I've got a fantasy game coming up soon and the majority of the next story arc will take place in the settings largest city.
I'm wanting some advice on random encounters the group could find there.
I know there's always the usual alley of thugs or giant rats in the sewers I could do but I thought I'd ask what other gms have done or wanted to try doing
City creatures are weird because they always beg the question "why hasn't this been dealt with already?"
However if you keep things in contained locations that have weird conditions you should be fine.
A minotaur that roams about a wealthy district at night, for example. After all, what decent person would be out so late?
>why hasn't this been dealt with already?
Yeah this is probably one of the bigger problems with that sort of area. You have to actively find a reason for the creatures to show up, anything more troublesome than pests begs the question of why are they still here?
Still catacombs underneath can be roaming with critters and the local guilds may not give two shits about them until they burrow into a basement or something.
Flying creatures that come and go could be a thing as well as beasts that roam the waters near the ports. Or it could simply be a matter of the local city watch only deals with what they perceive as actual threats not vermin and pests.
Do city crossbreeds.
The blink dogs have been mingling with the strays.
The zoo tried to keep a displacer beast. but it ran away, mated with some of the bigger stray cats.
Cranium rats are everywhere.
You don't even want to think about what the greenskins are doing.
>rumors of a prominent noble running a child sex ring
>party investigates rumors
>party has to fight the nobles army of child sex slaves
>the nobel gets exonerated in the end
>Bill "Hanky-Panky in the Oval Office" Clinton
>a noble
Kek, with the way he looks we're more in lich/vampire territory here.
OK this is pretty great
hell be fine
Stick to the classics.
-City wolves: They're lanky and skittish, with an aberrant knack for finding just the right hiding spot from where they can snatch up prey with their overly long jaws. Feral dogs don't last long around city wolves.
-Schlockatrice: not truly a magical beast, this offshoot of jungle fowl is actually just a filthy beast. Normally fond of snapping up rodents and possums, it's not unheard off for schlockatrice packs to run down street urchins under a new moon. The schlockatrice's brain is located not in it's head but rather in its chest - which frees up more space for its creepy eyes. Decapitation is usually not the end for these cackling freaks.
massive hordes of orcs that turned brown from being in the city for so long
None of the guilds are OSHA-approved and they don't want any of the other guilds to know. That's where adventurers who aren't in any guild come in.
"The city council is against letting certain spell components in the city. Care to secure a few pounds of it for us? Don't let it see sunlight either."
"We're supposed to keep the highways safe, but bandits never try going after guild caravans anyway. Well someone got mugged and made it to the city. Don't let them give testimony."
OP's thread picture makes me think of a game that was fashioned together by Veeky Forums and /x/.
Some sort of fantasy hero, or just medieval warrior fighting cryptids in our world.
New Jersey Devil, Mothman, Sasquatch, Wendigo, etc.
What if the so called cryptids like Sasquatch and Mothman are actually heroes? They have mystical powers and aren't generally seen doing malicious things to people.
Maybe such a thing could have arrived in the city recently and then whoever is in charge tasks the PCs with dealing with it.
Or it only affects the poorer areas so the nobles don't care as much
Careful you're gonna make a unique campaign setting with talk like that
Creatures in cities is kind of tough. You could throw some gelatinous cubes in the sewers as well, but you may end up having to stick with humanoid enemies ( though this guy has some fun ideas).
-Is there a thieves' guild or an assassin group in this city? The party could come across a heist or killing in progress, or something.
-What are the chances that there's a serial killer in the city? Maybe this wouldn't work as a random encounter, but could be a fun adventure.
-vampires might be in town to feast and those alone at night. (Better yet, maybe there's a vampire that's feeding on the homeless. The city is aware of this and doesn't mind since it keeps the poor off the streets).
-Anyone importing any exotic living creatures into the city? Maybe something gets loose.
-Maybe there's some kind of sickness running wild in a portion of the city? Some sick people might be irrational and attack on sight.
It is often said the Arena provides the people in the city the opportunity to sate their bloodlust, but lately I have been seeing organized pop up mock arena fights happening through the city. Find the organizer and bring him in preferably alive.
>there's a vampire that's feeding on the homeless
It's carrying *all* the diseases. Watch out for that bite.
>a serial killer on the loose turns out to be a mimic, who's being passed around the city via the estate sales of the families that were murdered and eaten by it.
>reports of missing persons, and a handful of bloody corpses found in random places about the city are actually the work of the gargoyles on the abbey roof, which I've been coming alive for some reason and killing people.
>a mad alchemist's experiment has gone awry, turning himself and all of his household into a random assortment of oozes, which have sloughed into the sewers and back alleys, and are ambushing unsuspecting vagrants, panhandlers, and the occasional tourist or peasant.
>a disgruntled wizard has going on a mad bombing spree, detonating several large landmark buildings through the use of powerful magics. No one knows it's him, because he hasn't been seen at any of the sites, and has an alibi if people question him. When the players' investigation closes in on him, he tries to kill them as well, via a sealed letter. When they open it, the words I" memorized Explosive Runes today" are briefly visible, just before the letter explodes in their face.
>miscellaneous spelling, grammar and punctuation errors
I hate voice-to-text sometimes.
>after a series of workplace accidents at the local clay pit, the surviving workers have undergone a dramatic change of personality; they seem to be emotionless and distant. Turns out the foreman has been replacing them with clay golem simulacra that look just like the real thing. When this is discovered, the players must get to the bottom of how this feat was accomplished.
>a city with a prominent (toll?) bridge, guarded and maintained by a domesticated troll, has somehow "misplaced" said troll. Turns out the troll has gone full Quasimodo and is creeping around the belfry of the local cathedral. He likes the view...it's a nice change of scenery.
>a predominantly Elven city, which uses will-o-wisps to light their street lanterns, has had several of these wisps go missing.
>In the same Elven city as above, drunken, slovenly fairies from the fae slums are causing all manner of ruckus: stealing mailboxes to use as houses, graffiting ancient ruins, kidnapping and eating cats, etc. Nobody in power wants to do anything for fear of being labeled racist.
>You stumble onto the Royal City Survey team and they'd like some help keeping the local trouble away while they survey the area with their magical, gold plated survey tools
>Another group of adventurers that are drunk and rowdy from a recent successful adventure. They're causing a disturbance. (If you have a drunk chart, roll on it and apply that to these guys and have your people stumble on them mid action).
>Two nobles are dueling in the middle of the street. The one that is obviously losing offers a fist full of gold to help kill the other guy
>Two inns are having a petty war and willing to hire sneaky people to fuck with the other guy or protect them from being fucked with
>Your party stumbles into a race riot, the elven ambassador has a black eye and is surrounded by his embassy guards and chaos abound.
>There is a large hairy, naked man in the street. He wants to fight. Roll initiative.
>A local patron is asking for volunteers to go into the runny shit filled sewers and deal with a werewolf. There is no werewolf or reward and it's a prank he plays on newbies in town.
>A noble's child has been kidnapped by a fae creature. The child is being held hostage in a small lush garden hidden in a nearly inaccessible alley and all who arrive are forced to sit through a Chinese Tea ceremony. No one knows what Chinese is or how their tea ceremonies go but one wrong move and the child "becomes one with the wilds". All the Noble's guards and servants that have tried rescue have ended up as mildly erotic bronze statues because they wouldn't play along.
>There is a beautiful talking dog in the middle of the street that tasks your party with an epic quest to retrieve a lost magical stone to stop a great ancient evil. The dog is actually an illusion and it's the same jackass from above pulling a prank on some newbies in town.
>There is a wizard on a bicycle. Deal with the collapse of reality as nothing makes sense anymore.
Mummies are great. Have em in a catacomb (can be beneath any building or a network under the city, sewer, or tied to stones mafia style in a river or lake nearby and the rope rots through.
for the love of god moar. these are great.
I personally enjoy a Recently Escaped Labor Animal encounter. An angry dire boar smashing it's way through the market is just the thing to start an adventure.
There are the usual monsters that blend into urban settings. Werewolves, vampires, gargoyles, mimics, goblins squatting in homes after sneaking in and killing the inhabitants.
The thing about the city is that the most readily available creature is humanoids. If you want something that can be killed guilt free, there are options. Escaped prisoners, gangers trying to prove their worth by doing random beatings, drugged up hobos, possessed wizards, and jackass adventurers going munchkin with their new wand of disintegrate.
Every game needs to be a little silly sometimes to break up monotony and remember we are all playing a game. You must be a fun DM.
the last king tried a ritual to turn himself in a sentient spider/*insert monster of your choice* but something failed and he hid himself in the city sewers.
totally not taken from the practical guide form evil
guy turned his son into a monster. Allows his child to hunt but hides him afterward.
>They have mystical powers and aren't generally seen doing malicious things to people.
Point of order wasn't mothman predicting/causing deaths?
Bandits/thieves/gang are boring in theory, but you can still spice them up but giving them specific characteristics or specific circumstances.
So instead of fight 8 random bandits you may come across 2 groups of 8 bandits from different group doing a turf war just there.
Or maybe it's an elite triad of highly competent assassins, each with their own skills.
Or another group of adventurers, again with their own skills.
Or your largest city may have some sort of not-Rakdos cult going on right now. Maybe they decided to start their own carnival?
Every X years, the seasonal migration of whatever (flying) magical creature pass through/over the city. It's usually a time of celebration but some specimen are more aggressive, or attract more aggressive creatures.
Damn, I like cities in chaos apparently.
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See CityScape (3.5) and DMG's Magical Pollution Article.
Rats that become super-smart under the full moon are only useful as villains on Chip and Dale's Rescue Rangers. Sure, they may hatch an ingenious plan to conquer the entire city while sitting around smoking cigars and drinking scotch, but once the sun comes up they're back to eating diapers out of the garbage. Freeze frame and roll credits.
Invisible Assassin (Invisible Servant modified for assassination) You are, aren't or mistaken for the target.
Invisible Assassin - Serial Killer: Remote control, experience only, or cast and forget.
The city is releasing cut up gelatinous cubes at night to clean the streets and sewers; roll N d6's and take the lowest to see how many have joined together through collisions. N decreases through the night. They also grow from consuming the debris through the night.
Yeah, but what if they retain their memories?
What if they were always smart then discover what caused them to be cursed with stupidity during the day? What if by night they plot to destroy the evil Wizard Nimh at his tower where he performs alchemy under the pretense of discovering cures to mental disorders and is funded by several noble houses. The reality is his work . . .