Minor cities

[PoeticDwarf]

For a campaign where I'm the DM, I made a giant map with 40 cities.
Those cities aren't like Waterdeep, not even the amount the DMG says the must are. Many cities have around 300-400 people and the largest city about 1200.

How can I make this work, if the adventurers become lv. 5 or higher they can just blast everything, because most cities don't have more than 50 or 100 guards...
Yes, three or more of them are evil. And yes, they like to destory villages, towns and cities. Or just steal everything inside.

[Plus1Sword]

Let them do what they want for a few cities, but as the cities are pillaged/stolen from/raided let word get around. Fleeing citizens warn other cities of the party's actions and the cities ramp up their defenses. A nobleman gets pissed off his bank away from his other bank was raided, and puts up a hefty reward for anyone who can deliver the heads of adventurers x, y and z. The Town Guardsman who survived the last battle vows revenge, and goes to another city and forms a hunting party of more powerful authorities.

[PoeticDwarf]

Let them do what they want for a few cities, but as the cities are pillaged/stolen from/raided let word get around. Fleeing citizens warn other cities of the party's actions and the cities ramp up their defenses. A nobleman gets pissed off his bank away from his other bank was raided, and puts up a hefty reward for anyone who can deliver the heads of adventurers x, y and z. The Town Guardsman who survived the last battle vows revenge, and goes to another city and forms a hunting party of more powerful authorities.

That is a good idea, thank you!

[DragonLordIT]

There may be even evil rulers who would try to ally with them (and may be tricking them with something like mind control to ensure they don't turn against him) and use them against an enemy city.
Guards and rulers may ask the alliance with the local good dragon to slay them, or the local giant tribe of the mountains. A couatl could be on their traces to stop their evil. .. they would become (at some point) the quest of a paladin (horray for role reversal, the DM and is the good one and the players the evil masterminds) or the object of attention of good clerics.

[Dimolyth]

Let them do what they want for a few cities, but as the cities are pillaged/stolen from/raided let word get around. Fleeing citizens warn other cities of the party's actions and the cities ramp up their defenses. A nobleman gets pissed off his bank away from his other bank was raided, and puts up a hefty reward for anyone who can deliver the heads of adventurers x, y and z. The Town Guardsman who survived the last battle vows revenge, and goes to another city and forms a hunting party of more powerful authorities.

Yeah, that is how real-world historical Middle Ages were. There is a powerful gang, who destroys several villages. Then, a mighty feudal takes his troops to that region to liquidate the gang (real wealth of Waterdeep lies in small cities nearby). If a feudal doesn`t enough troops to handle bandits, the most powerful bandit becomes a new feudal. (That could even become an objective for evil party)

[Ninja_Prawn]

For a campaign where I'm the DM, I made a giant map with 40 cities.
Those cities aren't like Waterdeep, not even the amount the DMG says the must are. Many cities have around 300-400 people and the largest city about 1200.

How can I make this work, if the adventurers become lv. 5 or higher they can just blast everything, because most cities don't have more than 50 or 100 guards...
Yes, three or more of them are evil. And yes, they like to destory villages, towns and cities. Or just steal everything inside.

1200 people is a very small town. 300-400 is a village. According to the invaluable Medieval Demographics Made Easy, a settlement would have 1 guardsman per 150 to 300 citizens. Thus, a village of 300 would have one person (you might call them a sheriff), who is in charge of law & order. They might or might not have a deputy. Thus, you're right to assume lv5 adventurers could rip through these folks.

So, these villages will have to call in some reserves - maybe a local lord will levy a militia: 40 villages of 300 is 12,000 people, maybe as many as 4,000 capable of holding a spear for a few weeks. If there's a major city nearby, they could hire mercenaries or send a regular army unit (possibly heavy cavalry). Or, you know, maybe a dragon decides it wants to eat these villagers and attacks the party to eliminate competition.

[Brendanicus]

The players' old villages aren't the only place to birth decent-level adventurers. If they raise too much hell, they could become the target of an adventurers guild.

Also, one of the good-aligned cities could have an alliance with a metallic dragon. That would be a fun twist.

Also, if players kill an entire city, that's just begging a necromancer to reanimate all the bodies once the PCs leave.

[Hawkstar]

... why are the villages so tiny?]

If you do have this sort of demographic going on, you should have "Small but mighty". No land-holding lord should be less than Name level (9) - most should be even higher than that.

[KorvinStarmast]

300-400 people isn't a city.

Village
Hamlet
Town

[Shining Wrath]

As posted above, in world consequences. Your party of evil adventurers may put zero value on the lives of peasants; the local lord values their taxes and the food they produce. He either has resources or can call on the king who does.

Then there are certainly other adventurers in the world, of good alignment, who will not rest until these evildoers are stopped.

On top of that, and not previously mentioned, peasants are often pious folk, and their prayers for salvation will not go unheard. You might give a steadily increasing chance that the god(s) of these peasants will decide the time has come. 1% first village pillaged, 2% second one, and so on. If this happens, it's either TPK or TPC - total party conversion. A Deva appears, and the party repents, or dies. And if they kill the Deva (not easy) next time they get a Solar, and there's just no arguing with those guys.

I don't know how involved the gods are in your world, so the last bit may not make sense. Or the good gods can't act without getting the evil gods involved - which is why they wait to respond in the first place.

For those asking why the evil gods don't stop good adventuring parties - because good adventuring parties usually don't slaughter every inhabitant of a village, over and over. And the evil gods *by definition* don't care about their followers except as sources of power.

EDIT: I was looking at the DMG last night. Up to 1000 is a village, up to 6000 a town, a city over 25000 is a rare thing (Waterdeep).

[Warwick]

According to the invaluable Medieval Demographics Made Easy, a settlement would have 1 guardsman per 150 to 300 citizens. Thus, a village of 300 would have one person (you might call them a sheriff), who is in charge of law & order. They might or might not have a deputy. Thus, you're right to assume lv5 adventurers could rip through these folks.

It's worth noting that in ersatz-Medieval land, people are probably accustomed to the notion that they are responsible for their own security to some degree. So while the village might only have the one properly trained warrior, they're probably capable of arming a substantial fraction of the village (not well, mind you, but such is life when you're a peasant). Fifty peasants with spears and shortbows is not a trivial threat to a small group of level 5 characters in 5E if they face them together instead of instead of in encounter-sized chunks, especially if they have fortifications. The peasants may bolt if they don't like their chances, but that's just as true of a mob of kobolds or goblins.

Also, as noted, if the PCs are noticeably destructive, they're likely to be outlawed and hunted down as bandits. And at fifth level, a company of armed and armored soldiers is probably not something you can take.

Another thing to consider is the 'level demography' of these places. Most people may be one HD peasants, but not everyone is, and some of those people who aren't will have class levels and be able to give the party a hard time. E.g, even if you don't want to resort to armed peasantry or being hunted down by the regional lord, the village sheriff might be a 5th level fighter who can drum up help from a couple of local woodsmen (low level rangers), the village priest (low level cleric), and some villagers who've served in the Lord's levies before (1 HD peasants who aren't afraid to fight).

[Ninja_Prawn]

Most people may be one HD peasants, but not everyone is, and some of those people who aren't will have class levels and be able to give the party a hard time.

To quote Chaucer:


The Millere was a stout carl for the nones,
Ful byg he was of brawn, and eek of bones
...
A swerd and a bokeler bar he by his syde

'Miller' is a civilian occupation that you might reasonably expect to be a Commoner (1 Hit Die), but this guy's clearly a Thug (5 Hit Dice).

[VoxRationis]

Out of curiosity: Why is the campaign world filled only with villages? Is there some reason cities don't develop? Are resources so evenly spread around that there's no reason for people to cluster? Does magic fail if people gather in too large a group? Are there continual plagues that dissuade people from getting too close to each other? Is agriculture not a thing in the setting, forcing people to forage for food within a days' ride?

[JAL_1138]

Seconding Ninja Prawn's recommendation of Medieval Demographics Made Easy. It's an excellent site and tool for quick-and-dirty population (and profession) estimates.

[Inevitability]

When the players do something world-shaking, destructive, and random, think of the worst possible consequence that would still be realistic. Then have it happen.


Players massacred a small village? Family/friends of the killed commoners are powerful individuals.

Players raided the mage's guild? There's cursed items in that loot bag.

Players killed a random scholar? He was researching a way to prevent a sealed away elder evil from returning.

Players insulted a duke? He's a polymorphed dragon.

Players jaywalked? INEVITABLES EVERYWHERE.

Okay, maybe not those last ones.

[PoeticDwarf]

... why are the villages so tiny?]

If you do have this sort of demographic going on, you should have "Small but mighty". No land-holding lord should be less than Name level (9) - most should be even higher than that.

Because I hate too big cities, I don't know why.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Because I hate too big cities, I don't know why.

Which, at the end of the day, is fair enough. The DM is Master of the World. Any in a way, it's an interesting idea. I could see a sci-fi author writing a novel based on the premise "what if there were no cities".

We could try to retroactively rationalise it. Why do people live in cities?


Cities grow at major trade-route intersections, because there is a reliable source of wealth there.
People move to cities after agricultural disasters, because cities often store a few months' of food.
As agriculture becomes more mechanised, rural jobs disappear and people have to move to cities if they don't want to starve.
Powerful monarchs will demand certain services, which require a lot of people to support. If all of the land's tax money is gathered in one location, it will stimulate the local (city) economy.
If you need access to a deep-water harbour, you have a limited choice of locations.
Once a city has grown, it becomes a 'pull factor' in its own right, because the dense concentration of people creates more jobs and increases the likelihood that whatever you are looking for can be found in the city. Also, once a city becomes big enough, it will have to put in place a military defense system (including walls) that will look very attractive to anyone seeking safety/security.


So, if some or all of these factors don't exist in your world, you might not have large cities.

Ok. What do cities do that you wouldn't be able to do without them?


Some industries (such as book-binding) and services (such as specialised medicine) are only sustainable if they are able to service a lot of people.
A city can sustain a larger military force, especially if it is gathering up tax money from the surrounding countryside. This can include professional soldiers, ships, standardised weaponry, etc.


And anything else you can think of.

[Shining Wrath]

The key thing enabling the growth of cities is surplus food in the villages that is transported for sale to the central location.

All you need is something that prevents that. Maybe it is difficult to grow surplus food, maybe it is hard to travel, maybe there are roc-like things that swoop down on wagonloads of grain. Maybe the villagers hoard food because of previous hard times and don't part with their surplus.