Unless you clearly explained there were a group of City Leaders, why not just turn it around and tell the Players ‘YOU’RE IT!’ You indicated that one of the party members, a Deva, was a city founder, how big of a stretch would it be to just say that the whole party are the elected officials of the city?

It sounds like you aren’t starting at 1st level either, it wouldn’t be hard to perhaps explain that previously the heroes deposed the old and corrupt city government after a revolution where they led the people to throw off the chains of their oppression and now that puts the safety and future of the city firmly on their capable shoulders.

So kudos for putting the idea on paper. I can attest that it worked perfectly in playtesting on a lower scale.

Part of it is my fault as I’ve been modeling the city on some sort of decaying bloated social democracy… which makes little sense if the City is in perpetual state of War with the Dungeon it is growing in.

I should rather have modelled it after some sort of militaristic, lean-and-mean machine…

What the city needs is Ankh-Morpork’s Patrician!

@Eric: The problem here is that while this particular adventure should not fit in the current story arc, the players can’t dissociate this adventure with the prior ones. So if the lack of leadership was bothering some players a few sessions before, this storyline made it a little worse.

Now just so we’re clear. All players seem to enjoy the campaign tremendously, this little leadership thing has been pegged as ‘something to improve to increase the setting’s credibility’

@Bryan: I might take some of your suggestions and run with them. As I said above, it’s not so much about using guards and soldiers, my players naturally assumed that guards would listen to them when they attempted to contain the Zombies, it’s more about having a War Room of leader NPCs participating in decision making about the City’s defense.

@faeblood: Great examples! All good ones to explain a corrupted or overwork city gouvernment.

@Storyteller: I usually only step in to help roleplaying when I feel a player struggling for words. Being a born orator, I have an easier time with words than some, So I give examples, or push a description from time to time. I try to be careful and not steal the spotlight though,

In the game’s particular case, players were helping each other come up with likely description of how a particular skill would help deal with the ravenous dragon. It was really nice to see such teamwork spill out of combat encounters and make it into roleplaying and skill challenges.

Sweeter words cannot be spoken in my opinion. Some groups I’ve played with love “fluff” sessions as we call them, while others start twitching violently if they don’t get to roll a die for damage every ten minutes. It takes a lot of work to break any group away from battles and keep them genuinely entertained, so well done sir!

“If a player had a hard time coming up with a description of how his PC used his knowledge, other players (and myself) would suggest examples.”

Did you ever feel like you might be stifling player creativity when you did this? That’s always my fear and I was curious to hear your thoughts on it. When PC’s plan conversations or consider how to use their skills I always keep my lips sealed for fear that I’ll make their victory feel less earned. Any thoughts?
.-= Storyteller´s last blog ..How do you use character backstories? =-.

P.s i had a great adventure with a halfling undead tomb the offical wanted to burry the tomb sealing what ever inside the but the PC forced there way it it was a very teary rpg momment. your disobeying our laws we have to stop you we dotn want to hurt you..

Have the city guard competent at dealing with normal threats (street crime, bar brawls, domestic disputes, etc.) but not really up to snuff in dealing with big bads.

But, also have an elite unit that specializes in dealing with the weird and dangerous (its a dumping ground for idiots, malcontents, and folks that cannot deal with politics) that do everything by the book and are more like a hammer than a scaple. If the unit or a member of the unit has some hate for one or more PCs all sorts of fun can happen.

So the PCs can get the government and the guard to do things but there will be consequences letting them do it as apposed to the PCs.

Regarding the governing bodies, we’re only assuming they didn’t react to what was happening, right?
.-= Eric Maziade´s last blog ..Jinx Shot : bad metafluff? =-.

But on another point, I try to figure in an environment where the PCs get to do things that others won’t/can’t. It does get trying though to explain why, yet again, Lord Ineptitude is not committing his men and resources to stopping the local baddies, and that it is up the stalwart heroes to do something.

As with your city campaign, there are all these threats directed to the city, how can the city leaders not be proactive in addressing them? I tend to struggle with this at times and do a lot of hand waving. I guess my players are a forgiving lot and roll with the weak story elements.

As a DM you work on a good villain plot, and hooks to draw the PCs into the story. Should we also invest time into explaining why other law and order types are not able to handle these threats? And if these NPC types are more active, wouldn’t you risk the players not doing enough at times (they might just call in the local city guards if things get too hot)? Something to ponder on I guess.
.-= Geek Ken´s last blog ..Playing with Miniatures =-.

Yeah, I fumbled with the Romero thing… edited the text accordingly.

Just a little quibble, did you mean GEORGE Romero rears his head? I guess you could say John Romero had hopes Daikatana would have raised his game career from the dead too.
.-= Geek Ken´s last blog ..Playing with Miniatures =-.

I do have an idea and I think I’ll have the City’s Secret government come out of hiding and offer partner with the PCs, opening up more sources of accumulated knowledge and means of transportation.

In fact, maybe if i reveal that the Inner Sanctum has ways to deal with the Dungeon that is on par with the various plots hatched by the dungeon so far, maybe that could work.