City Supplements - What do we like?

[Fenris-77]

I was going to say almost no statblocks but this is a good reason to want them. You generally want to be able to pull out any of those things for a city adventure.

So my book is Shadowdark specific, not system agnostic, so there will be stat blocks. Confined, for the most part, to a long appendix section though, with only core NPCs and the occasional necessary block in the city ward write-ups.

 

[Voadam]

So my book is Shadowdark specific, not system agnostic, so there will be stat blocks. Confined, for the most part, to a long appendix section though, with only core NPCs and the occasional necessary block in the city ward write-ups.

Sure, but even being for a specific game system I sometimes really prefer more general descriptions and less specifics to keep the city flexible on stat power level.

For instance I really like the 10 pages on the White Witch ruled city of Whitethrone in the Pathfinder 1e Cities of Golarion sourcebook (covers six specific different cities in 64 pages). A few Pathfinder mechanical bits here and there (an ice witch sorcerer bloodline, a witch mirror spell, etc.) but no NPC stats. It talks about the Baba Yaga witch descended Jadwigga royalty, different intelligent monster factions in the city, and the different social classes of humans in the city. Places of interest, stories, themes, etc. I could get a sense of it and riff on the ideas as a DM.

I ran the Reign of Winter AP which has one of the modules set in Whitethrone and plenty of NPCs and monsters there themed to the city's themes, the adventure's themes, and the party's expected level.

I got the Cawood Urban Monsters book too, I love themed monster books like that as a general resource to draw on in whatever D&D city. I remember in running Freeport in the 3e era using a book called Everybody Else for 3e statblocks for random sailors and pirates when I was running my Freeport game. Doing a similar thing as a big appendix for your city book could be great, or you could focus on the flavor stuff and keep the statblocks for a standalone separate product.

I only have the Shadowdark basic set so I don't know how extensive or narrow the full set is and how much it can cover things the way a 5e DM can plug in a thug or an assassin or noble NPC out of the MM.