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ShortQuests -- individual adventure modules! An all-new collection of digest-sized D&D adventures designed to plug in to your game.

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ExploderWizard" data-source="post: 6237832" data-attributes="member: 66434">When creating a city or any settlement really, think about why it exists in that particular location. Was it built for defense? Is there a natural resource nearby that fuels a particular industry? Communities will generally spring up near good fresh water sources, absent other reasons. In my own campaign, which is set in a borderland freehold, there is only one actual 'town' which is actually more of a glorified village. Across the region, a few miles apart are numerous thorps which are really small, and feature only a town hall and maybe a tiny alehouse in addition to residential dwellings. There are many of these little communities, so I individualized them a bit. There are several which support typical field farms, others are home to herdsmen of cattle or sheep. There is one thorp to the extreme North that has a perpetual stink about it because it is a hog raising community. Another community, built near a large lake keeps flocks of ducks. Other small communities are located near important geographical features such as natural fords in rivers. Aside from purpose or industry, the personalities of important inhabitants can make a community memorable. Village elders and wise women, tavern keepers, and other prominent citizens can make an otherwise drab location memorable. Local lore, customs, holidays, and celebrations can also set a community apart. Having different communities celebrate the region-wide spring festival according to a variety of local customs can assist in making a location stand out. Don't forget local laws too. There are a lot of ridiculous laws still on the books in many communities here in the real world, many of them completely forgotten by even by people living there. Think about the kinds of crazy laws that might exist given the dangers of a typical D&D realm. Imagine a small town that had bad experiences with necromancers. In an old game many years ago, we had a necromancer in our party who had created a zombie out of a slain foe. We encountered some trouble when attempting to bring his servant into town!  It was quite a fun Tombstone spoof: " Hold on there! Yer gonna have to leave that zombie outside town limits." " Why?" " Look. No ones sayin you can't raise a zombie. No ones sayin you can't command a zombie. All we're sayin is that you can't command a zombie IN TOWN" <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /></blockquote>

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