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<blockquote data-quote="Rel" data-source="post: 4669073" data-attributes="member: 99"><p>I ran an Eberron campaign set (for the first half anyway) in Sharn. I found the book pretty useful.</p><p></p><p>Basically I just did what I talk about above in terms of trying to keep the game focused on the adventure at hand and detailing those locations within the adventure. As I hinted in my earlier post you need to be fairly obvious in terms of clues that get the PC's from Point A to Point B. My experience is that if you leave any ambiguity that they will wander off to talk to nearby shopkeepers, constables, etc.</p><p></p><p>If you are really good at off the cuff GMing then that isn't such a big problem as you can either use these side encounters to steer them back toward the adventure or make a new adventure happen wherever they go. I'm ok at that but not great. So I try to make sure that I leave a pretty obvious trail of breadcrumbs from one part of the adventure to the next. And when I say "pretty obvious" I mean I leave entire loaves of bread every couple of inches.</p><p></p><p>One other thing that I've taken to doing in all my campaigns but especially in a city-based campaign is to have the PC's run afoul of some sizable organzation of "bad guys" (it's sometimes more fun when these bad guys are actually good guys with a very different agenda than the PC's) right in the early going. Getting on the wrong side of a church, an organized crime family, the assassins guild or even just a cartel of powerful merchants helps you out over the course of the campaign. Because then, whenever they wander into unexpected territory and you suddenly have no idea what to do, you can just have a group of priests/thieves/ninjas/thugs run out of the nearest alley and attack them.</p><p></p><p>The nice thing about this setup is that I don't force the PC's to go deal with the bad guys. They can go after them or not. But it gives me a "random encounter" that feels less random. If the PC's don't pursue these bad guys though, and they also aren't actively harming their interests in the city, I do eventually have the evil organization say, "We've lost enough thugs so let's just stop attacking them." Because by that point the PC's are certain to have pissed off a new set of bad guys or three.</p><p></p><p>That brings up one final thing: Make the city be a living, changing place. I sort of think of it as a big web of alliances, hatreds and interests. I mean networking is one of the big advantages of any society but especially one in such a compact area. So whatever the PC's do they are probably messing up somebody's plans. And not always the obvious bad guys either. By the same token they are probably forwarding somebody else's interests too. It's a nice change of pace from being attacked all the time to have somebody show up on their doorstep with a bag of gold and say, "Thanks for eliminating our rivals." It is especially delicious if the person who does that is somebody they have a reason to hate. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite2" alt=";)" title="Wink ;)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=";)" /></p><p></p><p>That's where the player tendency to hare off and pursue individual agendas pays you back for addressing it. It gives you an avenue to feed information to the PC's rather than just saying, "Make a Gather Information/Streetwise check." If they have buddied up to the local temple then the High Priest might call that PC in for a meeting and say, "We appreciate all the work you've done here but you've painted a big target on yourselves and we got word that the Bennelli Family has hired the Assassins Guild...." And these allies can be useful in promoting the PC's agenda too. In my Sharn campaign the party Cleric had cultivated the allegiance of a group of poor Kobolds and had them going around town painting anti-Silver Flame graffitti on the walls of buildings at night. </p><p></p><p>And sometimes people can just be friendly. A city campaign is one instance where you know that the PC's won't be in a new town every adventure and so you can develop the personalities of the local NPC's better without feeling like the effort will only pay off in the short term. In the Sharn campaign the PC's helped get a local baker's brother off of drugs (by killing his dealer actually) and after that fresh baked goods would be delivered to their doorstep every morning my the baker's cute little daughter. When criminals later kidnapped the girl to use as leverage against the PC's they were HIGHLY motivated to rescue her. That's cool.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Rel, post: 4669073, member: 99"] I ran an Eberron campaign set (for the first half anyway) in Sharn. I found the book pretty useful. Basically I just did what I talk about above in terms of trying to keep the game focused on the adventure at hand and detailing those locations within the adventure. As I hinted in my earlier post you need to be fairly obvious in terms of clues that get the PC's from Point A to Point B. My experience is that if you leave any ambiguity that they will wander off to talk to nearby shopkeepers, constables, etc. If you are really good at off the cuff GMing then that isn't such a big problem as you can either use these side encounters to steer them back toward the adventure or make a new adventure happen wherever they go. I'm ok at that but not great. So I try to make sure that I leave a pretty obvious trail of breadcrumbs from one part of the adventure to the next. And when I say "pretty obvious" I mean I leave entire loaves of bread every couple of inches. One other thing that I've taken to doing in all my campaigns but especially in a city-based campaign is to have the PC's run afoul of some sizable organzation of "bad guys" (it's sometimes more fun when these bad guys are actually good guys with a very different agenda than the PC's) right in the early going. Getting on the wrong side of a church, an organized crime family, the assassins guild or even just a cartel of powerful merchants helps you out over the course of the campaign. Because then, whenever they wander into unexpected territory and you suddenly have no idea what to do, you can just have a group of priests/thieves/ninjas/thugs run out of the nearest alley and attack them. The nice thing about this setup is that I don't force the PC's to go deal with the bad guys. They can go after them or not. But it gives me a "random encounter" that feels less random. If the PC's don't pursue these bad guys though, and they also aren't actively harming their interests in the city, I do eventually have the evil organization say, "We've lost enough thugs so let's just stop attacking them." Because by that point the PC's are certain to have pissed off a new set of bad guys or three. That brings up one final thing: Make the city be a living, changing place. I sort of think of it as a big web of alliances, hatreds and interests. I mean networking is one of the big advantages of any society but especially one in such a compact area. So whatever the PC's do they are probably messing up somebody's plans. And not always the obvious bad guys either. By the same token they are probably forwarding somebody else's interests too. It's a nice change of pace from being attacked all the time to have somebody show up on their doorstep with a bag of gold and say, "Thanks for eliminating our rivals." It is especially delicious if the person who does that is somebody they have a reason to hate. ;) That's where the player tendency to hare off and pursue individual agendas pays you back for addressing it. It gives you an avenue to feed information to the PC's rather than just saying, "Make a Gather Information/Streetwise check." If they have buddied up to the local temple then the High Priest might call that PC in for a meeting and say, "We appreciate all the work you've done here but you've painted a big target on yourselves and we got word that the Bennelli Family has hired the Assassins Guild...." And these allies can be useful in promoting the PC's agenda too. In my Sharn campaign the party Cleric had cultivated the allegiance of a group of poor Kobolds and had them going around town painting anti-Silver Flame graffitti on the walls of buildings at night. And sometimes people can just be friendly. A city campaign is one instance where you know that the PC's won't be in a new town every adventure and so you can develop the personalities of the local NPC's better without feeling like the effort will only pay off in the short term. In the Sharn campaign the PC's helped get a local baker's brother off of drugs (by killing his dealer actually) and after that fresh baked goods would be delivered to their doorstep every morning my the baker's cute little daughter. When criminals later kidnapped the girl to use as leverage against the PC's they were HIGHLY motivated to rescue her. That's cool. [/QUOTE]
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