Not combat oriented, but wondering if anyone has any ideas for a LG Level 3 group of PCs entering a medium-sized city. Ideas for flavor, such as the group happening upon a slave auction, or pickpockets, or being accused of robbery or past crimes (they did not commit), etc.
Stuff to kill some time and bond the group a bit better outside of slash/cast/death.
Thanks.
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I'm assuming that you want a corrupt or adventuresome city, yes?
Well, there's always the guards at the city gate. That will let you set the scene, show what the guards are up to (e.g., in a corrupt city they might even solicit bribes -- do the PCs report them, bribe them, or just pass them by).
Find a temple to one of their gods -- small, run-down, in a back alley, with kids mocking the priest(ess) or throwing mud at it. Can they restore the respect the temple ought to have without slaughtering the kids (which would provoke the parents, or the guards, or somebody).
A beggar asking for help, and offering to sell them information. Maybe they get something useful. Then he pickpockets them -- an agent of the Thieves' Guild, reporting to his masters on the new people in town.
Someone who wants to hire them for slave market security. Decent wages, opportunity for a little sampling of the merchandise, whatever. What do they do? (If they react too badly, his other guards show up and become annoying, but they won't fight unless attacked first.)
A family being evicted from their apartment for non-payment of rent (or non-payment of loansharking fees, or something) -- one of them spots the PCs and asks for help. If they do help (it's a matter of 50 gp or so), they have an ally or two in the family, and a secure shelter, but they also get a lot of other beggars. If they skip the trouble, have one of the girls show up a few days later being dragged down the street in chains as a slave (family had to sell her to get the money to move in somewhere else).
A festival of some sort is always fun. PCs can enter contests (some maybe rigged, some simple, some designed to let them shine), run into bards telling stories, get pick-pocketed, find out which gods are popular with which people (the rich are going to the festival of one god, the poor to another, maybe the people of one neighborhood in the city have their own special festival.)
A half-orc or tiefling being chased down the street by the mob. Do they rescue him? This might quickly turn into a combat scene, but maybe a good Diplomacy or Intimidate check will face down the mob.
Ratfolk who come out at night from below to loot/rob/scavange
children who steel from a party member and if the party catches them after a good chase scene. Can lead into a party quest.
A corrupt politian hires the party and later finds out they was used.
Construction Crew (scam)
12 workmen open up the streets diggn a hole, asking people money te cross the boardwalk they made. Harrassing a shopowener etc...
tonyz's ideas are very much the sort of thing I use in my games. The one about the family being evicted is exactly the sort of thing I'd pull. lol Other ideas:
- a kindly fellow asks the PCs for directions to the sort of shop that might be interested in buying a magic item that has recently come into his possession; if the PCs are interested, he's happy to sell it to them. However, the man turns out to be a charlatan, and the item is not quite be what he says it is; magical aura can get them to believe a mundane item is magical, or simple bluff checks can make one magic item seem like something more powerful, and it's likely that he's using disguise so that he'll be harder to find when the PCs inevitably discover the ruse.
- a bounty has been placed on the head of a criminal of some sort (murderer, rapist, thief, or what-have-you), and the PCs can try tracking him down with some sleuthing (gather information, etc) and try to bring him in; optionally, the authorities may try to stiff the PCs on the reward money
- instead of a bounty, the PCs find a wanted poster for some rich noble's lost/escaped exotic pet, offering a decent reward
- not so much an encounter as an extension of one: in a game I ran a few years ago, the PCs helped out a very poor family, saving them from a corrupt tax collector; the PCs were so celebrated that they were invited to the family's tiny little hovel, which was little more than a leaky shack in the filthiest possible part of town, and treated to dinner. Only the elven witch was rude enough to refuse the honour, and she was the only one who didn't have to make a save vs filth fever. Because apparently I'm a jerk.
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Mistaken identity is always fun. Have a PC get mistaken for a celebrity bard, a famous philosopher, a renowned sorcerer, or even a feared member of the local thieves' guild.
Characters of different races, classes, and faiths could also show a wide range of reactions to being called to from the front of the local brothel, a variety of lads and ladies inviting them to come in and put their feet up for just a little bit. If everyone can handle it with some maturity, that should make for some interesting interactions, and maybe the learning of some surprising facts about one's travelling companions.