Bright Lights, Big City

by Jeff Ibach

How to keep your character busy in a large town or city.

While in a small town or thorp, there might not be a lot of options when the Dungeon Master asks how you pass the time, but in a big city the possibilities are endless. Depending on how your games play out, a DM might simply gloss over the visit to the city for characters that have to wait a few days while the cleric pays homage or the wizard scribes a few scrolls. But for those that wish to enrich their campaigns by asking you have 5 days to spend in the city, “what do you do?” that can be a catalyst for adventure, campaign growth, and good times. Here is a selection of 50 pastimes that your character can pursue when confronted with this very situation.

How to use the article.

Scan the listing below. If it’s been a busy week or you are uninspired or want a challenge, roll percentile dice and go for it! Perhaps you like responsibility. Make a list of a handful of things your PC would always do so you have your PC’s interests at hand. The leader’ of the party could assign a few to each member of the party as their duty to the party. Or you could choose one based on circumstance, like visit the shrine to Corellon Larethian because of the timely healing your party received by the elves a few sessions back.

Example of use in play.

Let’s assume that Owen the Paladin, Tallia the Rogue, Moondown the Wizard and Garreth the Fighter enter a city because their Cleric Equilina has to scribe a few scrolls and make some holy water. For surprises for all, the DM asks everyone to roll percentile and interpret their actions.

• Owen the Paladin rolls a 74, Moderator. He begins to inquire with the city guard and an-other local adventuring crew about enemies of the city. Soon he learns that the town ofRit-tenourto the north has been ignoring and jeering the local patrols of the king. It seems the town does not feel their taxes are at work protecting them after their 3 rd bandit attack in a month and are restless and steer travelers and merchants away from the city.
• Tallia the Rogue rolls a 92, Entrepreneur. She searches out the noble who was supposed to receive a bolt of fine silk the party liberated from some gnoll bandits recently. She learns the item is imported and that it’s all the rage among the well-to-do. She makes her way to the market, offers a merchant some gold to increase his space and draws up plans to take a part of the profits from sales, as she will be sending back silk bolts from her adventures to sell.
• Moondown the Wizard rolls a 19, Student. She seeks out a teacher to help her learn two spells that have evaded her. Inquiring at the local guild, she is eventually lead to Belthesma the Oracle, who insists for exchange of not two but three spells allows her to experiment with a new magical tattoo, placed on Moondown herself!
• Garreth the Fighter rolls an 8, Actor. Within the same tavern he introduces himself as Ry-gard Plumm, scourge of the Snow Goblins; Teargin Raal, guild master of Viridistan; and Komley Merd of House Merd of the infamous swamplands of Turnbull. All at once someone asks his Teargin Raal persona if he’s related to Feathus Raal. Thinking it could be fun, he responds positively, only to learn that Feathus Raal somehow greatly offended this person, and suddenly Garreth has a sticky situation on his hands.

With a little ingenuity and a DM good at improvisation, an adventure itself could be worked into the circumstances above to include all the players and their new interests. Enjoy!