So cards on the table time, I am autistic which in my case means I am good at some aspects of running D&D (I am much better at playing than running honestly) but I suck at others, especially when it comes to writing a story and have any ability to guess what info my players will ask for. Which means I spend days over preparing as I try to think of everything :S
So I have an idea for a campaign in which my players are the City Guard.
I have a fairly detailed city worked out from my homebrew setting and a basic starting point from a plot point of view. To give you the short version:
The city is the most important on the continent as it is the hub for a portal network that links the other cities, it was also the most corrupt until an uprising from the common folk bought down the system which included the city guard who where perhaps the most corrupt organisation of them all. The system that replaced it was to have the temples take over the administration of the city and life has gotten much better, however to replace the city guard individual guilds, market districts etc employed their own 'guard' and those have grown to a point where some of them are corrupt and/or working for thieves guilds with one actually being run the most powerful thieves guild in the city. The remaining city guard was left a city wide joke that everyone basically ignored patrolling the poorer parts of town where there was no money for a 'private guard' to be employed. It being made up of people that want to do good & bums & drunks currently.
To fix this problem the temples have decided to re-brand and re-boot the city watch to bring more control and law and order to the city and so the campaign will start with the PC's (who have made characters that desire to join up for 'important backstory reasons') turning up day one for 'training camp'.
I like the idea but I have a snag or two I could use some advice on.
What would a city watch 'training camp' be?
Being a member of the city watch they will be on a salary, so no collecting gold and keeping it to buy cool magic items. Which I know my players will want.
How best to deal with the levelling up and then quickly becoming much more powerful than their fellow guards. At a some point my plan is that they will become a 'crack unit' for the watch and that could mean sent on specialist missions outside the city, in another city etc. The history of the city watch in my setting for this city is that they started as a Knightly Order so at some point when they get powerful enough and the reputation of the watch is improved this would be re-established and they would become 'Knights of the Watchful Order'.
I have tried looking for some already written city guard adventures to steal from but I have failed. Does anyone know of one?
What are the questions you as a player might ask as a city guard?
With the ideas I have, any tips on running a campaign that leaves clues or tips on how to guide PC's would be handy.
I know that is a lot, but if you have some advice on one aspect I would be very grateful :)
1) A city watch training camp would just be them honing their skills. Practicing fighting, getting to know each other to form strong bonds to each other. Learning what to ask people when they come to the guard with problems. Learning to spot thieves. It might make for some good RP.
2) Any players to decide to stash gold and hide it would come back and bite them in the butt, also could make for some good RP moments.
3) Good call with the 'crack unit' that goes on special missions. The PCs should always outshine NPCs, because the game is about the players and the story they weave with you.
4) Matt Colville's Delian Tomb would make a great first adventure. You'd have to make a few changes with the players being in the guard, but that would be easy. Sunless Citadel would work well as guards. Some of Ghosts of Saltmarsh would work perfectly as well. Any published adventure will need some tweaking to have it be the guards that go on the adventure, but its definitely doable.
5) Personally, if I were playing as a city watch, I would play it as an investigator who also happens to be skilled in combat. Find out what bad things are going on in the city to root it out. What would the hierarchy of the guard be like? Is there a path to work my way to the top? Captain of the Guard is an awesome title.
6) Make sure you don't take away player choice and player agency. You don't want it to be a "go do this, go do that", unless that is what your players want (I doubt it).
All in all, it seems like it would be a fun campaign to play in!
For missions etc it might be worth checking out Assassins Creed Syndicate for ideas, it is set in Victorian London and has murder mysteries, taking out gangs to stabilize a region of the city, roof top chases to catch the infamous Spring Heeled Jack and espionage to over throw a shadowy organisation.
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* Need a character idea? Search for "Rob76's Unused" in the Story and Lore section.
Check out Matt Colville's city-creating streams... he built the city of Capital for his Chain of Acheron campaign and it is quite complex and interestingly designed.
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WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
A training camp would also include learning the laws they are supposed to enforce. It might include some information about the big players in town, like, don’t arrest anyone in the blacksmiths guild, no matter what they do.
Make it clear the watch will reward them for good performance, then you can hand out treasure that way instead of finding it in a horde. And just like irl swat teams have more advanced weapons and body armor, so will they earn better gear as they advance.
Be prepared for them to turn corrupt. Maybe they’ll decide the city’s payment isn’t enough, or coming fast enough.
Maybe the players discover that some of the other guards are working over some shopkeeps for "protection money". How high does it go, is the captain involved? Do you risk bringing light to the corruption in the order, or do you turn a blind eye?
Maybe you need to run security for a noble's super fancy party and you overhear an assassination plot! Gotta be quick to action to stop it, but you know the noble would be SUPER upset if you bring bloodshed and interrupt the party. This one could be tricky to keep their renown high.
One is working for a criminal organization and committing more and more serious crimes, the other group is playing the guards and are tasked with stopping these new criminals.
Since both are players, both groups should be challenging to each other.
If you don't have enough players, try to play the criminals yourself and create them like actual PCs rather than monsters with a set CR.
Training: Make this all about role playing. Pick an over the top movie character and role play it to the hilt. Perhaps base it on a Drill Sergeant from a movie. Or a Martial Artists Sensei. (Mr. Miyagi them - wax on, wax off - from ORIGINAL Karate kid). Consider making them FEMALE or a weird race. Or go the opposite route and make it a wimpy person who someone actually knows how to fight.
Make it clear that the temples LENDS them free magic items on a 'as needed' basis. Going into the grave yard at night? Hand out temporary goggles of Night and/or bottles of holy water.
Crack Team is definitely the way to go. I suggest that also means you should have constant reports of other guards failing and letting crime grow big enough to NEED a crack team.
Look for city adventurers. Any city adventurer can simply have guards investigate it rather than those weirdo adventurers. I would also suggest you try reading: Glenn Cook's wonderful Garret P.I. book series. Although they probably will not have the benefit of a telepathic dead man living in their home.
Questions for the Guards: Yeah, who care about the pay - what about BENEFITS? Housing? You guys are Temples, right - do we get healing? More importantly Raised from the Dead?
For clues, just drop weird stuff around. Smart players will do things like investigate what a strange vial found near the kidnapping scene, or the sailor's map found in the whore house. Why is there a bloody long sword found near a body that has no blood on it? You can make it up as you go along, they probably will not know the difference.
basic training graduation gift: each person that passes basic training recieves a feat from the following: Weapon Master (club, shortsword, spear, one form of bow or crossbow, this reflects common guard weapons), Lightly Armoured, Moderately armoured, Heavily Armoured, Medium Armour MAstery, heavy Armour Mastery or Shield Mastery (to reflect either basic training in defense or more advance defensive techniques they have been trained in).
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
* Need a character idea? Search for "Rob76's Unused" in the Story and Lore section.
Hello!
So cards on the table time, I am autistic which in my case means I am good at some aspects of running D&D (I am much better at playing than running honestly) but I suck at others, especially when it comes to writing a story and have any ability to guess what info my players will ask for. Which means I spend days over preparing as I try to think of everything :S
So I have an idea for a campaign in which my players are the City Guard.
I have a fairly detailed city worked out from my homebrew setting and a basic starting point from a plot point of view. To give you the short version:
The city is the most important on the continent as it is the hub for a portal network that links the other cities, it was also the most corrupt until an uprising from the common folk bought down the system which included the city guard who where perhaps the most corrupt organisation of them all. The system that replaced it was to have the temples take over the administration of the city and life has gotten much better, however to replace the city guard individual guilds, market districts etc employed their own 'guard' and those have grown to a point where some of them are corrupt and/or working for thieves guilds with one actually being run the most powerful thieves guild in the city. The remaining city guard was left a city wide joke that everyone basically ignored patrolling the poorer parts of town where there was no money for a 'private guard' to be employed. It being made up of people that want to do good & bums & drunks currently.
To fix this problem the temples have decided to re-brand and re-boot the city watch to bring more control and law and order to the city and so the campaign will start with the PC's (who have made characters that desire to join up for 'important backstory reasons') turning up day one for 'training camp'.
I like the idea but I have a snag or two I could use some advice on.
I know that is a lot, but if you have some advice on one aspect I would be very grateful :)
Thanks
2) Any players to decide to stash gold and hide it would come back and bite them in the butt, also could make for some good RP moments.
3) Good call with the 'crack unit' that goes on special missions. The PCs should always outshine NPCs, because the game is about the players and the story they weave with you.
4) Matt Colville's Delian Tomb would make a great first adventure. You'd have to make a few changes with the players being in the guard, but that would be easy. Sunless Citadel would work well as guards. Some of Ghosts of Saltmarsh would work perfectly as well. Any published adventure will need some tweaking to have it be the guards that go on the adventure, but its definitely doable.
5) Personally, if I were playing as a city watch, I would play it as an investigator who also happens to be skilled in combat. Find out what bad things are going on in the city to root it out. What would the hierarchy of the guard be like? Is there a path to work my way to the top? Captain of the Guard is an awesome title.
6) Make sure you don't take away player choice and player agency. You don't want it to be a "go do this, go do that", unless that is what your players want (I doubt it).
All in all, it seems like it would be a fun campaign to play in!
For missions etc it might be worth checking out Assassins Creed Syndicate for ideas, it is set in Victorian London and has murder mysteries, taking out gangs to stabilize a region of the city, roof top chases to catch the infamous Spring Heeled Jack and espionage to over throw a shadowy organisation.
Check out Matt Colville's city-creating streams... he built the city of Capital for his Chain of Acheron campaign and it is quite complex and interestingly designed.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
Those are awesome answers, thanks so much for the advice and help!
I have added all of them to my campaign :)
<3
A training camp would also include learning the laws they are supposed to enforce. It might include some information about the big players in town, like, don’t arrest anyone in the blacksmiths guild, no matter what they do.
Make it clear the watch will reward them for good performance, then you can hand out treasure that way instead of finding it in a horde. And just like irl swat teams have more advanced weapons and body armor, so will they earn better gear as they advance.
Be prepared for them to turn corrupt. Maybe they’ll decide the city’s payment isn’t enough, or coming fast enough.
Maybe the players discover that some of the other guards are working over some shopkeeps for "protection money". How high does it go, is the captain involved? Do you risk bringing light to the corruption in the order, or do you turn a blind eye?
Maybe you need to run security for a noble's super fancy party and you overhear an assassination plot! Gotta be quick to action to stop it, but you know the noble would be SUPER upset if you bring bloodshed and interrupt the party. This one could be tricky to keep their renown high.
If you have enough players, make two groups.
One is working for a criminal organization and committing more and more serious crimes, the other group is playing the guards and are tasked with stopping these new criminals.
Since both are players, both groups should be challenging to each other.
If you don't have enough players, try to play the criminals yourself and create them like actual PCs rather than monsters with a set CR.
Wow, more fantastic answers!
Thanks so much for all the help and advice :)
basic training graduation gift: each person that passes basic training recieves a feat from the following: Weapon Master (club, shortsword, spear, one form of bow or crossbow, this reflects common guard weapons), Lightly Armoured, Moderately armoured, Heavily Armoured, Medium Armour MAstery, heavy Armour Mastery or Shield Mastery (to reflect either basic training in defense or more advance defensive techniques they have been trained in).
Did you ever finish this, and is it public somewhere?
I would love to try this campaign out!