D&D 5E 5e Urban campaigns

[Gargoyle]

I've been wanting to run an urban campaign for a while, and the thing that resurfaced that idea in my brain is the 5b death and dying rules. It is easy for both player characters and NPCs or monsters to knock a character unconscious instead of outright killing them. That made me think of tavern brawls, arena fights, encounters with the city guard, harsh laws for murderers, etc, and how these rules accommodate such gameplay. I also thought back to an example in one of the 1e books of a PC bashing someone over the head with a bag of gold as they took a trip to the market and gold pieces flying everywhere.

I feel like this sort of mitigates the deadliness of combat at low levels a bit, and provides an interesting start for new PCs, but mostly I just like the idea of campaigning in a city, and there will certainly be times when the PC's are in danger of death.

So I'm going to create a miniature version of Waterdeep on a small chain of islands off the Sword Coast. It's primary business will be warehousing and mining the local isles of rare gems and metals. Anyone else starting off in an urban area? Any advice? I've run city adventures before, and have some old books that deal with the topic that I can read, but never started a campaign in one. The campaign will likely not stay there forever, but I could easily see running the first 5 levels in it, which for us is a long time.

 

[Mistwell]

I highly recommend Vornheim, the complete city kit. There are some spectacularly good ideas in that book that are useful for any city-based campaign, that I've never seen done anywhere else.

 

[Crothian]

I love city campaigns. I've run or been involved with four city campaigns in which the PCs never or barely ever left the city. I think 5e should be good for it and I like your observation on the HP rules and healing rules. It really does make tavern brawls less deadly and I think more enjoyable then some previous editions.

For a city campaign I like to have an abundance of buildings and NPCs. To help flesh this out I use books like Word's Largest City, Ptolus, Sanctuary, Palladium Fantasy books, and other books that have great city and NPCs in them. For me it never mattered what game the supplements are for I can always borrow a good building or NPC idea. Once I get that I develop some basic rumors and also feed off of what the Players give me with their characters and backgrounds. In one second edition campaign we had two players play a thief and both were part of a thieves guild but different ones so that campaign revolved around the warring thieves guilds in the city. It just depends on what the players give you and how proactive they are.

 

[soulcatcher78]

I'd look into either City State of the Invincible Overlord or Thieves' World. Both offer plenty of material depending on the type of city adventures you want to run.

 

[Crothian]

I'd look into either City State of the Invincible Overlord or Thieves' World. Both offer plenty of material depending on the type of city adventures you want to run.

Those are good. Since it is going to be near water Freeport and Bluffside can be good as well. Freeport has a lot to offer even if one is not going to use the pirate setting it has.

 

[the Jester]

Yeah, I have been working on material for an urban game for quite a while now. There's a whole thread of stuff about it around here somewhere. I had originally thought that it would start out 4e and convert midway, but I don't think we'll be done with the current 4e campaign for a little while yet, so it will probably just start off 5e now.

I like your thoughts on combat. I think at least some of the pcs will probably end up being in the army, so I can see tavern brawls as a fairly common thing.

 

[HEEGZ]

As soon as we finish the last two locales in the Starter Set I'll be kicking off my 5ed campaign in Baldur's Gate. I bought Murder In Baldur's Gate and will be using it to help me get things started. I am curious where the Horde of the Dragon Queen adventures will take place. It seems like some of the focus will be on the Sword Coast and the North... so besides the Gate I will probably also use a bit of Waterdeep, Neverwinter, and Silverymoon for some urban adventuring.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I was really underwhelmed by Bluffside, but both Freeport and (especially) Ptolus are spectacular. (Ptolus isn't for those without healthy wallets or time machines back to the preorder.)

I've also played in a Ptolus game for several years now, and while it's less deadly in the sense that one is rarely stuck X miles underground, unable to return to the surface for help, the same is true for your enemies: As Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser discovered (and those books are mandatory reads for running urban D&D games), your enemies can find you and your loved ones very easily. Our Ptolus game has the group serving as a set of police specialists, handling cases ordinary watchmen can't and it's been rough, with assassins, political intrigue, a changeling infiltrator and more.

That said, as a DM, it also means you need to be prepared for a lot of stuff coming at you with little warning. In a dungeon, the players can't just decide to go to the store or talk to the Lord Mayor or whatever -- there's a limited set of choices a DM has to be prepared for. In an urban environment, almost anything is possible at any time. It's a lot of fun, but it's definitely the deep end of the pool for DMs.

 

[Drudenfusz]

Since 5th Edition has no urbal social knowledge skills I would add maybe one or two, like Streetwise (low society) and/or Politics (high society) or maybe put them together as Culture. I personally plan also currently a very urban heavy campaign for 5e, but since there is the strong possibility that my players will make expeditions into the nearby jungle, I go with adding just the Culture skill (since the wilderness skills become not entirely useless and it can also be used to make knowledge checks on the tribes in the jungle).

 

[soulcatcher78]

I used Westgate (Moonsea area, Forgotten Realms) and reskinned it using information from Thieves' World to build a campaign based on rogues for 4E. Here's some notes if you're interested in mining for ideas.

Spoiler

Rooftopsand Alleyways of Westgate; Rogue Campaign:

Concept:
A rogue centric campaign using 4^th Edition rulesand classes. City based set of adventures/encounterstaking PCs from 1^st level up to 8^th-10^th level.

Antagonists:
Secondary Guilds – A competing organization wants to removethe PCs guild.
City Guard – Continual problems with members of the watchwho can’t be bought.
Angered NPCs – Mid to high power NPCs who have had thingsstolen want revenge.

Locale:
Westgate *revised* (free city on the southern edge of theSea of Fallen Stars)-all story lines come after the break up of the Night Masksas a single organization. Population:29,000 (human 80%, half human (orc/elf) 12%, halfling 6%, other 2%). Trading porton the decline.

Time- 1479 DR (post Spellplague).

Number of PCs- 3-4 max

Low-level options: (1-3)

Surveillance.
Second Story Work.
The Con.
Jail Break.

Mid Level Options: (4-8)

Gang War.
Wizardly Rivals.
Scout Work.

High Level Options: (9+)

Dungeoneering.
Safe Keeping.


Race Restrictions:
Core races included in the 4^th Edition Player’sHandbook, Drow, Genasi, and Orcs are all playable races in the city. Use LFR guidelines for regional benefits.



Class Restrictions:
Rogue or Warlock. Other classes will be permitted if they are trained in Thievery. Nopsionics.


Recent events:
The reach of the Night Masks as a guild power in Westgatehad finally become too much. With theirundead leader creating vampires like himself and feeding indiscriminately, thepowers that be brought in outside specialists to hunt him down and thereforebreak up the guild. What survives todayare 3 separate guilds:

The Night Masks-while they have kept the name, this is thecore of the original guild. While theyplan on rebuilding their former strength, they are approaching it much morecautiously then before. Informationgathering and power brokering are their specialty.

Vipers of Night-a small but powerful splinter group thatseems to rely heavily on the Night Goddess and numbers many of her clerics in theirranks. Assassinations are the specialtyof this guild.

Hands of Mask-the classic thieves of the city, frompickpockets to second story thieves. This is a loose confederation at best without a single unifyingleader. This is how the PCs begin the campaign.

Whispers in the taprooms see Cormyr wanting to consolidatetheir control of the Dragonmere has many in Westgate casting nervous glances tothe north. The Merchant lords of thecity are trying to consolidate their power after the fragmentation of the NightMasks. They have begun hiringmercenaries to bolster the defenses of the city but some see this as letting atiger guard the sheep from the wolves.



Sinkholes have begun opening up in the city. Some say that it has to do with the dredgingof the harbor and others believe it to be old dungeons/cellars/sewers causingthe collapses. At least one of theseholes was large enough to swallow a house. Passageways found when the holes open have been quickly bricked up orfilled in when possible “just in case”.

Some people are missing. While this is not unusual in Westgate, it seems to be happening moreoften and to members of “society” rather than the typical laborers andtransients. There seems to be no patternto the kidnappings (if that’s indeed what they are) but everyone has takennotice and is more wary when traveling about the city at night.

Refugees fleeing the (now Cormyrian) cities of Teziir andElversult are said to be carrying most of their worldly (and expensive)possessions with them. While some havebeen able to find shelter with relatives living in the city, others have beenforced to dwell outside the city walls in a (growing) community referred to bycity dwellers as Downwind and by the refugees as simply as home. Most of these people work in the fruitorchards and farms that surround the city now that the work on the harbor iscomplete.

Other Power Groups:
Men of the Basilisk (invasion prep teams).
The Fire Knives (base of operations).
Zhentarim (operating through intermediaries (i.e. slavers)).
Red Wizards of Thay (through the influence of theirenclave).
Harpers (traveling agents and a few permanent informants).
Cult of the Dragon (limited to a few informers but more ifneeded).
Various Churches (Bane, Shar) and Cults (Orcus, Demogorgon)
City Government (city watch, council of merchants)
Trading Costers (Sembian influence).
Noble Families (10 major and a number of minor families).







NPCs:
Guild Contact (HoM)-Lastel “One Thumb”, owner of the VulgarUnicorn
Guild Contact (NM)
Guild Contact (VN)
Watch Officer
Fence
Alchemist
Arcanist
Mercenary Captain
Tavern staff (VU)
Urchins
Adventurers
Pirate Captain
Slaver
Red Wizard representative




Locations:
The Vulgar Unicorn-tavern in the maze.
Hands of Mask Guildhall-tenement in the maze, sub basementsopen to sewers.
The Maze-slum neighborhood.
Alchemists shop-located in the Maze.
Arcanist College-located uptown
Guard barracks-outside of the Maze.
Inn-uptown
Inn-dockside
Tavern-uptown
Tavern-dockside
Sewers-empty into the bay.
Merchants Quarter-open market.