Techniques for running a predominately urban campaign

[Mallus]

Stone tell.

So, actually, they really can.

You know, I actually had a group of urban druids in the campaign I mentioned who did this all the time... I can't believe I forgot that. I'm getting old.

 

[NewJeffCT]

One of the things that really helped me get a handle on city adventures was the idea of giving districts personality. That made it easier to organize details, and it also meant that the players had extra mnemonic hooks: they don't have to remember the street address or the exact tavern name, but they might remember "Let's go back down to that Dockside dive in the back alleys" or "Let's meet in the plaza with the mermaid fountain." I don't map out cities to an exacting level of detail, personally; I just try to get enough of an overview of where the wards are that the players feel comfortable, name a few significant streets, and that's enough to get started.

As a follow-up to my post from yesterday, I was going to mention something like this - only you put it much better than I could have done. Unless the players are new to the city and the city is a sprawling metropolis the size of Waterdeep, I would not really map things out in too much detail. Just figure they know their way aorund after a short time in the city, and then note various landmarks - inns/taverns, major squares/plazas/intersections, and, what barastrondo said above - "the plaza with the mermaid fountain" and so on.

 

[The Shaman]

One of the things that really helped me get a handle on city adventures was the idea of giving districts personality.

This works for me with 17th century Paris: the Marais is upscale including the residences of many of the most powerful families in France, the area around Les Halles (the main market) is working-class, the Latin Quarter is students attending the university, the City Isle is bureaucrats and religious.

The character of each of these areas is a bit different, and allows me to extemporize the scene on the fly with a few broad strokes and a sprinking of details.

It may help to "cast" NPCs in your head ahead of time. To use the above example, I find it easier to improv with a Brian Blessed-type because it's easier for me to think in terms of "What would Brian Blessed say or do right now?"

I pick a quote from a character which represents a shorthand depiction of a personality. Frex, Louis XIII 'the Just' is Commodius - "Am I not merciful? AM I NOT MERCIFUL!?!" - while Cardinal Richelieu is Jafar - "His power does exceed my own. But not for long."

 

[Janx]

On group meetings and PCs.

councils of any sort do not take place in the middle of the marketplace where everybody else is bustling about. Certainly not with a lot of council members.

Any kind of council will be secluded, in a room somewhere, just so the people can hear each other, and not have random people walking through or butting in.

The Rule of Meetings: the larger the meeting, the less detail the conversation and less likely a decision is going to be made there. Decisions get decided, problems get solved with 2-4 people. The solution may be presented to the group (for a vote or to convince them). If you've ever worked in the corporate world, you'll see this phenomenon naturally. I design stuff with another developer on a white board. I might present the idea at the team meeting or hear the latest HR rule from the manager. We get generic roadmap and rah-rah talk at the department meetings or larger.

thus, PCs aren't just going to walk through the market into the middle of a meeting.

And if there was a meeting to go to, it will be speeches, convincing, and a vote.

You can streamline this as a summary statement "Jorvis sides with expanding into new territories, Morkan wants to invest more into existing ventures"

On prisoners, and fighting in general:
most cities probably prohibit open weapons, except on permitted individuals. It's a public safety and crowd control rule.

Following a semblance of modern law, criminals get a trial (perhaps decided only by a judge).

Killing is only legitimate for self defense (thus, no outright killing if you can't prove it was in self defense with witnesses or a lawman vouching for it).

definitely make it easy to turn in criminals, thus "not killing them" is an option (and safest legally, though also potentially challenging combat-wise.

Conisder having more encounters end in retreat by the enemy (because dying sucks and it should be easier to elude pursuit in the city).

Less combat, more taunting. Doing encounters in public places should allow for more dialogue and veiled threats. Later the PCs meet the BBEG in a secluded place for the big show-down. This means since there's fewer combats, you can make him tougher because the PCs are likely at full strength.

With the cops, consider the Sherlock Holmes relationship with the police. He's not a cop, but they turn to him, and accept him turning in criminals to them when HE uncovers a crime. You can set this up early, with the PCs helping a cop who comes to rely on their expertise on the side.

If it works really well, they could be recruited as a consultant team of problem solvers for the city (with the cop as their liason). Make sure as many of the adventures are discovered by the PCs as brought to them as "please help us with this..."

 

[Sorrowdusk]

This thread might have things you could use:
http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/295620-city-encounters-features-table.html


"Thank you for bringing this to our attention. You can be sure it will be investigated."

"Yes. We are still undergoing investigations into the matter. Unfortunately our resources have been streched rather thin recently due to the crimewave that has struck our fair city. Perhaps you would like to be good citizens and offer your help?"

"The men we dedicated to the investigations were found dead in an alley not far from here. Their deaths are a more urgent matter. We will get back to the other once this is dealt with."

Bah!


I think its technically easier in Call/Trail of Cthulhu on account of the fact that authorities would never believe you anyway. But DnD? No REAL adventurer involves the cops.
Who needs authority?

You can always make the authorities too weak an inept to deal with the matter too.

 

[Shades of Green]

No REAL adventurer involves the cops.

Unless the adventurers are cops themselves... And even then, they'll probably have to solve things on their own, as their superiors would be incompetent and/or corrupt and/or would simply not believe their stories.

 

[Shades of Green]

One trick is to treat the whole city as a "dungeon", with each district being a "dungeon room". In other words, instead of drawing up each and every building, simply make a map of the city's districts and handle movement and encounters per district (e.g. "it would take you 2 hours to cross the Thieves' Quarter, and you'll have a chance of encountering trouble).

Each district, like a dungeon room, should have a "puzzle" (mini-quest or mystery), a "treasure" (a useful resource or location) and a "monster" (a threat).

First, draw up a rough map of the city's districts.

Then, decide on the "feel" and unique features of each district.

Then, decide on an Attraction or two per district - major temple, landmark, dungeon, city hall, central market, famous tavern and so on.

Finally, decide on encounters per district, both for day and night (in Old-School games, make up random encounter tables for each district).

 

[Scott DeWar]

One trick is to treat the whole city as a "dungeon", with each district being a "dungeon room". In other words, instead of drawing up each and every building, simply make a map of the city's districts and handle movement and encounters per district (e.g. "it would take you 2 hours to cross the Thieves' Quarter, and you'll have a chance of encountering trouble).

Each district, like a dungeon room, should have a "puzzle" (mini-quest or mystery), a "treasure" (a useful resource or location) and a "monster" (a threat).

First, draw up a rough map of the city's districts.

Then, decide on the "feel" and unique features of each district.

Then, decide on an Attraction or two per district - major temple, landmark, dungeon, city hall, central market, famous tavern and so on.

Finally, decide on encounters per district, both for day and night (in Old-School games, make up random encounter tables for each district).

I like this methodology. It will be used in a game I am contemplating.

 

[Shades of Green]

Thanks for liking it!

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

This thread is relevant to my own setting. I'll just add my thoughts in here:

1. How to stop the PCs from going to the authorities for everything? If there is a authority system, I know the default answer in the party would eventually turn in to "well, let's see what the constable/king/etc wants us to do" OR "now that we've heard this rumor, let's tell the authorities so they can send in the reinforcements to deal with it ..."

This has several assumptions which may not necessarily be true:

- The authorities care about what is happening. If a noble or council member is slaughtered in broad daylight - or even in a back alley - then sure, the authorities will send in the guards. But if it's just someone poor and destitute getting killed in one of the worse parts of town, then all they might do is remove the corpse - and even that assumes that nobody has flogged the corpse to the friendly neighborhood necromancer by the time the guards arrive.

- The authorities are actually able to investigate what's going on. Frankly, the kind of investigative stuff that's common in today's law enforcement is a very recent invention - it only really got its start in late 19th century London. Throughout most of history, the job of the guards has been to maintain the status quo, not provide justice for all. If a case gets really complex and can't be solved by blaming it all on someone who appears to be the likely perpetrator (whether or not he is actually guilty), they might ask some outside expert who is actually good at this investigative stuff - in other words, PC types.

- The guards are able to do something about it without getting horribly slaughtered. Frankly, once PCs leave (maybe) the third level behind, they are going to be so much more powerful than the average city guard that there is simply no comparison. So even if they get believed, the first wave of guards will simply die, and on future occasions the surviving guard members will be resentful of this, blame the PCs, and be deaf to future requests for aid.

So, how does a typical fantasy city deal with powerful threats the guard isn't equipped to handle by itself? By keeping certain powerful individuals on retainer for emergencies - in other words, folks just like the player characters. And if the PCs frequently help out the city with all sorts of strange problems, they themselves could be added to such a retainer. Give them medals, free housing, and all sorts of perks which play on their pride (but hopefully don't cost too much), and the city soon has a new group of powerful patriots willing to give all for their home town...

Note: This article on the social status of adventurers in my setting may provide some further inspiration...

2. Details, Details, Details -- my brain will fry trying to keep track of names, personalities, locations, and their relative positions to one another, and so on.

Short of extensive note-taking and maps, anyone have any other suggestions that have worked for them?

Wikis are your friend - not only are they good for taking notes, but it is also very easy to cross-reference the individual entires. Ideally, you have a laptop with you at the gaming table where you can look this stuff up, but even adding new material after sessions and looking it up before the next session can do wonders.

It also helps me with building cities - I simply add new locations, NPCs, and organizations to the wiki whenever I think of them, and then have them for future reference. For an example, take a look at this city.

6. Prisoners - when it's monsters it's easier to say kill the enemy in combat. when it's humanoids, it is more likely to result in the players (via the PCs) having drawn out discussions in every combat as to whether to kill or take prisoners. And while I can appreciate the role-play aspect of it, if the party doesn't have a general consensus it will just turn into a conversation that gets repeated way too often for my liking...

Personally, I wouldn't worry too much about the morality of it all. Instead, ask yourself the following question: How much will the authorities care whether those enemies die, considering the circumstances of the encounter? Make sure to explain the general thrust of this to PCs with appropriate skills.

For example, the authorities might not care about the death of city-dwelling goblins, or wererats, or slum-dwellers. But they will care if they are members of official guilds, or wealthy, or if it's done anywhere where respectable people see it. And then there are questions like: Was it done in self-defense? And if so, are there reliable witnesses that could testify to it?