Villages, resources, and gm facing tools
Dewydd shook his head, face grim from the news. He had not heard from his cousin in a few months, and reports of the village across the fields having burnt to the ground should have frozen him with fear. Instead, he found a new aacrity within himself, and picked up his spade, heavy, trustworthy.
Writing for table tops is really hard, especially when you’re constantly learning from your mistakes and trying to retrofit everything onto the map and the shared truths you've shared with your players. I was inspired by a video I saw somewhere and I want to focus more on the common folk in my setting. I think it would really add to the vibe and the whole theme of the campaign if I spent maybe 20 minutes talking about the actual townsfolk in the main port town.
One of the consequences is that everyone feels a little removed from the setting. I want people to befriend and earn the trust of Livia the farmer and her husband Plinius, and when those people are put into danger or harmed, I want to see the world change and I want to see the players react to that change
I am running a game set in Roman era ancient Britain and its a bit too sparse. I want a village in probably every other hex to make the land feel more alive than it currently is but I was struggling to a) make a town that is instantly memorable to my players and b) make a town be differentiated from the nearby towns TO ME.
Ive come up with a short procedure to help come up with towns on the fly that are not prepared, and to help fill in the world a little bit. If there’s been anything similar please let me know and we’ll talk about it more.
Tangible resources
| Roll twice | We make/we need |
|---|---|
| 1 | Wool |
| 2 | Grain |
| 3 | Fish |
| 4 | Metal |
| 5 | Stone |
| 6 | Medicinal herbs |
| 7 | Clay |
| 8 | Beer |
| 9 | Wood |
| 10 | Eggs |
| 11 | Hay |
| 12 | Meat |
| 13 | Salt |
| 14 | Cattle |
| 15 | Fruit |
| 16 | Honey |
| 17 | Luxury (silk/pearls) |
| 18 | Drugs |
| 19 | Saltpeter |
| 20 | Leather |
Non-tangible goods
| Roll twice | We make/ we need |
|---|---|
| 1 | Information |
| 2 | Lodging |
| 3 | Transportation |
| 4 | Religion |
| 5 | Entertainment |
| 6 | Law dispute resolution |
For each resource a location needs, increase its size.
Example: a village might only need 2 specific resource in large quantities, but a metropolis needs 5
A small hamlet can afford to share its resources and divvy them up because they have less logistical needs to address, but as town sizes get bigger and bigger, you need organised people to allocate resources or to host markets and organise merchants coming in to sell goods.
Consider changing resources every season or year. See which resources go where. ( I probably need to cut this table down to like 10 or 8...)