Handling Sharn

[Pants]

So, the PC's in my Eberron game have finally reached the city of Sharn and I'm at a loss as to HOW to keep the information on the city straight. I have the Sharn sourcebook and there's so many different districts, wards, and places that I'm not sure I can keep all of this info straight.

For those people who have run a Sharn based campaign, how do you stay on top of all the districts, wards, and places in the city?

 

[Arc]

The best way I've seen big cities run is to make one or two distinctive NPCs or places (a bar, a shop, an inn, something weird) for each district that the PC's will visit. The Sharn sourcebook has enough quirks for each district it's easy to create something distinctive in each one without more than a minute's work (remember, NPC's don't need stats unless you expect them to throw down). If you add something, just pop a post-it on top of the district description with a brief mention of the names, so you can remember them later. If it's someplace they're not going to be spending time in, or will just be passing through... ignore it. Sharn has skycabs that can pretty much ferry PC's to any district they want to go to, so you can just redline the in city trips. Otherwise, a brief mention of "you pass through the crowded markets of ____ on your way to ____" will probably suffice.

Also: Photocopy the 3 maps of the various districts and have them ready. That way, you can know which districts the PC's will pass through to get to any point. It's also useful when trying to figure out which districts are on top of each other, so you can account for vertical travel (or rapid descents)

 

[Morpheus]

If you go here, you can get the Location cards tht will help you to organize the districts. I would fill out the cards for the districts I anticipated being used that session and after a few sessions, I had a pretty good collection. You can also make some NPCs that the PCs will interact with that will "guide" the PCs to the places you want.

 

[Timeboxer]

S:CoT Index.

Enjoy.

 

[cmanos]

I think the idea of Sharn, as with any of the new city books they will come out with, I have a feeling, is that the characters say what they are looking for.....i.e. "We are looking for an alchemist shop in Copper Arch. Alchemist is an exotic trade, Copper Arch has an 11 for their Exotic Trade entry, meaning they have 11 exotic trades in the district, with a 5% chance of the business being the one they are looking for.

You can go through the hassle of filling it all out before hand, risking your PC's never reaching any of the districts you have planned out, or you can roll with it.

Sharn is huge. Thats the big thing. Characters are going to quickly learn that Knowledge(local) and Gather Information are your friend when looking for things in Sharn. You don't have to, and shouldn't, detail out the whole city. The city is very dynamic. Businesses close, housing complexes burn, new restaurants open.

Once the characters DO find things they ar looking for....say Basalt's Mage Crafted Warforged Body Shop and Detailing in Vallia Towers, You can say it stays there or has closed when they next go to visit.


Also, they way I would run it, unless you really feel like micromanaging, is fast forward to the place they need to be. Say they need to meet an potential client in a bar in Clifftop, unless you want to make them wander through every district and roleplay every minute out, fast forward to Clifftop, give them a brief description and say "There is a tavern over here, a restaurant over here and some shops over here." If they ask for more details, make them up, or have a small list of things that COULD be there....

As you get more experienced with Sharn, it will take on a life of it's own, as Seattle has in several of our Shadowrun Campaigns. I'm dying to bring Dante's Inferno to Sharn....

 

[Odhanan]

I have the Sharn sourcebook and there's so many different districts, wards, and places that I'm not sure I can keep all of this info straight.

I haven't run a specific Sharn adventure but ran numerous games in similar metropolis environments. Among them Waterdeep, Laelith, Paris By Night for VtM and so on.

The most important thing is to go one step at a time. Don't try to explain everything at once to your players. Think in terms of characters/real life individuals: when you arrive in a city, what do you see first? That may be its main gates in a medieval city, or the landing grounds/lightning rail stations of Sharn. Describe them. Then, have an encounter with an official of the city. A guard, a blunt sergeant of the watch, something like this. Give "color" to the city through this NPC. Perhaps in Sharn this guard would be a lesser son a noble family of the Upper City wondering what the hell he is doing here, thus showing disdain and impatience towards the PCs? Or perhaps it is an old scholar for Mortgrave university?

The point is this "first NPC" is the first meeting of the PCs with a local, so make it count to get some points about the global nature of Sharn across: there are wards, there are levels in this city, and huge social disparities between inhabitants of different wards, levels, areas. Also tell about all the legal stuff through this NPCs. Like you are not allowed to draw weapons and cast spells in the street, you need identity papers to access some areas in the city, and so on.

When this is done, describe what the PCs see when they get out of the station/gate. What feeling does the view inspire to the PCs? What does it look like? How does it smell? Et cetera.

Ask then what their intentions are. Like "We go to an inn". You answer "You see a small inn nearby..." with a local description following, and then tailor the PCs through their meetings in there. Perhaps they'll be able to find/buy a rough map of the ward they're in, or even a basic overview of the city drawn "live" by the innkeeper as he explains some stuff to the PCs? One step at a time.

Does it help?

 

[Graf]

Probably posting this too late to be useful but...

My group is also in Sharn right now. I was worried about it initially as well but it has turned out fine because..... the players don't want to know more than their characters do.

They're camped out in Fallen (which helps because leaving the church they're staying at means combat, which means that they don't just get off and wander of by themselves). When they leave they generally try to go somewhere, and then its just a matter of describing the trip generally and reading off the description of the neighborhood they have arrived at.

If they have a question I just pull out a map and point, or else explain generally.

As a storytelling mechanism the "you're in a big story and you are trying to get someplace; you get lost a few times, and (make a reflex check) avoid some griffin droppings falling from some rich noble's steed before finally arriving at your destination" works quite well. The players assume that you know a lot more than they do about what's going on and that you're being brief for the sake of speeding up the game.

 

[Pants]

Probably posting this too late to be useful but...

Not at all. I actually haven't been able to get a regular game going lately, so I'll probably have plenty of time till I actually get to run some Sharn-based adventures...

Thanks for the replies everyone, keep 'em coming.

 

[GVDammerung]

I think all of the suggestions made in this thread are excellent and I'll try not to repeat.

I use 5x8 cards for each of Sharn's districts, summarizing the info from the book, adding anything that I've dreamed up in summary or note form. I also add a one sentence descriptive text or sometimes just some adjectives that describe the (hopefully) unique feel of the district. If the description in the book is not too unique or if I start thinking I'm repeating myself, I'll add an "encounter" that will go beyond just a description. Maybe something simple like a crowd of kids begging or a veiled palaquin going by under heavy guard. A "crowd shot" that gives the place a feel without actually describing it. Kind of "adjectives in action."

I adore Sharn. Hope this helps.

 

[Graf]

If the description in the book is not too unique or if I start thinking I'm repeating myself, I'll add an "encounter" that will go beyond just a description. Maybe something simple like a crowd of kids begging or a veiled palaquin going by under heavy guard. A "crowd shot" that gives the place a feel without actually describing it. Kind of "adjectives in action."

Neat idea!