Encounters in the Savage Cities is the urban-flavored edition of the Savage Encounters series from Jeff C. Stevens.

Disclaimer: We were provided with a free digital copy of this product.

Encounters & Content

Fights in dirty alleys, markets and festivals, chaos in the streets. Instead of visiting the nearby city just to sell your loot and shop for supplies, you might want to sprinkle in some additional excitement for your players.

Encounters in the Savage Cities is, in fact, the second in the series, after Encounters in the Savage Frontier, released all the way back in 2017 – but that doesn’t stop it from remaining a great toolbox for DMs whose players want things to happen every session, even during downtime. There are 26 encounters across 85 pages from a whole array of talented authors, with a wide variety of combat, investigation, and social interaction.

Some of my favorites:

• The Leaning Door by Chris Bissette is about the eponymous tavern – jealous of the Yawning portal’s success, the owners try and spread rumors about their own seedy little tavern and the mysteries and wonders than lie beneath it – of course, there’s no entrance to the Undermountain to be found, but there’s certainly *something* there.
• The Deadly Fountain by our very own Chris, a.k.a. The Kind GM, includes a case about a local fountain that leads to mysterious deaths every night – solving the case means saving lives, as well as maybe some extra treasure.
• The Puppeteer’s Assistant by Ken Carcas is delightfully weird, throwing your players into a puppet shop under siege from a malfunctioning quadrone and a posse of modrons trying to retrieve it. In particular, if the quadrone (with a name that is very easy to remember and say – 2428297) runs out of ammo, it starts lobbing puppets and marionettes instead, leading one big mess in the shop.

Art & Layout

Each encounter has a short description including recommended CR and what you should roughly expect (more combat, investigation, roleplay, etc), before getting into the main body. There’s plenty of details for each one, and many of them have extra plot hooks and even suggestions for future encounters based on how they are resolved. Each encounter also has custom art, as well as detailed maps included in separate files.

Extras

In addition to the encounters, there’s also a new Background, called the Museum Curator.

Encounters in the Savage Cities is also available in physical form, as a softcover book – and there’s also a Fantasy Grounds VTT version as well.

Final Thoughts

Overall, Encounters in the Savage Cities is a classic supplement (mithral best seller, by the way) that’s perfect for both urban campaigns as well as groups that want an extra bit of excitement during their downtime in the city.

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