My Vornheim City Table- Hustle and Bustle of a Big City

I’ve been running urban campaigns for quite awhile now. I started back in my days of 2e when I was running a homebrew setting and continued with Eberron and Sharn: The City of Towers (3.5 of course) and eventually moving into other settings and now I’m running a campaign using the Vornheim Complete City Kit.

I’ve become used to running city adventures and attempting to make them feel “alive.” Most of the time I can do this pretty successfully, other times I acknowledge I fall flat. Running city adventures can be difficult in giving the miniscule details of “what’s happening street level.” It’s important to not bog thing down by giving too many unimportant details, but giving enough can enrich the city and make it feel like a living part of the campaign.

I’ve heard many people state that they have a heard time with this. Jim over at Lamentations of the Flame Princess has stated in his books as well on multiple podcasts that he doesn’t run city adventures for the very reason I’m mentioning.

In his book, Zak gives tons of tables and charts to help a city active and alive, but he leaves the minor details up to the GM. These, to quote him, “less intrusive encounters” can sometimes be a pain to come up with on the fly or, perhaps, the GM isn’t feeling inspired enough to do so.

To aid myself, and anyone who wants to use it, here is a chart of activities that are happening “street level” around the characters. Can these turn into full encounters should the players choose to interact with “it”? Absolutely! These are just to make the city feel more alive and active.

I would probably roll up two or three of these at a time and describe them when the players are walking through the city and then sprinkle in some actual encounters that will directly affect the characters and the story.
I tried to keep these pretty neutral so they could fit into many different campaigns and setting styles.

Here it is: City Hustle and Bustle Chart (PDF form).

1	Man preaching/ranting about religion/doomsday
2	Pro-human group defiling another race
3	Baazar opens to ruckus trade
4	Woman crying about her missing child
5	Authorities chasing someone down the street
6	Vehicle accident of some kind
7	Town crier yelling out news of the hour
8	Honorable duel in a field
9	Bar fight spills out into street
10	Children playing
11	Street performer(s) on corner
12	Prophet sees the future
13	Shop is having a sale
14	People haggling over price
15	Pimp beating whore in street
16	Couple kissing under a lamp
17	Workers bring supplies from vehicle
18	Bank robbery in progress
19	Wedding going on
20	Music Festival
21	Play about to start
22	Street fight happening, caller taking bets
23	Building on fire
24	New bar just opened
25	New restaurant just opened
26	Spousal fight
27	Vehicle breaks down
28	Person gets sick in front of characters
29	Street vender takes notice of characters
30	Little child throwing temper tantrum
31	Woman cooing over dress in window
32	Men bragging about last nights conquest
33	Purse snatcher attempt to take from a woman
34	A drunk gets tossed onto the street
35	Pan handlers beg from the characters
36	Whores ply their trade
37	Show of magic and bizarre about to begin
38	Animal loose on streets
39	Bird flying by defecates on character
40	Street water splashes on passerby
41	Shady deal in alley
42	Guards arresting someone
43	Rabble bullying someone
44	Major NPC walks down street
45	Characters run into old friend
46	Pick pocket snags from character
47	Fireworks going on in distance
48	Construction on new building
49	Repairs on city wall
50	Workers strike
51	Section of town closed- Royalty eating
52	Animal festival
53	Religious ceremony in front of chapel
54	Homeless shelter opens for day
55	Gang turf fight explodes
56	Potion maker demonstrating wares
57	Butcher hanging meat on store front hooks
58	Herder bringing livestock through city
59	Traffic Jam
60	Street thick with insects
61	Garbage piled in streets
62	Sewage in streets
63	Section of street closed- murder scene
64	Someone threatening suicide
65	Soldiers march through street
66	Decorated soldier parades by
67	Paint falls on character from overhead
68	Condemned building is demolished
69	Baker selling strange pies
70	Funeral procession
71	Person on street crying
72	Jewelry maker showing wares
73	Mercenaries stating they are for hire
74	Thug attempts to rob players
75	Public urination/defecation
76	Eating contest
77	Festival
78	Parade
79	Casino opens
80	Streetside games of chance
81	Person running screaming down street
82	Large gathering of people for unkown reason
83	Person drops crate they were carrying
84	City representative touring area
85	Reporter asks character their thoughts
86	Meteor shower can be seen over head
87	A filthy man blocks characters path
88	Person arguing with themselves walks past
89	A dog begs for food and follows character
90	Man brandishing a weapon screams of injustice
91	Old man wandering down street looks lost
92	Feral cats scamper across street
93	Woman begins to give birth
94	Person screaming looking for a doctor
95	Person screams their friend is possessed
96	Children run by singing creepy song
97	Person asks if character wants fortune told
98	Character sees a rival across the street
99	Flower girl approaches a character
00	Characters run into royalty