It depends on what you want to have your players find.
-Abandoned town no danger: They find empty homes, tattered and worn down due to disrepair. Some trinkets, maybe a couple items of value, but otherwise empty.
-Abandoned as plot hook: They find the abandoned town like described above however there's ghosts they can talk to and learn a story
-Abandoned due to creatures: They find goblins/gnolls/deranged gnomes/bandits/etc. who have taken residence in the town. Describe the filth, damaged buildings, banners flying, and whtever else fitting to the setting.
-Abandoned due to curse/magic They find ghosts and/or other nasties that they fight and learn things about the town through.
There's many things you can do, it really depends on the story you want to tell.
My players want to explore a ghost town, and I'm unsure of how to run it. I assume I can somehow treat it like a dungeon, but I don't know. Halp!
I don't think it would be much different than other locations. You would want to figure out the story about the town prior to becoming a ghost town, why it was deserted, if it is actually haunted (presumably from your post) why and by what, are any of the buildings or other edifices in bad enough shape to potentially give way under the right circumstances, if any other creatures are present and why. There are more questions that you could ask and find answers to really flesh out the location. I would consider Thundertree from the Lost Mines of Phandelver to be a ghost town, but that may not be precisely what you or your group are looking to explore.
As with any location, why are you going there, what will you find, who will you encounter, how will you get around while there... and what is the final payoff (particularly if it is different from any of the other questions)? All of the questions don't have to be answered in complete detail, since some of these answers will be determined through the actions that the party takes. I would also check with PC backgrounds to see if anything from any of them could be tied to the location. Perhaps all of the party were already at this location but they can't recall it. This could have been prior to them coming together for the campaign or even during the campaign (that would make for an interesting story).
Whatever fits your fancy. If you feel that random encounters would be fitting (ghosts randomly passing around for example) then that is certainly possible. If there are areas where fixed encounters take place such as zombies animating when disturbed, then that should take place. You could even have a fixed encounter zone with random encounters (think of the river of slime with many different ghosts/apparitions from ghost busters). The back story of the town and some of the answers to other questions that you answer will help you determine the right mix, since much of the encounter types will be determined by what is actually happening in the story. Of course, you can always plan it with the encounter type that you are most comfortable with to ease your preparation. Or you can go for an highly dangerous area that has fixed encounters in certain areas and random encounters in many other areas plus the fixed encounter areas after they are cleared.
I think a dungeon is a decent model for a ghost town. Draw a map of the town and key it out with numbers for the locations. Write up descriptions of what is to be found at each location. Some locations may just be abandoned, empty buildings, others could have monsters, treasures, hazards that could be treated as traps, etc. Some features could probably just be labeled on your map, a well with nothing else significant about it for example.
You can draw separate floor plans for buildings that need them. A simple one or two room house probably doesn't need a floor plan, but a multi-room two story inn probably does.
If by ghost town you mean an abandoned town, then you could play it like the town was abandoned, but the party did not expect it to be. Then they would naturally be curious as to what happened and begin to search for clues. Were there signs of a struggle? What was left behind? Corpses? Possessions? Everyone pack up and leave? Then there is the cause of why people left. Maybe the thing that drove people out is still in the town. Maybe it's a large beast who has a lair under the town with no outward sign from casual observation. Maybe ghosts only come out at night and the players need to spend the night in the abandoned town to realize what is going on. Maybe there is one lone survivor who hid away from the danger and can provide players with some background on what went on.
You have a lot of room to play with story hooks on this one.
You could do all sorts of stuff. Could have a or some ghost NPCs. Different events depending if it was day or night. Bring in a cult that likes to hang around and steal/trap ghosts. You could craft traps within the environment. Like if they dont look to see if a door is safe to open because it just happens to be holding up the front of a rotted old house that happens to have an old tree that has fallen on the roof. Just waiting to roll off and onto a character with its nasty spike-like broken branches protruding from it.
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My players want to explore a ghost town, and I'm unsure of how to run it. I assume I can somehow treat it like a dungeon, but I don't know. Halp!
It depends on what you want to have your players find.
-Abandoned town no danger:
They find empty homes, tattered and worn down due to disrepair. Some trinkets, maybe a couple items of value, but otherwise empty.
-Abandoned as plot hook:
They find the abandoned town like described above however there's ghosts they can talk to and learn a story
-Abandoned due to creatures:
They find goblins/gnolls/deranged gnomes/bandits/etc. who have taken residence in the town. Describe the filth, damaged buildings, banners flying, and whtever else fitting to the setting.
-Abandoned due to curse/magic
They find ghosts and/or other nasties that they fight and learn things about the town through.
There's many things you can do, it really depends on the story you want to tell.
I don't think it would be much different than other locations. You would want to figure out the story about the town prior to becoming a ghost town, why it was deserted, if it is actually haunted (presumably from your post) why and by what, are any of the buildings or other edifices in bad enough shape to potentially give way under the right circumstances, if any other creatures are present and why. There are more questions that you could ask and find answers to really flesh out the location. I would consider Thundertree from the Lost Mines of Phandelver to be a ghost town, but that may not be precisely what you or your group are looking to explore.
As with any location, why are you going there, what will you find, who will you encounter, how will you get around while there... and what is the final payoff (particularly if it is different from any of the other questions)? All of the questions don't have to be answered in complete detail, since some of these answers will be determined through the actions that the party takes. I would also check with PC backgrounds to see if anything from any of them could be tied to the location. Perhaps all of the party were already at this location but they can't recall it. This could have been prior to them coming together for the campaign or even during the campaign (that would make for an interesting story).
Thank you, but I meant more like how I handle encounters (random?), sequence events, etc.
Whatever fits your fancy. If you feel that random encounters would be fitting (ghosts randomly passing around for example) then that is certainly possible. If there are areas where fixed encounters take place such as zombies animating when disturbed, then that should take place. You could even have a fixed encounter zone with random encounters (think of the river of slime with many different ghosts/apparitions from ghost busters). The back story of the town and some of the answers to other questions that you answer will help you determine the right mix, since much of the encounter types will be determined by what is actually happening in the story. Of course, you can always plan it with the encounter type that you are most comfortable with to ease your preparation. Or you can go for an highly dangerous area that has fixed encounters in certain areas and random encounters in many other areas plus the fixed encounter areas after they are cleared.
Thanks. :)
I think a dungeon is a decent model for a ghost town. Draw a map of the town and key it out with numbers for the locations. Write up descriptions of what is to be found at each location. Some locations may just be abandoned, empty buildings, others could have monsters, treasures, hazards that could be treated as traps, etc. Some features could probably just be labeled on your map, a well with nothing else significant about it for example.
You can draw separate floor plans for buildings that need them. A simple one or two room house probably doesn't need a floor plan, but a multi-room two story inn probably does.
If by ghost town you mean an abandoned town, then you could play it like the town was abandoned, but the party did not expect it to be. Then they would naturally be curious as to what happened and begin to search for clues. Were there signs of a struggle? What was left behind? Corpses? Possessions? Everyone pack up and leave? Then there is the cause of why people left. Maybe the thing that drove people out is still in the town. Maybe it's a large beast who has a lair under the town with no outward sign from casual observation. Maybe ghosts only come out at night and the players need to spend the night in the abandoned town to realize what is going on. Maybe there is one lone survivor who hid away from the danger and can provide players with some background on what went on.
You have a lot of room to play with story hooks on this one.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
You could do all sorts of stuff. Could have a or some ghost NPCs. Different events depending if it was day or night. Bring in a cult that likes to hang around and steal/trap ghosts. You could craft traps within the environment. Like if they dont look to see if a door is safe to open because it just happens to be holding up the front of a rotted old house that happens to have an old tree that has fallen on the roof. Just waiting to roll off and onto a character with its nasty spike-like broken branches protruding from it.