Settlements
What purpose does it serve in your game?
How big is it? Who lives there?
What does it look, smell, and sound like?
Who governs it? Who else holds power? Is it part of a larger state?
What are its defenses?
Where do characters go to find the goods and services they need?
What temples and other organizations feature prominently?
What fantastic elements distinguish it from an ordinary town?
Why should the characters care about the settlement?
Purpose
A settlement exists primarily to facilitate the story and fun tmof the campaign.
Local Color
A settlement might serve as a place where the characters stop to rest and to buy supplies. No more than a short description. Include the settlement's name, decide how big it is, add a dash of flavor, and let the adventures get on with their business.
Home Base
A settlement gives the adventures a place to live, train, and recuperate between adventures. Detail the leadership, including law enforcement. Include characters who can provide information, such as sages, soothsayers, librarians, and observant vagabonds. Priests can provide spellcasting as well as information.
Adventure Site
A village harboring a secret cult of devil worshipers. A town controlled by a guild of wererats. A city conquered by a hobgoblin army. In a settlement that doubles as an adventure location, detail the intended adventure areas, such as towers and warehouses. For an event-based adventure, note the NPCs who play a part in the adventure.
Size
Villages sre clustered around a larger town or city. Farming villages supply the town or city population with food in exchange for goods the farmers can't produce themselves. Towns and cities are the seats of the nobles who govern the surrounding area, and who carry the responsibility for defending the villages from attack. Occasionally, a local lord or lady lives in a keep or fortress with no nearby town or city.
Village
Population: Up to about 1,000
Government: A noble (usually not a resident) rules the village, with an appointed agent (a reeve) in residence to adjudicate disputes and collect taxes.
Defense: The reeve might have a small force of soldiers. Otherwise, the village relies on a citizen militia.
Commerce: Basic supplies are readily available, possibly from an inn or a trading post. Other goods are available from traveling merchants.
Organizations: A village might contain one or two temples or shrines, but few or no other organizations.
Most settlements are agricultural villages, supporting themselves and nearby towns or cities with crops and meat. Villagers produce food in one way or another. The goods they produce feed their families and supply trade with nearby settlements.
A village's population is dispersed around a large area of land. Farmers live on their land, which spreads them widely around the village center. At the heart of the village, a handful of structures of cluster together: a well, a marketplace, a small temple or two, a gathering place, and perhaps an inn for travelers.
Town
Population: Up to about 6,000
Government: A resident noble rules and appoints a lord mayor to oversee administration. An elected town council represents the interests of the middle class.
Defense: The noble commands a sizeable army of professional soldiers, as well as personal bodyguards.
Commerce: Basic supplies are readily available, though exotic goods and services are harder to find. Inns and taverns support travelers.
Organizations: The town contains several temples, as well as various merchant guilds and other organizations.
Towns are makor trade centers, situated where important industries and reliable trade routes enabled the population to grow. These settlements rely on commerce the import of raw materials and food from surrounding villages, and the export of crafted items to those villages, as well as other towns and cities. A town's population is more diverse than that of most villages.
Towns arise where roads intersect waterways, at the meeting of major land trade routes, around strategic defensive locations, or near significant mines or similar natural resources.
City
Population: Up to about 25,000
Government: A resident noble presides, with several other nobles sharing responsibility for surrounding areas and government functions. One such noble is the lord mayor, who oversees the city administration. An elected city council represents the middle class and might hold more actual power than the lord mayor. Other groups serve as important power centers as well.
Defense: The city supports an army of professional soldiers, guards, and town watch. Each noble in residence maintains a small force of personal bodyguards.
Commerce: Almost any goods or services are readily available. Many inns and taverns support travelers.
Organizations: A multitude of temples, guilds, and other organizations, some of which hold significant power in city affairs, can be found within the city's walls.
Cities are cradles of civilizations. Their larger populations require considerable support from both surrounding villages and trade routes. Cities typically thrive in areas where larger expanses of fertile, arable land surround a location accessible to trade, almost always on a navigable waterway.
Cities almost have walls, and the stages of a city's growth are easily identified by the expansion of the walls beyond the central core. These internal walls naturally divide the city into wards (neighborhoods defined by specific features), which have their own representatives on the city council and their own noble administrators.
Anything I should add, change, and/or delete.
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Roleplaying Guide
Non-FictionThis is a guide for any roleplaying game. Anything I should add, change, and/or delete. This is a wiki of sorts. I take suggestions.
