[Region 1][Map 07][Location 01] Fentor Cross Area

[Redrobes]

Now that makes a lot of sense and does explain a lot.

[jfrazierjr]

If the town came first (think Roman or native settlement followed by church takeover) then I would expect the church outside the city walls. If the town is post church-takover then it would be part of the nucleus of the town like the civic authority area and marketplace.

Your town has a nice square marketplace indicating likely preplanning by external authority but the church isn't in there so the church must be a relatively late thing, right?

I have to agree with Waldronte, though more in a different vein. One of the things that kind of struck me when I looked at the last example was town layout. I would wonder if the town was planned or not or if it just grew. If the former, then everything is probably ok. But if the town grew, then things might be a bit out of whack. For example, if a naturally grown town (especially if the palisades were added after the fact) would have the core buildings along the main road and other things radiating out from there. Things like the smithy, farrier, well (which would be in center of the original town), miller?, and perhaps an Inn would be along the main street and newer buildings would have been built out around that. If the water catcher was one of the original structures, then it to would be fairly centrally located.

If on the otherhand, this was built as a fortified town from the start, then a question is was it originally build this large or have the fortifications been expanded beyond the original borders. If the later case, then the same type of thought process would be needed except the main buildings would be clustered around a central location and new buildings which are not required by a town would sprout up around that as the new walls built.

Of course, this all assumes that this is not a planned settlement where most of the people came in around the same time.

My art skills leave a lot to be desired, but am fairly good at city layout, so I think about these types of things (probably all those teenage years spent playing SimCity.) When I design a city I think about how and why each building is where it is. Likewise, when creating an underground lair/dungeon, I think about each creature I want to put in and design the whole thing to make sense. I had a DM one time that had a 100+ room (3 levels if I recall correctly) dungeon with a Beholder, Drow, an Ogre Mage, undead, and a Mind Flayer. It drove me crazy because those creatures would never be able to live in harmony in that small an area (well except the undead, who would just try to kill anyone that was not their controller). That campaign gave me a lot to think about in terms of what should and what should not be where both in town and dungeon design.

Joe









If on the other

[Redrobes]

I will explain my thinking - not a justification as I didn't think all that hard about it.

The town is mainly a merchants passing so I put in a square because I thought that there would almost certainly have a market place. Around the square would be shops and merchanting utilities - like the "Bars and Keys Bank" marked up but not clear on my last map.

The place would have a garrison on rotation between the forts with a pretty large barracks if only partially manned at any time. So the Wyvern Tower would be there too and the tower would probably be on the edge as it has a platform for archers. The smithy and possibly cartwrights would likely be next to the garrison and military bit.

Tolls, guard houses and the "satch shops" (see wiki) would be near to the exits. I have a lodgings house right next to the northern Thrubview exit with stables.

On the right I have reserved space for general housing and on the left I have more merchant and upmarket housing.

After that I pretty much filled it in as best as I could pack it. So I think I went at it with a mentality of building the town as though it were a new fresh plot.

It gives me an idea that maybe I should have some ruined houses and completely dilapidated houses around the church area not far from this one which could have been the old town before it was moved and militarized. Perhaps the church was substantial enough not to have been attacked and destoryed and that it was too big a job to move it. In D&D there are many deities so I would not imagine that there was one "the church" to have to pay taxes to. I would not imagine that any particular religion would send people out into these lands to collect it or that these places would agree to pay it.

[jfrazierjr]

Tolls, guard houses and the "satch shops" (see wiki) would be near to the exits.

Hmmm.. could not find a definition for "satch shops"....

It gives me an idea that maybe I should have some ruined houses and completely dilapidated houses around the church area not far from this one which could have been the old town before it was moved and militarized. Perhaps the church was substantial enough not to have been attacked and destoryed and that it was too big a job to move it.

Thinking.... Thatch + torches = destroyed village.

[Redrobes]

Hmmm.. could not find a definition for "satch shops"....

A Satch is a pasty which is usually carried about in a satchel. Its in the Wiki under the Thrubmorton Pasty.

Thinking.... Thatch + torches = destroyed village.

Yeah, I thought that was a great idea so I thought that there would not be much left of it now, just some left over rubble after the larger blocks of stone had been taken away to use for the new town. Its grown over a bit now and the road has detoured around the old town.