I'm currently running a game in Vaasa from the forgotten realms campaign setting and there is not much cannon about this region (which is why I chose it). It is a kind of land between Mongolian and Scottish cultural influences, the players are caravaneers tasked by their little hamlet to bring the year's goods to market in the neighboring land of Damara, they are about to pass Maur-Eturo, a city where 4 not oft used trade roads meet. I would like any cool city ideas you guys might have such as:
1.who rules the city?
2.what goes on within?
3.what kind of organizations live there?
4.what kind (if any) of gods a worshiped?
5.what kind of notable locations/NPCs are there?
6.any urban adventure rumors might the players hear about?
I already have a couple of ideas: A bleak city of little politics where slavers and bounty hunters thrive, the strong survive and the weak are enslaved or die (if they are lucky). I am not stuck on this however, if someone has something better then I would not mind changing my ideas on Maur-Eturo. I am open to all suggestions!
Thanks to everyone who took the time to respond, I don't know how I'll be able to choose just one idea!
Seriously though if posts are not about unchained builds and pummeling style it's just not sexy enough to elicit a response... *sigh*
Well, you may want to try the Houserules forum to start, I've flagged the thread to be moved there.
Well, you may want to try the Houserules forum to start, I've flagged the thread to be moved there.
what does houserules have to do with anything? Is it because im not playing a PF adventure module? I'm asking for advice on a city I'm trying to make...
Alright, I'll give it a try:
The people here (being on the outskirts of civilization) tend to worship The Old Ones rather than the FR standard pantheon.
Rival factions are having a turf war. And an upstart Gnome with ideas of establishing his own gang as rulers of the Underworld of the city has been seeking adventurers to further his own ends - playing one gang off against another; assassinating higher ranking officials and higher level thugs in other gangs.
Mongol/Scots: you're going to have a very clannish mentality. Tribal. (Goes with the rival gangs suggestion.)
The caravaneers hear that a newly opened mercantile establishment (backed or run by the Gnome) is offering a good trade deal to those who can procure certain goods/items/services, with the promise of great financial reward to those smart enough to get in on it.
Your party, then, become potential pawns in someone else's scheme; and/or victims caught in the crossfire.
Well, you may want to try the Houserules forum to start, I've flagged the thread to be moved there.what does houserules have to do with anything? Is it because im not playing a PF adventure module? I'm asking for advice on a city I'm trying to make...
It's better suited for that forum because you are looking for Suggestions, and are Homebrewing. Those are the other two parts to the name of the houserules forum.
how about...
For some unknown reason, HUNDREDS (or thousands, depends on city size) of human sized, individually unique iron golems roam the streets.
Even child sized ones.
Some of them carry out tasks like drawing well water and sweeping the streets... maintaining buildings...
Some just wander aimlessly, perhaps looking for masters long lost...
Some are made to look like city guard, and enforce the ancient and sometimes nonsensical rules of whatever civilization existed before this one.
Make up some crazy laws... like anyone wearing red is taken away and executed at an ancient temple to a god long forgotten... No one may use coins to purchase goods after sundown...
Have one or two of the golems be able to speak, in an ancient version of common (or some long forgotten language).
Maybe hint that the golems ARE the previous residents of the city...
Cursed, or blessed, with eternal life.
now we're talking! I had to get salty for the ideas to come in lol
@rub-eta just to clarify I am not asking you to "make my game for me" but rather give me ideas (maybe cool towns and cities that you guys have seen in your games) to inspire the creative processes. That is why I was vague about what I wanted any idea is a good idea
Something that would help: knowing the level and party composition. Racial restrictions? Class/alignment restrictions?
Giving a try too: Gnome city, situated under a big field full of flowers of any colours, access protected by 2 Colossal Mushrooms armed with big spears; access by a tunnel, the only way is to jump in.
1)Big fat gnome king
2)Let your fantasy fly
- there's a library with some book alive, they could bite too, especially the oldest ones
- there's a big river made of strawberry juice
- there's a dodo's factory
- they eat strange things, like stone barbecue
- there's a big bell, where a person may enter to find Oracle's revelation, a gnome monk close the bell (it has a door) and kick it on a ravine (they say who survive will have a revelation of past and future)
- there are big fields of honey-three, where gnomes extract honey, a precious resource loved by the king
- there's the king building, it's made of chocolate and gold
- there's a big labyrinth, where is supposed the Gnometaurus live, protecting big treasures, but no one has ever return from
3)It's a Gnome Realm, where king has the power.
4)Gnome's Gods
5)The King, The Oracle, The Monk, The Pirate-BearSaurus(this is an enemy feared for eating all the honey from fields of honey-three), The Gnometaurus, Gnorro (an ancient myth or not? He was a great hero, similar to Zorro, who made epic businesses)
6)Recently the Pirate-Bearsaurus has attacked gnome's fields, stealing all the honey.
Something awakened in the Labyrinth, and it's causing earth collapse, resulting with enlargement of Strawberryjuice River, but no one want to go take a look because of the Gnometaurus.
Only some ideas, maybe strange, but mines :)!
What era of FR are you running in?
In 1E or 2E (I can't recall which) there was a whole series of modules that took place in that area as well as the Bloodstone Lands book.
It's a really weird area because the Bloodstone Lands were heavily ret conned. If I recall correctly, it was originally invented for the Battlesystem™ Game TSR did and then briefly was used for the area surrounding the Salvatore books before finally being moved to its current location (though strangely, Salvatore later wrote a book about some of the villains going to that area, I think even though it's no where near Icewind Dale).
Vaasa and Damara were intentionally made to be aggressive towards each other and are something of opposites. If working on something in Vaasa, I'd make sure you don't have anything too similar in Damara.
For background stuff, assuming they're still around you could have some conflicts between the Spysong Network and Citadel of Assassins (or their successors) as well as those who are seeking (or have found) some aspect of the Witch-King Zhengyi's magics.
Hope that helps.
-TimD
Something that would help: knowing the level and party composition. Racial restrictions? Class/alignment restrictions?
party is lv.3
half-drow paladin of Illmater (FR god of mercy)Dwarf hunter
human bard
oread war priest (I dont know of which god because he just made this char, his old char died in the last game)
there are no racial, class or alignment restrictions. It is a frontier land, not many people live in Vaasa and those that do know how to fight, there are a lot of humans and dwarves, very little elves and small races. Bounty hunters from all over come to Vaasa to make it big, bounties are offered for the ears of monstrous races (orcs, goblins, gnolls, giants etc.) Hope this helps a bit and thanks for the excellent ideas everyone, keep em' comming!
What era of FR are you running in?
In 1E or 2E (I can't recall which) there was a whole series of modules that took place in that area as well as the Bloodstone Lands book.It's a really weird area because the Bloodstone Lands were heavily ret conned. If I recall correctly, it was originally invented for the Battlesystem™ Game TSR did and then briefly was used for the area surrounding the Salvatore books before finally being moved to its current location (though strangely, Salvatore later wrote a book about some of the villains going to that area, I think even though it's no where near Icewind Dale).
Vaasa and Damara were intentionally made to be aggressive towards each other and are something of opposites. If working on something in Vaasa, I'd make sure you don't have anything too similar in Damara.
For background stuff, assuming they're still around you could have some conflicts between the Spysong Network and Citadel of Assassins (or their successors) as well as those who are seeking (or have found) some aspect of the Witch-King Zhengyi's magics.
Hope that helps.
-TimD
nice to see another realms-o-phile, I am setting it in 1374 DR (16 years after the time of troubles, towards the end of the 3.5 FR) I already have the factions and powers fleshed-out as well as all the backround stuff. The citadel of assassins are basically the remnants of the cult of orcus and the church of kiaransalee seeks to destroy them. The zhentarim opposes the rising power of the warlock knights. I am a big R.A.S. fan and have read all his FR books (and some from other settings). What I am really looking for is a cool idea for an evil-ish city, something original that the players can return to in the future to try and sort it out. thanks for the responses everyone
Good time period - between the wtf strikes.
So, for evil cities, I'd ponder something Underdark related, but not involving drow (as drow are a bit overplayed in FR). Given the nature of the area, I'd ponder some Duergar or Derro as natural trade partners. Maybe the city is at a juncture of several Underdark trade routes and the city functions as a "neutral ground" for various evil underdark races...
I'd have the actual leader be an obvious puppet with various factions manipulating them in turn through a "Council of Sages" or some such. The "Council of Sages" being made up of the (odd # between 9 & 17) of the most influencial citizens of the city or their proxies.
Deities: some combination of Auril, Ulutiu (at least a shrine due to proximity to the Great Glacier), Talos, Akadi, Beshaba, Mask, Helm, Ilmater, and Waukeen
For organizations, I'd have a few small merchant cartels (including one for slavers who deal with the duergar / derro), a city guard of some sort, an arcanaeum of some sort (probably specializing in traffic material components to and from the Underdark), some sort of way for the locals to have a say (at least in appearance), and two or three rival churches. Throw in a few up-and-coming thieves' guilds with their own rivalries and specialties and you'd be pretty set.
NPCs would be campaign specific as to what you'd want to detail. I'd have at least the names, gender, and race of any of the major NPCs you plan to introduce as well as an approx. power level.
Urban adventures / rumors could be rival guilds, kidnapped nobles, missing caravans, agents from outside of the city, cultists of Ulutiu, etc. Flavor for your players.
For an introduction, start with the PCs maybe needing to intervene on behalf of the factor or caravel they are delivering goods for and get drawn into the city politics / adventure that way.
-TimD
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years ago I had a idea for some campaign's inspired by the movie Escape from New York. Just incase you have not seen the movie, It take place in a future where the island of manhattan has been converted into a giant prison.
so for an adventure using this scenario the players may be captured by the local guards and are thrown into the city populated by nothing but prisoners and their offspring. and the players have to find a way out. however there is absolutely no one in the city they can trust.
how is that for a story idea.
Maybe use some of the Gate-Towns from Planescape as inspiration? Maybe something like Ribcage, a LE town with a few factions on the City Council, a few wards, and slavers.
There were not a lot of trees in any part of Vaasa any of my characters ever got to see, so there isn't likely to be a lot of wooden buildings. Theoretically, you could have a city made of yurts, but the players might not want to stick around and building security becomes a serious issue in an evil city. I guess it could be mostly stone, but Vaasa might not have the population base for quarries. So that leaves using ice, maybe with mammoth bone struts/bracing. Actually, you could have carved animal bone and horn in place of lots of things normally fashioned from wood. Two of the largest buildings in town might be a temple to Loviatar (to contrast with the following of Loviatar's rival Ilmater in Damara) fashioned from black ice treated with the Hardening spell and a stone public bath house connected to geothermal springs that is commonly used as a neutral meeting spot to conduct business.
I dunno, just a few thoughts trying to set the place apart visually from other places your PCs have visited.
I really dig the idea of ivory and bone structures. Maybe with special enchanted leather and fur walls with tattooed and shaved runes and glyphs to provide security.
Use lots of megafauna for labor, natural resources, and sustenance. Even entertainment, with circuses, gladiatorial combats, and megahippodromes.
One of the crime factions could be evil clowns, with elite mime ninjas. Eeeeeveeeeel elite mime ninjas.
There could also be lots of circles of standing stones, maybe even bonehenges and hornhenges and tuskhenges and frosthenges.
A whole city of ice sculptures and walls like that cool ice hotel combined with the Westeros Wall.
Fuel can be megafauna dung, eternal flames, coal, and gas lamps.
Undead megafauna can be used as troop transports.
Have you checked out the Northern Journey campaign in Candlekeep? Section 5, The Supplement Book Downloads, part 7 has ton of background material for Damara and Vaasa. Candlekeep