Building a settlement from scratch, how much progress by month?

[Lackofname]

(MINOR spoilers for Ruins of Azlant 1 - The Lost Outpost)

Currently doing the prep work for a campaign, I'm using some adventure modules to handle frameworks for things I'm unfamiliar with, but I'm looking to change them, and I'm not sure how to gauge things for that. Also "checking the math" of what's in the adventure.

Campaign setup
It's about the very first colony/settlement/expedition on a newly discovered continent. Said area is dense, tropical jungle (Central American/Central African style).

My question is how much could 50 colonists build/setup after 1 month, 2 months, 3 months, and 4 months?

How much would they scout the local environs, based in terms of miles, again in dense jungle?

Example from Paizo

"The Lost Outpost", first adventure in Ruins of Azlant, presents a colony at the 5th month mark (shown on the map image I've attached). They've managed to build:

• Whatever work needed to clear the settlement site
• 1 wood-frame mud-brick smithy (smithy+small home)
• 1 large chapel (logs)
• 1 large long home
• 1 log cabin
• 1 two-story (wood frame, mud brick) government building
• 2 long wood-plank buildings (barracks)
• 17 small cottages
• 2 wells
• 2 mud-brick sheds
• 5 vegetable patches
• Partial palisade (1 finished wall, 2 started walls)
• 1 small dock
• 1 canoe

Does that seem unreasonable amount of progress for 5 months' work?

Why this matters

Haven't decided yet if the PCs are on the first or second boat.

If on the first boat, then the PCs will be there as the colony works from nothing. I'd need to know how much advancement the colony is accomplishing monthly.

If the PCs are on the second boat, then they'll be arriving to an empty colony, all those already there having mysteriously disappeared. The reason I am not using the setup from the adventure is this: my setting will have some local inhabitants about a half-day's walk from the settlement, on the other side of a river. I want the PCs to be the first contact with them. It feels unlikely the natives wouldn't have bumped into the foreigners in 5 months, so I want to dial back the progress. I also want minimal exploration/scouting to have been done before the PCs get there, so again, the colonists prioritizing buildings and supplies would cut down on NPCs having ventured out and how far they'd go.

 

[Eltab]

Pick any Midwest US city and find a "History of the City of ____" book. The first chapter or two will give you a reasonable estimate of how much can get done.

 

[Lackofname]

Pick any Midwest US city and find a "History of the City of ____" book. The first chapter or two will give you a reasonable estimate of how much can get done.

I'm asking a message board so I don't need to go to a library.

 

[TheSword]

First month, living in tents, prospecting, hunting, fishing, scouting the land, setting animal traps. Picking suitable sites. Identifying fresh water. Dealing with local threats in the immediate area. Begin felling trees. Temporary corralling of animals and storage of food.

Second month. Building initial living spaces and food storage/animal storage (if animals have been brought with expedition). Potentially build key infrastructure buildings like a smithy that’s would enable the construction of other sites. Planting begins for long term crops.

Third month. Continue living spaces, allowing more comfort once the initial needs of survival a passed. Cottage Industry begins in the home though where necessary longterm bespoke buildings are constructed for necessary industries - slaughterhouse or sawmill for instance.

Fourth month - Begin foundations of major projects, larger buildings or more complicated ones - town hall, temple or mill for instance. Work begins in securing the site - palisades and watch towers.

Fifth month. The foundations of a thriving settlement are finished off. There would be a large public gathering place e.g temple or hall, along with ample housing, the requirements of industry and secure shelter for livestock.

 

[Lackofname]

First month, living in tents, prospecting, hunting, fishing, scouting the land, setting animal traps. Picking suitable sites. Identifying fresh water. Dealing with local threats in the immediate area. Begin felling trees. Temporary corralling of animals and storage of food.

Suitable sites for what?

Also, prospecting? Worrying about finding ore before you've even started building housing seems a bit premature.

The rest looks sensible.

 

[TheSword]

Suitable sites for long term building. Stability of ground, risk of flooding, proximity to water sources, access - navigable river or safe harbor. Access to lumber, access to farmland.

Regarding prospecting sorry maybe it’s a UK translation. By prospecting, I mean searching out local resources and determining appropriate distances between any settlement. This may include ores but also could include slate for building materials, quarryable stone, clay deposits, suitable soil, herdland, lakes for fishing, rivers, forest for lumber etc. There is obviously overlap with finding suitable sites for building.

Scouts and explorers may have made note of what resources are in the area, and potential sites. I would expect settlers would do most of the planning, particularly as they start to spread out. You can’t just plonk a building down anywhere - not unless you’re happy tearing it down and rebuilding six months later when you realize you have to carry everything 3x further than you otherwise would have needed.

 

[aco175]

Quantity or quality?

The romans used to march 20 miles and then build a camp in the barbarian lands each day. I gather it was a pretty impressive fort each night too. I would think that settlers could throw up shacks in a few days and then need to improve them over time. Water and Food sites need to take priority over people shelter to a point and living under a canvas roof for a few months works.

I would most likely put the PCs on the 2nd boat and have a few things ready for them. I would think there are good plot hooks either way, but new people always bring new problems and the 1st settlers can now have old ruins and such to explore. Plus, the PCs need a tavern and other places to spend their money. I'm not sue how much my players would enjoy the primitive aspects of the first settlers.

 

[Lackofname]

Thanks for more details, @TheSword

I'm very likely going to be doing what's on the image. That's a fine enough setup, I'm just dialing the clock backwards to see what would be there at every month.

 

[Lackofname]

Quantity or quality?

The romans used to march 20 miles and then build a camp in the barbarian lands each day. I gather it was a pretty impressive fort each night too. I would think that settlers could throw up shacks in a few days and then need to improve them over time. Water and Food sites need to take priority over people shelter to a point and living under a canvas roof for a few months works.

One needs wood for shacks, and that wood needs to be logged.

I would most likely put the PCs on the 2nd boat and have a few things ready for them. I would think there are good plot hooks either way, but new people always bring new problems and the 1st settlers can now have old ruins and such to explore. Plus, the PCs need a tavern and other places to spend their money. I'm not sue how much my players would enjoy the primitive aspects of the first settlers.

The point of this game is for everything to be primitive. If players won't enjoy that, this is not the campaign for them.

The difference between boat 1 and boat 2 is "will you be living in a tent or a temporary structure".

Hell, look at The Stolen Lands adventure path, which is sending Pcs on a Hexcrawling adventure in the middle of the wilderness, and then just handing them gold and sayin g "Go build a kingdom" once they've explored it. The only "tavern" is a trading post at the far edge of a territory the size of Maine.

This is more or less that, except the kingdom/settlement/bla is being built at the same time as the exploration.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Break down your work force, how many people are doing which job? Are there enough people to do the same job and can teams be formed to work on different projects at the same time. You will have hunters, wood cutters, builders, guards. First month can be very productive, long houses, walls, basic forge, lumber yards. The second and 3rd months would be expansion for additional setters.

The biggest unknown here is magic.