Big city or frontier town? - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Big city or frontier town?

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
skiman84
Sep 17, 2010 8:10:19 I am currently working on a solo campaign for a rogue player. I want to create a thievery-based continuous campaign and her selection of skills (unbeknownst to me until her character was created) support the campaign I have in mind. My question is, what type of setting will support this campaign? Big city (well over 125,000) or village (900 people)?

Things to consider:
With a small town, I can use my randomly generated NPCs and thus I'll be able to know how strong certain people are, unlike with a big city where the highest level is anyone's guess.

With either setting, one of the BBEGs will be either the leader of a prominent thieves guild or a gang of outlaws

She is evil (wanting to do assassin) but it is the "reserved evil" (shes not going to go for the high score in Grand Theft D&D)

#2
atomicbanana
Sep 17, 2010 13:44:14 Start small? Does her character have a backstory that she's written that places her hometown in a small town or a large city? Is she on the run? Even if she isn't going to go GTA on you there's no harm in bringing some GTA to your game. Maybe her character needs to start in a small town and impress the thieves' guild there in order to obtain "permission" to operate in the big city.

A while back I read a book series where the thieves' guilds of every city on a continent held annual meetings to discuss profits, etc. Perhaps the underworld organizations in your campaign can have the same kind of Synergy.

heh...synergy.
#3
SoulCatcher78
Sep 18, 2010 8:56:28 If you've never read them, check out the Thieve's World books. Lots of solo thief/assassin adventure ideas. If you don't have time to populate a city you can pick up the boxed set (D20 but you only really need the fluff) pretty cheap these days.

Take into consideration what might motivate the character (revenge, fame, obligation, etc) and run with it.

Revenge - "You killed my father, prepare to die!"

Fame - "I'll be running this guild one day and I won't have to put up with the likes of you."

Obligation - "If I don't do what they say, my family will be killed." (just 'cause they're evil doesn't mean they can't have family that they want to protect).

Another issue is will the character be a native or passing through. Being native brings a ton of baggage (both good and bad) with it but makes for easier hooks (since you can tie to the past experiences). Passing through provides a lot of issues to work through (and good RP opportunities) since no one will trust them and vice versa.
#4
dm_trandahl
Sep 18, 2010 14:40:25 Initially, I think you should design a big city. The are more agreeable with thieves and such, and provide the opportunity to blend in to the surroundings and crowds to avoid capture.
But my campaigns are typically froniter-esque and I would say it would be worth the effort to run a thieving campaign there. In the frontier town the emphasis would be on outlaws, banditry and stuff as opposed to cutpurses and pickpockets that are in cities.

What type of rogue is the PC?
#5
skiman84
Sep 19, 2010 18:54:16 Sorry for the delay in answering questions and commenting on ideas, Renaissance Festival was in the area and I was checking it out.

SoulCatcher78: Never read the novels and I highly doubt I will ever find them at my local Barnes and Noble, however, I will try to get them and read at least one of them. Looked them up and the books sound fantastic.

DM_Trandahl: The player's rogue is the type that whose skillset is geared more toward the assassin prestige class (as of 3.5 - refuse to play 4th). I was considering having the PC be the target of an outlaw/bandit/highwayman gang because they did not like the competition (this is generally the "low end" portion of my campaign as the outlaw/bandit/highwayman have contracted themselves out to an even greater power who has discovered a sleeping evil nearby).

All in all thanks for the ideas guys. I hope more people read this thread and contribute thier opinions.
#6
SoulCatcher78
Sep 19, 2010 20:39:21 A great site to use if you start wading through the Thieve's World material is here:

www.thievesworld.info/index.html

There's a breakdown of all the characters, novels, RPG material, etc.

Green Ronin has the boxed set on sale for $20 for their 10th anniversary sale:

www.greenronin.com/store/product/grr1805...

Sanctuary is a great place to play a rogue campaign (I used all of the material for Westgate in the Forgotten Realms and it worked out spectacularly).
#7
crimson_aneurysm
Sep 20, 2010 14:42:41 Like AtomicBanana said, use GTA's approach. You could start the campaign in a big city, but lock off most of the city for various reasons. Maybe the quarter or ward you start in is under quarantine, and no-one is allowed out. You could have an adventure that involves breaking the quarantine for some reason or another - to steal supplies, to get a message out, etc.

I think it would be really interesting to set an entire campaign almost entirely in one city.

I would use Assassin's Creed 2 for lots of great thief/swasbuckly inspiration. Play the game if you haven't, or maybe read some summaries or FAQs for mission ideas.
#8
skiman84
Sep 20, 2010 15:21:24 Thanks for the advice. Yes I have played both Assassin's Creed 1 and 2, I have even looked at the Crime Wave missions in Dragon Age: Origins. For some reason though, I keep hitting a mental block.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 skiman84 Sep 17, 2010 8:10:19	I am currently working on a solo campaign for a rogue player. I want to create a thievery-based continuous campaign and her selection of skills (unbeknownst to me until her character was created) support the campaign I have in mind. My question is, what type of setting will support this campaign? Big city (well over 125,000) or village (900 people)? Things to consider: With a small town, I can use my randomly generated NPCs and thus I'll be able to know how strong certain people are, unlike with a big city where the highest level is anyone's guess. With either setting, one of the BBEGs will be either the leader of a prominent thieves guild or a gang of outlaws She is evil (wanting to do assassin) but it is the "reserved evil" (shes not going to go for the high score in Grand Theft D&D)
#2 atomicbanana Sep 17, 2010 13:44:14	Start small? Does her character have a backstory that she's written that places her hometown in a small town or a large city? Is she on the run? Even if she isn't going to go GTA on you there's no harm in bringing some GTA to your game. Maybe her character needs to start in a small town and impress the thieves' guild there in order to obtain "permission" to operate in the big city. A while back I read a book series where the thieves' guilds of every city on a continent held annual meetings to discuss profits, etc. Perhaps the underworld organizations in your campaign can have the same kind of Synergy. heh...synergy.
#3 SoulCatcher78 Sep 18, 2010 8:56:28	If you've never read them, check out the Thieve's World books. Lots of solo thief/assassin adventure ideas. If you don't have time to populate a city you can pick up the boxed set (D20 but you only really need the fluff) pretty cheap these days. Take into consideration what might motivate the character (revenge, fame, obligation, etc) and run with it. Revenge - "You killed my father, prepare to die!" Fame - "I'll be running this guild one day and I won't have to put up with the likes of you." Obligation - "If I don't do what they say, my family will be killed." (just 'cause they're evil doesn't mean they can't have family that they want to protect). Another issue is will the character be a native or passing through. Being native brings a ton of baggage (both good and bad) with it but makes for easier hooks (since you can tie to the past experiences). Passing through provides a lot of issues to work through (and good RP opportunities) since no one will trust them and vice versa.
#4 dm_trandahl Sep 18, 2010 14:40:25	Initially, I think you should design a big city. The are more agreeable with thieves and such, and provide the opportunity to blend in to the surroundings and crowds to avoid capture. But my campaigns are typically froniter-esque and I would say it would be worth the effort to run a thieving campaign there. In the frontier town the emphasis would be on outlaws, banditry and stuff as opposed to cutpurses and pickpockets that are in cities. What type of rogue is the PC?
#5 skiman84 Sep 19, 2010 18:54:16	Sorry for the delay in answering questions and commenting on ideas, Renaissance Festival was in the area and I was checking it out. SoulCatcher78: Never read the novels and I highly doubt I will ever find them at my local Barnes and Noble, however, I will try to get them and read at least one of them. Looked them up and the books sound fantastic. DM_Trandahl: The player's rogue is the type that whose skillset is geared more toward the assassin prestige class (as of 3.5 - refuse to play 4th). I was considering having the PC be the target of an outlaw/bandit/highwayman gang because they did not like the competition (this is generally the "low end" portion of my campaign as the outlaw/bandit/highwayman have contracted themselves out to an even greater power who has discovered a sleeping evil nearby). All in all thanks for the ideas guys. I hope more people read this thread and contribute thier opinions.
#6 SoulCatcher78 Sep 19, 2010 20:39:21	A great site to use if you start wading through the Thieve's World material is here: www.thievesworld.info/index.html There's a breakdown of all the characters, novels, RPG material, etc. Green Ronin has the boxed set on sale for $20 for their 10th anniversary sale: www.greenronin.com/store/product/grr1805... Sanctuary is a great place to play a rogue campaign (I used all of the material for Westgate in the Forgotten Realms and it worked out spectacularly).
#7 crimson_aneurysm Sep 20, 2010 14:42:41	Like AtomicBanana said, use GTA's approach. You could start the campaign in a big city, but lock off most of the city for various reasons. Maybe the quarter or ward you start in is under quarantine, and no-one is allowed out. You could have an adventure that involves breaking the quarantine for some reason or another - to steal supplies, to get a message out, etc. I think it would be really interesting to set an entire campaign almost entirely in one city. I would use Assassin's Creed 2 for lots of great thief/swasbuckly inspiration. Play the game if you haven't, or maybe read some summaries or FAQs for mission ideas.
#8 skiman84 Sep 20, 2010 15:21:24	Thanks for the advice. Yes I have played both Assassin's Creed 1 and 2, I have even looked at the Crime Wave missions in Dragon Age: Origins. For some reason though, I keep hitting a mental block.