Excerpt: Fallcrest

[Stalker0]

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.

 

[Andor]

Huh. I had low expectations, but they were happily exceded.

Some of the population numbers have implications for those of us who care.

1. There are more people in town than in the surrounding farms. This means there is some sort of food generating magic at work even if it's off screen crop blessings.

2. 5% of the population is under arms at all times. That is an enourmous number for a farming town. They must have some real problems in that valley.

I really liked the map. It actually looks like a believable map of a town. It's in an appropriate place for a town to have grown up, and the ruins nicely show the previous size and collapse. The castle is realistic, although whoever failed to put a tower over the only access road need a flogging. The town actually looks a bit large for the population, but some of those houses could easily be old ruins.

 

[beej]

Regarding the rogue, I have two words for you:

Class. Template. People keep ignoring that they exist. Sheesh.

 

[FireLance]

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.

Actually, I don't think the NPC gets level bonuses to damage, either.

Dagger +1 probably gets Strength bonus to damage.

Sly Flourish probably gets Dexterity bonus plus Charisma bonus to damage (compare the KotS rogue who has +7 to damage and has Dex 18 and Cha 16).

Dazing Strike probably gets Dexterity bonus to damage.

If anything, the NPC is missing a +1 damage bonus from his +1 dagger.

 

[Jack Colby]

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.

Too bad Fallcrest doesn't seem interesting or realistic. I suppose it serves the purpose of totally generic D&D town for beginners well enough though.

 

[Colmarr]

Too bad Fallcrest doesn't seem interesting or realistic. I suppose it serves the purpose of totally generic D&D town for beginners well enough though.

Hmm. Let's see. Fallcrest:

• Is divided in half by a cliff and a waterfall

• Is overseen by a castle

• Has two quays that require cargo to be carted from one to the other

• Has an opening in it's southern wall filled with woodlands, leaving open the possibility of enemies or wild animals infiltrating the town

All in all I'd say that Fallcrest is far from generic.

 

[Blackeagle]

I'm waiting for whale-road, wound-hoe, sky-candle....

Actually, "whale-road" makes perfect sense if you think about the nautical definition of road as a short form of roadstead (an anchorage such as Hampton Roads or Lahaina Roads).

 

[Korgoth]

Actually, "whale-road" makes perfect sense if you think about the nautical definition of road as a short form of roadstead (an anchorage such as Hampton Roads or Lahaina Roads).

That and it's the sea!

 

[Praeden]

2) The map isn't bad, but the layout of the town's defenses just seems a bit odd to me. With that particular placement of cliffs and rivers, it seems like the entire town should be on the eastern side of the river, north of the cliffs, not just half of the town.

Since we know the town grew up around the keep, it probably started off this way. I imagine that it was trade, not considerations of siege defence, which determined the direction of expansion. If you have handling of boat cargo south of the cliffs, it's not long before you start building houses for labourers, taverns, warehouses, boat repair shops...

 

[Blackbrrd]

The town has some 2500 feet of wall with 14 towers - No way they have enough men to man it in wartime... Half the town isn't protected by any wall at all (the one facing the river). One part of the wall isn't even intact.

The houses are spread out as if realestate is cheap to come by. I wonder if the people that draw maps like this have ever been in a town with a wall? The houses within the wall are crammed together. If they didn't need the space, they would make the area protected by the wall smaller. Building and maintaining a wall is very expensive.

This looks more like somebody has taken a modern american town and built a wall around it, than a medival town.