Thieves' Quarter - how to use it?

[blargney the second]

Though we haven't written much about it yet, Chris West and I put a military academy in the Mercenaries' Quarter of the city--which is adjacent to the Thieves' Quarter (also known as the "Old Quarter"). A lot of the students slip out of their barracks in the evening for a night's carousing in the Old Quarter (sometimes to their regret).

When is Mercenaries' Quarter likely to be available? If I like Thieves' Quarter, I'm probably going to continue with the rest of the series!

A great idea! And another coincidence: Chris West invented a rival to the Thieves' Guild, known as the Kunarath Syndicate, who are just moving into Liberty from another city to the south. (Liberty is located between two major powers--one to the north, and one to the south--and maintains its independence/neutrality in order that its merchants can profit from trade with both powers.)

Aargh! I preordered Thieves' Quarter on amazon.ca a few days ago, and I can't wait to get it!!!

Both books are modular, so I'd have to concur with Chris Pramas that they're compatible. And as someone else suggested, to get an idea of the best way to use the Thieves' Quarter, browse some of the Thieves' World series of books, edited by Robert Asprin. (I personally recommend the first two: Thieves' World and Tales from the Vulgar Unicorn.) Thieves' World was an influence on the design of the book, as was the HBO series The Sopranos.

*hypontized look* I must look into the Thieves' World series. (Unfortunately, I don't have a TV, so the Sopranos option is right out.) It's cool to hear directly from the author what inspired the book

-blarg

ps - When will the Temple Quarter be ready?

 

[JDWiker]

More City Quarter Info

When is Mercenaries' Quarter likely to be available? If I like Thieves' Quarter, I'm probably going to continue with the rest of the series!

We haven't planned released beyond the The Temple Quarter. Sadly (for your purposes), I doubt we'll do it before 2005. I suspect we'll follow up
The Temple Quarter with The Arcane Quarter.

The reason for this, by the way, is a question of which locations are most important to adventurers visiting a city. Thieves' Quarter equals cheap lodgings, Temple Quarter equals healing, and Arcane Quarter equals magic items.

ps - When will the Temple Quarter be ready?

Late this year, in PDF, and late this year/early next year in print.

 

[blargney the second]

Thanks for the speedy reply!

I guess I'll have to make do with Thieves' Quarter this time around. Incidentally, I preordered the book solely on the strength of the two demos available. I hope the rest of the book lives up to the preview!

-blarg

 

[JDWiker]

Thanks for the speedy reply!

I guess I'll have to make do with Thieves' Quarter this time around. Incidentally, I preordered the book solely on the strength of the two demos available. I hope the rest of the book lives up to the preview!

Hey, you caught me at the computer.

I certainly think the rest of the book lives up to the preview, but obviously, I might be biased. Still, there's a lot left to see: the Thieves' Guild itself, for example, Soot Street (the network of tunnels and passageways under the city), Maegrin's Marvelous Menagerie, and the Chaos Pit, to name a few.

 

[blargney the second]

Hey, you caught me at the computer.

I certainly think the rest of the book lives up to the preview, but obviously, I might be biased. Still, there's a lot left to see: the Thieves' Guild itself, for example, Soot Street (the network of tunnels and passageways under the city), Maegrin's Marvelous Menagerie, and the Chaos Pit, to name a few.

Cool - I was hoping to have a familiar shoppe à la Harry Potter, and was intending to use Pets of Any Stripe from the Wizards website. I'll stuff that one into the Arcane Quarter, and use the Menagerie if they end up going to the Old Quarter to get their furries.

Are there any whole adventures or hooks included in the book? This is really my weak spot at the moment - I'm starting to put together mini encounters, but I haven't got the experience to write them in such a way as to ensure good adventuring material...

It just occured to me that it might be fun to run the A Thief Among Us module in reverse: if I recall correctly, the premise is a solo PC gatecrashes a party in order to steal a magic item from the host. So in this case, my PCs will be invited to a party where an NPC thief is trying to steal the periapt. They ought to run across clues that something is going on, and then they can attempt to stop it or not.

-blarg

 

[blargney the second]

Is much of the rest of the city implied or mentioned within the Thieves' Quarter material? (ie relations to the Noble, Mercenary, Temple quarters.)

And just one more question How big is the population of Liberty?
-blarg

 

[JDWiker]

Cool - I was hoping to have a familiar shoppe à la Harry Potter, and was intending to use Pets of Any Stripe from the Wizards website. I'll stuff that one into the Arcane Quarter, and use the Menagerie if they end up going to the Old Quarter to get their furries.

"Furries?" You must be using the Book of Erotic Fantasy ... ::grin::

In all seriousness, the Menagerie is more of a zoo than anything else. Certainly they could sell some of their creatures, but since most of them are captured monsters, you'd probably have to buy a bigger leash.

Are there any whole adventures or hooks included in the book? This is really my weak spot at the moment - I'm starting to put together mini encounters, but I haven't got the experience to write them in such a way as to ensure good adventuring material...

The book is chock full of adventure hooks; nearly every NPC has something in his or her background that suggests ways for the PCs to get involved. In addition, the random encounter tables are loaded with hooks.

Is much of the rest of the city implied or mentioned within the Thieves' Quarter material? (ie relations to the Noble, Mercenary, Temple quarters.)

There's a discussion in the opening chapter about the history of the city and what you'll find in the other quarters.

And just one more question How big is the population of Liberty?

It's a metropolis, so the population is over 25,000. By quite a bit, actually; we envision the city as having something like 250,000 people living in it.

JD

 

[blargney the second]

"Furries?" You must be using the Book of Erotic Fantasy ... ::grin::

In all seriousness, the Menagerie is more of a zoo than anything else. Certainly they could sell some of their creatures, but since most of them are captured monsters, you'd probably have to buy a bigger leash.

Is the Book of Erotic Fantasy a good source to find a bigger leash? ;>

What was that you said earlier about Chaos Pits? (In case you hadn't guessed, I'm insanely curious about this book!)

The book is chock full of adventure hooks; nearly every NPC has something in his or her background that suggests ways for the PCs to get involved. In addition, the random encounter tables are loaded with hooks.

Wicked! The DM who usually runs our games never uses random encounter tables. It hadn't even occured to me that they can take a load off on the plot-developing front. *thwap self*

There's a discussion in the opening chapter about the history of the city and what you'll find in the other quarters.

Perfect! The less I have to develop, the happier I am!

It's a metropolis, so the population is over 25,000. By quite a bit, actually; we envision the city as having something like 250,000 people living in it.

Doh! I've been using Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe to develop the kingdom that houses my main city... I'll have to increase the size of the empire tenfold to fit a city that big!!! At least the game hasn't started yet, so there's absolutely nothing that is written in stone. How scalable is the population? Could Liberty be shrunk to the bare minimum for a metropolis?

I'd been envisioning this campaign running in a small kingdom (1 million peeps) on a temperate archipelago modelled after the Caribbean (Jamaica and Guadeloupe in particular). I can change that without a second thought.

You mentioned that Liberty was placed between a power to the north and one to the south. Is there much more than that to the implied setting?

Thanks JD!
-blarg

 

[JDWiker]

Is the Book of Erotic Fantasy a good source to find a bigger leash? ;>

Heh. Buy it and see, I guess.

What was that you said earlier about Chaos Pits? (In case you hadn't guessed, I'm insanely curious about this book!)

The Chaos Pit is a huge gladiatorial arena--hidden away in the old tunnels under the Old Quarter.

Doh! I've been using Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe to develop the kingdom that houses my main city... I'll have to increase the size of the empire tenfold to fit a city that big!!! At least the game hasn't started yet, so there's absolutely nothing that is written in stone. How scalable is the population? Could Liberty be shrunk to the bare minimum for a metropolis?

Certainly. We give only the basic details: major locations and major characters, rather than a complete headcount. The map, in fact, only depicts major structures, so you could easily resize the city without having to explain why there are so many empty buildings ...

You mentioned that Liberty was placed between a power to the north and one to the south. Is there much more than that to the implied setting?

A bit, yes. The setting is basically the same setting we used for Artifacts of the Ages: Swords and Staves (which is the compiled, printed version of our first two PDFs, Swords of Our Fathers and Staves of Ascendance). We're not actually building an entire campaign setting, however; that would be at odds with the purpose of the City Quarters series, which is to present a city that's so versatile (without being generic) that anyone can plug it into any fantasy campaign.

 

[blargney the second]

The Chaos Pit is a huge gladiatorial arena--hidden away in the old tunnels under the Old Quarter.

Cool! That sounds like fun!! It will also give me a place to show the players that the world is populated with things that are much stronger than they are. It'll help instill that whole "fear of death" thing. Muhaha.

We give only the basic details: major locations and major characters, rather than a complete headcount. The map, in fact, only depicts major structures, so you could easily resize the city without having to explain why there are so many empty buildings ...

I was wondering about that! Chris West's map is gorgeous, but on a second look didn't seem like it could hold 250,000 people.

That gives me an idea: a large number of empty buildings were caused by a plague that recently ran rampant through the city. The military academy was established in its wake to stimulate the local economy and attract new citizens.

The setting is basically the same setting we used for Artifacts of the Ages: Swords and Staves. We're not actually building an entire campaign setting, however; that would be at odds with the purpose of the City Quarters series, which is to present a city that's so versatile (without being generic) that anyone can plug it into any fantasy campaign.

Woohoo! More source material

I can't wait to run this puppy! Thanks for the answers, JD!
-blarg