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HMS Invincible
2009-08-14, 05:03 PM
What should the starting town in a fresh campaign have? Should I include a guild, or mess around by removing iconic things such as an inn or tavern? I know I want to start with a small town and build from there. This is 4e, but I don't think that really matters.
Essentially, what are the key descriptions so that if you were playing, you would have an idea as to what you want to do.

Fishy
2009-08-14, 05:07 PM
Zombies. The campaign starting town needs to be overrun with shambling hordes of the living dead.

blazinghand
2009-08-14, 05:12 PM
Perhaps instead of being overrun, you have something more similar to a siege going on: the townspeople are barely holding back the zombies with a palisade, but food supplies are running low...

ShadowsGrnEyes
2009-08-14, 05:17 PM
I find the starting towns should have 4 things.

1. a general place of congregation. (ie, tavern, town square, inn, etc)

2. a general place where things can be bought and sold (store, auction house, market, etc)

3. a place of general law and command. (church, town hall, mayors house, guild etc)

4. Puplic unrest for whatever reason. make the people generally not happy and active. it gets players moving

RoninFrosty
2009-08-14, 05:39 PM
If I'm reading this correctly, you're looking for a way to introduce the plot? There's a lot of different ways you can handle this.


The classic, iconic tavern
An "adventurer's guild", that collects freelancing adventurers of various persuasions and tries to focus their talents into something constructive. I've got a guild like this in my game, but haven't needed to use it for the PCs yet since they have a patron.
...a patron.


Alternately, if you just want to throw them into the fire, an invasion works well, be it zombies, orcs, goblins, etc. Force them to band together to survive, maybe they repel the enemy, and the local government decides they need the talents of these young heroes. Or old heroes. Whatever.

Raum
2009-08-14, 08:11 PM
What should the starting town in a fresh campaign have? Should I include a guild, or mess around by removing iconic things such as an inn or tavern? I know I want to start with a small town and build from there. This is 4e, but I don't think that really matters.
Essentially, what are the key descriptions so that if you were playing, you would have an idea as to what you want to do.If you're looking to build a town just glance through history, you'll need the same things any town of a similar size had. A market...stockyard...docks if on a body of water...tavern / inn / other recreation buildings if large enough...craft buildings / guilds if large enough or supporting a craft...etc. Decide why that town is in that location, what resources are available, and how large the town is...that will give you a good start on what should be inside.

If you're looking to start an adventure it doesn't matter how large the town is just create interesting NPCs. Make sure you have a mix of different personalities, outlooks, needs, and goals. Conflicting goals in some cases. Those needs, goals, and conflicts are the beginnings of hooks to pull the PCs into the mix.

Skorj
2009-08-14, 08:35 PM
You know, you don't need to start in town. It's perfectly OK to start in the middle of the action. Some ways to do this:

Roll for initiative! (Best way to start a campaign IMO) You're not sure how the goblins got the drop on you, or even where you are, but you're sure theyt're trying to kill you.
You're walking down the road to «BigCity» fleeing the destruction of «SubjectsHomeTown» with a group of fellow adventurers you met on the road, when allathesudden ... Roll for initiative!
You're approaching a tavern when you hear "everyone who wants to become a sailor, lie down on the ground with your eyes closed*" Thud! Slump. zzzzzz OK, you wake up on a ship, locked in the hold. Before you can bemoan your fate, you hear a great crunching sound and Suddenly! Tentacles! Roll for initiative!

Buying equipment and wandering around hoping to trip over a quest hook is about the dullest part of any campaign. Start without doing it!

*Stolen fom Pratchett of course.

Jade_Tarem
2009-08-14, 08:41 PM
In addition to what others have posted, all gathering points of civilization of any size, even small towns, need:

1) A source of water.
2) A source of food.
3) A source of infrastucture.

That is to say, the people of the town have to be able to eat, drink, and build, or there's no town. To that extent, you're either looking at a lot of farmland, a natural spring, creek, or something, or a magical source of sustenence.

Building materials can be a bit different. People will build with whatever's available - if it's stone, they'll build with stone. If they have wood, they'll use that too. If mud is all there is, well, there were ancient African civilizations that built some fairly amazing stuff out of mud (no joke). Whatever they've built with, there needs to be some kind of natural source for it nearby.

You don't exactly have to list all the statistics for the players right off the bat, but if they ask, you should have it ready.

Ellisande
2009-08-14, 09:18 PM
It seems to me the first step is to decide how you want to start the campaign; is it with zombies literally overrunning the town? Internecine political conflicts in the town? A looming threat on the horizon? The most important thing is that your setting serve your plot needs. At the end of the day, if the village needs it (subtly different than if the players need it!), it has it. I like both ShadowsGrnEyes' and Jade_Tarem's thoughts on fleshing and describing.


What should the starting town in a fresh campaign have? Should I include a guild, or mess around by removing iconic things such as an inn or tavern? I know I want to start with a small town and build from there.

I'm a sucker for patterning on historical sources, so I'd look at Medieval Demographics Made Easy (http://www.io.com/~sjohn/demog.htm). I was stunned by how few things there actually would be in small towns, but it's very much informed my own worldbuilding efforts.

That said, I wouldn't stress it too much; few players are picky enough to notice.

Harperfan7
2009-08-14, 10:51 PM
I just started a campaign. The players started away from town, and when they got back a few sessions later, here's what I read...

"Hearthstone is a small town with a larger than average percentage of non-human races. It is built along a river at a point where two roads meet with a stone arched bridge crossing. It has an inn/tavern named “The Endless Decanter,” which is owned by a middle-aged female half-elven ex-adventurer named Corwyn. The tavern is home to a collection of Corwyn’s adventuring trophies. It has a resident mage named Arkved who lives in a stone tower carved into one of the nearby obelisks (think miniature mesas). There is a small temple of Pelor and a shrine of Farlanghn. There are three wind mills and a water mill that runs during the melts. Like most villages in the Obelisk Fields, the architecture is mostly stone due to the lack of wood in the region. There is one large abandoned house near the back of town where few people wander (it is boarded up and is thought to be haunted)."