Planning and running urban campains

[Shades of Green]

I'm currently getting to run a rogue-centric campaign which will take place in Cera Nayen, a large steampunk city bordering on a metropolis (75,000 inhabitants) on Renya's southern coast. Cera Nayen specializes in Chemical and Alchemical industry, and suffers even worse pollution than the industrial capital of Cera Tellan; it is also a major seaport and a major center of Argexan colonialist power, even though it is secondary in these aspects to Cera Tellan.

I am not going, ofcourse, to detail the city house-by-house; instead, I think I'll follow an idea I've found on the web a long time ago (I don't remember the page, it was several years ago) - I'll treat each neighbourhood/district as a "dungeon" of sorts, with each major street being a "room" in that "dungeon" and including a short description, a few details, and one central "encounter" (a local gang that calls the place it's turf, a monster, or maybe a particularly interesting merchant and so on). In addition, I'm going to write a random encounter table for each neighbourhood/district, and add up important locations over time as nescery - guild halls, watch percincts (sp?), a prison, important temples, and, when needed, robbable manorhouses in the richer quarters (and banks too!).

My question is: have you ever run an urban campaign, and how did you handle it? And useful tips? Oh, and by the way, I know about the existance of a book called "Citycraft"; I just don't have the money needed to purchase it

 

[Dirigible]

That's a great idea.

I wish I could help, but I've always handled my cities loosely. District names and flavours, major power groups, improvised the rest.

 

[shilsen]

I'm running two games set in Sharn in the Eberron setting, which is an even more confusing city than most since it stretches three-dimensionally (it's all towers). What I did was give PCs short descriptions of new districts as they entered them, and then not bother with descriptions but only through out a reference or two on future entries into the area. Since the PCs are completely new to the city, I started them off with a few contacts and then let those expand over time as they interacted with more and more people. I definitely didn't do the amount of detail you're planning on, and I personally wouldn't suggest doing it (esp. random encounter charts and mapping streets like a dungeon). I don't think that kind of detail would help in any real way.

One thing to be aware of in an urban campaign is that PCs can and will split up all the time. You will often have PCs dealing with different NPCs at opposite ends of the city, and if you can't do a good job switching from one to another, things will slow down a lot.

 

[Li Shenron]

My question is: have you ever run an urban campaign, and how did you handle it? And useful tips?

I've never run a city-based campaign exactly because I'm scared of handling an entire town's worth of possibilities. But of course I had the PC visit large towns now and then and have some tasks to sort out.

One thing that helped me feeling more "safe" and ready to shell out a few improvised details about the town is the DMG web ehnancement (actually, could this be the document you remember?):

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20030719a

It's one thing that would have been very worth including in the actual DMG, IMHO.

 

[Shades of Green]

No, it isn't the document I was referring to. But I'll look through it anyway.

And I've drafted a rough map of Cera Nayen, which is a radial city arranged around a somewhat circular bay; there are also several islands in the bay, on which the government and the (colonialist) Argexan military are stationed, due to their control of the bay (for the Argexan cannons) and the seperation from the "dirty" masses (for the snubby big-multi-factory-owners and aristocratcs). The city itself surrounds the bay, with the two Docks districts closest to it.

 

[Tonguez]

I'd do it something like this

Docks District: The smell of the sea hangs heavy in the air as you make your way down towards the docks. The area is busy with stevedores carrying goods to and from the ships, fishermen working at their nets and drying racks and the general to anf fro of the harbour.
Features: Harbour Masters Office, Warehouses, Fishermens Wharf, Random Ships, The Old Sea Dog Inn (Brothel)
Monsters/NPCs: Harbour Master, Captain Jack, Old Selby the Fishermen, Molly the Whore
Encounters: roll d20 1 - 7 New Merchant ship unloading, 8 -13 Pickpockets 12 - 15 Prostitutes 16 - 18 A brawl between rival stevedore gangs 19 Warship in port 20 Sea Monster Attack!!!

 

[MojoGM]

I've always wanted to run a WATERDEEP CSI game, where the players are a unit of the city watch and investigate crimes. Ah, maybe someday.

I'd say an important thing to have on hand is NPC names and personalities that you can use as needed. Tavern names, obviously with descriptions, as well as other businesses.

And the best tool in a GM arsenal, a detailed random encounter to throw out there when you need more time to react to what they have done.

 

[ForceUser]

My question is: have you ever run an urban campaign, and how did you handle it? And useful tips?

Tip: Hone your improv skills. You'll need them.

I love running city-based campaigns--there's such freedom for both the players and the DM. As DM, I don't have to specifically set up adventures in a city-based campaign, all I have to do is flesh out important NPCs and their goals and motivations, throw out a story hook to get the players involved with the NPCs, and then sit back and watch what happens. There's so much potential for great role-playing in a city game, because of the inherently non-linear nature of the setting. Unlike dungeons, there's no way a DM can prep for every contingency, and in a way that's a comfort. As long as you know the gist of what's going on in town, you can ad hoc the rest of it. Make sure you know how the city operates--who runs the show, who really runs the show, names of important organizations and NPCs, city landmarks, and city history--and you're fine. From there on out it's all about your mad improv skillz and ability to react to the players' decisions on the fly. Running a city campaign is a great exercise for DMs who wish to improve their skill. Personally, it's my favorite kind of campaign these days.

 

[painandgreed]

Detail as many NPCs as possible. Stats aren't as important as knowing their personalities when they interact with PCs and knowing their relations to the other NPCs. Perhaps even write up some generic NPCs because at some time a PC is goign to ask you about somebody that you haven't thought about such as "who is the most powerful merchant in the north side of town?" or "I need a street urchin to send on a task". The city is full of a million stories and you can't detail them all, but should make it seem to the PCs that you have.

Keep good notes on who talks to who and where they are and when. If you care about such things, eventually somebody is going to get into trouble and where everybody else is at that moment will matter. Intelligence also can be an issue and who tells who (and who they tell) can make all the difference in the world if the PCs plans end up beign heard by an ememy because they trusted soembody they shouldn't have or had loose lips. Figure out movement through town ahead of time and know how fast they move when not in combat.

 

[birdchili]

Have a good idea of the resources available to players and how and when they can be used.

Temples for healing, sages, politicians - the players are going to go to lots of outside sources for advice, and to pawn off problems.

In a wilderness or dungeon adventure often the pcs are primary players, and can act with a fair amount of freedom... In the city, things like the law, and public perception really restrain what pcs will/can do. Often in a city, it seems logical to make the pcs seem a bit small - there are more movers and shakers about that have much more power and influence than they do. Knowing how freelance adventurers (if that's what your party is) are viewed by the public is going to be important.

I'm finding it really tricky to run an urban campaign, frankly.