Making a environment

[Okamigekido]

So! The group of players I DM for (A Barbarian, Ranger, Wizard, Bard, and Paladin) are all about to get to their first "civilization(?)" And I have a MANY of questions regarding make the environment. I know for a fact, that I want the casual Inn, an Armory, as well as a Bath House (for fun). But when I get to thinking about doing the creation of the shops, and costs off food, etc-it's intimidating. As a new DM, reading the book to understand this is a little too complex to understand. Although I'm just doing this for fun, I would love to learn the correct mechanics to creating new environments. This environment specifically, I want the whole area to be heavily inflated, so things are more "expensive" even if they're pretty worthless items in store. I hope I posted this in the corrects forums, I'm still very new to this site!

[Ganryu]

So! The group of players I DM for (A Barbarian, Ranger, Wizard, Bard, and Paladin) are all about to get to their first "civilization(?)" And I have a MANY of questions regarding make the environment. I know for a fact, that I want the casual Inn, an Armory, as well as a Bath House (for fun). But when I get to thinking about doing the creation of the shops, and costs off food, etc-it's intimidating. As a new DM, reading the book to understand this is a little too complex to understand. Although I'm just doing this for fun, I would love to learn the correct mechanics to creating new environments. This environment specifically, I want the whole area to be heavily inflated, so things are more "expensive" even if they're pretty worthless items in store. I hope I posted this in the corrects forums, I'm still very new to this site!

Honestly, much of this is going to come down to your style as GM. I'm an off the cuff Gm, I introduce the feel of the city, then let the party discover what's inside.

I made a tent city. It had the feel of tents and hunters everywhere, people adored the barbarian as he walked in, but as they asked questions, things filled in.

"What's the magic store like?" I laid out an elaborate magic store I didn't know existed beforehand.

I've had times I laid out the exact town map, and they didn't explore crap, just passing through.

Granted... the worst part of said magic store was then a player said. "Well, what's it have, advertise everything inside it for me." Whoo boy. But that's my style.

My roommate who also GM's lays out EVERYTHING beforehand, and that's his style. He has detailed notes on the shop keepers and their backstories.

First thing you already have and is needed is what do you want your city to feel like, because this is story telling and world building.

[Unoriginal]

You could just take the prices listed in the DMG and say in this region the prices are [base price*3].

[DrKerosene]

I would say you can have a folder of pictures for reference, and just describe most of what you see plus whatever you want to add for fun.

Or you can scroll through the Elder Scrolls wikis for strange foods, drinks, spices, alchemy ingredients, potion names (actually fake potions if they don’t have a similar enough 5e DnD potion). Looking at the 5e dnd trade goods chart, adventuring gear chart, and the value by weight table, can work for most questions.

Eventually you may want to craft more detailed lists, or better items, but I end up googling “strange treasure” or using generators like the various donjon ones.

[Wizard_Lizard]

I fixed the problem by making it an ocean campaign.
first time dming.
sadly after planning an elaborate story arc involving a bunch of skeletons, a whiny kid, and the god of kelp (kelpthulhu) and associated cult. Everyone sort of drifted off. Hopefully I can bring everyone back into it though.

[opaopajr]

Take the Lifestyle chart and use each level away from your baseline (Poor? Modest?) as a multiplier for your stuff.

e.g. Modest is 1 gp/day. Comfortable 2 gp/day, Wealthy 4 gp/day. So choose the "wealth level" of your town and multiply by your difference to your baseline Modest. So times all equipment by two or four to show inflation. Thus 25 gp Holy Water becomes 50 gp or 200 gp.

Everything else, just create what you think makes sense first -- then find its rough equivalent in the Equipment chapter. If nothing really comes close... guess! :smallsmile: As long as it roughly makes sense most players won't implode their suspended disbelief.

[jjordan]

So! The group of players I DM for (A Barbarian, Ranger, Wizard, Bard, and Paladin) are all about to get to their first "civilization(?)" And I have a MANY of questions regarding make the environment. I know for a fact, that I want the casual Inn, an Armory, as well as a Bath House (for fun). But when I get to thinking about doing the creation of the shops, and costs off food, etc-it's intimidating. As a new DM, reading the book to understand this is a little too complex to understand. Although I'm just doing this for fun, I would love to learn the correct mechanics to creating new environments. This environment specifically, I want the whole area to be heavily inflated, so things are more "expensive" even if they're pretty worthless items in store. I hope I posted this in the corrects forums, I'm still very new to this site!
There are no "correct mechanics" for creating a setting/environment. The DMG has a pretty good guide for doing a default settlement. What really matters is how much detail you want. You can create your settlement on the fly. If something is needed, have it. Make a note of what you added and move forward. Or you can go completely overboard. The last settlement I worked on had 37 pages of details and multiple maps. 95% of it will never be used in game play. I know that and don't care because I had fun making it.

I suggest:
-Think of name
-Think of how many people live there and divide that number by 5 to get the number of buildings.
-Think about what they do there (in terms of one or two words: Farming and Logging, Mining, Weaving and Trade)
-Think about how friendly/open people are in general.

If the players look for something, decide if it's there. An inn, a tavern, a smithy, etc... Does it need to be there for the story to continue?
Use the prices in the PHB and DMG.

All good. Your players will be happy.

[Vogie]

One thing I do is tie the available magic items to the area. I run a fairly highly-available-magic game, but most of the stuff is regional, and the items that they find/can purchase are those that tell a story of the area. I find the idea that magic items should be combat focused is lame, because most of the world is simply not going to be that.

A mill town has Axes that float and can quickly cleave through trees or other wood. Goblins have weapons that are easy to conceal, like a scimitars that can turn into scrap metal and back. People who live and do things around the river or on ships have tons of water-manipulation-themed items, such as the ability to make oars with Shape Water. And so on.

[Wuzza]

Although I'm just doing this for fun, I would love to learn the correct mechanics to creating new environments.

There is no such thing, only what works for you. As a new DM, you just need to find this out. :smallsmile:


Honestly, much of this is going to come down to your style as GM. I'm an off the cuff Gm, I introduce the feel of the city, then let the party discover what's inside.

I made a tent city. It had the feel of tents and hunters everywhere, people adored the barbarian as he walked in, but as they asked questions, things filled in.

"What's the magic store like?" I laid out an elaborate magic store I didn't know existed beforehand.

I've had times I laid out the exact town map, and they didn't explore crap, just passing through.

Granted... the worst part of said magic store was then a player said. "Well, what's it have, advertise everything inside it for me." Whoo boy. But that's my style.

My roommate who also GM's lays out EVERYTHING beforehand, and that's his style. He has detailed notes on the shop keepers and their backstories.

First thing you already have and is needed is what do you want your city to feel like, because this is story telling and world building.

Ganryu pretty much described both extremes of creation. Personally I go with the off-the-cuff version. (while it is fun to create a fully fledged Village/City, 90% of the time you'll use 10% of it.)
Give yourself a rough layout, describing areas. Slums, Merchant, Upper Class etc. then have to hand a "cheat sheet" of store names, NPC's and the like.
Your players want to find an inn in the Upper Class area? The Regal Bow. Searching for potions? Potions and Parchments. There are plenty of online resources for these things.
As for costs, this is entirely dependant on how you reward your players. A bold of stew can be a handful of copper, they want a feast fit for a Noble? You're into multiple gold territory.

I've had a character ask what is available in a magic shop?? What right minded merchant would describe everything they had and open themselves up to thieves and conmen? If you are looking for something in particular, then I may be able to offer you something.....

[Okamigekido]

I appreciate the help, and the ideas, everyone! What I've come up with so far, is that the characters are going to head off into a town somewhere (I'm thinking maybe a poor looking town, if that makes sense) where many of the buildings are collapsed, but are very ruggedly held together with tent-like tapestry over most of them. And, I'm making a specific inn called "KITTIEASE", where I'm hoping to put a couple main NPC's (Such as a rich man named Noah, his wife, and possibly their spy). I have a relative idea of how I'd like the surrounding people living around here would act and etc-but does anyone have any more ideas to pop up that they've had stored in mind-that would perhaps suit this kind of area? (I would like their first area to be memorable, and to develop throughout the campaign-so sorry if it seems I'm asking alot!)

[opaopajr]

Well, le'see... Xanathar's has index of cultural names in the back. Sometimes those help creative juices flow.

Perhaps a personality table, maybe in a DMG, could choose words to spur creative NPCs or Locations.

The Trinkets table in the PHB works, especially for miscellaneous ideas, adventure hooks, and even odd minor magical items.

At this point it's more of us encouraging you to color in your own coloring book with what you feel. :smallcool: There are some rules: which colors mix like mud, what color combos induce eye pain, etc. But on the whole imagination needs you to bring you into what you see in this pretend world. :smallsmile:

[Wizard_Lizard]

what is the defining feature of the town?
-a treetop village with rope ladders connecting houses in the middle of a lush jungle.
-an arid desert where water is incredibly scarce
-a city with magnificent arches and archetecture
-something else

this should give you some idea as to costs and inhabitants.