Town Buildings List

[Wingshaw]

Green Pilgrim: just look up 'livery companies' on Wikipedia. There's a list of all the guilds of London; they're even in the order of preeminence within the city.

[WillP]

GP:

There should also be:
Miller
Smith
Armorer
Physicians and Herbalists
Cooper
Weaver

Just to name a few more.

[Mark Oliva]

From the Game Master's Guide of our free Dungeons Daring (TM) RPG:

Armor-/Weaponsmith
Assayer
Bakery
Barrelmaker
Boat Builder
Bookbinder
Bookkeeper
Brewery
Butcher
Carpenter
Cartographer
Chandler
Coachman
Coal Dealer
Cobbler
Consulting Mage
Dairy
Distillery
Docks
Feed dealer
Firewood Dealer
Foundry
General Store
Glazier
Goldsmith
Grain Mill
Harbor
Herbal Apothecary
Herbal Witch
Horse Trader
Inn
Jeweler
Kiln
Library (Private)
Mason
Mercenary Company
Money Changer
Painter
Parchment Maker
Professional Healer
Professionals
Public house with rooms
Public house
Raftsman
Rendering (Tallow)
Sage
Sawmill
School
Scribe
Shipbuilder
Slaughterhouse
Smithy
Spinning Mill
Stone Quarry
Tailor/Seamstress
Tannery
Temple with Services
Timber Operation
Tinker
Tinsmith
Toolmaker
Trading Coster
Village, Town or City Hall
Vintner
Wainwright
Warehouse

For more info or to download Dungeons Daring:

http://www.vintyri.org

[Gumboot]

This is a hard list to contribute to without knowing at least the time period. A medieval town is very different to a classical era town, which is very different to a modern town. Medieval towns were pretty small - between about 2,000 and 7,000 people - and functioned primarily as trading markets for the surrounding farming villages which they supported. A typical town would have very little in it - between 2 and 5 tradesmen offering services not available in individual villages, a couple of inns/taverns, and a bunch of merchants.

Of course it's all dependent on context. A larger town on a main route between a couple of cities would have many more inns, while a town near a coast would likely have fishmongers.

[Ninja8370]

Awesome thread! I will be sure to use this. I'm building a Minecraft city in Single-player (just to find out it'll probably be a hamlet with a wall around it XD.) I have hosted a server before, so I could again, if there was someone interested in building a real city on Minecraft. (for those who don't know Minecraft is a 3D gaming system with an extensive community, so the server could get plugins like WorldEdit and WorldPainter to make the building a little easier.) I will definitely use this thread to help me build this town and any in the future

[Green-Pilgrim]

Yup - the thread was created, essentially, to get people to add their own ideas. Since there are so many possible variations of a 'town list', the idea of having LOTS of possible locations (we're up to 3 pages now) is always useful.

Thanks folks and keep 'em coming!

-GP

[Jalyha]

I thought I had my populations all figured out, then I come back here, and I don't have even half of this stuff!

[waldronate]

A critical point of these lists is that not every town will be able to support every one of those industries. Armorers, for example, are highly-specialized tradesfolk that will typically be present in only the largest gatherings of rich people. Those in smaller trade centers will need to travel to find an armorer. Similarly, every village may not have a blacksmith, but there will likely be at least one for every few villages to repair the day-to-day items. Farmers or other fundamental producers are likely to be found in virtually every hamlet.

Central place theory ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_place_theory for a useful overview ) is a useful starting point for helping to determine regional trade patterns; these trade patterns and a good idea of how large/rich your town is can help in understanding what's present in your town. Note that the ideal drawings shown in the above-referenced article assume a uniform landscape with no impediments to travel. Also note that the "distance" referenced is approximately a time-of-travel/energy-of-travel value. Barriers to travel such as large rivers, mountains, deserts, or even hostile local governments (under which oversized flying lizards can be broadly grouped) will all significantly affect the shape of the network; enhancements to travel such as good roads, navigable rivers, and even trade-friendly law enforcement groups will push the network shapes in the other direction. I know that I would much rather (and have) detour down a well-maintained and well-patrolled road than go a shorter distance through more dangerous territory, especially if takes about the same amount of time.

[Jalyha]

A critical point of these lists is that not every town will be able to support every one of those industries. Armorers, for example, are highly-specialized tradesfolk that will typically be present in only the largest gatherings of rich people. Those in smaller trade centers will need to travel to find an armorer. Similarly, every village may not have a blacksmith, but there will likely be at least one for every few villages to repair the day-to-day items. Farmers or other fundamental producers are likely to be found in virtually every hamlet.

Yeah my problem is that I did calculations for how many of each profession there would be, including everything from nobility to beggars to children - and used really precise numbers (within 20) of my total *national* population... and then figured out how many farms/farmers/livestock I would need to support them... and now I realize my calculations are way off because there'd be a lot of these things I missed *somewhere* in my country

So, back to the math-y stuff, I suppose :/

Or maybe I'll just make it pretty and inaccurate...

[David South]

Sorry to necro this old thread, but I realized that everyone who commented was focusing on the 'quality' parts of a city/town, not the parts that aren't as pretty or functional. Such as:

• slums
• ruins
• collapsed buildings
• sewers
• brothels
• drug dens
• sinkholes
• trash pits
• seemingly normal small businesses that are actually fronts for illicit activity
• shantytowns
• areas where the homeless gather
• leper colonies

I guess it shows that I like my fantasy gritty and harsh, with lots of problems and externalities.