Excerpt: Fallcrest

[Jack Colby]

Maybe you could post one of your towns so we mere lay-people could glimpse the genius required for a non-lame town?

Defensive much?

Besides, I don't have to create or post a "genius" town, I am not getting paid by WotC to write content for a major game release. What you're suggesting is silly... it's the old "you can't criticize something unless you can create it better" argument, which holds no water. Can't someone who's not a cook say their meal doesn't taste very good?

But seriously, this town (so far) seems like they just took generic elements from the many D&D towns of the past and renamed them a bit. No "new" imagination required, just copy the work of others and it's finished. Maybe it will seem better once the rest of it is described, and as I said, it will probably fill the needs of a new DM looking for a simple town to start in. If that's their intent, great. It doesn't sound too inspiring so far though, merely serviceable.

 

[Hussar]

I wasn't going to mention it, but since others already have... yes, I think Falcon Crest when I see the name, too. There's no way I could use this at the gaming table. I'd provoke laughter and wisecracks every time it was said aloud. I guess this really was designed for young people who won't instantly recall that very popular series from the 80's. I can imagine some unaware DM using the name and having his group start making old soap opera jokes, ruining the mood.

And, yes, I think most of the 4E names are overly simplistic and more than a bit silly-sounding, but I will deal. Still excited about the game and the rules. These kinds of things just amuse me, and I kind of wonder about where the minds of the people who make these names up are at. I suspect they don't say any of these names aloud a few times before finalizing them, which is always good practice when dealing with fantasy.

Falcon Crest ended in 1990. That's almost twenty years ago. I'm 35 years old and I barely remember the show. I certainly never watched it. How many here actually did? Popular? I was barely aware it existed, other than I knew it was some sort of Dallas spin off. Certainly anyone under the age of 30 who might have seen it, has only seen it in reruns, if at all. I know that it wasn't getting much air time after it ended in Canada. Or it certainly didn't seem to.

Jeez. Jokes? How many gamers would actually recognize the comparison?

 

[Primal]

I would point out that my home town of 900 people had six churches. A temple needs what, a priest, maybe an acolyte or two and that's pretty much it. Multiple churches in a community is certainly not out of line.

A smaller "church" is usually called a shrine. A temple, to me, implies more than one priest, servants, armsmen and a host of lay worshippers. At least, that's how temples work in FR.

 

[Primal]

If you had bothered to actually read the article you would know that the city suffered a major orc raid 90 years prior and is still trying to recover.

You know, I *did* read that sentence and still the fact escaped my attention. I guess it was due to the pretty bland writing style that kind of dulled my senses or something -- or my disappointment at the fact that it was Rich Baker who wrote this, and I expected a lot more from him?

 

[weem]

I might have to borrow your map for a campaign in which the pc's have a chance to save Fallcrest from devastation and use the default map if they fail.

Cool

 

[Nikodemus]

A smaller "church" is usually called a shrine. A temple, to me, implies more than one priest, servants, armsmen and a host of lay worshippers. At least, that's how temples work in FR.

Most of the medieval cities for which I have seen demographics have roughly one church for each 200-300 people. One would assume that the number of religious structures would only increase in a polytheistic society.

 

[Spatula]

Whether or not Fallcrest has that flow, and if it can trade for food is up to the GM. As written the fluff seems to imply there is a lack of trade currently.

Fluff says, "Fallcrest imports finished goods from the larger cities downriver and ironwork from the dwarf town of Hammerfast, and exports timber, leather, fruit, and grain. It also trades with the nearby town of Winterhaven." Which doesn't mention importing food (in fact, it's exporting it), but does seem the town enjoys some healthy trade.

 

[Irda Ranger]

Fluff says, "Fallcrest imports finished goods from the larger cities downriver and ironwork from the dwarf town of Hammerfast, and exports timber, leather, fruit, and grain. It also trades with the nearby town of Winterhaven." Which doesn't mention importing food (in fact, it's exporting it), but does seem the town enjoys some healthy trade.

The fact that it exports fruit and grain only make the rural/urban population ratios that much worse. You have to assume that Fallcrest is agriculturally supporting even more townspeople in the towns it trades with for finished goods and ironwork.

Maybe the article on Rituals will clear this up.

But somewhat seriously, the sage in Winterhaven is said to have access to a few 1st and 2nd level Rituals, and we must assume that the priests in these Temples do too. A few simple spells like Detect Early Frost, Protection From Blight or Plant Growth would boost agricultural productivity quite a bit. Maybe the local alchemist knows how to make killer fertilizer using firebeetle dung and a few Dryad tears. Who knows?

Here's a post I made on the topic a while ago: (link)

My old post doesn't address the question directly though of how many farmers it takes to feed a given population. Frankly I don't care too much, as long as the campaign does not appear absurd on its face even to my non-caring players, but the answer to the question of "How many farmers?" also depends on a lot of factors. D&D farms don't have John Deer tractors, but maybe they have some domesticated Kruthik with a Burrow 4 movement rate that can plow a field in an afternoon. Of course, "plow" would be the wrong verb then ....

 

[Vempyre]

The fact that it exports fruit and grain only make the rural/urban population ratios that much worse.

No everage player will ever care about that, or even wonder about it. Only zealous world builders will do that and we all know that 4E isn't about that, it's about having a fun action game to play. Why should anybody care if in their game's favorite town their is less farmers than a real world equivalent town? DnD isn't about farming, it's about heroic deeds and kickin dragon butts.

 

[Hussar]

A smaller "church" is usually called a shrine. A temple, to me, implies more than one priest, servants, armsmen and a host of lay worshippers. At least, that's how temples work in FR.

Depends on what you mean by a shrine really. Are you talking about a simple location with a symbolic meaning, or do you mean an actual working place. Note, that shrine can easily mean temple (the only real difference is one is Buddhist and one is Shinto). Or, at least that's how it works in Japan.

And, no, that's not how temples work in FR. That's how major temples in FR work. But, small temples in small areas don't have all that.

I guess the problem is, the word temple simply refers to any building where a diety is worshipped. It could be a large structure or a small one.