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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Sword of Spirit" data-source="post: 7960998" data-attributes="member: 6677017">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.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. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /> It's a fun campaign.</blockquote>

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