D&D 5E Help Me Develop a 5e Town

[Piratecat]

If you aren't familiar with Project Multiplexer, Emily's essays about adapting history into 5e D&D are fantastic. I've linked one about diviners here, but I think they're all very smart and very interesting. Worth checking out.

And in that vein, there's a representative of the diviner's guild in town, masquerading as a paper-maker and scribe. Perhaps she acts as a soothsayer now and then, pretending to have the sight, but mostly she's watching for interesting events and changes in power.

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East Gantrick has some religious upheaval at the moment. The corruptly-led church of life believes that the townsfolk have a clear choice in Gods, and it's the choice that won't leave their ill infants suffering due to the lack of a healing spell. They won't treat non-believers other than one day a year, on Lightbringer's Eve, when the mountains light up with fire as a sign of the God's beneficence. (The 30 acolytes out there on the cliffs with torches and light spells don't hurt, of course.) If you're a non-believer who is healed on the holiday, conversion is encouraged.

Other Gods fit in where they can, in smaller or secret temples within private houses. The elvenfolk and woodsmen worship their feral Nature deities (whom other residents gladly propitiate at the beginning of hunts, thank you very much), the local library and sages' guildhall holds weekly services to the God of Knowledge, and the loggers use prayers and offerings to try to bribe the Tempest Gods into raining someplace else. You'll find a shrine or three to the War god in the local barracks, but any shrines to the God of Trickery are burned out by local law. The fact that the law was prompted by a request from the Temple of Light's high priest is almost beside the point.

Warlocks are rare here; by ancient law, one tower on the southern edge of town is open only to those who have made binding pacts. No one who is not a warlock knows what goes on inside, and those who know won't say. Either way, its practitioners are shunned or avoided by townsfolk. A rumor says that East Gantrick falls when the Curling Tower falls, but that was probably made up by a warlock. Can't trust those guys.

 

[Zaruthustran]

I want to go to there.

 

[WayneLigon]

East Gantrick has a hidden Bardic College of Lore, the Truthsayers. Once they were a true secret society, hunted like animals by forces of the Mad King for daring to speak out against his excesses. As time went on and the Mad King fell, the Truthsayers gradually relaxed their rules to the point that they are now more like a somewhat secretive professional association that trades in news and knowledge. The Truthsayers have a reasonably but not impenetrably secure network of people who report any unusual items of interest. They obviously have a keen interest in the local ruins, and in anything adventuring sorts might uncover there. Either directly or through intermediaries, they will attempt to make a reasonable offer on any book, scroll, notebook or such work recovered from the ruins.

Their habit of speaking truth to power certainly does not endear them to the local power structure, so they keep their membership small and don't casually discuss their affairs. They try to keep tabs on the local politics as much as possible, and corrupt officials sometimes find scathing poems or songs circulating about deeds they thought were hidden.

 

[LostSoul]

The town has an Adventurers Guild, and a fair sized temple to the deity of Life, and that's about all the known locations so far.

How does the Guild enforce membership and extract dues from its members?

[sblock=Adventurer's Guild]Perhaps a ban on the sale of arms & armour to non-members; the army and the guard can hang on to theirs, but only within the city or while on orders. (Obviously there'd be tension between the army's leadership and the adventurer's guild.)

Merchants who want protection must hire from the adventurer's guild or go without.

Standard adventuring fare is at a premium unless you are a member. Anyone can buy a rope but it's the ropemaker's duty to ask you what for, and if you're using it to adventure, he will charge extra (or get taxed by the guild).

Dues eat up some of the PC's lifestyle costs. They get access to training, healing, equipment, and knowledge. Maps and monster information are controlled by the guild and only open to journeymen or masters.

Apprenticing in the adventurer's guild is a simple matter of putting up some cash - a fair sum. Since most apprentices start off broke and desperate, the guild puts up a "loan" that allows them to apprentice. Apprentices pay off this loan by turning in almost all of their loot to the guild.

Apprentices fall under the control of a master, who gives them missions and takes their loot when they return. After a few adventures (i.e. when they hit 4th level), they are considered journeymen and can adventure for themselves (don't have to give most of their loot to the guild). Journeymen still must pay dues each month.

Failure to pay dues gets you censored. You must adventure for the guild and give them almost all of your loot until you've paid off your missing dues and any late fees.

When you hit a certain level (10th?) you can become a master and take on apprentices of your own.

The Mad King probably started the guild in order to keep people from attacking his keep.

Obviously there's going to be a lot of tension in the town between this guild, other guilds, and the aristocracy. I see the potential for revolution: the adventurer's guild, the aristocrats/army, and merchants, teamsters, and miners all opposed to each other, each ready to make a move to take control. All they need is a spark.[/sblock]

I think the Mad King settled the town and used its population to feed his mad experiments. (I'd probably go with some kind of cloning and/or immortality project.) When he achieved success he had no need for the city but wanted to be left alone, so he ordered his stronghold sealed. I think he's going through the transformation into some kind of powerful immortal creature.

 

[Piratecat]

If the mad king (or perhaps more likely, his court wizard) conducted experiments, that'd probably explain the Mossburn family of halflings. Triplets every time, right down the family line, and the oldest always dies early. They call it a curse, except the Mossburns have used their large family ties to control most of East Gantrick's guilds at one time or another. Nowadays some guilds won't even let you in the door if you're a Mossburn, and grandma Mossburn knows more gossip and history than anyone else in town.

 

[KarinsDad]

Someone sealed up that stronghold. Sure, wizards were involved, but so were stonemasons and carpenters. The event has echoed down in their guild and family names.

Miners still bring ore and maybe even precious metals out of the mountains, so you'll have assayers, jewelers, trading posts, moneychangers, wagon caravans, and some corrals for horses and other steeds. Without lots of fertile land (and clearing trees - hiya, elves!), they won't be growing their own grain, either. Do they import it? Fruits and vegetables probably come from local gardens.

Oh, and I'd like to think that gnomes handle most of the local livestock, but that's only because I want elite warhogs and battlerams from their pigs and sheep.

You are just too darn good at this stuff. I am SO glad that you do not play at my table, otherwise, nobody else would ever be DM.

 

[Mistwell]

This thread is going swimmingly! Thank you guys so much for all your contributions.

Some further details on the campaign so far:

Recently, some pretty incredible events happened in East Gantrick.

Turns out, that ancient mad-king's skull-fortress is sealed no longer. Some desperate souls out foraging went and checked it out, and finding it open they ventured inside. A few of them managed to come back (fewer than left to begin with) with bags of ancient coins, and stories of monsters and traps and mazes of underground tunnels and rooms.

Word got out pretty fast (which tends to happen when peasants start spending gold like it's going out of style), and some professional adventurers headed out to explore (see below), followed by some amateurs, and then some more amateurs. Some of the professionals came back alive, but most of the amateurs didn't. Those that returned told similar stories of wealth, and danger.

Meanwhile prior to these events a party of powerful (high level) adventurers rescued two brave survivors from a ruined undercity of the Drow and their brutal gladatorial arenas (these two became members of the adventuring party in question for this campaign, joining 4 others). Amongst those powerful adventurers was a follower of the good and righteous deity sometimes known as The Lifegiver.

Setting aside their formerly somewhat wicked ways, the two survivors joined the religion of their rescuer, and turned to the side of the light and the just.

On return from their successful foray into the distant dark-elven deepness, those same powerful adventurers went on to be among the first to explore the depths of the newly discovered Dwimmerdeep (former home of the Mad King). On their homecoming to town, they were appalled to hear that other amateur adventurers had also ventured forth, and met their maker within the stygian depths of the skull-shaped mountain, in their quest for coin and glory.

Concerned that others would follow such an ill-advised path and meet similar fates, the group helped sponsor the founding of the Adventurers Guild.

The new adventuring guild invited interested folks to apply. It's free to join, and only costs 10% of any treasure you recover. Members receive the following benefits:

1) The use of some basic adventuring equipment;

2) Rumors, news, and potentially maps from fellow members;

3) Escort to and from the old fortress mountain;

4) In the event of the death of a member or members, the Guild will send one group to recover your body, returning the basic adventuring equipment back to the Guild (along with the 10% share of treasure), and your remaining possessions to your family/next of kin.

5) Opportunities for the occasional Guild-sponsored mission, which comes with a separate additional payment.

6) For more advanced members, opportunities to buy and sell in the Guild market.

My party signed up at first light, along with a bunch of others. The Guild gave them each a strange necklace, with the symbol of the Guild on it. They were told to never take the necklace off, as it's used to magically find them should you get lost, trapped or ... worse.

It took some months, but the party slowly cleared the dungeons. The dead bodies of some fellow adventurers were found along the way. In addition, they released some prisoners. And finally, they found a number of people turned to stone by several Medusa, turned them back to flesh, and let them go. Some were newly arrived adventurers, and others were ancient ones caught there from the last time the Mad King has been around (an undisclosed number of years ago, loosely believed to be hundreds to a thousand years ago...at some point I will probably have to nail down a number of years). They also consulted with the spirits of some good guardians left behind in the dungeon from ancient days, and that advice (and some physical assistance, like a well of waters that turned people from stone to flesh) helped the adventurers in their victory.

The adventurers eventually killed the Mad King, who had become a lich, along with his minions. The dungeons are relatively cleared, and the party is heading back to town with their loot (some of which is undisclosed at this point, so I can insert some interesting treasure there from the final horde of the Mad King).

What impact will these released adventurers, particularly the ancient ones, have on East Gantrick? Life was different way back when, when these guys were last "alive".

What about the return of other adventurers, both prisoners and those turned to stone?

What about all that loot they brought out of the dungeon?

What about those spirits of good aligned ancient adventurers who helped them in the dungeon, do they move on from there or remain trapped?

What happens to the dungeons now?

Now that the initial purpose of the adventurers guild is fulfilled, where does it go from here?

And what about those necklaces?

 

[Piratecat]

Man, I do not trust those necklaces.

"If you can not see the light with your soul, you should not be permitted to see it with your eyes, either." I feel bad for the corrupt priesthood running the town if ancient released adventurers are descending into town. The church is perfectly situated for a holy cleansing, and I don't mean the kind with soap. One powerful and charismatic orthodox paladin, distraught by the death of everyone they loved and looking for a moral and spiritual anchor, isn't going to take kindly to modern mores and questionable, reformed church practices. I suspect the priests who have transgressed may find out that spiritual corruption is traditionally punished rather harshly.

Meanwhile, quick, set up a toll on the road out! With wealth flowing into town, con-men and merchants will quickly follow. Someone new is going to want a piece of the action.

And thanks, KD. I'm in my element. This is fun.

 

[Zaran]

An Adventurer's Guild makes me think that there are many many adventurers though. That would mean there would need to be more than just one scary keep. Perhaps there is a huge network of caves and dungeons under the keep with many entrances that are constantly getting unearthed. With all these adventures coming into town with loot, it should be rather prosperous. Perhaps it was at one time but more and more adventuring groups are not coming back...

 

[Piratecat]

Zaran, you wouldn't need lots of adventurers... just a steady stream, maybe 3 adventuring groups active at a time, with more recruited as they come into town. The tricky question is "how do you collect from those who don't pay up?"