City Campaign Advice

[mikey6990]

I can add a few coppers...

Yes, get the obvious greyhawk boxed set and all that stuff.

Freeport is great also. I really like how GR made that city come alive.

You might want to try Monte Cook's Banewarrens. It include a lot of intrigue in his Ptolus campaign and I have gotten LOTS of ideas about guild/noble/religion/high powered group interactions from it. It is also very easy to plop into Greyhawk I would think using Castle Greyhawk as a backdrop.

Another book to check out is Foul Locales: Urban Blight by Mystic Eye Games. It contains good details on a number of urban locations you can drop into your city. As it sounds, they mostly have a dark or sinister theme but in a large fantasy city fit right in.

Mike

 

[Hand of Evil]

Also, DON'T DO ALL THE WORK YOURSELF!

The best way to get NPCs is to give your players homework. Have them provide you with at least two NPCs a game that you can put into a file.

Just tell them what you need, an innkeeper, a dock worker, a poor wizard, a bum, a city guard. Set levels, discription not more than 50 words, use this dice method, and soon you have something to pull from.

You don't have to use them right away, just save them and use them when you need to. This keeps you from doing all the work and all your NPCs from looking acting the same.

 

[Orryn Emrys]

I hadn't done much heavy city campaigning for several years until I started up a FREEPORT campaign just this past year. (BTW the city book is truly exceptional!) I have to reiterate... the NPC's are the heart of any urban campaign. I tend to take detailed notes on each major NPC, and I keep a file box of note cards on hand with specific details concerning every NPC the characters interact with. Consistency is vital! Any given card in my file will generally include more than just class/level stuff, but also vitals, general appearance, frequent dress, most noteable physical details, and personality quirks (including common gestures). I also tend to vary the voices of my NPCs quite a bit... and I will often try to make some note on every card that will quickly remind me of the character's vocal attributes and speech-oriented idiosincracies (for example, for a female: husky, scottish lilt, sniffs a lot at ideas she finds distasteful - male: Liam Niesson).

I also try to involve people with the PC's at a casual level, so I might make a note about a certain street vendor being likely to recognize a PC patron (and remember his name) or a teen-age girl who views the warrior woman in the party with a touch of hero-worship.

Just some ideas; hope it helps.

 

[Xarlen]

I will toss my hat in with NPCs, Urban Blight (I have heard it's GOooood), and prepare for lots of RP.

My party has had their last two adventures in the city. Urban dungeons are doable (Sewers, Caves beneath parts of the city that have natural springs, giving the city's water, abandoned buildings, a Clocktower, so on). Slums make a great place, especially with lots of run down houses in night spaces, sort've like London after the fire. Another suggestion is, if it's on a dock, many of the fisherman people tie their boats together, making it like a 'floating city' at night.

Consistancy. I know this should be in any campaign, but if something happens, then ensure it's like that again. That tavern window broke last time they were in there? Either have it look repaired, or still broke.

Intrigue. Higher society is definetly one way to go, because you can have agents working for them. If not that, then monsters behind schemes (A dragon who has agents in the city, and watches from her cave not too far off, via scrying globes, an Illithid controling Nobles or even the Mayor, a Vampire dominating a thug gang, to kidnap victims, like bums). Even small things, like a kobold who makes himself invisible, playing as children's imaginary friends. He and a halfling have made a small gang of city children. Thief guilds.

Again, Concequences. The Watch could be a possibly serious problem, or the players work for the watch, maybe? A rogue/paladin, ala Batman. Perhaps the laws dictate a restriction on weapons, or certain spells are illegal (Or maybe just in certain areas of the city). Maybe the laws dictate a restriction on weapons, or certain spells are illegal (Or maybe just in certain areas of the city).

Allies. Like many things mentioned before, the PCs could make friends. With the poor, workers, certain nobles, etc. Allowing for favors, later situations, coming about.

Organizations. Thieves guilds, Gangs, Noble houses, Unions, other types of Guilds. They could even become leaders, like of a gang themselves, or a workman's Spokesman.

Interesting Locations. I had a shrine to Sune, Goddess of Love, hidden within one of the city walls; basicly just a small garden, with Beautiful lowers, and so forth. A place for Sunites and their friends to hide. Other things like little places hidden away, just cool discoveries.

Opportunities for other classes. A druid or Ranger is going to feel REAL stuck in this, but a Rogue and Bard are going to love it. So offer some stuff for a Druid and Ranger. An urban druid, controlling animals like rats, bats, snakes, birds, and so forth that inhabit the city. A ranger could be like a bounty hunter. There might be a large grove, or huge park inside the city, if it's a Big city. Let them have a moment, too.

I have lots of adventure ideas, and such, if you want those too.