William drake
First Post
Asmor said:I'm working on fleshing out an area of my campaign setting, because I'm actually going to end up using it soon... New campaign!
Right now, I'm working on a city called Arbok's Rest. It's located at a large oasis in a dangerous, but heavily trafficked, desert. Originally it was just a supply point where caravans could stop and resupply, but it's evolved into a destination in its own right and a bustling trade center.
So I'm looking at coming up with specifics from the advice and guidelines given in the DMG and DMG2. My first instinct was to call it a small city, so I rolled some dice and decided on a population of 8,000 people, and thus an area of about .4 square miles (which I rounded up to half a square mile).
Now, my problem is that while it is centered on an oasis, there just isn't a lot of arable land there to support this population. Of course, the caravans would mitigate this somewhat, but nonetheless this is an unusual city that defies the standards.
Maybe I'm overthinking this, but I'm curious how large you'd think this city should be (going by the definitions on the table on page 137 of the DMG). Large town? Small city? Large city? Something else?
Do some research about how people live in the Desert, and you will find that it doesn't take alot, you just live but alot harsher means then what most people would be willing to live by.
Also, if its simply a "truck stop" then it doesn't matter. Alot of the small villages and tent-towns built along the old silk roads into the east, were only alive because the goods that were being brought in every day. If one cravan was late, or didn't come, that was a big big big deal. Kind of a "living from check to check kind of life style" and that makes for a rough game.
Have fun.
Game ON
