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Message: <blockquote data-quote="drquestion" data-source="post: 364251" data-attributes="member: 5810">Hmm....I find that encounters with organized crime are generally quite compelling in urban settings.Since the characters want to shop, how about this? As they're in one of the local shops, several large mafia goons (perhaps orcs or 1/2 orcs, but a level or two below the PCs, so they're not a huge challenge), come into the shop demanding their protection money.  Unfortunately, this week, the regular shopkeeper's not there - it's his son/nephew/wife, whatever, and this new person isn't willing to give the money.  So, as an object lesson, the goons start to brutalize the clerk and to smash up the store's inventory, possibly including whatever items the PC's are looking to buy.PCs being PCs, they'll probably want to put a stop to this, if only to save their precious items.  So, they beat the goons, the shopkeeper is relieved, and gives them a discount on whatever items escaped destruction.  It doesn't just end there, though.  The shopkeeper knows that bigger, badder goons will be back, and he asks the PCs to help.  The problem is that a)the PCs don't know who sent the goons, and the shoppy isn't too clear on that either, so they'll have to do some intelligence work in the local underground to figure out who the gang boss is.b)once the PCs find out, it's clear that this isn't someone that they can just take on directly.  The gang boss is much more powerful than the PCs, and maybe he's also connected with the nobility (he's a 1/2 dragon or something), so simply trying to kill him isn't an option.  Thus, the PCs need to come up with some other method to foil or neutralize his organization, maybe by seeking the support of another powerful organization (rival crime syndicate, the police, etc.), or perhaps through some sort of character assassination.If the PCs don't jump at the idea of helping the shopkeeper, there are still ways that you could get them in to this.  If they don't jump  to stop the goons, you could have the goons start provoking, or even roughing them up a bit, which should be enough to set them off.  Once one of the PCs retaliates in any way (verbal or physical), you could then have the goons escalate it into a serious fight.If the PCs don't agree to help the shopkeeper after they've beat up the goons, a couple of assasination attempts by a pissed-off crime syndicate should get them jumping.If the PCs are evil, or just immoral, perhaps it would be more appropriate for the syndicate, disgusted with its goons and impressed by the PCs, to approach them with a job offer.Anyways, those are just a few thoughts.  Hope they can be of some help.drquestion</blockquote>

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