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Message: <blockquote data-quote="kitsune9" data-source="post: 5396419" data-attributes="member: 18507">I'll try my hand on this.1. AuthoritiesThere's a whole bunch of ways to deal with this. Here's my ideas:a. Have the authorities come to the PC's first. There is a matter that needs the hand of outside help and the authorities need agents to do their work for them. The PC's won't be deputized because the authorities in question don't have that authority (that rests with the nobility, mayor, etc who is anti-adventurer). b. The PC's go to the authorities, the authorities say they will do something about it, but nothing gets done. The PC's learn that the authorities are either completely apathetic to the situation or they are on the take.c. The PC's go to the authorities at a really bad time when the authorities are barely keeping the peace. My personal example is that I had the PC's running through an urban adventure during a festival time when virtually all the nation's nobility shows up. There is a lot of dueling, fighting, and settling old scores. The authorities are stuck between a rock and a hard place to try to keep the peace without overstepping their bounds with the nobility. They don't have the time to deal with cultists / thieves / monsters running around the streets. This will be obvious to the PC's.d. The authorities' priorities are not the PC's priorities. The authorities will have their directives on their superiors to focus on certain crimes and pretty much nothing else. For example, in my current campaign, there is a city called the City of Wine in which the rulers are only concerned about the export of their products and ensuring good trade. If there is a crime that is committed that harms that trade, the authorities will come down hard, but if all is well, then who cares if some insane cultists are going around killing peasants? Plenty more where they come from.e. The authorities have heard it all before. The PC's learn of a plot of a group of cultists that are operating in the city to bring about the end of the world! They immediately run to the authorities and the Watch Sergeant says, "Yeah, riiiiiight.....Well, fill out this form, and we'll get riiiiight on it." Let's face it, there are a lot of wierdos out there and they come in with crazy stories all the time. Adventurers are no exception, because they go out and explore dungeons, meet terrible horrors, hear their minds snap like brittle twigs, and go off the deep end. Of course, the worse ones are the rogues  and thieves who make up this crap, send the authorities on a goose chase in order to divert attention from that noble's villa he intends to burglarize.f. The authorities do go with the PC's....only to get outright killed. The PC's seek the aid of the Watch and immediately the Sergeant shouts to round up a posse. They go with the PC's, encounter vile monsters and cultists, only to have a scene in Aliens play out. The PC's should realize that they've wasted their time (and these poor watchmen's lives) by going to them. The Watch will not make the same mistake twice with the PC's.2. Details, details, details. Your city should be like your campaign world; however, you don't need to detail every shop. If you use a published campaign that details out the city, your work is already mostly done, but if you got your own homebrew thing going, then start small:a. Identify who rules the cityb. Identify two power-brokers. This can be a guild, person, family, noble, crime syndicate, but this is something that all the commoners in the city know.c. Identify three contacts. This is your innkeeper who has an ear to the streets, an ally who can get the PC's access to the power-brokers, and a merchant / guild rep / sage who can provide a source of goods or adventure hooks.Six names, six locations, and you're done. Now, to keep the player's focused, whenever they want to go "off-map", you just breeze through the NPC interactions for people that are not important or redirect them to one of the names you have. For example, if the PC's want to go shopping, you got your merchant who can provide all their deals. If the PC's want to go get a map copied, the same merchant will take care of it for them or you just tell the PC's, "Your map is copied, 15 sp." and then move on.3. Mass NPC conversations. There are two approaches that I've done with this:a. Make notecard tents with each NPC name on it. If you're going to read a big box text with the conversation between two or more NPC's then whoever is speaking, place that notecard with their name on it upfront where the PC's can see it. Once you move onto the next NPC, move their card to the front.b. Have the Players temporarily take on the roles of the NPCs and act out the whole conversation. Now I did this with handouts that explained who the NPCs were, their motivations, and what they hope to accomplish. The Players then had to try to get their point of view across or maybe "win" the exercise. Now to get the players onboard with this, I would reward their actual characters with something for participating.4. Spontaneous NPC speaking. This is a skill and isn't learned overnight. I am not a witty person nor am I a good debater at all, so if I have an NPC argue with the PC's, I'll go as much as I can and then I'll tell the player, "The NPC continues to argue with you back and forth" and so on. I don't do the variable voices thing. While it would be cool to do it, it's hard on my throat. Just go with what you're comfortable with.5. Spatial considerations. I'll assume that you're bringing this point up because you're using minatures. If not, then don't worry about space, just dictate the flow of action. If you're trying to go for a very realistic campaign, then spatial considerations are a problem, but this is a fantasy campaign, so who cares if your small sized inn measures 80' x 100'. Go for it!6. Prisoners. This is kind of up to you as to how you want the PC's to handle prisoners. If you want them to be able to take prisoners, but dump them, the fast forward their ability to get them to the authorities and get them out your and the players' hair. Hand waive that scene so that the players aren't inconvenienced by having to detail their actions on how they are handling each and every prisoner. If you don't care if the PC's slit their prisoners' throats, then toss it up in the air as how the city reacts to bloodthirsty players. In large cities with a seedy side of the city, throat-slitting is common. Hope this helps!</blockquote>

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