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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Rechan" data-source="post: 4494203" data-attributes="member: 54846">Don't forget funny customs and superstitions. The ol' "Burping is a compliment to the cook" or "Salt tossed over the shoulder" type deals. Tailor these to where your characters will be interacting. For instance, there might be certain customs in this place for business transactions. Merchants might not sell to the PCs until they do the right thing, otherwise the merchant might see it as an ill omen/bad deal. Perhaps this city also has an 'untouchable' attitude to the poor caste; anyone who touches a poor person has to 'cleanse' themselves, or they can't interact with those of the other castes. So if the PCs go into the poor district for info, and don't 'cleanse', they might find themselves pariahs. (An easy way to deal with this is a spell or something as simple as a mark stamped on their clothes when they enter the poor district, one that can only be lifted from a designated cleansing area). Other possibilites: Nudist colony. You might laugh, but the origin of shaking hands was meant to show you have no weapon. In a fantasy game, innocent items could be weapons (or spell components). So to ensure everyone is not a threat, it's naked time.Insulated religious community/commune. Think Amish. The locals won't give anything but the polite cold shoulder unless the PCs show reverence to the religion, dress like them, etc. Intense Racial Segregation: One race (PHB or other monstrous race) is the vast majority of the inhabitants. Any non-members of this race are shunned or considered second class citizens, either by law, or by social custom. So the non-dominant race may not be able to talk, or be sold things, or whatever. (This works best if you pick a race that only one of your PCs is a member of. Even if that character isn't very social, it might make him feel special, or add extra tension if he's the only go between). This might also create an "Underground network", where the information or the "place to go" is the place between the cracks where the other races live. Intense Political Segregation: Consider Post WWII Berlin; a city that's divided between 2-3 factions, of different tensions and temperments towards one another. This might make it very interesting if the PCs come in one section, but need something in a second section that they can't get clearance to enter. Big Brother or Thieves' Guild: Maybe the area is under the ownership of an overly zealous government, or openly ran by criminals. In the former, the PCs must deal with the government, otherwise they have investigators poking their nose where ever the PCs go. In the latter, the players must "play ball" with the criminals in order to get anything done.Moral Relativism Run Amok: For the sake of commerce or political stance, all churches (including evil ones) are welcome. A few monstrous races are accepted (orc, hobgoblin, drow). This is best suited for a trading town, likely an out-of-the-way place or the "only place you can buy x in five hundred miles". Such a place is more like a Frontier place; disputes are settled mono-e-mono, but everyone piles on dangerous offenders for the sake of keeping a peace for the sake of trade.</blockquote>

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