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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ExploderWizard" data-source="post: 5397423" data-attributes="member: 66434">Great thread! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /> I love city based adventures for precisely the reasons that many are a bit afraid of them-because they are so open to possibilities and provide the greatest number of opportunities for players to suprise me.  Lets take a look at the issues at hand: 1) The Authorities Running to the cops seems like it would be a bigger problem than it really is. A lawless city without any enforcement wouldn't stay together as a city for very long and a super effective police force doesn't leave much room for adventurers to operate. The trick is to find the middle ground. A combination of a bit of corruption, a little incompetence, and a healthy portion of overworking and understaffing should do the job.  Besides, cops got better things to do than get killed. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> 2) Details The amount of detail required seems unobtainable. The secret is that is absolutely true so don't go mad trying to prepare for everything. No matter how much effort goes into preparing detail the players will find a way to go beyond what you have ready.  I used to worry about not having every bit terrain mapped out and every NPC detailed but I got over it. There are some basics needed: - an overall design of the city and the immediate land outside. Not every little corner needs detail but you should have an idea of what districts are where in relation to each other and the overall tone and feel for each part. For example, noting that the waterfront district is composed largely of warehouses, cheap taverns, houses of ill repute, and pawnshops.  - Notes on the major npcs/ individuals of influence. Be familliar with the big shots and power players in town, what resources they have, and where they spend their time.  The most important concern is consistency. You can create shops, NPC's, and other details on the fly just remember to jot down the details for when the PC's revisit the npc/location.  Another thing to remember that helps bring your city to life is change. People are born, die, move, get promoted, fall from grace, shops and houses burn down (or are torn down), new construction happens, etc. Most of this stuff happens all over the world but there is lot of it going on in a relatively small area in a city based campaign. Introducing people and places then having some of the above events happen randomly to some of them makes the city feel more like a living entity.  3) Mass Conversations Summarize when possible when no one is speaking to the PC's. A running conversation with yourself gets strange. An npc making a general announcement or a speech not directly to the players can work fine as can the occasional snippet of actual conversation should the PC's want to eavesdrop on someone.  4) Spontaneous Speaking This just requires practice. It helps to have tools & notes handy that aid in the creation of instant npc's (name lists, occupations, personality traits). Once you have an idea of how to create personalities on the fly it becomes a matter of practice to start roleplaying them quickly. If you enjoy doing voices for npc's then go for it, otherwise just speak normally. 5) Combat Space One side effect of a city campaign is that there may be less combat. Much of the unique feel of city adventuring will be lost if the city is treated like a large above ground dungeon. Having to fight in tight quarters sometimes is part of the challenge of city adventure.  6) Prisoners In a typical city campaign the PC's will come into conflict with people more often than monsters. There are of course plenty of opportunities for life or death combat (monsters in the sewers, crazed cultists in secret evil temples beneath warehouses, etc.) but also chances for conflict with less than death on the line due to the fact that events are taking place in a relatively civilized place with dire consequences for committing mass murder. The vast majority of people will certainly choose surrender rather than death in a setting such as a city where there is the law to offer at least some protection.  The need to keep certain activities discreet for both PC's and NPC's brings a level of social restraint in the interest of self preservation to the campaign that is largely missing from dungeon/wilderness settings. You can do the kinds of things that are difficult if not impossible to do in less refined settings such as having an antagonist show up in very public places to mock the PC's. This makes catching them red-handed, or someplace more secluded that much more satisfying.</blockquote>

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