Cities/Towns in your campaign

[dreaded_beast]

For DMs and PCs:

In your campaign, are cities and towns important?

For instance, if your group is travelling from Waterdeep to complete a mission in Baldur's Gate, do you like to have a detailed description in every town/city along the way (along with interesting tidbits about the locale/adventure hooks/shopping) or do you prefer to just gloss it over until you get to your main destination? Or do you prefer a mix?

 

[diaglo]

is the player planning on staying long?

there are many online quick shops for this.

 

[Shallown]

It depnds on the characters and players. My players usually don't care much or pay much attention to the mundane. So I won't throw a lot of "local color" in unless it is going to be interesting to a specific player. Such as a lonely halfling who hasn't seen another halfling for a while. If for some reason there are halflings a long the way then I throw in some encounter to let the character meet some. (encounter doesn't meana conflict to me). If I have a player interested in merchants and economy then I might throw in some comments to spotlight that. For the most part though my players like to "Travel..travel get there" even if I think one place is highly interesting they probably don't.

The exception being is I tend to have colorful NPC's and I know my players always enjoy a run in with them so if the game is starting to slow down too much (all games slow down at some point) then I throw one one.

If high lighting a place is important to the Gm then go for it. I have learned my lesson's through experience not assumptions. I have over described the trvel and such to see my players bored. Seldom hurts to try and see what the players level of boredom is.

The more important fact is once they take an interest in a place along the way is keep it alive. Make sure things change a little and keep them dynamic. If they meet someone cool in a town then make sure that person's life goes on even when the players are gone. Next time the players come back through have the person missing from where they expect him. He could be home sick or visiting family in the country. Or simple taking a day off fishing and while the players hunt them down be emberrassed tobe caught playing hooky.

I did this to my group recently. The Gnome who ran the wizard college "Store" was gone when they went to talk to him. He had been a long standing NPC and friend to several party members. By the time they worried something had happened to him then simple started asking students until one told them he was home sick with the flu. The players pulled strings to find his home (which they had not been to often hanging out in the shop till late at night) they went over whipped a cure disease on him and restorations cures till he felt better. Here were 15-16th level characters throwing all they had at curing their 4-6th level expert wizard buddy who was just a little under the weather.

Sorry that turned into a longer example than planned. hopefully it gets the point across.

Also as a side note. remember the seasons and such duringtravel. You don't always have to hammer home the weather on a day to day basis but be sure to cover if it is sweltering hot or just a chill in the air due to the season. adds a little detail to the travel.

later

 

[Umbran]

I don't generally give lots of description of things that aren't important at the moment. There's only so many hours of game-time availabe, and I don't want to use them on filler. If the PCs are merely passing through, I don't go into much detail. If they or I plan there to be action, the details may become relevant.

 

[Hand of Evil]

I get a lot of use from AEG's GM Toolbox.

It comes down to location, location, location - My PC travel, they have a home base but then there is the area around they they go to, many times they go to the same towns so I try and have more details than I would for someplace they are passing.

I find the are the common builds:

Inn/tavern
Sundry Goods Store/Trading Post
Stable
Jail​

If you combined all the better.

 

[kolikeos]

unless there is something importent on the way i just gloss it over

 

[eris404]

For DMs and PCs:

In your campaign, are cities and towns important?

For instance, if your group is travelling from Waterdeep to complete a mission in Baldur's Gate, do you like to have a detailed description in every town/city along the way (along with interesting tidbits about the locale/adventure hooks/shopping) or do you prefer to just gloss it over until you get to your main destination? Or do you prefer a mix?

As a player, I enjoy it, though our group tends to overthink most details ("If the DM is describing it, it must be important to our mission!"). I like having short (non-combat) encounters with NPCs, especially if they turn out to be contacts my character can go back to for help, advice, rumors, etc. Our DMs know our group pretty well, though, so they try to gloss over anything that doesn't relate directly to the party's current goal for the sake of brevity and keeping the game moving (did I mention we tend to be a chatty bunch as well?).

However, one DM has set up in his campaign that I like a lot. We have several weeks of downtime in between major adventures to explore the cities and towns around our base city and interact with the locals. Figuring out how to get a crusty old gnome to make a Magelock pistol for my character was a small adventure itself. Very fun.

 

[Crothian]

When they arrive I try to give them a basic feel and destcription. It is short and just enough for them tom get the gist of it. If they stay then the desrbitions get broader and more defined.

 

[RFisher]

For instance, if your group is travelling from Waterdeep to complete a mission in Baldur's Gate, do you like to have a detailed description in every town/city along the way (along with interesting tidbits about the locale/adventure hooks/shopping) or do you prefer to just gloss it over until you get to your main destination? Or do you prefer a mix?

When the PCs go travelling, I--as DM--go into one of two modes:

1. It's the journey, not the destination.
2. It's the destination, not the journey.

In mode one, the journey itself is the adventure. Something interesting is going to happen to them--or have the potential of happening--at every waypoint that I can come up with something.

In mode two, the journey is over in a twinkling & a couple of statements, & its on to the events at the destination.

How do I decide which mode to use? I dunno. It's just a feel thing. I'd guess that I tend to use mode 1 more early in a campaign & mode 2 more as the campaign becomes more established & the reasons for journeys usually become more solid.

Even in mode 2, though, I'll often try to throw in one or two interesting events during the journey.

 

[Arnwyn]

For instance, if your group is travelling from Waterdeep to complete a mission in Baldur's Gate, do you like to have a detailed description in every town/city along the way (along with interesting tidbits about the locale/adventure hooks/shopping) or do you prefer to just gloss it over until you get to your main destination? Or do you prefer a mix?

As a DM, towns/cities are important. It will depend on the players actions, of course, but I want to ensure that the detail is there, and that I can adequately describe what the town is like, and what can be found there.

Detail is important for us - my players never know when it could come in handy in the future and could be the difference between life and death (and, interestingly, your example just came into play recently as the PCs traveled the Trade Way between Waterdeep and Baldur's Gate. Remembering that there was the hamlet of Bowshot (cf. Volo's Guide to the Sword Coast) on the Trade Way near the Misty Forest and what was there saved one of the surviving PCs...).

So, for us, it's detail detail detail.