Cursed Scroll 6 provided some foundational material for urban-adventuring to Shadowdark players and we are starting to see indie creators expand on that work. With the expiration of the DCC Lankhmar license, we also are likely to see indie creators replace those foundations of urban-adventuring. Well, I’m not sure if any of that was actually a design goal of Anthony, but he latest project would sure fit in perfectly with it. The League of Dark Few is a zine series for both Shadowdark and DCC! Back this and you get two zines and a pamphlet adventure! I am always keen to hear about urban-adventures so I took some time to ask Anthony a few questions about the project.

Urban-based adventures and settings sometimes feel a little daunting for folks to run, but I love them! What kind of tools did you put into The Darkness Dweller’s Handbook to help gamemaster run this setting?

I think taking a faction member-driven approach is one way to make urban-based campaigns easier to run. Instead of plopping the characters in the middle of the city and asking them what they want to do, you provide them with a home and a purpose. In “The Darkness Dweller’s Handbook,” I detail everything you need to know to run a faction referred to as the League of Dark Few, a guild of “influence brokers” that pulls the strings of society inside your favorite city setting. It contains a detailed microsetting, “The Vulgar Manse,” a full cast of NPCs, operational procedures for the guild, and a mission generator to help the GM create faction-oriented missions. Together, these tools will help you gradually introduce the city to your players, softening the learning curve for less experienced judges and creating investment in the setting for the characters.

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Tell us about Secrets of the Vulgar Manse, your gauntlet/funnel adventure. What’s your favorite room or moment from playtests?

The “secret” of the Vulgar Manse is a two-story dungeon of death buried beneath it, used as the final test of a new member before initiation. Characters are drugged and dropped inside, and those who make it out alive are permitted to join. Also, I have to mention the temporary tattoos I am making to give your players. They match the ones the characters receive in-game when they complete their initiation. They make a great surprise for the players at the end of the adventure.

I think my favorite encounter inside the dungeon is a puzzle room with a fountain honoring the dead. It’s filled with coins, and a less curious group might just take them all and leave, but an inquisitive group is given a greater reward for leaving their own tribute. It’s a simple encounter, but it does a lot of hefty lifting in terms of world-building and rewards player skill nicely.

What inspired this idea? Was it something that grew out of a home game, or were you maybe trying to create your own interpretation of a concept explored in another piece of media?

I had just finished playing in a campaign set in a huge city, which made me think about how I might have run it differently. As a player, I have always felt lost in the chaos of a city. Typically, I feel more like a visitor in a strange world than a resident, and I thought it might be a fun design challenge to try to solve.

I myself had moved to Chicago from a small town years ago, and I reflected on what made the city manageable to me was finding community. In the city that’s not necessarily defined by proximity, often it’s through interests. I initially found my community through games at the local FLGS, and I thought, why not try to recreate that feeling in-game? Naturally, a guild is a collection of like-minded individuals, and faction play is often a long-term part of city campaigns, so why not start the characters off as members? When I had the idea to make a funnel an initiation test, I started thinking I might have something.

You’ve previously created adventures for a variety of systems, and also done The Château Amongst the Stars, which is a pretty high level adventure for Shadowdark. Can you share any game design or writing tips for newer creators?

When designing adventures, I always try to include at least a couple of encounters that appeal to players who like unoptimized characters or who enjoy solving problems with absurd solutions. I think it’s the absurdist moments that make playing TTRPGs fun, and why you might find a set of prosthetic fangs in a vampire’s crypt, or a pig’s pen just outside a pit trap-filled dungeon that I designed. Sometimes it can just be a random object without meaning that you stick in a dungeon that makes it most memorable. As designers, we tend to focus on logic-based things like verisimilitude, balance, and challenge, so don’t forget to introduce elements that make players want to choose the “fun” path, too.

Thanks for sharing! Anything else that you’d like to share with folks?

I have been sharing thoughts and tips from my own research and experience running cities on my blog. I also have a free short adventure called “The Crypt of the Forgotten Duke” that I am giving away as a part of the Kickstarter, so make sure to grab it before the campaign ends!

What’s your favorite urban adventure?

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