Found Some Great Town Generation Guidelines

I am building a couple new towns in Alidor and a google search for towngen led me to a very well thought out little pdf article called Village and Town Generator By Kory M. Kaese and Allison E. Kaese. It is a two pager “designed to assist the game master or player with creating a medieval village and/or town.”

Making a town for an RPG can be as simple as drawing a map and saying that is the tavern, and that is the inn, and over there, that is the church. But players being players, will ask for something more like “what do people do in this town?” Answering they are peasant farmers gets old. Kory and Allison Kaese have a table for that in their little pdf.

Example table: Authors: Kory and Allison Kaese
TABLE 1.1b Town Primary Occupations
01-10 Cloth Dying *
11-20 Foundry *
21-30 Mining *
31-40 Weavers *
41-50 Outpost
51-60 Stone Cutters (Quarry) *
61-70 Garrison***
71-80 Wine Making*
81-90 Focal Point**
91-100 Mill %
* Note that the natural resources required for the town to create the products of their primary occupation must be close to the town. The villages around the town can supply the raw materials however the source should not be more than one or two days away.
** The town is the focal point of the area. It is the central hub that converts the numerous types of raw materials into different finished goods. Later medieval times saw more villages providing a central
location for trade with other areas
*** The town is based around supporting the local garrison of troops that is serving the area.
% The villages would need a grinding mill to make flour from their grains. A mill operation was very profitable in medieval times. The mill would take payment either in currency, a portion of the flour ground or both.

I like random tables for things like these, because I can’t always imagine why something is there, and sometimes I get brain lock and can not come up with a decent reason for why a town exists. I really like this reference, it is simple and has just enough detail to back up the tables results as you build a your fantasy town.

Here is a link to the pdf: Village and Town Generator By Kory M. Kaese and Allison E. Kaese The home website for this article is Mystic Station Designs

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