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Hey, we are starting a campaign and have to decide our base of operation in a semi large oceanside city. I've searched this forum for ideas, but most of the threads are a big high fantasy or extravagant.
The base of operation needs to fit in to a regular city but we are really trying not to be a tavern/inn/brewery because it seems to end in a bunch of alcoholic characters;-)
Any ideas are welcome so keep them coming.
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You're on the ocean right?
1. Fishmongery: smelly but EVERYONE will be there so you'll get a lot of rumors
2. Warehouse: you will store a lot of goods, many will be your own
3. Lighthouse: perhaps this makes you part of the city bureaucracy so a good in for plot hooks
4. A boat: like a houseboat IRL, your characters might just be adventurers for hire who live on their boat
5. Small business: think of what boats need: sails, wood, tar, rope, etc. Now design a small business around one of these and you've not only got a steady income but a reason to get a wide variety of customers
6. Scriveners: for a CP you'll scribe crew assignments; for 5 a cargo manifest. For a full SP you've been known to make contracts or whole bills of lading. Maybe with the right alignments in the party you can be counted on to FORGE such documents...
7. A stable: let's move inland; perhaps not all the trade that passes through this port is by sea. Your PCs then run a business of stabling and caring for animals - they may even train mounts, draft animals and guard pets for their labors
8. A foundry: is there gunpowder in your world, or even just metal arms and equipment? Maybe the town/city needs businesses where huge amounts of raw ore brought in on the ships can be converted into workable steel. Your foundry might see a lot of business
9. Cartographers: same as scriveners, but with maps
10. Artisans: if it's a "regular city" and low fantasy, how do people fancy up their ships? They hire artists don't they?
These are just some generic examples. If you have more detail about your PCs, we can customize a bit more.
Mark Hoover, every time you post it's like gold. You always have amazing story ideas and details.
Do you write stuff for games, etc for a living?
lots of awesome ideas
Love the light house idea. May have to steal that at some point and maybe throw on an airfoil station as well.
Expanding on one – the stable – may also want to expand to exotic animals or set up a messenger service with remounts scattered around which you can also use as staging / resupply areas as a good cover.
Game Warden’s Lodge – PCs often attract a lot of trouble and good or lawful-aligned characters may want to minimize the casualties from collateral damage aimed at them over time. A game warden’s lodge and a reason to patrol and keep an area safe from hunters & other trespassers is pretty perfect for a starting group of adventurers as well as making plot hooks very easy for the GM.
Sea Caves – good for smuggling, interdicting smuggling, and having your Goonies-style ship return to the open sea in a suitably dramatic fashion. Also good for being a mixed meeting ground between aquatic and non-aquatic races.
Local Graveyard – so that you can make sure it’s always sanctified / hallowed (or if you’re playing evil, it’s an obvious source for undead fodder) and functions as resource denial for up-and-coming big bads making them either get from another (further away source) or expend effort trying to take down your sanctifies / hallow spells. Extra points if you can keep some psychopomps around.
Any building with enough basement – because tunnels, rooms, and escape tunnels! Just watch out for earthquakes and make sure that they are sufficiently reinforced against casual burrowing critters.
Bridge or Toll-Bridge - generally speaking, even sea-side cities have another source of clean water, generally a river. If you can control access over a river it’s both a natural fortification and a reason to have a fortification in that area. Plus, your characters can have nice relaxing down time fishing off their back porch (possibly just before a river monster tries to eat them).
Alchemist’s Shop / Herbalist - because the only thing better than knowing where to go buy spell components is being the place everyone goes to sell them. Also works as a slightly less efficient version of the graveyard above in that if someone comes in looking for lots of good onyx or other questionable components, they’ll probably come to you (or one of your minions) first.
-TimD
I agree with Claxon - I too am secretly in love with Mark. Always excellent comments - One day I come play with you, whereever you live;-)
Our group consists of a paladin, a necromancer and a fey halfelf sorcerer, but i really like the idea of doing something mundane.
A gambling den works great as a hangout/base of operations.
Theater.
Nobles and wealthy visit regularly.
Lowlifes, actors , and such make up your employees.
You have a reason to collect magic items, hunt for rumors, own unusual pets, and be the oddball drama queens adventurers are known to be.
Bonus points if more than 1 face character in the party.
Otherwise, the best type of base is dependent on the type of characters in the party,
If you are druids and rangers, a bureaucratic office is out.
I melee types, you wouldn't hang out is a dress shop.
Casters wouldn't haul goods.
Rich kids want fun or to cause strife to their families.
Etc.
Ill try not to give repeat ideas, and to focus on the seaside part. having the ocean right outside your window is a good way to remind players that theire close to it.
-Trading company.
It needs a big officelike communal workspace, a small warehouse, and some private offices.
This kind of place has lots of autonomy and civilians only come and go for business (or a chat if the owners are popular).
It also means that they need to own a boat or two, which can be a good thing.
-Guard tower.
A big building with a small tower or two. Perhaps the players have been entrusted with it by officials or perhaps they refurbished the dilapidated building, adding their own twists inside it.
This base is really suitable for players with important army or royal connections, and a cool place to fight in in case they need to mount a defense.
-Old drydock ship.
An old sailing company long gone bankrupt left this large vessel in its fitted dock structure. With its keel ruined from staying on land for too long, the ship isnt seaworthy anymore but the players have made it their glorious home. After knocking down some walls and enlarging some key rooms it is now suitable for habitation and a replesendent (if exotic) base of operations.
A really fun set piece to stage fights on when the players have enemies kicking in their door and very thematic too. Lots of hooks for players to use, mid-combat ropeplay is allways fun.
-Grannys place.
Granny, the lead poison brewer of the thieves guild, has lived in this old house as long as anyone can remember, but granny keeps some seecrets. in fact, "granny" is a disguised Gnome who respectfully buried the original granny in the cave under the house decades ago, the cave connects to a tunnel network that goes down to the shoreline cliffs by the town exterior. It is in this network that the players can make themselves at home. And if trouble follows them home then good ol granny is allways at the door, ready to convince pursuers that her little cottage on the edge of town is empty but for her and her quilts.
-Ropemonger.
Ships need hemp and rope in quantities that might as well be measured in miles (or kilometers), so theres lots of work for a bunch of good ropemakers, a perfect way to blend into the community. Or mabe one player decides to go overboard on "animate rope" to turn himself into a Human spider!
-Sewer hideout.
Not a good place to hide in a shoretown, but perhaps your story has more advanced tech than most? Some secret pasageways memorised, some extra paths dug and reenforced in secret, a magic scent stick engraved into the ceiling and Voilá, the perfect hideout.
Really cool for players who want to be connected, movement wise. Very few people travel the path unseen, so there wont be any traffic conjestion and no prying eyes when you need to lurk.
-Ruins.
That old castle at the edge of town is surely haunted, or is that just some permamencied ghost-sound? Whichever is the case its a cool spot to hide a base. Just make sure some kids from town dont find your secret stash when they play at "test of courage".
Paladin, necromancer and 1/2 elf fey sorcerer huh? Well, that leads me to...
Church/Shrine: fits with the paladin and necromancer, could be a place to honor the fallen.
Hospital: the paladin can heal and avenge; the necromancer can study anatomy; the sorcerer can use fey powers since laughter is the best medicine.
A graveyard: bear with me here. They are solemn places where the dead rest - great for a necromancer. The dead are brought here; a great place for a guy who wants to avenge the fallen to do some networking. And what cemetery is complete without quiet copses of trees - some fairy stories equate these beings with either the souls of the departed, angels, or other necromantic afterthoughts.
A library: Sorcerers might get their powers from within, but they still need mundane sources to learn different techniques to harness their gifts. A library works for the necromancer for obvious reasons but also might be a repository for war histories, antique weapons and armor, etc.
How about we get even a bit more supernatural?
An oraculus: right now the PCs are doing simple divinations. In time though the necromancer and paladin will be able to speak directly with the dead, divine agents and such.
A great old oak tree: depending on who the paladin's deity is, this might actually work as a shrine for him. The fey sorcerer has an obvious attraction here while the necromancer, well... maybe have him warding the place against the dead.
Still other ideas abound depending on what skills the PCs have, their personalities and such. I had an NPC bard/monk in a game and the party was looking to settle into a town with a non-bar headquarters. The NPC started building a dance studio and private school.
She set herself up as the headmistress. The idea was to give dance, reading, history and culture lessons. Since the kind of dancing the NPC did was dervish performances, I changed the fluff and related it to the gypsies of my homebrew. In turn the gypsy culture pre-dated the modern, so by learning these "native" dances the boys and girls were learning the roots of their culture, heritage and other info about the land they lived in.
This fit with almost all the other characters. The wizard and oracle were history buffs; the cleric was a nature expert with knowledge of the land and local history besides. I made a dance studio, library, classroom and dormitory space for the instructors. Unfortunately the dwarf fighter (and resident alcoholic of the town) didn't really have a place there and opted to sign on at the inn across the street as a brewer.
And to all the kind words in this thread, you're very nice but I'm not that good. I'd be humbled to have any one of you at my table. I just really like creating stuff for games is all. It'd be a genuine honor to have my stuff go into your games so if there's stuff on these boards of mine that you like, have at it.