D&D General Not enjoying the urban adventure I'm running

[Paul Farquhar]

Frankenstein Chronicles (on netflix) gets into how the police force operated, who it operated for, & how it prioritized efforts before then pretty nicely.

For medieval policing, the was a TV adaptation of some of the Cadfael stories a while back. The early episodes of Game of Thrones are authentic too. Eddard Stark is the law.

The Ankh Morpork City Watch is a parody of modern policing, it is not intended as a model for fantasy law enforcement.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

Urban adventures also have the added benefit of all those exciting shopping and tavern scenes, plus interviewing chains of quirky, cagey NPCs while running mundane errands. Those sorts of things can be harder to come by on hazardous journeys through uncharted wilderness rife with opportunities for discovery and when confronting deadly perils in forgotten dungeons for gold and glory.

A lot of people (myself included) enjoy the RP opportunities as much as or more than dungeon crawls and exploration. That, and there's just as much exploration in an urban environment, it's just different.

But there's no one true way, if a DM feels frustrated by the style of game required for an urban campaign then it's not going to be a fun game. Personally I'd find wilderness exploration/dungeon crawls kind of boring. To each their own.

I like all of it in its place. I must be the least pickiest RPGer I know, while at the same time still being incredibly opinionated about it all.

I have a slightly different approach.

Adventurers are treated differently than most folk. First the characters should be gaining a reputation if they are doing anything unusual.

Second Adventurers while respected (they have a lot of power compared to most people) they are also feared (they have a lot of power compared to most people) and are thought to be a little crazy (They rush in or get involved in crap others ignore).

So a constables reaction is push it up the chain of command because adventurers get involved in stuff that will get us killed.

I prefer to play the constables mostly honest (yes! there is corruption but not blatant in most towns) and hard working, they help but consider adventuring stuff beyond them and a sure way to get killed. Doesn't matter if this is true that is how they see it. Imagine what fantasy knights go do questing, average soldier has no interest in going to fight dragons, rescue princesses from devils etc. That is for crazy folk.

while a lot of ideas presented here are good they make for a more adversarial role with the constables, authorities. No reason to go that route unless you have too. I have run long urban adventures (they work best when you have only 2-3 players, more fail states to work with) and tend toward the society/ community appreciating the adventurers overall as they Save the day. I also prefer more heroic good guy games, not goody too shoes but real heroes flaws and all.

The characters are sort of like firemen. People are glad to see them come when there is a fire, and sort of glad to see them go after cause this means they are safe and in the end they are not the ones who have to rush into the fire.

Depending on the location, I sometimes do it like that too. My basic strategy is to get into the head of the NPC and improvise from there.

Our characters appeared in Waterdeep mysteriously (and neither intentionally nor under there own power) from another world, so they were an item of interest for multiple powerful factions (not the 5e factions, just different groups, like a couple of noble houses and the Lords of Waterdeep) in the city. Somehow in that mess (it's been a few years and I don't recall all the details) the party got captured by an up and coming street gang, who tried to get the party to work for them. After they explained what was up, they released them and told them they better play ball or they'll regret it. The party reported it to the city watch (I think they were trying to be sneaky about it), and the watch decided the best way of dealing with this was to tell the party to pretend to play along, and let the watch know if anything important happened. They were being honest--this new gang doesn't have any clout outside the streets it owns, and having these adventuring sorts keep their heads down and be informants sounds like a pretty good way to deal with the situation. At that point, we've got a couple of different factions that want the party to be working for them, but it's really up to them which, if any, of them they are working for. And since the street gang basically just said they'd be contacted them later, we don't have anything pressing for the party to do in the situation, so it's pretty easy to move on to something else, either by player initiative or story-feed (whatever style you're using). I think that's a useful tool for the urban improvisor--waiting. As anyone whose ever been an adult earthling can relate to, there is a whole lot of waiting for other people to get stuff done. So if you don't want the NPCs to jump right in and help, just have them take too long getting around to it or deciding what they are going to do, or getting the correct authorization, etc. That's a relatable enough situation that it sends the message to the players that they might be able to get some useful assistance here, but it might be too late, or just not worth the wait. When the players can see that the powers that be just put them on hold, I expect most of them are going to be interested in moving on--either taking something into their own hands or just going elsewhere. Even honorable and cooperative organizations aren't necessarily (in fact, rarely are) efficient.

It finally did come back to them when they got cornered and attacked by the gang for not playing ball (I can't remember if they refused a summons or what it was). Of course, that was also the scene where the Mists of Ravenloft flooded into the late night Waterdeep street, and transported the whole melee to Barovia. It's a fun campaign.

 

[robus]

Thanks for the advice everyone, a much better session today and the players are a lot more leary of the city watch after things took a bad turn and they’ve been framed for murdering the patrol they had enlisted!

 

[Imaculata]

My players have just arrived at a new city, and already there are dozens of intriguing quest hooks and plots going on. An eerie forest to the north is rumoured to be home to a great evil that has been terrorizing the local lumberjacks. The druid of the party suspects that perhaps all the logging is the reason why creatures from the forest have been retalliating in the first place. Meanwhile a mysterious note arrives inviting one of the players to the shady part of town, and the party is expected to meet with the local religious ruler who is the head of a fanatical order of paladins, and rules from his own little vatican. Will they be able to rally the paladins to their cause, despite their differences?

And this is exactly why I love city adventures.

 

[jayoungr]

One game I frequently run is Leverage (based on the TV series). The rulebook has a helpful list of reasons why the bad guy can't be taken down by normal, legal means. This is a handy list that could be used whenever you need to set up a similar situation:

1. Connected: The Mark is connected to powerful people who care about him and protect him.
2. Wealthy: The Mark is rich eough to buy whatever he wants, including other people.
3. Powerful: The Mark is influential within a group of people who listen to what he tells them to do.
4. Smart: The Mark is a genius capable of outsmarting just about anyone.
5. Sociopath: The Mark is a master manipulator of other people's emotions and has few genuine ones of his own.
6. Immunity: The Mark is immune to the consequences of his crimes. Perhaps he has diplomatic immunity, or maybe he has the police in his pocket.

 

[Bawylie]

Urban adventures work best when the city isn’t so civilized.

It’s Sewers & Skullduggery. Design your urban area as a concrete jungle, and write your urban adventures while listening to “Sympathy for the Devil,” and “Gangsta’s Paradise” and all will be well.

 

[pming]

Hiya!

I was worried about this before it started and it's actually worse than I feared. My worry was that, with an entire town of NPCs to pester, the PCs would be constantly talking to anyone and everyone making planning for an upcoming session quite hard.

Whell THAR'S yer problim!

I'll make it short: Don't "plan"..."prepare". HUGE difference.

Plan: "NPC ABC knows about NPC XYZ, and NPC LMN is in cahoots with XYZ. When the PC's confront ABC, LMN will not be mentioned".
Prepare: "The 'Cabal' is focusing on keeping the PC's in the dark about LMN".

The difference is that in the "planned" version, you are assuming that the PC's will not know about the ABC/LMN connection. If one of the PC's uses a spell to get more info, or an astute Player puts two and two together...well...everything you 'planned' for that session relying on the PC's ignorance is FUBAR. But...if you go the 'prepare' route, you may have certain ideas/things going on in the background that you can use and modify that would 'make sense' if the PC's go and confront ABC.

The worse part is that they (reasonably) keep expecting the powers that be to sort out their problems. In the most recent session, one of the party got taken prisoner by the local gang and after discussing possible options amongst themselves they went with going to the city guard to help them recover their comrade. Absolutely reasonable and, of course, no self-respecting city guard person is going to ignore a cry for help (and it doesn't help that one of the PCs was a member of the city watch, so has contacts). But they're doing it a lot and it's a bit frustrating.

Again... the difference between "planning" and "preparing". If you are planning...then yeah, the law/guards getting involved is likely not 'planned for' in regards to encounters and whatnot. If you 'wing it' for one encounter, that will mess up something in the next...which will quickly snowball to the point where the 5th to 14th encounters make zero sense (if they are even possible). But if you had just 'prepared' then you know the make up of the guards, the make up of the thieves guild, the amount of training/skill each 'side' has, where their headquarters is, who is likely to support each side if a 'street war' breaks out, have maps of barracks, warehouses, hovels, market places, and so on, as well as a few pages with typical NPC's stats (commoners, 'tough guy', children, dogs, etc), etc.

Now I certainly didn't help myself by having them going up against a gang that is much more powerful than them (they're level 3) but instead of trying the softly, softly, sneaky, sneaky approach they went running to the guard for backup (again entirely reasonably to choose that option, but it turns them into bystanders). Amusing anecdote, they tried this a couple of sessions ago when they discovered the identity of a villain (and left a mess in the process) and then while they were off rounding up the constabulary, the villain returned discovered that their lair had been ransacked and made their escape, and is now plotting their revenge... I thought that might have learned them...)

This is exactly the thing you should be doing! I bet you didn't "plan" for the villain to get away and plot a revenge, did you? That would be part of "preparing". Ask yourself "Ok, what IF he has a change to escape? What would he likely do, based on his personality, goals, alignment, etc?"...then, no matter what the PC's actually do, you are "prepared" for it.

So (and I realize I'm opening myself up to a lot of criticism here) what, if anything, can I do about this? And is this the norm for urban adventures where NPC aid is around pretty much every corner?

As I said...don't PLAN....in stead PREPARE.
The easiest way to do this is, IME, to not design encounters based on the PC's make-up (re: their individual classes, races, what spells they have, magic items, etc). All you need is amount of PC's and their average level. After that, who cares. It's not your place to pre-determine how an encounter is going to go or if it is even going to happen. That's ENTIRELY on your Players. For example...when they went to the constabulary. Did you 'plan' for the possibility of the PC's trying to force/blackmail/threaten the captain of the watch? I'm betting no, you didn't. If you HAD...would you have made him a 'tough fight' to a group of 3rd level PC's? BAD DM! NO! NO! You look at the size of the city, the danger level, and how 'tough and experienced' a guard would have to be to become Captain of such a city. Lets say that works out in your mind to be "8th level". Well, if you were preparing, you'd have that info. If the PC's attack...well...not your problem. The PC's all die or get arrested. Is this a problem? Yes...IF you were planning stuff....and an absolute No if you were prepared. Would such a turn of events ruin the adventure? Again, Yes...if you wrote it with a "planning for the PC's capabilities/actions"...and, again, an absolute No if you wrote it with a "preparing for the PC's to be in the city".

Bottom line: It's not up to you to make sure the PC's win (or even CAN win). It's up to you to portray a living, breathing, believable and consistent fantasy campaign world...where NPC's and groups all have their own goals in 'life'. They are not there to be "reasonable challenges for the PC's to mow down".

Then again, I guess I qualify as a "killer DM" by today's standards... so there is that.

^_^

Paul L. Ming

 

[Imaculata]

When I prep for a session, I basically create an overview for myself of how everything ties together, and how one thing may lead to another. For example, in the afore mentioned example of an evil from the forest attacking the local lumberjacks, I of course know who or what is doing the attacks and why. But I have not written how the players are supposed to solve this situation. Instead, I write down the motivations of all the parties involved, and where the players may find clues to unravel this mystery. However, I make no presumptions what solution the players may pursue, or if they will solve it at all.

For some plots, I may prepare for an action scene that is likely to occur, so that I have everything ready for the event that it happens. I'll prepare statistics for the characters involved in it, and make sure I have a map ready if I expect to need one. Especially if I expect combat to happen at a location, I'll create a detailed map of that location in case I need it. But perhaps the players use their skills of diplomacy to avoid combat entirely. I don't know. So I'll also make sure that I prep the skills for the characters involved in this plot, so that I know what to roll for them. I rarely make stats up on the spot, because that doesn't feel entirely fair to me.

Most importantly though, my prep work is but a framework that the players interact with. I make no presumptions about the outcome, but I do make predictions. It is a safe assumption that the players may call upon local authorities if they are in a city. So having generic stats ready for city guards is a useful thing to prep.