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 Derelict Building

The Old Kerwin Place: This ramshackle townhouse caught fire mysteriously. The owner, Kerwin, was never seen again and attempts to contact his heirs have failed. Thus, the place remains empty and abandoned.
Ozloc’s Manor: Persistent rumours speak of the many secret tunnels intersecting this ruined manor’s cellars. The owner was apparently paranoid and feared being trapped. The tunnels allegedly pop up all over town. The house itself was once a grand affair, but it has been repeatedly looted since it fell empty.
The Snake’s Head: This two-storey building was once an inn catering to visitors and travellers. It turned out the owners were cultists and cannibals who preyed on lone travellers. A wily barbarian put paid to the cult when they set upon him. Rumours of curses, ghosts and hidden cellars keep folk away from the ruined inn.
Cornerways: Standing on the corner of a busy intersection, this tall, ruined building is subject to ongoing arguments about who actually owns it. While interest parties argue, the building slowly decays.

2: Major Locale Features

This derelict building is nothing but a shell; it has no roof, and most of the upper floor has collapsed.
The building’s staircase is dangerously rotten in places and ready to collapse. Only the lightest and nimblest of explorers can traverse it without danger.
The building had a small ornamental garden to the rear; it is now hopelessly overgrown and tangled. The tree nearest the building has grown several branches through the windows of the upper levels.
A deep cellar lies under the building, which has begun to subside along its frontage. Rubbish and trash cover the cellar floor and hide a secret trapdoor which gives access to an even deeper (forgotten) sub-cellar.

3: Minor Locale Features

Scorch marks on the floor show where a beggar or other down and out has had a fire—perhaps to keep warm or to cook.
The building’s remaining shutters bang loudly when the wind blows from a certain direction.
Graffiti decorates the walls inside and out.
A subterranean stream runs just below the cellar. When it rains heavily, the cellar floods.

4: What’s Going On?

Birds perch on the ridge of the building’s sagging roof.
A perceptive character spots the thin and drawn wan face of a person briefly behind the battered shutters of an attic window.
People passing the derelict building make obvious attempts not to walk in the ruin’s jagged shadow.
A group of street urchins hangs around the building, daring each other to go inside. They all act brave and tough, but no one is actually entering the building.

5: Other Folk

Hannes Toivas (NE middle-aged male human) covets the derelict building because he believes something valuable is buried in the cellar. He is in the process of trying to make everyone believe the house is haunted by using minor magics to simulate a ghostly presence.
Jaakko Kuura (CN young male human) lives in the building because he has nowhere else to go. Both his parents were thieves caught and hung by the local authorities. He burns for revenge—and may have it in later life—but for now, he concentrates on keeping life and soul together. He is skinny, pale-skinned and an exceptionally fast runner.
Lotta Joutsimies (LG female human) believes the building is haunted. Preparing to train as a priest, she believes it is her duty to cleanse the building of evil. She carries a bulging bag filled with various bits of quasi-priestly and occultist paraphernalia. She is stout and earnest—would the characters like to help her push back the darkness?
Jegor Aikamieli (NE male human) lurks in the building as he waits for a suitable victim to blunder by. Jegor is a violent thief not adverse to murder if his target resists. He is burly, part bald and has impressive body odour. He is armed with a club and his favourite handaxe, which he calls “Mr Chop”.

Credit

This is a short system-neutral extract from Urban Locale #11: Derelict Buildiing by Robert Manson. The book is available from DriveThruRPG and Raging Swan Press’s own web store.

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Urban Locales: Derelict Building