Help Building a Small Town "NorthRock"

[Holy Stab-Master]

First off, to my players, there is no need to read this section for you shall be meeting these people when we start the game.

I am constructing a small town for a game i will be running shortly and I am looking for a little help on some extra NPC's that i could put in it or even some critiques on some existing ones that i have already.

It is a super small town, no more than 50 people max, that is pretty much in the middle of 2 major cities and it basically has all the base elemental places/services that any group of adventurers would need when they make a pit stop.

NOTE: Spoilers are added to avoid a wall'o text

Mack the Bar Keep:

Spoiler:

Tall Half-Elf with dark brown hair that he keeps very well groomed. He dresses extreemly well for a bar keep and knows a little bit about just about everybody in the town, though he is slightly warry of outsiders who come in and play 20 questions with him.

Jack "Ol' One Eye" the Blacksmith:

Spoiler:

He is a dwarf who is missing his left eye, is bald and has a beard that goes down to his chest. Once a respected adventurer known for many heroic deeds is now a simple blacksmith who makes repairs to various tools that the townsfolk may need a good fixin. When he is out, he wears his rusty chainmail and carrys his sword with him to remind him of the glory days.

Elyza the Baker:

Spoiler:

Lovly young elf woman with golden hair that she keeps wraped up in a pony tail. She dresses modestly and hates to see people go hungry, so she donates whatever surplus she has in her store to the local church knowing that the priestess can make the food keep for years to come. She is always welcoming to new comers and always sees the best in everyone and everything.

Torg the Worker:

Spoiler:

Standing over 6 feet tall and a deep bronze skin tone, Torg the Half-Orc is feared by a good portion of the towns people due to his massive size, muscle mass, and his large tusks. Though his outer apperance is frightening to most people, he is kind at heart and spends his days doing manual labor around town for those who cant do it themself and asks nothing in return except for a place to stay in the farmers barn.

Victor the Hunter:

Spoiler:

Human hunter who considers himself to be the "big man on campus" even though torg dwarfs him by a half a foot. He has short brown hair and wears cloths that show off his muscles. He has a faithfull hound that he brings everywhere with him, including his hunts. If it wasnt for him and his hound, the town wouldnt have any meat besides what they could manage to trade with the traveling adventurers/merchants.

Samuel the Inn Keep:

Spoiler:

He is a human who is understanding that, sometimes, people just dont have the silver to anty up everytime somebody needs a place to sleep. He is willing to make deals with who ever needs a place to sleep with the exchange of a little work in return.

Sorila the Traveling Merchant:

Spoiler:

Shady Halfling who wears dark cloths and has a cart that is not only sound proof, but also has several locks and chains to keep her goods secret to those who might think of stealing from her. She only cares about herself and her money and only comes to NorthRock to take advantage of the good natured people of the town.

Imaya the Architect:

Spoiler:

Standing only two feet tall with purple hair and bright green eyes, this Gnome stands out in NorthRock not only for her looks, but for her vast knoledge and masterfull technique she posseses in her craft. She designed the town from the ground up and works with torg whenever she needs to take on a new project.

[Greg Wasson]

Just observations on a couple of things that stood out to me.

Seems to me, if Jack the Blacksmith is proud of his adventuring days, his armor would be gleaming and not "rusting". Also, rusty mail would seem to negatively advertise his services. If his treasured gear was rusty, how good can his nails and shoes be? Maybe there is a reason no one calls him One Eyed Jack. Perhaps he hates gambling. *shrugs*

Samuel needs a family. A wife and at least three kids to help him with the inn. Maybe his oldest takes care of the stable duties while the wife and younger children tend cleaning and cooking. Samuel of course is busy with maintainence and et al.

For Mack, it would be nice if he actually had his own signature ale, cider, whatever drink. Something that makes his tavern stand out. Oh. and have you a name for this tavern? Or is it just "Mack's? "

Maybe flesh out an appointed watchmen or two if is a frequent stopover between large towns.

Anyway, I like what you have so far. Keep us posted.

Greg

[Mahorfeus]

I agree with Greg about some Watchmen, it's one of the few things you're missing.

Perhaps you can have a guard captain who is extremely wary of outsiders, maybe even to a state of paranoia. The town is extremely small, so it would be understandable for their few defenses to be suspicious of adventurers, even if they do pass through often. If anything bad happens sometime close to when the PCs come in, chances are, he'll have his men track you down and arrest you just to be safe.

[Jajk Ironsgaard]

Haha I had a vision of the old sherif of Nottingham and Nutsy and Trigger from the Cartoon Robin Hood Disney put out low those many years ago as the paranoid Town Guard...

Otherwise I agree with all of the above :) Esp the rusty mail :)

Keep up the good work, love to see more :) and have fun :)

[Benicio Del Espada]

It sounds more interesting than Rockridge!

[Firest]

With this small a population it would be likely that the town is dominated by just a few families, so many of these people would likely be related to each other. You might want to create a clan leader or family head to run the place. It also might be amusing if the town was founded by a retired randy old adventurer and the half-orc, half-elf, and several other townsfolk were his children.

I'm not sure that a town this size would rate a full cleric, unless it was founded around a holy site, otherwise an Adept would seem more appropriate. But it would fit the theme for there to be a crazy old Witch/Oracle nearby. Though if that's to stereotypical for you, I might be fun to make the local Cleric/Witch/Oracle some kind of holy child, or something wilder, like an illusion-using psuedo-dragon with Witch levels.

[GoldenOpal]

I would strongly recommend adding a mayor or town leader of some type with an assistant and a sheriff with a deputy. They or their families’ would probably have some other business to make a living, but it should be something that allows them to live in town, not off on a farm somewhere, and be available when needed.

Other recommendations for ‘less essential’ townsfolk and businesses are Horse Breeder, Tailor , Leatherworker, General Store Owner, Priest, School Teacher and Town Drunk. You could combine or closely relate some of these. For example the general store owner is also the tailor, the leatherworker is the horse breeder’s husband, or the priest could also be the school teacher. The town dunk could be any of the above (they only drink themselves into oblivion during off hours) or they could be the ‘town stray’ with a sad story.

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Just a note: It is a little odd for such a small town to have its own architect, so I would suggest giving her a close relationship with one of the other residents or a secondary function. Maybe she is the ‘diplomat’ that maintains relationships with her counterparts in the two major cities and other small towns/villages nearby.

[Holy Stab-Master]

Thanks to everyone for all the replys. There are lots of good ideas listed that i am going to steal!

Quote:

Seems to me, if Jack the Blacksmith is proud of his adventuring days, his armor would be gleaming and not "rusting".

The reason that he doesnt fix it up is because any rust, chinks, or breaks in his armor and weapons has its own story. He views them as a sort of "trophy"

Quote:

Samuel needs a family. A wife and at least three kids to help him with the inn. Maybe his oldest takes care of the stable duties while the wife and younger children tend cleaning and cooking. Samuel of course is busy with maintainence and et al.

I was going to add in the extra family members and stuff to people when it came time to actually start up the game. For example, I know that Victor has a wife and a child, i just didnt mention that above. I havnt thought to much about anybody elses familys yet though.

Spoiler:

Victor can be abusive at times to his wife and kid

Quote:

For Mack, it would be nice if he actually had his own signature ale, cider, whatever drink. Something that makes his tavern stand out. Oh. and have you a name for this tavern? Or is it just "Mack's? "

I never thought about giving him his own signature ale but it does sound like an interesting idea.

Spoiler:

Would making it slightly more expensive then regular ale for say +1 or 2 on their attacks or some temporary hp for like an hour be a good idea?

Quote:

I'm not sure that a town this size would rate a full cleric, unless it was founded around a holy site, otherwise an Adept would seem more appropriate.

Well calling the leader of the church there a cleric is realy kind of a stretch. I sort of invisioned her more of a 0 level divine caster of sorts. Saying she could cure minor wounds would realy be stretching the limits of her powers.

And once again, thanks for all the advice!

[Goth Guru]

This is one of my homebrew villagers.
You could convert him into an actual mayor easily.
You could cherry pick a few extra characters from the various Cleaves files. There is already a decent sheriff and deputies there.

40. Allister Noble the Magistrate : Male Human Aristocrat 6. S10, D10, C10, I12, W12, CH 15; AL LN; hp 30; The leader of a nearby kingdom or empire was afraid of him staging a coup, so he was ordered to take charge here. This is a village so he isn’t even a Mayor. Running this place is a distraction to him plotting his return to power. He is always delegating things to the town elders, putting bribes into his war chest, and keeping his clients out of jail.

Your Architect works in the two cities, they just don't want to live there. :)

[Goth Guru]

Deals might be useful here too...
64. Deals
Str 11, Dex 15, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 9, Cha 6; Male 'Halfling' merchant hp 6. This guy always wears an overcoat lined with pockets full of 'wears'. He always has a few second hand pistols and horns full of gunpowder.
DM notes: This is a goblin wearing a hat of disguise. He sells stuff for the Dregs tribe that lives in thunder mountain. The Dregs tribe is made up of goblins who survived the destruction of their tribes and moved into an abandoned mine in what is now called Thunder Mountain. They make gunpowder, and steal guns and such from any fool they catch alone in the wilderness.
For simplicity, give each make of powder one game important flaw.
Goblin powder from thunder mountain is loud. After firing the user has 1D4 rounds of deafness.
Colonial powder, was smoky. George Washington had breathing problems due to the irritating gun smoke.
Some powder creates a smoke cloud in a 5X5 area, like fog but persists only 1D4 rounds and only indoors or underground.
Some powder creates a blinding flash.
Choose the flaw or roll once for each source.
1-Loud
2-Irritating smoke
3-Smoke cloud
4-Blinding flash
It can be reformulated for a different flaw, such as smokeless powder which has a flash.