TOWN DESIGN: PART 3 - THE INN SHOULD COME LAST

Is this the way out? Faces turn to the windows, but no one dares ask, not out loud. Rain comes down. No, this is not a disentanglement from, but a progressive knotting into---they go in under archways, secret entrances of rotted concrete that only looked like loops of an underpass... - Gravity's Rainbow, pg. 3, Thomas Pynchon

If you're anything like me, when you work up a town/village, the inn/tavern is the first thing you deal w/: innkeeper's name, random NPCs that happen to be there, etc. For the inn/tavern is generally the first place PCs check out, right?

I now realize that going this route will keep deeper development of a town in limbo. An Inn by itself, or w/ two other buildings @ a crossroads is one thing, but when dealing w/ a sizable settlement, that may be a campaign hub, you need to seriously consider fleshing out the rest of the town before focusing on the Inn.

Here's WHY:

I. The more framework you have to your town, the more your random NPCs will make sense & come to life, i.e. their reasons for being in town will become simple to work in.
II. The more framework you have in your town, the more possible intrigues to weave together during play - the knowledge & entry into these divergences can all web into & out of the tavern.
III. The more framework you have to your town, the easier it is to place random townsfolk (see below) into the tavern/inn that arent just generic townsfolk - their purpose in the town will be known & this will help immensely during in-play elaboration.
IV. The more framework you have in your town allows the inn/tavern to be the eye of the storm, versus an unprepared storm for the GM.
V. Lastly, having a solid framework to your town before focusing on the Inn will allow ideas to present themselves that will seem organic to the town, vs. sitting around trying to think of adventure hooks from inn outwards... In other words, again, let the town weave into the inn & then out again...

So let's say you have a basic layout of buildings, you know what goes on in each one (e.g. that building is the miller, that's the blacksmith, those are farms, etc.), you know generally how many people live in each (e.g. there's a widow here w/ one son, in that place are 2 clerics, etc.), you have a few religions that correspond to your alignment rules & you have a basic idea of the hierarchy in town...

In Hommlet, you get the Inn of the Welcome Wench. The first key for the Inn is rather simple. You get the basics: innkeeper's name is Ostler Gundigoot, he has a wife & two daughters. Also living @ the inn is a young stableboy, a groom, a serving wench or two & a pair of potboy apprentices. Stats are only given for the young stableboy (who is a member of the militia) & for Ostler Gundigoot.

The meat of the Inn of the Welcome Wench does not come, however, until the key for the map above. Here we learn how to handle the COMMON ROOM and who is there, as well as those NPCs that are staying in the PRIVATE ROOMS. As you know, the COMMON ROOM of the Inn, & those NPCs that stay in the PRIVATE ROOMS are generally always adventure springboards, so given my spiel above, lets take a look @ what Gygax gives us here (italics are passages straight from T1).

The COMMON ROOM is 1:

How many customers are present there? 4d4 (4-16) & these are travellers of various sorts-merchants, tinkers, and peddlers-and local folk in an even mix. One thing I would also suggest, is for locals, guessing that your buildings are numbered on your town map, using those numbers & the appropriate die/dice to determine what locals (see above) are present @ any given time. In the evening, there will always be more people, so double the number rolled.

What about them NPCs? In addition to the normal patrons, there will be a 50% chance that the NPCs who have chambers above... will be in the common room. Roll for each, once per hour.

NOW, ABOUT THOSE NPCs & their PRIVATE ROOMS:

There are 5 of them, 80%, or 4 of them, have actual objectives to their stay in Hommlet. They have deeper ties to the goings on of Hommlet & nearby, they have motive, they have depth... If & when players encounter these NPCs it will most likely shift the game. These NPCs either have specific places, or folks, that they are searching out, if not a specific mission altogether. Only one of them is a rambler, who appears to possibly roam from town-to-town only aware of his present circumstance.  Generally, they have come knotting into Hommlet.

LAME WRAP-UP:

Where I think it is easy to create unattached NPCs for inns, being what an inn is, a place for those passing through, the bottom line is that if you create your inn first, w/o the rest of the town, it will be next to impossible to create this depth (well, it could be possible if you are a highly dedicated DM, but you understand what I'm getting @). Given the importance of the inn to your game, if you save it for last, just think how those NPC ideas will float w/ ease & how the webs of adventure will form all around. Next time I start a new town, the inn comes last. Perhaps I will post more about it then.

[for other parts of series click "town design" label below]

SATURDAY ADVERTISEMENT

SESSIONS 13, 14, 15 & 16 - HALLOWED BE THY GAME

[all illustrations & captions provided by Leif, Elf Ranger]

Djarel, cleric of Dawnbringer, had to be carried out of the Smoking Leprechaun after drinking half of a green-tinted beer - on their way back to the Spooky, Old Tree the party noticed some strange dirt mounds & investigating, found 4 dead groundhogmen who had some items on them - back @ the tree the party pulled together for a work party & tidied the place up & Djarel started on an altar to Dawnbringer in the spider lair - the heart of the session surrounded the party's experiment w/ the words issued from the expired spider's wounds, about knocking in the hall w/ statues - they made their way to the hall w/ the crawfishmen armor, & sure enough, after tapping one of the statues in the proper fashion, were met by an owl oracle of sorts - a Q&A transpired & the party learned much about what Eric Talbot was up to as well as other various info about the tree & surrounding area - some hallowed hash was smoked by the party back @ Djarel's altar to Dawnbringer - then they capped the night off outside the tree as Amadi did what his book told him to do (do snow angels in grass staring at the moon) - he suddenly felt rather wise, he told others to do it, & they became wiser as well - soon after, the silhouette of zombies was seen on the horizon, headed toward the wise & jolly party...

 "I am not a teacher. I am a teller," said the owl.

In response to the approaching zombies, the party, though mechanically slowed by the effects of the hallowed hash, decided to move to the winding staircase @ the back of the Old, Spooky Tree to gain elevation; w/ the two gnolls in back, the party made it a ways up the stair before engaging w/ the undead. The hallowed hash aided in their fight against the zombies, & some impressive fighting (Amadi w/ some choice knife throws were of note) was seen; however, the gnolls were ultimately destroyed by the nine zombies - finally doing away w/ the last, the party took some time out to bury the gnolls. It was then decided that the party would bed down for the night & in the morning leave for Talbot, & ultimately back into Crackenmore.

 RIP Gnollan & Mellon, 17th of the Hummingbird

So the next morning, 18th day of the Hummingbird, the party, w/ Magus this time, traveled west & south back down to Talbot. One their way, they came across an old, capsized wagon w/ weeds grown all up & around. A good search reveals a large barrel of some liquid, a beer of some sort, still in fine condition if not in better for the aging. The party decides to transport the barrels back to the tree. This takes most of the morning. Heading back, they make it to Talbot in the afternoon & gathering supplies at the General Outfitter, come into a bit of an altercation w/ one, Bronze Cooter, & his sidekick, Nasty Dog. They are told they need to leave town. The party manages to leave Bronze & nasty w/o any fighting. They make their way to the Talbot Curosity shop where they meet Stetling Conian, a quiet type. They buy numerous things, & looking more Hallowed Hash, find none, though they do score a nice stash of Nugs of Nobility. They do however manage to trade one smoke of Amadi's Flying Cloud for what Stetling says is a magic shield. Stetling seems amazed to see anyone w/ the Flying Cloud & tells them that it is an item sought out by many & he will have no trouble selling it, though he doesnt exactly know its benefits/effects. Asking about magic-users in town, Stetling tells the party they may wish to consult w/ Miss Crumbleberry, the fortuneteller, who is just next door. Information from Miss Crumbleberry seems to be a bit slight, though they do learn that a powerful magic-user named Halius lives in the Moorhouse SW of Talbot. Likewise Leif or Djarel's fortune is read (I cant remember which) where Miss C sees them inside a room of a cave where there is a cave entrance far up above them & wearing magic shoes of some sort they jump up to the entrance. Lastly, the party visits the scholar in town, Gondo Kelp, who they find is working on a book, commissioned by Furthermoor City in regard to the Cult of the Black Dog, & the Black Dog phenom in general. Gondo about falls on his face when Djarel presents him w/ the Cult of the Black Dog book found in Crackenmore. Of course Gondo had heard of the volume, though has never been able to find a copy. Djarel allows him to borrow the book for a trade. The party pick up a few books surrounding Illusion, Goblin Religion & one about a God of Healing.

 "you are in a dark place. you see an entryway. high above the ground there is a small passage in the wall near the ceiling. you are wearing air jordans."

Finally, the party retires to the Green Lantern Inn where they rent a room to store their belongings (most importantly the armor Djarel found that he wants to have resized - so far unable to locate an armorer) & the rest of the party stays in the common room.

Upon waking the next day, the 19th of the Hummingbird, the party finally makes their way toward Crackenmore, through the cemetery. After a brief skirmish w/ some strange Wolf Bats, the party rigs the statue & enters down into Crackenmore. This time, Leif notices a secret door in the second pair of alcoves. This corresponds w/ the gnoll's map. Passing through the secret door, the party finds a new section of Crackenmore; however, they also find that the gnoll map still just brings them confusion. When they wrap down around a long hallway they come upon a pack of 6 Kobolds trying to enter a door on a north wall. Surprising the Kobolds, the party has little trouble in dispensing of them, a few running down the corridor further east & disappearing through a door further down the corridor. The party decides to focus on mapping these corridors, leaving smash marks in the obsidian walls w/ a hammer. They decide not to enter any doors. Backtracking, they come upon a solo Kobold who gets a fierce stab into Telal, before the K is killed. Moving on, the party maps a number of hallways wrapping around, finding many doors, a secret door included. Things are going well w/ mapping, until something strange happens. Out front, Leif & Telal turning a passage, toward a door, soon find the floor below them turn into a short slide & they fall 40' below into a cold, cavernous pool. The trap snaps back above them.

"tellel and amadi had just hit the ground. i knew what was coming next. she appeared as a small dot in the distance. suddenly she was upon me. now she lies still."

Soon, they can see the trap open back up, & easing down, on a rope in Magus the Dwarf. As Magus slowly descends, suddenly, those left above smell a horrible stench & then see two large lizard-like creatures turning toward them from back down the corridor - a split decision is made & the rest of the party jumps onto the trap, falling through it, & all into a pile into the cold water. Telal is lucky to make it to the shore w/ his life intact after it had flashed suddenly before his eyes; the fate of Rown, cleric of the Great Church, is still not known, however. At death's door, she needs magical healing. The party regroups on the shore of the pool, now down in a cavern, shivering, wandering what further adventures this return to Crackenmore will bring...

1:20 PM, 19th of the Hummingbird, Crackenmore, Furthermoor

Note to players: feel free to leave comments regarding add'l/more detailed info you learned in game etc. May be a handy place to leave that stuff for future reference if you find yrself ever referring back to these posts

ELVES - PART 1

[this post was started a while back, hence the dated nature of items in the post]

With the recent unveiling of the trailer for The Hobbit, an article in the new Fight On! by Walt Jillson titled "Elves as Green Men" + this thread on the OD&D boards, I knew it was time to figure some elf out.

Though I've never seen the Rankin/Bass production of The Hobbit, I owned the 2 LP boxed set w/ booklet & enjoyed it as a young lad. I still have it & here's a picture of it:

The booklet follows along w/ the LPs & contains illustrations from the film. My first visual knowledge of elves was from this booklet: elves are grey, w/ green eyes; the more civilized elves (like Elrond), have green hair & look more human (what later in post would be regarded as "high elves"). Keep in mind, Rivendell is not located deep in a forest, but fairly close to other civilized lands (following image is from my copy of Tolkien's The Hobbit).

 Click to see Rivendell & Elrond over in the West + note Mirkwood

Elrond in Rivendell

 

"Wood elves", on the other hand, will be those elves found in Mirkwood. They have orange (or white) hair & have a more, well, Yoda-esque quality:

Jillson's article in Fight On! #13 is in regard to elves as Green Men & there is a sketch of the wood elf chieftain from Rankin/Bass (fused w/ a bit of Lord of the Flies?).

Jillson points out how the Rankin/Bass production of The Hobbit uses the "Green Man trope" for the elves of Mirkwood, whereas Tolkien himself never distinguished between elves in his books appearance-wise.

This is totally interesting.

So I decided to follow the trail of elves in D&D. 

First, I looked @ Chainmail, then Men & Magic (OD&D Book 1). There is nothing in either specific to elf "types", differences, or appearances; however, one will note that they are in the same class as Fairies.

Next I looked through Monsters & Treasure (OD&D Book 2) & came upon this:

"Elves: Elves are of two general sorts, those who make their homes in woodlands & those who seek the remote meadowlands."

After that the Greyhawk & Blackmoor supplements (OD&D Supplements I & II), respectively:

"Elves: Elves are five or more feet in height, slim of build, weigh about 120 pounds, have tan to fair skin, & are also of various types (wood, high elves, meadow elves)... wood elves being the darkest."

"...akin to mermen as land elves are to men."

Next up was the AD&D Players Handbook:

"There are many sorts of elves, & descriptions of the differing types are found in AD&D, MONSTER MANUAL. Elven player characters are always considered to be high elves, the most common sort of elf."

NOTE: THE MONSTER MANUAL WAS THE FIRST AD&D BOOK TO BE PUBLISHED IN DEC 1977, HENCE THE REFERENCE ---------------- THE RANKIN/BASS HOBBIT AIRED 2 MONTHS PREV OVER NBC FOR FIRST TIME NOV 1977]

MONSTER MANUAL [it would be interesting to see what a first edition MM has for this entry, but for now, the only edition I have, 4th printing]:

"Elves are slim of build & pale complected. Their hair is dark, & their eyes are green. Their garb is typically pastel & of blue or green or violet (but often covered by a greenish gray cloak)."

The MM then gets into more detail regarding diff. types:

"Aquatic Elf... humanoid in appearance, w/ gill slits on the throat & greenish-silver skin & green or blue-green hair."

"Drow... The drow are said to be as dark as faeries are bright & as evil as the latter are good."

"Grey Elf (Faerie): Grey elves have either silver hair & amber eyes or pale golden hair & violet eyes. The latter sort are generally called faeries. They favor white, yellow, silver, or gold garments. Their cloaks are often deep blue or purple. They live beyond the age of 1,500 years."

"Wood Elf: Their complexions are fair, their hair is yellow to coppery red & their eyes are light brown, light green, or hazel. They wear russets, reds, brown & tans. Their cloaks are usually green or greenish brown. Wood elves have a life span of centuries."

So high elves are grey elves?

Anyway, onto BASIC:

HOLMES [originally published in 1977, I have a later printing of this as well]:

Character section: "Elves -  are five or more feet in height, slim of build, weigh about 120 pounds & have fair to tan skin." Monster section: "Elves generally are of two sorts, wood elves & high elves... They are described in the character section."

Notice that up to this point there has been nothing about pointy ears. In D&D, we dont see that description drop until MOLDVAY:

"Elves are slender, graceful demi-humans w/ delicate features & slightly pointed ears. They are 5 to 5 1/2 feet tall & weigh about 120 pounds... prefer to spend their time feasting & frolicking in wooded glades. They rarely visit the cities of men."

Something to note about Moldvay as well is that this is the first rulebook to have the elf be a class in itself: one experience path, abilities of both a fighter & magic-user entwined.

One can assume that Moldvay's elves are high elves, much like it's stated in the AD&D Player's Handbook how all player character elves are high elves.

But why cant players be wood elves? And if they were, what exactly would be different about them?

[more to come]

DJAREL'S JOURNAL + LEIF'S DRAWING RE: SESSION 13

Djarel's Journal - 17th of the Hummingbird

I don't remember much of my time spent in Avalon. Amadi tells me that I drank some green beer and fell asleep... Before I passed out,  I vaguely remember the smokey elf insulting an mustachioed woman. The offer of the cosmetics book yielded no useful information about the town. Amadi than spoke with the old tavern keep who spoke of the haunted house in Avalon. The old man said that he had heard noises coming from the haunted place and had seen people come and go from there only on seldom occasion. Of those who visited the old house fewer still emerged but of those who did seemed to be burdened with heavy coin-purses which was a boon for the Smoking Leprechaun.

I woke up around 11 AM between the shoulders of the Wild Wizard and the Smokey Elf. They let me know that Avalon does not have a blacksmith and gave me the details of the Haunted House as I have described above. After a short while I regained my footing and I was happy to know that we where heading back towards Crackenmore after we regrouped at the Hollow Tree. Just before arriving at our new refuge the Telal and the Smokey Elf noticed some bodies on the ground up ahead. Upon closer inspection they appeared to be the groundhog men that we had read about in Talbot's journal. Telal helped himself to a small coin purse and a hempen necklace adorned with little sharp teeth. With nothing left to do for the groundhogmen and not wanting to wait for there companions to find us near their bodies we made haste for the Hollow Tree.

Amadi and the Smoking Elf had time to interpret the words which came from the dying eight eye and lead us to the statue chamber with a purpose. Leif wrapped the small statue on ground and then we stood in silence for a moment. Shortly after the Wild wizard Amadi rapped his staff hard upon one of the statues and suddenly an owl spirit appeared in a small alcove near by. After shouting at the owl Leif was eventually able to get it to speak. The spirit knew of Eric Talbot as it had been watching this portion of Hollow Tree since its beginning. Talbot resided here with five companions, and from here they waged their war as crayfishmen against the groundhogmen until one day they all did not return, and curiously enough Talbot himself left without his armor. Soon the spirit became weary and was unable to provide useful answers to our inquires.

 "I am not a teacher. I am a teller," said the owl.

After ending our conversation with the owl spirit, we took on the mindset of turning Hollow Tree into a home and set to work putting the interior in order. I headed to the 8 eye lair and began preparing a holy place for the Dawnbringer while the Smoking Elf repaired the stairway and Telal reset the wrecking ball trap as well as the statue room trap. The altar was made from three large stones that I found within the Hollow tree to form a sort of small bench where upon I burned the body of the 8 eye and the winged needles and Dawnbringer was pleased and blessed my faith with magical knowledge. When there is time I shall add wildflowers, tulips, and skulls to the altar. Later on in the evening, the Wild wizard called us around the fire and there he shared with us a wonderful tome which made us all feel much wiser and now we sit in wonderment and are sharing some of his smoke.

Praise be to the Dawnbringer for this blessed day.

HEALERS

I've been going through a number of early issues of The Dragon and in #3 came upon this new class by C. Hettlestad. I am not certain I wanna keep this as an ongoing class possibility, & honestly, I havent even read through it totally as to the spells etc., but for now, it'd be cool to see one enter the fray. So here it is. Instantly made me think of the following image (would rather have the class be "Doctor" but that happens when you level up).

TOWN DESIGN: PART 2 - PILLARS OF THE COMMUNITY

The village of Hommlet is home to the following occupations: eight farms (one mainly a dairy & one w/ a manor), two herdsman, a woodcutter, leather worker, smithy, weaver, tailor, trader, carter, moneychanger, cabinet maker, potter, brewmaster, miller, wheel & wainwright, carpenter, stone mason, innkeeper, druid & church leaders.

While one can simply use the above info & duplicate this spread while designing their own town building-by-building, here's a Hommlet-esque 3d10 table that will randomly decide what an NPC's occupation is (if your result is a building reroll), or what kind of building/who lives there (unless farmer or herdsman, if you roll a duplicate, reroll (that is, if you dont favor the duplication)):

1. Castle/Keep
2. Ruins
3. Guard Tower
4. Camp of workers
5. Construction site
6. Potter
7. Church
8. Dairy/farmer
9. Miller
10. Wheel & wainwright
11. Carpenter
12. Stone Mason
13. Tailor
14. Farmer
15. Farmer
16. Farm w/ manor
17. Herdsman
18. Druidic site
19.  Brewmaster
20. Cabinet maker
21. Trader
22. Carter
23. Moneychanger
24. Weaver
25. Smith
26. Innkeeper/Inn
27. Village Hall
28. Leather worker
29. Woodcutter
30. Herdsman

Interestingly, the key in T1 that mentions "pillars of the community" is in regard to a family that doesnt seem special in any other way. They tend to be cool toward strangers - suspicious with good cause.

As for the village militia (Hommlet Company), there are approx. 57 of 76 males (75%) in Hommlet that will call-to-arms. Also, it is worth noting that of these 57, 2% are secret spies of the Temple of Elemental Evil. Generally, the 19 that are not part of the militia are either selfish adventuring types, outcasts, religious folk, or just too old. Of one family it is written, These people do not follow any religious persuasion, so they are excluded from most village functions; however, interestingly, the male head of household is a member of the militia. Despite this man's will to fight for the community, this quote displays how religion in Hommlet affects the community at large.

The basic hierarchy of Hommlet goes something like this:

VISCOUNT OF VERBOBONC (nearby noble Lord to the NW) stations BURNE the Magic-user & RUFUS the Fighter in Hommlet to oversee the building of the Castle/Keep there. Burne establishes himself in the community, while Rufus is COMMANDER OF THE VILLAGE TROOPS.

However, as for the true community inner-workings, look to the council of the VILLAGE ELDER. He brings everyone together: DRUID OF THE GROVE, CHIEF CLERIC OF THE CHURCH, CAPTAIN OF THE MILITIA, SERGEANT OF THE MILITIA, BURNE & RUFUS & the "PILLAR OF THE COMMUNITY".

Note: In these posts I am not factoring in the Mercenary camp, or the guards @ the tower. I am concerned w/ those that live in Hommlet b/c it is their home, not b/c they were sent there on a specific mission (that is, except for Burne & Rufus & those that may appear to be part of the community, but have ulterior motives).

So here's an approximation of Hommlet townsfolk per sex:

 Per age group:

Together:

The history of Hommlet is reflected in the make-up of the community. The lack of elders could be due to the hard times surrounding the battle w/ the Temple of Elemental Evil, whereas the abundance of children shows a bit of a baby boom as peace returned to the land.

Trying to reflect history in the community of your own town may seem like way too much work when prepping a town for play, esp. if you're one that finds half-the-fun is letting the game world build itself during play; but with either approach, whether youve yet to run a session in your town, or have run twenty, looking @ the community this way will help the town come to life. It will add instant depth & should serve well as a catalyst in regard to ideas surrounding town adventures.

[for other parts of series click "town design" label below]