To expand on this, there was a lot of really good world-building information in the 3.5 DMG and DMG 2 - I know a lot of newer players probably haven’t been exposed to them, but they’re both available on the DM’s Guild and we’ll worth checking out.
@@queenannsrevenge100 as one of those newer players, I think I'll need to do this eventually. Been trawling 3rd and 4th edition lore to flesh out a lot of details (mostly for the Sword Coast) that haven't really come up in 5th. It's kind of amazing how much thought has been put into the lore of the game throughout the years just to make a game feel like a real place.
Shoot, the price of magic materials tripled and became more scarce when my players bought all the magic materials at every city they went to for 7 or 8 towns and cities. Scarcity! They're being bought up! BUY NOW! Merchants sold their materials to the drained cities because prices were higher since they were bought out, one after another.
Is it that that category of items is available '1000gp items can be bought here' or is it 'the total gp worth of things that can be bought equal 1000gp' or is it 'there is one 1000gp items per 1000 people living g in the town' ??
6:53 Historian here. Before the invention of the automobile, travel was so slow that nearly every town needed an inn on its main street. (Travelers would also find lodging at monasteries, so you might consider something similar, but that was driven by people on pilgrimages to cathedrals and other holy sites.) Travelers would bunk 2 to 4 to a room, sometimes with strangers, often two to a bed. And every town & village would have multiple tavern/pub/alehouses. These were often “public houses” in the literal sense: a family's house with a big room, where you could get ale & beer & usually food, not to mention music & jokes from the locals. Meeting & events were often held at pubs & inns, so the PCs might roll up on a wedding in progress.
@Eli Quite the contrary. In fact, inns and taverns historically popped up about every 15-30 miles (depending on terrain - generally about ten hours walking distance) and towns/villages grew around them. From merchants to pilgrims to tradesmen, people have always travelled quite a bit and needed someplace to stay; Romans built 'mansio' (comparable to motels) every 15-18 miles along their roads, with most of Europe (and, eventually, European colonies) following suit. Anyplace travelled frequently enough to leave a trail soon becomes a road and, shortly after, some form of lodging invariably crops up roughly one day's travel from the last. While most had their own kitchens, early 'diners' quickly materialized across the street (or next-door). Travelers also needed stables for their animals. Farriers to keep them shod. Wainwrights to fix their wagons. A cobbler to mend their boots and shoes. Houses for all these people to live (after all, the inn/tavern won't get many visitors if all the rooms are occupied by locals). And the locals will now need a butcher and a general good store. And some farmers to grow crops nearby rather than bringing food from afar. Now there's a "Day's Inn" across the street, offering 'upscale accommodations' - let the riff-raff stay at the old "Motel 6" which started it all. Same thing happened in the US with railroads - far enough down the track, when a train needed to stop for water and/or coal, there was a railway depot. Then a saloon for travelers to eat and drink while the train was resupplying - also with rooms to let in case travelers were switching trains. Newsstands to 'disseminate literature' ranging from penny dreadfuls to uppercrust anthologies. Livestock yards for ranchers driving herds to market and warehouses for goods which were ordered through Sears & Roebuck (the Amazon of the 19th Century). Though technology evolves and specific details change from era to era, the evolution from waypoint to thriving settlement is nearly universal.
@Eli At its height, the Roman Empire controlled most of Europe - even unto a barbaric isle where they founded a city named Londinium (maybe you've heard of it?) - Asia Minor (now Turkey), and northern Africa spanning from the Atlantic Ocean to the Middle-East. Such vast expansion was their "Achilles' Heel" as the expense of maintaining and defending such distant lands soon outstripped their value; the Roman Empire gradually collapsed in on itself, crushed by the weight of its own bureaucracy. Powers which arose to fill the voids quickly learned the value of mansio and built new ones of their own as *they* expanded. By many accounts, the dominance of Western Civilization is largely due to the general ease of travel throughout Europe - roads and mansio in particular facilitating the travel and trade of ideas in addition to people and products.
@Eli No, it's based on the earlier portion of Europe's "Medieval Period" - roughly 500-1100 AD - which immediately followed the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in 476 AD. FYI ~ The Eastern Roman Empire (aka Byzantine Empire) held out until the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Yes, Oxford University had been awarding degrees for more than 350 years before the last of the Roman Empire fell.
A replacement for an Inn could be a monastery with a hospital; where they offer shelter for pilgrims and other travellers. This might well be outside the town or city walls, and contains all the usual NPCs, but with a monastic theme. Also, for an Enlightenment era D&D game, Coffee Shops offer a different atmosphere.
@@dutch6857 I guess that they are also a good place to meet desperate folk looking for some help with their problems; if the Abbot's spiritual advice isn't enough to solve a problem, maybe he can ask that bunch of rough looking adventurers to step in and help. Also, monasteries are part of a large and wealthy organization with locations all across the realm and beyond. If the PCs want to buy and sell magic items, the Church might well be their best bet for a marketplace. 👍
Yes, as long as it is a medieval hospital, which is where the word hospitality comes from. These were places offered by the church for pilgrims to rest and also as a last resort for the sick and dying, fun note; the word hospice comes from the Latin _hospitium,_ which is also where we get the word host from.
@@euansmith3699 plus a monastery would test the morality of the group. They get to rest and a meal, are they willing to donate some gold or labor? I like this idea.
Worldbuilding from the Dudes? I clicked so fast, this is a video series I need right here. The creative aspect of D&D is so much more interesting to me than optimization
I find nearly half the DMG is world building and optional rules that's only relevant when you want to start making your own stuff. If your a new DM you won't be using it alot until you've gotten a game or two under your belt.
But the great thing about this video is that it conveniently flushes out how to make a town without too much world building that won't fall apart when the players ask "where's the local blacksmith."
"If you're gonna name your town Mountaincliff, it probably shouldn't be in the middle of a field" Me: *writes an entire backstory as to why the village of Mountaincliff is in the middle of a field*
In northern Nevada, there is the town called Battle Mountain i. It is located in a large valley, and there is no record of a battle ever having been fought there. The people who came up with the name wanted something that might entice people to move there.
Settlers of battle mountain found confrontations by the northern Paiute and Shashone native americans during the 1850s and 60s. That's why it's named battle mountain.
A good way to make magic NPCs without actual class levels or the MM statblocks is with the magic initiate feat. My small town priests are often commoners with Magic Initiate: Cleric, and I usually pick Guidance, Thaumaturgy and Ceremony, which are the perfect magic for a town priest
That's great. Thaumaturgy is going to be such a fun cantrip for a scary village priest. Certainly enough to keep the congregation in line. Just like a local Wizard, might be a commoner with Magic Initiate: Wizard, and Prestidigitation, Minor Illusion and Identify. 😍 Enough to be useful as an NPC, but not the kind of person who will steal the PCs thunder.
This is where i think the Eberron book is great even if you're doing hombrew. Nicking the dragonmarked house ablities for NPCs you can build services in the city or town and decide how basic or advanced the services provided are. If it's a small town there's probably only a basic healer and a message station and you'd pick maybe the first 1 or 2 levels of spells from the relevant Dragonmarked house for them. It's a good way to build up a few locations in town with basic level services for your players to interact with. Reflavouring is key.
Having a reason for a town's existence in the town really helps with the believability of a town or village. Is it a farming town? If its on the frontier, is it a trapper/skinner's check point? Are there local mines? Do they tan furs here? Is it a way point on a caravan route? Not only does this give your players more of a sense of the place being real, but now its become part of the world with connections to other places and also the iconic sense of that sort of a locale - people generally have the sense of what a quaint farming town, or a rough miner's town, etc. etc.. The iron being mined here gets caravanned off some where, the wheat harvest is sent to the Lord's Keep/Town as the yearly taxes. Etc. Etc. Etc.
I was about to offer this as an alternative to "what is their major resource?" There are a lot of places that exist because they're a convenience to other bigger place, like your caravan waypoint. If people commonly send messages by non-magical means, then messengers will need places between population centers to change steeds or overnight. Is it a colony of individuals with a disease or plague, forced somewhere where "normal people" wouldn't want to live? Is the town really four sheds in a fetid swamp? (It could be, if that settlement helps establish a link and a claim to better, neighboring lands.) Necessities for the town to thrive are usually, well, necessary to be around, but a sufficiently large or well-organized empire or nation might be able to sustain settlements where it'd be otherwise impractical, just because they want people there.
One classic place to stay the night in a foreign town used to be in medieval times was to sleep at the *home* of someone of equal status as you. A lord might rest by the local baron's keep, a peasant at almost any peasant hovel, and a merchant at the merchant's house. So for adventurers, I'd really feel it would be a cool place to form a base would be a quest-giving ex-adventurer: an old druid, a veteran of three wars, a mage's tower, or even the mayor who gives out the quests.
Kelly: you dont need to go into the depths of the trading mechanics Me: uh ok (crumbling the 80 page treatise on Mountaincliffs wheat conglomerate and futures market)
Been there done that, history of the Wheat Penny. Lie about harvest yields and hold back grain storage to inflate the value of wheat/ penny to pay for the township labor cost of all the smiths to create the equipment for the guards. Follow the trail of an animal to the butch market on how much the cost of meat is, butchers were taxed highly.
I will point out that in small towns, certain weapons that are metal intensive, and metal intensive armors will typically be rare (taking more skill, time, and expensive ore to make). Frontier or forestry focused towns will tend to stock axes, bows, and arrows, as well as leather and cloth armors. Mining towns will have more picks, crossbows and bolts, and studded armor will be common. Farming towns will favor spears, javelins, shields and cloth armor.
Average villagers will have the same weapons and armor the town sells. Larger towns will have specialized smith's and craftspeople as well as a better selection of equipment.
You guys, Hello Future Me, and Artifexian are my favorites when it comes to worldbuilding stuff, just wanna put that out there. I absolutely love watching you guys make things!
I have a port city that is governed by a changeling that is also the thieves guild leader. The queen of the area is a gold dragon. Taxes are added to her hoard.
One of my core cities is Limenia - actually Latin for "thresholds" though, lore-wise, it means "crossroads" in a number of racial languages. It is situated on a fjord which enters a moderately-sized bay, forming a natural harbor, with major roads heading inland in three other directions. As a major trading hub, it has grown considerably over the years: ~ Portsmouth: The actual ring of docks and warehouses encircling and encroaching the bay, backed by a canal for smaller river craft. ~ The Hardpoint: A large solid wall built between islets, rising thirty feet above the water. Originally a smaller breakwater, it was enlarged and strengthened to provide limited outside access to the harbor; features reinforced defensive towers flanking the one major entrance, and machicolated battlements above the two minor entrances. ~ Olde Towne: Variegated terrain higher than and surrounding Portsmouth, roughly the same elevation as the top of Hardpoint. Originally the heart of Limenia, it's now the closest thing to slums the city has - very few residents are truly poor, but its age and general proximity to the noise and smells of the harbor makes the area less desirable to those who view themselves as 'having status'. ~ Limenia (proper): Six interconnected plateaus rising roughly fifty feet above sea level on the harbor side and ground-level along the outer ring. They were originally rocky outcroppings until stones were cut from the high points to build retaining walls along the river and three main roads which lead to the harbor, the remaining spaces backfilled to provide more flat land to build upon. A wide range of lifts flank these roads to raise imported goods to the various production/crafting houses and lower finished goods for export. ~ Street of Flames: More of a large irregularly-shaped plaza than an actual street, this central area is surrounded by blacksmiths, potters, bakeries, and all other manner of production houses. Direct access (via four tall gatehouses) is limited to the local soldiery and public officials - indirect access via assorted lifts, and by the connected storefronts on the Street of Scales. ~ Street of Scales: Encircling the central production area, this broad street is the main commercial hub of the city. The inner side is lined with storefronts for the numerous production houses while the outer side features clothiers, jewelers, whitesmiths, enchanters, and other crafts of a less-industrious nature. More than a dozen thoroughfares radiate outwards, connecting this area with the rest of Limenia. ~ Surrounding these areas are seven plazas (each roughly midway along a direct thoroughfare connecting a perimeter gate to the Street of Scales); each featuring a small park-like area, notable inns (with stables) and taverns, and various smaller business affairs. Each also features an inconspicuous constabulary with only the emblem of the Limenian Guard (a shield bearing a sword crossed with a large key) to indicate its presence. (These also serve as civic offices for smaller affairs like permits, paying taxes, etc.) ~ Limenia's outer perimeter is a curtain wall roughly twenty-six feet tall - featuring seven 'local' gatehouses, three 'major' gatehouses (one for each major road), and a series of portcullises which can barricade the river (in an emergency). ~ The Imperium: The civic/administrative portion of Limenia which abuts the eastern (seaward) side of the Street of Scales (also has its own direct access to the Street of Flames). All-in-all, around 23,000 people call Limenia home - ±17,000 of them residing in the main area, another ±3800 crammed into Olde Towne, and ±2200 in the farms and communities beyond the curtain wall. While the Hardpoint and curtain wall are imposing structures, the city's reputation as neutral territory for commerce and passage is a far more formidable defense. Only once, amid the War of Shadows (over a century past), was any major force fool enough to assault Limenia - four of the other six belligerents immediately called a truce and rallied together to annihilate the invading force; shortly after, they united fully to form the Kingdom of Gaelwoode. The Tavern of the Gray Dog (main hub) sits atop a slight promontory in Olde Towne, overlooking the harbor. As such, it is favored by sailors and dockworkers - they can kick back with their friends, enjoying some ale and swapping stories, while keeping a clear view of boat traffic so they know when they need to head back to meet an incoming vessel or their own ships are preparing to sail.
13:14 Maybe not noblemen (they lived in a keep in a castle surrounded by a city) but certainly a lord (gentry, not noble), who lived in a manor house next to a town, was the principle local landowner, & would make most of the administrative decisions for a town, usually thru his bailiff or the local reeve. Town mayor was a later development.
I love thinking of the effect simple wondrous items like the decanter of endless water can have on the world. Imagine a cave system with a river that feeds into the local watershed. All of a sudden the water levels drop by half and the people downstream have no idea why. When the party goes to investigate, they find the cave system and discover it holds the entrance to an ancient tomb of some kind. The party has to solve a relatively simple puzzle that involves a set of guardian statues holding the decanters. A party member could take one or more of the decanters, but that would have a lasting impact on the environment and the town. A cool little starter quest I think 😁
Ran a game where a village earth packed walled off their valley between some hills for defense against horse raids, so a group of hags/wizards cover the opening gates with Walls of Stone and flooded the valley with a dozen Decanters of Water. No one touch the decanters cause of the Water Monsters/ Statues " giant Polymorph Other dragon scale cover zombies) held them in a circle and were worship by tribes of lizardfolk. No one wants to take the risk. One PC party manage to kill one of the hags with a heart ripping spear, the old b*tch came back as a ghost and corpse was animated into a 12hd zombie with a dozen Shadows hiding in the body.
I'm a veteran DM, so none of this is new for me, however, I save your videos because it's so easy to overlook basic stuff, and you lay it out very straightforwardly
For anyone out there into worldbuilding, there's a reason all of Europe and the eastern slice of North America have bunches of small towns 10-20miles from each other and major cities are surrounded by such small towns/villages and that's because depending on terrain, that was the distance of a day trip 'to town and back' for the rural folks to sell their goods/produce. Lumber, agriculture, wild game, minerals, waterway trade hubs, what have you, flavoring up these small towns always helps me flesh out my capital cities. And the crisscrossing of small roads and major highways gives you excuses galore for expanding your worlds with a wonderful variety of towns, villages, and cities all with their own flavors. And of course nearby conflicts to be resolved by your players! Though with dwarf/elf regions I go with different layouts Great topic, Dudes! I could blather on all day 8>D
Your content is so good. I've been playing for 30 years and dming for 8 years and such a great resource. Makes me wonder when my players tell me I run really good games who they played with before because I have learned so much to include in my games that there is no way they've been great before. Lol. Anyways thank you again for the great videos...
Here's a wonderful things that DMs can and should use to help with NPC building. Sidekick classes. Seriously, Take the 'standard' guard monster from the books, and apply the warrior sidekick class to it if you need something akin to the 'elite' squad or the "Swat" steam of the town. Conversely, doing the same with the caster lets you have someone who can do magic, but keep them restrained in comparison to some of the stronger caster creatures. I could absolutely see the guards of a town being the "Guard" stat block with 1 level of warrior to give then a tiny bit more without making them beyond reasonable expectation. Seriously, the Sidekick system from Tasha's is a wonderful gift and I wish more DMs would realize it. it's there to give you NPCs with stats ready to use if they end up needing stats.
i really genuinely respect how well these videos are structured and put together. thanks for the summary at the end, the intro, the examples and counter examples for each point. I find a lot of dnd resources are quite off the cuff, I respect the hell out of the polish on these videos.
Welcome back! I noticed the DD logo on the screen under the broadcast of what could be considered a competitor’s online campaign. You have really hit the big leagues. I am so happy for you all.
3 and 3.5 DMG had a town builder section that had gold piece limit on items and available coin in the populace for what items would be available for purchase or for the PCs to sell. Great job guys. Thank you
Love the feeder villages part. Really helps to expand the focus beyond just the town itself. Outside of the town there’d be an entire support network providing food, raw materials, supplies and income.
The town with the dragon skeleton gives me an idea. IDEA:. The skeleton is from an ancient battle between a wizard and the dragon. Due the the wizard's hatred of dragons he cursed the dragons body into a dracolich, and forcing the body to attack any dragon that comes near the body and then return to it's final resting place. People in the past may have witnessed one of these battles take place and followed the undead dragon back to it's grave and observed it. Eventually someone brave/stupid approached the dracolich and nothing happens. They observe for many weeks until another dragon comes near and the dracolich animates and surges up to strike down the other dragon, then returns to it's resting spot. Those observing decide this could be a benifit to a town, a protector against the bane of dragons, so they try to have the skeleton moved. Due the the mystical nature of the curse, the dragon attacks those who touch it and the goes back to rest. Those in power then decide to build a small town near the dracolich, to test, forbidding all from approaching the remains for fear of death. The experiment works as the dracolich animates and attacks a new dragon in. The area and returns to the same resting place. Eventually the town grows into a large city, ever protected from dragon's from this ancient dracolich cursed to remain and fight dragons for eternity.
I built one city map that had _four_ taverns for just a few thousand residents, but it was full of people on their way somewhere else, as it straddled the only river in a desert and pretty much anyone traveling would follow the river. I was setting up a "get the Macguffin" type adventure where the party had the discretion to acquire the item any way they saw fit -- buy it, steal it, mug the owner, seduce the owner, convince someone near the owner to steal it for them, all the options were on the table -- and the party was all bards, traveling as a touring band. The four taverns worked out well -- I only added one more piece of info about them, which was the owner's feelings about the other taverns, and why. Two of them were owned by the separate halves of a divorced couple and although there was no open hostility, there was obviously a lot of rivalry. The party leaned heavily on the band front, so I designed many of the locations around scenes from _The Blues Brothers._
FWIW: The word for a river crossing is a ford. So, the city that grew up on the crossing of the river Rom is called Romford and the one on the Chelmer river is called Chelmsford
In playing Icespire some of the best roll play moments took place in the inn- I have been amazed how much fun my players had tormenting the in keeper with bizarre breakfast requests.
Same. My DM at the time didn't know what corned beef hash was. So he thought we meant corn, beef, and hashbrowns all separate. We tormented poor Toblen every visit with that. And now that I'm DM of the group my inns have a policy that if you request corned beef hash you secretly pay double for everything. They still don't know they're paying double wherever they go.
thank you for the thorough breakdown of some really good questions to ask as putting together a town/village/city/etc. on a side note - someone from the team should prob check the kickstarter page comments. just saying.
Perfect timing, I'm about to get started on my first home brew and the very first set piece is a decently sized port town. I've been stressing about putting it together and this helps a lot, thanks guys.
I recently started DMing for the first time. To make it easier on myself, I decided to start with existing stuff, so I'm using Eberron setting (Q'Barra, to have sufficient wiggle room) and the first adventure is a modified version of the Ghosts of Saltmarsh' first adventure. The way I built my first town was taking the map of Saltmarsh, and list of locations within, and simply going down the list and modifying anything I felt like didn't belong in the setting, plus adding a couple hooks relevant to my players' individual quests, should they choose to pursue them. That became my version of Adderport. I ended up creating way more NPCs, and dynamic between them, than I originally intended. The world just started forming in front of me. Maybe it's a personal thing, and won't help everyone, but for me, creative work is infinitely easier when I have a hook to start from, even if the result ends up being unrecognizable from the source.
The central village (story-wise) in my homebrew is the small town of Nevermore. Governed by a council of closeted wereravens. The primary arc of the campaign centers around the blacksmith, who's wife saved the town from the plague, then died in childbirth, and his young son, who will eventually turn heel and become the big bad. This vid was really well timed.
Regarding Inns, it can be quite amusing to inform your players that there aren't any Inns in town, but instead suggest they ask around for lodging instead. Regarding Raise Dead and associated spells, 500gp might not seem like a lot to a player, but when the average NPC makes 1-2.5gp a day, with lifestyle costs ranging from .1-10gp, really puts into perspective how wealthy the average starting adventurer is. Regarding Town Militas, unlike modern times, in medieval times EVERY HOUSEHOLD was expected to provide at least 1 Man equipped to the standard of that town, typically a Gambeson (Padded Armor), a Spear and Shield, though occasionally even more expensive things such as Mail, Swords, or even Crossbows. Now typically such houses might included one's grandparents, and more often than not one tended to have about half it's size in children, ie, 4 children 4 adults, usually more the more rural it was. But assuming at least 8 to a household that would still be 125 militamen ready and capable of taking on most foes.
Common trade coin was .. silver .. and not gold. So I had this 1st-level barbarian country boy acted as if he was .. rich .. cause he found A Gold Coin on the floor by some barrels from a dusty make shift card table and empty wine bottles. And back in 3.5e most farming peasants only earn around 10 gp in trade goods each month. So as a hill Billy his parents were paid in written script note at the town to trade for salt and a few tools for the herd animal they brought in each season.
-Reason for towns existence (nearby mine, good farmland, good grazing, strategic importance etc.). Why do people live here? -How do the the people live here? All the townsfolk need the basic necessities; food, shelter, clothing, and tools/means to make a living. -What is the local government like? Local council, a mayor or bergermeister appointed by a ruler, a democratically elected official? -How does the local government operate and enforce the law?
"If you got a large town, you can design 3 but really you can get away with one." I dont know why, but my first responding thought was "but wouldn't a large travel-hub naturally lead to more then one being made". To which my mind answered: "The one inn operates as an illegal monopoly, whenever a rival starts an inn or BNB they have their goons sabotage them, in subtle ways first, escalating until they eventually just burn the whole place down. Now the party gets hired by a goblin who wants to figure out why their B&B is failing". So, i want to thank you for providing my next story-hook.
in a dnd world where adventurers are somewhat common, it might be also more common for small towns to have a inn that always has 3 rooms for adventureres that pass by. if the town is very isolated, let them roleplay their way to find a suitable resting place ;)
My last game store DM like set a village and your characters have to randomly walk around to find each other somewhere in the village, you just don't hook up in a tavern. Run the game like a soap opera with commercial breaks. In one .. one short game. As normal we draw index cards to see what character arch type we will play. a.) Local doing a job of clearing out large spiders under the mill, it took four 2nd level PC three days to clear out the next and about a week to recover from the poison bite, stander vermin clearing. b.) Highwaymen, they rob a wagon train coming into the village. Sit around the whole week sipping drinks and no villagers talked to them, they were unemployed at the end of the week when the wagon train left after repairs. c.) I drew the ranger card, I asked if I could play as a rogue/ wizard first level with Survival skills and the answer was yes. " Ok I am an edge lord walking into the unfence village dress in night colors of dark blues/ black with an eye patch. Hand over snared rabbits to some senior women and ask directions to the sable. At the sable I help with the shoveling and bought the sable hand lunch. Talk a bit with the sable owner and slept in the loft. Did some choirs around the village with the local along with some stick/ sword play fighting using Dance skill to look better than I could really fight. Follow by canning a mouth teenager that disrespect her grandparents into a bloody mess ( just a split lip and little nose bleed/ hey I playing lawful evil. still a nice guy but have a mean streak.) End of the week I was hire on as a wagon train guard and nightwatch review by the sheriff deputy." What was with the eye patch, I smack my face on a tree branch.
My first adventure location was a farming village named Patria. Most of the inhabitants lived in farmsteads around the central area. This place fed the nation, and caravans were always coming and going. They had a militia of volunteers, a trading outpost and a feisty old mayor. The inn is also a tavern, run by an eccentric couple who are willing to give adventurers free board for something like saving their mischievous child who stowed away in a wagon that went into a nearby cave inhabited by smugglers and cutthroats. And there may be something mysterious about the well in the center. Maybe the Mayor knows.
Worldbuilding is one of the things I would love to see brought forward to 5e. Cityscape and Deities & Demigods were a couple of my favorite sourcebooks in the 3.5e era. Even now, they're still fantastic resources; while a bit might be system specific, a good chunk of those books are just about worldbuilding in general.
I built a custom town in High School called "Alphonse". I drew it out in detail on several linked graph paper sheets and had everything. I poured my total creativity into this for months. It was great fun.
First time viewer. Really liked this. Organized, no unnecessary tangents. This video respects that I’m a busy DM who wants answers now. So, you get to the point. Well done! ✨💎✨
Found your channel somewhat recently (about 2 months or so ago) and loved it, even backed the KS despite not generally using settings. And now, as I am freshly burned out of ideas to world build, you bring the perfect video in time for me to get back to work. Thanks!
To the population and the housing...Remember that your usual town and even village will have people who will not be well off enough to own a house. So you will have your streets or outskirts with tents or ramshackle buildings. In addition this can be used as insight how well the town is run for your group and even work as an adventure hook.
About your blacksmithing commentary I would like to add that all half decent smiths knew how to make knives, spears, axes, and arrows. Swords were a little specialized but longer knives for cutting away weeds and the like were a common thing to find. Farriers were not as common and nails were expensive only used by high end carpenters and for heavy wood doors. Castles were amazing for blacksmiths. A family of smiths would end up very wealthy after being involved in a castle construction. So smiths could make just about anything when asked. These people were smart enough to create and design new tools.
For my games, I dont always have inns for players but have a guest houses that doesnt charge too much, or good natured npcs who are okay with having guests. And ofc an old healer lady. Could be a witch who brews elixirs, an acolyte, a midwife…etc. Blacksmiths are always present who makes lots of nails, sickles and sharpens blades even does arrowheads and spearheads for town militia. They know how to make swords but they dont often craft them.
I am starting a starfinder campaign and this has helped so much! It has helped with the story, npcs, places for players and way to let the party have a safe space. I love your content and thank you so much!
I wish this was around for my first 'town' I made a monster of a city, using the premise of Krenkos Way from Ravnica as the first major quest and introduction to the city. Changed names of districts and organizations to make things feel more like my own, as well as added a few aspects that didn't exist orignally. I had 5 districts in this metropolis, each one standing for a different thing. And the city had about 3000 People, but was (in hind site) far to large for that population. I had a labyrinthine sewer system that I didn't put enough thought into, I had whole areas of the city that were totally abandoned because at no point did my players go there. The first few session went okay, but after those it quickly went down hill with one player doing something I wasn't ready for. And looking back, I see I railroaded this group way to hard. ^^' So, thanks Dudes for making this. Hopefully the next time i try my hand and DMing, these tips will help me make something far more manageable and just as interesting.
I would really like to see an episode when you talk about what books, movies, tv series inspire you when creating campaigns. Really like your channel so much
I created a town for a one-shot turned campaign that I've now gone incredibly in depth with. Every single villager has a name, a personality, a (small) backstory, and so on. It's created a lot of good moments with the players' interactions with all these townsfolk, going on mini missions to supply the inn they saved with donuts from the local bakery, or breaking in to the mayor's office in town hall thinking he was hiding something (when really he's just a grumpy old guy). The town has all the basic needs and is meant to serve as a hub for all future adventures, which all are discovered due to whatever effects they have on the town. Like the second/third quest coming from the bakery not receiving their latest shipment of flour and not being able to open.
While thinking of my character's hometown, I got to thinking as to what it's called with the problems you mentioned; there's a lot to look into. Here are some key examples with the resources: 1. Mines with regenerating ore veins (takes 50 years to do so) as long as the heart stone remains undisturbed 2. Farmlands that are more fertile than a drow priestess during "mating time" 3. Water from an underground source that never runs dry In other words, the land is so vibrant that it's basically self-sustaining due to magical properties (possibly blessed by good gods/goddesses) and I just don't know what to call it
Two problem I had with AD&D2nsE demihuman level caps, .. 1.)There was a level cap which some people overly enforce in campaign cause of .. reasons. 2.) You need at lest a 12th to 14th -level male drow wizard to have the spells need to create the magic items require to set up and out post or new under dark colony site.
@@krispalermo8133 I had a backstory developed around his "first campaign" at home, but how to implement the blessings I spoke of is still elusive; the mine one though seems to be the easiest if I do it right.
I would love to see a series in this vein for more worldbuilding tips! This is excellently formatted and easy to follow with a comprehensive checklist at the end to help ensure all fronts are covered!
One of your best videos yet guys! I’ve been dming for about a year now. Just running things like Phandelver and Strahd, but I’m gearing up for that big home brew campaign. This got my brain going like never before. Tight, organized video with clear steps and brilliant examples. It’s not often I comment on a video, but this earned high marks from me. Thanks guys!
This is one of my favourite types of videos other than the sub class rankings/ class guides. LOVE hearing about your worldbuilding ideas. I struggle with this particular topic IMMENSELY!
Starting a new campaign and just sent this to the player who’s taken on the cartographer role. As DM, I’m excited to learn about the players home village after she creates it.
There's a tavern I found in a comic book/ rpg book called Rolled and Told. The tavern in the first issue has a training dungeon in the basement, and winners get a free round of drinks. Perfect first session.
One has to also consider the governmental/social structure of the wider realm to determine the local authority structure as well. For example, a feudal kingdom will have a small town effectively run by a baron or landed knight (influences from the church and any relevant trade guilds would also be pertinent).
I made a world that approximated medieval Europe (so original I know). Off the coast of Venizia (Venice), there lived an aquatic elf enclave which would come ashore during the three days of the full moon every month, for trade, for marriage proposals, and for shared festivals with the human city. Glassware was created and traded heavily, in the murano style. One of the characters origins was from the underwater enclave. Water breathing potions were in abundance in the seaside port.
I am a noob at DND that somehow ended up hosting few tiny, combat sessions for my wife... and now she wants more. This video is super helpful and already gave me few ideas for the first village she will end up in.
My players explored Russellton, a town full of Simulacrum that look like various Kurt Russell characters. There was a coup underway against Ego, the town leader. But, my players ignored almost all of that and took the Stargate out at their earliest convenience.
damn guys, I intuitively made my town kinda along these lines :D Got a temple of Waukeen that houses local artisans who sell equipment to players, it's High Priest serves as one of the pillars of the town, got a shady Lord who has a merchant & mercenary group, a greedy bureaucrat mayor and a decent, war veteran guard captain who tries to keep the town safe for everyone during a refugee crisis :D
I like the idea that what's available in a town is related to population. In the modern world we have "food desserts" in both inner-city urban and very rural areas where nutritious food is expensive and you might have to drive to the next state to buy it. Things are also more expensive in a small town when they are available. Sometimes there's a random local who can fix watches or VCRs or whatever, just by chance.
Regarding the magic users in small town: I'm running a high magic campaign. Around 50 % of people in my setting have some sort of magic, but majority of "magic users" have just one or two spells not higher than 2nd level. The spell usually pertains to their occupation or history. The local guard has Zone of Truth, which helps them solving crimes. Local noble has Prestidigitation keeping their presentation spotless. Local cleric can Cure Wounds but like one time a day so they don't blast it left and right. I like a lot of fantasy in my fantasy and magic helps my world seem less like the world I live in. :)
You can't necessarily compare it to real world villages and towns, because they wouldn't have had roving monsters, bandits and adventurers, but it does depend on the world you've built. The less safe the world, the more likely the town has a good weapons shop. A village/ town could have sprung up near a dungeon, mostly to supply adventurers.
Also, the less safe the world the more likely the town will have fixed defences such as watchtowers, palisades or walls. This can really help set the mood of the local area the PCs are in, or the world itself. I'm running a campaign in a world based on the RWBY webseries, set hundreds of years after modern civilisation had fallen and has fallen back to medieval fantasy level with some items of advanced technology as usable salvage. My description of the town in which the campaign started mentioned its twenty foot tall palisade wall and guard towers, the nearby farms which had buildings for storage of tools, crops and produce, but no housing (as the farmers lived the town safe behind the walls), while farms further away were larger farms like Hispanic haciendas with housing in the form of fortified compounds with sturdy walls and bell towers with heliograph mirrors to signal for help, all gave the players the feeling that the people of this town and the surrounding area lived in constant fear of Grimm attack.
28:32 - Building a defensive wall in the middle of nowhere is generally exorbitantly expensive and thoroughly impractical...? Huh, who could have ever foreseen *_that?!?_*
This is a superb, information and tip filled video, the best I've seen on this subject and creation overall. I could not stop taking notes. If someone wants to see an example of the troubles in a town with two resources/industries as the basis for the troubles, see the film "Yojimobo" with the conflict between the silk merchant and the Sake brewer, and also get to see a 20th level Fighter Samurai at work. This is full of great NPC ideas and situations and plot hooks.
I like to use towns to show what everyday life is like for the normal people not involved in the main storyline. Like you said about smaller quests with local flavor. I use things like that to give small bits of lore to my players.
23:12 no no no, do exactly that."Mountaincliff" is a town in the middle of the open plains. Why is it called "Mountaincliff" you ask? Nobody knows for sure but the locals believe it was moved by a powerful wizard hundreds of years ago... (you can make the reality something mundane like "the founder just liked the name" or make the wizard tale true..) you can have a side quest for the party to find the truth.
One of my players loves the idea of misnamed places because, as he says, people would do this historically. For example, Ironworth was the starter town in one of my previous campaigns. It was walled and had four gates. The northernmost gate was called "Eastgate". Why? Because it led to another town called East Perry. And where did East Perry get its name? Because it was on the eastern edge of the Perya Woods, and "Perry" was how many of the humans said "Perya". Where did the Perya Woods get their name? In elvish, "perya" meant "half" and the woods were home to not only the elves but many half-elves and halflings.
I'm reminded of another video I watched about creating believable geography where someone talked about how the mountain in the middle of nowhere was *actually* a massive earth elemental that was asleep. And now I'm just imagining a town built up next to said sleeping earth elemental. And one day, that elemental just... Woke up and found somewhere else to sleep.
The ancient tradition was hospitality. The local owner was expected to host travellers as if they were friends. To do otherwise was to risk sin or the wrath of the gods. Hosting travellers turned out to be popular and lucrative. Inns were founded early on, funded by wealthy investors such as feudal lords, religious orders, and wealthy merchants. Inns were often public houses, offering basic food, drink and shelter to everyone as a charity which was considered an obligation (i.e. hospitality). Better fare, accommodations, and an extended stay were for paying patrons. Even the poor that ate for free were expected to compensate the host with services or goods in kind. So, every respectable household was an inn, if there were no better accomodations.
I always overthink this. I also tend to deal with two other questions: 1. Is this location contested? (Politically, culturally, or is it in terrain under conflict for resources) 2. What does the town do with their dead? Graveyard? Burn? Crypts below town or in a cave? These often lead to other hooks. If a town is in a frontier (as Adventurers tend to foray outward), why is this town not walled? Does it lack resources to make a palisade, is it under the protection of another force, or has its leadership formed an agreement with local peoples? (Orcs, goblins, elves, etc). Answering this can say a lot about a towns "feel". Players who wander into a town expecting one thing to be surprised by the Goblin barkeep or Elvish temple is a source of storytelling. What's the origin story of the community, and is this contested? When it comes to names, humanity tends to mash names into quicker bites over time. "Darren Town" might become "Darrenton", then "Darnton". Also, how other cultures and faiths name is important. Consider Constantinople/Istanbul. Who conquers may rename communities. Or a community might have two names. To humanity, it's "Darnton", but to the elves who resent the Invasion of their local woods, they may call it "Cutters Haven".
I wish this video existed when I built my first starter town. It is certainly an intimidating task, but I can see how this would have helped a lot, and is a great resource for future towns! Now if only city-building weren't even more intimidating...
The year was 1998 the game Baldur's Gate the location was "Friendly Arm inn" That day my vision of worldbuilding ( specially towns changed) i think that the "friendly arm inn" is the perfect minimalistic town. Everything is in there. I still use to create big towns with lots and lots of locations and alternatives.. multiple stores inns and NPCs but i always keep in mind to have everything that i could find there ;)
Back in the halcyon days of AD&D 1e, higher level fighters, including rangers and paladins, gained the ability to build themselves a stronghold ... this is always a good reason for a town springing up around it, along with all of the necessary service industries ...
27:30 The justice of the peace was empowered to restrain drunks and whatnot via a constable using watchmen, who might amount to just a couple men during the day and a couple at night for a town of 1000. At night, watchmen would arrest and hold any stranger until morning. A sheriff (shire-reeve) was in charge of legal business for a whole shire, but lords might well have their bailiff hang a prisoner without involving the sheriff. Bandits and other outlaws would be hunted by the sheriff and a posse comitatus (group of men willing to hunt and fight outlaws for a few days).
OK, so hear me out. I'm a Fey Wanderer Ranger who befriended a faerie dragon as a kid. Me and my best buddy "Chortles" often come up with hairbrained schemes to keep me supplied in quality adventuring gear and him stocked up in apple pies. So I created a tiny crossbow that shoots toothpick sized bolts. I then dip them into a salve I created with Chortles help. Basically he breaths into a bottle that I have oil in and distill it to create a euphoria elixir that I dip the tiny darts into. Then we go to the local tavern/inn and shoot people as they walk in. Being invisible and the dart so tiny it's brushed away as an insect bite, there are none the wiser. After about 15 mins, the dart takes effect, making people happy like they are on ecstasy at a rave. We then stand by the bar and as the effects start wearing off (about an hour or so later) and we offer to hit them again for a mere 10g prolonging the happy vibes. We do this from tavern to tavern, town to town, cleaning up and making people happy at the same time, splitting the loot as we go. I get my gear, he gets his pies, the people get happy. Win win win. ;-)
While it is true that most settlements in a preindustrial, European inspired, society wouldn't have an inn or tavern, most settlements that a party visits would. This is because inns pip up along major trade routes, and near important or large settlements that would expect a regular of visitors. These visitors bring problems, and the large populations create problems, problems which the party are looking to solve, and interesting areas are interesting.
Kelly's voice projects so much louder than Monty's that you might want to apply some compression on your audio tracks to level them. Been watching videos and I sometimes have to hold the phone up to my ear to get what Monty is saying.
I have a couple weeks before I start DMing a new campaign, and I want the party to start out as youngsters in a riverside village. Need to design it next week. And the Dudes deliver again!
Great advice here, as always in your videos! i start first with establishing the practicalities of food supply, water, refuse disposal, etc ... and then next i certainly would follow your outline here for presenting the town in terms of what the PCs will want to do. at least for me, i start first with the practicalities, and then i know how to adjust for whatever the PCs will end up doing
I was actually so intimidated by towns that I’m running my first campaign with a Hamlet, so I could justify fleshing out like one major shop and a single tavern.
Small fishing villages with the occasional merchant ship, work great too as a start for a campaign. Add some small islands and you have tons of freedom for yourself and your group for a really long time.
D&D 5e needs a Settlement Building system like Pathfinder had. They had a nice system where you had a District Grid that you used and each building type took up a certain number of lots in the District, so you had to plan out the layout and each building gives certain bonuses. Also just cause I said Building doesn't mean it's only that single building taking up that lot, its just the most prominent building in that lot with homes for citizens to live in around it as well.
if the village is off the beaten track then there probably is not an inn, what might be present are a few empty unused buildings that visitors can use to lodge in. There might be a tavern but consider a small village might not even have a tavern they might congregate around the house of the brewer.
Monty's idea on population limiting the maximum value of an item sold in a town is freaking brilliant!
That was RAW in 3.5!
To expand on this, there was a lot of really good world-building information in the 3.5 DMG and DMG 2 - I know a lot of newer players probably haven’t been exposed to them, but they’re both available on the DM’s Guild and we’ll worth checking out.
@@queenannsrevenge100 as one of those newer players, I think I'll need to do this eventually. Been trawling 3rd and 4th edition lore to flesh out a lot of details (mostly for the Sword Coast) that haven't really come up in 5th. It's kind of amazing how much thought has been put into the lore of the game throughout the years just to make a game feel like a real place.
Shoot, the price of magic materials tripled and became more scarce when my players bought all the magic materials at every city they went to for 7 or 8 towns and cities. Scarcity! They're being bought up! BUY NOW! Merchants sold their materials to the drained cities because prices were higher since they were bought out, one after another.
Is it that that category of items is available '1000gp items can be bought here' or is it 'the total gp worth of things that can be bought equal 1000gp' or is it 'there is one 1000gp items per 1000 people living g in the town' ??
6:53 Historian here. Before the invention of the automobile, travel was so slow that nearly every town needed an inn on its main street. (Travelers would also find lodging at monasteries, so you might consider something similar, but that was driven by people on pilgrimages to cathedrals and other holy sites.) Travelers would bunk 2 to 4 to a room, sometimes with strangers, often two to a bed.
And every town & village would have multiple tavern/pub/alehouses. These were often “public houses” in the literal sense: a family's house with a big room, where you could get ale & beer & usually food, not to mention music & jokes from the locals. Meeting & events were often held at pubs & inns, so the PCs might roll up on a wedding in progress.
damn......your games must rawk
@Eli Quite the contrary. In fact, inns and taverns historically popped up about every 15-30 miles (depending on terrain - generally about ten hours walking distance) and towns/villages grew around them. From merchants to pilgrims to tradesmen, people have always travelled quite a bit and needed someplace to stay; Romans built 'mansio' (comparable to motels) every 15-18 miles along their roads, with most of Europe (and, eventually, European colonies) following suit.
Anyplace travelled frequently enough to leave a trail soon becomes a road and, shortly after, some form of lodging invariably crops up roughly one day's travel from the last. While most had their own kitchens, early 'diners' quickly materialized across the street (or next-door). Travelers also needed stables for their animals. Farriers to keep them shod. Wainwrights to fix their wagons. A cobbler to mend their boots and shoes. Houses for all these people to live (after all, the inn/tavern won't get many visitors if all the rooms are occupied by locals). And the locals will now need a butcher and a general good store. And some farmers to grow crops nearby rather than bringing food from afar. Now there's a "Day's Inn" across the street, offering 'upscale accommodations' - let the riff-raff stay at the old "Motel 6" which started it all.
Same thing happened in the US with railroads - far enough down the track, when a train needed to stop for water and/or coal, there was a railway depot. Then a saloon for travelers to eat and drink while the train was resupplying - also with rooms to let in case travelers were switching trains. Newsstands to 'disseminate literature' ranging from penny dreadfuls to uppercrust anthologies. Livestock yards for ranchers driving herds to market and warehouses for goods which were ordered through Sears & Roebuck (the Amazon of the 19th Century).
Though technology evolves and specific details change from era to era, the evolution from waypoint to thriving settlement is nearly universal.
@Eli At its height, the Roman Empire controlled most of Europe - even unto a barbaric isle where they founded a city named Londinium (maybe you've heard of it?) - Asia Minor (now Turkey), and northern Africa spanning from the Atlantic Ocean to the Middle-East. Such vast expansion was their "Achilles' Heel" as the expense of maintaining and defending such distant lands soon outstripped their value; the Roman Empire gradually collapsed in on itself, crushed by the weight of its own bureaucracy.
Powers which arose to fill the voids quickly learned the value of mansio and built new ones of their own as *they* expanded. By many accounts, the dominance of Western Civilization is largely due to the general ease of travel throughout Europe - roads and mansio in particular facilitating the travel and trade of ideas in addition to people and products.
@Eli No, it's based on the earlier portion of Europe's "Medieval Period" - roughly 500-1100 AD - which immediately followed the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in 476 AD.
FYI ~ The Eastern Roman Empire (aka Byzantine Empire) held out until the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Yes, Oxford University had been awarding degrees for more than 350 years before the last of the Roman Empire fell.
@Eli bro, the guy’s throwing paragraphs of verbose research at you and you fire back with basically “um no”
A replacement for an Inn could be a monastery with a hospital; where they offer shelter for pilgrims and other travellers. This might well be outside the town or city walls, and contains all the usual NPCs, but with a monastic theme. Also, for an Enlightenment era D&D game, Coffee Shops offer a different atmosphere.
Often a monastery would be the only place that would take in strangers. (Thanks Ellis Peters)
@@dutch6857 I guess that they are also a good place to meet desperate folk looking for some help with their problems; if the Abbot's spiritual advice isn't enough to solve a problem, maybe he can ask that bunch of rough looking adventurers to step in and help.
Also, monasteries are part of a large and wealthy organization with locations all across the realm and beyond. If the PCs want to buy and sell magic items, the Church might well be their best bet for a marketplace. 👍
Yes, as long as it is a medieval hospital, which is where the word hospitality comes from. These were places offered by the church for pilgrims to rest and also as a last resort for the sick and dying, fun note; the word hospice comes from the Latin _hospitium,_ which is also where we get the word host from.
@@euansmith3699 plus a monastery would test the morality of the group. They get to rest and a meal, are they willing to donate some gold or labor? I like this idea.
Coffee or tea houses also work well if you've got a fantasy world that isn't based on Europe.
Worldbuilding from the Dudes? I clicked so fast, this is a video series I need right here. The creative aspect of D&D is so much more interesting to me than optimization
I find nearly half the DMG is world building and optional rules that's only relevant when you want to start making your own stuff. If your a new DM you won't be using it alot until you've gotten a game or two under your belt.
But the great thing about this video is that it conveniently flushes out how to make a town without too much world building that won't fall apart when the players ask "where's the local blacksmith."
That’s exactly where I’m at too. I love Dimension 20’s videos where Brennan just talks about creating stories and worlds.
Right? I would love to get more of this from the Dungeon Dudes.
You could rewrite this: Kelly and Monty Explain every Town in Skyrim.
"If you're gonna name your town Mountaincliff, it probably shouldn't be in the middle of a field"
Me: *writes an entire backstory as to why the village of Mountaincliff is in the middle of a field*
In northern Nevada, there is the town called Battle Mountain i. It is located in a large valley, and there is no record of a battle ever having been fought there. The people who came up with the name wanted something that might entice people to move there.
My PC makes it their goal to discover what happened to the mountain, the cliff, and why no one can remember either!
Settlers of battle mountain found confrontations by the northern Paiute and Shashone native americans during the 1850s and 60s. That's why it's named battle mountain.
That's actually a great idea :)
Is it in Netherlands?
A good way to make magic NPCs without actual class levels or the MM statblocks is with the magic initiate feat. My small town priests are often commoners with Magic Initiate: Cleric, and I usually pick Guidance, Thaumaturgy and Ceremony, which are the perfect magic for a town priest
Never thought about it that way :O that is way easier for low levels NPC :O thanks
That's great. Thaumaturgy is going to be such a fun cantrip for a scary village priest. Certainly enough to keep the congregation in line.
Just like a local Wizard, might be a commoner with Magic Initiate: Wizard, and Prestidigitation, Minor Illusion and Identify. 😍 Enough to be useful as an NPC, but not the kind of person who will steal the PCs thunder.
This is where i think the Eberron book is great even if you're doing hombrew. Nicking the dragonmarked house ablities for NPCs you can build services in the city or town and decide how basic or advanced the services provided are. If it's a small town there's probably only a basic healer and a message station and you'd pick maybe the first 1 or 2 levels of spells from the relevant Dragonmarked house for them. It's a good way to build up a few locations in town with basic level services for your players to interact with. Reflavouring is key.
@@meikahidenori the magewright in the Eberron bestiary offers a really similar skill set, with some specializations to fit specific needs.
"Mending."
Having a reason for a town's existence in the town really helps with the believability of a town or village. Is it a farming town? If its on the frontier, is it a trapper/skinner's check point? Are there local mines? Do they tan furs here? Is it a way point on a caravan route? Not only does this give your players more of a sense of the place being real, but now its become part of the world with connections to other places and also the iconic sense of that sort of a locale - people generally have the sense of what a quaint farming town, or a rough miner's town, etc. etc.. The iron being mined here gets caravanned off some where, the wheat harvest is sent to the Lord's Keep/Town as the yearly taxes. Etc. Etc. Etc.
I was about to offer this as an alternative to "what is their major resource?" There are a lot of places that exist because they're a convenience to other bigger place, like your caravan waypoint. If people commonly send messages by non-magical means, then messengers will need places between population centers to change steeds or overnight. Is it a colony of individuals with a disease or plague, forced somewhere where "normal people" wouldn't want to live? Is the town really four sheds in a fetid swamp? (It could be, if that settlement helps establish a link and a claim to better, neighboring lands.) Necessities for the town to thrive are usually, well, necessary to be around, but a sufficiently large or well-organized empire or nation might be able to sustain settlements where it'd be otherwise impractical, just because they want people there.
In my opinion this is the first question you need to ask yourself. Why does this settlement exists. If you can´t answer that, it shouldn´t be there.
One classic place to stay the night in a foreign town used to be in medieval times was to sleep at the *home* of someone of equal status as you. A lord might rest by the local baron's keep, a peasant at almost any peasant hovel, and a merchant at the merchant's house. So for adventurers, I'd really feel it would be a cool place to form a base would be a quest-giving ex-adventurer: an old druid, a veteran of three wars, a mage's tower, or even the mayor who gives out the quests.
Kelly: you dont need to go into the depths of the trading mechanics
Me: uh ok (crumbling the 80 page treatise on Mountaincliffs wheat conglomerate and futures market)
Been there done that, history of the Wheat Penny.
Lie about harvest yields and hold back grain storage to inflate the value of wheat/ penny to pay for the township labor cost of all the smiths to create the equipment for the guards. Follow the trail of an animal to the butch market on how much the cost of meat is, butchers were taxed highly.
I will point out that in small towns, certain weapons that are metal intensive, and metal intensive armors will typically be rare (taking more skill, time, and expensive ore to make). Frontier or forestry focused towns will tend to stock axes, bows, and arrows, as well as leather and cloth armors. Mining towns will have more picks, crossbows and bolts, and studded armor will be common. Farming towns will favor spears, javelins, shields and cloth armor.
Average villagers will have the same weapons and armor the town sells. Larger towns will have specialized smith's and craftspeople as well as a better selection of equipment.
I know that map well - Phandalin! My players in Tyranny of Dragons fought hard to save it!
Truly a favourite of many an adventuring party.
You guys, Hello Future Me, and Artifexian are my favorites when it comes to worldbuilding stuff, just wanna put that out there. I absolutely love watching you guys make things!
when they started talking about the town guards I started to have so many Skyrim memes start popping back to mind.
I have a port city that is governed by a changeling that is also the thieves guild leader.
The queen of the area is a gold dragon. Taxes are added to her hoard.
One of my core cities is Limenia - actually Latin for "thresholds" though, lore-wise, it means "crossroads" in a number of racial languages. It is situated on a fjord which enters a moderately-sized bay, forming a natural harbor, with major roads heading inland in three other directions.
As a major trading hub, it has grown considerably over the years:
~ Portsmouth: The actual ring of docks and warehouses encircling and encroaching the bay, backed by a canal for smaller river craft.
~ The Hardpoint: A large solid wall built between islets, rising thirty feet above the water. Originally a smaller breakwater, it was enlarged and strengthened to provide limited outside access to the harbor; features reinforced defensive towers flanking the one major entrance, and machicolated battlements above the two minor entrances.
~ Olde Towne: Variegated terrain higher than and surrounding Portsmouth, roughly the same elevation as the top of Hardpoint. Originally the heart of Limenia, it's now the closest thing to slums the city has - very few residents are truly poor, but its age and general proximity to the noise and smells of the harbor makes the area less desirable to those who view themselves as 'having status'.
~ Limenia (proper): Six interconnected plateaus rising roughly fifty feet above sea level on the harbor side and ground-level along the outer ring. They were originally rocky outcroppings until stones were cut from the high points to build retaining walls along the river and three main roads which lead to the harbor, the remaining spaces backfilled to provide more flat land to build upon. A wide range of lifts flank these roads to raise imported goods to the various production/crafting houses and lower finished goods for export.
~ Street of Flames: More of a large irregularly-shaped plaza than an actual street, this central area is surrounded by blacksmiths, potters, bakeries, and all other manner of production houses. Direct access (via four tall gatehouses) is limited to the local soldiery and public officials - indirect access via assorted lifts, and by the connected storefronts on the Street of Scales.
~ Street of Scales: Encircling the central production area, this broad street is the main commercial hub of the city. The inner side is lined with storefronts for the numerous production houses while the outer side features clothiers, jewelers, whitesmiths, enchanters, and other crafts of a less-industrious nature. More than a dozen thoroughfares radiate outwards, connecting this area with the rest of Limenia.
~ Surrounding these areas are seven plazas (each roughly midway along a direct thoroughfare connecting a perimeter gate to the Street of Scales); each featuring a small park-like area, notable inns (with stables) and taverns, and various smaller business affairs. Each also features an inconspicuous constabulary with only the emblem of the Limenian Guard (a shield bearing a sword crossed with a large key) to indicate its presence. (These also serve as civic offices for smaller affairs like permits, paying taxes, etc.)
~ Limenia's outer perimeter is a curtain wall roughly twenty-six feet tall - featuring seven 'local' gatehouses, three 'major' gatehouses (one for each major road), and a series of portcullises which can barricade the river (in an emergency).
~ The Imperium: The civic/administrative portion of Limenia which abuts the eastern (seaward) side of the Street of Scales (also has its own direct access to the Street of Flames).
All-in-all, around 23,000 people call Limenia home - ±17,000 of them residing in the main area, another ±3800 crammed into Olde Towne, and ±2200 in the farms and communities beyond the curtain wall. While the Hardpoint and curtain wall are imposing structures, the city's reputation as neutral territory for commerce and passage is a far more formidable defense. Only once, amid the War of Shadows (over a century past), was any major force fool enough to assault Limenia - four of the other six belligerents immediately called a truce and rallied together to annihilate the invading force; shortly after, they united fully to form the Kingdom of Gaelwoode.
The Tavern of the Gray Dog (main hub) sits atop a slight promontory in Olde Towne, overlooking the harbor. As such, it is favored by sailors and dockworkers - they can kick back with their friends, enjoying some ale and swapping stories, while keeping a clear view of boat traffic so they know when they need to head back to meet an incoming vessel or their own ships are preparing to sail.
13:14 Maybe not noblemen (they lived in a keep in a castle surrounded by a city) but certainly a lord (gentry, not noble), who lived in a manor house next to a town, was the principle local landowner, & would make most of the administrative decisions for a town, usually thru his bailiff or the local reeve. Town mayor was a later development.
I love thinking of the effect simple wondrous items like the decanter of endless water can have on the world. Imagine a cave system with a river that feeds into the local watershed. All of a sudden the water levels drop by half and the people downstream have no idea why.
When the party goes to investigate, they find the cave system and discover it holds the entrance to an ancient tomb of some kind. The party has to solve a relatively simple puzzle that involves a set of guardian statues holding the decanters. A party member could take one or more of the decanters, but that would have a lasting impact on the environment and the town.
A cool little starter quest I think 😁
Ran a game where a village earth packed walled off their valley between some hills for defense against horse raids, so a group of hags/wizards cover the opening gates with Walls of Stone and flooded the valley with a dozen Decanters of Water. No one touch the decanters cause of the Water Monsters/ Statues " giant Polymorph Other dragon scale cover zombies) held them in a circle and were worship by tribes of lizardfolk. No one wants to take the risk.
One PC party manage to kill one of the hags with a heart ripping spear, the old b*tch came back as a ghost and corpse was animated into a 12hd zombie with a dozen Shadows hiding in the body.
I'm a veteran DM, so none of this is new for me, however, I save your videos because it's so easy to overlook basic stuff, and you lay it out very straightforwardly
For anyone out there into worldbuilding, there's a reason all of Europe and the eastern slice of North America have bunches of small towns 10-20miles from each other and major cities are surrounded by such small towns/villages and that's because depending on terrain, that was the distance of a day trip 'to town and back' for the rural folks to sell their goods/produce. Lumber, agriculture, wild game, minerals, waterway trade hubs, what have you, flavoring up these small towns always helps me flesh out my capital cities. And the crisscrossing of small roads and major highways gives you excuses galore for expanding your worlds with a wonderful variety of towns, villages, and cities all with their own flavors. And of course nearby conflicts to be resolved by your players! Though with dwarf/elf regions I go with different layouts
Great topic, Dudes! I could blather on all day 8>D
Your content is so good. I've been playing for 30 years and dming for 8 years and such a great resource. Makes me wonder when my players tell me I run really good games who they played with before because I have learned so much to include in my games that there is no way they've been great before. Lol. Anyways thank you again for the great videos...
Here's a wonderful things that DMs can and should use to help with NPC building. Sidekick classes. Seriously, Take the 'standard' guard monster from the books, and apply the warrior sidekick class to it if you need something akin to the 'elite' squad or the "Swat" steam of the town. Conversely, doing the same with the caster lets you have someone who can do magic, but keep them restrained in comparison to some of the stronger caster creatures. I could absolutely see the guards of a town being the "Guard" stat block with 1 level of warrior to give then a tiny bit more without making them beyond reasonable expectation.
Seriously, the Sidekick system from Tasha's is a wonderful gift and I wish more DMs would realize it. it's there to give you NPCs with stats ready to use if they end up needing stats.
i really genuinely respect how well these videos are structured and put together. thanks for the summary at the end, the intro, the examples and counter examples for each point. I find a lot of dnd resources are quite off the cuff, I respect the hell out of the polish on these videos.
Welcome back! I noticed the DD logo on the screen under the broadcast of what could be considered a competitor’s online campaign. You have really hit the big leagues. I am so happy for you all.
3 and 3.5 DMG had a town builder section that had gold piece limit on items and available coin in the populace for what items would be available for purchase or for the PCs to sell. Great job guys. Thank you
Love the feeder villages part. Really helps to expand the focus beyond just the town itself. Outside of the town there’d be an entire support network providing food, raw materials, supplies and income.
This video came at a perfect time, just started my own campaign and this will definitely help with expanding what I’ve already got written down!
The town with the dragon skeleton gives me an idea.
IDEA:. The skeleton is from an ancient battle between a wizard and the dragon. Due the the wizard's hatred of dragons he cursed the dragons body into a dracolich, and forcing the body to attack any dragon that comes near the body and then return to it's final resting place. People in the past may have witnessed one of these battles take place and followed the undead dragon back to it's grave and observed it. Eventually someone brave/stupid approached the dracolich and nothing happens. They observe for many weeks until another dragon comes near and the dracolich animates and surges up to strike down the other dragon, then returns to it's resting spot. Those observing decide this could be a benifit to a town, a protector against the bane of dragons, so they try to have the skeleton moved. Due the the mystical nature of the curse, the dragon attacks those who touch it and the goes back to rest. Those in power then decide to build a small town near the dracolich, to test, forbidding all from approaching the remains for fear of death. The experiment works as the dracolich animates and attacks a new dragon in. The area and returns to the same resting place. Eventually the town grows into a large city, ever protected from dragon's from this ancient dracolich cursed to remain and fight dragons for eternity.
Love the ideal.
I am writing a fantasy story. I have been using your advice to help organize the world it takes place in. Love the content. Keep up the good work.
I built one city map that had _four_ taverns for just a few thousand residents, but it was full of people on their way somewhere else, as it straddled the only river in a desert and pretty much anyone traveling would follow the river. I was setting up a "get the Macguffin" type adventure where the party had the discretion to acquire the item any way they saw fit -- buy it, steal it, mug the owner, seduce the owner, convince someone near the owner to steal it for them, all the options were on the table -- and the party was all bards, traveling as a touring band. The four taverns worked out well -- I only added one more piece of info about them, which was the owner's feelings about the other taverns, and why. Two of them were owned by the separate halves of a divorced couple and although there was no open hostility, there was obviously a lot of rivalry. The party leaned heavily on the band front, so I designed many of the locations around scenes from _The Blues Brothers._
FWIW: The word for a river crossing is a ford. So, the city that grew up on the crossing of the river Rom is called Romford and the one on the Chelmer river is called Chelmsford
Are you from Essex too by any chance?
I am mate. Well spotted 😊
In playing Icespire some of the best roll play moments took place in the inn- I have been amazed how much fun my players had tormenting the in keeper with bizarre breakfast requests.
Same. My DM at the time didn't know what corned beef hash was. So he thought we meant corn, beef, and hashbrowns all separate. We tormented poor Toblen every visit with that. And now that I'm DM of the group my inns have a policy that if you request corned beef hash you secretly pay double for everything. They still don't know they're paying double wherever they go.
@@WhatsAGoodName42069 if they watched this video and read the comments they do now!
thank you for the thorough breakdown of some really good questions to ask as putting together a town/village/city/etc.
on a side note - someone from the team should prob check the kickstarter page comments. just saying.
Perfect timing, I'm about to get started on my first home brew and the very first set piece is a decently sized port town. I've been stressing about putting it together and this helps a lot, thanks guys.
I recently started DMing for the first time. To make it easier on myself, I decided to start with existing stuff, so I'm using Eberron setting (Q'Barra, to have sufficient wiggle room) and the first adventure is a modified version of the Ghosts of Saltmarsh' first adventure.
The way I built my first town was taking the map of Saltmarsh, and list of locations within, and simply going down the list and modifying anything I felt like didn't belong in the setting, plus adding a couple hooks relevant to my players' individual quests, should they choose to pursue them. That became my version of Adderport.
I ended up creating way more NPCs, and dynamic between them, than I originally intended. The world just started forming in front of me.
Maybe it's a personal thing, and won't help everyone, but for me, creative work is infinitely easier when I have a hook to start from, even if the result ends up being unrecognizable from the source.
The central village (story-wise) in my homebrew is the small town of Nevermore. Governed by a council of closeted wereravens. The primary arc of the campaign centers around the blacksmith, who's wife saved the town from the plague, then died in childbirth, and his young son, who will eventually turn heel and become the big bad.
This vid was really well timed.
Regarding Inns, it can be quite amusing to inform your players that there aren't any Inns in town, but instead suggest they ask around for lodging instead.
Regarding Raise Dead and associated spells, 500gp might not seem like a lot to a player, but when the average NPC makes 1-2.5gp a day, with lifestyle costs ranging from .1-10gp, really puts into perspective how wealthy the average starting adventurer is.
Regarding Town Militas, unlike modern times, in medieval times EVERY HOUSEHOLD was expected to provide at least 1 Man equipped to the standard of that town, typically a Gambeson (Padded Armor), a Spear and Shield, though occasionally even more expensive things such as Mail, Swords, or even Crossbows. Now typically such houses might included one's grandparents, and more often than not one tended to have about half it's size in children, ie, 4 children 4 adults, usually more the more rural it was. But assuming at least 8 to a household that would still be 125 militamen ready and capable of taking on most foes.
Common trade coin was .. silver .. and not gold. So I had this 1st-level barbarian country boy acted as if he was .. rich .. cause he found A Gold Coin on the floor by some barrels from a dusty make shift card table and empty wine bottles. And back in 3.5e most farming peasants only earn around 10 gp in trade goods each month. So as a hill Billy his parents were paid in written script note at the town to trade for salt and a few tools for the herd animal they brought in each season.
The 3.5 DMG had a lot of good information about this sort of thing. I've used it for a number of cities I've built for games in the past.
"This is a game, not a simulator" Maybe an underrated line as many player don't really get it.
-Reason for towns existence (nearby mine, good farmland, good grazing, strategic importance etc.). Why do people live here?
-How do the the people live here? All the townsfolk need the basic necessities; food, shelter, clothing, and tools/means to make a living.
-What is the local government like? Local council, a mayor or bergermeister appointed by a ruler, a democratically elected official?
-How does the local government operate and enforce the law?
"If you got a large town, you can design 3 but really you can get away with one."
I dont know why, but my first responding thought was "but wouldn't a large travel-hub naturally lead to more then one being made".
To which my mind answered: "The one inn operates as an illegal monopoly, whenever a rival starts an inn or BNB they have their goons sabotage them, in subtle ways first, escalating until they eventually just burn the whole place down. Now the party gets hired by a goblin who wants to figure out why their B&B is failing".
So, i want to thank you for providing my next story-hook.
You said that you avoid mage as a spellcastibg NPC, there's the apprentice wizard that works pretty well for this
in a dnd world where adventurers are somewhat common, it might be also more common for small towns to have a inn that always has 3 rooms for adventureres that pass by. if the town is very isolated, let them roleplay their way to find a suitable resting place ;)
My last game store DM like set a village and your characters have to randomly walk around to find each other somewhere in the village, you just don't hook up in a tavern.
Run the game like a soap opera with commercial breaks.
In one .. one short game. As normal we draw index cards to see what character arch type we will play.
a.) Local doing a job of clearing out large spiders under the mill, it took four 2nd level PC three days to clear out the next and about a week to recover from the poison bite, stander vermin clearing.
b.) Highwaymen, they rob a wagon train coming into the village. Sit around the whole week sipping drinks and no villagers talked to them, they were unemployed at the end of the week when the wagon train left after repairs.
c.) I drew the ranger card, I asked if I could play as a rogue/ wizard first level with Survival skills and the answer was yes.
" Ok I am an edge lord walking into the unfence village dress in night colors of dark blues/ black with an eye patch. Hand over snared rabbits to some senior women and ask directions to the sable. At the sable I help with the shoveling and bought the sable hand lunch. Talk a bit with the sable owner and slept in the loft. Did some choirs around the village with the local along with some stick/ sword play fighting using Dance skill to look better than I could really fight. Follow by canning a mouth teenager that disrespect her grandparents into a bloody mess ( just a split lip and little nose bleed/ hey I playing lawful evil. still a nice guy but have a mean streak.) End of the week I was hire on as a wagon train guard and nightwatch review by the sheriff deputy."
What was with the eye patch, I smack my face on a tree branch.
My first adventure location was a farming village named Patria. Most of the inhabitants lived in farmsteads around the central area. This place fed the nation, and caravans were always coming and going. They had a militia of volunteers, a trading outpost and a feisty old mayor. The inn is also a tavern, run by an eccentric couple who are willing to give adventurers free board for something like saving their mischievous child who stowed away in a wagon that went into a nearby cave inhabited by smugglers and cutthroats. And there may be something mysterious about the well in the center. Maybe the Mayor knows.
The town of Vander. A town on the coast of a Marsh. Popular fishing and trade port, with its major export being rum. That’s my first and only town lol
Worldbuilding is one of the things I would love to see brought forward to 5e. Cityscape and Deities & Demigods were a couple of my favorite sourcebooks in the 3.5e era. Even now, they're still fantastic resources; while a bit might be system specific, a good chunk of those books are just about worldbuilding in general.
Yep, 3.5 had several great books on worldbuilding in general. Even the two DM books allready had a huge chunk of useful information.
I built a custom town in High School called "Alphonse". I drew it out in detail on several linked graph paper sheets and had everything. I poured my total creativity into this for months. It was great fun.
First time viewer. Really liked this. Organized, no unnecessary tangents. This video respects that I’m a busy DM who wants answers now. So, you get to the point. Well done! ✨💎✨
Found your channel somewhat recently (about 2 months or so ago) and loved it, even backed the KS despite not generally using settings. And now, as I am freshly burned out of ideas to world build, you bring the perfect video in time for me to get back to work. Thanks!
To the population and the housing...Remember that your usual town and even village will have people who will not be well off enough to own a house. So you will have your streets or outskirts with tents or ramshackle buildings.
In addition this can be used as insight how well the town is run for your group and even work as an adventure hook.
About your blacksmithing commentary I would like to add that all half decent smiths knew how to make knives, spears, axes, and arrows. Swords were a little specialized but longer knives for cutting away weeds and the like were a common thing to find. Farriers were not as common and nails were expensive only used by high end carpenters and for heavy wood doors. Castles were amazing for blacksmiths. A family of smiths would end up very wealthy after being involved in a castle construction. So smiths could make just about anything when asked. These people were smart enough to create and design new tools.
It’s uncanny how often you dudes put out videos on the exact topics I’m struggling with at the moment I need them most! I am forever grateful 🙏🏼
For my games, I dont always have inns for players but have a guest houses that doesnt charge too much, or good natured npcs who are okay with having guests. And ofc an old healer lady. Could be a witch who brews elixirs, an acolyte, a midwife…etc. Blacksmiths are always present who makes lots of nails, sickles and sharpens blades even does arrowheads and spearheads for town militia. They know how to make swords but they dont often craft them.
I am starting a starfinder campaign and this has helped so much! It has helped with the story, npcs, places for players and way to let the party have a safe space. I love your content and thank you so much!
I wish this was around for my first 'town'
I made a monster of a city, using the premise of Krenkos Way from Ravnica as the first major quest and introduction to the city. Changed names of districts and organizations to make things feel more like my own, as well as added a few aspects that didn't exist orignally.
I had 5 districts in this metropolis, each one standing for a different thing. And the city had about 3000 People, but was (in hind site) far to large for that population. I had a labyrinthine sewer system that I didn't put enough thought into, I had whole areas of the city that were totally abandoned because at no point did my players go there.
The first few session went okay, but after those it quickly went down hill with one player doing something I wasn't ready for. And looking back, I see I railroaded this group way to hard. ^^'
So, thanks Dudes for making this. Hopefully the next time i try my hand and DMing, these tips will help me make something far more manageable and just as interesting.
I would really like to see an episode when you talk about what books, movies, tv series inspire you when creating campaigns. Really like your channel so much
I created a town for a one-shot turned campaign that I've now gone incredibly in depth with. Every single villager has a name, a personality, a (small) backstory, and so on. It's created a lot of good moments with the players' interactions with all these townsfolk, going on mini missions to supply the inn they saved with donuts from the local bakery, or breaking in to the mayor's office in town hall thinking he was hiding something (when really he's just a grumpy old guy). The town has all the basic needs and is meant to serve as a hub for all future adventures, which all are discovered due to whatever effects they have on the town. Like the second/third quest coming from the bakery not receiving their latest shipment of flour and not being able to open.
While thinking of my character's hometown, I got to thinking as to what it's called with the problems you mentioned; there's a lot to look into. Here are some key examples with the resources:
1. Mines with regenerating ore veins (takes 50 years to do so) as long as the heart stone remains undisturbed
2. Farmlands that are more fertile than a drow priestess during "mating time"
3. Water from an underground source that never runs dry
In other words, the land is so vibrant that it's basically self-sustaining due to magical properties (possibly blessed by good gods/goddesses) and I just don't know what to call it
Two problem I had with AD&D2nsE demihuman level caps, ..
1.)There was a level cap which some people overly enforce in campaign cause of .. reasons.
2.) You need at lest a 12th to 14th -level male drow wizard to have the spells need to create the magic items require to set up and out post or new under dark colony site.
@@krispalermo8133 Not my character himself, but his hometown; it carries many blessings for prosperity
@@georgemercer402 Still sounds like a cool setting to play in.
@@krispalermo8133 I had a backstory developed around his "first campaign" at home, but how to implement the blessings I spoke of is still elusive; the mine one though seems to be the easiest if I do it right.
I would love to see a series in this vein for more worldbuilding tips! This is excellently formatted and easy to follow with a comprehensive checklist at the end to help ensure all fronts are covered!
One of your best videos yet guys! I’ve been dming for about a year now. Just running things like Phandelver and Strahd, but I’m gearing up for that big home brew campaign. This got my brain going like never before. Tight, organized video with clear steps and brilliant examples. It’s not often I comment on a video, but this earned high marks from me. Thanks guys!
This is one of my favourite types of videos other than the sub class rankings/ class guides. LOVE hearing about your worldbuilding ideas. I struggle with this particular topic IMMENSELY!
Starting a new campaign and just sent this to the player who’s taken on the cartographer role. As DM, I’m excited to learn about the players home village after she creates it.
There's a tavern I found in a comic book/ rpg book called Rolled and Told. The tavern in the first issue has a training dungeon in the basement, and winners get a free round of drinks. Perfect first session.
One has to also consider the governmental/social structure of the wider realm to determine the local authority structure as well. For example, a feudal kingdom will have a small town effectively run by a baron or landed knight (influences from the church and any relevant trade guilds would also be pertinent).
"Dragon's End? Naw, that's up the road a-ways. This here's Dragon's Front."
i read the advanced fighting fantasy book "blacksand" this had an in depth discussion on how to creat a town.
Backed the Kickstarter. Can't wait for the PDF and Hardcover!!
I made a world that approximated medieval Europe (so original I know). Off the coast of Venizia (Venice), there lived an aquatic elf enclave which would come ashore during the three days of the full moon every month, for trade, for marriage proposals, and for shared festivals with the human city. Glassware was created and traded heavily, in the murano style. One of the characters origins was from the underwater enclave. Water breathing potions were in abundance in the seaside port.
Only 3 min in and I can say this in a great video. You can use base town as the beginning if any and all campaigns. Great stuff here!
I am a noob at DND that somehow ended up hosting few tiny, combat sessions for my wife... and now she wants more. This video is super helpful and already gave me few ideas for the first village she will end up in.
My players explored Russellton, a town full of Simulacrum that look like various Kurt Russell characters. There was a coup underway against Ego, the town leader. But, my players ignored almost all of that and took the Stargate out at their earliest convenience.
Did they meet snake lol
@@barryward2128 oh yeah. And Jack Burton was a perfect time to insert a beholder.
I've watched dozens of your videos now, and I think this is the most impressive. Fantastic video, gents.
damn guys, I intuitively made my town kinda along these lines :D Got a temple of Waukeen that houses local artisans who sell equipment to players, it's High Priest serves as one of the pillars of the town, got a shady Lord who has a merchant & mercenary group, a greedy bureaucrat mayor and a decent, war veteran guard captain who tries to keep the town safe for everyone during a refugee crisis :D
wow, this might be my favorite video of your all’s i’ve watched. good stuff in here i could feel my creativity getting unlocked
I like the idea that what's available in a town is related to population. In the modern world we have "food desserts" in both inner-city urban and very rural areas where nutritious food is expensive and you might have to drive to the next state to buy it. Things are also more expensive in a small town when they are available. Sometimes there's a random local who can fix watches or VCRs or whatever, just by chance.
The red hand of doom was a amazing adventure back in the day. I think I still have my copy in storage
Regarding the magic users in small town: I'm running a high magic campaign. Around 50 % of people in my setting have some sort of magic, but majority of "magic users" have just one or two spells not higher than 2nd level. The spell usually pertains to their occupation or history. The local guard has Zone of Truth, which helps them solving crimes. Local noble has Prestidigitation keeping their presentation spotless. Local cleric can Cure Wounds but like one time a day so they don't blast it left and right. I like a lot of fantasy in my fantasy and magic helps my world seem less like the world I live in. :)
You can't necessarily compare it to real world villages and towns, because they wouldn't have had roving monsters, bandits and adventurers, but it does depend on the world you've built. The less safe the world, the more likely the town has a good weapons shop. A village/ town could have sprung up near a dungeon, mostly to supply adventurers.
Also, the less safe the world the more likely the town will have fixed defences such as watchtowers, palisades or walls. This can really help set the mood of the local area the PCs are in, or the world itself. I'm running a campaign in a world based on the RWBY webseries, set hundreds of years after modern civilisation had fallen and has fallen back to medieval fantasy level with some items of advanced technology as usable salvage. My description of the town in which the campaign started mentioned its twenty foot tall palisade wall and guard towers, the nearby farms which had buildings for storage of tools, crops and produce, but no housing (as the farmers lived the town safe behind the walls), while farms further away were larger farms like Hispanic haciendas with housing in the form of fortified compounds with sturdy walls and bell towers with heliograph mirrors to signal for help, all gave the players the feeling that the people of this town and the surrounding area lived in constant fear of Grimm attack.
28:32 - Building a defensive wall in the middle of nowhere is generally exorbitantly expensive and thoroughly impractical...? Huh, who could have ever foreseen *_that?!?_*
Just started making my first town a couple days ago, perfect timing, guys;
This is a superb, information and tip filled video, the best I've seen on this subject and creation overall. I could not stop taking notes.
If someone wants to see an example of the troubles in a town with two resources/industries as the basis for the troubles, see the film "Yojimobo" with the conflict between the silk merchant and the Sake brewer, and also get to see a 20th level Fighter Samurai at work. This is full of great NPC ideas and situations and plot hooks.
Clint Eastwood, " Fistful of Dollars,"
Bruce Willis, " Last Man Standing."
I like to use towns to show what everyday life is like for the normal people not involved in the main storyline. Like you said about smaller quests with local flavor. I use things like that to give small bits of lore to my players.
23:12 no no no, do exactly that."Mountaincliff" is a town in the middle of the open plains. Why is it called "Mountaincliff" you ask? Nobody knows for sure but the locals believe it was moved by a powerful wizard hundreds of years ago... (you can make the reality something mundane like "the founder just liked the name" or make the wizard tale true..) you can have a side quest for the party to find the truth.
Possiblity: the mountain it was named after wasnt removed by a wizard.
the zaratan just got up and walked away
@@AC-eb7kt oh i meant the town was moved by the wizard but yeah could be any number of things and the story could be told several different ways
One of my players loves the idea of misnamed places because, as he says, people would do this historically. For example, Ironworth was the starter town in one of my previous campaigns. It was walled and had four gates. The northernmost gate was called "Eastgate". Why? Because it led to another town called East Perry. And where did East Perry get its name? Because it was on the eastern edge of the Perya Woods, and "Perry" was how many of the humans said "Perya". Where did the Perya Woods get their name? In elvish, "perya" meant "half" and the woods were home to not only the elves but many half-elves and halflings.
@@davidwatches Nice idea
I'm reminded of another video I watched about creating believable geography where someone talked about how the mountain in the middle of nowhere was *actually* a massive earth elemental that was asleep.
And now I'm just imagining a town built up next to said sleeping earth elemental. And one day, that elemental just... Woke up and found somewhere else to sleep.
The ancient tradition was hospitality. The local owner was expected to host travellers as if they were friends. To do otherwise was to risk sin or the wrath of the gods. Hosting travellers turned out to be popular and lucrative. Inns were founded early on, funded by wealthy investors such as feudal lords, religious orders, and wealthy merchants. Inns were often public houses, offering basic food, drink and shelter to everyone as a charity which was considered an obligation (i.e. hospitality). Better fare, accommodations, and an extended stay were for paying patrons. Even the poor that ate for free were expected to compensate the host with services or goods in kind. So, every respectable household was an inn, if there were no better accomodations.
I always overthink this. I also tend to deal with two other questions:
1. Is this location contested? (Politically, culturally, or is it in terrain under conflict for resources)
2. What does the town do with their dead? Graveyard? Burn? Crypts below town or in a cave? These often lead to other hooks.
If a town is in a frontier (as Adventurers tend to foray outward), why is this town not walled? Does it lack resources to make a palisade, is it under the protection of another force, or has its leadership formed an agreement with local peoples? (Orcs, goblins, elves, etc). Answering this can say a lot about a towns "feel".
Players who wander into a town expecting one thing to be surprised by the Goblin barkeep or Elvish temple is a source of storytelling.
What's the origin story of the community, and is this contested?
When it comes to names, humanity tends to mash names into quicker bites over time. "Darren Town" might become "Darrenton", then "Darnton".
Also, how other cultures and faiths name is important. Consider Constantinople/Istanbul. Who conquers may rename communities. Or a community might have two names. To humanity, it's "Darnton", but to the elves who resent the Invasion of their local woods, they may call it "Cutters Haven".
World building + dungeon dudes = well just pure awaomeness. Thanks guys for yet another great and informative video.
I wish this video existed when I built my first starter town. It is certainly an intimidating task, but I can see how this would have helped a lot, and is a great resource for future towns! Now if only city-building weren't even more intimidating...
The year was 1998 the game Baldur's Gate the location was "Friendly Arm inn" That day my vision of worldbuilding ( specially towns changed)
i think that the "friendly arm inn" is the perfect minimalistic town. Everything is in there.
I still use to create big towns with lots and lots of locations and alternatives.. multiple stores inns and NPCs but i always keep in mind to have everything that i could find there ;)
Back in the halcyon days of AD&D 1e, higher level fighters, including rangers and paladins, gained the ability to build themselves a stronghold ... this is always a good reason for a town springing up around it, along with all of the necessary service industries ...
Man you guys have gotten pro over the years. That outro was slick as they come.
27:30 The justice of the peace was empowered to restrain drunks and whatnot via a constable using watchmen, who might amount to just a couple men during the day and a couple at night for a town of 1000. At night, watchmen would arrest and hold any stranger until morning. A sheriff (shire-reeve) was in charge of legal business for a whole shire, but lords might well have their bailiff hang a prisoner without involving the sheriff. Bandits and other outlaws would be hunted by the sheriff and a posse comitatus (group of men willing to hunt and fight outlaws for a few days).
Thank you. I didn't realize how badly I needed this information. Keep up the great work.
OK, so hear me out. I'm a Fey Wanderer Ranger who befriended a faerie dragon as a kid. Me and my best buddy "Chortles" often come up with hairbrained schemes to keep me supplied in quality adventuring gear and him stocked up in apple pies. So I created a tiny crossbow that shoots toothpick sized bolts. I then dip them into a salve I created with Chortles help. Basically he breaths into a bottle that I have oil in and distill it to create a euphoria elixir that I dip the tiny darts into. Then we go to the local tavern/inn and shoot people as they walk in. Being invisible and the dart so tiny it's brushed away as an insect bite, there are none the wiser. After about 15 mins, the dart takes effect, making people happy like they are on ecstasy at a rave. We then stand by the bar and as the effects start wearing off (about an hour or so later) and we offer to hit them again for a mere 10g prolonging the happy vibes. We do this from tavern to tavern, town to town, cleaning up and making people happy at the same time, splitting the loot as we go. I get my gear, he gets his pies, the people get happy. Win win win. ;-)
While it is true that most settlements in a preindustrial, European inspired, society wouldn't have an inn or tavern, most settlements that a party visits would. This is because inns pip up along major trade routes, and near important or large settlements that would expect a regular of visitors. These visitors bring problems, and the large populations create problems, problems which the party are looking to solve, and interesting areas are interesting.
Kelly's voice projects so much louder than Monty's that you might want to apply some compression on your audio tracks to level them. Been watching videos and I sometimes have to hold the phone up to my ear to get what Monty is saying.
I have a couple weeks before I start DMing a new campaign, and I want the party to start out as youngsters in a riverside village. Need to design it next week. And the Dudes deliver again!
Great advice here, as always in your videos! i start first with establishing the practicalities of food supply, water, refuse disposal, etc ... and then next i certainly would follow your outline here for presenting the town in terms of what the PCs will want to do. at least for me, i start first with the practicalities, and then i know how to adjust for whatever the PCs will end up doing
I was actually so intimidated by towns that I’m running my first campaign with a Hamlet, so I could justify fleshing out like one major shop and a single tavern.
Small fishing villages with the occasional merchant ship, work great too as a start for a campaign. Add some small islands and you have tons of freedom for yourself and your group for a really long time.
D&D 5e needs a Settlement Building system like Pathfinder had. They had a nice system where you had a District Grid that you used and each building type took up a certain number of lots in the District, so you had to plan out the layout and each building gives certain bonuses.
Also just cause I said Building doesn't mean it's only that single building taking up that lot, its just the most prominent building in that lot with homes for citizens to live in around it as well.
if the village is off the beaten track then there probably is not an inn, what might be present are a few empty unused buildings that visitors can use to lodge in. There might be a tavern but consider a small village might not even have a tavern they might congregate around the house of the brewer.