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Theodoriph
2007-09-06, 10:32 PM
Oy!

I'm a rather new DM about to run my second campaign and I noticed while running my first ones that I seemed to have trouble making the towns and villages sound different and unique. They all sorta seemed the same (it probably doesn't help that most groups of adventurers always freqent the same buildings).

So what I'm wondering is if some more experienced people have some ideas that would help my towns and wee villages more unique. I'm not looking for drastic differences that would change the nature of the campaign. Just small ones that would give them a bit of flavour.

If anyone knows a site which has some nifty descriptions I could look at, that'd be great too.

psychoticbarber
2007-09-06, 10:36 PM
Honestly, the small towns of the world are fairly cookie-cutter themselves. Maybe you want a Giant-X (see The Giant Nickel (http://www.roadsideattractions.ca/bignickel.htm), for Sudbury Canada), or something along those lines. Really, if every small town is a front for the Mafia or a Demon, your party will begin avoiding them altogether.

Collin152
2007-09-06, 10:42 PM
Architectural differances are your staple descriptors. Flat roofs, domed roofs, concave roofs (Yeah, cause that works). Porches on every house, Brick buildings, wooden buildings, buildings of mud, ramshackle shingled houses, brine-coated barrels o' water every few feet, streets paved with kittens and cookies, and so forth.

Dhavaer
2007-09-06, 10:43 PM
Have the buildings, size, shape, etc. of the village dependant on the local resources (village near a forest is large and made of wood, village in the mountains is cramped and made of stone), have a statue of the town founder, have obvious representations of local art (wind chimes near every door, acid-etched metal doors on municiple buildings) have a village built around a powerful NPC (wizard's tower, dragon's lair) have every native female named 'Sorra' after a local heroine...

It doesn't have to be anything huge or meaningful, just a gimmick to make the places stick out in your players' minds.

bosssmiley
2007-09-07, 11:10 PM
Like all the above posters said, "think like a tourist board" (I'm shamelessly paraphrasing here :smallwink: ): bring directly to the players' attention whatever makes the burg unique and interesting. Put yourself in the position of a sceptical potential visitor and ask "Why would I want to go to xxxburg anyway?", then answer that question.

You might also want to try the flowchart method of city design. Pick the 5-6 most interesting parts of the city, outline them and handwave movement between them. Think of it in terms of the Hollywood-ised versions of London, Paris, Rome, etc.

Lord Iames Osari
2007-09-07, 11:18 PM
Like all the above posters said, "think like a tourist board" (I'm shamelessly paraphrasing here :smallwink: ): bring directly to the players' attention whatever makes the burg unique and interesting. Put yourself in the position of a sceptical potential visitor and ask "Why would I want to go to xxxburg anyway?", then answer that question.

I can think of plenty of reasons to go to Xxxburg. :smallwink:

TheOOB
2007-09-07, 11:26 PM
Like most designing work I do, I create a little questionaire to get what I want out of the town

- How big is the town, what resources does it have.

- What is the towns racial makup, how do they view other races.

- What real-world culture is the town most like(good reference for the players)

- What is one significant departure from that culture

- What religion is prominent, how serious are they, how do they view other religions.

- What is one significant problem the town faces.

- What are three interesting NPCs who the PCs will learn about soon after entering town

- How does the town view heroes.

- What is the general town layout like

- What is the environment around the town like.

- Who holds power.

- What groups/organizations are in the town the PCs might care about

These questions all can be answered quickly, and help you guide a towns creation.

de-trick
2007-09-07, 11:30 PM
also if you have a tavern have a original name like the drowning dwarf, or just have interesting NPC's have the orphanage run by 2 ogre mages who have helms of opposite alignment

bosssmiley
2007-09-07, 11:44 PM
I can thing of plenty of reasons to go to Xxxburg. :smallwink:

You sir, are dirty and bad! And that is why all the laydeez love Lord Iames :smallcool:

Lord Iames Osari
2007-09-07, 11:55 PM
Oh, how I wish that were the case. :smallsigh:

DeathQuaker
2007-09-08, 12:31 PM
A few things to think about/add in:

- What's the town's main industry? A farm that serves a cattle-farming community versus the town that supports the local vineyards will have different structures and different things available. This may not affect the party much, but it helps you think of what is available in that town and what kind of people live there that makes it different from the town before it.

- Is this an isolated village or a crossroads town? Isolated places will have their own peculiar customs, and it may be harder for the party to earn the villagers' trust. Crossroads towns may have interesting tales of passing through adventurers such as yourselves, or a more peculiar population.

- What problems does the town have? Is it poor? Do they need to worry more about goblin raids or obnoxious adventurers wreaking havoc on their peaceful lives? This doesn't have to be problems that the party needs to solve, but may help you flesh the area and NPCs out.

- Who is the most famous person in the town? Why? Who is the village idiot? The ruler? How was the ruler elected? Who provides entertainment? (In other words, come up with a couple unique NPCs. Unique NPCs on their own will give any given place more flavor.)

Also, if you need something to jog inspiration, check out Jamis Buck's Town Generator (http://www.aarg.net/~minam/towns.cgi). This uses the random generation mechanics in the DMG to provide you town demographics, but if you're creative you can use it to help you get a jumpstart on ideas for the town beyond simple numbers. Perhaps the suggested Power Center will give you a good idea for a villain or helpful NPC. Or look at who the highest power level NPCs are, and think of what roles they might have and what they did to attain those levels. I once came up with a great idea for a town elder just by seeing that the generator rolled me a 20th level commoner... I started thinking of who that person would be and what they did to get 20 levels... he ended up being an old man who was famous for catching the "Great Dire Catfish of 1033" ... great "hook" for an NPC. *kicks herself for the awful pun*

Oh, and here's another interesting random generator from IG tools: the Village Generator (http://www.irony.com/village.html). This gives you a map and suggested NPC commoners, plus a possible (randomly generated) adventure hook. By themselves it's all kind of dry information, but again, you can look at the basics for inspiration and flesh it out to make it suit your needs.

Theodoriph
2007-09-09, 10:43 PM
:smallbiggrin: Thanks guys! Some of these suggestions are great. I'll be sure to use them :smallbiggrin:

Machete
2007-09-09, 11:57 PM
Also think about leadership and structure, or the lack thereof.

IRL, its a lawfuls world, baby. Mayor, orderkeepers, public maintenence paid for by taxes... ect.

Not always so in DND!

This might help set the mood, these aren't absolutes but they are nice examples.

Think about the old Wild West towns with everybody taking care of their own stuff and taking part in community maintenence as common courtesy and trying to win favors with one another. Commerce is the lifestyle. Give and take. Favors and money. Influence and power. Maybe a couple folks trying to keep some semblence of order. Take away six shooters and add bows and crossbows and an adept or two. Outsiders are looked at as potential business or threats.
This is more Neutral aligned.
Magic items found here are less survival centered and more profit-minded. More likely they are wondrous architecture like that found in the stronghold builder's guide. A bed that can stabilize any character(with a charge), decanter of endless water in a desert, a Ring of Clumsiness being sold as a Ring of Feather Falling(not all that bad a deal if you only use it when needed), a Scrying Pool, popular potions, Elixir of Love, and Sleep Arrows.

Then you have closely concentrated tent villages with a couple local religious officials like a shaman in the village and a druid living nearby to try and keep things settled nice and play mediator. Permanent shelters underground are used for storm shelters and food storage. These folks live off the land and likely try to minimize farming and maximize foraging of the nbatural food supplies that have been abandoned more by civilized society. This does not make them into illiterate barbarians, it makes them resourceful survivors trying to live in a sustainable fashion so the local Chaotic Neutral Druid doesn't try and "thin the herd" with them. Everyone has a rank in Survival. Everyone is armed all the time not just ready to defend themselves but the tent village as well. There is a strong sense of community with those that have been around a while and a more carefree attitude with those who haven't. Folks here value their families and free time more than hard work to get ahead in material things. Everything is about freedom to do what you want, that is of course unless you step on someone elses freedom. Then there is trouble and negotiation and truces, or very rarely, stabbing. Outsiders are common but those trying to boss them around or tell the community what to do without a REAL good explaination will find themselves in a heap of trouble real fast.
That is Chaotic. Just because they live in tents doesn't make them ignorant or poor. They might even have an open library for those who pay to use it.
Magic items likely found are an Anarchic weapon, Blessed Bandages, Ring of Sustainence on one of the busier persons like the religious figure, Stone of Alarm, Anarchic Water, a couple old wands of CLW that they won't part with, one of those pouches that produces daily rations, and in a desert or dry setting a Decanter of Endless Water probably build right into a large heavy object so it can't be moved or stolen, only activated in its different ways.