Steal from your local news. 
Police, detective, crime dramas and most other shows are full of plots for a city game.
Police, detective, crime dramas and most other shows are full of plots for a city game.
City adventure ideas?
- Thread starter Gareman
- Start date
Moving Pictures
Villager
I'm running a sandboxy campaign - it's my preference. The intro sessions involved rubbing against a crime boss who had hired folks to poison the (very pricey) booze consumed by a Baron. The crime boss is way too powerful for them, but if they go hunting....
[rubs hands together]
Steal from your local news.
I spent 20 years in journalism, mostly at the "community news" level. That's a good inspiration for the sandboxy stuff. Houses burning; drunks being arrested. Occasionally a brawl. In a world with magic ....
Ath'kethin
Elder Thing
I've used this book a few times. I like it.
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/323923/101-city-encounters
I've also written two urban adventures: one set in the City of Brass on the Plane of Fire and the other set in the metropolis of Huzuz in the Al-Qadim setting. Both include city writeups broken down by districts and wards and include 6 possible random encounters for each district/ward.
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/323923/101-city-encounters
I've also written two urban adventures: one set in the City of Brass on the Plane of Fire and the other set in the metropolis of Huzuz in the Al-Qadim setting. Both include city writeups broken down by districts and wards and include 6 possible random encounters for each district/ward.
Last edited:
Also look at crazy history stories, examples: Shanghaied, press gangs, Edinburgh body snatchers, London undergrounds and such. The biggest thing in a city is figuring if something mundane or supernatural.
Do you have a small set of procedures for down time activities, that characters may pursue on their own?
Do you have a list of major personalities (NPCs) whom you might integrate into stuff like carousing, or other kind of curated encounter table, so that PCs can meet them (and the organizations they may be a part of), on multiple occasions?
Do you have a means to track proactive decisions made by the party, or factions in the city, as well as what their responses might be to actions done to them (such as clocks, or the like)?
I mention these because they are all ways of devising adventure seeds, that may not necessarily be tied to a major story beat you might find in a published city adventure or module.
Some years ago, I posted a short urban adventure on the Dungeon Fantasy RPG forum at Steve Jackson Games. I originally ran it for kids, but have also run it for two adult groups who enjoyed it. Here's the link (I post under the username "Dalin"):
One-shot adventure: A Plague Under All of Your Houses
In the writeup I make reference to occasional rules from DFRPG, but I think there are easy corollaries in just about any system.
One-shot adventure: A Plague Under All of Your Houses
In the writeup I make reference to occasional rules from DFRPG, but I think there are easy corollaries in just about any system.
Something I do with my players is allow them a number of NPCs that they can pull out at any given time. Say a player needs a to see a friend he knows of, so he just gives a description and brief backstory and I as the GM create the location where he can find them. Only rules I have most be a reasonable connection for the player to know them.
Start with a map, use nick names and have some thoughts of what the city looks like (don't think the real Yanjin looks like this but...)
Extremely helpful
www.drivethrurpg.com
DriveThruRPG
www.drivethrurpg.com
Take advantage of the nature of cities. The bigger they are, the more chances favor some weird stuff going down.
Years ago I decided to buck stereotypical kickoffs by starting a campaign with an escalating action sequence which served as an intro to the setting and for the PCs to meet.
The sequence started with the (not quite yet the) party’s rogue trying to steal something from the home of a wealthy merchant. Unfortunately, he was discovered, and was dropped into the city sewers via a trapdoor in front of the safe he was trying to find.
After recovering his wits in the sewer, the rogue stumbled upon a pair of kidnappers transitioning a person sewed into a canvas bag from a side tunnel into a small boat for transport. Spotted and targeted as a potential bonus victim, the rogue started to fight off the kidnappers, and managed to slice open the bag, freeing the kidnapping victim and evening the odds.
The two weary protagonists still had to find their way out of the sewers.
Skipping a bit for brevity- every few minutes, there was some kind of encounter in which “the party” began to take form, 1-2 PCs at a time.
The final set piece had them all in a tavern getting a late night meal to recover from the evening’s insanity. But the Watch had been called to arrest a criminal known to be a tavern regular, so a brawl broke out. In the scuffle, the criminal knocked over a lantern and the tavern went up in flames.
“The party” got out alive and happened to catch the firestarter, whom they turned in for the (now bigger) reward.
As the Sun started to rise, someone said, “we make a pretty good team.”
*****
For inspiration, I’ll also point out movies like The Warriors and Judgement Night*, and stories told in songs like:
and
* I actually went through something like that movie’s plot my freshman year in college.
Years ago I decided to buck stereotypical kickoffs by starting a campaign with an escalating action sequence which served as an intro to the setting and for the PCs to meet.
The sequence started with the (not quite yet the) party’s rogue trying to steal something from the home of a wealthy merchant. Unfortunately, he was discovered, and was dropped into the city sewers via a trapdoor in front of the safe he was trying to find.
After recovering his wits in the sewer, the rogue stumbled upon a pair of kidnappers transitioning a person sewed into a canvas bag from a side tunnel into a small boat for transport. Spotted and targeted as a potential bonus victim, the rogue started to fight off the kidnappers, and managed to slice open the bag, freeing the kidnapping victim and evening the odds.
The two weary protagonists still had to find their way out of the sewers.
Skipping a bit for brevity- every few minutes, there was some kind of encounter in which “the party” began to take form, 1-2 PCs at a time.
The final set piece had them all in a tavern getting a late night meal to recover from the evening’s insanity. But the Watch had been called to arrest a criminal known to be a tavern regular, so a brawl broke out. In the scuffle, the criminal knocked over a lantern and the tavern went up in flames.
“The party” got out alive and happened to catch the firestarter, whom they turned in for the (now bigger) reward.
As the Sun started to rise, someone said, “we make a pretty good team.”
*****
For inspiration, I’ll also point out movies like The Warriors and Judgement Night*, and stories told in songs like:
and
* I actually went through something like that movie’s plot my freshman year in college.
Last edited:
Similar Threads
