DMG to include a "starter town".

[A'koss]

From Christopher Perkins' latest blog...

"We're planning to include a fully detailed "starting town" in the 4E DMG. It's a wonderful time-saver for DMs who need a ready-to-play town around which to base a D&D campaign. We tried something similar in the 3rd Edition DMG II with Saltmarsh, and we learned a lot from that experiment. The town we're thinking about for the 4E DMG is even more iconic than Saltmarsh. Can you guess what it is?"

Well it's a pretty safe bet he's talking about Hommlet.

I think it's a good idea for the newer DMs and even as bits to steal for us more experienced ones. So what do you think - Good idea? Bad?

 

[Scribble]

From Christopher Perkins' latest blog...

"We're planning to include a fully detailed "starting town" in the 4E DMG. It's a wonderful time-saver for DMs who need a ready-to-play town around which to base a D&D campaign. We tried something similar in the 3rd Edition DMG II with Saltmarsh, and we learned a lot from that experiment. The town we're thinking about for the 4E DMG is even more iconic than Saltmarsh. Can you guess what it is?"

Well it's a pretty safe bet he's talking about Hommlet.

I think it's a good idea for the newer DMs and even as bits to steal for us more experienced ones. So what do you think - Good idea? Bad?

Maybe the keep on the borderlands.

It would fit in with the who shadowfell adventure.

 

[JoelF]

I think it's a great idea to include, mainly for new DMs. However, I hope they don't devote 30 pages to it like they did in the DMG II. 5 would be pleanty.

 

[hazel monday]

Sounds like a waste of space to me. People who use published campaign settings get their "starter towns" in campaign books. And homebrewers like to... well... homebrew. I know I won't get any use out of that.
DMGs are for tables. From what kind creatures are on the 3rd level of the dungeon, to what kind of "brazen strumpet" you find walking the docks. Skip the training wheels town and give me more tables. Treasure tables, Random Encounter tables, Obscure weather pattern tables that I'll probably never use... awesome. More tables please.

 

[BryonD]

Crap. More hand holding.



I mean, even if you are a new DM, how many times are you going to use the same starting town? And are you going to be a new DM forever? Either you stop needing this thing or it does a piss-poor job of moving you past "new". Either way it is the gift that stops giving real fast.

Can't they just do a separate new DMs guide instead of wasting page count in a book that should be used for many years by a wide range of DMs?

 

[ColonelHardisson]

I really dug Saltmarsh in the DMG2. That said, I'm not all that interested in seeing the main DMG contain a detailed starter village. It'd be cool if they bundled a separate module of the village with the DMG, but I'd rather it was not an actual section of the main DMG.

 

[JeffB]

I'm all for it. New DM or not, it's a great timesaving feature. I'd rather spend my creativity effort for the day working on plots and villians and adventuring sites based in/around the town, not creating the town itself.

I'd like to see The Keep, but I suspect it's Hommlet. Unfortunately the whole rewrite of Hommlet in 3E as a bigger town was very "meh".

 

[HelloChristian]

I like the idea. I'm interested in seeing what mix of races, classes, level and wealth the developers come up with. It should give me a good idea of what a D&d 4e community might look like.

 

[Imp]

Threshoooooold!

This is fine with me – I wouldn't use it or anything, but it's good to have some stuff to help new people, is what I say.

 

[Mouseferatu]

People have to learn the game somewhere, folks. And requiring beginners to buy more than longterm fans is, frankly, just stupid business.

The game should hand-hold beginning DMs. It's how they learn to be experienced DMs. And the DMG--the first DMG--is absolutely the book to do it in.