"Perdido Street Station" and urban gaming

[JPL]

True, but adventurers in such a setting would likely have day jobs that are slightly off-kilter: Bartenders, bouncers, messengers, muscle for crime lords, musicians, artists, and so on. For the most part, they have flexible schedules, and their jobs are so replaceable and dead end that if they lose one, they can just get another just like it. It's also not unreasonable in some of those instances for the DM to allow a boss that might be more flexible in allowing time off - even if he hates the PC and would liek to fire him, he may quickly develop skills that can't be cheaply gotten elsewhere. If you're talented, people will forgive a lot of flakiness.

Exactly. And with jobs come story hooks and character connections.

I'm thinking about stuff like having a scholarly bard who works at a bookshop, a young wizard "grad student" who teaches part-time at the College, a thief with some actual responsibilities within the guild. I'm thinking about "adventurers" who wouldn't necessarily consider themselves adventurers [and may not be as well-equiped for the job as a standard party]...but things happen, situations arise, and they find themselves smack dab in the middle.

 

[Umbran]

True, but adventurers in such a setting would likely have day jobs that are slightly off-kilter: Bartenders, bouncers, messengers, muscle for crime lords, musicians, artists, and so on.

Okay, call it a difference of definition, then. When I hear "day job" I figure the speaker means something akin to "Don't quite your day job." Meaning a fairly standard 9 to 5 kind of job that keeps your rent paid and food on your table, usually in a somewhat boring or thotoughly mundane manner. But when a number of the "day jobs" you list are primarily done at night, I figure we're not talking about the same thing

 

[eris404]

Okay, call it a difference of definition, then. When I hear "day job" I figure the speaker means something akin to "Don't quite your day job." Meaning a fairly standard 9 to 5 kind of job that keeps your rent paid and food on your table, usually in a somewhat boring or thotoughly mundane manner. But when a number of the "day jobs" you list are primarily done at night, I figure we're not talking about the same thing

But I think this would be an intriguing thing to try in a D&D game, to have characters that really do have day (9-5) jobs. It could be a little bit like BtVS, flipping burgers by day and killing vamps at night. It would make for some interesting situations and heavy use of the fatigue rules.

 

[eris404]

this quote (in reference to "adventurers", not really a spoiler):

"I don't trust them, though. Thrill-seekers. They court danger. And they're quite unscrupulous graverobbers for the most part. Anything for gold and experience."

DARN! You beat me to it. I've read this outloud to my gaming group just see their expressions.

 

[nopantsyet]

ow that industrial cities are more common that deep, dark forests, (he said), they have replaced the wilderness as the archetype of the dangerous place where adventurers go to seek their fortune.

I think that's a really elegant way of putting it. Cities certainly provide opportunity for incredible depth and diversity for encounters and adventures. But also they provide for different kinds of struggle, and a different kind of morality. In the natural wilderness, you're fighting against things which are a mortal threat simply because they are a mortal threat. (And for gold and experience. ) But in a city, you've got so many different types of power, with different agendas and spheres of influence all forced to coexist. You've got to address the entrenchment of power and the retrenchment or rebellion of the powerless, and also the status quo and compromise necessary for any modicum of peaceful coexistence.

I just started a city campaign Sunday. I'm not doing steam or firearms, but I've tried to push the social, politican, and intellectual consciousness up to early renaissance in order to incorporate the kind of conflict where just wielding physical power isn't enough, and may just land you in more trouble.

I don't know about "day jobs" per se, but on their first day in the city, I made the party perform some manual labor for their keep at an inn since they had no money or possessions, and I was really pleased at what it added to the game. It was only about 10-15 minutes of roleplaying, but it really colored their view of the city and their position in it. Just the brief introduction of the idea that "nobody sleeps for free" already has one player considering joining the shipper's brotherhood, and another pursuing petty larceny.