End of a Campaign

[TheAntiSummit]

I am going to be running a campaign soon set in a huge metropolis loosely stolen from NBC's recently cancelled show "The Lyon's Den". The premise is that the King of this huge city and world spanning empire has recently killed himself. The populace of this city is completely oblivious but the more powerful people, nobles, guild leaders, politicians, diplomats, government officials, generals, all know a little bit more than the average joe. There is a whole other side to life in the city that involves politicking and intrigue and shadowy deals that the people are not aware of and the powerful folk are trying to keep hidden and make sure the city keeps running smoothly without the people becoming any the wiser. Now all these people are fairly aware of strange things going on with the king before he died and among these circles it is accepted that he was murdered by someone trying to gain power. Now all the different factions in the city are grabbing for themselves and trying to take over the city since the King was the only one keeping all these groups in check. The PCs are members of a recenly formed organization that is tasked with keeping the city safe, making sure evrything runs smoothly and that none of the power hungry groups do gain any sway over the others. Now here is where I get to my question.
I have never run an extended campaign before and i am already looking towards the end. Do people suggest that I plan everything in advance as to who killed the king and what is going on with who and let the PCs discover this plot, or wait and see what the PCs do and what develops and then create the plot it as I go, depending on what direction the PCs move?
Should I orchestrate the events going on in the city and let the PCs investigate things i present to them and uncover the secrets, or create the secrets depending on what the PCs seek out and uncover?
Thanks for any help, its really apreciated. Any other advice about my ideas or running a city based campaign with a strong central theme and not many side plots or dungeoneering is more than welcome.

 

[Piratecat]

I love city campaigns. The PCs have to keep peace? Wow, are they screwed.

You have a tradeoff. On one hand, keeping things loose makes it easy for you to adapt. On the other, knowing who did what lets you fold in consistent (if confusing) clues. I'd probably lean towards the latter.

I don't usually recommend this, but there are a bunch of story hours that might prove useful, if you don't mind some reading. I'll link 'em if you like.

 

[Hand of Evil]

City campaigns can be tricky, a lot of plots going on that may or may not be connected. What I do is create three types; events, moments, and plot.

Events are something that just happens without any relationship to the plot/story. Normally things like murder, fire, overturn wagon.

Moments are shaped by the plot/story, they are a reaction of the plot or the foreshadowing of the plot. I like to think of them as markers. Again they are things like murder, fire, overturn wagon but this time they connect or crossover the plot.

Plot is just that this is the story that I want the adventures to learn of. In a city each group has one, I just have to make sure my players go after the right one.

This may sound strange but I create timeline, listing each group and drawing a line for their plots, this is very short, short, long and very long. This defines the goal. Plots have a setup, a process and then a conclusion. Now I create my group matrix, this tells me what groups work together, which hate each other, and which are in the middle. I then assign my NPC to the groups.

 

[Piratecat]

What I do is create three types; events, moments, and plot.

Yoink.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Yoink.

I know it sounds like a lot but for an on-going city game with a lot fractions it is needed. I know some DMs that handle a city adventure just like a dungeon, building events and running the players in them, the difference is that a city just does not have monsters in it but everyday people with everyday hopes, dreams and plots. It is not too hard as I steal a lot of ideas from the news.

 

[Piratecat]

"Yoink" means "I love it and I'm going to steal it." I've been doing something similar, but not as elegant.

 

[MarauderX]

Sounds like it will be complicated one way or another. What you describe as the question is kinda dependant on your DM style. You can sorta lead them along the way, have them go from point A to B to C until they begin to learn enough about the situation or you can tell them what is going on with no clear direction of what to do.

Giving them the leads will the easier way out, IMO, as you can kinda predict what the players are going to do. Don't make it obvious, as they will need to think it though sometimes as to who to visit and how they should approach them (friendly, rough, bribery, blackmail, etc.) Since it's from a TV show, you can "yoink" whatever you wish from it as to who is involved in what. Map it out, create all sorts of notes and you won't have to worry about events as they happen in the timeline of the game.

OTOH, you can let them go to do whatever they want. You will have to properly flesh out most of details of anyone you had mentioned in the set-up, and figure out how much they might know about anyone else you may have mentioned. I would keep a strict timeline in which the PCs mark off days and major events may occur without the PCs (someone else stirs up the merchant's guild, blackmails the sorceress, defeats a clever trap, etc.). It becomes kinda competitive as the PCs suddenly realize they may be under a time constraint, and the players might feel like they missed out if things around them are changing without them doing it when they could have. They might never discover certain scraps of info they may need to solve the mystery, so you may wish to work around that between sessions in case they 'screw everything up' as so often happens.

 

[Stormborn]

Since I am starting a new Swashbuckling Campaign that is heavilly set in a city, I too am going to steal this idea. Thanks for sharring.

As for the intial question: Figure out WHY someone killed the king. There are probabally a million answers, but decide EXACTLY WHY and HOW and WHEN. If you narrow down that much, even if you just sketch in the rest of the details, you should be able to narrow down the WHO as the campaign unfolds. And don't be afraid to change your mind either. Decide what's more important: that X killed the King or that the PC's find the killer. These can be two different things.

 

[TheAntiSummit]

Thanks for all the ideas everyone. For all the different groups'peoples i have planned out the how and why they kileld him, because they all have motive and opportunity but i just havent decided which one will be the actualy killer(s). If you could post links to those Story hours you mentioned I would really apreciate it Piratecat.

 

[Viking Bastard]

I'll link 'em if you like.

Please do. Although I've been runnin' city campaigns for years,
there's always room for improvements. Plus, I've been feelin' a
bit dry lately and I need some ideas to steal and tweak.