City Campaign Mistakes that Ruin RPGs

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Running a city campaign in RPGs and D&D is often considered challenging, and many game masters steer clear, believing city adventures are beyond their experience or ability. However, running a city campaign in Dungeons & Dragons or other roleplaying games isn't as hard for dungeon masters as one might believe. Indeed, there are three common mistakes that GMs often fall into that make running a city campaign far more challenging than it needs to be. In this video, we discuss those common pitfalls and how to overcome them.
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[@theDMLair]

Check out dScryb's new SONIC LIBRARY! | Get cool sound effects, music, and ambiance to use in your games! www.dscryb.com/thedmlair - Use coupon code THEDMLAIR for 10% off! Trial & Trust, the September 2022 issue of Lair Magazine has an article in it titled Creating a Settlement. the-dm-lair.myshopify.com/products/trial-trust-lair-magazine-21-september-2022-issue

[@mjolasgard2533]

Perfect city adventure:: You're in Seattle - you must break into a Hasbro subsidiary and steal the scroll of Olga's Great Adventure version 1.0a. You will have to fight faceless suits and lawful evil outsiders...

[@jacobc8019]

😬😬😬

[@eddarby469]

Shades, Zombies, various races under mind control, and numerous NPCs trapped by a Devil's contract.

[@luthersmithers6052]

That would actually be a great idea for a session of d20 Modern.

[@Metanaut1]

Im working on it

[@eddarby469]

@@Metanaut1 When you make your new system, base it on a d24 to help it be new and not tied to previous systems.

[@ggogaming7441]

I actually liked building cities, I ended up spending a whole week making a big city named The blue port. Writing little sentances about the guards, the shops, the magic laws and the city nobility and distracts the ganges. the city is ruled by a woman called Aella, who is secretly serving a bronze dragon that spend his days begging for money on the street (He is the real leader)

[@danielrowan4716]

Nice flavor here. It’s amazing how just a few details and hooks can provide a vision of your concept.

[@PyroMancer2k]

Players, "Why don't the Guards deal with it?" GM, "Because the Guards are basically security guards. You wouldn't send a bunch of security guards in to neutralize a hostage situation. You send in SWAT. Adventures are SWAT. When's the last time you saw security guard with a tower shield? Yet it's standard gear for SWAT."

[@dextra_24703]

a big tip is like making these games like an adventure with split paths that all lead to the same goal or make a guild system

[@FitLovejoy]

The game Neverwinter Nights is a good example of a city campaign that is very linear and still really engaging. If you can get a copy and run it on an emulator, it'll give some good inspiration for your own campaign.

[@NicholasVernem-GroovyNickyLee]

I've been playing this game for like 15 years. My favourite game of all time, up there with SWKOTOR. I have the Beamdog conversion for Android.

[@gvanbooven]

Cities require more planning prior to starting a campaign, but once the local features and story points are set, your guardrails are already in place and the actual game isn't hard to run. Great tips Luke!

[@morrigankasa570]

I unfortunately don't have a group to play with:( However, I have created 6 different lvl 1 characters in case I found a group. One of which is an Astral Elf Anthropologist background Female Paladin (planning Oath of Conquest). Her primary goals are to conquer part of the "Material/Mortal Plane", establish a new Queendom, and create a new Pantheon primarily based off "Dead/Lost/Weakened" Deities such as Garagos. She sort of has plans on what her central Palace/City will look like.

[@zenovkayos5811]

The last point about stat blocks is a very interesting idea for a separate video. For example listing possible stat blocks for NPC's like commoner, veteran, evocator, conjurer, champion, etc... I think that would help a lot of DM's

[@danjbundrick]

When I'm not preparing anything else, I just prepare a list of these locations so if they're in a city that MIGHT have one of these, I just cut it from my list, and paste it into my campaign, then read from it

[@Romanus7867]

I thought many of the same things, but after looking into Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, I figured we'd give it a shot. Me and my group were so pleasantly surprised, we are going to continue the campaign in WD even after Dragon Heist is done. And WD has a great way to extend the adventure, because there are 4 villains you can use.

[@rookiedrifter4273]

I think there's a supplement out there called liked "The Alexandrian Dragon Heist" or something like that which actually connects the story and adventure throughout all four seasons. I haven't looked into it myself, but it was always the way I planned on running Dragon Heist if I ever got to.

[@Romanus7867]

@@rookiedrifter4273 Yeah, I have heard of it, but thanks for the reminder. I'm sure there's tons of inspiration in there if nothing else.

[@goontubeassos7076]

I ran a campaign for seven years in a city totally railroaded the characters all the time with my plot hooks linked to feel like a sandbox. then years later, they watched a video on railroading and told me they’re glad that I never did this to them. Lol.

[@Calebgoblin]

It's possible you're misunderstanding railroading as a specific term with a linear plot, but hey, happy ending!

[@dougmartin2007]

Railroading done right is fun. The real question is why would the characters ride this railroad? If they want to go on the ride it is fun, if they go just because that is all the DM prepared, it is less fun.

[@rich63113]

@@dougmartin2007 No, it's not. You're confusing linear campaigns with railroading.

[@dynestis2875]

@@dougmartin2007 ? I always only prepare what I can foresee my players to actually so, what else am I supposed to do?

[@dougmartin2007]

@@rich63113 A lot of people would say a linear campaign is just the DM trying to make the railroad sound nice. Don't get bogged down in semantics.

[@Doughy_in_the_Middle]

Castle Zagyg. This broke me of my "how much detail is too much?" concept. This was way too much detail. For those that haven't discovered this, one of Gary Gygax's last big projects was "Castle Zagyg". It was a MONSTROUS expansion on the concept of his original Yggsburgh campaign with a city with so much detail you could choke on it. The city is MASSIVE. Districts, streets, avenues, alleyways, you name it, it's there. Greenhouses and shops and markets and factories and warehouses. EVERY ONE OF THEM has NPCs, complete with mini-stat blocks and often enough interrelational text about Shopkeeper Smith is having an affair with Goody Henson, the seamstress around the block. Bimbum Kettlebottom keeps a stash of gold under a loose floorboard under the main checkout. It's rather stunning. Borrowed from it, and even cut the city into smaller sections that I liked and made my own city, only to use his details in my city. But to ever attempt that on my own? No. I don't think I will.

[@nathanreiter6908]

A nice thing with city adventures you don't usually have to deal with travel getting to sewers,, underground ruins, cult temple, etc. The older Fafhard and Gray Mouser series of books has some awesome inspirational material with it's city of Lankhmar.

[@anevilscientist]

I love running stuff for a city. But I also like improv/ adding a tailored experience for my players that is to help them/ their character care about the city. One of my GM tips is when a player asks if the town/ city has (fill in the blank) I ask for a check for looking for (the thing) while my brain is making it up while the dice rolls.

[@Aurora-fz6sq]

This is great advice!! Thank you for breaking down how to put a city together - I’ve been wanting to run a larger city but was feeling pretty intimidated. Awesome video!

[@existinginaspace8347]

The hardest part is finding appropriate battle maps.

[@adampender2482]

Theater of the mind.

[@connorbutler5900]

I use MS Paint for battle map ideas, screenshot and save them, then when we play I lay down a wipeable whiteboard where I can quickly draw up/erase anything we need.

[@GreenBlueWalkthrough]

Great guide and it sounnds like all a city campaign is like a region one where you don't phycally move all that far and thuse need to pour that energy in a tighter circle... Also 3 is such a great list thank you!

[@freighttrainusa]

I love the way you do the ad inserts lol. Good fun stuff.

[@martyhoward6727]

I like templates. It helps consolidate my thoughts and your channel helps do that usually in every video. The links to other videos related to what your talking about helps. You do a good job and it is appreciated!

[@joebogart7093]

Great advice. I need to watch this again to take some notes. Plus watch the 10 tips one.

[@dylanlindsay6794]

Great video! definitely going to reference it the next time I build a city for my players.

[@jorgeemiliogarcia5477]

Thanks a lot for this video! I think it’ll be really helpful, and made me think of a few things I needed! And well, I’m currently building a city campaign, but I’m facing a few other challenges besides those mentioned in the video: 1. The focus will be about overthrowing the tyrannical king running the city, and thus the whole kingdom. The PCs patron found out the king is an impostor, and their goal is to either organize a rebellion and start a revolution, or find the true heir and expose the king as an impostor. 2. This also means that players will have to be on the lookout for city guards, since they won’t be on their side for the most part, and they will be seen as criminals for a large portion of the campaign. 3. And the main problem I’m facing, it’s a high level adventure with players starting at 14th level. It’s part of an ongoing campaign we’ve been running for a few years, but we’ve never been in a proper city adventure. I’m concerned that the PCs might be too powerful to find city guards and faction enemies actually challenging. Or that they won’t really worry about consequences since they’re at a point they’re unbeatable. I’m slowly finding ways to overcome these problems by altering stat blocks and adding powerful enemies here and there, but if there’s any tips about running a high level city adventure with the government as your enemy that I may not have thought of, I’d really appreciate that. Thanks again!

[@octo5042]

9:21 THANK YOU! I was about to fall into that pit of spikes! 😭

[@Christ_and_Shaun]

I literally just DM-ed my first session for a city campaign yesterday. Thank you for the video :D

[@Mastikator]

An easy way to do all murder mysteries all the time is to have the player characters be police detectives who solve murders that happen in a large city.

[@ernesthakey3396]

Also, a serial killer could be the big bad, so you could literally be solving a series of related murders. If not part of official law enforcement, you can have a group that is essentially a private investigator and their associates. Dresden Files style, or Spenser For Hire...

[@jonsaucy8440]

Great video again Luke; city campaigns can be a great experience for the players because they can really get grounded in the city itself. And we know how beautiful a campaign can be when the PCs feel grounded and invested in a particular area. One building I would've like to see included would have been an Adventuring Guild. These can offer a great organization within the city the PCs can choose to join, it offers a great place to seed a job board for one-off adventures that may not be within the city proper (1-2 days ride outside the city) which are very easy for DMs to design and then set aside not caring if the PCs ever see them or not, and it brings in "fun tension" to the game in the form of competitions with other adventuring groups. Of course, you can choose to what lengths the Adventuring Guild rewards the PCs. Extra points if you make the Adventuring Guilds leader apart of the City Council, or maybe they have a direct backroom communication line with the King/Queen's spymaster etc.

[@gnarthdarkanen7464]

I'd suggest, that it COULD matter more on the "flavor" of the City you're working on... Guilds ARE "glorified unions"... AND so some local governments who contract work to Adventurers might not be so keen to have such a Guild putting pressure on "legitimate pay" for what would be tantamount to mercenaries... even when they DO help the local guards/police... As such, similar to a Rogues' or Thieves' guild, something like a local Tavern of note or other business might have to serve as a "front" allowing for business to be done... bulletins and communications posted, and the like, and even dues-contributions building to retirement pensions, medical aid (and such), and all while covering taxes with an "otherwise legitimate" business to report to the nobility/leadership caste... Don't forget that's where Al Capone messed up... The tax-man will get you. (haha) SO you never know when you'll need to hide out behind and beneath one of the washing facilities in the local laundrymat or a dry cleaner's... using the catacombs under the city as a more secretive meeting place to avoid the scrutiny of the "City Guard"... ;o)

[@jamesfolkerts8169]

Nice work. Created a hive type City on my own world that has the center being high society where the outsides our individual suburbs and we've had quite a fun time just exploring one or two of the suburbs and the adventures there.

[@Gossamer3592]

Fantasic video! My fav campaign was one i ran in Waterdeep. The misconceptions are real! That said, the most intimidating/hardest part for me is dealing with PCs who break the law and get arrested since that really changes the direction of the campaign.

[@shadiafifi54]

#3 was probably the biggest fear I had; that since the players could ask for anything, I had to have everything ready. Needless to say, your response put my mind at ease. The rest of the video also helped immensely. Also, what you were going for around 7:54 was the "Doylist" explanation, i.e. the out-of-game explanation, whereas having the guards be less powerful, being busy with a million other things, or not qualified for the jobs the adventurers are being sent on is the "Watsonian" explanation. Basically think of it as how John Watson explains the plot of a Sherlock Holmes story (being a character in it) vs how Arthur Conan Doyle would (being the author).

[@MasterTMO]

Thank you. My campaign is currently in Cairo, which is nearly as big as a city can get. :) I'll be rewatching this video a few times.

[@mattalford3862]

Really, really useful info. Thank you!

[@robomonkey1018]

Thanks for the advice over the years my man.

[@calcite_dragon]

I had no Idea people thought city campaigns were for experts. I ran one for my players on their second adventure.

[@gregorkarbowski6830]

Thanks for a normal Dnd video!!!!

[@Audey]

Just started Dragon Heist a few months ago (planning on using the Alexandrian Remix too), and it's gone really well so far. Scariest thing about this campaign is there's an entire chapter that is just a big open sandbox. Even a pseudo sandbox is not terribly difficult with some forethought: 1) Before the campaign even started, I created/gathered NPCs, quest hooks, magic items, mysteries/clues, locations, etc. 2) I made sure everything I prepped was modular. Now if a player wants to do some random thing: "Sure, you go down to [NPC #12] and he tells you he needs help with [Quest #6]" 3) Like the video suggested, I'm constantly dangling plot hooks from the module or of my own making. By session 2 or 3, I had a very good idea of what the players were going to do like 90% of the time. 4) Again like the video said, I made a point to mention during session 0: "Hey, this is a sandbox, and I think I'm ready for y'all to go crazy. But I'm also just one man and a novice DM. There may be a time or two where I have to tell you 'I'm not ready for that, can we do that next session?'" Other than that, I just spent a lot of time in the weeks before session 1 reading and watching things about waterdeep. Just kind of immersed myself in those stories for a while so that I felt confident improvising. It's been a blast. Only complaint is my PCs are enjoying this sandboxy chapter too much and dragging it out while I'm ready to move on to the actual plot XD

[@georgeb8976]

Wow, right when i am gearing up for waterdeep dragon heist this video drops. Talk about timing. Thanks!

[@Tomicrat]

Thanks for this, The Barbarian Skit gave me a good chuckle .... 👍👍👍👍

[@dahelmang]

Thanks Luke and team!

[@Weyoun6]

Thank you for getting back to normal D&D content. I agree with you on the problems of the OGL, but honestly, I'm sick of hearing about it. I am also running and open world city adventure now, so this is super helpful. Thank you

[@gametangia]

man you are the only youtuber i dont forward the sponsor adds

[@whiskeygamesnerdstuff789]

Great advice, appreciate the video.

[@EternalTotem]

Best tip I heard use the commoner stat block. Consequences is a great tool

[@John-xw1rz]

About to start a ptolus campaign, this was a timely watch :)

[@odinulveson9101]

Will check out your store Luke 👍 Also for city interaction/ play, the Dungeon Dudes Drakkenheim series have tons of city exploration and faction interactions. Binging those in the background while painting minis + several cups of coffee 😆

[@tuomasronnberg5244]

I'm currently running a Drakkenheim game, and I'm enjoying it a lot. I've always liked faction play, and it incorporates it from level 1. The players were surprised at first, because they expected that they needed to be high level badasses before factions got interested in them, but they got over that quickly 🙂

[@user-ns7tk9mr2b]

I recently read "Red Nails" by Howard where Conan comes to a city with around 100 people in it, broken into two factions and all of them are crazy. Would be nice to see info on how to run an adventure in a lost or abandoned city

[@princesskanuta3870]

Great video!

[@PetesDracolich]

I've been beside you for the last 12 days, Cheers my friend! Your awesome! 5E forever!

[@maaderllin]

The only time I created the stat blocks of many NPCs is in the very beginning of the last campaign I DM'ed. The basic principle was that King Godfroy III of Caranvalle asked for adventurers to explore the mountains and neutralize the mosnter threat, because each time he sent his armies to do it, they would have to face a guerilla warfare from monsters AND the possibility that his rival, Prince Richard of Gaillefort would use the occasion to steal parts of his lands. But he also wanted to avoid a free for all of murder hobos going to war against each other in his "backyard" so he organized a tournament of hero groups and the 4 finalist groups would recieve a medal from him that was basically a permit of adventuring. I created 4 other hero groups with their own theme against which my players fought (in a friendly non-lethal way). Since they were all level 1, it wasn't too complicated. Eventually, during the campaign, they would come across the other hero groups they had fought against and would help each other in their respective investigations.

[@grimey619]

Creating factions is what i'm working on now. But you are right in only fleshing out what they encounter and the overall city management.

[@ObatongoSensei]

In one of my past 3.5 campaigns, the characters lived in or went to a big capital. One of them was a young female LE cleric/wizard/true necromancer, incredibly beautiful but also nasty and dangerous, which was the city's necropolis warden. As a city officer, she had to attend the council's meetings, something that bored her to undeath, since she really didn't care for anything but her beloved dead. But then some corpses started to vanish from the necropolis and she went full extermination mode. It was easy to have her follow the line of plot hooks I left around, dragging the rest of the party with her. I will just say that the only "survivor" among the morons that dared to disturb "her" deads' repose ended up dying of terror while closed in a coffin with one of his dead companions for three days, only for the girl to have his body stuffed by a taxonomist and placed near the entrance of the necropolis with a sign telling "grave robber", because his horrified death expression was of her liking. She basically created a new notable place in the city without me doing anything. This kind of character forced me to design in greater detail the necropolis, though, as well as other parts of the city where the other players often went, especially the rogue and the bard, who where some big trouble seekers, or the LG cleric/sorcerer/mystic theurge, which visited all the plazas and squares to preach and give sermons. I had to describe a lot of recurrent npcs too, but it was worth it and really fun.

[@barge489]

Having ran a very city focused campaign 3 is so important, it's so easy to get lost in the sauce. City campaigns also have a risk of forgetting the golden rule. You need to run the game your players want. I love political intrigue, sandboxy, shades of gray stuff. My party... Doesn't, they want a patron to give them directions, they like more defined "bad guys/good guys" and they want to go to a dungeon and whack monsters. and cities can totally do this! The other big tip I have. Is it your city campaign drags.. you can always hit the reset button. As a first time dm, I made a super over complicated web of plots and storylines, the fave was really grinding under the weight, players felt listless... So I borrowed a page from Matt Colville's playbook. The orcs attacked. (I actually had the then unseen BBEG open a portal to the abyss above the city and basically bombard it with demons. Created a great season of the party trying to fight, then escape the city and it wiped the slate clean.

[@mrsupaconducta]

Thanks for the tips.

[@AuthorTraceRichards]

I currently have the players in one of my groups in Mirros (formerly Specularum) of ad&d 2e’s Mystara setting, and theyre prob gonna be there for awhile. City campaigns can be alot of fun

[@bjornh4664]

One aspect that is vital for a city is industry and commerce. Is it a thriving hub for merchants, or a backwater fallen on hard times? Is the city famous for a certain product, like fabrics, perfume, glassware? How powerful are the trade guilds and merchant guild? Is there a special festival devoted to the speciality the city is famed for? There will be merchants' houses, warehouses, caravanserais (in need of caravan guards), and so on.

[@mcfaning]

Last campaign one of my player made that comment "why are the city guards doing something about this"...... so I decided to make them the local constabulary in a city about the size of waterdeep for our current campaign

[@Pandaemoni]

I think of "politics" in D&D as the interplay of differenty factions that have power with their own particular spheres where those spheres often rub up against one another, not _just_ nobles, professional politicians, and government ministers, although that may may also have their own factions. That can happen outside of cities as easily as inside them. Take BG 3, where there is, early-on, conflict between the tieflings and the druids (and between different subgroups within the druid Enclave), and between the druids and the goblins. But cities are especially good for such dynamics as they arise naturally with large numbers of people living side by side and competing for wealth, power or other resources. In my longest running city campaign, there was an alliance of kobolds who controlled most of the sewers and who often came into contact with several of the criminal gangs interested in using the sewers as safe passage. The gangs, however, did not always get along with each other or with variuous mercantile/artisanal guilds, including a guild of adventurers (but often entered short term alliances when needed), so more politics there. The official church was not a govenment agency, but represented the four sanctioned deities that were legal to worship in that city and its surrounding lands. The churches sometimes hasd their own internal tensions, but always collectively opposed "heretical" religions (including several formal monastic orders) as well as attempting to undermine the social acceptance of the use of "black magic" (i.e. arcane casters). Under the weight of this social opprobrium, many arcane casters would choose to band together into "schools" (not necessarily based on class or subclass as much as differing philosophies) to defend themselves from the slanders of the State Churches. So there were lots of politics without ever having a single royal, noble, or person on the government payroll. It was very hard to become prominent without picking sides in at least some of the inter-group conflicts (unless the players choose to piss off all sides). I love that because you have plenty of antagonists for the players to dislike who were not mustache-twirling or "Capital-E" evil...they just want different things and often find themselves in what they perceive as zero-sum situations.

[@KermodeBear]

One of the best pieces of advice about DMing I ever heard, I believe it was from the Fear the Boot podcast: A DM was talking about how he runs games and things he does to make life easy. He said that for most combats, his players fought skeletons. Well, they weren't actually skeletons - they might be kobolds, or humans, or aggressive animals, or whatever - but he used the stats for a Skeleton for all of them. What he needed was to have mooks for the players to beat on and create some diversions during combat. That's it. And the Skeleton fit the bill. Mission accomplished, done. Nobody is going to remember Random Guard #17, but they will remember your cool world full of intrigue and colorful important figures and lost ruins deep in a dark jungle. Spend your precious GM time on the stuff that matters!

[@MitchT97]

I’m glad to know I’m doing a decent job then. My players are in Neverwinter for a homebrew campaign I made to follow their stories after the Lost Mines & Ice Spire modules. So far I’ve had enough laid out with a market, the guards, the peoples, a few taverns, two main churches & a library that’s in one, academy groups walking the streets talking spells, a kid running from the guards, thieves cant graffiti on a couple ally ways, bards handing out fliers for a show the next day, etc. I did fall into the trap of over preparing. I left plot points open but I have the name of every major building, person, and some histories of different places and peoples, the tunnels and sewers under the city, etc. This kinda led me to under prepare in the quest route they ended up taking so I had to make up a few things on the spot and now I’m scrambling to map build the next dungeon.

[@D20Pub]

Ptolus is perfect for this! Been running a game in the City by the Spire since 2017. Even built an entire website and KZbin channel dedicated to it! ❤

[@luthersmithers6052]

Good video with great information. I love running city campaigns, I personally think it makes my job as a Dungeon Master easier. Of course, I "cheat" and use a premade campaign setting (World of Greyhawk), but I think that's beside the point.

[@sleepinggiant4062]

You should also consider guilds, black market, and/or faction HQ locations. I would also recommend unique locations, a park, monument, coliseum, etc.

[@markgnepper5636]

Great stuff friend 👏 👍

[@timothyperrigoue3997]

JUST recently embraced EZD6 by DM Scotty... and Dude... Between what you suggest here and EZD6... Players may have a whole new TTRPG experience. Just discovered your channel and looking forward to exploring the other vids. Cheers!

[@michaelsangregorio]

This is why I love Sharn in Eberron. Literally tiered in class from top to bottom.

[@jarnivanwaesberge3984]

The most challenging thing in my campaign, which so far has been mostly city-based (albeit across several different cities), has been memorising as much information as possible, especially NPC and lore related. I feel like in the campaign I'm running, the depth and intricacies of the world are as important as they are challenging as a DM. As an example of this: a couple of sessions ago one of my players asked a knowledgeable NPC faction leader about the 11 electoral candidates for the upcoming elections in a different city, what they knew about them as well as their opinion on the candidates. I have a 20-page document describing all of that in detail, but I hadn't read it prior to the session because I didn't expect that question to come up. I had to pause the game for a couple of minutes while I quickly scanned through the document to at least be able to give them SOMETHING, but I had to tell the player that I would send them a more complete and in-depth document later. That felt like a major failure on my part, as it was a piece of lore that was obviously important for the upcoming elections which they will probably try to influence.

[@ftkinney]

As a DM I love city adventures I use detective novels as my inspiration and stick to the crime writers rule of thumb if it starts to get boring “drop a body”. The players go on a typical shopping trip and the merchant is dead behind the counter….they go to a tavern and guy sitting next to them nose dives into his soup. I also set a lot of sketchy and foreboding stuff happening in the background that the players comment on and that gives me the plot. “Dude I think we should follow those guys”. Great now I have an encounter.

[@blackwolfe638]

Right on. Good Vid.

[@hotbanjo91]

I'm running my first EVER campaign in a city this coming week and I see this... "AM I MAKING A MISTAKE!?" LOL glad I ran into this honestly.

[@retrostoryteller]

Currently running an Eldritch Hunt campaign taking place in Yharnam from Bloodborne.

[@rcschmidt668]

Nice info, Luke! It is better to not have the entire city built out. 1. Having an info dump is counterproductive . 2. If you meet new people, they can be mysterious and unknown and still a power player. If they are listed ahead of time, it kills the mystique and surprise for the reveal later on.

[@anutt7436]

I'm a relatively new GM (I've run a few one shots but never a campaign). I'm thinking of running a city campaign where the players would be starting a thieves guild from scratch, then battling their old guild for control of the city. I'm planning on breaking my city into different sections, each section being a different "XP Level". So the richer the area the higher level characters and villain's they'll face. I'm just worried that the players will want to go straight to the rich area before getting control of the slums.

[@QueenLizby]

Very helpful video... If you're running fantasy.. sadly I am running more contemporary cities in coming games so a lot of the tips past "it's not a sandbox" won't really go well in a vampire chronicle or coc mystery. But when I get my Pathfinder books and learn the basics this will be extremely helpful, so I'll save this vid for then

[@AdamBuxton-challand]

With you mentioning One Note I’d like to see your thoughts on Obsidian I’m just flipping my gdoc campaign notes over too it and it’s an interesting discovery

[@dane3038]

Great advise. You may want to pick up one or two of the City Books from Flying Buffalo for flavor inspiration. Just remember his advice and don't try to use them to flesh out your city completely. I recommend Book I.

[@martinsgaming_coc4395]

Talk about timing. I am a first time DM and a relatively new dnd player in general. I've decided to start the players in a giant city and I'd like for them to spend a lot of time there or at least think of it as a home or base of operations type thing. Still a big task for someone who has never done this before, but I am excited!

[@lumberbeangaming8805]

Thanks for the video, I'm a new GM and will be running a ruined city campaign like Mordheim and Drakkenheim. I just hope my players like what I come up with.

[@nagyzoli]

@the DM Lair ChatGPT is STUPIDLY GOOD to template your district and subquest. He even REMEMBERS stuff. Check this out: Input: Describe a fictional small town from the early industrial era, in the Pathfinder 2E universe. The town should have 4 districts, each district it's own unique military outpost. Output: Ironhold is a small town situated in the foothills of the Iron Mountains in the early industrial era of the Pathfinder 2E universe. It has a population of around 5,000 people and is known for its iron mines and smithies. The town is divided into four districts, each with its own unique military outpost. The Mining District: This district is home to the iron mines that provide the town's livelihood. It is also where most of the town's smithies are located. The military outpost in this district is responsible for protecting the mines from bandits and monsters that may lurk in the mountains. The Residential District: This is where most of the town's residents live. It is home to small houses and shops, as well as a few inns and taverns. The military outpost in this district is responsible for maintaining order and protecting the residents from any threats that may arise. The Trade District: This district is where the town's merchants and traders conduct their business. It is home to a large market square and several warehouses. The military outpost in this district is responsible for protecting the town's trade routes and ensuring the safe passage of goods and merchants. The Fortification District: This district is home to the town's main fortification, a large stone wall that surrounds the town and protect it from invaders. It also have barracks, armory, and command center. The military outpost in this district is responsible for the town's overall defense and coordinates the actions of the other outposts in case of an attack. Ironhold is a bustling and active town, with the constant activity of mining, trading and the presence of the military outposts gives the town a sense of security and prosperity Quirky but gives you a good start. To me, a not very creative person, this is god given

[@mban2748]

I am currently running my first city adventure. Beginning of the campaign I made a social contract with my players... Most encounters in the city will be social. To help them know the difference between a social and combat encounter, I give them a clue around rolling initiative. If the encounter is meant to be social, when they ask about initiative, I will ask, "Are you going to attack?" If the encounter is meant to be combat, I will answer with. "Probably a good idea. Having that guideline allows my players to set aside their Murder Hobo and enjoy the RP. {edited for grammar.}

[@aaroncoffman7267]

Wait…is the barbarian running a table himself on off weeks? That’s awesome!

[@Warriormon87]

In my game the players are contracted criminal investigators. I still had a player ask "Why don't the Azorius solve this?" To which the captain NPC replied, they are, that's why YOU are on the case!" And the detective player just replied, "Oh. Right..."

[@Aaron-oe8xw]

What i did for magic items and rewards was when the party went on missions they would be able to gather or harvest rare items from the enemies or environment, they could trade these items in at what i called a "poachers shop". This was how i could reward players without leaving hoardes of trasure around and also controlling the inventory of magic items. Its a bit roundabout but it made for decent role play and environment interaction

[@jcaronmusic]

Hey Luke longtime sub , first comment thanks for continuing to make great rpg content. You could be going nuts with video after video on the ogl hype, but it’s nice to actually have something related to actual gameplay stuff rather than the controversy! You do great work, keep it up!

[@twilightgardenspresentatio6384]

Yes thank you for the regular recipe

[@rcschmidt668]

Truth! Much of Luke’s content is universal for any game.

[@mammonclarke]

It is very refreshing to get a quality and helpful video that serves to excite, educate and motivate us. With all the OGL drama and videos putting a negative light on this game we all love so much, this video is a much need reprieve. So many creators are trashing the game and pushing people to move to different systems. Yes WOTC and Hasbro upper management have proven to be horrible human beings but D&D isn't about them. It is about us, our players, our tables, our adventures. Luke has produced another great video that helps remind and motivate us to create better worlds and campaigns. Thank you for all you do.

[@davidmc8478]

Mistake #4: running travel in a city like it’s a dungeon rather than a point crawl. PCs should easily be able to ask how to get between locations so you can move the story between locations quickly. Of course, the information may be false. This also means you don’t need to map the city. I just mark a few key buildings and market squares. Each market square has adjacent tavern, inn, blacksmith, market events.

[@rewejuegos6839]

I think myself as a very experienced DM (30+ years). But i still struggle when the PC actually earn a NPC (individual or group) to help them out. I think is because i already got the "guard wont do the aventure for you" buried in my mind. But sometimes, the story, their action, the development really calls for a NPC vs NPC resolution, and i never enjoy having to RP all by myself The only solution i find (but wont work everytime) is to handle the friendly NPC RP to the players, and let them tell me how the "The Red Cape Society" defeat the "Evil Cultist of Xa".

[@byzantinex]

Ptolus makes this so much easier ❤ Monte Cook Games. Epic city campaign setting

[@jeremiahbond2810]

Thanks for this. I appreciate this video.

[@garwynrosser8907]

On the topic of "unused plot threads". Save those for one-shots. This allows players to experience the campaign as different characters and get to know one of the other NPCs in the story. If the players had fun and the PCs survived: grab the sheets and stow them away in the event of a death and use their connection to the NPC as a way to introduce the replacement party member.

[@akidfromonett5006]

"It's ok for me to make money off of another company, but they can't off of me..." unconscionable LOL

[@TheBlackZodiacGhost]

My biggest challenge with city scapes are to make them feel alive and lived in. There are also infinitely more to take into consideration when it comes to PC shenanigans. There's a big difference between a PC doing something less socially acceptable out in the wilderness where there are no witnesses, and the same shenanigan in a bustling city-scape. How does the immediate people react? Is anyone getting the city guards? And all the questions lead to more questions, and that is just one fraction of the complex interactions that can take place in a society. In the wilderness, dungeons, caves, etc. there's often a simpler path of resolution to any given action, since you most of the time don't have to take society and civilians into consideration.

[@goldenalt3166]

I think you missed the goal of removing the intimidation factor. The end of the video seems to pile on the complexity of such an endeavour. I agree with the idea of not making it, open ended. It helps to draw a flow chart. Don't be afraid just to tell the characters they're at a dead end and remind them of the options left.

[@groovinhooves]

The thumbnail for this indicated some - uh - serious concerns :D

[@tscoff]

I created an NPC dwarf who is bald and whose beard is wispy and is falling out. I gave him a Hat of Disguise and he uses it to make it look like he has a full, bushy beard. He doesn’t have a stat block, but my players will remember him because of that quirk.

[@adampender2482]

You didn't mention places to train and people to do the training. How are they expected to gain levels without training?

[@vntHrzn]

What are some good books to prepare for a city campaign? Is SCAG a good one?

[@notsureicare488]

I wish my players would go after NPCs sometimes. Ive made a goblin with a mouth(Think Styx from Shards of Darkness). Along with catching him and catching lip after he regained conciousness, they let him go, then proceeded to adopt a bandit group as employees for a Bed and Breakfast.

[@mithril1584]

dammit, i typically fast forward through promotions but i love the barbarian so much i just cant.

[@InternetMadnez]

0:16 is this Paris at Opéra station?

[@geoffdewitt6845]

"City campaigns aren't sandbox campaigns!" Wait, what do you think a sandbox campaign is? 'Cuz what you described sounds a lot like a sandbox campaign.

[@dainfinitum7819]

watching this as I'm making my first homebrew campaign set in a city because I thought it would be easier than a whole world smh