Life In Zengul: Chapter 2!

When last we left off, Israt had fled the city guard by burning a tunnel from the warehouse district toward the infamous Tower underneath the city. The tunnel had only gone so far before he'd run out of power and presumably legged it the rest of the way, according to a plainclothes city guard named Grey.

Israt's plan to murder his ex-friends seems to have been stopped by you, but his current whereabouts are unknown.

Also unknown are the whereabouts of Luca Wilde, whose family business issue has perhaps turned into a quagmire of unknown proportions.

Other Plot Threads:

• The Emperor; is this a person that is found or made? And, given the weak status of the current Emperor, is it possible for either of you to become them?
• Entering into the Tower. If anyone has, even the city guard seem unaware of it. 
• House Greystoke is having some kind of event in the near future
• House Draal has been having issues
• The PCs elevated the Yasin family to the minor noble House status; it definitely for attention. 
• Elio is aware that Noos has been trying to break into the Tower herself in the search for enough coin to return home with Kugnuss. 
• The god of doors (Sigul) also seems to be either dead or 'missing' from Zengul, for unknown reason.

The rather large character list is here, for reference.

Terminologies

Because I’m playing fast and loose with some Cypher System concepts, some notes for players.

Adepts. Adepts tend not to use this term to describe themselves at all. The best one can be considered is adept at convincing others not to kill you out of a fear of magic. (Note: the same can apply to some Speakers, whose abilities can overlap a lot with the adept.) Hedge wizard, learned one, wise one etc. and such terms tend to be used instead, and the general idea is that this person has some scrap of magic to them but it shouldn’t be held against them – that they will be better than others at helping destroy sorcerers and wizards, and if they die in the process it’s less of a loss. In-game, what separates Adepts from others is that they know more about how magic really works and how one becomes a sorcerer or wizard. Not that many of them would ever want to, but know thy enemy and all of that.

They can leverage the fear of magic in their favour – as can anyone with a foci that has a more magic feel to it – but this is generally quite risky as fear can lead people down many different avenues and there always comes a time where fear is a luxury that can’t be afforded any longer.

Sorcerer. Sorcerers, in game terms, have the ability to make a cypher function for them as an artifact. So they can not only use more but also get more bang for their buck – using them as spells they cast rather than physical items. This does mean they get a bit squirrelly over people just casually using and wasting cyphers they could get more use from and the resulting hoarding of cyphers does little for their sanity. Most noble families have one in-house or on retainer to try and get an edge over their enemies but also keep them on very tight leashes and have no compunction with throwing them to the wolves if needed.

This does little to help the sorcerer feel safe. Or sane. How one advances to a sorcerer is a secret, but it often take years of effort and always requires obsessive focus that tends to push away everything else in the eventual sorcerer’s life.

Wizard. In game terms, they are sorcerers but with power-shifts. In story terms, they tend to be quite thin, older and driven by desires that aren’t sane or healthy at all. Wizards are driven by a desire for alien knowledges and powers that have nothing to do with nobility or material gains. They have all paid a deep price for their power and often are trying to find ways around it that sorcerers or old had while also avoiding the attentions of any gods. Very few people have met a genuine sorcerer. Fewer still have lived to tell about it.

Items

Cyphers and Artifacts work as normal. (One-shot or many-shot things that do Weird Stuff). But there are also tools.

Tools are items like the Light Globes uses underground along with the water-powered motorized rudder on skiffs. These items are not used as weapons and most are based on designs from dwarves and the like from previous ages as well as human crafting from the last age. These items can be used for a set amount of time before needing a recharge – so the Light Globe supplies light until it is drained and then needs to sit a few days in sunlight to recharge. Tools tend to be items used by specialized trades, guilds and the like and are not in common usage. While technically magical, they are not considered magical and attempts to weaponize them etc. is immediate dismissal from a guild and the like, often via death.

Generally, the group supplying them also knows how to make more, or repair existing onces, so trade in them between varied groups is relatively common. More specialized ones – like Boots of Silence so no one hears you – are not traded at all and their existence a secret known only to high-end thieves and likely made available to PCs only at higher tiers.

(In game terms, a tool is 1/4 of a cypher in terms of adding to cypher limit or so one two can be used without a problem.)

Zengul Proper

(Map source: here.)

1. Rickshaw District

2. The Market

The Docks: The main docks. Shipping, trade etc.

3. Farmlands within the city

4. Sable Emperor’s Palace

5. Walled Nobility

6. The Menangerie

7. Siphon District. Merchants.

8. The Shambles. Famously unsafe.

9. Ni-Sal District. Famously split into two warring factions a decade ago.

10. The Tower. Possibly a wizards; entrance unknown.

11. Amber District. Glass.

12. Clover District. Many inns.

13. Ostiel District

14. North Dock District. Merchants, well off.

Res. Purely residential areas.

A Elven Wood

B Elven Wood

C Elven Wood


And for reference, the Calendar.

Season	Name	Months
Spring	Planting	Mar, Apr, May
Summer	Ripening	July, July Aug
Autum	Harvest	Sept, Oct, Nov
Winter	Dormant	Dec, Jan, Feb

Each ‘season’ has 3 months (aka moons).

The Rickshaw District

(Map source: here.)

RICKSHAW DISTRICT

The Rickshaw district lies in the poorer southern end of Zengul. The rich leave near the middle and to the north (away from the river, pollution etc.) but the major roads in the city allow them quick access to the south – along with airships and an underground train system. The southeast houses the farmlands, cross the river is the overflow beyond the walls. The district is well situated in the middle of the city though is now too crowded to be the hub of transit it was years ago. Many merchants store wares for the nearby bazaar and a scattering of inns, taverns and homes fill the district wherever there is room or space.

A dozen merchant Traders run the district in terms of being the law and order in the area, though their concern is more than merchants wares and livelihoods are secure more than anything else. Which merchant traders are part of the Trade Council isn’t kept as common knowledge and fluctuates as it stands. Their agents wear white and silver livery and mostly make sure things are functioning correctly in the district. If they are not, they often hire For Hire’s to deal with problems. For Hire’s who discover problems and subsequently report them – with proof, after dealing with an Incident – can gain monetary reward and favourable recognition toward future jobs.

Places and People

The Broken Pony

This is a medium-sized tavern in the west side of the District situated on the ground floor of a three-story stone building. The second floor contains rooms for rent – at high rates – while the staff and owner live on the third. The tavern had over 20 tables scattered generously apart, one bar with little seating and all food, drink and such stored and made in their basement. The food is nothing to write home about, but the drinks are slightly cheaper than other places and the ‘rent’ the PCs pay for their table is more than reasonable.

      The owner, a rarely seen halfling named Kush, spends most of their time dealing with getting new stock etc. in their office on the third floor and dealing with guests renting rooms the rest of the time. The tavern boasts three barkeep, one of whom is basically their backup.

      Omar is the longest-serving barkeep: tall, with a head of white balding hair, a large beard and prominent pot belly, Omar is quiet unless one is a regular and even then tends to listen more than talk. On quieter nights he also asks as the bouncer and slams the heads of those who would cause him any grief with a skill borne of long practise. He’s served under Kush for over 30 years in two different taverns and is considered generally peaceable but any insult to halflings (or half elves) leads to immediate ejection from the tavern.

      Lauri is the other barkeep. Almost as tall as Omar, she keeps her cropped hair short in an ever-changing braid she colours differently every few days. Qick with words as well as drink, she defuses problems with them rather than her fists. She’s worked for the Broken Pony since it opened here twelve years ago and never talks about the scar and accident that cost her the sight in her left eye.

      Deshaun is the youngest bartender, and when not serving bar the youth cleans rooms upstairs and helps make sure things are functioning smoothly. He is very short – about 4’5” tall, thin, with a worrying grey-green tinge to his skin and entirely hairless. Despite that, he’s affable enough and uses a stool when working behind the bar, joking about it as much as others do.

      The help – the term for the kid who gets drinks and food from the basement, cleans tables and sometimes brings drinks to regulars – are far less regular. The barkeeps and owner tend to hire those down on their luck but if any of those so helped trys to cheat them, they have been known to send For Hire’s after them. The tavern normally has no bouncer proper, with regulars dealing with problems in exchange for a free meal or money put toward their tab.

Tabs at the Broken Pony don’t work like they do in other taverns: you pay ahead for drinks you haven’t yet had, so that when you’re down on your own luck you have several ‘free’ drinks waiting for you. If you happen to die or not show up in a while, they’ve given to someone else who needs them.

Other Locations of Note:

The Demon’s Respite: A large inn famous for its important wines and beers – nobility have been known to demean themselves to frequenting it for the beverages – the Demon’s Respite is run by a young merchant Trader named Legom who is amazingly reluctant to talk about his past. Or what trading family he hales from. Or what is behind the name of the inn, which until it was bought and transformed was a decrepit brothel.

Owin’s House of Favours: A proper brothel. Two floors, many discreet doors, stairs and rooms. The staff are all ex-prostitutes who remain there and the owner – a woman named Razelu – was a famous escort in her day who retired to run the House, which has had many owners but always retains the same name.

Zambinis!: the closest thing to kind of clubs the nobility own and run. Zambinis! is an after-hours gathering place for the rich and well-off in the district with membership being invitation-only and guests seldom allowed beyond the main foyer. At least half the traders in Rickshaw District use it, or have alliances with those who do. It is owned by the Hildago merchant Traders and they do not so much trade as facilitate trade with others. 

On Nobility and the perils of magic!

Nobility of Zengul

The city is ruled by the Sable Emperor and has been since before the ending of the First Age of Man. To most of the populace the Emperor is eternal, though any thinking person will agree the Mask is passed on through the family line. Some Emperors have been female, others male. The rumours that the Sable Emperor is a vampire who survived the end of the First Age are, naturally, treasonous to express.

The noble families that run the city form a vast nepotist oligarchy at the heart of Zegful. They control most of the major trade routes and the diplomatic ties with all other cities, nations and empires. You can be wealthy and powerful in the city – many merchants and those who run districts are – but your power is always funnelled through a very narrow tunnel. You make make the best beaded artwork the city has ever seen, but your supply is determined by the nobility who truly determine how the city functions.

The downside of this is that if there is a shortage of anything – especially if it is essential – the nobility are blamed. Their sections of the city may be guarded, but these are hired guards: never the Royal Guard, and never the City Guard. And they can turn on their own masters as fast as anyone else, especially if infighting with another noble house of trade problems have limited the cash flow the family has. As a result, most noble families have their fingers in many pies, often from many removes, but chiefly control raw goods more than finished products.

The battle between the varied noble Houses means that the nobility go to drastic steps to have even a small benefit over others. Assassination is not allowed, but spying on a family, figuring out about their more illicit deals and the like it entirely permitted and some For Hire groups do nothing but that. The pay is good, provided one can bring in results. And the nobility always operate at several removes so your actions can’t be traced back to them. If they aren’t, they are desperate and you’d best keep far away from them.

This does mean that cyphers are very prized by the nobility despite magic being extremely frowned upon at best. Every noble family has at least one ‘tame’ wizard in employ they wish no one to know about, and try and use that power against each other. It’s one reason why sone wizards curled up in weird towers are ignored by Officialdom since they are actually working for them. The wiser families have a wizard among their staff – often dubbed a sorcerer, as if the name somehow makes it safer – but the discovery of them has destroyed more than one house down the years.

Gm Note: The power struggles among the noble families are epic in scope. Everyone is competing for a piece of the pie and few are willing to try and make a bigger pie. The city survives because of trade and the realization that, should things go to hell, they are the ones the commoners will come after first. That being said, the House in charge of a commodity can change in moments and Houses fall and rise in standing with the Sable Emperor on a daily basis. Some Houses even utterly fall, but this is seeen as a good thing because it makes an opening into a very rarefied spectrum of the city.

Servants of the nobility tend to play up – or down – the nature of the noble Houses, their time among the families, what it is like on an airship and the like for one reason or another. Some of the noble Houses don’t even have any servants, partially as a result of this.

Spotting Magic

Everyone knows magic exists, though few have seen it in action. Everyone knows wizards are dangerous and scary, but again few have really met one. Mostly because only survivors live to tell stories. The problem of this is that many foci can be mistaken for magic [and can well be magical in nature] so this can be used in beneficial and worrisome ways. The flip side of all this is that there are many wards against the evil gaze, items for detecting magic and the like for sale. Some of them even work properly. Most likely do not.

Enough do that wizards (and those lowly adepts) don’t like to be around market squares just in case and many wise merchants and traders carry at least one item of dubious provenance designed to discover the use of magic. Generally, magic detecting dowsing roads and compasses are the most common items for sale and most sellers move often, have little stock and make it a point to never issue refunds. Items that consistently work are, naturally, seized by the authorities.



Noble Families (added May 22nd)

House Leden. One of the major noble families, they specialize in trade routes and currently control over 50% of the fleet of Zengul. This is after 10% of it being decimated as a result of some ill-advised ventures into slavery and Zeunorst but it is at present perceived to be the most powerful of the noble families. Their almost-monopoly on trade across the ocean has a lot of other Houses jealous of them.

House Ernsai / House Towen: Two families vying for control over the mines and minerals about the city. Both Houses are powerful, with many merchants and smithies tied to each but their struggle against each other keeps them on an even footing.

House Aild: House Aild controls the granaries of the city. It is the second House Aild, the previous one having been destroyed during riots of a family 60 years ago.

House Silverson: House Silverson deals with spices and salts and is the only noble family that survived the First Age entire intact. It is said that even the Sable Emperor finds them pompous.

House Marlet: House Marlet is the largest of the current houses in numbers, and manages hunting and disposal and use of animals outside the city proper. if you’ve had anything cured and tanned, it went through this House at some point.

House Yisham: Unlike the other major houses, Yisham is not focused on base goods but they do supply many judges and are focused on schools and the higher education in the city. They trade in knowledge, essentially, and are very good at what they do. The House having been founded by lesser members of the family of the Sable Emperor is a large factor in this, naturally.

House Greystoke: The only House whose power residences mostly outside Zengul, they focus on the other lands, cities, and diplomacy and their status as a major house fluctuates under the favour of the Emperor.

Minor Families:

House Draal: minor family specializing in the trade of foodstuffs.

House Skelsay: The House that makes all flying airships and control the airways. They would be more powerful, but it is a colossal expense to make and maintain the airships of Zengul.  

To Live and Die in Zengul!

The city of Zengul has lasted alone of the old empires into the Second Age of Man. Built upon old dwarven caverns and compassing several old woods of the elves, the vast city houses teeming masses who plunged into its walls to escape the war between the gods and men – most simply never left and the city has grown and sprawled beyond the ancient stone walls. Scattered vassal towns supply trade, whole sections of the city are devoted to farms and gardens while the rest is towering towers of stone mixed with newer wooden structures. They say that Man will last until Zengul falls and there are those who think it true and yearn for nothing else.

A city of crowded streets and deeper shadows, Zengul is largely human though a scattering of dwarves, elves, half-breeds and other races can be found if one knows where to look. Trade is never turned away so long as one has gold to bargain with and one night of drunken revelry can make or break the mightiest of those who walk within the cities walls. There is coin to be mad and reputations to be made if one knows where to look. So, too, are their cults to the old gods and the new, and even in this age secretive wizards practise their forbidden arts, half-made and driven by desires the sane cannot understand.

It is a city of old secrets and ancient powers, everything held together by the city guard, the royal guard and that each district of the city polices itself – or is simply razed to the ground. Living isn’t cheap, even though life is, and to survive the cunning and skilled employ secret magics, sneak items about their person and learn strange, weird abilities that give them a slight edge against the world. Sometimes it’s even enough.

YOU: you are part of a motley band of For Hires, the simple term for people who are for hire to do various strange and odd jobs throughout the city. Based out of the Broken Pony, an old tavern in the Rickshaw district. The district is the usual narrow, winding affair that is now almost entirely devoid of the rickshaw’s popularized in it decades ago; a few shops built them for the wealthier districts and this one is close enough to the river and the ports that the appearance of non-humans is sometimes less of an Issue than it might be in other places. You have your table – the back wall, left side, beside the one fire place – and pay ‘rent’ for it to the mostly absentee owner, in term getting slightly cheaper drinks sometimes.

Life isn’t cheap: Rickshaw trades in gold and silver coins like most of the city. (The squalid districts outside are poor enough to use copper and none of you have even been to the wealthy districts were gold and platinum are the only currency of choice.) Meals start at 1 sp for poor meals, Ale at 2-4 sp, lodgings at least 1 gold. In general, expect your PC to pay out 2-5 GP/day in living expenses. Given the PCs spend a lot of free time in the tavern, this is likely closer to the 5 GP mark. [We’ll pretty much use the D&D costs, though expect all living, food etc. stuff to be at least double the book cost; weapons are the same as ever.]

Life In Zengul

Zengul is vast and sprawling, the largest city in the known world and the only one to have survived the First Age intact. It has a deep history other cities do not. Dwarves live in it, and rarely under, as smiths and traders. There are still three forests in the city claimed by the Elven kind and goblin-kin scurry unnoticed below the city as the vermin they are. You can find anything in Zengul, and often enough anything can find you as well. Most people just live their lives trying not to be noticed and hoping to eke out a decent living in a city as expensive as Zengul. Others want more, or know they deserve more. You’ve seen narrow towers inhabited by occupants to pay no rent because landlords are terrified of them, the vast airships that only the nobility have access to, heard stories of the mighty adventurers who tamed the Twisted Ones underneath the Cloven Lady Inn. You know the world offers more, and you’re determined to make your mark upon it – one way or another.

The city is divided into a variety of Districts that pretty much run themselves. The city guard proper are cruel but considered fair(ish) and only involve themselves in district-level affairs if the bodies pile up or taxes are not paid. If the city guard cannot deal with a problem, the Royal Guard are called in. In addition to protecting the districts of the city owned by the wealthy and the palace of the Sable Emperor, they protect the farming districts that supply the city with foodstuffs etc. and no one tries to interfere with those. (They take up ~1/4 of the city, at the northern tip.) If the Royal Guard have to deal with a problem, they often simply burn the entire district to the ground and have it rebuilt – no one wants them involved, so districts police themselves via wealthier merchants and citizens hiring For Hires to deal with any problems before any authorities have be invoked.

Inspirations

This game is inspired by the Conan novels, the city of Lankhmar in terms of tone. Dark mysteries, weird horrors and magic is generally alien and evil in nature. This is not a safe world, but adventurers and heroes slowly but surely help make it safer. 

General Note

The game will use the Cypher System (with PCs starting at tier 1). You’ve had a few adventures, met the other PCs before, made a small name for yourselves and begin based out of the Broken Pony. The setup is intended to allow for and take into account player absences and the like from week to week. Urchins deliver messages rapidly and with uncanny skill borne from the desire to survive. Characters can be called to a scene, summoned away etc. by such machinations as needed. 

MAKING YOUR PC

This game is going to use the Cypher System (and Rulebook). If you only have access to the Numenera one, it can be used just fine but you won’t have as many options for the character as other players will. Type options are: the Warrior (geared toward combat), Explorer (your jack of all trades, focused on adventuring), Speaker (more about success using brains and personality) and the Adept. Starting as an Adept is not wise since there is a great deal of fear, mistrust and hatred where magic is concerned and you’d have far more difficulty hiding your nature than other PCs would.

Relevant Types and Foci are on pages 238 and 239 in the book. Flavours are encouraged to fit a PC idea and you will be able to alter your characters Descriptor and even Type and Focus if need be as the game progresses. For example, if your PC starts out as a Brash Thief [Explorer flavoured with stealth] who Works The Back Alleys they could in time become more a Clever Thief who Murders, for example, in terms of character progression. Changing your descriptor during the game does not change stats, though it may affect your skills and abilities and inabilities. Changing your focus is a conscious RP effort and will be worked out with the GM.

The more esoteric foci – Bears A Halo of Fire etc. – will be viewed as magic and with the relevant fear and suspicions they engender. Magic is feared and hated, but clever use of such a focus and bluff enemies into thinking your PC is far more dangerous than they are and keeping you alive – so long as you don’t use it too often and get known for it, after all. No one trusts workers of magic if they have any common sense to them at all.

You can, of course, make a human. If you make an elf or dwarf, that becomes your PCs descriptor. (If you want to make a half-elf (human/elf cross) or halfling (human/dwarf cross) talk to the GM and we’ll work out how the descriptor works for that. Being not human will impose Racial Intrusions in terms of NPC views and actions at times.

Magic and Cyphers

Cyphers are items left over from the war between the wizards and the gods. They tend to blend in and take the form of rings, wands, strange stones etc. but those who study them can learn their secrets and use them but once. The downside is that the wizards – often hiding in strange places, cowering in ancient towers and underground hovels – want them very much, since they can learn the spell and use it more often than mere plebeians. Having too many spells about your person can cause the magics to interact and is generally a recipe for suicide.

Mad wizards have ways around this but are a) mad, b) NPCs and c) the very real reason people are scared of magic. Not that wizards are anything like gods, and if the stories of the end of the First Age of Man are true even the gods can die. Surprise a wizard, or have a clever trick or bargain and they die as easily as anyone else. Sometimes easier given they tend not to be the healthiest bunch in general.

Divine magics exist, but gods only provide aid to those who follow that god. (This can be an explanation for a foci, if you wish.) The exception is healing potions. These count as 1 cypher and act as a single free recovery roll (regain d6 points+1/tier). The varied cults in the world can be as dangerous as wizards – even more so, in many cases – but the relative amount of ‘here is healing’ sways the public more in their favour a little bit.

PCs each begin with 1 healing cypher and another one. They can choose one that fits their PC – which you’re assumed to have bargained and traded for – or one will be randomly rolled.

Note: PCs cannot begin the game with any form of Noble background. Those who rule the city may as well live in another world for all you know of them.

The Cypher Wars

Five months ago, strange items began to be found all over the world. At first they were considered to be some group-prank, a new internet meme or youtube flash mob. They were called cyphers since no one could understand them. Construction, materials, purpose: almost everyone drew a blank on figuring out what the items were or where they had come from. The lack of knowledge let to a general decline in public inters over the next two months save for conspiracy nuts of one stripe or another and collectors. Because of course there were rich collectors for the unexplained.

Three months ago this all began to change. Certain people were able to touch the items and activate them. They would focus, and they would change and the items would come to life, as it were. Able to be used, but each could be used but once and never again. Why certain people had been changed, why they could access cyphers and activate them – this never made the news, because the Keepers had come into existence. Sometimes called Gatekeepers or the Illuminati and the like, the Keepers have some permanent unknown cyphers placed inside them that allow them to confuse and befuddle the minds of people who do not have a focus: essentially, they tend to get confused about events involving Weird Things, though the limits of these abilities have never been explored.

The current state of things in Bridgeport:

Cyphers exist, and there are many who see them. Collectors desire them as oddities etc. and are largely unaware that too many cyphers in one place can be quite dangerous. Foci, the generic term for people with a focus, tend to want them because of power. The government, of course, wants them because this is definitely alien tech and they are scared out of their minds about it.

Of late, though, there has been something new. It’s as if the cyphers were a warning, or a defence system. Creatures have begun appearing at all. Strange, alien thing that have mostly been contained due to people using their focuses and cypehrs on them – and Keepers keeping the situation under wraps – but no one knows how long that will hold, or what is really going on.

At least, not yet.

Notes on Cyphers:

Cyphers exist in three states. Dormant, Passive and Active. The only difference between Passive and Active is if someone with a foci is using it or not. Dormant cyphers can be kept, stored etc. without a problem, but once someone with a focus touches one, it becomes active – which can set off a chain reaction among other dormant ones at times. Too many passive or active cyphers in one place – say, on a person – tends to lead to very unpleasant results happening.

Notes on Bridgeport:

Bridgeport – population 30,000 and one of the smallest cities to have its own subway system – is where the game begins, set next to a lake in middle America. The town has whatever amnesties a small city would have and can be fleshed out as needed or desired. It is one hour away and change away (sometimes two depending on the traffic) from the nearest major metropolitan centre, which is  located to the south. 

The Cypher Wars

THE CYPHER WARS

Approximately five months ago, strange items began appearing around the globe. At first they were odd archaeological finds, but then touching them sometimes – did things that could not be explained at all. They were made of substances we couldn’t identify, and in time the name ‘cypher’ stuck to them among the few who studied them. They were rare and strange, and as a result, a few wealthy people tried to collect them. The end results of those actions were explosions, deaths, and tears in the fabric of the universe. By the time it was understood that too many active cyphers in one area was a very bad idea, the damage had been done.

Only the damage was never what people thought. Because the cyphers changed people. Not everyone, but a few people gained the ability to focus and take on powers and skills that weren’t native to this world at all. Beyond that, some of them can touch the cyphers and have a far, far better understand of what to use them for than other people do. There are more cyphers appearing every day but the fact that people are changed by them is still hidden. Because some of the changed people can hide that from the rest of the world.

It seems a stroke of luck, but luck doesn’t last forever. It’s not only cyphers that come through now: creatures do as well, and they are even less easy to explain or understand. Is this another dimension? A war? Some kind of mass exodus to this world from another world? No one knows, and everyone is just trying to get by as best they can.

Some manage it better than others.

The Cypher Wars is a cypher system (Cypher System Rulebook (CSR), Numenera, Strange) campaign starting at tier 1. The city of Bridgeport – population 30,000 and one of the smallest cities ot have its own subway system – is where the game begins, set next to a lake in middle America. Game time is Friday nights, ~6:30 pm PST.

The effort system should, ideally, mimic the feel of lighter anime. We'll see how it goes.

Characters work as follows:

Your descriptor is who the character is in terms of personality etc.

Type is self-explanatory. A type from any of the core books is allowed, as is flavouring them via the CSR rules.

Focus is your transformative power that taps into the Dimension X stuff. You call upon it and transform, able to wield your powers and the less mundane aspects of your type as well. How it looks is entirely up to you, but it doesn’t pass as normal. Tapping into the lower end of abilities is less noticeable, of course.

Setting notes:

Thus far, the existence of people touched/changed by these alien energies has been hidden from the world. Because a certain portion of those people changed – called Gatekeepers, among other terms – have the ability to hide the existence of focii and such from the world. Conceptually, they’ve basically become artifacts and futz the mind of people so they convince themselves they didn’t see someone, say, turn into a creature of stone in the middle of the street. This ability is passive and not perfect: continued exposure wears away at it and deliberate demonstrations will work.

If you want friends/family to know about your PC, they do. In general, people will know something is off. The Gatekeepers are pretty much trying to keep things on the down low, though to what end no one is sure yet.

TALES FROM DIMENSION X!

(Because we haven’t done an anime-style group game in forever.)

Premise: the PCs are living in the north American city of Port Wakerfield. With a population of 250,000, the city is one of the smallest to have its own subway system and that it, pretty much, the only claim to fame the city has. It’s not a bad place to live and pretty quiet as far as cities go. Or at least it was until today. Because today is when another dimension meshed into our own. Only at this place, so far as anyone knows, and certainly not in the past.

The people who know of it is small. Growing, but small. One moment you are you. The next touched and imbued by something both more and other. There is transformation, knowledge, power without limits save those you allow. The world isn’t what it was yesterday. No one knows what it will be tomorrow.

Concept: magical-transformation fun! System still will be below, but the general idea is that Dimension X tapping this world causes people to overlap with it. And Dimension X is far different from this one, because of the energies that swirl through you. You have power you didn’t before; what is done with it, and how the story is shaped, is determined by the PCs.

System: Risus, normal version. First you build your normal character using 10 dice divided as you wish between at least two clichés/traits. Try to cover relevant occupation, skills, hobbies.

Then there is the Transformation. Again, 10 dice. Decide on base abilities (ones that can grow during the game), how the transformation works etc. Dice are divvied up as follows:

Attack, Defence, Utility. Utility is for uses of your power(s) that are entirely non-combat in nature.

EX: A character who is invulnerable could have Defence (10) for example.

Each PC also has a Stamina of 15 + any relatant (normal) cliches. Stamina is damage that is wearing you out, close calls etc. (as determined by attack - def = damage total). Once Stamina is depleted, the PC has 10 Health. Those are actual, visible wounds. After that is death. It takes more time to recover from health damage, but it won't be something excessive.

Thoughts: at least one PC (or NPC) will have the ability to cloud minds, rendering the effects of people who have transformed Doing Things as explainable in the real world, if only in ludicrous senses. The goal is more for a light-hearted/fun game but it won’t preclude serious stuff from going down.

Session 0: PC creation as a group. Determine character ages, how well they know each other, connections before the game began etc. If everyone wants to do ‘we all work at the same McDonalds’ or ‘we’re all in ’ etc. or make a family, that’s up to everyone.

As far as characters go: consider TV shows. Make a character who, if they were on a TV show, you’d be tuning into the next episodes for. As importantly, half the effort should be making a PC who supports the other characters, who interests and compels them – and the GM – as well. You want to be invested in your character, but you also want everyone else to be as well. Give the character reasons to care about the other PCs and their goals and who will be willing to bend for the group and work together toward common goals.

From then: powers! The level and type of abilities players want will determine a lot about Dimension X, NPCs etc. As this is a group creation session, the other players will know what your PC can generally do. Their characters will not. 

Game Time: Fridays ideally. 

Proposed D&D 5e Campaign: Fury of the Grunts

Everyone knows orcs aren't scary. They'r e foot soldiers of armies lording it over the lesser races. Everyone knows kobolds just hide and goblins grovel to just about anything that comes their way. And they're right, but that's not the whole story. It never is. Because the army of Terzez The Terrible contains many orcs, goblins and kobolds among their number. Which includes you.

There is a battle coming between the Light and the Dark. The Light have fewer people, they're disorganized, you have an amy the size of a very large army. And the Light is going to win. They always win. And that pretty much sucks. But it doesn't mean you can't get a bit of your own back.


Game Premise: the PCs are orcs, goblins and kobolds as part of a large Army Of Evil Darkness. And they get sent on assignments. Some of them even make sense. This is going to be played for fun, weirdness and comedy more than a Serious Dark Game.

Setting: Unnamed. A D&D-style world. Names etc. will be added as the game goes on.

Character Generation: Make a level 1 orc, kobold or goblin PC. Use stats(fun) with Sparkie. (This gives results of 3d6-1 for starting stats.) Figure out a class for the PC and spin it to fit their race as desired.

Time: The game will be played at random times, without a set schedule. Expect PC death, making new PCs etc. as the game goes on.

5e Game: Tul'zen Proper [& PCs]

Tul'Zen

Fed by rivers around with the various towns and villages tied to Tul’Zen,Tul’Zen is a large town aspiring to be a city-state. The towns and villages around it are in a tacit agreement and each ruling body has sworn to be vassals of the monarchy of Tul’Zen. The ruling line of Mordrin are human though there are some half-breeds in the royal family. The distaff branches of the royal family are not allowed to be Lords of the other towns etc. and mostly take on varied diplomatic roles after brief stints in the military. Few members of the royal lines have practised magic, and it is generally considered taboo for ruling Lords as well.

The PCs are sent to the proto-city upon reaching level 3 as Tul’zen wants the area clear of bandits and wealth in the ruins scattered about the area explored. They had one group hired several months about but the Brotherhood of Steel* vanished into a dungeon and never returned; enough funds have been raised to employ another group. Tul’Zen is making no demands on the name of the group being tied to this place or that you must remain in Tul’Zen proper for your adventuring careers - they would prefer at least a few levels of effort dedicated to helping them. The  3 towns and 5 villages connected to it are aware of who is coming and you can expect at least cheap room and board, becoming free once the PCs prove their worth.
King Mordrin is not expecting you to remain here forever - he’d be stunned if you all did - but clearing out bandits and making your superiors aware this is a good place for adventuring and to send adventurers. Helping the city in their goal will earn his graces.
* Who a) weren't brothers and b) didn’t all use steel.

Tul’zen In Depth

Boasting over 15,000 people, Tul’Zen desires to be a city-state and the surrounding towns and villages are in broad agreement with this goal as being a collective (like Pilkath) does not have the same draw to travellers and merchants.

Towns

Warmor: An average town of some 4,000 people, Warmor is defined by a large wooden palisade and governed by a human male named Riffin who was an archer in his youth but lost his right arm to a hungry giant. Or so he claims. Warmor has a large cavalry who patrol most of the area.

Earsgrove: The largest of the towns, Earsgrove has almost 10,000 residents and boasts an old grove of trees in the middle of town that most of the elves live in. A female elf named Erdanis governs the town but takes little care to hide her dislike of submitting to Tul’Zen as the dominant power in the region. It is protected by a solid stone wall and the guard are all archers.

Khela: A town of some 3,500 people, Khela is governed by a gnome named Filix Buckle. A male dwarf named Stef is his vice governor and the PCs first point of contact. Filix was an adventurer briefly in his youth but now mostly deals with merchants and trade routes, as does Stef. The town wall is a 10’ mix of stone and wood.
Villages
Alronde, Bereth, Olcot, Sharvik and Zastow are the five villages. Each boasts about a thousand people living in them, very poor wooden walls and the first goal of Tul’zen being a city-state is their proper fortification using the resulting wealth, traders etc. that would come to the area.


PCs

Armand Algeria (kentari): Human Fighter 1, Wizard 2
Krommar Ironweaver (aslhk): Mountain Dwarf Barbarian 3
Lukan Galanolden (chaos): Wood Elf Cleric 3
Marker (thistle): Half-Elf Rogue 3

5e: campaign house rules

Backgrounds

Backgrounds will be used as presented in the game. Pick a Trait, Ideal, Bond and Flaw according to each (or invent your own for the character). The traits are not meant to be straight-jackets and I fully expect the characters to alter and change theirs as the campaign goes on; I will not be checking each sheet and making sure people follow their bond and such - that will be entirely up to the player. If you want to work out additional background stuff/flavour, talk to me and we'll see what fits.


Starting Level

PCs will begin at level 3 and fast-track 1 level every 1-2 sessions. At some predetermined group point they'll leave Tul'zen, have downtown and gain a few levels during that and meet up again.


Alignment

Alignments will generally be classes as Good, Neutral and Evil. Both intents and actions matter in terms of alignment and a good person can do evil deeds and remain a good person. The latter is, of course, true as well. Alignments aren't to be straitjackets as much as the Idea the character is moving toward and becoming. (This can be more important for clerics and paladins as their god may be quite displeased if they alter alignment and/or the god they serve.) Breaking alignment should be considered a role-playing action as much as anything else - the extent to which the necessities of adventuring and the greater good forcing questionable acts on people. The question of why so many evils seem necessary may rear its ugly head as a result.


Rules Fun

If you have Advantage or Disadvantage and get critical hits or failures on both rolls, the result will be extra impressive indeed. A 1 will often result in a fumble, dropped weapon, or a spell going off in the wrong way. A critical fumble will likely harm an ally or yourself.

For magic: we're ignoring material components for the most part. (Exceptions like the cost for scrolls etc. will be in the game.)

Encumbrance is being ignored unless it gets a bit absurd :)

HP starts at max for level one; for the levels after, you can roll or take the average.

As we're not using any battle mat, some classes may feel more limited - expect things to be in the PCs favour generally in terms of 'can I do/try X?' within reason.

If there are things you figure we should house rule or add, let me know.


Dungeons etc.

A key component of the world/campaign is that adventurers possess a certain socioeconomic importance in society that, as they leave, brings prestige. (This is true even if higher level magics etc. are pretty much rumour/myth/unknown to the world - this may even be a factor in it.) Being an adventurer means one has been trained to be one, and also that it is not safe. The great empires and kingdoms of the past have fallen and left behind - along with common/undercommon and a society without widespread 'race X is Evil' stuff among the PC races - a lot of old ruins, scattered towns, old keeps etc. that need to be explored, delved, mined, made safe and so forth.

The reason for this is partially for city-states to safely expand and because all the coins etc. the PCs find can be turned into new coins, weapons and so forth far, far easier than anyone can attempt to mine for such things. The present exists via pillaging the past. A function of this, however, is that the 'safe' dungeon-style locations were all emptied out years ago. In game terms, this means that a dungeon will not necessarily be level-specific. The characters will run into things far outside their pay grade and have to retreat, make plans etc. accordingly.

It also means that levelling will be a case of every X sessions (1-2 early on, 2-4 later on) based on what characters face and how they deal with it, etc.

5e game: as told to the halfling bard Bebo

The oral record of the Kobold warrior Kensh Bloodspring

“The thing of it, you see, is that we don’t talk about it. Some things you never say, not unless you want to be Noticed. And there are things that - well, there are Things. It’s like them Adventurers, see? No one sane goes into the empty cities, down into the ruins and the tunnels that have never seen sunlight. No one at all goes into the old magic towers unless they want to die.

"But some do the former. Some seek treasures, follow myths, or they’re running from something bad. And so they go into the old places. And they change. I’m not saying goblins are *nice* - we ain’t got no time for nice, y’ ken, but spend enough time in those places and it twists you up inside. Everybody has some good in them, like everybody has some evil - or lots of it, depending. But too long in those places and there’s nothing good left inside you.

"And when they come back, they bring something of that awfulness with them. It’s why we kill them on sight. There are bodies even trolls won’t eat. We don’t have a word for it. Don’t want to give it power with a name. But Adventurers meet those things that look like goblins, and that sticks with them something fierce. And then they meet us, and treat us just the same. Not saying we’re favoured by the gods - nothing like that - but the gods listen to us the same as to everyone else.

"No god listens to those who dwell in the broken places. At least not any god we’d care to know.”

5e game: The World

The map is a) incomplete and b) large-scale, covering only larger city-states and important places but not, for example, where the ruins of empires are or the towers of wizards. Most of the accurate maps are owned by sailors and more concerned with coastal locations. As per the DMG, most towns have ~1K people, villages around 5K and cities are 25K+. There are no mammoth cities with 100,000+ inhabitants and such at present and most city-states are at least 500 years old.  

(This means players are free to add their own city-states and towns for their characters to come from if they want to.)

No proper kingdoms or nations exist due to lack of raw materials to field vast armies and the varied dungeons, ruins and monsters that exist just outside the boundaries of civilization make expansion difficult on that kind of scale at present.

Note: The classes all maintain secret training facilities to train people up to level one; these are generally away from civilized areas and kept safe by being relatively difficult to find. Finding them is part of what sets the PC on their path towards level one in essence.  

(Map via here.)

Aria: The city-state of Aria has one strange claim to fame: while most spells to raise the dead are almost unknown (and very, very rare), citizens of Aria who pay the 1,000 gold price  can be Reincarnated within a week after death. The ungents and oils for the spell are well-known there but require a) the body and b) don’t travel well for purposes of being taken to other city-states. The weird benefit of this is that Aria boasts the strangest and most complicated family trees and is widely considered the most cosmopolitan place in the world. Those who try and come here just to get someone reincarnated alone are charged double the standard price since there are only so many ungents and oils available at any one time. The downside of this is that many adventures end up coming from Aria and seeking their fortune to get their families out of crippling levels of debt this magic can lead to.

Aragzar: A city-state ruled by arcane magicians, Aragzar has long been at war with Arknurdvik over magic and its uses. Attempts at diplomacy have only led to the deaths of any magic-user sent to the other city and the cold-war between them has been a grim affair for at least three hundred years. That Aragzar has not been able to win the war is, wisely, something travellers to the nation don’t bring up.

Arknurdvik: Once ruled by a tyrannical wizard, this city banned all arcane magic on penalty of death and working magic in the city is quite difficult due to ancient artifacts in use within it. A spat with an order of paladins in the last century has also led to a ban on all clerical magics. The gods have yet to respond though no one living can say why. The city is somehow still holding its own in the war against Aragzar and quite a few non-magic using adventurers end up here and become leaders of the city. The city is ruled by various noble families who worry that without the anti-magic propaganda holding it together, the city might collapse. Using magic here is naturally punishable by death.

[In game terms, no spell requiring Concentration works in Arknurdvik]

Cambia: A large, sprawling city, Cambia is a city-state ruled by strict patriarchal law. All power and authority reside with men though a wife is to be accorded at least the same respect that a husband gives to his cattle. As females count as property, harming anyone else’s property is a hangable offense and women have used this to make a large secret network of thieves that are, technically, not punishable by law. The male head of each household is dominant over all the other man (and their women) though the women who are yours (wives, daughters, in-laws) mean punishment is meted to you more than the head of the household proper. The villages and towns outside the city-state are less strict but still bound by Cambian law. In an effort to ensure the royal family remains intact, kings tend to have enough children that a civil war happens every century or so.

City / City (2): The only known cities on the Shattered Isle. their names lost to history.

Cuheath: One of the largest militocracies, Cuheath is ruled jointly by their army, navy and airforce (who fly on Hippogriffs) while magic-users form their special ops who function in any part of the arm as needed. The city has been ruled thusly for over two hundred years after a disastrous diplomatic incident with Gundinal almost saw the city razed to the ground. It is a very heavily taxed city-state but every town and village is walled with the same thick stone as the city and all buildings are solid and fortified as well. The streets are narrow and winding to limit invasion, even towns have more of an armed guard than other villagers and it is generally one of the safest city-states to live in as long as you don’t break their strict laws.

The military guard have the authority to execute any criminal on sight for theft by word or deed (this included deception in any form) and if there is doubt about the legality of their actions, truth spells are used to determine if they were out of line.

Davisham: No one visits Davisham if they can avoid it. The ruler is a dragonborn sorcerer named Minys who is the absolute and only authority in the entire city-state. Some say she has become a dragon, or that even dragons fear her, but her magics rule the entire area and she is considered the most powerful magic-user in the world and quite likely no longer mortal as she has ruled for over 1,000 years.

Dolone: An important trade-route, Dolone is a plutocracy ruled by the wealthy for the wealthy. You can buy anything in Dolone’s famous markets if you can afford it and caveat emptor is the rule of the day - if a merchant screws you over, that’s your own fault. (Granted, if a merchant does this too often no one trades with them.) The city taxes the merchants, and the city guard keep merchants safe from harm. Threatening a merchant is the fastest way to leave the city, and unless you’re very lucky you don’t leave alive. The ruling council of merchant-nobles have enough magic items paid to them as taxes that no assassin will even try to kill one. Who is one is unknown as their true identities are kept secret.

Dread Wood / Dread Wood: There are two Dread Woods. One between Jamoor and the Waysham Mines, the other between Pilkath and Gul’Drun. Both areas take fierce pride in how deadly the woods are and how their wood is far more Dread than the other wood that dares to take that name. In extreme cases, adventurers who drastically reduce the perceived level of ‘dread’ in a wood can be driven out of the area by mobs of outraged citizens. Outsiders, rather used to not travelling through forests that try to murder them as a hobby, find the situation utterly baffling.

Feywild: The feywild is possibly the original home of the elves. Displacer beasts come from it, along with dryads, owlbears, pixies, satyrs, sprites and even treants are found among it. If you make it there, or even back out alive. Feywild is larger than it appears on maps, hidden behind powerful illusions protecting it against the undead - and the living as well, often enough. No one who leaves ever has safe passage to return.

Gul’Drun: The easternmost city in the known world, Gul’Drun is also one of the most famous as 90% of the population are bugbears, goblins, hobgoblins and  kobolds all living together. The city is also famous for bloody gladiatorial matches and boasting more dangerous back alleys than it has actual streets. The people are dangerous and breaking the few laws even moreso but they do welcome any traders of any race. Adventurers are often advised to go unarmed and tread carefully.

Gundinal: A newer city-state with a halfling monarchy, it is largely famous for the war against Cuheath when the old royal family of that city made the grave mistake of thinking that the ruling queen of the time, Aya, was a human child. Gundinal boasts a large number of dwarves, gnomes and halflings and much of the city is not sized for larger visitors except at the edges. This also helps defend them in case of war, but no one has sought out a war with them in some time.

Hamura: Situated between the wildness of the Feywild and the terrible undeath of Shadowsfell, the island of Hamura is not the place people plan to visit. Which is rather a pity. A true democracy, every citizen of the island is linked in a telepathic field and group consensus determines all laws and customs. Any race is welcome as long as they are part of the Democracy. The island is rather self-sufficient and makes calculated use of all resources at hand to deal with threats from Shadowsfell. People only journey from it to find items of power they require for use back home and often find other cultures baffling and half-mad.

Jamoor: Situated next to the Dread Wood (thank you very much), the city of Jamoor takes a terrible pride in how evil and nasty the Dread Wood is. Just about anyone is welcome in the city though those who dare weaken the Dread Wood will face mobs of irate locals. The trade routes are well guarded so that travellers to the city-state can safely view the Dread Wood and get told tales about it. The city is ruled by an oligarchy with a ruling family of humans as a figurehead through which the council operates.

Kibaram:  Home to many elves, Kibaram is a gerontocracy ruled by the elders. This consist of elves and a few others but you need to be over 500 years old to be an Elder so it is largely only the elves. A deep vein of elder-respect runs through the city-state and it is generally considered conservative and slow to change with the times, taking decades to make many decisions and weighing every aspect of them. As a result of this, it is also one of the oldest and most stable of the current city-states and also home to the oldest library in the known world, the aptly named Library of Kibaram.

Klof: The city-state of Klof is a republic ruled by an elected king. A new royal family is elected every decade and only landowners who are native to the city and have a certain amount of wealth are part of the voting process. If the ruler dies, their spouse takes over. If they die, it is one of the children or an early election happens. The royal family has power that varies depending on the strength of the ruler and the state of the city-state at the time and it is generally considered a relatively safe place to be so long as you do not insult or assault a Voter.

Macot: The city of Macot is ruled by a half-orc royal line. As half-orcs don’t often breed true, this often leaves a vacancy that is filled by other half-orcs in the city. In at least one occasion, a half-orc adventurer was press-ganged into becoming the queen. The reasoning is that half-orcs have a low life expectancy so the other, long-lived races, can simply outlive any problematic rulers. The historical reason was apparently a very nasty gnome ruling the city-state for almost three centuries that led to the current system. The city is generally considered a decent place to live if you avoid any royal attentions and many longer-lived races dwell here.

Nalukkhol: Nalukkhol is named after the vampire-king who rules it. A human who desired power over death, he made terrible bargains with Shadowsfell and gained awful powers. Some say the undead only reach as far as Dolone because he acts as an anchor in the known world for Shadowsfell itself, and they are probably not wrong in this. With a massive army of the undead and the alive, Nalukkhol is a stain on the world that at least seems to be content to be a small one perhaps because it is mostly contained by a veritable army of clerics and paladins out of Kibaram and Cuheath who are stationed just beyond the borders of the city-state.

Neford: A fortified and walled city, Neford is ruled by hierarchical bureaucracy where the heads of each branch form a ruling council of elders. The city is matrilineal in nature and men cannot hold power - including military power and any use of magic. Strangely, they have never been at war with Cambia and both city-states diplomatically pretend the other one doesn’t exist. Unlike Cambia, males are citizens even though they have no real power in the city.

Northern Barrens: The north-most point of true civilization, even if it is mostly inhabited by barbarians. The barrens boasts only small towns who trade with the Oreland Mountains for supplies and the inhabitants know more about the undead than most of the known world.

Old Port: The oldest port in continuous use, Old Port is worn and battered but still in use. It is ruled by a dragonborn monarchy who keep uses of sorcery to a minimum to avoid comparisons with Davisham and their light taxes on trade vessels make it a popular stop, the city making up the revenue in sailors visiting various brothels and inns. It is one of the only city-states without any villages or towns beholden to it and survives via merchant traders.

Oreland Mountains: The only mountains with readily accessible mineable ore left in them, the dwarves (with the aid of gnomes) guard them with their lives. It is said that half the world's dwarves live there and the rest would return if summoned. The mountains aren’t old, relatively speaking, which is why the ore exists in them but they are quite dangerous at the best of times.

Pilkath: Pilkath is a town-state, a collective of towns and villages bound together for mutual defense rather than having any central city to call their own. The Pilkath Collective has survived for over a hundred years with only the loss of a few small towns to show for it, and given their location beside the one true Dread Wood that is likely more impressive than outsiders believe.

Shattered Isle: A long time ago, a monster ruled the northern end of the Shattered Isle. Only it died and became an undead monstrosity owing to the proximity of Shadowfell. A wizard summoned another of the creatures to do battle with it their war has been waging for centuries with all who end up on the island drafted into an undead army or charmed into a living one. Both creatures believe themselves to be perfect and seek the destruction of their rival by any means necessary.

Shadowfell: The land of undeath, domain of the vampires, shadow dragons and all undead underneath them. It is said to be vast, with the barest edges of it on any maps and there are far more undead in the eastern half of the world than the western just due to its influence. No one travels there by choice and it is a place of monsters and madness.

Shifting Isles: The shifting isles used to be the basis for various pirates until a band of adventurers unleashed a magic on them that alters their state. The islands change from jungles to swamps to deserts and all things between overnight, making survival for most creatures quite, quite difficult indeed.

Tul’zen: Detailed below; the starting location for the game.

Tythorp: Ancient springs supply this landlocked city with water. It is ruled by the wealthiest families, who in turn pay for various guards and merchants to take goods to and from the city. Any coinage is welcome in Tythorp and the artisans are famous for their skills in spotting cursed items and will often tell whether items are cursed or not for a very small free, or take the item and keep it, removing the curses and selling them at a later date. Adventurers are welcomed into the city with open arms but are still expected to obey the rule of law.

Uldiz: Perhaps it is proximity to the north or being between a Dread Wood and two odd city-states, but after the Shifting Isles were formed, the city-state of Uldiz became the go-to location for pirates and thieves in the known world. The result is a kleptocracy of breathtaking scope, where the ruling guilds elect five members who serve as the ruling council every five years. Uldiz has no taxes per se, but bribes and corruption are necessary to get anywhere and even barbarians call it as unsafe as a city can be and still be called civilized.

Underdark: Not on any maps, the underdark is an area of vast caverns and underground rivers below the world. The remnants of a terrible Illithid empire exist down there and the Drow did once until the ‘white wyrm’ arrived some centuries ago. No one knows if it is a dragon or something far more loathsome but it claimed the entire underdark for its own, slaved creatures to its will and drove everything else out. Only the Drow and the Flumph properly escaped.

Waysham Mines: The Waysham Mines are the only old working mines that aren’t infested by monsters or the underdark creatures at present. The mines are heavily guarded and linked to every major trade route. The owners identities remain a secret but the workers are very well-paid for their labours and the mines are surprisingly safe, all things considered.

Weebluff: The city-state of Weebluff is situated on a bluff. The Wee part comes from long ago when it was a small port but a magical accident raised the entire area up and what was once a port is now ruins and jagged rocks the ocean collides with. Weebluff is ruled by a ruling family of human lords who don’t call themselves anything more; they tend to just keep to themselves, trade with other city-states as needed but mostly guard the towns and villages under their protection and tell stories of the old Empire that Weebluff was part of long and long ago.

?: Everyone agrees there is a city-state here, but no one can recall the name of it.

Tul’Zen

Fed by rivers around with the various towns and villages tied to Tul’Zen dwell,Tul’Zen is a large town aspiring to be a city-state. The towns and villages around it are in a tacit agreement and each ruled by a local lord who has sworn to be vassals of the monarchy of Tul’Zen. The ruling line of Mordrin are human though there are some half-breeds in the royal family. The distaff branches of the royal family are not allowed to be Lords of the other towns etc. and mostly take on varied diplomatic roles after brief stints in the military. Few members of the royal lines have practised magic, and it is generally considered taboo for ruling Lords as well.

The PCs are sent to the proto-city upon reaching level 1 as Tul’zen wants the area clear of bandits and wealth in the ruins scattered about the area explored. They had one group hired a year ago but they vanished into a dungeon and never returned; enough funds have been raised to employ another group. Tul’Zen is making no demands on the name of the group being tied to this place or that you must remain in Tul’Zen proper. The  three towns and five villages connected to it are aware of who is coming and you can expect at least cheap room and board, becoming free once the PCs prove their worth.

King Mordrin is not expecting you to remain here forever - he’d be stunned if you all did - but clearing out bandits and making your superiors aware this is a good place for adventuring and to send adventurers. Helping the city in their goal will earn his graces.