So You Need an Idea for an Adventure

Yesterday one of my friends suggested we play some D&D over skype later in the evening.  So, naturally I agree before thinking and then the "oh shit I need an adventure" hits me.  I created this table a while back, mostly for writing purposes, but thought, what the hell, I'll give it a go.  After a few random rolls I was able to come up with a pretty good adventure for the group.  Unfortunately, we didn't get to play after all, because one of my friends got ill later on that night.

Here is a link to the table (hosted on Google Docs).  Now, the original chart only had the first two tables, which I used last night to make my adventure.  I added a third table on the chart this evening.  Basically all you do is pick up a d100 roll it and consult the first table.  Roll it again, consult the middle, then roll it a 3rd time and consult the 3rd table.  Keep doing this several times.  Write down your results.  If you get something that sounds cool, write it down.  Then go through, pick out the best ones, and you should have some good starting inspiration for an adventure.

I'll give you an example off the first couple of tables, of what I got.  I rolled several times, but eventually came up with these usable combinations:

Sad Prince
Whorehouse of Decadence
Cathedral of the Fatal
Mute Bride
Charming Demon
Verses of Failure
Servant of Fear

Now, the tables as they are leave out the "of"s and "the"s.  Just mix and match the words and let the imagination take over.  When I began I knew this adventure would be city based, so I took what I thought could be most useful of what I rolled for that.  So, out of those useful combinations I came up with the following notes which I scribbled down in a notebook:

"Sad Prince in disguise approaches PCs about rescuing his bride who is mute (now.)  Tracked her down to Whorehouse of Decadence which is being run by a succubus (charming demon) named Absuroma.  But first the PCs must infiltrate the Cathedral of the Fatal and steal the Verses of Failure which contain banishment ritual to banish her back to her plane."

So, a few rolls on the chart, some inspiration, and I have a couple of adventures to last at least 2 sessions.  I added some more stuff as well once the ball got rolling.  Like the fact that the Cathedral of the Fatal is being overrun by ghouls.  Why?  Because their is a priestess in the halls below the cathedral being held in a sleep like stasis because some BBEG harnessed her soul into a garnet stone and put it in a circlet which the priestess is wearing.  So the ghouls are entering the cathedral through her dreams.  Of course, this leads to even more plot hooks.  Who did this to her and why, etc.

Anyway, the chart and tables are useful for brainstorming when the old adventure writing block demon strikes.

Designing the City Campaign: Part 3

In parts one and two of this series, I focused on brainstorming some basic ideas about my city and some interesting locales the PC's might visit.  I gave two examples in part two, but at minimum you want to have a couple of inns/taverns, an armor/weaponsmith, and a magical sundries shop.  It wouldn't be a bad idea to flesh out how religions are dealt with in your city as well.  Ask yourself, what are the dominant gods of this region?  Do any of them conflict with one another?  Where are the temples devoted to each god located within the city?  Religious motivations can make for excellent adventure hooks within a city, so don't overlook them.

Of course, to bring any city to life you're going to need some interesting NPC's.  Note that you don't really need to spend hours upon hours creating NPCs for your city.  A lot of wasted time and effort can go into making up NPC descriptions for each and every citizen of your metropolis.  Do you really need to spend 20 minutes writing out a long description of Nook the chimney sweep?  No, you don't.  It's a common misconception that in order to be prepared to DM, you have to have a grimoire full of detailed NPCs down to every small minutiae of detail.  That simply isn't true.  Sometimes you are allowed to wing it.  That said, you will want to spend some amount of time focusing on fleshing out the major NPC's of your city, especially the ones your party is likely to run into.

In my example of Crestfall from part two, I have at least 3 important NPC's created simply from spending time developing a couple of locales, and defining some particulars about the city.  We have Magrem, proprietor of Magrem's Marvels and Delights, Esmelra Ravenpeake, owner of The Harpy's Haven Inn/Bordello, and possible leader of the thieve's guild, and a yet to be named, former adventurer who is now the figurehead ruler of the city.  Again, we don't have to spend a lot of time on each major NPC.  Just a few minor details and notes will go a long way for you.  In the examples I will use, all three of these NPCs are adventurers or former adventurers so there will be some notes on their stats included.  Keep in mind, these really won't be necessary when creating 0 level NPC's. 

Here are some basic examples of my brief NPC notes:

Magrem the mage (H male, MU L15, AC: 0, NG, INT 17, WIS 12, HP 35)

Description: Old man with a slight hunch in his back, thin and short graying beard, spectacles.  Often found reading over some ancient text in his shop.  Tends to be absent minded and dishevled, his mind easily wanders off to other topics.  He is a friendly man, but is impatient with those that wish to dig around in his shop especially those who aren't magic users.

Esmelra Ravenpeake (H female, T L18, NE, THAC0 12, AC: -2, DEX 18, CHR 16, HP 54,)

Description: Beautiful woman in middle years with long, black hair past her shoulders and blue eyes.  Very charming and flirty personality with patrons of her establishment, but also shrewd and cunning.  She is the leader of the city's theives' guild, which meets below The Harpy's Haven Inn.  She keeps a Dagger of Life Stealing on her person at all times.

Deardemont Ironhold (H male, F L12, CG, THAC0 9, AC: -3, STR 17, DEX 15, WIS 9, HP 65)

Description: Middle aged man.  Slightly short in stature, with brown hair and goatee speckled with gray.  He is ruler of the city of Crestfall, but only in name, although he isn't wise enough to understand this.  He's rash and prone to ill judgment, but the city coucil keeps him under control.  He spends most of his time focusing on stopping the thieves' guild within the city, however they always manage to lead him along on wild goose chases.  This allows the council to focus on more important matters like running the city.

These are a few examples of how you'd describe the major players in your city.  You'll see there isn't much there.  Just a few notes on what they look like, some key stats, and a bit about their personality.  It's not a bad idea to link them together in certain ways, such as Deardemont always chasing after the thieves' guild, which surely is a major point of frustration for Esmelra.  Certain things you'll want to focus on when fleshing out your NPCs is deciding who is influential in the city, why they have the influence they have, and what possible implications this could have for the PCs.  Once you start developing the NPC's along with the places you've created, things will begin to come together and adventure hooks will begin to reveal themselves.

As another tip, I'd recommend having a handy stock of NPC names available.  Just a small piece of paper in your DM notebook with various insignificant names which you can quickly give to the random NPC's the players are sure to encounter in the city.  If you find yourself stuck on NPC generation, have a look at Kellri's Classic Dungeon Designer Series #4 - Encounters Guide.  On page 26 there you'll find quite a few handy tables which will help you randomly generate traits and descriptions for your NPCs.  I highly recommend the guide in general as it contains a wealth of information any DM could use in his/her game.

In part four, I'll talk about some techniques to go about mapping out your city and keying it with special locations you've created. 

Designing the City Campaign: Part 2

In part one of this series, I discussed some basics on creating and designing the city based campaign.  I mentioned some of the key ideas you might want to think about when developing the city for your campaign.  Now, there is something to be said about pre-made supplements, maps, and the like.  These can be great tools for establishing a city based campaign, but this series is geared more towards the home brew system, and building it all from the ground up.  Continuing on, we'll use an example of a city I've developed using some of the brainstorming processes I outlined in part one.  At this point, the city is still only a very rough idea, but in the end, the result should be a fantastic and entertaining center to begin your campaign.

So, by doing some simple brainstorming I've concluded the following facts about my city:

Crestfall:

1. Large sized wooden and stone walled city (pop. 75,000) with a vareity of friendly human races, but primarily made up of humans and halflings, with a few half-elves and even fewer elves and dwarves.

2. The city is situated on the coast line of a sea.

3. The ruler of the city is a former adventurer.  He acts as merely a figurehead.  The true power in the city rests with his council, a group composed of wealthy and influential citizens, or nobles, within the city.  All of them answer to the king of the land.

4. The city's economy revolves around its trading vessels and ports which provide repairs to traveling ships and rest for travelers, shipment warehouses for merchant companies to ship various goods from across the region abroad, and a strong fishing trade.

5. The city itself is divided up into 4 districts each separated by wooden walls and gate entrances: The docks (situated along the docks and harbors of the city), the market district (the hub of business in the city and situated in its center), the upper district (home of the city's wealthy citizens, the ruler, and his council), and the south district (most of the poor peasants occupy this area.  Wood and stone houses are squeezed tightly together along winding rutted streets.  Also, home to the city's crime element)

6. The law as it applies to adventurers: Adventurers wishing to conduct their operations within the city must register with the city hall.  Weapons are not allowed at all within the upper district, and must remain sheathed within the other districts (althouth this is rarely enforced in the south district).  Adventurers calling the city home are forced to pay a tribute to the city of 5% of their earnings.

Alright, so now that I have some very basic ideas written down, I can start developing things further.  I will start with creating a few places of interest within the city.  Note, these will be brief descriptions as examples, but the more detailed your descriptions of these key places are, the better.

Magrem's Marvels and Delights

This two-story stone structure is located within the market district of the city of Crestfall.  The wooden sign out front shows an image of a wizard riding the back of a griffin.  The shop itself lies on the first floor.  It is dark and dusty, with items and books scattered about haphazardly and in seemingly no order at all.  Old Magrem sits behind the counter at the rear of the shop, usually hunched over a tome.  His shop serves many mages, and within he has many volumes on mythical creatures and spellcraft, various recipes for potions, magical scrolls, and spell components.  Despite the dank and cluttered appearance, Magrem's Marvels and Delights is one of the most popular shops for sorcerers in the land.  Magrem himself is a retired adventurer of older years.  He lives on the second floor above his shop.  It is rumored that he has a vast assortment of magical items in his personal possession and he keeps his apartment heavily warded.  Some say he has a transdimensional door which allows him to travel to various places in the land although these destinations are known only to Magrem himself.

The Harpy's Haven Inn

Located in the Docks District, the Harpy's Haven Inn serves many travelers and merchants entering the harbors of Crestfall.  The large, two story wooden structure is dimly lit and usually smoke filled.  The common room holds a large fireplace in its back corner.  Patrons enjoy a fine assortment of fish and other creatures of the sea prepared in various sauces with a fine assortment of ales and wines to choose from.  The inn is owned by one Esmelra Ravenpeake.  She is a tall, brunette beauty of middle years.  In addition to the fine meals, patrons are also offered the services of the inns many prostitutes at a fairly reasonable price. Because of the crowd it usually draws, the inn is usually guarded by four large human bouncers.  They are watchful of the patrons and protective of the prostitutes within.  Any abuse is not tolerated and those causing disturbances are quickly thrown out.  It is rumored that Esmelra is actually leader of the secretive thieve's guild although the city council has never been able to prove it.  Some say that behind the stones of her fireplace there is a secret entrance to a hidden area in the inn's basement said to be the meeting place of the ranking members of the guild.

These are two examples of important places within the city.  Once you start developing these locales, you'll find they provide nearly endless possibilities for adventure hooks.  In the next part, I'll focus on some of the more notable NPC's of my city and their influence within.  In the future I'll discuss the guilds and organizations, creating a map for the city, and fleshing out adventure hooks to get a campaign started.

Designing the City Campaign: Part 1

This is the first in a series of posts in which I will explore how to go about developing a city or urban based campaign for D&D, however most of this information could apply to OD&D, OSRIC, Labyrinth Lord, Swords and Wizardry, or various other old school, and even new school games.  This series will focus on designing the city campaign from the ground up; that is, designing the city itself and populating it with NPCs, locales, and making it all come to life.

So, before we move any further, let's define what a city campaign is exactly.  The city campaign is one in which the majority of the players' adventures take place in, or around, a particular city, or cities.  Before determining if you're going to run a city campaign, meet with your players and discuss the idea with them.  The city campaign isn't for everyone, and the last thing you want is a player upset because he feels "restricted" to adventuring within a city's walls.  If the players know beforehand, they can create their characters in a fashion more suitable for adventuring in an urban environment.

Before you set down to design your city, you must first determine what kind of city it will be.  Will it be a large metropolis (pop. of 100,000 or more), a large city (pop. of around 50,000-90,000), or a smaller city (pop. of around 10,000-40,000)?  What kind of races inhabit the city?  Where will it be located?  Perhaps at the foothill of a mountain or on the shore of a large river?  Maybe it will be a port city or one that rests on the border of a kingdom?  City placement is important, especially in building your world.  Cities tend to develop where it makes the most sense; either along a large trade route, on the coast, etc.  Think about where the city is located, and what impact it has on the world overall outside the city gates.

How is your city's government structured?  I personally recommend the independent city-state, but there are a variety of options here.  Perhaps the city is part of a larger kingdom ruled by a malevolent tyrant.  Maybe it's run by a cabal of mages or priests, or a merchant's guild.  This is an important aspect of designing your city because it offers the possibility of creating great adventure hooks for the PCs down the road.  Think about the ruling structure and how that will relate to the characters involved in the campaign.

All cities thrive on trade.  Trade is the key to civilization in the fantasy setting.  What types of goods and/or services does your city provide?  Is your city located near the base of a mountain?  Perhaps your city's primary trade is equipment crafted from ore taken from the mines outside the city?  Perhaps your city is an even greater hub for the neighboring cities around it.  Maybe merchants flock to the city's gates to sell wares from all across the lands in your vast city markets.  Maybe your city is home to the only known sorcery academy in the region and is the center of your economy.  Once you've sorted through some of these things, the picture of your city should start coming into place.  You'll be surprised at how the creative juices start flowing when you jot down just a few ideas on paper.

Most fantasy cities are divided up into different sections.  These wards and burroughs serve as a way to divide the city's lower, middle, and upper class members.  If your city is along a coast, you'll want to establish a dock ward and think of the various ways to describe it.  Maybe the dock ward is the hub of your city's industry and thus patrolled regularly by the city watch, or maybe it's a harbor for fugitives, pirates, and other villains.  Merchant or business districts are also important, as this is where most of the city's industry will take place.  These districts should contain various specialty shops which can't be found anywhere else.  This is a city, after all.  Be creative in how you divide up your city and how you determine the comings and goings within.

At this point, you'll want to consider some basic laws particular to your city.  For example, will adventurers be required to peace string their weapons upon entering?  Will they be required to register and pay taxes within the city as "adventurers?" What is the punishment for a bar room brawl?  How is your city policed?  Are the constables or city watch corrupt?  

These are some basic ideas to get you started on fleshing out a quality city campaign.  In the next few posts in this series, I'll detail how I go about filling these cities with interesting places and people, designing maps of the city, and creating some adventure hooks that your players can sink their teeth into.