[DF] City Adventures
 

I wonder what kind of adventures the delvers can have in the city - and I'm specifically excluding "cleaning out the sewers" and "there's a monster in my basement", because they are just dungeons by another name.

Suggestions?

Re: [DF] City Adventures
 

of the top of my head Im going to go with

Bodyguard/Bouncer

Assasinate/Kidnap/Steal <NPC/Item>

Investigate/Police/Oppose <NPC group like a Thieves Guild>

Keep the Peace/Broker Deal between <2 NPC Groups>

Any one of these might be a nice change up from Dungeon Delving and depending on the dressing could certainly be done DF style or even a gateway to an adventure.

Nymdok
...and Charles Nelson Riley for the block.

Re: [DF] City Adventures
 

They might be hired as guards. Something being moved, or a person would be more interesting than standing outside a vault. Getting something/someone back after they, or someone else lost it (or just to steal it) would be in between guard duty and plain delving and might include some social interaction and investigation. Both might extend beyond the city proper without venturing into a dungeon of any sort.

They might be hired as assassins, saboteurs, or general 'muscle' which would be similar to retrieving/stealing/kidnapping without the need to get the MacGuffin out. It doesn't seem as 'DFish' to me though.

Re: [DF] City Adventures
 

The town is caught between two rival thieves guilds fighting over who will run it. They're eager to hire muscle and they've got the money but the townsfolk would like both of them gone.

Re: [DF] City Adventures
 

Plus the daughter of the leader of one side and the son of the leader of the other side have fallen hard for each other, and....

DF: Shakespearean Adventures!

Re: [DF] City Adventures
 

Start with a normal "Kill the Evil Overlord who is oppressing the good folk of Burghopolistun" adventure.

In the treasure, include the EO's tax farming rights (assume it's some sort of document), giving the bearer rights to tax Burghopolistun as they see fit, in exchange for keeping order and (hefty sum) given to the High King when he processes through every Pangolinsday.

Lots of fun you can have from there.

Re: [DF] City Adventures
 

Recover the Malteese Falcon (mcguffin) from person/group X. To differentiate from a dungeon "recover the Plot Device Crystal (mcguffin) from the orcs in hole X" try to make it a situation where the players (and character) don't want to kill the Xs to get the mcguffin back.

Good urban McGuffins to recover:
An item promised in dowery/bride price for an important marriage that's in THREE DAYS! Accept no substitutes - we only agreed to the marriage to get our hands on the McGuffin, no amount of money can compensate.
The seal/scepter/crown of the king/city/bishop/whatever - some sort of important symbol of authority required for an important document or ceremony that's scheduled to happen in THREE DAYS!
The deeds to the town/mill/blacksmiths/old fort by the road!
The princesses/kings/archbishops/little orphan waifs' heart/soul/shadow/whatever, before it is ruined forever (in THREE DAYS!)
Unique artworks, value may be expensive, priceless, or sentimental.
People! Children are classics, as are important aristocrats.

If you don't know who took the McGuffin, it can instead be an investigation to FIND the McGuffin, rather than negotiate for its return, or a heist to counter-steal it. For this you need a cast of suspects who would be interested in taking the McGuffin.

In this variation, any of the above McGuffins usually work, along with "someones life" as in you are investigating a murder rather than a theft.

I recommend GURPS Mysteries for this sort of adventure, it's a great resource. GURPS Harkwood is a FABULOUS example of a fantasy murder mystery adventure, by the way. My players LOVED it.

Re: [DF] City Adventures
 

Most of the best ones do indeed start out as clones of either Romeo and Juliet or Red Harvest. Substitute guilds for companies, families, etc. and you're well on your way. However, thievery is huge – it was good enough for Conan, and Cugel, and Fafrd and the Gray Mouser. Also, modern-day parkour movies are easily translated to fantasy; if you can't figure out how to convert Yamakasi (rogues turned good vs. urban injustice) or Banlieue 13 (rogues vs. the Big Bad with a city-destroying McGuffin) to work with dungeon fantasy themes and protagonists, then you aren't really trying.

Re: [DF] City Adventures
 

Well Vampire the Masquerade would work perfectly for DF in the cities. There could be many factions of evil forces controlling various parts of the city in secrecy. Not just vampires would do it, drow, mind warpers and so forth might make alliances with the nobles of the city so that each can further their aims.

Re: [DF] City Adventures
 

.... this Red Harvest? Bit warhammer for my taste.

Re: [DF] City Adventures
 

According to many literary scholars (and I concur), there are only seven basic plots anyway (Google around and you'll come up with some interesting variations). Rather than worry about coming up with a new one, embrace an existing one and do your very best to do a great job with your particular spin on it.

Re: [DF] City Adventures
 

I highly recommend a "band of thieves" sandbox campaign. The players basically do all the plotting work for you and thank you for it too.

Re: [DF] City Adventures
 

Plus it lets you really develop a single location. Lots of depth.

Re: [DF] City Adventures
 

Hey, why not? You already saw it: it's easy to drop role playing elements into action adventures.

A city, enough detailed in your head or notes, can be comparable to a Dungeon. And then you add a fair amount of social aspects for interacting. There are even "social dungeons", networks of relationships that players can't reach until they "unlock" certain paths (as the acceptance of friendship of a NPC, or this other NPC, which is comparable to choosing between different unknown roads or dungeon doors) for advancing towards a closer emotional contact and relationship with the Voivode which is being magically manipulated for despair of the citizens, and then revealing the manipulator which is acting in the order of his personal life. Then the players fight her or her influence with the Voivode being neutral to them or favorable, instead hostile and with all city's soldiers against the party (that would be the result of a wrong or forced path in the social dungeon), instead only the corrupted bunch of soldiers loyal to the evil wizard or Glamour Girl (GURPS Urban Magics, p. 13). So, the manipulator would be in the "last circle" of the "social network" or labyrinth, as a Boss to fight, with possible minions if the manipulated NPC is still under her influence.

Of course the future GURPS Social Engineering would be very useful here.

I agree.

Re: [DF] City Adventures
 

I was actually going for Kurosawa.

Re: [DF] City Adventures
 

We did an adventure in a city where the PCs were put under close watch by the local justiciars (in our case it was building from character backstory-but you don't need to do that if you don't want to). Then there was an assasination, the inevitable capture of the PCs, escape, and hunt for the real killer with the local constabulary conducting a house-by-house search. We used the chase rules from Action 2, a lot.

Re: [DF] City Adventures
 

And Kurosawa was frequently going for Shakespeare. Ah, the circle of life.

Re: [DF] City Adventures
 

That's a cool idea! Although I wouldn't use it for DF but would run a regular fantasy game.

Re: [DF] City Adventures
 

Im thinking a really big city-state that would yield huge amounts of tribute and cultural prestige if conquered (like the historical Venice, for example). Some invading army plans to soften it up with hired mercenaries and spies trying to covertly stir up revolts, assassinate key figures and sabotage security measures.

Delvers have to chase them through the streets, find their hideouts, expose their secret identities, foil assassinations and so on.

Give the bands distinct personalities and group dynamics, with plenty of opportunities for roleplaying.

Re: [DF] City Adventures
 

Maybe he was going for something more pulpy, like this Dashiell Hammett novel.

arnej

Re: [DF] City Adventures
 

OR, they're the ones stirring up the revolts, assassinating people, sabotaging stuff, etc.

Spec-Ops forward element of an invading army. Sounds like DF to me. Mix DF and Action.

Re: [DF] City Adventures
 

For enthusiasts of this, I strongly recommend the long out-of-print-but-often-available-on-eBay Thieves' Guild, from Gamelords. Most of it (but alas, not the core rules) can also be ordered from Different Worlds Publishing. The essence of the game is that all the PCs are thieves, so the adventures are heavily city-based (pursuit, second-story jobs, etc) with the occasional break out of the city (temple lotting and tomb robbing, highwayman adventures).

Of course, this sort of thing requires a city setting, so they also produced the Free City of Haven. This was to be published in three parts, but only two were ever produced. The rights to this also went to a new owner in 1986 when Gamelords wrapped up operations. Tadashi Ehara, longtime editor of Different Worlds, holds the rights so far as I know, and has taken a fiendish delight in making me wait more than a quarter century for the final instalment.

EDIT: I am quite happily using Haven as the setting for both of my current DF games. There are few roleplaying settings I liked in 1981 and still enjoy now.

Re: [DF] City Adventures
 

Indeed. That's where Kurosawa got the plot of Yojimbo, which in turn provided (lawsuit-contested) inspiration for A Fistful of Dollars and (authorized) inspiration for Last Man Standing. The plot never gets old. I think there's even a fantasy one out there . . . um, what was it called? Ah, this. Terrible movie, but maybe worth a look for DF fans seeking urban plots.

Re: [DF] City Adventures
 

One could even hope for an official DF n*: City Adventures some day?

*n is a whole number larger than 12

Re: [DF] City Adventures
 

The heroes catch rumor of a racist town full of sorceror elves who have developed a spell that will get rid of all orcs, everywhere. A band of orcs hire them to go stop this so-called "banestorm" from being cast...

Re: [DF] City Adventures
 

Razhmok's Scroll is what that other game coniser's an artifact. Indestructible despite it's condition, and undetectable as magic.

It is a ditrry, torn piece of parchment with writing on it. In actual use, the person possessing it acquires a(nother) level of magery and caps do not apply against this level and knows all spells of [college of GM's choosing] as if 4 points were spent on them. This effect lasts for 2 hours continous time (No, you can't be a wizard for 20 minutes at 10 am and then become one for 50 minutes at 4 pm - start at ten, end at twelve) after which, the scroll must be left out in the sun for at least one hour to recharge.

Being out in the sun caused problems. It got thrown out by mistake and is somewhere in the rubble strewn about town.

Good luck.