User:Downzorz/Tome of Steel/An Urban Campaign

An Urban Campaign

Intrigue

One style of urban campaign is one centered on intrigue. This is generally a standard mystery campaign. Though this is somewhat hard to run in D&D, it can work. It does require quite a few adjustments though- there is a lot of work in outsmarting a team of magical detectives. Selective memory wipes are useful, as is careful distribution of information. However, the best way to keep magical detectives at bay is to have them not looking for you. This can involve red herrings and distractions, or just a plan of such immense complexity that nobody realizes that all of these unrelated actions are part of the same plan. However, at that point the plot is indistinguishable from you doing a bunch of stuff and then retconning it into a big plan, unless you play it really well from the beginning.

Anonymity is a pretty good technique for spoiling divination, at least at lower level. Scrying requires "some sort of connection-" this could mean a lock of hair or possession, or it could mean mere knowledge that the creature exists (such as scrying on "whoever killed Joe"). The former would probably be better for preventing the players from instantly shredding your intrigue.

Siege

One type of urban campaign that is quite useful is a siege. This might have the PC's being on the side of the siegers or the siegees. If the PC's are under siege, then adventures may consist of attempting to find supplies,