Soon I'll be running a game in which the PCs are all orphaned street urchins with various abilities trying to live in a hostile fantasy city.
I've got some basic ideas for plots, and some images for inspiration, but I'd appreciate any help gathering more. Possible NPCs are welcome, too, so you don't need to stick to urchins. Locations would also be nice. Thanks in advance, anons.
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Look up Brent Week's The Way of Shadows. Really fucking dark, but great guild system for kids
Thanks for the rec. I'll look into it.
I'm being serious though. The dude actually worked in some really war torn areas with kids and teens. You can tell by the way he writes it that he's not bullshitting. lemme see if I can find some of the exerpts
ah here's some
>Azoth squatted in the alley, cold mud squishing through his bare toes. He stared at the narrow space beneath the wall, trying to get his nerve up. The sun wouldn’t come up for hours, and the tavern was empty. Most taverns in the city had dirt floors, but this part of the Warrens had been built over marshland, and not even drunks wanted to drink standing ankle-deep in mud, so the tavern had been raised a few inches on stilts and floored with stout bamboo poles.
Coins sometimes dropped through the gaps in the bamboo, and the crawlspace was too small for most people to go after them. The guild’s bigs were too big and the littles were too scared to squeeze into the suffocating darkness shared with spiders and cockroaches and rats and the wicked half-wild tomcat the owner kept. Worst was the pressure of the bamboo against your back, flattening you every time a patron walked overhead. It had been Azoth’s favorite spot for a year, but he wasn’t as small as he used to be. Last time, he got stuck and spent hours panicking until it rained and the ground softened beneath him enough that he could dig himself out.
the way the guilds are organized is realistic, but again there's a lot of rape and mutilation and beatings, so be warned
Slightly related, but what's the best way for run a game for PCs that have lost their memories?
>that shadow
anyone else getting star wars vibes off this girl?
There are a series of urban legends about the city that the urchins hold as truth and must investigate.
Currently doing that. I have it pretty easy though because I'm just running it as high mortality, no holds barred open world kinda vibes, so I don't really have to worry about softening things for them.
I'd use Candlewick rules. Let me pull those up right quick. Should be a couple of screenshots.
Read the file name, it's Kid Solo.
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This is pretty good.
1- There's an alleyway worms its way between two buildings at night and takes anyone who sleeps there with it once it leaves.
>Candlewick
wut?
Dreadful Secrets of Candlewick Manor. You play as creepy orphans without a backstory.
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We meet again.
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Something like this, user.
Bump
Spent 3yrs homeless, as a street kid.
I would consider creating the campaign around reoccuriing NPCs, and a kind of day/night cycle.
>morning routine
Ghoulish junkies would gather daily near drug dispensaries. Some would sell their drugs / trade them for other drugs. Some would beg, some would steal/fight/rage, some would gain free drugs (if they had high charisma)..
The horde of junkies would attract some rat like dealers, those with some wits still, who would try to scam the junkies or make a small profit trading.
Also occasionally some orcish gangsters would stop by the ghoulish morning garhering, to collect debts from the junkies.
Rarely a protecting kind spirited goody good shoes (usually urban rangers or monks) would be there to spread a good aura, to break up fights, or to bring fresh veggies to the junkies.
IN GAME TERMS: This is where you hear your daily news and rumors. Possible hints for quests.
>day routine
Beg for coins (if you got a party, others sleep while one begs). Try to find some crappy jobs. Try to sell shit you stole/found. Pickpocket around markets. Gather recyclable trash for a meagre coin. Bump into people you know, and hope they aren't drunk and violent towards you.
IN GAME TERMS: sleep, roll dice for a few coins, possible random encounters.
>evening
Spend the coins you got earlier on food. Try to find some friends to dine with, or some more public safe haven (church/ranger camp/etc). If you bumb into a wealthier friend, they might have a job for you. An important part of a poor persons day is to spend a while to try to figure out how to get rich. Evenings are the times when most powerful (good and neutrals at least) street dwellers are beginning to wake up and either start roaming the streets or begin accepting visitors in their private dens.
IN GAME TERMS:
Plot thickens, a quest is given. Last moment of peace before the night.
>night
Chaos reigns. Weird synchronities.
[cont]
cont
Some rare nights are boring, uneventful, maybe because you're hiding it out (maybe some kind stranger is hosting you)...
Most nights however, for the urban homeless, are pure chaos. Night after night. You'd expect to learn a pattern, but it would be impossible; nights for the urban homeless are WEIRD.
Crazy characters leading you to crazy twilight zones. Avoiding violence might force you to dodge into new areas. Hiding for a long time in a ditch allows you to notice a previously unnoticed, camoflaged, bum with a secret. An intoxicated rich kid might present an oppurtunity for theft too good to pass.
IN GAME TERMS: Adventure, weird occurences/synchronities, random encounters, fated encounters, crazy new areas/dungeons found, etc etc etc...
The insanity of the night seems to be leafing towards something. All the craziness must have a meaning.. The night lusts for catharsis!
You walk, study, run, bump, chat, fight, wit, figure out, cheat, run, hide, bump, walk...
And as it's getting quieter, you realize the sun is about to rise.
You probably lost all the coin you managed to gather earlier. You found a magic sword, but also lost it. Met some friends, did some favors, but your friends got drunk and forgot you helped them...
This is the cycle of the poor. Unescapable.
PS: an idea for reoccurring NPCs is to have them behave differently sober/intoxicated (day/night).
The Jekyll/Hyde dualism is a classic:
>Mellow/violent.
>Good/Evil.
>Smart/Dumm.
A more interesting sober/intox dualism is more akin to Sherlock Holmes:
>Sober: unmotivated, irritable, selfish, childish.
>Intoxicated: motivated, problem solving oriented, loves everyone / seeks harmony, wise and playfully intelligent.
PS: drugs are 't the only thing that creates people like this. Some get high on money: if one strikes a rare good hustle, and gets 50gp in hand (on avarage poor people live on a few coppers / day), they might go on a shopping spree, be more happy and active than usual, offer free rounds to everyone, etc.. Some might react the same after fallimg in love, etc.
The point is to have reoccurring characters without them getting boring. Dynamic NPCs. Also, the streets are full of crazies, so bipolars belong in the campaign about the streets!
Don't forget delusionals. Eccentrics, weirds, queers, strong experiences and unbelievable stories, strong emotions laced with hopeless apathy.
Blah
Thanks for sharing, user. Lots of good stuff here. Cheers.
wizards have a certain fondness for urchins, as they can be good source of ingredients for magic. steal the right trinket or pick those weird plants that may or may not be trying to get in your head and your local shady wizard will give you a good bit of bread for it.
A shady wizard could also a back up if the party ends up starving with little hope. An odd looking man, clearly altering his appearance with magic offers you this, he will feed you for the day but he gets a week of you life in return. Your never going to live that week anyway if you starve now, so you shouldn't miss it.
The boss fights should be-
Some sort of Drunkard
A hood rat king who trains kids to steal shit, also has pet crocodiles because reasons (Batman)
Escaped fugitives laying low (goonies)
Crooked extortioner/Orphanhouse owner
The Mother Matron who is actually a succubus grooming future blackguards duiguised as the Mother Matron who she has killed (Original, but this will let you work in the /ss/)
A Sewer Carrion Crawler
The orphaned preteen spawn of a Terror Vampire (See Dragon Magazine Article, Bloodlines) that is terrorizing the town with it's abilities (Stephen king's I.T)
Street urchins you say?