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 Dockside Tavern

The Anchor & Parrot: The once jaunty, now faded sign of a parrot perching atop an anchor swings over the door of this dilapidated one-storey tavern. The common room is gloomy and grimy. Isto Arpia (N old male human) owns the tavern, which is only open at night. Stuffed parrots fill a shelf above the tavern’s bar.
The Sailor’s Arms: A cut above the average dockside tavern, this place caters to merchants and their servants. The food and drink are of good quality; rough sorts are not welcome here. Tuuli Kare (LG female human) ably runs the establishment.
The Admiral Vilimzair: Named for the legendary pirate captain, this tavern offers cheap drinks and virtually nothing else. Its owner, Venla Saarelainen (N female human), wants to sell up, but no one is buying.
The Waterside: This sprawling tavern also comprises a boathouse giving out into the harbour. The boathouse has two berths—one is for hire. Hopea Mielo (NE female half-elf), the ostler, doesn’t pry into her customers’ business. She also engages in some light smuggling.

2: Major Locale Features

Several ship figureheads are mounted to the walls as decoration. The figureheads are in bad condition; dirty, with their paint faded, they are also scratched and worn.
The taproom’s floorboards are repurposed deck planks. Some are almost bowed with age.
The tavern stands on a jetty and has no cellar. A trapdoor behind the bar allows the staff to dump rubbish and so on directly into the harbour.
Part of the taproom has been repurposed as a small shrine to Serat, Mistress of Storms. Every week, a priest of Serat visits the tavern to take a service, collect donations and tend the shrine.

3: Minor Locale Features

The tavern’s tables and chairs are made from driftwood scavenged from the harbour. Consequently, many are almost dangerously unstable. A “special” table is kept empty for newcomers and the hilarity of the regulars.
A fire burns in the tavern’s taproom; regulars get a free drink if they bring an armful of dry, seasoned wood.
The regulars have adopted two stray dogs. The dogs virtually live in the taproom and have places of honour by the fire.
One wall near the bar serves as a noticeboard. Layers of scrawled-on bits of paper hang on the wall. Some offer services while others seek such. Many of the bills are old.

4: What’s Going On?

The tavern has a pickpocket problem, and the owner may be oblivious to the situation. Alternatively, the owner may get a kickback from the thieves.
A brawl has just finished as the characters arrive. They enter the taproom as the tavern owner throws out several drunk, battered and bruised patrons.
Two rival crews glare at one another across the taproom. The crews are embroiled in a feud centred on a missing sail, ripped nets and so on. The tension in the taproom is palpable to even the least observant character.
The taproom is mostly empty; only a couple of diehard regulars nurse their drinks. The ostler is bored.

5: Other Folk

Helena Päiviä (CN middle-aged female human) searches for her brother, Perttu. A sailor-for-hire Perttu told her about a big job before he disappeared a week ago. She is frantic with worry.
Simo Rauma (NG young male human) wants to serve on a fishing boat but has got a reputation as an unlucky sailor. Hence he cannot find a berth. He is morose and deep in his cups. If he latches onto a character, he whines of nothing but his ill fortune and how it is not fair.
Tahvo Lempinen (N male human) thinks his exotic pet—a sour-faced parrot—makes him popular and a talking point. The parrot perches on his shoulder and glares at anyone nearby. No one likes the parrot. Tahvo also likes to dress how he thinks a pirate would dress. He is not a clever or observant man.
Arvi Koveri (CG male human) seeks a reliable hireling to convey him and his friends to a remote island. Treasure is said to be hidden thereon, and Arvi and his friends mean to find it. Arvi is bluff and friendly but won’t reveal the island’s name or location.

Credit

This is a short system-neutral extract from Urban Locale #01: Dockside Tavern by Creighton Broadhurst. The book is available from DriveThruRPG and here at our store.

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Urban Locales: Dockside Tavern