Notes for a New Campaign City, Parsantium

[RichGreen]

Don't forget; you've got a major city straddling a strait between two seas.

What's going on underwater? Are there local communities of merfolk? Kuo-toa in the Hidden Quarter?

Good point, and I've always liked kuo-toa.....


Richard

 

[Nellisir]

Good point, and I've always liked kuo-toa.....

And the kuo-toa like you too...lightly browned, with a little garlic and melted butter.

 

[RichGreen]

And the kuo-toa like you too...lightly browned, with a little garlic and melted butter.

Surely they prefer their food raw?

Since I'm unlikely to run the Shackled City adventure path in its entirety, I could steal the kuo-toa dungeon in Zenith Trajectory (I think) and use this somewhere in the Hidden Quarter. I like the idea of having kuo-toa creeping around the Old Docks at night, preying on the poor souls living in their houseboats and ramshackle huts.

Any other ideas?


Richard

 

[Leif]

Who/what else lives beneath the city? What are they up to?
I need suggestions for NPCs, factions and monsters that would be fun as this part of the city will be a major focus for adventures.
Richard

Have you thought about a family or two of otyughs that live in the UnderCity and dine in the city dump?
(Gosh, I may be showing my age: I'm not even sure that said monster made it into 3.5 ed.!)

 

[RichGreen]

Have you thought about a family or two of otyughs that live in the UnderCity and dine in the city dump?
(Gosh, I may be showing my age: I'm not even sure that said monster made it into 3.5 ed.!)

Classic D&D monsters! Yes, they're in the 3.5 MM. How about this
great picture from Pathfinder?


Richard

 

[Nellisir]

One thing I'd be careful to do (and this is more of a general comment and reminder than a criticism) is always put some kind of hook or mystery in every description. You did it with the brothels, but not the temple & the mosque. The theatre is ambigious.

 

[RichGreen]

One thing I'd be careful to do (and this is more of a general comment and reminder than a criticism) is always put some kind of hook or mystery in every description. You did it with the brothels, but not the temple & the mosque. The theatre is ambigious.

Good point -- you're right. Funnily enough, I was thinking this myself earlier today -- I was reminded of the original Dungeoncraft columns Ray Winniger did in Dragon. One of his "rules of Dungeoncraft" was that whenever you designed something, you should attach a secret to it, which is a cool principle to stick to.

Will bear this in mind for future location write-ups and I'll see if I can think of any hooks to add to the temples -- feel free to suggest any! I guess an NPC or two for each wouldn't hurt either....

Cheers


Richard

 

[Nellisir]

Will bear this in mind for future location write-ups and I'll see if I can think of any hooks to add to the temples -- feel free to suggest any! I guess an NPC or two for each wouldn't hurt either....

I don't have a really organized scheme or anything, but when I'm writing descriptions I just try to throw in something that I (if I were an adventurer), would be curious about. Usually just a single line or quick aside; one doesn't need a whole outline, just a seed.

I guess the pertinent question is:

What is weird, odd, unusual, interesting, or unexplained about the item being described?

 

[RichGreen]

I don't have a really organized scheme or anything, but when I'm writing descriptions I just try to throw in something that I (if I were an adventurer), would be curious about. Usually just a single line or quick aside; one doesn't need a whole outline, just a seed.

I guess the pertinent question is:

What is weird, odd, unusual, interesting, or unexplained about the item being described?

Good advice, thanks! If you do that, a throwaway line of description could interest the players and become part of the adventure.

 

[RichGreen]

The Boat Town of Flotsam

Here's a new location with a couple of adventure hooks:

Flotsam

Boats of every size and shape bob on the water, connected by a baffling web of piers, gangplanks, and rope bridges.

Part of the Old Docks, the “boat town” of Flotsam consists of around 70 boats, and is inhabited by some of the city’s poorest citizens, those who cannot afford to live in a tenement building. Most of these are Sahasrans belonging to the artisan caste (Shudras), although many halflings live here too. Flotsam is completely afloat; the residents live in houseboats and do their shopping at other boats. Even longtime Flotsam-dwellers must relearn their way around the neighborhood if they leave for a time, since it constantly rearranges itself.

As well as houseboats, there is a temple to the seven river gods, the Sapta Sindhu, a shrine to Anwyn (goddess of the hearth, home and small folk), and a number of trades and services including a bait and tackle shop, a basket weaver, a netmaker, several carpenters and boatmakers, and a very basic boat- tavern called the Fat Grouper, run by a truly miserable halfling called Glyn Merryfield who constantly complains at the injustice of him ending up in Flotsam. Most of the people living here work as longshoremen, in warehouses, or on the fishing boats. Fish naturally forms a big part of the Flotsam diet and the smell of grilling fish pervades the evening air.

Once a year, in late summer, the Festival of Flowers is celebrated by the people of Flotsam. For a month, all the boats, even the Fat Grouper, are decorated with hanging baskets full of beautiful red, orange and yellow flowers. On the last day of the festival, the flowers are all cut and cast into the Dolphin Strait to honour the Sapta Sindhu. If a pod of dolphin appears, the people of Flotsam are going to have a lucky year. No dolphins have been seen for the last seven years…

Adventure Hooks
Recently there have been a number of disappearances from the inhabitants of Flotsam, mostly longshoremen and dockworkers. The City Watch aren't really interested, claiming that the missing men have probably left town. A gang of gnolls led by the tattooed Orloch Scragmane is to blame; these gnolls are selling their captives to kuo-toa living in water-logged caverns deep beneath the Old Quarter.

Mangesh, a dock-worker, is really pissed off. His boat keeps springing a leak because someone or something is pulling the nails out holding it together. The culprit is a nail stealer <Penumbra Fantasy Bestiary>, a tiny rust-coloured woodpecker with a very strong beak that it uses to obtain pieces of rusty metal as part of its courtship ritual. Its partner has built her nest at the top of the mast of the nearby Fat Grouper.

Any comments or suggestions? I'm keen to develop the gnoll gang and kuo-toa some more. I have a nice kuo-toa temple from Zenith Trajectory (Shackled City adventure path) that I can use if the PCs go beneath the city into their territory.

Cheers


Richard