Getting into Sharn [Archive] - Wizards Community

Getting into Sharn [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Isam
08-01-04, 07:37 AM My players will soon be relocating to Sharn and this has posed me with a small dilema:

Sharn is incredily tall built upon (to the best of my knowledge) disued goblin and humanoid towers. so when someone coming along say the road from Wroat wants to get into sharn how would they do it?

would there be somesort of entry tower with magical lifts to take them to the habitable levels? or do the lowers classes simply enter into the undercity the work up whilst the high classes use airships or similar to simply fly to the skyway district.

i realise this will all be irrelavant in light of the sharn sourcebook but i'd be interested to hear your views on it
Splendide
08-01-04, 07:50 AM A really long spiral staircase.
Alexius D'Cannith
08-01-04, 09:37 AM or a 500ft ladder on the front of a tower and a sign saying if you cant manage it we dont want you

(with a lift hidden round the back)
Latif Khan
08-01-04, 11:37 AM random thoughts:
- gigantic lifts
- a ramp
- you enter on ground level, then you can enter towers and go up
in them, cargo goes up in lifts, important or richer people go in by
train or airship anyway.
- A huuuuuge door, 150 ft. across, that is closed at night
- you cant enter on ground level
- there's a rope hanging down the hatch
- a giant beanstake ?
- big-scale teleportation
- who cares, whoever comes within 5 miles of the city suddenly
appears in the city... ehh magically
WotC_Doog
08-01-04, 11:46 AM First of all, I would imagine that if you travel to Sharn on foot or by horseback, you could see the tips of the towers on the horizon days before you actually arrive at the city outskirts. They'd be lit at night, too (you gotta love this piece (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/eb_gallery/82143.jpg) by Mark Tedin), so it'd be an impressive sight, night and day.

The drama of the city should increase as you get closer. A big staircase or a ladder wouldn't do it justice. You should see airships flying overhead. Hear the chug and brakes of lightning trains steaming into station. Foot and ground traffic would get thick -- open markets and small village "suburbs" would crop up on your way there. People try to sell you stuff. All manner of people -- warforged, lizard men, savage halflings, full-blooded orcs, and some weirdos you've never seen before hang out around there. The towers loom huge above you, and you aren't even there yet. Ever visited Denver? Even when you aren't headed for the Rocky Mountains, you feel their presence all the time there.

And then there should be some boundary to let you know you've hit Sharn proper. Maybe a high (40-foot) blue stone wall, guarded by City Watch and magical wards and runes. You enter through guard posts that contain a lot of stairs. When you go through processing of your travel and ID papers, you go up more stairs. When you have your possessions and weapons checked and registered, you go up more stairs. The closer you get to the center of Sharn, the more UP you go.

Your legs get really tired. :)

Or maybe there are magical devices employed to help with the stairs thing. Permanent Tenser's floating disks that you can take up tall shafts (i.e. elevators). Or complimentary levitation scrolls, with a (very vague) city map on the back side, that you get when your papers check out.

What else? Flying carpet rental. Tourism pamphlets. Coupons for fancy upper-tower restaurants and down-home street-level eateries. Flyers for upcoming cultural festivals, music events, traveling shows, magic bazaars, and gladiatorial sports. Newspapers full of adventurer want-ads. Posters. People paid to yell out advertisements on street corners and in well-trafficked tower routes. Living magic mouth spells? (Eeek.)

Above all, I think you want the players to feel that they've come to a major metropolis. It should seem bustling, full of contrasts and details, and very impressive in scale. (They should probably feel like bumpkins even coming from Wroat -- maybe their rumpled, dusty traveling clothes look poor compared to the visiting dignitary nearby, who took the lightning rail and is dressed to the nines even during ID processing.)

Good luck in the campaign! Let us know how it turns out.
Vapor IX
08-01-04, 12:04 PM Originally posted by WotC_Doog
[description of Sharn]

Wow. Nice.
Isam
08-01-04, 01:15 PM frankly Doog.... wow. i pictures sharn the way you describe it, yet had never thought about the pure size of its influence outside of the towers. this thursday is the game and i'll tell you how it went

Thanks to you all, i intend to use most of the suggestions :):) :)
Docrailgun
08-01-04, 03:42 PM I propose that plenty of buildings have "levitators" in addition to stairs. :) We have sunrods (flashlights) and matches (tindertwigs)... so why not levitators? :)
[QUOTE]Originally posted by WotC_Doog
[B]Or maybe there are magical devices employed to help with the stairs thing. Permanent Tenser's floating disks that you can take up tall shafts (i.e. elevators). Or complimentary levitation scrolls, with a (very vague) city map on the back side, that you get when your papers check out.

QUOTE]
Bluebrush
08-01-04, 05:19 PM Presumably there is some kind of slope leading up to Sharn, since the lightning rail is able to climb up to it.

It is also likely that there are multiple lightning rail stations in Sharn, probably at least two, one in the industrial districts (Down in the cogs) and one more focused on passenger services or recieving goods higher up. Possibly more. Maybe the rail winds up through Sharn like the Railway of Midgar in Final Fantasy Seven.
Alac Luin
08-01-04, 06:44 PM Dont forget the skycoaches.

There is probobly a line of these waiting for people to enter the city.
You come through the gates, have your papers looked at, and on the inside, a string of yellow coaches, with a chekerboard pattern bordering the doors waits for newcommers/tourests to take advantage, er, give rides to.

(ok, my discription of their paint may not be on the mark....)
WotC_Doog
08-01-04, 11:21 PM All good points. I have to say, I'm ready to book my ticket. :) Some additional ideas, just some ambient kinda stuff you might see on your first trip to Sharn:

Flying mounts for rent -- must show valid proof of mounted flight training before rental. Potions of fly for sale -- with extra duration for an all-day flying tour of Sharn. Traffic constables in modified skycoaches -- which of course conjures the idea of a high-speed skycoach chase, weaving through the towers and bobbing under skybridges. A daredevil basejumper illegally leaping out of a cloud-scraping tower, to see how long he can stand to drop before screaming out the last syllable of his feather fall spell. Air jousts on spider eater-back, attended by ticketed onlookers in well-windowed towers. Fireworks displays right in the heart of the city -- and those with privilege and access to the highest towers actually look *down* at them to ooh and ahh. Spectacle! Wealth! Wonder!

And then there's the seedier side. The noir misery of ground level. Tall alleys between towers, somber in blue shadow, full of sounds of dripping and fumbling, smelling of rot and urine. Silent humanoids of all sizes, faceless under anonymous cloaks, marching with hunched backs without looking up from the street. Blaring music from flickeringly-lit taverns. The screech of coaches trying to get through this part of town as fast as they can. The murmur of unpleasant deals being made by hulking silhouettes. The hot breath of a someone, or something, walking a bit too close behind. And above all, the permanent night of a city whose towers block the sky from all angles -- a world of weird shadows and pasty faces formed by the harsh artificial lights of cut-rate magewrights.

Okay, that's about enough Sharn on the brain for one night :)

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Isam 08-01-04, 07:37 AM	My players will soon be relocating to Sharn and this has posed me with a small dilema: Sharn is incredily tall built upon (to the best of my knowledge) disued goblin and humanoid towers. so when someone coming along say the road from Wroat wants to get into sharn how would they do it? would there be somesort of entry tower with magical lifts to take them to the habitable levels? or do the lowers classes simply enter into the undercity the work up whilst the high classes use airships or similar to simply fly to the skyway district. i realise this will all be irrelavant in light of the sharn sourcebook but i'd be interested to hear your views on it
Splendide 08-01-04, 07:50 AM	A really long spiral staircase.
Alexius D'Cannith 08-01-04, 09:37 AM	or a 500ft ladder on the front of a tower and a sign saying if you cant manage it we dont want you (with a lift hidden round the back)
Latif Khan 08-01-04, 11:37 AM	random thoughts: - gigantic lifts - a ramp - you enter on ground level, then you can enter towers and go up in them, cargo goes up in lifts, important or richer people go in by train or airship anyway. - A huuuuuge door, 150 ft. across, that is closed at night - you cant enter on ground level - there's a rope hanging down the hatch - a giant beanstake ? - big-scale teleportation - who cares, whoever comes within 5 miles of the city suddenly appears in the city... ehh magically
WotC_Doog 08-01-04, 11:46 AM	First of all, I would imagine that if you travel to Sharn on foot or by horseback, you could see the tips of the towers on the horizon days before you actually arrive at the city outskirts. They'd be lit at night, too (you gotta love this piece (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/eb_gallery/82143.jpg) by Mark Tedin), so it'd be an impressive sight, night and day. The drama of the city should increase as you get closer. A big staircase or a ladder wouldn't do it justice. You should see airships flying overhead. Hear the chug and brakes of lightning trains steaming into station. Foot and ground traffic would get thick -- open markets and small village "suburbs" would crop up on your way there. People try to sell you stuff. All manner of people -- warforged, lizard men, savage halflings, full-blooded orcs, and some weirdos you've never seen before hang out around there. The towers loom huge above you, and you aren't even there yet. Ever visited Denver? Even when you aren't headed for the Rocky Mountains, you feel their presence all the time there. And then there should be some boundary to let you know you've hit Sharn proper. Maybe a high (40-foot) blue stone wall, guarded by City Watch and magical wards and runes. You enter through guard posts that contain a lot of stairs. When you go through processing of your travel and ID papers, you go up more stairs. When you have your possessions and weapons checked and registered, you go up more stairs. The closer you get to the center of Sharn, the more UP you go. Your legs get really tired. :) Or maybe there are magical devices employed to help with the stairs thing. Permanent Tenser's floating disks that you can take up tall shafts (i.e. elevators). Or complimentary levitation scrolls, with a (very vague) city map on the back side, that you get when your papers check out. What else? Flying carpet rental. Tourism pamphlets. Coupons for fancy upper-tower restaurants and down-home street-level eateries. Flyers for upcoming cultural festivals, music events, traveling shows, magic bazaars, and gladiatorial sports. Newspapers full of adventurer want-ads. Posters. People paid to yell out advertisements on street corners and in well-trafficked tower routes. Living magic mouth spells? (Eeek.) Above all, I think you want the players to feel that they've come to a major metropolis. It should seem bustling, full of contrasts and details, and very impressive in scale. (They should probably feel like bumpkins even coming from Wroat -- maybe their rumpled, dusty traveling clothes look poor compared to the visiting dignitary nearby, who took the lightning rail and is dressed to the nines even during ID processing.) Good luck in the campaign! Let us know how it turns out.
Vapor IX 08-01-04, 12:04 PM	Originally posted by WotC_Doog [description of Sharn] Wow. Nice.
Isam 08-01-04, 01:15 PM	frankly Doog.... wow. i pictures sharn the way you describe it, yet had never thought about the pure size of its influence outside of the towers. this thursday is the game and i'll tell you how it went Thanks to you all, i intend to use most of the suggestions :):) :)
Docrailgun 08-01-04, 03:42 PM	I propose that plenty of buildings have "levitators" in addition to stairs. :) We have sunrods (flashlights) and matches (tindertwigs)... so why not levitators? :) [QUOTE]Originally posted by WotC_Doog [B]Or maybe there are magical devices employed to help with the stairs thing. Permanent Tenser's floating disks that you can take up tall shafts (i.e. elevators). Or complimentary levitation scrolls, with a (very vague) city map on the back side, that you get when your papers check out. QUOTE]
Bluebrush 08-01-04, 05:19 PM	Presumably there is some kind of slope leading up to Sharn, since the lightning rail is able to climb up to it. It is also likely that there are multiple lightning rail stations in Sharn, probably at least two, one in the industrial districts (Down in the cogs) and one more focused on passenger services or recieving goods higher up. Possibly more. Maybe the rail winds up through Sharn like the Railway of Midgar in Final Fantasy Seven.
Alac Luin 08-01-04, 06:44 PM	Dont forget the skycoaches. There is probobly a line of these waiting for people to enter the city. You come through the gates, have your papers looked at, and on the inside, a string of yellow coaches, with a chekerboard pattern bordering the doors waits for newcommers/tourests to take advantage, er, give rides to. (ok, my discription of their paint may not be on the mark....)
WotC_Doog 08-01-04, 11:21 PM	All good points. I have to say, I'm ready to book my ticket. :) Some additional ideas, just some ambient kinda stuff you might see on your first trip to Sharn: Flying mounts for rent -- must show valid proof of mounted flight training before rental. Potions of fly for sale -- with extra duration for an all-day flying tour of Sharn. Traffic constables in modified skycoaches -- which of course conjures the idea of a high-speed skycoach chase, weaving through the towers and bobbing under skybridges. A daredevil basejumper illegally leaping out of a cloud-scraping tower, to see how long he can stand to drop before screaming out the last syllable of his feather fall spell. Air jousts on spider eater-back, attended by ticketed onlookers in well-windowed towers. Fireworks displays right in the heart of the city -- and those with privilege and access to the highest towers actually look down at them to ooh and ahh. Spectacle! Wealth! Wonder! And then there's the seedier side. The noir misery of ground level. Tall alleys between towers, somber in blue shadow, full of sounds of dripping and fumbling, smelling of rot and urine. Silent humanoids of all sizes, faceless under anonymous cloaks, marching with hunched backs without looking up from the street. Blaring music from flickeringly-lit taverns. The screech of coaches trying to get through this part of town as fast as they can. The murmur of unpleasant deals being made by hulking silhouettes. The hot breath of a someone, or something, walking a bit too close behind. And above all, the permanent night of a city whose towers block the sky from all angles -- a world of weird shadows and pasty faces formed by the harsh artificial lights of cut-rate magewrights. Okay, that's about enough Sharn on the brain for one night :)