Getting a city campaign started
- Thread starter RichGreen
- Start date
I've done it precisely 3 times- one in a supers campaign, 2 in fantasy campaigns.
Its a pain to get set up- mainly because you really, really need your players to give you a decent character history or background of some sort, and not everyone wants to put in that kind of time & effort.
However, the payoff in getting players invested in the game quickly and believably can be immeasurable. Some of the tactics and interactions that flowed from the dynamic intros were repeated time and time again, and they were natural and realistic, not forced.
Of the 3 times I did this, I'd count the first 2 of those campaigns among my best 5 in 25 years of DMing- and the only reason I don't count the third was entirely my fault (DM burnout leading to innatention to details).
Its a pain to get set up- mainly because you really, really need your players to give you a decent character history or background of some sort, and not everyone wants to put in that kind of time & effort.
However, the payoff in getting players invested in the game quickly and believably can be immeasurable. Some of the tactics and interactions that flowed from the dynamic intros were repeated time and time again, and they were natural and realistic, not forced.
Of the 3 times I did this, I'd count the first 2 of those campaigns among my best 5 in 25 years of DMing- and the only reason I don't count the third was entirely my fault (DM burnout leading to innatention to details).
DarkKestral
First Post
One thing you might use to ensure that "outsider" PCs have permanent hooks back into the city is simply ask that all PCs have ties to specific groups or NPCs inside the city. If, as a trader, you know the merchant's guild well and have your eyes set on marrying someone inside the town somewhere down the line, you've got good in-character reasons for the outsiders to stay involved. Plus, outsiders mean you can travel and have reasons for the players to leave the city every once in a while. Local players can be given simply more basic knowledge, like say previous history, and to some degree local politics.
But, as Danny says, you need character histories that flesh out relationships. A city campaign is rarely linear, so you need NPCs from the get go that provide the hooks needed to make it work and some direction for the players to use to make up their minds. That is the basic requirement whether or not you use outsiders or locals. Both groups need plothooks, so you'll have to have some reasons why they're there anyway.
But, as Danny says, you need character histories that flesh out relationships. A city campaign is rarely linear, so you need NPCs from the get go that provide the hooks needed to make it work and some direction for the players to use to make up their minds. That is the basic requirement whether or not you use outsiders or locals. Both groups need plothooks, so you'll have to have some reasons why they're there anyway.
Piratecat
Sesquipedalian
I did this, to the extent of telling the players "you're almost never going to leave the city unless you really want to. I advise using WotC's urban variants on your classes." As a result, we have a scout, a druid and a barbarian, all specifically optimized for cities. It was the right decision.RichGreen said:
Wik
First Post
Well, my Eberron game is set almost entirely in a single city (the PCs have left it once, but only to stop someone else from actually getting INTO the city).
I started the campaign with the PCs on a river barge heading into the city, with just a bit of backstory on how they met each other (they were all hired by the same person, and we riffed off each other to figure out how they had met this contact). And then I introduced them to the docks of the city with the standard "Roll for initiative".
I favour the outsiders approach, since it means a lower learning curve. Saying "alright, you've lived in this city for years" doesn't really work for me; either the players have to invent their contacts for you, or you have to introduce a bunch of NPCs at once and pretend that the PCs have known these guys for years. Plus, whenever you mention something, it has to be followed with an explanation of exactly what that something is; in an "outsider" approach, I can let the players figure things out on their own, and I have much more control over what the PCs know. Things don't snowball as quickly.
The other big plus is that an outsiders game allows for more PC versatility. Players love making weird characters. If I were to set a game in the city of Rome and say "You've all been here your whole life", I could mostly expect Roman characters, or at least foreign characters that have been wholly Romanized. Whereas, if the PCs are outsiders coming into Rome, I can have everything from Provincial Roman Nobles, Druids, Celtic Warriors, Gaul Militiamen, Egyptian Astrologers, Germanic Barbarians, and the "Carthaginian Hordes".
In other words, there are a helluva lot more options open to outsiders over insiders, and that usually works a lot better for an RPG.
Finally, an outsiders game allows the PCs to enter the city fundamentally neutral. This is important for me (especially in my current campaign) because I like detailing multiple power groups and letting the PCs pick which one they favour. For example, in my campaign, the PCs are chummy with the Blood of Vol, simply because they liked the power group (I had originally intended for the Blood to be secondary villains). If the PCs are residents of the city, you sort of expect them to have at least a little connection to one power group or another, which takes away some of the fun of the campaign, in my opinion.
So, yeah, I fully favour the outsiders approach. An insiders approach could work, but I feel it requires much more work, and the work isn't worth the payoff.
I started the campaign with the PCs on a river barge heading into the city, with just a bit of backstory on how they met each other (they were all hired by the same person, and we riffed off each other to figure out how they had met this contact). And then I introduced them to the docks of the city with the standard "Roll for initiative".
I favour the outsiders approach, since it means a lower learning curve. Saying "alright, you've lived in this city for years" doesn't really work for me; either the players have to invent their contacts for you, or you have to introduce a bunch of NPCs at once and pretend that the PCs have known these guys for years. Plus, whenever you mention something, it has to be followed with an explanation of exactly what that something is; in an "outsider" approach, I can let the players figure things out on their own, and I have much more control over what the PCs know. Things don't snowball as quickly.
The other big plus is that an outsiders game allows for more PC versatility. Players love making weird characters. If I were to set a game in the city of Rome and say "You've all been here your whole life", I could mostly expect Roman characters, or at least foreign characters that have been wholly Romanized. Whereas, if the PCs are outsiders coming into Rome, I can have everything from Provincial Roman Nobles, Druids, Celtic Warriors, Gaul Militiamen, Egyptian Astrologers, Germanic Barbarians, and the "Carthaginian Hordes".
In other words, there are a helluva lot more options open to outsiders over insiders, and that usually works a lot better for an RPG.
Finally, an outsiders game allows the PCs to enter the city fundamentally neutral. This is important for me (especially in my current campaign) because I like detailing multiple power groups and letting the PCs pick which one they favour. For example, in my campaign, the PCs are chummy with the Blood of Vol, simply because they liked the power group (I had originally intended for the Blood to be secondary villains). If the PCs are residents of the city, you sort of expect them to have at least a little connection to one power group or another, which takes away some of the fun of the campaign, in my opinion.
So, yeah, I fully favour the outsiders approach. An insiders approach could work, but I feel it requires much more work, and the work isn't worth the payoff.
RichGreen
Adventurer
What about getting the PCs to come up with their own contacts (within reason) -- this is how it works in Cyberpunk 2020 and Skull & Bones.Wik said:
I think this is true and I'd like to see this kind of variety in my campaign. I think this could be achieved with outsider PCs who've lived in the city for less than a year or similar.Wik said:
Good stuff -- thanks!
Richard
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