City run by criminals, looking for some ideas.

[Xavrias]

Alright, so title says the basis for this thread. My players are approaching a city state known as the Aleksetr Court, a place where things illegal in the rest of the Empire and most of the world are legal here, it lies outside the Empire's reach. Things like human smuggling, poisons, drugs, illegal magics/magic items etc are all commonplace. There are in fact very few rules, but the place is still well structured, held in place by a "Court" of patriarchs and matriarchs from the criminal families that run the place.

I like the lawless feeling, and the semi-mafia like families running the place, but I still want the place to feel a little real and like it makes sense. You don't need to know anything about the campaign really to help out, just want to hear your thoughts on how you'd make a place like this in your campaign. What kind of ideas come to mind when you think about it. Anything from interesting taverns, to how what laws there might be are structured could help me out.

Really appreciate it!

[Tajerio]

As almost always, a lot depends on what the characters are doing there. But that said, having run a campaign not too too long ago that was based for seven levels or so in a city dominated by crimelords, here are my thoughts on what you should think about.

--Hardly any polity exists for long without having rules that govern it, even if those rules aren't exactly what one would call law, and even if they're often honored in the breach. You should figure out what code(s) the Court of the patriarchs and matriarchs enforces, and what sort of penalties are assessed for transgressions. This could be anything from just a few general rules of conduct to a very specific list of deeds sanctioned and unsanctioned.
--Figure out how much everyone's tied to the crime families. Are there no independent entrepreneurs/actors, and everyone's an agent of a family? Are there semi-independent actors, wherein everyone has to have some relationship of protection/loyalty with the families, but they have broad freedom beyond that? Are there groups that actively resist the families? Hooks for PCs of all alignments abound.
--How do the families relate to one another? Do they maneuver against one another subtly? Or do they act openly and violently against one another? A mixture of the two is of course possible as well, and again you have hooks for PCs to be involved in things.
--How does the city-state relate to the outside world? Who represents it, who are its enemies, who its allies, etc.
--For the environment and atmosphere, it's always good to have a place or two where the PCs can run into agents of the families if they want to pick up those hooks, with the seedy dockside tavern being the old classic. But in a place run by crime families, you could easily make those places more upscale and mainstream. Casinos with odd games or strange stakes (perhaps you have one frequented by slavers in which the only acceptable wagers are in sapient chattel). The bazaar openly selling all manner of goods that would in other places be illegal or restricted is also an easy way to get your players picking up the idea of the place. Also, depending on the city's attitude towards those in the deep end of the alignment pool (which I'd guess would be fairly permissive), you might be able to describe hobgoblins rubbing shoulders with gnomes, say. This can also be an interesting one for your players if thus far it's been open season on anything with an evil alignment, but now the city's rules forbid it.
--Open temples of evil gods, or at least some dodgy ones, also can go a long way to illustrating an "anything goes" society, though how they interact with temples of other gods can be tricky. Also could potentially be an ongoing source of tension and conflict in the city.

That was rather longer than I meant at first, but hopefully it's helpful.

[iTreeby]

1) Make a table for npcs to roll on for their side criminal enterprise. this way you can have the feeling that everyone is participating in the system and are pretty open about recruiting/ blackmailing /using the players

2) have one of the first things they see be a tribunal or court or something where they can see the punishment for various "crimes" so the players can see how things are perceived by the authorities ( possibly have the people being tried for traditional crimes are fined, but trespassing against a family has harsh punishments)

[daremetoidareyo]

You mention that there is a market for all sorts of stuff. Who are the buyers? Where do they come from? Do buyers have protections from rival crime families?

Where are the illegal goods sourced from? Who is at the bottom of the economic chain that produces drugs and poison and slaves? Answering those questions will highlight what sort of peace is maintained, and how it can be thrown into flux to create plotlines

[Samzat]

One thing that could make the city fit better with the rest of the story is a reason it falls outside of the jurisdictions of other nations. Is its location a guarded secret? Is it actually being garunteed by a foreign power to prevent their rivals from disrupting the balance of power? Does it have some of the best defences to the point where no army could dare cross it? Do the crime families have connections with the surrounding nations that ensure their neutrality? Is it simply not worth taking?

[thorr-kan]

Model it on Chicago during Prohibition, New York City during the Civil War, or Tombstone during the Old West.

Going a little further afield and Hollywooding it, try Casablanca for inspiration. Or Moscow from the Val Kilmer's The Saint movie.

[Particle_Man]

A publicly known Assassin's guild that would be an openly acceptable way of handling disputes?

A combination tourist business (Because hey, stuff is available here that is available nowhere else!) and blackmail business (because stuff that is legal here might still be illegal, or at least embarrassing, for those tourists when they get home). To avoid the latter, a peripheral disguise business (or tourists can pay an extra fee upfront for "discretion" if they trust those they hire).

[Hand_of_Vecna]

I think the hallmark of such a place would be inconsistency. Different rules for me than for thee is a common theme of evil governments, but with a loose co-op of several families a further layer is added.

Winning a bar brawl in which the Scion of house Abrien might bring down a sanctioned hit squad, while house Banguin would punish their brat kid in a similar situation. But maybe you had a run in with Jack Abrien at a Claremont run gambling den they would blame the aggressor. As I said house Banguin would normally punish their own kid for making them look bad, but the incident happened in a bar run by house Dale and house Dale would not only side with Harold Banguin, but would lie about the incident to house Banguin.

[Fouredged Sword]

Think rules focused around "don't create a mess" rather than "don't hurt people". The city exists to the profit of the court. Rules set up are for their protection and power, not yours. If you do anything opposed to their interests you are done.

I am picturing rival court factions. Perhaps whole segments of the city are ruled by various court members who focus on various trades.

The chemist's quarter. The slave warfs. Sell sword marketplace... There are lots of places to set cool encounters. Different places may have different rules. Weapons may be banned in the Quarter of Red Viels, but they may be almost required to walk down Ironsale Avenue.

[BowStreetRunner]

Cities that are run by moral and ethical governments still have criminal elements operating there. So it would make sense to me that a city run by an immoral and unethical government would have...vigilantes. :smallcool:

I'm thinking a vigilante group that has a feel similar to Marvel's Punisher or maybe something like Judge Dredd but operating covertly.

[TheBrassDuke]

Definitely make sure to look at the City of Stormreach (an Eberron book), it’s abundant with criminals and fun!

Some of my personal favorites:

The Stormreach Guard - They’re essentially thugs who became the City’s Watch because of whatever reason, really. And so long as they obey the Stormlords without question, they’re pretty much free to do as they please.

There is a page that details some notable/regular guards roaming about and I fell in love with the one nicknamed “By the Book”, and have made her a recurring character in many campaigns now.

In Stormreach, where chaos runs rampant throughout the districts and the Guard is highly corrupt, there stands one who literally carries her book through the streets like a bible and indiscriminately charges anyone even thinking about breaking the law.

She was murdered in one campaign by the party’s Druid/Stormlord and later returned as a very upset and angry Vampire...that was interesting.

But anyway, yeah. Check out Stormreach.

[Resileaf]

An important part is to figure out how the rival families deal with one another without being constantly at war. If the city is ruled by a council, it obviously means that the families do not want to wage open war against one another, but it is likely that they still have conflict once in a while. How do they handle it? Surely there are foreign powers looking to take over their city-state, so a show of weakness by the families will be taken advantage of, but in such a crime-filled town, they will step on each other's toes fairly often. They therefore need a system to resolve their differences.