Be careful what you wish for!

[Gilladian]

I'm always asking my players to immerse themselves in the gameworld, and to play their characters as part of the world. So, having come to a natural pause in their "adventures", and since we're taking a four to six week break to play another campaign with a different DM, I had the players tell me what they wanted to do in the next several weeks. This is the list I have ended up compiling!

1. develop an "undermarket" for the PCs to attend; it is run by a powerful wizard (dark elf?) of some sort, deep in the caverns under Ptolus. I implied that many folk of many sorts and much varied capabilities attend this monthly event. (!?!) The wizard is named Sarn Cosa, and he has a henchman/guard captain named Shadar. Who are they and what are they doing?

2. Granthar wants to increase his collection of junk statuary and art. Need 4-6 minor things to interest him.
3. Granthar also wants to start an exotic animal collection. He has a pseudodragon. What else do I want him to be able to find/rescue/purchase? Or do I?
4. Rastor wants to buy the two properties to either side of their row house, and remodel to expand them into one living structure. Just because one of the servants complained about sleeping on the kitchen floor!
5. Bruin wants to find an artist to hire to design him a tapestry honoring Teun, which Bruin will then have his magitech loom weave. And then maybe he'll go into the tapestry selling trade, so he needs a front man for that business...
6. Rastor wants his animal companion to be a leopard. Because of the Pseudodragon and an air elemental that the PCs already have in their party, I don't want it to be just an ordinary creature. What can I do to make it exciting but not overpowered? Hmm....
7. Bruin has hired Tom and Alvin (a pair of warrior henchmen) and some laborers to start cleaning out and repairing an old ratman lair that is beneath their house, turning it into an extension of the cellars and making it a useful laboratory for his techno-work. Like he needs another lair!
8. Bruin and Emiko want to copy a trove of books they found (histories and scholarly works) and find a bookstore to resell them to, or to sell them on commission.
9. Bruin wants to find a bard to hire to write and broadcast stories of the party's successes, all tilted towards building Emiko's fame and thus supporting her dream of increasing her family's reputation in the City.

Is this enough to make any Dm's head swim? I'm happy, but I'm drowning...

Sadly, one PC isn't mentioned at all in this whole list; he's a new addition to the party, as the previous character he played didn't fit well into the group. Now the player is feeling a little detached and uninterested (Ptolus isn't his style of campaign; he prefers a more episodic and dungeony kind of game). He's a cleric of a war goddess, slightly barbaric and hates undead. I need a way to tie him into the game more...

 

[Nyeshet]

Here are a few ideas that first come to mind:

1: This is just a normal market, albeit underground and perhaps a bit exotic in some of its wares. Shouldn't be too difficult to work out.

2: This is actually the easiest to work in. Perhaps the house next door has a piece or two. Perhaps the front man for the artist Bruin highers for the tapestry artwork has or knows of a peice up for sale. Perhaps the once a month undermarket has a stall that specializes in such.

3 & 6: These can work together, as such are likely to come from the same place - probably the undermarket from part 1. As for the panther, sometimes minor additions are better than templates. What if the leopard has Darkvision 60 ft and Spiderclimb continuous? These are an impressive increase in power for the leopard that fit its nature quite well but are unlikely to break the game or overpower the party. As for exotic creatures, just slap a basic elemental template onto a sparrow or squirrel or something like that. Maybe even a fiendish hampter. Simple, not very powerful, but unusual enough to be a really exotic creature.

4: Make him work for it; perhaps only the property on the left (or right) is willing to sell. The other might sell if Rastor uses some rather underhanded method, but perhaps the owner is not selling for a reason. Maybe there is a secret passage from it to somewhere important (a thieve's lair or secret stash to fence later, maybe a secret way out of town or into a more secure district, etc). Messing with the owner could lead to interactions with local crime lords, corrupt nobles, or even some secret order perhaps. Or may the owner just has contact with a few such who would be irritated with their secret lair, passage, whatever being taken by another.

5 & 8 & 9: These three can be connected. The bard may have an artist friend or relative looking for work, and the bard himself may be interested in copying the numerous books - especially as he'll likely be reading them as he copies them - thus perhaps gaining some bonus in regards to history and other knowledges (incl. bardic knowledge). I seem to recall that there are some bardic spells that work with copying non-magical works, albeit only a few pages at a time, so that by itself may speed up the copying. The bard might also have a contact at the undermarket where the copied books can be sold.

7 (& 4?): An interesting idea to tie into the buying of the houses on either side: what if while working on this the henchmen accidentally break into the cellar next door - a secret cellar of the owner who is unwilling to sell. They might learn / find something useful to the group in encouraging the party to sell the property: or maybe the group can clean out the cellar, repair the broken wall, and then stir up some trouble between the next door owner and whomever was making use of the hidden lair or passage. Or perhaps the owner next door thinks there is only a hidden lair beneath, when in fact there is also a hidden passage leading from the lair that the owner has never discovered - but several of those to whom he lends space are in the know. The henchmen stumble upon this hidden passage when a wall breaks during expansion; what happens next?

As for the other PC, I seem to recall that there is a notable necropolis in Ptolus; he might find some use in a side job working to keep the undead from leaving during the night (guarding the gate, hunting those that get past the gate, etc)?

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

re: exotic animals, leopards

Leopard

+

Blue ring octopus

=

The rare and frightening

Blue Ring Leopardopus

Features:

• swim speed
• venomous bite
• tail tentacle attack

Huzzah! for bizarre cross-breeding programs and the insane wizards who manage them!

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I hope that is never near a love-potion spring at the same time as a displacer beast...

The world does not need Displacer Blue-Ringed Leopardopuses.

 

[Thanael]

Re: Undermarket, check out these threads:

Cafe de Nuit :: View topic - The Midnight Market
Cafe de Nuit :: View topic - The Midnight Market -further discussion

Excerpt: The Midnight Market draws inspiration from a whole host of 'Bazaars of the Bizarre', a tradition that has its roots in the stories of Fritz Leiber of Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser. More recent inspirations include the Floating Market of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere and of course, Sigil, the City of Doors, which is a city-sized Bazaar of the Bizarre.

...or you could adapt Skullport from the Forgotten Realms but that's a bit bigger than a market.