A capital city in my game has a (not-so-) secret underworld "district" in the sewers. The "square" in the biggest room is a black market, but what of the deniz- I mean dwellers? I figure a cult and a leper colony, but any other ideas? Thanks!
lizardfolk, ratpeople, lots of just random vagrants from above ground, ummmm…. vampires. anything that likes cold dark and damp places. if theres a black market then most likely some sort of thieves guild equivalent to run it.
I suppose it depends on the capital city... is it a shining lawful good example of justice and order in the realm, in which law abiding citizens prosper, but those considered outcasts are treated to prejudice of the highest order, shunned, outcast, and forced to scratch out an existence in the sewers?
Or is it a corrupt capital city of power and perversion, where the rich can buy their immunity from justice, bend the law to their whim for a handful of gold pieces, and information on rivals is as valuable as the most skilled assassins. In which case, the sewers could be filled with mercenaries, where the powerful from the city above go to conduct their backhanded business, and competing factions bid for the tenure of corrupt politicians and powerful lords.
If you want it to be more of a dungeon, perhaps it's the warren of a powerful sorcerer, who uses the many twisting caverns to conduct necromantic experiments on corpses stolen from the graveyard. Or, as Phear_Me suggests, perhaps the party could stumble across a monstrous race, plotting to invade the city from within, having snuck into the sewers where it empties out into the ocean.
If you're picturing it as an entire "Underdistrict" then you have a number of fictional examples to draw from: the world under Chicago in The Dresden Files comes to mind.
However Chequers really hit upon some central questions: What is the role of your underdistrict in the city above? who lives there? What kind of business and day-to-day life do they conduct down there? How many distinct races/groups/factions are in it? Where do they live? How do they interact?
How you answer those questions will really change the character of your underdistrict, and what you'd find there.
A district stuffed with lepers, thieves, and monsters is one thing. An underground warren of people who were originally driven underground, and have actually built a culture and a life for themselves could result in sections which are actually habitable, and even beautiful, is another. An area inhabited by Fey that cannot stand the sunlight might be fantastical, and shifting, having areas where time and space don't behave quite the way they should, or tunnels that act as gates in the feywild - there's a 3rd.
The less "grungy" options are probably built off of the sewers, not in the sewers, and the sewers themselves still might contain creatures and hazards.
You don't need to restrict yourself to one option, either.
A grungy sewer, filled with creatures and hazards could contain entrances to lower levels and complexs which contain your black market, the lairs and headquarters of shadowy cults and organizations, or the halls and homes of the "underdweller'" humans ( pale, and who mark themselves with culturally significant tattooing ). The lower levels of those complexes touch on the natural caverns ( now expanded and build upon ) of the "underfey" ... etc.
You're only limited by imagination - and you now have 3 dimensions to build in :)
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time and space don't behave quite the way they should, or tunnels that act as gates in the feywild - there's a 3rd.
The less "grungy" options are probably buila
A grungy sewer, filled with creatures and hazards could contain entrances to lower levels and complexs which contain your black market, the lairs and headquarters of shadowy cults and organizations, or the halls and homes of the "underdweller'" humans ( pale, and who mark themselves with culturally significant tattooing ). The lower levels of those complexes touch on the natural caverns ( now expanded and build upon ) of the "underfey" ... etc
The city is kind of Rome-esque, with lots of canals like Venice. I'm thinking it's pretty upstanding, though of course I can't speak for everyone (well, I can; I am the DM ^_^). For things like the market, etc it's not actually residential, but those unwelcome in the city above do live in other parts. So, yeah, a cult (or, at least, worshipers of the evil god), diseased people...maybe "monsters," but I'm unsure. I'm asking for other examples. :)
Fun stuff. Underground hideouts and sewers filled with people and intrigue are always entertaining. Wrote this:
Guttertown
“It’s a whole world down there, I tell yah. But don take mah word for it. See fer yerself!”
It’s known as Guttertown, an underground city of damp tunnelstreets, dark pipes and ruins of cellars and catacombs. A place of secrets, of the unwanted and of those the people above rather have hidden from sight.
There are miles of old sewers under the city. Some are clearly ancient, marked with archaic runes dating them to before the Temple of the Forgotten Gods. Others are never, but still old enough to surpass most building above in age.
At the center of Guttertown is the Hidden market, the hub of the nine drainboroughs. The Hidden market is a wide arched area, close to sixty feet tall, where the detritus of tens of sewers once ended up. Except during spring floods the tunnels are now almost dry and the place a beehive of activity day and night. Rickety buildings cling to the walls, with mildewed gangways in several floors. Plank bridges and rope catwalks connect the parts with each other. The large open area in the middle is a bustling market except on feud days, when it’s cleared out so that disputes can be settled in blood, as tradition demands.
From the Hidden market the wide cloaca stretch out as spikes on a wheel. They are divided into nine areas, an order dating back to those ancient architects that once planned the system. For ages, gangs, cults and other groups wishing to hide from sight have fought for control. Each dark brick in the walls bled for over generations.
One of the drainboroughs known as the Veiled Warren, have always been respected neutral ground. It is a place for trade and parley, with the Hidden market a natural part of it. Here, the self-mutilated priests of the Blind God sing hymns to the underdwellers and gutterfolk, treat those wounded and afflicted and care for those to feeble to fend for themselves. Gifts, often richer than any citizen above would ever dare guess, keep them going and the altars in the buried citadel are decked in gold. In the Veiled Warren the Guttermaster resides as well, a person chosen by the leaders of each drainborough to represent the underworld to those above. Never someone openly welcome, any guild, trading house, councilor or mayor do best in listening unofficialy to the wishes of Guttertown. For the past two years the immensely fat gnome known as Tiny Tesselda have held a post, a woman with a tongue as sharp as her wit.
The Plague is the part of Guttertown that have housed people the longest below the regular streets. Here drainworkers, sewerdredgers and other unwanted had to live, so the good folk above did not notice their stench. Now it’s still the most populated drainborough, offering a home for the almost penniless, down on luck or desperate, no matter who they are. Some trod of to simple jobs somewhere in the city above each day, some are thieves and beggars, while others carve out a new life down here and never see the sun again. Currently, a gang called Red Hook, led by the charismatic Rolandra Bittercap, seem to have ousted other gangs, but such things seldom last.
The part known as The Crescent have for a long time been disputed territory with several groups fighting for control. Ruthless newcomers seem to have changed things though. The call themselves the Cult of the Slain. Rumors speak of necromancy, of dead rising, foul rites in the dark and a leader known only as The Sorrow. In their heavy chains, shaved skulls and pale eyes the cultists are easily recognized when they show up in the Hidden market.
A year back, the drainborough of Nine Hells was flooded and it’s inhabitants scattered through the other tunnels. Nobody knows why, but soon new inhabitants showed up. Clad in soggy grey robes and ready to trade the fish-folk showed up. Cold eyes and guttural speech have weighed less than the gold offered, and the strange Kuo-Toa now control a borough nobody else can live in.
The area known as the Cofferpipes have been empty of anything but rats and sewers in disrepair for a long time but now a strange group of dwarfkin people have tunneled their way in and made a home there. They call themselves the clan of Gribblestone and mainly keep to themselves. The group are derros, and as all of their kin quite mad. They are led by the savant Lumperdir, a chosen of Diirinka that constantly rambles incoherent nonsense, dresses in multi colored rags and has a mania about counting rats. The derro are an unruly and chaotic influence on Guttertown and a headache for Tesselda. Lumperdir on her part pursues a vision of finding a “great weapon”, perhaps a group of adventurers, to strike against a mindflayer outpost, far far below the sewerworld of Guttertown.
A capital city in my game has a (not-so-) secret underworld "district" in the sewers. The "square" in the biggest room is a black market, but what of the deniz- I mean dwellers? I figure a cult and a leper colony, but any other ideas? Thanks!
lizardfolk, ratpeople, lots of just random vagrants from above ground, ummmm…. vampires. anything that likes cold dark and damp places. if theres a black market then most likely some sort of thieves guild equivalent to run it.
I suppose it depends on the capital city... is it a shining lawful good example of justice and order in the realm, in which law abiding citizens prosper, but those considered outcasts are treated to prejudice of the highest order, shunned, outcast, and forced to scratch out an existence in the sewers?
Or is it a corrupt capital city of power and perversion, where the rich can buy their immunity from justice, bend the law to their whim for a handful of gold pieces, and information on rivals is as valuable as the most skilled assassins. In which case, the sewers could be filled with mercenaries, where the powerful from the city above go to conduct their backhanded business, and competing factions bid for the tenure of corrupt politicians and powerful lords.
If you want it to be more of a dungeon, perhaps it's the warren of a powerful sorcerer, who uses the many twisting caverns to conduct necromantic experiments on corpses stolen from the graveyard. Or, as Phear_Me suggests, perhaps the party could stumble across a monstrous race, plotting to invade the city from within, having snuck into the sewers where it empties out into the ocean.
If you're picturing it as an entire "Underdistrict" then you have a number of fictional examples to draw from: the world under Chicago in The Dresden Files comes to mind.
However Chequers really hit upon some central questions: What is the role of your underdistrict in the city above? who lives there? What kind of business and day-to-day life do they conduct down there? How many distinct races/groups/factions are in it? Where do they live? How do they interact?
How you answer those questions will really change the character of your underdistrict, and what you'd find there.
A district stuffed with lepers, thieves, and monsters is one thing. An underground warren of people who were originally driven underground, and have actually built a culture and a life for themselves could result in sections which are actually habitable, and even beautiful, is another. An area inhabited by Fey that cannot stand the sunlight might be fantastical, and shifting, having areas where time and space don't behave quite the way they should, or tunnels that act as gates in the feywild - there's a 3rd.
The less "grungy" options are probably built off of the sewers, not in the sewers, and the sewers themselves still might contain creatures and hazards.
You don't need to restrict yourself to one option, either.
A grungy sewer, filled with creatures and hazards could contain entrances to lower levels and complexs which contain your black market, the lairs and headquarters of shadowy cults and organizations, or the halls and homes of the "underdweller'" humans ( pale, and who mark themselves with culturally significant tattooing ). The lower levels of those complexes touch on the natural caverns ( now expanded and build upon ) of the "underfey" ... etc.
You're only limited by imagination - and you now have 3 dimensions to build in :)
My DM Philosophy, as summed up by other people: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rN5w4-azTq3Kbn0Yvk9nfqQhwQ1R5by1/view
Disclaimer: This signature is a badge of membership in the Forum Loudmouth Club. We are all friends. We are not attacking each other. We are engaging in spirited, friendly debate with one another. We may get snarky, but these are not attacks. Thank you for not reporting us.
The city is kind of Rome-esque, with lots of canals like Venice. I'm thinking it's pretty upstanding, though of course I can't speak for everyone (well, I can; I am the DM ^_^). For things like the market, etc it's not actually residential, but those unwelcome in the city above do live in other parts. So, yeah, a cult (or, at least, worshipers of the evil god), diseased people...maybe "monsters," but I'm unsure. I'm asking for other examples. :)
Fun stuff. Underground hideouts and sewers filled with people and intrigue are always entertaining. Wrote this:
Guttertown
“It’s a whole world down there, I tell yah. But don take mah word for it. See fer yerself!”
It’s known as Guttertown, an underground city of damp tunnelstreets, dark pipes and ruins of cellars and catacombs. A place of secrets, of the unwanted and of those the people above rather have hidden from sight.
There are miles of old sewers under the city. Some are clearly ancient, marked with archaic runes dating them to before the Temple of the Forgotten Gods. Others are never, but still old enough to surpass most building above in age.
At the center of Guttertown is the Hidden market, the hub of the nine drainboroughs. The Hidden market is a wide arched area, close to sixty feet tall, where the detritus of tens of sewers once ended up. Except during spring floods the tunnels are now almost dry and the place a beehive of activity day and night. Rickety buildings cling to the walls, with mildewed gangways in several floors. Plank bridges and rope catwalks connect the parts with each other. The large open area in the middle is a bustling market except on feud days, when it’s cleared out so that disputes can be settled in blood, as tradition demands.
From the Hidden market the wide cloaca stretch out as spikes on a wheel. They are divided into nine areas, an order dating back to those ancient architects that once planned the system. For ages, gangs, cults and other groups wishing to hide from sight have fought for control. Each dark brick in the walls bled for over generations.
One of the drainboroughs known as the Veiled Warren, have always been respected neutral ground. It is a place for trade and parley, with the Hidden market a natural part of it. Here, the self-mutilated priests of the Blind God sing hymns to the underdwellers and gutterfolk, treat those wounded and afflicted and care for those to feeble to fend for themselves. Gifts, often richer than any citizen above would ever dare guess, keep them going and the altars in the buried citadel are decked in gold. In the Veiled Warren the Guttermaster resides as well, a person chosen by the leaders of each drainborough to represent the underworld to those above. Never someone openly welcome, any guild, trading house, councilor or mayor do best in listening unofficialy to the wishes of Guttertown. For the past two years the immensely fat gnome known as Tiny Tesselda have held a post, a woman with a tongue as sharp as her wit.
The Plague is the part of Guttertown that have housed people the longest below the regular streets. Here drainworkers, sewerdredgers and other unwanted had to live, so the good folk above did not notice their stench. Now it’s still the most populated drainborough, offering a home for the almost penniless, down on luck or desperate, no matter who they are. Some trod of to simple jobs somewhere in the city above each day, some are thieves and beggars, while others carve out a new life down here and never see the sun again. Currently, a gang called Red Hook, led by the charismatic Rolandra Bittercap, seem to have ousted other gangs, but such things seldom last.
The part known as The Crescent have for a long time been disputed territory with several groups fighting for control. Ruthless newcomers seem to have changed things though. The call themselves the Cult of the Slain. Rumors speak of necromancy, of dead rising, foul rites in the dark and a leader known only as The Sorrow. In their heavy chains, shaved skulls and pale eyes the cultists are easily recognized when they show up in the Hidden market.
A year back, the drainborough of Nine Hells was flooded and it’s inhabitants scattered through the other tunnels. Nobody knows why, but soon new inhabitants showed up. Clad in soggy grey robes and ready to trade the fish-folk showed up. Cold eyes and guttural speech have weighed less than the gold offered, and the strange Kuo-Toa now control a borough nobody else can live in.
The area known as the Cofferpipes have been empty of anything but rats and sewers in disrepair for a long time but now a strange group of dwarfkin people have tunneled their way in and made a home there. They call themselves the clan of Gribblestone and mainly keep to themselves. The group are derros, and as all of their kin quite mad. They are led by the savant Lumperdir, a chosen of Diirinka that constantly rambles incoherent nonsense, dresses in multi colored rags and has a mania about counting rats. The derro are an unruly and chaotic influence on Guttertown and a headache for Tesselda. Lumperdir on her part pursues a vision of finding a “great weapon”, perhaps a group of adventurers, to strike against a mindflayer outpost, far far below the sewerworld of Guttertown.
Does this sewer system have any deep stretches that may reach the Underdark?
Duregar, Drow, Illithid
I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?