Excerpt: Fallcrest

[Vlademeer]

I think that creating an interesting and realistic town is one of the toughest things to do as a dm, so this kind of write up in the DMG is a God send. I may not use it verbatim, but I will use it as a template to flesh out all of my towns.

My thoughts exactly. I usually detail the land my campaign is currently being run in and that includes all the settlements. Having a template to do this is very handy. I could probably do it on my own and have in the past, but since my current campaign has started I changed the format of my settlements 3 times.

I like the idea of a full blown town that I can reference or use as a template.

 

[Primal]

My only problem with the name is the temptation to call it Falcon Crest.

You too? I was instantly reminded of that TV series when I heard the name...

 

[Primal]

That's awesome!

You know, I thought this day would never come... but I must agree with you, Hong. The map is awesome... there's one road that leads to the sea (on left side of the map) but otherwise it's a great version!

 

[weem]

With inspiration from Novem5er, I decided to modify the map myself, only this version is pre-pillaged... (no ruins, no broken walls, more buildings, etc)...

 

[Primal]

I think the excerpt was solid. I definately get the points of light feel from this place. The whole area was once a bustling settlement, and then the darkness came and swallowed it up. Now its a battered place looking to rebuild, but there's constant danger out there just waiting for a chance to hit them again.

And while the npc was close to pc rules, definitely some differences. For example, he does far more damage than an equivalent level rogue, as PC doesn't get level bonuses to damage.

I was not that impressed by it, because I think Rich Baker's other Dragon articles (and his writing in general) have always been much more inspiring -- the content in this one seemed pretty "bland" in feel, and all the names felt also quite "uninspired" to me (e.g. Moon Hills, Blue Moon, Lucky Gnome, Nentir Inn, King's Road, etc.). Maybe it's because I really expect Rich's stuff to be mind-blowing in nature that I felt a bit disappointed by the excerpt? Anyway, it's not bad, but I felt that Saltmarsh in DMG II was far more inspiring and it also had a lot of intriguing plot hooks and NPCs. Of course, I need to see the full entry to make my final judgement on the matter.

The map is actually quite good, although at first I was bothered by the extent of the walls and the heavily-fortified keep/castle in a small town. Then I spotted the obvious ruined sections of the town and the walls, and I realized that Fallcrest is probably built on the site of another ancient town or city (which should provide nice adventuring hooks).

The only thing really troubling me is that there are three whole temples in small town like this, while it would be more realistic to assume that there is only one temple at most or several smaller shrines. However, this may be linked to the town's past, or perhaps Fallcrest is important enough to merit three faiths investing in temples and clergy.

Also, the only NPC seems to be a "hybrid" version between 'exception-based' monster design and PC creation rules. Why is that? Why couldn't the tiefling be either a "DM PC" or a monster?

As I already mentioned above, the only adventure hook mentioned is pretty obvious and therefore a bit weak.

 

[Lurker59]

The other possibilty is that some of the population lives in town, but works in nearby farms. The possibility of orcish raids and such may mean that workers (or maybe just their families) choose to live in the town, while still working at a nearby farm. Obviously this wouldn't work to explain more outlying farms, but the level on danger is probably much greater than farmers historically were confronted with.

 

[Aria Silverhands]

With inspiration from Novem5er, I decided to modify the map myself, only this version is pre-pillaged... (no ruins, no broken walls, more buildings, etc)...

I might have to borrow your map for a campaign in which the pc's have a chance to save Fallcrest from devastation and use the default map if they fail.

 

[Hussar]

I was not that impressed by it, because I think Rich Baker's other Dragon articles (and his writing in general) have always been much more inspiring -- the content in this one seemed pretty "bland" in feel, and all the names felt also quite "uninspired" to me (e.g. Moon Hills, Blue Moon, Lucky Gnome, Nentir Inn, King's Road, etc.). Maybe it's because I really expect Rich's stuff to be mind-blowing in nature that I felt a bit disappointed by the excerpt? Anyway, it's not bad, but I felt that Saltmarsh in DMG II was far more inspiring and it also had a lot of intriguing plot hooks and NPCs. Of course, I need to see the full entry to make my final judgement on the matter.

The map is actually quite good, although at first I was bothered by the extent of the walls and the heavily-fortified keep/castle in a small town. Then I spotted the obvious ruined sections of the town and the walls, and I realized that Fallcrest is probably built on the site of another ancient town or city (which should provide nice adventuring hooks).

The only thing really troubling me is that there are three whole temples in small town like this, while it would be more realistic to assume that there is only one temple at most or several smaller shrines. However, this may be linked to the town's past, or perhaps Fallcrest is important enough to merit three faiths investing in temples and clergy.

Also, the only NPC seems to be a "hybrid" version between 'exception-based' monster design and PC creation rules. Why is that? Why couldn't the tiefling be either a "DM PC" or a monster?

As I already mentioned above, the only adventure hook mentioned is pretty obvious and therefore a bit weak.

I would point out that my home town of 900 people had six churches. A temple needs what, a priest, maybe an acolyte or two and that's pretty much it. Multiple churches in a community is certainly not out of line.

 

[Jack Colby]

I wasn't going to mention it, but since others already have... yes, I think Falcon Crest when I see the name, too. There's no way I could use this at the gaming table. I'd provoke laughter and wisecracks every time it was said aloud. I guess this really was designed for young people who won't instantly recall that very popular series from the 80's. I can imagine some unaware DM using the name and having his group start making old soap opera jokes, ruining the mood.

And, yes, I think most of the 4E names are overly simplistic and more than a bit silly-sounding, but I will deal. Still excited about the game and the rules. These kinds of things just amuse me, and I kind of wonder about where the minds of the people who make these names up are at. I suspect they don't say any of these names aloud a few times before finalizing them, which is always good practice when dealing with fantasy.

 

[Alikar]

The map is actually quite good, although at first I was bothered by the extent of the walls and the heavily-fortified keep/castle in a small town. Then I spotted the obvious ruined sections of the town and the walls, and I realized that Fallcrest is probably built on the site of another ancient town or city (which should provide nice adventuring hooks).

If you had bothered to actually read the article you would know that the city suffered a major orc raid 90 years prior and is still trying to recover.