Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Ramble Jul 11, 2014 10:30:47	G'day, hoping a few DMs out there may be able to give me some insight on a location I am planning to use.   I've been running a campaign based on the play-test and now 5th ed materials. So far eleven sessions in, and going really well. This has been mainly a home-brew sandbox campaign with an overarching mission in the region, and they are finally looking to head to the region's major city.   The Westguard is geographically isolated region controlled by a fairly classic feudal medieval European culture, lorded over by a Baron and his appointed Counts on behalf of the greater nation. Part of the reason for this isolation is it is between the Southern Shieldwall Mountains and a Northern coastline that is massive cliffs averaging three hundred feet over the ocean water.   The City of Winds and Waves is the only port in this region, and is built around a massive sinkhole near the cliffs, that reaches down to sea level and has broken through enough for entire ships to find shelter past the reefs in the isolated and protected bay it formed. Originally a pirate haunt, the lower city, The City of Waves, has been built into the walls of the sinkhole, often hoisting flotsam and wrecked ships to make housing against the stone. With the pacification of the monster threats of the Westgard, the upper city, the City of Winds, was established and built around massive windmills that used intricate gears and weights to hoist cargo up and down the cliffs.   With the recent (a century ago) crack down on pirates by the Eladrin Navy expanding into the region, the city was inundated with ruffians even as the cities merchant power thrived. The nobility, supporting the guilds, consolidated around the wealthy and powerful above, and the poor and lower classes were left below in the lower city. From above, the rulers play power games against each other, often with the lives and suffering of those below suffering the brunt.   My players generally know all of the above, and I have a bunch of plans for what shape the power groups of the upper and lower city will be and what adventures I will run, but I realised as I was finally getting ideas down on paper, I have no idea what the players would expect of this environment. Much like good humour, I find good adventures work off appropriate twists to the perception of what is going on.   So could anyone suggest what they imagine might be cultural expectations, adventure opportunities, or political set ups, based on the vague description above?
#2 Impalpable Jul 12, 2014 10:33:25	First of all let me say this sounds like a great location. Personally I'd love to play in a setting such as this. Well done! Now on to your question: I think there would definately be an assumption of economic divide between the city of the winds and the city of waves. I'd imagine Waves would have a bustling dock community...ship hands, dock workers and warehouses. And all sorts of swarthy, rowdy sea-folk. And you couod probably expect a less than legal trade or two going on in any dock town. Im thinking crimnal underworld. Converseley, I'd imagine the City of Winds being all diplomacy and high-brow...court intrigue if you will. Maybe there is a perceived superiority that Wind has over Waves. All that being said, I'd change it up. Make the REAL power reside in the city of Waves. The pirates that were chased out 100 years ago didn't really go anywhere, they just changed their methods, clothes and style. I can imagine lots of fun chase scenes as your characters pursue criminals up the cliff-face dwellings, rooftop to rooftop, vertical escapes and the ever present fear of falling to the sea below. Anyway, that's my two cents...it sounds really fun!