So now that the Game Mastery Guide is out, does anyone have plans to do the community sheets for all the towns and cities in the RotRL campaign? Or is this something they are going to put into the updated Campaign Setting book?
So now that the Game Mastery Guide is out, does anyone have plans to do the community sheets for all the towns and cities in the RotRL campaign? Or is this something they are going to put into the updated Campaign Setting book?
Great idea Del, but I think we're ahead of everyone else.
I plan to work on this a little over the weekend, mainly Sandpoint, Magnimar, Turtleback, and other settlements I plan for the PCs to encounter. Shalest should be fun. :)
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So now that the Game Mastery Guide is out, does anyone have plans to do the community sheets for all the towns and cities in the RotRL campaign? Or is this something they are going to put into the updated Campaign Setting book?Great idea Del, but I think we're ahead of everyone else.
I plan to work on this a little over the weekend, mainly Sandpoint, Magnimar, Turtleback, and other settlements I plan for the PCs to encounter. Shalest should be fun. :)
As an aside, I ran the numbers for converting Sandpoint to a Kingmaker "City". Very conservatively assigning various businesses and buildings, the population ended up being 10x the number from Burnt Offerings.
I've hardly had time to even look at the books the last couple weeks. Did you make any progress on these? I'd be interested in seeing what you've come up with.
Well, they pretty much write themselves, other than selecting the "feat" type things, and even those are pretty obvious. Alas, I've had other things taking priority as well. Will roll around to it eventually.
For the most part yes, they do write themselves, especially the Notable NPCs, Locations, and Groups/Factions, but what about their Modifiers and Marketplace items? Sure I can make an edjucated guess as to what Sandpoint's Corruption, Crime, Economy, and Law, et al, should be. Whatever I came up with would be good for my campaign, but I'm interested in what other people think. What about the designers, what do they feel it should be? Obviously Sandpoint will have a Crime rating of greater than zero, I think, as they specifically point out Jubrayl, but how high would it actually be? Other than pointing him out in the first book he doesn't come up anymore in the AP.
For the most part yes, they do write themselves, especially the Notable NPCs, Locations, and Groups/Factions, but what about their Modifiers and Marketplace items? Sure I can make an edjucated guess as to what Sandpoint's Corruption, Crime, Economy, and Law, et al, should be. Whatever I came up with would be good for my campaign, but I'm interested in what other people think. What about the designers, what do they feel it should be? Obviously Sandpoint will have a Crime rating of greater than zero, I think, as they specifically point out Jubrayl, but how high would it actually be? Other than pointing him out in the first book he doesn't come up anymore in the AP.
The modifiers, IIRC, are generated by the town size, then modified by the various choices you make.
The items can be rolled, according to the table that determines how many expensive magic items of each type are in a settlement... that is in the CRB somewhere.
Basically, there are only a few original selections a GM will have to make to stat up existing towns, and a few more "interpretations".
Why don't we move on to discussing those selections and interpretations here? I don't have my GMG at hand, but Let's start with Sandpoint...
It's not a strategic location, and I don't think the Turandurok Academy qualifies as a prestigious enough school to win the "academic" quality. I do think it is a center of trade (as it was founded by trade families), and it has a landmark that brings interesting people into town (the old light).
Anyone have the GMG on hand and can elaborate on that?
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Ah, see as I said, I didn't know that. I haven't even had a chance to read the rules. I've got my pdf here so let me see. Let's do this.
We already know most of the information for Sandpoint, so we only need to plug the information in. Some items are debatable.
According to the new rules Sandpoint counts as a small town with 201-2,000 people. Which grants Modifiers 0, 2 Qualities, Danger 0, a Base Value of 1,000 gp, a purchase limit of 5,000 gp, and 4th level spell casting. It also gives a magic item base value of 1,000 gp, 3d4 minor items, 1d6 medium items, and 0 major items.
Sandpoint is NG, so +1 Lore and +1 Society.
I'd say their government could count as an autocracy, but could count as a council even though they have a mayor. No modifiers if it counts as an autocracy, +4 Society and -2 Law and Lore if its a council. For my purposes I'll go with autocracy.
For Qualities I'd say Sandpoint has the following, but we'd have to remove one to fit the rules.
* I'd say it counts as a Holy Site with the new multi-denominational temple opening. Corruption -2, and spellcasting increase by 2 levels. The higher spellcasting may be a problem as Sandpoint was originally developed with old community design rules. Either that or we can bump up levels to account for this.
* Strategic Location or Prosperous, both could apply, but I think these are bigger than what Sandpoint is. For my purposes I'll cut these for now, but good future choices. Economy +1, increase base value by 10% or Economy +1; increase base value by 30%; increase purchase limit by 50%
* Tourist Attraction, again the lighthouse and the swallowtail festival make Sandpoint a Tourist attraction. Economy +1, increase base value by 20%
* I don't think the Turandarok Acedemy qualifies for a Academic, perhaps in the future when Sandpoint gets bigger.
I don't think Sandpoint qualifies for any disadvantages as they shouldn't given very often as they are typically really bad things. Reading through the example disadvantages Sandpoint doesn't seem to meet any of them.
This gives us the following.
Sandpoint
NG, Small Town, Danger: 0
Modifiers
Corruption: -2, Crime: 0, Economy: 1, Law: 0, Lore: 1, Society: 1
Qualities
Holy Site
Tourist Attraction
Disadvantages
None
Demographics
Autocracy (Mayor)
Popluation: 1,240 (90% human, 3% halfling, 2% dwarf, 2% elf, 1% half-elf, 1% gnome, 1% half-orc)
Market Place
Base Value: 1,200 gp, Purchase Limit: 5,000 gp, Spell Casting: 6th Level
Minor Items: 3d4, Medium Items, 1d6
The new marketplace numbers really change Sandpoint from what it was. According to these rules, this makes a richer Sandpoint than what it used to be. In Burnt Offerings it lists the following for Sandpoint. Would the base value increases also apply to the magic item base values? It seems to me the way all the items phrase it, that it applies to both normal and magic item base price.
Sandpoint
Small Town conventional (mayor); AL NG
GP Limit 800 gp; Assets 49,600 gp
Population 1,240
Type Isolated (90% human, 3% halfling, 2% dwarf, 2% elf, 1% half-elf, 1% gnome, 1% half-orc)
Basing it on the old purchase limit of 800gp, Sandpoint would be between Thorp and Hamlet size in the GMG.
Hmm, it looks like it is easier than I thought. The quibbles come from what qualities and disadvantages a community has.
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I guess it really depends on how you portray the council vs the mayor as to whose in power, but I would tend to learn towards council vs autocracy.
1. The existence of a Runewell that flares to life from time to time
2. The Late Unpleasantness
3. The later murders of the Skinsaw Man until the party goes after him
4. The Stone Giant assault later on in AP4
I mean really, how much bloodshed can you normally expect in a sleepy seaside town? :)
I thought of that, but in the end I don't feel it applies. Most of those happen after the AP starts, and are ostensibly corrected by the pcs. To truely qualify for the cursed disadvantage, the curse really shouldn't be able to be resolved, at least not easily.
As an example, the Curse disdvantage would apply more to Korvosa with the Crimson Throne curse. That's what qualifies for a curse in my opinion. Just because all these things happen over the course of the AP doesn't make it cursed, at least not in my opinion.
Well, the disadvantages I think are GM tools meant to be applied temporarily so adventurers can fix them. There are several points in the Runelords campaign I would consider applying them, telling the players about it, and letting them see how the town is scared or in chaos.
Anyway, for my part, I would choose "prosperous" and "tourist attraction". The cathedral is nothing special — no relics or holy sites, just a place to worship gods. The Arvensoar in Magnimar counts as a holy site, but not Sandpoint.
Good work, btw. Any thoughts for Magnimar? Turtleback? ... Xin Shalest?
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I cast raise thread.
RAISE THREAD
School conjuration (healing); Level cleric 2, sorcerer/wizard 3
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components S, F/DF (a computer with internet access)
Range touch
Target one inactive internet forum thread
Duration instantaneous
This spell allows the caster to bring one inactive internet forum thread back to active status. On the following round, the caster or someone else may post on the thread normally as if the thread had never fallen into an unused or inactive status without fear of reprisal or retribution from forum users or moderators.
This spell has no affect on locked threads.
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I'm just starting to do my own Settlement Sheet write up for Sandpoint. I agree with prosperous & tourist attraction, though I did consider strategic location due to the deep harbor and all the benefits that that allows.
What about a disadvantage to represent the Scarnetti's influence in the area (burning down other mills and such)? Perhaps something along the lines of:
Stifled Competition: One business or organization is trying to push out the competition to create a monopoly. (Crime +1, decrease base value by 10%)
Edited to include the spoiler-ed disadvantage.
I seem to recall that JJ posted a revised listing for both Sandpoint and Magnimar using the rules from the GMG sometime in the past couple of months, but I couldn't find them after a three-minute search.
I don't have Jade Regent, but I would assume that Sandpoint has an official community write up in Adventure Path #49: The Brinewall Legacy.
As for Magnimar, I know they've announced that a Magnimar Campaign Setting book, to be launched alongside the forthcoming Shattered Star adventure path (and for use with the revised ROTL hardcover.)
--Hal