D&D General What do you expect in a starter village?

[Doc_Klueless]

I feel like The Keep on the Borderlands really hits the quintessential Starter Village mark for me. I literally ran a 3 year long campaign centered around it.

 

[Aldarc]

This is something I've been thinking a lot about lately.

If you run a 1st level group in a starter village to set the tone, what would you expect to find?

In the OSR game Beyond the Wall & Other Adventures, the starter village is created as part of the character creation process. There are steps where the players are asked to place locales, NPCs with built-in hooks, and such into the village. I'm genuinely surprised more games haven't picked this up.

 

[Maxperson]

A plague of wabbits...

A wily coyote and a roadrunner? A tomcat and a mouse?

 

[GuyBoy]

An inn/tavern
A retired adventurer
A small castle or manor house
A church or temple
A sheriff
A romance
A bard or sage
A nearby ruin
A well, often with something down it
Someone who isn’t what they appear to be
An economic raison d’etre
Nearby forest or similar wilderland
An ancient secret
A name for the village, which might have historical resonance

 

[Malmuria]

3 factions, and some sort of criminal activity, as in Saltmarsh

 

[Minigiant]

Old Man Jenkins.

An old timer from at least 3 generations back who knows stuff and probably has permanent SAN damage

 

[THEMNGMNT]

I think James Jacobs at Paizo is just about the best there is at this, and in general I give Paizo high marks. They have a number of notable starter towns and cities.

Take a look at Sandpoint as an example.

For me, the key thing is adventure hooks. Every door you open should provide a new opportunity for adventure. It's not realistic but it makes for great campaigns.

 

[overgeeked]

A reason for the PCs to go there.

A reason for the PCs to want to leave.

A reason for the PCs to choose to stay anyway.

 

[Ancalagon]

More gold than you would expect a village to have.

A bit suspicious, if you think about it.

Yes, and you can easily calculate how much gold that should be

... I'm not kidding :-|

Reasonable rewards

So, a town of 3000 people has a trouble with brigands. They offer a reward... how much should it be? What is reasonable? Can we "figure i...

slugsandsilver.blogspot.com

 

[Zaukrie]

I think James Jacobs at Paizo is just about the best there is at this, and in general I give Paizo high marks. They have a number of notable starter towns and cities.

Take a look at Sandpoint as an example.

For me, the key thing is adventure hooks. Every door you open should provide a new opportunity for adventure. It's not realistic but it makes for great campaigns.

Excellent point on Sandpoint....and Paizo in general.