A beginner Dm looking for Advice [Archive] - Wizards Community

A beginner Dm looking for Advice [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Janaxil Serpentil
02-11-04, 06:06 PM hello all,
i like to hear some comments from any and recieve any help from those who are more experienced than i about running a campaign..........

Being new to dming, of course, im going to look for any comments or help.......

here's the problem...........

im running a campaign located in the FR region of damara. i like to keep it close to the gates located at the east side of vassa and could use the help in devolping the town and mapping things out to make it something of my own, also there are serveral caverns located in the area and could use a way to help me develope tht as well. Any comment about how to populate the area and the influences it would have on the town would help. i wish to create a map of the area and all the trails and any generators or anything of such would be nice and the tunnels as well inside the caverns. The town be average in size and have no ideas to where i should get started...........

like i said any help be most welcome............

ill keep an eye on this post and hoping to hear anything dm's have to say!!!!

till then good day and well met.........
LordMacbeth
02-11-04, 09:57 PM 1. The DM's guide has some great tables....roll up the town and go from there. Select the jobs of the various characters and change the racial makeup to suit you game.

2. Write a back story, even a short one is nice, for every "High" level NPC in the town. Love intrests, friendships, enemities, and plots are all good to bring flavour to the town. Any nations that the city borders/belongs to have a vested intrest, have at least one agent for every nation with a vested intrest.

3. Mapping the town is the next phase. Keep in mind the following: Draw 1 house for every 5 people. A marketplace or Bazzar is also a nescessity for any city of any size. Decide what , and how many, shops there are. Try to have enough to keep the players interested, but only as much as the population can support. There should be at least 1 pub for every 100 people in the town. There should be at least one inn for every 200 people in the town (more if it's a high traffic city). If the city borders water add a dock to the map. Temples should reflect the religious notions of the towns people, the larger the town, the more grand the temple. Try to have ony three "main streets" to keep the player from getting lost or confused. The houses and shops should each have their own sections of town, group them together. Most small cities will have a palisade....over 1000 and it might be too big to have one. Ensure there are enough guards to keep the peace.

Besides this, anything else is up to you, just keep in mind that you should only spend as much work as you need to. If your players will be using the town as a base for a long time, spend as much time as you can fleshing ti out. If it is just for one adventure, don't waste any time fleshing out innescessities.
Janaxil Serpentil
02-11-04, 10:01 PM hey thanks for your post and any other advice be welcome!!
SmilingTyrant
02-11-04, 10:23 PM my group was mutli-DM for a long time, like four or five DM's that would take turns, and we each had our "pet" cities...there were certain elements that made certain cities more popular among the group than others. This doesn't necessarily keep consistent with "real" medieval cities or whatever, just fun ones. Most good cities in my experience have a lot of A- flavor and B- stuff to do on your down time.
Making character sheets for 'powerful' dudes in town is a great idea...the Kings/Nobles/Heroes of our towns were among our coolest NPCs overall, I think. Anyway, here's some crap that I think's cool for good towns

-Battle Arena: always a crowd pleaser. Players love the battle arena...so much so that I'd often have to say that it was closed because of an accident or something because they wanted to go to it so much. Also makes for good adventure hooks.

-Theatre: odds are any of those stuffy bard players that hate the arena will like a theatre. Also fantastic for adventure hooks.

-Guilds/Orders/Temples: Fun to join, fun to visit. More hooks.

I'd think of more but I'm rather tired.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Janaxil Serpentil 02-11-04, 06:06 PM	hello all, i like to hear some comments from any and recieve any help from those who are more experienced than i about running a campaign.......... Being new to dming, of course, im going to look for any comments or help....... here's the problem........... im running a campaign located in the FR region of damara. i like to keep it close to the gates located at the east side of vassa and could use the help in devolping the town and mapping things out to make it something of my own, also there are serveral caverns located in the area and could use a way to help me develope tht as well. Any comment about how to populate the area and the influences it would have on the town would help. i wish to create a map of the area and all the trails and any generators or anything of such would be nice and the tunnels as well inside the caverns. The town be average in size and have no ideas to where i should get started........... like i said any help be most welcome............ ill keep an eye on this post and hoping to hear anything dm's have to say!!!! till then good day and well met.........
LordMacbeth 02-11-04, 09:57 PM	1. The DM's guide has some great tables....roll up the town and go from there. Select the jobs of the various characters and change the racial makeup to suit you game. 2. Write a back story, even a short one is nice, for every "High" level NPC in the town. Love intrests, friendships, enemities, and plots are all good to bring flavour to the town. Any nations that the city borders/belongs to have a vested intrest, have at least one agent for every nation with a vested intrest. 3. Mapping the town is the next phase. Keep in mind the following: Draw 1 house for every 5 people. A marketplace or Bazzar is also a nescessity for any city of any size. Decide what , and how many, shops there are. Try to have enough to keep the players interested, but only as much as the population can support. There should be at least 1 pub for every 100 people in the town. There should be at least one inn for every 200 people in the town (more if it's a high traffic city). If the city borders water add a dock to the map. Temples should reflect the religious notions of the towns people, the larger the town, the more grand the temple. Try to have ony three "main streets" to keep the player from getting lost or confused. The houses and shops should each have their own sections of town, group them together. Most small cities will have a palisade....over 1000 and it might be too big to have one. Ensure there are enough guards to keep the peace. Besides this, anything else is up to you, just keep in mind that you should only spend as much work as you need to. If your players will be using the town as a base for a long time, spend as much time as you can fleshing ti out. If it is just for one adventure, don't waste any time fleshing out innescessities.
Janaxil Serpentil 02-11-04, 10:01 PM	hey thanks for your post and any other advice be welcome!!
SmilingTyrant 02-11-04, 10:23 PM	my group was mutli-DM for a long time, like four or five DM's that would take turns, and we each had our "pet" cities...there were certain elements that made certain cities more popular among the group than others. This doesn't necessarily keep consistent with "real" medieval cities or whatever, just fun ones. Most good cities in my experience have a lot of A- flavor and B- stuff to do on your down time. Making character sheets for 'powerful' dudes in town is a great idea...the Kings/Nobles/Heroes of our towns were among our coolest NPCs overall, I think. Anyway, here's some crap that I think's cool for good towns -Battle Arena: always a crowd pleaser. Players love the battle arena...so much so that I'd often have to say that it was closed because of an accident or something because they wanted to go to it so much. Also makes for good adventure hooks. -Theatre: odds are any of those stuffy bard players that hate the arena will like a theatre. Also fantastic for adventure hooks. -Guilds/Orders/Temples: Fun to join, fun to visit. More hooks. I'd think of more but I'm rather tired.