Designing a city for my pirate campaign

[Fenris-77]

With some more details on the makeup of the party and their goals I might be able to offer some advice.

I think they're going with a whiter foundation, some light rouge on the cheeks, and a black and purple smoke eye thing. Does that help?

 

[Imaculata]

With some more details on the makeup of the party and their goals I might be able to offer some advice.

First of all, all of the pc's are some form of good alignment. They may be pirates, but they are still good guys.

We have one player who plays the pirate captain. He's grown into a saint-like character, a champion against the hordes of darkness. I suspect this will play an important role in such a deeply religious city. He is a good man, but occasionally prone to less than holy behavior. He is still a pirate after all. A nun had been sent by the local holy order to confirm his divinity, and she did... after he slept with her. I'm sure that will have consequences.

I have another who plays a druid. He is more of a loner, as is befitting a druid. He has already expressed interest in unraveling the mystery of the forest. He also takes a deep interest in the fey and other druid circles.

Then there's an elven abjurant champion. He is pretty much the tank of the party, but he has plenty of interest in religious matters and the battle against evil. He tends to be the most paranoid of the group, and an expert on finding traps and secret passages.

Lastly I have a half-elf priest, who is the spiritual heart of the group. He and his npc love interest are both experts on religious matters, and they will probably be eager to explore such an important religious bastion. They often perform rituals to commune with their deity.

While the paladins in the city aren't opposed to the beliefs of the party, they worship one goddess only and not the entire pantheon of gods. And they have habits that are rather extreme and cultish. The players do not like them, but they may be useful to rally to their cause, as long as they can agree on a common enemy.

 

[tommybahama]

The ironically named "Holy Quarter" is where all the cut throats and pirates live, right? The only thing I see lacking on the map is a graveyard with a mausoleum leading to the crypts.

Seems like its more of a religion based campaign and is even reflected in the location names on the map.

I think it was typical to have a church in every neighborhood in Medieval cities rather than one mega church for the entire city like we see in most fantasy maps.

 

[R_J_K75]

Seems like a really well rounded party and a lot of fun. I always wanted a party of like minded characters like this. Lots of potential for the two religious factions to be subtly pitted against each other.

A nun had been sent by the local holy order to confirm his divinity, and she did... after he slept with her. I'm sure that will have consequences.

What if she is a succubus who is out to destroy both religious factions, or has some other motivations? I suppose her spell casting powers, if she has any could be granted by a higher level demon or even a demon lord? Or maybe the nun is just possessed by a succubus. Which ever I would suspect that there would need to be good reason for her to give up the vow of chastity (if she took one) and more than likely be some repercussions from doing so.

 

[R_J_K75]

The ironically named "Holy Quarter" is where all the cut throats and pirates live, right? The only thing I see lacking on the map is a graveyard with a mausoleum leading to the crypts.



I think it was typical to have a church in every neighborhood in Medieval cities rather than one mega church for the entire city like we see in most fantasy maps.

Pretty much is like that where I live now. Theres usually more than a handful of churches in a neighborhood of only a few mile radius. Off the top of my head I cant think of at least 5 in my immediate neighborhood. They're probably in decline as far as parishioners but there nonetheless.

 

[Guest 6801328]

Still assuming that the forest is the major resource, what other products would the city export besides lumber?

Charcoal?
Furs?
Rare herbs/plants that only grow there?

 

[The Green Hermit]

View attachment 121221

I've been working on a map for a new city this week and I thought I'd share my process. Perhaps this can serve as inspiration for other DM's.

What program do you use? I need more maps, and even though I am using a published campaign, I have not been happy with the reams of stuff already available -- too cluttered and too hard to read the labeling when printed out.

 

[Imaculata]

What if she is a succubus who is out to destroy both religious factions, or has some other motivations? I suppose her spell casting powers, if she has any could be granted by a higher level demon or even a demon lord? Or maybe the nun is just possessed by a succubus. Which ever I would suspect that there would need to be good reason for her to give up the vow of chastity (if she took one) and more than likely be some repercussions from doing so.

I've seriously considered a plot where a succubus was trying to influence the holy order, but it didn't seem very plausible to me that a succubus would be able to hide its alignment from an entire holy order of paladins.

What I came up with is that the nuns of this religion do not have to make a vow of chastity, but they do make a vow of purity (which still means that they shouldn't be sleeping with a pirate). The nun was obsessed with the pc and treated him like some kind of religious savior. However, sleeping with the pc will absolutely be frowned upon by the head of her order and they will probably have found out about it by now.

Another plot I've considered, is that perhaps a fey is among the order who is some form of good alignment, but she seeks to ruin them. But perhaps all these plots are a bit too cookie cutter. I'm leaning towards something more complicated and insidious.

What program do you use? I need more maps, and even though I am using a published campaign, I have not been happy with the reams of stuff already available -- too cluttered and too hard to read the labeling when printed out.

I use Photoshop, along with some free fonts and clipart for the icons.

Still assuming that the forest is the major resource, what other products would the city export besides lumber?

Charcoal?
Furs?
Rare herbs/plants that only grow there?

That is a good question. The holy order has quite a loyal and fanatical following among the common people. I think there would be quite a large number of skilled artisans in this city, such as wood cutters, weavers and leather workers. The holy order encourages hard labor for the faith. So the city probably produces a lot of manufactored products and food such as furniture, wagons, weapons, tools, baskets, clothes, rugs, blankets, wine, bread.

The ironically named "Holy Quarter" is where all the cut throats and pirates live, right? The only thing I see lacking on the map is a graveyard with a mausoleum leading to the crypts.

The Holy Quarter is so named because a lot of holy processions take place in this district. Although considering its proximity to the harbor, it may be home to all manner of people, and not all of them trustworthy. It would be ironic if the holy quarter has the most crime.

While the map does have a graveyard on it in the south west, I think it may need more now that I think of it. Good call.

 

[R_J_K75]

I've seriously considered a plot where a succubus was trying to influence the holy order, but it didn't seem very plausible to me that a succubus would be able to hide its alignment from an entire holy order of paladins.

I hadn't considered the alignment issue so you're probably right, actually since its your game you are right. FWIW, I've always taken the view that unless a Paladin has a reason to suspect that a person or creature is evil, then they aren't automatically just going to know that its of an evil alignment. This may contradict the actual rules depending on the game system played but I justified it as if it makes for a good story I can always come up with a plausible reason how this entity pulled off the ruse.

What I came up with is that the nuns of this religion do not have to make a vow of chastity, but they do make a vow of purity (which still means that they shouldn't be sleeping with a pirate). The nun was obsessed with the pc and treated him like some kind of religious savior. However, sleeping with the pc will absolutely be frowned upon by the head of her order and they will probably have found out about it by now.

I'd imagine if the nun became pregnant as a result of having bed the pirate this would likely bring the situation to the attention of her order, and may break her vow of purity. The offspring could be a great plot device.

But perhaps all these plots are a bit too cookie cutter. I'm leaning towards something more complicated and insidious.

I had thought the same that the succubus might be too cliché, but with a little tweaking from the standard monster could be interesting. Out of all the information you provided I think the fact that those two characters slept together was the one that jumped out to me the most as having potential influence the campaign for good or for ill. Moving forward that's something I would concentrate on developing.

 

[Fenris-77]

Doomed romance is a strong theme. If they haven't already slept together I'd draw that out for a while and let longing and separation drive some narrative for you. Very Romeo and Juliet.

On the Succubus side, perhaps what you need is a different monster. If you had a succubus-like creature that wasn't actually evil you could side-step the detection problem all together. There are lots of stories about various types of Sidhe, for example, that might use romance and seduction as a tool but that also aren't evil. Perhaps the creature is infiltrating the church to try and reclaim a sacred talisman of it's people that the church took or stole. The same narrative bit could also be accomplished by a Changling agent of a competing faction sent to steal secrets or some such.