The following is a recap of the events that have taken place recently in my campaign and serve as to provide a context to the questions I have. If you wish, you may skip to below the dotted line if you do not want to read the summary of campaign events.
The PCs have recently rescued the city of Neverwinter from an undead invasion. The invasion came through a mysterious portal located in ancient dungeons below a temple of Helm. The PCs came to Neverwinter on other business and were asked, as adventurers, for help by Lord Nasher in saving the city from the undead streaming up from beneath the temple, as well as finding out what the cause of the undead scourge was.
Neverwinter was not in a position to take care of the problem on its own, on account of the terrible plague, the Wailing Death that was ravaging it at the time. The plague is taken from the computer game Neverwinter Nights. Because of the plague, the city's Paladins and Clerics were very busy with helping the many citizens who had taken ill, as well as trying to keep the peace, and try to figure out what was going on.
So the PCs came to town, having recently found a holy relic of the god Tyr in an old abandoned temple. Their possession of such a holy relic was enough to persuade Lord Nasher to ask them to help the city against this undead scourge. He offered them great rewards were they to put an end to the scourge.
The PCs just finished that, and now come my questions.
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I wish to give the PCs either land or titles, in addition to gold and possible magic items and gratitude the Lord Nasher will give to them. They have saved the city from a great threat, and come to its aid in a time of great need.
I am no expert on the Realms, I have tried to read a little but I am merely an amateur when it comes to knowledge of Faerun.
How could I go about this? Does Neverwinter have dominion over the lands surrounding the city? Does it have a bunch of Nobles, each having control over land or a part of the city perhaps?
What lands and titles could the Lord Nasher bestow upon Adventurers, were he so inclined?
P.S. The reason I am going this route is I want to give the Player characters some in-game reward besides loot and XP, and I also want to "root" them a bit better into the setting. If they have lands and titles, that opens up the possibility of political intrigue coming into the campaign later on, as well as giving the PCs something to both care about and feel protective of. I want to avoid the scenario where the heroes of the campaign merely wander about the world fulfilling quests, yet have no actual connection to that world, nothing that they care deeply about.
Any extra advice on how to make the players care about the world would also be appreciated.
and maybe give them a plot of land on the edge of the city. Be it a manor house or something similar. I would try and avoid where they could draw taxes from the locals, myself. But maybe they get a percentage from the city coffers, which would also make them answerable to the Lord.
Usually when you think of the direct sphere of influence a City may have I would say within a day or two travel.
Neverwinter is pretty self-contained meaning they don't really own anything outside their walls. That being said, I don't see why they couldn't receive some land and possibly a large manor house in the Black Lake District of Neverwinter. It's a pretty prestigeous area of the city where the very wealthy and "noble" live.
Because Neverwinter is ruled by Lord Nasher, I don't think they would have a ruling (or governing) noble class due to it's size, but you could have it as a few nobles work the minor trades between districts and what-not or have them oversee the day-to-day affairs of city governing while lord Nasher handles the more important problems like city defenses and hosting important people from Waterdeep, Baldur's Gate, and yes even Luskan.
Also, I'd say they could receive some sort of badge or banner that signifies them as Heroes of the city. They'd probably receive special treatment at the local establishments (bars, inns, shops/stores, *cough* Brothels *cough*) because of their fame.
If you want to take it further from the city, you could give them total control of Helm's Hold (that's where the undead were right?) or Fort Locke (from NWN 2) and that can be their base of operations.
Also outside the city is Port Llast, so you could have them be liaisons to that port and give them material to build a fort, castle, or some such structure that might help them get from there to Neverwinter and any-where trouble might start in the near by Neverwinter Woods and mountains.
Hope some of this helps.
EDIT: Found them!!
www.ogrecave.com/reviews/nobles_handbook...
www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/9/9340.phtml
I would have it that they are in command but still have people that they answer to and also have the people around them react either well or poorly to the choices they make. So as to not take away from the Adventure side of things, I was planning on having a Seneshal (sp?) in the hold that would handle things in their absence.
Each time they make a "pit stop" at the hold, the Seneshal (sp?) will give them an update and then they can deal with any buisness that needs dealing with. This, I think, would make a truly grand Paragon Tier of play.
You don't have to get bogged down in the politics of the world if you don't want too!
Of course, no one said the PCs have to know that the keep is occupied.
I'd probably start with "Base of Operations", which can be found HERE, and tweak the story (or completely re-write it) to suit your campaign.
Edit: Obviously I wasn't reccommending trying to run it as-is, I was suggesting using it as a source of inspiration, much like the poster below me suggested using the DMG 2 from 3.5. Sorry if that wasn't clear.
Of course, no one said the PCs have to know that the keep is occupied.
I'd probably start with "Base of Operations", which can be found HERE, and tweak it (or completely re-write it) to suit.
Which he would need to, since the adventure is 3.5 and he is playing 4th.
You may want to look into the DM Kit adventure for encounter ideas if following this path, there is a Keep siege there(you would need to swap the humans for the monsters occupying the keep).
The DMG 2 from 3.5 has a lot of info on this.
On another note, isnt too soon to give them lands? I just plan do do it when passing to Paragon, currently they are just founding a base (which does not belong to them but to their adventuring company).
Well I am begining a campain in the city of Athkatla (Reigion of Amn) and am planning on giving the characters land and titles in the nations at some point. My basic idea was to use the de'Arnise hold from the PC Game Baldur's Gate 2 at have them become the Lords of a small area.
You don't have to get bogged down in the politics of the world if you don't want too!
And if you make it on the border with Muranndin, you will have plenty of trouble to through at the PCs.