have you heard of the King's Reach? A secret circle of citizens, each deep undercover, are actually part of an organization devoted to ferreting out dissent and rebellion among the populace. See that bartender? She seems like a nice lady, right? Well, then where does she go every Tuesday, once the bar closes? I used to have some friends that worked as dealers down at the illegal casinos near the docks. They swear that this same bartender swooped in one night, a torch in one hand and a rapier in the other, shrouded in a crimson cloak and hood. Her eyes glinted as she cut down the criminals and burnt the place to the ground.

3.) The children. You know. The orphans. Street urchins. No one sees, but, if you look, it's there. I know. See, this man showed me one day. Said he used to live on the streets too. The orphans. Their eyes. They are hollow. And they never age. The children. They're not.

Hmm. Turned out way more horror stories than I intended. *shrugs* Fine line between the two.

[Ravens_cry]

The spell of purification they cast on the city wells every year makes the those who drink from them docile and suggestible.
The baker and millers guild cuts their flour with sawdust, keeping the extra for themselves.
All the guild leaders are demons in disguise.

[Beleriphon]

A vigilante known among the criminal underworld as Black Dragon is waging a one metahuman war on crime. Or maybe not and criminals are just a cowardly and superstitious lot.

[AntiTrust]

The place where I lived had an urban legend.

A long time ago there was a grounds-keeper that worked at the local golf course. Rumor was he was a collector of exotic pets, snakes, spiders, rats, etc and that he took care of them at the main house of the golf-course where they stored all of the cleaning supplies. One day they found him in one of the water hazards drowned with bite marks all over his body. An investigation of his home revealed that he had illegally imported exotic rats that reportedly could grow to massive size. The investigators recovered all of his other pets, but could never find these rats. There was a general warning about staying out of the golf course at night because people could slip and drown in the hazard.

Some months later police were called out again to the golf-course by a teenage girl who reported that she and her boyfriend were getting drunk on the course when something the size of a labrador retriever crawled out of a water hazard, grabbed her boyfriend and had the strength to drag him into the hazard. They drained the water from the area and found him dead, drowned and once again covered with bite mark. Animal control couldn't find any animals.

This second death caused the course to become bankrupt and the whole area is now off limits to everyone. Some people report however that on nights when the moon is full they can sometimes see large furry creatures hanging out around the water hazards.

[Ravens_cry]

Have you noticed that rumours tend to be true in fictional media? The more outlandish in fact the more likely they will have to have at least some kernel of truth to them.
An idea I have for a campaign is there is a monster rumoured to be in the local area that has already killed several adventuring parties and monster hunters.
It's actually a group of adventurers who are killing the relatively low level adventurers who come to slay the monster and looting their bodies while actively working to spread the rumour.

[PraxisVetli]

With the D&D MM's on the table, even "Alligators in the sewer" can be pretty exciting.
Horrid magebred warbeast giant Crocodiles....

[Trilby]

At my table, all things that are Theoretical Optimization are the urban legends for the setting. This fits beautifully with why Some Things Should Be And Are Banned™.

"No! NEVER give a kobold a Candle of Invocation! Heck, don't give ANYONE a Candle of Invocation! Haven't you heard? But of course you haven't... Every time someone mentions kobolds and those candles, there's a collective shudder, like something--an awareness--knows what's going on. And it's not amused... *tingles* What were we talking about? Bob? Where'd you go? Bob?"

"Have you heard about The Chicken Infested Commoner? They say he appears when you speak his name three times to a mirror... Wanna try?"

"Yes, we're all powerless, and we're at the whim of our nobility/adventurers/corrupt officials, but when things really get out of hand, the people unite, and come together to form the greatest weapon known to man... The Commoner Railgun."

Seemed like a natural fit :smallwink:

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Phelix-Mu
3.) The children. You know. The orphans. Street urchins. No one sees, but, if you look, it's there. I know. See, this man showed me one day. Said he used to live on the streets too. The orphans. Their eyes. They are hollow. And they never age. The children. They're not.

I like this one best of the lot. Perfect for my city campaign.



Originally Posted by Ravens_cry
An idea I have for a campaign is there is a monster rumoured to be in the local area that has already killed several adventuring parties and monster hunters.

Sold! This is now a scenario for me. Thank you.

:smallbiggrin:



The others are interesting too, so keep 'em coming. These are fun.

:smalltongue: