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in need of city adventure ideas

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
jovis70
Nov 29, 2010 6:36:15 hello all

I am suffering a case of writers block
and am in need of some ideas for being
in the city state of tyr (or any city state really)

any ideas?

the group consists of

an elven seeker
a halfling rogue
a thrikreen barbarian
a dwarf battlemind
a human warlock (SK pact)
a Genasi warlord

thank you
Joe
#2
Dungeoneering
Nov 29, 2010 12:04:24 Tyr is jam-packed with adventure possibilities. You could fight bandits in the slums, rob the houses of the nobility in the nicer district, explore the secrets of the mysterious Ziggurat or delve into the underground tunnels that run beneath the city.

Regardless of what you do, I think the best part of any city adventure is political intrigue. A city like Tyr is full of factions with different objectives and methods, all vying for power and influence. To gain favor with one faction you almost always have to cross another one. And every faction has secrets.

Your PCs could find themselves entangled with the struggle between the Veiled Alliance and True, the Kalak loyalists. Or in a trade war between merchant houses.   Or a turf war between street gangs. Or several of these, at once.

There's tons of other factions. Don't forget the newly freed slaves and gladiators, or the spies for other cities that are no doubt watching closely to see what happens to Tyr. This is a city with a lot going on!
#3
DontEatRawHagis
Nov 29, 2010 12:43:59 What level are the characters?

Additional: If you want to put your characters up against some low level city stuff. Try using the Eye of Tyr as an organization. They are just beggars, but there is a stats block for a character named Jossi the Juggler who is a leader in the group. I'm planning on having my players try to protect their artifact from them when they reach Tyr.
#4
Alphastream
Nov 29, 2010 13:46:17 On the encounter side, in my blog I wrote about a drunken brawl I ran in Dark Sun using rules by The Jester.

Specifically to Tyr, I would look at the various factions involved and weave those together. Templars, free slaves, VA, nobles... between those you should be able to find some interesting adventure seeds. I can suggest more if you can share more about the goals/theme of your campaign. For example, if allied with the VA, it could be cool to have a templar hire the PCs to look into a noble family that opposes slaves being free... but they find the noble family has several arcane casters and could become allies. Or, the VA could ask the PCs to pose as gladiators to gain the eye of a noble family that is reputed to be working against the VA with Templars. They can gain the nobles as sponsors and find out about the way they are working with the Templars to hunt mages... and the dark reason why...
#5
Kye_Tyrad
Nov 29, 2010 14:12:27 I have always liked the idea of favors as a treasure for completing a quest.  As a DM I am limiting the character themes so the PC's need to gain access to them by completing a quest or as a favor from the associated group. So you could work your throughts backwards and think of a favor that would be beneficial for the group.
VA = Give the PC's access to friendship of the VA or the VA Theme
Favor of the Templar's = This could be a general "get out of jail free" or access to the Templar theme.
etc.
etc.
Just by these alone, there is a huge opportunity for city adventures.

I also use Cityscape from the 3.5 edition. It was a great reference for City based adventures.
#6
vellitrax
Nov 29, 2010 14:57:49 i ran an adventure in Tyr where the ron mine was infested with undead and was a deviant scheme by house luber from Urik to steal the ore from tyr from under their noises
#7
diggles
Nov 29, 2010 17:52:33
i ran an adventure in Tyr where the ron mine was infested with undead and was a deviant scheme by house luber from Urik to steal the ore from tyr from under their noises

I did something similar, a cult was using the deepest spots of the mine for breeding, kinda like aliens (warm & wet). The cultists and PC's also disturbed the ghosts of slaves and taskmaskers and had help free their souls so they could rest.
#8
jovis70
Nov 30, 2010 19:24:56 well the characters are level 4 and I am currently running them through a modified Marauders of the dune sea.

the basic idea of this campaign was to run it as a sandbox with using adventure in the core book and Marauder of the dune sea as a jumping off point then seeing what the player wanted to do or based on their reaction to some PC's I thew in go with the flow.

it started with the mini adventure in the core book the dwarf and warlock show up in Altaruk as gaurds for a house wavier caravan just a head of a storm, not long after the storm blows over another house wavier caravan from Tyr shows up, this one missing a wagon that was lost in the storm.
the PC's join together to locate the lost wagon

they then were hired to take an object to a merchant in Tyr (Karlens eye artisan district)
from there they get hooks about raiders and missing caravans and people with the way having nightmares.
after a run in with some bad guys on the streets of tyr they head out looking for the face in the stone.

they found the face and got about halfway into the dungeon when they decided to take an extended rest. another group lead by the Red chord walked in and got the crown.
the red chord was on their way out when the PC's encountered them and a battle ensued
(I beefed up the encounter by increasing the levels of the main baddies in the book and added a few minions, I even created a Bard of the red chord)
thats where the last session ended.
now on the the PCs

the halfling rouge's (athasian Minstrel) back ground she was part of the tribute from the Ogo tribe to urik
after her time working for Hamanu she decided to wander and see some more of the world.
when they got to Tyr she met up with a spy from urik, Sarhan (modified him to be a doppleganger)
and since she already worked for Hamanu she knew this guy and already has the lion tattoo.

the group battled him and he escaped (good times)

the Dwarf battlemind (noble adept) and Human warlock (sk pact) are from Balic,
the Dwarf works for the merchant house wavier
the warlock is working against andropinis and has contacts with the VA

in the Marauders mod I modified the hook instead of house shom recruiting them it was Wavier

the thrikreen Barbarian (wasteland nomad) had his clutch wiped out and was wandering looking for another clutch to join and hooked up with the Halfling rogue.
I was toying with the idea to have a raiding group be responsible for its clutch's death but so far I've left that open for when the best opportunity  presents its self.

the genasi (cinder soul dune trader) comes from the beast barrens hunting defilers, so far no other motivation has come up (the player is still trying to get a feel for this character and might change)

the Elf seeker (elemental priest) while lost in the desert thirsty and near death he ran across an ancient temple where something spoke to him and helped him to survive
I allowed this player to take the Divine boon Pelors sun blessing (minus the Pelor)
the player is playing this up by trying to get others to follow this lost deity.
at this time I am still not sure if its a lost god or a hoax or a sorcerer king or something else

hope that helps,
and thank you all for the ideas and please keep them coming!!

Joe

#9
wraithspawn
Dec 01, 2010 13:34:39 You could check out Clash of Steel (Dungeon 172) for ideas if you have access to the magazine. The adventure is meant for characters of level 13, so it can not be used as-is, but the plot (someone increasing the tension between gangs) can defenately be used at lower levels.

Other adventures to spark ideas could be Kill Bargle (Dungeon 150 (3e); capture a defiler) and Thirds of Purloined Vellum (Dungeon 88 (3e); help a merchant in trouble).
#10
guest1647903482
Dec 01, 2010 14:42:48 Couple Ideas based on your PC's:

Elf: THe True have heard about him preaching of a lost god, and wish to stamp out his preachings, as they are a blasphemy upon Kalak
Genasi: Defilers are taking root in Tyr. With King TIthian having a weak hold on the city, it has led to increased crime, and therefore increased Defilers as it is easier to hide themselves.
Thri-Keen: Tough race to work with, cant talk about my Players Background as its a little too revealing, but it has to do with the Crimson Savannah
Dwarf: Working for merchant house has all sorts of opportunites for Intrigue: A competing House wants to undermine his dealings and is undercutting his goods prices, bad mouthing, etc.
Warlock: Well its a SK pact, so not much to say there.

#11
jovis70
Dec 02, 2010 21:24:36 thanks those are all great ideas

keep 'em coming

Joe
#12
nosan2
Dec 04, 2010 9:00:06 My characters got to a level appropriate to fight the various halfling monster builds from the Dark Sun creature book, but were in Tyr. I used the opportunity to use feral halflings in an environment where the players might not expect them: (note, my game takes place pre-Tyr revolution)

A feral halfling tribe lead by a charismatic warlord has escaped captivity and decided to make the city of Tyr their home. Not quite understanding the concepts of "city," "laws," or "templars" the tribe considers the city just another kind of jungle and wants to rise to the top of the food chain. The tribe has been staging guerrilla raids against templars and merchant guards for the last few weeks, and is known to demonstrate their intelligence and irreverance to the typical Tyr authority structure. Examples:

Raiding the merchant district by going "big game hunting" on a caravan's Kanks and Erdlu.

Killing Templars on patrol and then playing stick-ball with the heads the next morning infront of the Templar quarters

Breaking into a merchant compound to steal barrels of honey

When confronted with a force capable of defeating them the halflings dash into the Ziggurat construction zone where merchants can't follow and they can lose Templar pursuers easily by running into crowds of slaves, creating avalanches of bricks, swinging on ropes, etc.

The players could be hired by the merchants or the templars to "rid" them of the halfling problem.

Example of play: My players needed a distraction to break into the Ziggurat construction zone due to another story element. They created a tempting bait in the form of a poorly guarded caravan crossing the Warrens and then ambushed the Halfling raid dressed up like Templars. The tribe then focused their attention on the Templars and left the merchant interests alone.
#13
RalofTyr
Dec 15, 2010 17:43:48 Take inspiration from TV; watch HBO's Rome and Starz's Spartacus: Blood and Sand to get an idea of intrigue.

What I do is create a Noble House using a random name generator then I go from there.

Noble House: Kar. (Using a Romulan Name Generator).

First off, how wealthy is Kar? Do they own vast tracks of land or just a few fields?
Who runs the House? An old Noble apt to the game or a young heir new to it all?
Who are their rivals? (there are always rivals). And what do they want?
What does the House of Kar want? Do the leaders want to gain as much power, perhaps be a SK in their own right or do they want to live in luxury and have orgies all the time?
Who are the underlings and what do they want? The Underlings are the movers and shakers; they're the ones that hire assassins and do all the dirty work.

Example;
Tavak Kar, is the young Noble of the House of Kar. By his father's birth right, Tubok Kar, they are Senators and hold a lot of power in the city. Tavak's mother, T'lan, is still alive and she is calling the shots by influencing her son's decisions. She is from the House of Kelas and they are allies with Kar. Their enemies are Proconsul Sorok, who is the top Templar who has Commander Terus doing the dirty work and Senator Tarek and Senator Ren whom are political rivals whom covet Kar's farmlands for themselves.

Though, in Dark Sun, one always has more enemies than friends, and despite the enmity of the highest Templar, they have a friend, Ambassador Korell form another City-State whom in exchange for influence for more favorable trade agreements, the House of Kar would be allowed to by free-property outside the Ambassador's City-State under different names, thereby giving Kar more lands and more favorable trade.
#14
dyssolve
Dec 16, 2010 16:57:37 I think working for a merchant house has lots of potential for plot hooks. Draj is a great setting (watch the movie Apocalypto for inspiration on how that city looks and feels), and there's (was) a good book on it at Athas.org. There is a merchant house based there called House Tsalaxa that is especially treacherous. Perhaps the party gets assaulted by a group of goons hired by Tsalaxa.
Also, the elf my have been contacted by the undead sorcerer king Dregoth. It's up to you as to what stage he is at in transforming himself into a deity, but you could have that voice return to the elf, beckoning them to the "City by the Sea of Silt" where the ruined ex-city-state of Dregoth still slumbers. There the players might meet the dragonkin creations of Dregoth, or witness troops on the move to gather slaves for sacrificing in some dark ritual.

#15
lord_rock
Dec 19, 2010 18:27:36 If you are post slave freeing have the merchant house they work for send hem on a "harmless" trek a day or 2 out. Little do they know the house sends people on this route to be captured by slavers and sold off in another city state.

Escaping slavers only 2-3 days out keeps you near enough to the city and gives players a taste of real survival with nothin as they trek back with no supplies after escape.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 jovis70 Nov 29, 2010 6:36:15	hello all I am suffering a case of writers block and am in need of some ideas for being in the city state of tyr (or any city state really) any ideas? the group consists of an elven seeker a halfling rogue a thrikreen barbarian a dwarf battlemind a human warlock (SK pact) a Genasi warlord thank you Joe
#2 Dungeoneering Nov 29, 2010 12:04:24	Tyr is jam-packed with adventure possibilities. You could fight bandits in the slums, rob the houses of the nobility in the nicer district, explore the secrets of the mysterious Ziggurat or delve into the underground tunnels that run beneath the city. Regardless of what you do, I think the best part of any city adventure is political intrigue. A city like Tyr is full of factions with different objectives and methods, all vying for power and influence. To gain favor with one faction you almost always have to cross another one. And every faction has secrets. Your PCs could find themselves entangled with the struggle between the Veiled Alliance and True, the Kalak loyalists. Or in a trade war between merchant houses. Or a turf war between street gangs. Or several of these, at once. There's tons of other factions. Don't forget the newly freed slaves and gladiators, or the spies for other cities that are no doubt watching closely to see what happens to Tyr. This is a city with a lot going on!
#3 DontEatRawHagis Nov 29, 2010 12:43:59	What level are the characters? Additional: If you want to put your characters up against some low level city stuff. Try using the Eye of Tyr as an organization. They are just beggars, but there is a stats block for a character named Jossi the Juggler who is a leader in the group. I'm planning on having my players try to protect their artifact from them when they reach Tyr.
#4 Alphastream Nov 29, 2010 13:46:17	On the encounter side, in my blog I wrote about a drunken brawl I ran in Dark Sun using rules by The Jester. Specifically to Tyr, I would look at the various factions involved and weave those together. Templars, free slaves, VA, nobles... between those you should be able to find some interesting adventure seeds. I can suggest more if you can share more about the goals/theme of your campaign. For example, if allied with the VA, it could be cool to have a templar hire the PCs to look into a noble family that opposes slaves being free... but they find the noble family has several arcane casters and could become allies. Or, the VA could ask the PCs to pose as gladiators to gain the eye of a noble family that is reputed to be working against the VA with Templars. They can gain the nobles as sponsors and find out about the way they are working with the Templars to hunt mages... and the dark reason why...
#5 Kye_Tyrad Nov 29, 2010 14:12:27	I have always liked the idea of favors as a treasure for completing a quest. As a DM I am limiting the character themes so the PC's need to gain access to them by completing a quest or as a favor from the associated group. So you could work your throughts backwards and think of a favor that would be beneficial for the group. VA = Give the PC's access to friendship of the VA or the VA Theme Favor of the Templar's = This could be a general "get out of jail free" or access to the Templar theme. etc. etc. Just by these alone, there is a huge opportunity for city adventures. I also use Cityscape from the 3.5 edition. It was a great reference for City based adventures.
#6 vellitrax Nov 29, 2010 14:57:49	i ran an adventure in Tyr where the ron mine was infested with undead and was a deviant scheme by house luber from Urik to steal the ore from tyr from under their noises
#7 diggles Nov 29, 2010 17:52:33	i ran an adventure in Tyr where the ron mine was infested with undead and was a deviant scheme by house luber from Urik to steal the ore from tyr from under their noises I did something similar, a cult was using the deepest spots of the mine for breeding, kinda like aliens (warm & wet). The cultists and PC's also disturbed the ghosts of slaves and taskmaskers and had help free their souls so they could rest.
#8 jovis70 Nov 30, 2010 19:24:56	well the characters are level 4 and I am currently running them through a modified Marauders of the dune sea. the basic idea of this campaign was to run it as a sandbox with using adventure in the core book and Marauder of the dune sea as a jumping off point then seeing what the player wanted to do or based on their reaction to some PC's I thew in go with the flow. it started with the mini adventure in the core book the dwarf and warlock show up in Altaruk as gaurds for a house wavier caravan just a head of a storm, not long after the storm blows over another house wavier caravan from Tyr shows up, this one missing a wagon that was lost in the storm. the PC's join together to locate the lost wagon they then were hired to take an object to a merchant in Tyr (Karlens eye artisan district) from there they get hooks about raiders and missing caravans and people with the way having nightmares. after a run in with some bad guys on the streets of tyr they head out looking for the face in the stone. they found the face and got about halfway into the dungeon when they decided to take an extended rest. another group lead by the Red chord walked in and got the crown. the red chord was on their way out when the PC's encountered them and a battle ensued (I beefed up the encounter by increasing the levels of the main baddies in the book and added a few minions, I even created a Bard of the red chord) thats where the last session ended. now on the the PCs the halfling rouge's (athasian Minstrel) back ground she was part of the tribute from the Ogo tribe to urik after her time working for Hamanu she decided to wander and see some more of the world. when they got to Tyr she met up with a spy from urik, Sarhan (modified him to be a doppleganger) and since she already worked for Hamanu she knew this guy and already has the lion tattoo. the group battled him and he escaped (good times) the Dwarf battlemind (noble adept) and Human warlock (sk pact) are from Balic, the Dwarf works for the merchant house wavier the warlock is working against andropinis and has contacts with the VA in the Marauders mod I modified the hook instead of house shom recruiting them it was Wavier the thrikreen Barbarian (wasteland nomad) had his clutch wiped out and was wandering looking for another clutch to join and hooked up with the Halfling rogue. I was toying with the idea to have a raiding group be responsible for its clutch's death but so far I've left that open for when the best opportunity presents its self. the genasi (cinder soul dune trader) comes from the beast barrens hunting defilers, so far no other motivation has come up (the player is still trying to get a feel for this character and might change) the Elf seeker (elemental priest) while lost in the desert thirsty and near death he ran across an ancient temple where something spoke to him and helped him to survive I allowed this player to take the Divine boon Pelors sun blessing (minus the Pelor) the player is playing this up by trying to get others to follow this lost deity. at this time I am still not sure if its a lost god or a hoax or a sorcerer king or something else hope that helps, and thank you all for the ideas and please keep them coming!! Joe
#9 wraithspawn Dec 01, 2010 13:34:39	You could check out Clash of Steel (Dungeon 172) for ideas if you have access to the magazine. The adventure is meant for characters of level 13, so it can not be used as-is, but the plot (someone increasing the tension between gangs) can defenately be used at lower levels. Other adventures to spark ideas could be Kill Bargle (Dungeon 150 (3e); capture a defiler) and Thirds of Purloined Vellum (Dungeon 88 (3e); help a merchant in trouble).
#10 guest1647903482 Dec 01, 2010 14:42:48	Couple Ideas based on your PC's: Elf: THe True have heard about him preaching of a lost god, and wish to stamp out his preachings, as they are a blasphemy upon Kalak Genasi: Defilers are taking root in Tyr. With King TIthian having a weak hold on the city, it has led to increased crime, and therefore increased Defilers as it is easier to hide themselves. Thri-Keen: Tough race to work with, cant talk about my Players Background as its a little too revealing, but it has to do with the Crimson Savannah Dwarf: Working for merchant house has all sorts of opportunites for Intrigue: A competing House wants to undermine his dealings and is undercutting his goods prices, bad mouthing, etc. Warlock: Well its a SK pact, so not much to say there.
#11 jovis70 Dec 02, 2010 21:24:36	thanks those are all great ideas keep 'em coming Joe
#12 nosan2 Dec 04, 2010 9:00:06	My characters got to a level appropriate to fight the various halfling monster builds from the Dark Sun creature book, but were in Tyr. I used the opportunity to use feral halflings in an environment where the players might not expect them: (note, my game takes place pre-Tyr revolution) A feral halfling tribe lead by a charismatic warlord has escaped captivity and decided to make the city of Tyr their home. Not quite understanding the concepts of "city," "laws," or "templars" the tribe considers the city just another kind of jungle and wants to rise to the top of the food chain. The tribe has been staging guerrilla raids against templars and merchant guards for the last few weeks, and is known to demonstrate their intelligence and irreverance to the typical Tyr authority structure. Examples: Raiding the merchant district by going "big game hunting" on a caravan's Kanks and Erdlu. Killing Templars on patrol and then playing stick-ball with the heads the next morning infront of the Templar quarters Breaking into a merchant compound to steal barrels of honey When confronted with a force capable of defeating them the halflings dash into the Ziggurat construction zone where merchants can't follow and they can lose Templar pursuers easily by running into crowds of slaves, creating avalanches of bricks, swinging on ropes, etc. The players could be hired by the merchants or the templars to "rid" them of the halfling problem. Example of play: My players needed a distraction to break into the Ziggurat construction zone due to another story element. They created a tempting bait in the form of a poorly guarded caravan crossing the Warrens and then ambushed the Halfling raid dressed up like Templars. The tribe then focused their attention on the Templars and left the merchant interests alone.
#13 RalofTyr Dec 15, 2010 17:43:48	Take inspiration from TV; watch HBO's Rome and Starz's Spartacus: Blood and Sand to get an idea of intrigue. What I do is create a Noble House using a random name generator then I go from there. Noble House: Kar. (Using a Romulan Name Generator). First off, how wealthy is Kar? Do they own vast tracks of land or just a few fields? Who runs the House? An old Noble apt to the game or a young heir new to it all? Who are their rivals? (there are always rivals). And what do they want? What does the House of Kar want? Do the leaders want to gain as much power, perhaps be a SK in their own right or do they want to live in luxury and have orgies all the time? Who are the underlings and what do they want? The Underlings are the movers and shakers; they're the ones that hire assassins and do all the dirty work. Example; Tavak Kar, is the young Noble of the House of Kar. By his father's birth right, Tubok Kar, they are Senators and hold a lot of power in the city. Tavak's mother, T'lan, is still alive and she is calling the shots by influencing her son's decisions. She is from the House of Kelas and they are allies with Kar. Their enemies are Proconsul Sorok, who is the top Templar who has Commander Terus doing the dirty work and Senator Tarek and Senator Ren whom are political rivals whom covet Kar's farmlands for themselves. Though, in Dark Sun, one always has more enemies than friends, and despite the enmity of the highest Templar, they have a friend, Ambassador Korell form another City-State whom in exchange for influence for more favorable trade agreements, the House of Kar would be allowed to by free-property outside the Ambassador's City-State under different names, thereby giving Kar more lands and more favorable trade.
#14 dyssolve Dec 16, 2010 16:57:37	I think working for a merchant house has lots of potential for plot hooks. Draj is a great setting (watch the movie Apocalypto for inspiration on how that city looks and feels), and there's (was) a good book on it at Athas.org. There is a merchant house based there called House Tsalaxa that is especially treacherous. Perhaps the party gets assaulted by a group of goons hired by Tsalaxa. Also, the elf my have been contacted by the undead sorcerer king Dregoth. It's up to you as to what stage he is at in transforming himself into a deity, but you could have that voice return to the elf, beckoning them to the "City by the Sea of Silt" where the ruined ex-city-state of Dregoth still slumbers. There the players might meet the dragonkin creations of Dregoth, or witness troops on the move to gather slaves for sacrificing in some dark ritual.
#15 lord_rock Dec 19, 2010 18:27:36	If you are post slave freeing have the merchant house they work for send hem on a "harmless" trek a day or 2 out. Little do they know the house sends people on this route to be captured by slavers and sold off in another city state. Escaping slavers only 2-3 days out keeps you near enough to the city and gives players a taste of real survival with nothin as they trek back with no supplies after escape.