Goodman Games

I have always wanted to run a campaign in a city similar to the City of Thieves in REH's The Tower of the Elephant. Unfortunately, I have a hard time bringing cities to life and to embody them with their own unique feel. Is there any references for this? I read somewhere that the DCC Punjar was similar to this. Would it be hard to convert it from 4E to DCC RPG (I've never played 4E or 3E for that matter.)? Any help would be appreciated.

If I remember right Punjar was all fluff and little if any rules. So in other words it would be fine to convert for a VERY seedy dirty underhanded type city.

In fact thank you for the idea!

1. The easy way: Punjar is based on Lankhmar so read Fritz Leiber's Fahfard and mouser stuff. Also the Thieves World books can work, and there is some point at which Elric is in a city of thieves.

2. Another easy way: Watch HBO's "The Wire"

3. a little harder: Live in a big city. Leave the tourist areas and watch all the stupid sh*t that goes on. Try getting drunk and hanging out with any assortment of gang members, petty thieves, sociopaths, and street punks. Maybe politicians. You could also try a little prostitution and drug use yourself.

Check out Gabor Lux' write up of a town from Wilderlands: Zothay. It's about the same size as Arenjun. I've been using it as a homebase for a Barrowmaze expedition. It's a rather organized and detailed fan supplement: http://www.judgesguild.com/fans/index.html

Punjar The Tarnished Jewel is perfect as it is if you ask me.

Also you can buy the pdf for only $4.99 at rpg now http://www.rpgnow.com/product/58550/Dun ... shed-Jewel


Also the entire world Punjar is set is in almost perfect for DCCRPG.

Though it to is mostly fluff it is a LOT more expensive at $29.99 for just the pdf. It is listed on rpgnow as well.

That world being Aereth, which is the default DCC world anyway (and where the names of the various deities in the DCC rulebook come from, for example).

Colin

My favorite city is the old Judges Guild City-State of the Invincible Overlord. I've been using the CSIO as my generic go-to city since the 1970's and think it feels a lot like Lankhmar. (I also use it for Greyhawk and once as a space port in a Star Wars campaign. )

If you're thinking of running a Lankhmar campaign, you might sneak over to my OD&D Discussion boards (see link in my signature) and hunt for the section on Lankhmar and Nehwon. There are threads with street names, cities of Nehwon, and so on. Might help you run a game.

Harley specifically recommends Judges read REH's Tower of the Elephant (plus Leiber's Lean Times in Lankhmar) before running his Free RPG Day 2012 adventure, The Jeweler That Dealt in Stardust, which is set in Punjar.

Punjar is the $%^%^!

I put it up against Lankhmar!

Great City just needs someone to write some kick arse swords and sorcery books based in it(looks sideways at Goodman games).

Thanks for the suggestions, guys. Although I will have to pass on your idea #3, Doug. What I am used to is much closer to Mayberry than Gotham City and I want to keep it that way!

It looks like I am going to have to get some stuff on Punjar. I'll have to change the name of the city, though. I know my players and Punjar will soon become known as Poon Jar.

So I hit e-bay and tracked down the Punjar stuff.
1. Sellswords of Punjar (DCC 53; Harley Stroh)
2. Scions of Punjar (DCC 56; Chris Doyle)
3. Thrones of Punjar (DCC 60; Rick Maffei)
4. Runjar: the Tarnished Jewel (Harley Stroh)

Of course it's all 4E stuff so it may be a pain to actually convert to DCC, but I bought the modules for the background and setting information anyway and not the actual adventures.

Sellswords has a neat "Begger's Treasure" table and a cool insert map. Appendix I talks a little about the city and further adventures.

Scions seems more "adventure like" and doesn't seem to have much background material for the city. Same with Thrones. I haven't decided if I want to keep the "complete" set yet because I'm guessing I could have passed on these and not missed much, Punjar wise. I'm going to read a bit more, but these may hit my "send to Noble Knight" pile.

Tarnished Jewel is by far the most useful of the four, as far as just giving the basics of the city and what can be found there.

Lesson learned: buy anything written by Harley.

Somebody mentioned on another post that they had received a pre-order of Jewels of the Carnifex. It might take a little while before you can get a hold of it, but I think it is an excellent city adventure. It should be available soon.

I was reminded that the module is set in Punjar, aka city of thieves. It is also written by Harley Stroh. Which is always good.

If folks from Mayberry want some insight into how Gotham works, check out Carnifex. It is a good fusion of a traditional dungeon crawl into the environs of a metropolis. As far as my preferred style of gaming goes, this is the best one since The Jeweler that dealt in Stardust. Although, technically it was actually written before the aforementioned. As Doom came after Carnifex in my mind as well, I will also mention Doom of the Savage Kings is a pretty kick ass adventure, though it is not set in a city in any way. Doom just may be set in Mayberry.