How to Create a DnD Town?
Today, I'll be making an Arcane College town named Garwick.
About Creating Towns in D&D
Towns are probably the most balanced location for Dungeon and Dragons stories. They are not too big like the cities or small as villages, yet towns strike a perfect balance in their scale. I choose Towns over other areas since they don't require as much work and preparation as the cities and give way more content opportunities than the villages. Don't get me wrong small villages are an excellent introductory story device. However, the town might be a place where potentially you can write your whole campaign if you wanted to. Towns are also great since they have enough people and characters in them. Towns tend to be ranging from about a thousand to five thousand people living in them. This kind of Population provides space for the guilds, intrigue plots with the local Town Council, and different types of shops within its borders. But not too much. It might have a tremendous unique shop. However, you'll not find every exotic thing in the town, which encourages adventures. Thus, towns are a perfect sized story device that helps us create thematic places and have great adventures. So let's make a town.
What purpose does the town serve?
Like cities or villages, towns in your games should serve some story or gameplay purpose. The scale of the town serves us in such a way where we can freely explore any story theme. Any theme can fit a town. Not only that, we have enough characters and places to emphasize this theme and portray what it is like to live in such a place. But it also helps us contain the intimacy between the worldbuilding you're creating because of its size. Cities might feel a bit too big, characters - expendable, and you can do bar crawls when it comes to the Inns and Taverns. Meanwhile, the towns provide a more romantic side of our theme that you're trying to explore. In our case of Garwick, maybe the local innkeeper has a story about how he tried to become a mage but failed and had to settle for being an innkeeper, yet he is still trying. This character might give the players an idea that the local town academy is known for its high standards. Perhaps he can indirectly introduce the players to the most important characters to provide a necessary exposition organically to your players.
“For example, "Arcane College" is the central theme, which I want to explore. Let's call this arcane town college - "The Lodge of Arkhanium." The town of Garwick was established after the death of a well-known Wizard, Arkhanius, The Patient, which built his research library in the mountain nearby. After his death, someone transformed the library into an academy for aspiring Wizards. Why is it called Garwick? Maybe the person that gave the order to refurbish the library into the Academy and support it was named Garwick, or perhaps he was the first lord here. It could be anything depending on your lore, but sometimes giving a new name creates more worldbuilding hooks for you and your town.”
Where is the town located?
I want to make it feel like this town is a bit of a cold place. Since college is tough and not many go through the process of it. So let's say that this town stands in the steep mountain hills, where the Academy stands on the top of the mountains. Why is that this Academy is there and not on the hill? "Well, dear Arkhanius was a private and irritable man that valued solitude and quiet surroundings, and the silence of the mountain top can't beat that for him. He also really enjoyed the mountain scenery". Okay, now we know why the Academy stands there. What about the town? "Well, Garwick, the Steadfast had an affinity to magic and enjoyed studying the arcane arts. He was asked to educate more wizards in the realm. Garwick decided to create the town next to the Tower of Arkhanius, which had many precious arcane books collection, and expand the tower into an Academy. The wizard's history would inspire the recruits for Garwicks army because of the war". Okay, so we learned that there was war. What is also precious in a mountainous region during a war? Iron is a good bet, lumber. And if there is war... the town must be fortified rather well from the get-go. So let's put everything together.
"The town stands in a snowy mountainous region where a well-fortified town stands on the hill with wooden houses and smoke coming from the ironworks. On top of the mountain, you see an impressive and tall Wizards tower, the academy buildings hidden from sight in the mountain range."
Who are the most important people in this town?
When thinking about the most important and influential people of your DnD town, always think about what kind of resources the town provides. This approach always gives the right answers to the question. Magic, Iron, and Lumber can serve as a base for why there are different guilds and factions. But let's think about what industries support these crucial resources. Spells need components, iron needs craftsmen, and lumber needs woodworkers. So from this, I sense there is a Magical Guild, a Magic Item/Component seller, Crafters guild, Mining Company(Guild), and Woodworkers. Three to Five guilds is plenty for a town to have to create conflict between them. So there we go, plenty of influential places from which we can make our essential characters. So the next step is to write down a list of these guilds and factions and assign a couple of characters with whom the players will interact.
Who rules over this town?
Since it's a town, it is usually governed by a council and a lord. Since the theme is "Magical Academy" and "It's a cold and harsh place," the town is governed with a cold and ruthless meritocracy where only the competent ones and the essential ones hold seats. This also gives an idea of what kind of local Lord there is. The Lord is probably is a stoic figure with a slight appreciation for magic users. However, he is ruthless, as the nature surrounding the town.
What threats and intrigue this town has?
When it comes to intrigue and threats to the town, think about the most important people in your town. And think maliciously, consider what could stop their plans or their goals. For instance, the Mage Guild wants to research and learn. What could make the research harder? Perhaps the townspeople are wary of their secrecy. Maybe they spread rumors, which would make the guild a bit agitated. Perhaps the miners encountered some old Arkhanius lair filled with captured monsters for research, and this is why the mining operation is at a halt. The workers are scared and refusing to work. There is no local iron from now on. Prices increased, and the craftsmen are on the verge of hunger and strike against the local government because of it. However, these guilds can also exploit the problems of your town.
For example, the newly discovered lair of monsters is an excellent place for ingredients to the Magic Item Shop. Maybe that goes against the Academy's wishes to keep the artifacts for themselves, creating tension between the factions. Perhaps the woodworkers kind of like this terror in town since they are the ones that fortify the lair for gold.
This leads us to one of the most influential Lord who needs to hold on to his power when these incidents happen, and the King orders him to solve the matter, or he will soon not be a lord if he continues on the same path for too long. Maybe this makes the Lord search for a way where he could hold on to his power, searching for a magical/item advantage in the lair and making the King a potential enemy in the future.
Think of the threats and intrigue that touch the most important people in your town, and there is where you will find most of your more significant and minor plot hooks and the story that you want to tell.
How does this town sustain itself?
We talked about the resources the town has. However, the second part of this question could be to ask how the town sustains itself with food or other resources. This question might give you some ideas while answering these follow-up questions regarding new locations, additional minor factions, and characters.
For what reasons is this town known?
We already know a lot about the town of Garwick. Nonetheless, is there other things that this town is known for? It could be some exotic, one of a kind features that you give to the town so that the players visiting it would feel that this place is unique and different from all others. This is when we take everything that we find about the town and give it some balance to the main theme of this town. Maybe the town has a famous winter inn where they serve the dwarven mead. Perhaps the magic shop is renowned for its selection, making it a traveling spot for adventurers. When thinking about the reasons why this town is famous, don't limit yourself to the theme or the already known information. Provide more balance to the theme since having the same thing over and over again can become frustrating and boring for your players. If the theme is "It's a cold, unwelcoming place," maybe have an inn where the innkeeper is all but unwelcoming commenting on this fact. Provide some balance to the town. Also, give some of the unique things to your town, maybe it has a row of statues of famous magicians on the way to the town, perhaps the town is fortified and stands on a vast rock instead of the hills separated by wooden bridges. Don't be afraid to give it some flavor.
What are the interests points of the town?
Now we have everything that we would possibly want from a town, so let's create points of interest, merging all the information into places where the players can visit and receive their plot hooks and activities. Create encounter descriptions, and you're about done with your newly made town. When you have a list of places, try to connect the dots by looking at the list. Maybe some of the NPC's have relationships, history, or intrigue between them. When looking into the dungeons or quests, find some things that could go together and discover new ideas around the main ones. For instance, the lair creatures could have escaped, causing trouble in the woods where the Woodworkers work and live. Just see how you can connect the dots, making a way more exciting and intimate town for your players to explore.
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