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<blockquote data-quote="Fenris-77" data-source="post: 7985583" data-attributes="member: 6993955"><p>I like Cults, Criminal Organizations, and faction struggles for urban play. Creeping Horror from Below also does the trick. I like Cults particularly because they hide 'inside' normal groups and there's a lot of potential uncertainty to finding out who's who. Very Batman. I prefer the onion approach, where you start with a smaller problem, say a Cult of the Black Goat operating out of docks is rumored to be sacrificing innocents. So its localized to one place and the stakes are relatively small. Once the party busts up the cult they find it reaches higher than they thought possible, perhaps even to the nobility. This up the stakes and lets the party start interacting with different groups, with greater possible complications (no one really believes them, and poking the nobility can be bad you health) - there's your sneaking into parties. Sometime during this second phase I'd probably introduce demonic beings creeping out of the sewers - the cult is starting to succeed with its summoning, but what are they after? This adds some tension and a race against the clock element. Can the party figure out who's behind the Cult before things go from bad to worse? </p><p></p><p>In a campaign like this I would create an interwoven set of clues and information that will propel the characters toward uncovering the truth. You need a bigger net and more tidbits than you might think because you want to avoid having to railroad the characters to one place or one clue. I'd probably keep anything more than a evening or two out pretty fuzzy so I'm not wasting too much prep. What you need is a solid goal for the cult that fits into the faction relationships in the city. If it makes sense in context, the players will be better able to put the pieces together without a undue amount of prompting, or worse, rolling to figure out clues. Don't get too fancy with the mystery aspect. Creating good NPCs with motives that makes sense also helps a lot. Motivation is the key.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Fenris-77, post: 7985583, member: 6993955"] I like Cults, Criminal Organizations, and faction struggles for urban play. Creeping Horror from Below also does the trick. I like Cults particularly because they hide 'inside' normal groups and there's a lot of potential uncertainty to finding out who's who. Very Batman. I prefer the onion approach, where you start with a smaller problem, say a Cult of the Black Goat operating out of docks is rumored to be sacrificing innocents. So its localized to one place and the stakes are relatively small. Once the party busts up the cult they find it reaches higher than they thought possible, perhaps even to the nobility. This up the stakes and lets the party start interacting with different groups, with greater possible complications (no one really believes them, and poking the nobility can be bad you health) - there's your sneaking into parties. Sometime during this second phase I'd probably introduce demonic beings creeping out of the sewers - the cult is starting to succeed with its summoning, but what are they after? This adds some tension and a race against the clock element. Can the party figure out who's behind the Cult before things go from bad to worse? In a campaign like this I would create an interwoven set of clues and information that will propel the characters toward uncovering the truth. You need a bigger net and more tidbits than you might think because you want to avoid having to railroad the characters to one place or one clue. I'd probably keep anything more than a evening or two out pretty fuzzy so I'm not wasting too much prep. What you need is a solid goal for the cult that fits into the faction relationships in the city. If it makes sense in context, the players will be better able to put the pieces together without a undue amount of prompting, or worse, rolling to figure out clues. Don't get too fancy with the mystery aspect. Creating good NPCs with motives that makes sense also helps a lot. Motivation is the key. [/QUOTE]
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