Are you a busy GM? Does session prep take too long? Do you never have time to work on the cool little details that can bring your adventures to life? These focused lists give you, the time-crunched GM, the tools to effortlessly add verisimilitude and detail to your urban adventures.

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1: The Alleyway

Dagger Alley: Notorious as a place of murder and robbery, Dagger Alley is avoided by all at night. So notorious is the alley that even the thieves and murderers that once lurked therein have moved on.
Midnight Alley: Named for the gloom and murk that perpetually fills it, this narrow alley twists and turns through the slums. In places, it is barely three-foot wide.
Bear Alley: Bear Alley is named for a tavern that once stood at one end. Therein, the ostler kept a tamed bear—until it escaped and ran amok. It got trapped in the narrow alley before it was killed. Locals believe the bear’s spirit haunts the alley and ascribe several horrific murders to the ghost.
Gibbet’s Corner: This L-shaped alleyway was the scene of a hanging decades ago. The unfortunate’s body was left here as a warning to other ne’er-do-wells.

2: Major Locale Features

Broken crates and barrels, along with a smattering of other rubbish and excrement, provide many obstacles for the unwary in this alley.
The alley is a literal quagmire. Either the locals use it as a dumping ground for their bodily waste, or water oozes to the surface from some underground source.
This alley is so narrow that a traveller’s shoulders literally brush the walls on either side.
A trench—nothing more than an open sewer—runs down the alley. The stench is intolerable. When it has rained, the “water” in the trench often spills out into the alley.

3: Minor Locale Features

Foul-smelling puddles of doubtless bodily origin dot the alley. Unwary travellers stand in several such puddles.
Rats infest the alleyway, either living among the heaped rubbish or in the adjacent houses. The rats are of normal size and are not hostile. They flee if attacked.
The ground is muddy and covered with rubbish. Much of the rubbish has begun to sink into the mud, creating hidden hazards.
Graffiti “decorates” the mouth of the alley. The graffiti colourfully lists various people’s depravities and maligns their ancestry.

4: What’s Going On?

No one else is about when the characters enter the alleyway. However, a short way down the alley, the characters discover the corpse of a man lying face down in an expanding pool of blood. It seems he was killed mere minutes ago.
A scrawny cat stalks the alley in search of dinner. The characters’ approach flushes a rat toward it, which the cat gladly pounces on.
The alley is used as a rubbish dump by those dwelling nearby. In places, it is virtually impassable; the piles swarm with vermin.
Houses of ancient construct fringe the alley; many of them are in danger of imminent collapse.

5: Other Folk

Eljas Utujoutsi (CN middle-aged male human) lives in the alley. Eljas is a beggar and claims a small part of the place—a bricked-up archway—as his home. Therein lie his pathetic possessions. Most nights, he can be found here. During the days, he loiters at the mouth of the alley, begging for anything he can get.
Brusi Mielivalta (NE male human) uses the alleyway as a place to watch for prospective victims. Brusi is an enthusiastic mugger who believes might is right and that he deserves an easy life. He enjoys life as a mugger. He is burly, has a bushy beard and brandishes a large, heavy club of polished wood.
Sirja Lemmikki (CN young human female) lives in the alley because she has nowhere else to go. She’s an orphan and has lived on the streets for a year or more. She’s seen the grubby underside of the city and is terrified of what life may have in store for her. She is timid and does not trust anyone. For all that, though, she puts on a brave front.
Tohmas Kari (N middle-aged male human) slumbers, oblivious to his surroundings. The stench of wine and smoke hangs thickly in the air about him. Tohmas has recently been on an epic bender and now sleeps it off. He is lucky no unsavoury folk have found him yet; amazingly, his coin pouch still holds a few silvers.

Credit

This is a short system-neutral extract from Urban Locale #05: Alleyways by Robert Manson. The book is available from DriveThruRPG and Raging Swan Press’s own web store.

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Urban Locales: Alleyways