Darkenshire - Help me with my town?

[Angelsboi]

ok im creating a town called Darkenshire. Its got a population of like 740. Outside the town are the following landmarks:

Darkenshire Woods
- Hags Hut
- The Gazing Pond
- Lumberjacks Cabin
- Darkenshire's Graveyard

Darkenshire Proper
-Darkenshire (Pop 740)
-The Fishing Hole
-Farmlands
-Road to Arrington (another town for later adventures)
-Church Ruins (formed in a triangle)
-Lovers Lookout (80 ft drop down a cliff into water below)
- A river thats 40 ft below the lands which runs into a waterfall[/i]


Now, what i need help with is, what should be in the town besides shops, houses, taverns, churches, etc. I should tell you know that Darkenshire is patched with fog and mist and yet no one knows why. I guess im trying to figure out how to keep the party around the area of Darkenshire for a while before they go off and explore the world.

And how big should the town be? 1/4th mile? 1/2 Mile? 1 Mile?

Any advice??

 

[Ysgarran]

Why does the town exist? Is it the center of a farming community? Is it a logging town? Is it a boom town of some sort, i.e., gold was discovered nearby?

Answering these kinds of questions will give you a better idea of the distribution of businesses and who lives in the town. It also might give you some idea of the conflicts that might be present.

Do nobles or rich merchants use the town as a retreat or hunting?

Who rules the town?

 

[Angelsboi]

Non Standard Power Center thats LE. mainly a mayor that is being used as a puppet thanks to a man named Syllus McGill who has tons of Bluff and Diplomacy and Sense Motive (Ari 1/Adpt 4). Hes using the mayor to his advantage and will eventually take over the town.

The town is near the Darkenshire Woods and so im assuming that its a logging town. Its also surrounded (the front part b/c the back is at the woods) by some farming land and a river is near it as is a waterfall. So its a logging/farming community.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

Angelsboi,

I strongly suggest checking out the following link:

http://www.io.com/~sjohn/demog.htm

That will help you get a good idea how many blacksmiths and such there should be.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Town's trash pile and dumping area.

An old mine or dwarven ruins.

Post Office - people don't think about this in D&D.

Toll booth or ferry - if on river.

Central market or well.

I would list out a few mineral, plants and animals that could be found in the area. Nothing really major BUT may have an impact later.

Hunting lodges of the rich and powerful.

---

A town of 700+ people I would think would be close together, better protection that way, but would have a few farms away from the center of things (less than 2 hours on foot). Those far farms would be little stockades based on the beast in the area. Inside the town you may only have a few streets, houses and a good size backyard for animals and pens.

Overall size would be 1/4 of a mile from the center of town.

 

[Galfridus]

740 people is a pretty small town. If it is "urban" (buildings tightly clumped together), it's going to be real small, much smaller than a 1/4 mile across. If there is more space between dwellings and other buildings, then 1/4 to 1/2 mile makes more sense.

The best way to keep people in a town is subplots, lots of them. Create profiles for as many NPCs as possible: not stats, just description, history, personality. Create backstory for the town: how was it founded, what has happened there, etc. Throw in conflicts: who rules the town? Are there secret societies, external threats, hidden treasures, or just a dispute over who will marry the prettiest woman in town? When the PCs start discovering these storylines, they will (hopefully) get curious and decide to stick around.

 

[Angelsboi]

ok thanks. i dont need demographics b/c its a fantasy setting and i am not conventional. I just needed some ideas on what should be in the town.

Taverns
Inns
Houses
An orphanage
A mailpost
A dumping ground
3 churches
Mayors House
Town Meeting Hall
Apothacary
Blacksmith
Armorer

...?

There arent many wizards, sorcerrers or rogues to get guilds. There may be one over in Arrington. Their GP Limit is nothing more than 200 gold can be sold.

Ok this setting is a bit Gothic and Dark and uses some Ravenloft Rules. The main secret behind this setting is the fog that dots the land and is spreading out rapidly. You see, there is a group (unknown) who are in the Plane of Shadows and is slowly destroying it. The Fog/Mist is spreading out b/c the Plane of Shadow is sick and needs help.

Sometimes people walk in the fog and get lost. Sometimes they will see a shadow of what they think is a familier landscape and before you know, they have traverrsed into the Plane of Shadow, only to be lost.

A group of adventurers came to the town of Darkenshire and went out to stop the fog. Out of 5 adventures, 2 came back and never spoke of what happened or what they saw. A year later, they couple had a child. A year after that, the father heard a calling and left the mother and child. A year after the father left, the mother mysteriously vanished much like the father. The young girl is now gaining on the age of 13 and resides on the streets when she isnt in the orphanage. But she keeps saying the Darke Man is stalking her. No one has seen this 'darke man' or knows what he is but the little girl is frightened. She is a key NPC in the town (she has stats - 3rd level rogue).

There is also a Lumberjack (i know his secret), a hag (still working on her), the gazing pond and the cemetary in the Darkenshire Woods.

In town, i have the Mayor and his deputy mayor who is using the mayor, the little girl and thats pretty much it.

In the fields i have farmlands, the river and waterfall, Lovers Lookout (im thinking Ghosts, Posessions and a cool story where the PCs begin acting out a terrible tragedy (think I Only Have Eyes For You - Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Season 2 - Episode 18 i beleive)), the Fishing Hole and the church ruins (forming a triangle).

Anything else?

 

[Angelsboi]

how about a sewer system that dumps into the river/waterfall?

 

[Nightfall]

How about, on the outskirts of town, there's a tomb of some unknown hero (they assume it's a hero's tomb), that leads deep into the inner recesses of a vast aqueduct system that also feeds the town's wells. Inside it a well spirit that also has as it's guardians, some vermin host leeches. There's also a colony of slime reavers under the town as well. That help?

Oh aquatic zombies might work too!

 

[Hand of Evil]

Trading post or Sundry Store
Tanner
Stables or horse breeder
Wheel Wright or teamster guild hall - useful if wagon trade is common
Candle maker
County Scribe and land office - it is a poor post but you can hide a villian in it
Cobber
Mill