I'm running, at my players' request, a city-based campaign. Now I've been playing The Great Game since 1985, and have had various cities as the home base for campaigns, with some urban adventuring, but I've never attempted a "city only" game, and I'm kinda running out of ideas.
The PCs are all 6th level, with the party primarily made up of a female human psion, a male human bard with the detective archetype, a female human cleric, a male human rogue/sorcerer, and a male hobgoblin pugilist (3rd party class).
In the beginning, I used the idea proposed by the psion's player that the group be assembled by an anonymous benefactor and paid to undertake various "missions" he accepted on behalf of other concerned parties (think "Charlie's Angels"), but this angle has pretty much run its course.
The city has several areas where citizens have simply abandoned them for homes in other sections of the city, leaving these areas to become homes to derelicts, criminals, and other unsavory types. So, any ideas for adventuring in an ancient city that is both decadent and in decline and is also the capital of a once mighty empire, itself in decline?
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Read Glen Cook's Garrett P.I series. It takes place (90%) in a big city with run down / abandoned sections etc. The main character is a P.I. and former Marine. It has magic, gods, the mob, corruption, reformers, drug abuse, racial diversity and organized racial violence. And beer. What more could you ask for?
It fits pretty much everything you're looking for and has numerous ideas for adventure hooks...
When I have more time later, I'll lay out some of the adventure ideas as well as the interesting aspects and locations of Karenta's capitol.
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Read Glen Cook's Garrett P.I series. It takes place (90%) in a big city with run down / abandoned sections etc. The main character is a P.I. and former Marine. It has magic, gods, the mob, corruption, reformers, drug abuse, racial diversity and organized racial violence. And beer. What more could you ask for?
It fits pretty much everything you're looking for and has numerous ideas for adventure hooks...
When I have more time later, I'll lay out some of the adventure ideas as well as the interesting aspects and locations of Karenta's capitol.
Wow, I was going to make this exact same suggestion when I read the thread title.....
Obviously the sewers are always an option, but don't neglect the rooftops. Also, Paizo has some 'chase cards' available - I'm not a huge fan of the mechanic as-is, but with only a little tweaking it can be both a valuable and an inspirational resource.
We did an almost entirely city campaign once, but I'm hesitant to share it because we tend to run pretty mature adventures. There's some good reading out there though - I seem to remember Fafrd and the Grey Mouser as well as the Sanctuary series Robin Asprin editted. Others I'm sure will have more titles to consider.
An idea that just occurred to me - a more pervaisive danger that an entire campaign could be built around something or someone invading the city, but in clandestine fashion... perhaps an evil cult that runs deeper - and higher - than any realize. Perhaps smugglers openign the door for slavers.
One idea that is always great is to have a 'nemesis' party, perhaps their opposite number that takes the dirty jobs others won't do. They can be in conflict one mission and then in competition the next. Memembership can change as players kill off this one or that, keeping things fresh and the PC's on their toes... and of course you have to have that 'not quite evil' member that a PC might spawn a grudging friendship or secret romance with...
Hope this helps.
Wiggz, as far as chase mechanics go, I have my own houseruled method for resolving them that doesn't slow things down and is just another d20 roll.
I've also planted the seed of an idea in my brain about there being some sort of unseen danger lurking on the horizon. I introduced an NPC called "The Pallid Man", a death mage that they think they've killed, but in reality they only killed a lackey under a charm person spell to dress and behave like him to give him time to escape. There are of course lots of places I can go with that idea, but I don't want that to become the focus of things too soon.
They've already been to the sewers a couple of times and have made pact among themselves to never do that again lol. Some rooftop chases would certainly add an exciting element to a game session.
Thanks, everyone!
Movies, fantasy novels, comics and fantasy art are always the best inspiration for me, when looking for game ideas. As Krodjin pointed out, just watching a heist movie can lead one to good ideas.
Here's some that come to mind for your game:
- The players are robbed, and follow the trail of a thief who made a few mistakes. This involves them in a three-way plot between separate factions, one of which is the town's own thieves guild!
- It turns out two of the factions are vying for power over the city and surrounding area, by setting up an assassination of several major local officials. The thieves guild, knowing when their golden goose is in danger, are trying to stop the assassinations. They've fallen on hard times, though, and don't have the influence they once had.
- An actual vampire is the mastermind behind all of this, and they're looking to add the city/region to their portfolio. They have very good resources, and have spend a little time setting up certain contacts within the city to help make this happen.
- It turns out the vampire has an even more powerful lord whom they serve. This one stays out of the limelight though, but if the players progress far enough, they may win this overlord's attention, and he might be willing to betray his vampire minion to recruit the PC's.
I'm a fan of heist movies (think Heat or The Town). I'd love to do an urban adventure that was based on a heist.
Ever sit and watch a movie as if it were an rpg? It's amazing how SIMPLE the plots are. i.e. Usual Suspects (which totally comes across as an rpg session).
Alternative reading: Simon R Green's Hawk and Fisher series. Low fantasy, mid level magic. Protagonists are Guard Captains, they investigate crimes in their hellhole of a city.
The Dark Angel Trilogy is a good city campaign inspiration. It revolves around a kinda of super assassin in a city for the first two books going from gutter rat to infiltrating the noble society and doing assasiny stuff. Medium magic and has great social/cultural building.
Another one would be the Mistborn series. It revolves around taking down a god like emperor in the city. A lot of social/cultural building and uses "color wheel" based (actually metal but the idea is the same) magic system.
Besides that as inspiration my recommendation is to create a story involving the city and then just insert your group into it. Have it move around them and let them interact as seems best to their group. Also what might help is define a role for the group (thieves, assassins, guards, vigilantes, etc.) to give you a better idea on how to create plot hooks and adventures that suits their objectives.
Also you could check out Obsidian Portal and look around at some of the Dresden File games, or anything else set in a city setting for more RPG focused inspiration. Good luck
^Phrofet picked the ones I was coming back to mention as other ideas.
The Dark Angel trilogy is more for your low fantasy setting (gray and gray morals, dingy setting, neutral-at-best protagonist) while Mistborn is more of a high fantasy setting (fight to overthrow the evil god emperor figure, protagonist is undeniably good, prophecies of a Hero of Ages and all that jazz). Both are high magic settings too. Seems like everyone and their grandma has magic powers in both of them.
what about the discovery that the city you are in was built over an ancient city? (like Saventh Yhi)
the sewers of the current city are the rooftops of this ancient city.
The ancient city had some magical power source that was like a DnD version of a nuclear power plant. The magic has degraded over time and become corrupt, causing the denizens of the former city to raise as undead. So there is an ancient necropolis of ghouls and mummies beneath the current city?
This thread here was one I started to get similar story seeds. The one I did was the "accidentally interrupt assassination " story where the player became the bodyguard of the target, only to find out the target was in the slave trade and kidnapped a nobleman's daughter. Ended with them saving the daughter and calling off the hit.
We're currently playing a city game.
As was mentioned above, defining a role for the party is helpful (we're thieves).
Beyond that the DM has kept it fresh by sending us into catacombs beneath the city and involving some politics. In our game there are dozens of guilds and power groups. We work for one and have done a lot of work to increase that group's power in the city.