My most recent session of my Ptolus campaign took an unexpected turn when the players decided the rates for rooms on Tavern Row in Midtown cost way too much. Where are the cheapest rooms, and where did they go? The Warrens.
The Warrens have a reputation as the roughest and poorest section of Ptolus. The streets are unnamed and the tenements and builds are closely packed. They found an apartment building advertising a vacancy through a scrawled sign directly on the exterior which could have been mistaken for graffiti. They paid a deposit of two months rent and paid the first month upfront for a single room. The room was unfurnished, on the second floor, with warped floorboards, dust and debris scattered about. The window had no glass, just a torn fabric covering fluttering in the breeze. Water damage around the window and mold and mildew throughout completed the scene. Outside in the hallway, individuals with sunken, blackrimmed, and bloodshot eyes quivered with the shakes from the drug shivvel.
Certainly a far cry from the warm taproom of the Ghostly Minstrel, with its easy access to Delver’s Square and influencial clientel.
But it’s what the players were interest in roleplaying, and for at least two of them, it made some sense for their backstories (one is a con artist, and the other grew up in the Warrens but left the city for a long time).
But more than that, it was an interesting exercise in completely improvising an environment and events that occurred, like their trip to an eatery down the street that resulted in one trying a drug for the first time and playing Peg the Tom (the knife between the fingers game) in a high stakes bet. Or the confrontation in the morning after hearing a scream in the alley outside their house. The Warrens native knew to keep well enough away once he found out it was connected to one of the major crime families.
I've always wanted to try out a gritty, crime driven game. I didn't expect the opportunity to arise so soon. Looking forward to exploring a type of fantasy different from my normal fare.
The bigger takeaway is that it helps to have fictional ideas in your head for these situations. TV shows or movies that tell different stories help prime you for improvisation. The players don't care if you ripped off another form of media—they usually don’t even notice! Reading, playing other games, and watching interesting stories all give us opportunities to learn from and create our own unique stories. The coolest part about tabletop RPGs is that you never know where your players will take you once you jump the rails.
