I have been playing DnD for along time and I have always wanted to play an urban campaign. I have chosen the Sembian city, Saerloon which is off the coast of the Inner Sea, south of Ordulin (the captital of Sembia). I just need some ideas for adventures in this city, and any info on Saerloon would be awesome.
Please help
Resh
I can't think of any really great urban adventures right now, but I know there must be at least a million. Urban environments have a lot of potential for many kinds of adventure, be it dungeon crawling beneath the cities through ancient Chondathan tombs, intrigue in the shadows as merchants and nobles try to cut the best deals trading just about anything, investigation in the harbor (who brought in this new batch of illegal slaves?) and the consequent repercussions of the guilty party (slavers, Red Wizards, Cult of the Dragon), etcetera. Also, Sembia has a lot of people that are racially biased, which makes for some interesting encounters if the party has, for instance, an elf among their ranks. Also, Sembian merchants are some of the worst (and at the same time best) there are, and they may well be the suppliers of some terrorist group or perhaps even the drow that live in Cormanthor.
It's called Forgotten Realms Atlas, and it is probably still available on some commercial sites.
-Interactive Atlas. And, you'll be able to find it on eBay, sure, from far, far, far too much money.
-Anyway, if you're looking for an urban city campaign, the book Cityscape might help you out.
City-based adventure ideas for Saerloon. Ok, we know Saerloon is a coastal city in Sembia.
Pre-Spellplague, we know it as one of the “four great southern cities--Saerloon, Selgaunt, Urmlaspyr, and Yhaunn,” that are ruled by merchant princes that “serve at the pleasure of the true powers of the city, the merchant councils.” --FRCS, page 189
Post-Spellplague, we can assume Saerloon is still part of Sembia, perhaps controlled by a Shadovar governor. (The Timeline of Recent Events from the Backdrop: Cormyr article in the online Dragon magazine issue #365 mentions that Netherese governors approved Sembia’s signing of the Treaty of Griffonfang Bridge in the year 1441.)
Resh, no matter what era you choose to set your Realms campaign in, you can rely on the idea that Sembia still has a dark side. It is a “haughty, ruthless and cutthroat land, bustling with commercial intrigues. Kidnappings-for hire of business and social rivals (and of one’s own undesired offspring and other relatives), ‘hirespell’ wizards who magically spy or cast harmful spells for fees, and debtors indentured as near-slaves to work off their debts for years are all common.” (FRCS, page 189)
Plenty of good stuff to work from there.
So....on to the adventure hook: Body Parts!
I got this idea after reading through the 3E Cityscape sourcebook (page 43). This adventure hook is centered around recent events at the Waterfront/Docks/Wharfs, where human body parts are showing up inside the bellies of fish pulled from the coastal waters south of the city.
Some of the body parts are still adorned in jewelry and clothing from eras long past. Rumor has it that the city’s merchant prince/governor is buying off the fishermen to ensure their silence over these alarming discoveries.
You could build an adventure where the players are contracted to investigate the recent desecration of tombs of an important merchant family. During the investigation, the players discover the tombs are awash in the smell of saltwater, with pools of it visible on the tomb floors.
The back-story can be that a daring band of devout Sahuagin (or Merfolk) who worship Umberlee have found a means of teleporting into tombs to remove the corpses of rich merchant families so their souls can be drawn forth from the afterlife to tell secrets of where the families monies and riches lay, so the Sahuagin can then mount raids into the surface world to steal the wealth and proffer it up to Umberlee in sacrifice.
They do this because they believe the humans of rich Saerloon have grown fat and wealthy off of the bounty of the Sea of Fallen Stars, without ever really offering up what the Sahuagin think is sufficient in terms of monetary wealth and thanks to Umberlee.
After interrogating the souls of the dead, the Sahuagin discard the corpses to the creatures of the water in one final offering, which leads to their consumption and unwelcome arrival in bits and pieces inside the bellies of fish at the docks in Saerloon.
If you run this in 4E, you could even include the Eminence of Aurant in the adventure. Just substitute them for the Sahuagin as the main agents behind the robbery, but keep the Sahuagin as undead minions in service to the Eminence.
On top of all that, you can throw in as much suspicion between merchant houses and aggressive rumor-mongering about who is behind the robberies and appearances of body parts as you want, in order to heighten the tension and give your players a sense of just how cut-throat Saerloon really is.
Good luck to you Resh!!!
:D :D :D
Thank you for all of your help, it is much appreciated. I do have the cityscape book and many others that will help me with my campaign.
I will use your advice and have sahaugin attack Saerloon and have fingers and other body parts found in fish and other sea life.
My PC's are all fond of being evil and devious, so I think they will want to gain power in Saerloon for themselves quite quickly. They have already begun preparing for a gang they want to create. And they will call themselves The Bloodspillers. I have accepted this as a way for adventures to come to them like described in the Dungeon Masters Guide II, where it allows PC's to create their own businesses and such.
I have devised a plot to have another gang start a gang war with the Bloodspillers and the PC's before they can even recruit enough gang members to pose a threat. I have already thought of what to call them: The Tight Knot Gang. I will use this gang to have everything that happens bad to the PC's be their fault.
I think I am on the right track with my urban campaign, but it needs something more. I think I want the PC's working for some mysterious evildoer so they can carry out his missions as assassins or something, but I do not know how to do that if they want to start their own gang.
I am giving my players a lot of freedom in their adventures, but I am open to new ideas on how to work out the kinks.
Any help with adventure ideas that involve gangs, or the mysterious boss would be great.
Thanks again,
Resh
OK then, gangs and a mysterious boss.
First question, would you consider the idea of rival thieves guilds as opposed to (or in addition to) gangs?
-Keep us posted. I would like to know what happens in this game.
18DELTA
-Add a third gang/guild just for kicks. Make this group religious zealots. This group also works for the Secret Master. Have the secret master be the lord of the city's chamberlain or something to that effect.
18DELTA
Great idea. I have one of the character's uncle living in the city, and he is a well off spice merchant who has a great reputation but he is also a secret worshiper of Shar. I think I will have the third gang be a cult of Shar.
Concerning the government of Saerloon, I read in a passage somewhere that it is ruled by a "merchant princess." I have created a merchant council of the most elite or most devious of the city to advise her as a chamberlain would. I think I will have each of the 8 members of the council have a sizable force of body-guards and mercenary soldiers. They will be secretly plotting against one another with their soldiers just as drow of Menzoberranzan do.
We already have had our first session, and in the first day the player characters arrived to Saerloon, they have learned of a Dark One (or creeper, I forget the exact name) that has been killing anyone it meets. They have also met a fat council member named Lord Theline Carshby.
One of the characters turned in a halfling thief to Lord Carshby, and likes him and respects his power. I think this is where I will get the "Secret Master." I will have some mysterious cloaked figure
(some creature that acts as a greater evil like Darth Sidious in Star Wars) be the master of Lord Carshby. Lord Carshby will introduce the party to him and then he can then give the players missions as I said in my past entries.I am quite grateful for all of the input and I hope to find more responses and new ideas
Resh
-Add a third gang/guild just for kicks. Make this group religious zealots. This group also works for the Secret Master. Have the secret master be the lord of the city's chamberlin or something to that effect. :D
I agree. Thats a good idea. A third gang with a totally different agenda would work nicely
-What a bunch of loonies...
I think I might do the cult of the dragon as a third gang... but all I know about them is that they are a crazy gang of wizards that are obsessed with turning dragons into dracoliches
Is there anything else to know about them? And how do you set up such a gang?
I think I might do the cult of the dragon as a third gang... but all I know about them is that they are a crazy gang of wizards that are obsessed with turning dragons into dracoliches
Is there anything else to know about them? And how do you set up such a gang?
-That's more or less the Cult of the Dragon. ;)
-There is some information about them in the FRCS, and in Lord of Darkness (I believe).
-As for setting them up, they're a "normal" cult, so do whatever you'd do with a cult.
-That's more or less the Cult of the Dragon. ;)
-There is some information about them in the FRCS, and in Lord of Darkness (I believe).
-As for setting them up, they're a "normal" cult, so do whatever you'd do with a cult.
Yeah, what LK says. The Cult of the Dragon does not have a great deal of depth to their plotting. Don't forget they are often allied with local evil dragons.
Don't forget they are often allied with local evil dragons.
-Until the Dragon tires of them, that is.
-Until the Dragon tires of them, that is.
and another good twist of the plot ensues