Running a City Based Campaign

[Perram]

Hello everyone!

One of my current campaigns is based in Almas in Pathfinder Chronicle's Golarion setting. But I have to admit that I've not had all that much experience running completely urban based fantasy campaigns.

What resources are out there that have good advice on this subject? Any books, Dragon/Dungeon issues, websites that might be helpful?

 

[Aramax]

roleplayingtips.com has some great stuff?

 

[Crothian]

The best thing I had when I ran a city based campaign was a map iof the city. I'd describe the buildings and places the characters walked by on their way to places. I would have smells and colors and details that made the city come alive. I would ask them what route they were going to take and get them to use street names and learn the city. The map I used was laminated so we placed it on the gaming table for all to see. I kept track of NPCs they meet and places they went to. I borrowed heavily from other city books to get buildings and NPCs.

 

[Rechan]

The best thing I had when I ran a city based campaign was a map iof the city. I'd describe the buildings and places the characters walked by on their way to places. I would have smells and colors and details that made the city come alive. I would ask them what route they were going to take and get them to use street names and learn the city. The map I used was laminated so we placed it on the gaming table for all to see. I kept track of NPCs they meet and places they went to. I borrowed heavily from other city books to get buildings and NPCs.

One of the key points of this: Consistency and Familiarity.

You want to establish things like businesses and, essentially, sites that you will revisit over and over. The PCs will be able to remember places and people, and go back to them.

Another useful thing: establishing contacts. This goes back to "remembernig NPCs", but it also is just a matter of resources. PCs, because they're in a city, aren't on their own. They also can't go everywhere and do everything - they can't get into that exclusive club, and kicking their way in would lead to both the entire club AND the law enforcement coming down on them, so they need someone who can get them in. Etc.

Established NPCs are very useful. Because it gives PCs something to fall back on. If they know one fence, then they'll return to that fence. If they need info on the street, they'll likely say "HEY Can we find Grubby the Fence?"

 

[Piratecat]

I was always intimidated by city campaigns until I read the old Waterdeep boxed set multiple times. That helped a ton. Here's some things I learned.

- Create factions. Who runs the joint? Who do people know, who do people respect, and who are people afraid of? Create six factions - merchant houses, politicians, military leaders, church organizations, etc. - that are major players in your city. Don't do more than six, as the players will have trouble remembering them. Decide what these guys want, so you'll know when the PCs please them or run afoul of them. Read the excellent novel "The Lies of Locke Lamora," by (I believe) Scott Lynch. It has a good use of factions.

- Create neighborhoods. Give each neighborhood a character and stress it when the PCs are there. Create memorable landmarks in each neighborhood, and mention them often as the PCs move through the city.

- Create memorable NPCs tied to those neighborhoods.

- Keep track of what's where! If the PCs know that the church of the Iron Sky has a slippery roof, and want to lure an assassin on to it, you should remember that.

 

[Insight]

The Cityscape book (written by our own Mouseferatu) is an excellent resource for city-based games. It's written for 3.5 D&D, but the crunch is minimal, so if you're not running that edition of D&D (or D&D period), it's not really going to bother you. I highly recommend it for your situation.