
RayFinkle |

So I haven't consistently gamed since middle school and early high school and that was as a player, not a DM. My brothers and I are getting a group together (now we're all in our mid/late 20s) and we settled on pathfinder and have the core books. I have been selected as the DM because, well, I want to and I'm excited about it.
It's all a bit overwhelming, but I'm studying the rules and information on Golarion. I figure the best way for me to start is to build my own city as sort of a "home base" to make the setting my own while still retaining all the great content already created by Piazo. So, I have a few questions before I set out on this task of city planning.
**1) What would be the "best" place (nation or region specific) to place my city so that it allows the most flexibility and creativity for me and my players? Basically, I wouldn't want a barren wasteland or a crazy unique area like an Arabian style setting, but something more main stream with a solid mix of races/cultures/etc.
2) Where would I find a good source for making sure I include all necessary buildings/services/social structures?
3) Any other information or suggestions for city/setting building.
Thanks so much, I am stoked to be getting back into RPGing and trying my hand at DMing.
**this is the most important question and the reason for this post in the first place.

willibald burrows |

1)I would take an excisting city and maybe change it a bit. Than way paizo has done the heavy lifting for you.
2)In the dungeon master guide is some info on how to create a city.
3) I read somewhere about a fairly recent system free book about bringing a city to live but I can't remember the title. I will look around if I find it, but maybe some other member knows what I'm talking about

shadowmage75 |

I think willibald's right. for your first runs, I would let paizo do your heavy work until you get a feel for the setting. Are you opposed to grabbing a module or three? Perhaps even grab an AP, since that would provide you with solid gameplay for effectively a player character lifetime, to keep everyone rolling (careful, some of the AP's are rather complicated, like Kingmaker). what helps is there's usually a player's companion that syncs up with them, adding detail that's player-centric.

RayFinkle |

My players (I expect there to be 3-4) are all going to be fairly new to the RPG (let alone Pathfinder) game, so I do plan on running them through some modules just to get the ball rolling.
I also DO want to use as much of Paizo's content as possible since I love how fleshed out everything is and I really enjoy having the players feel part of a large, complete world. One concern I have, however, is taking a city already in existence and tweaking it too much. I don't want to disrupt what could already be a vital part of the Paizo-created world by getting too creative with my alterations.
My solution, I figured, would be to make the (hopefully) home base of my group a town of my own creation on the outskirts of one of the three cities in Varisia. I wanted to make it a basic town, but fill it with unique content and characters that I know my players will like (they're all either family or close friends). I didn't think a town would be that monumental of a task, especially since we are a couple of months away from starting. If I am wrong on that then I will look in another direction.
I just figured a small town creation wouldn't be too difficult and would ensure a preservation of all future content that I haven't read and don't know the intricacies of yet.

Humphrey Boggard |

@Ray - As long as you and the players are having fun, you're doing it right. I think DBoyC83 gave a good response to your original post so I'll give a bit more advice on world-building.
One thing you could try to make the world more immersive is to have the PCs put together one line descriptions for NPCs in the starting city (say 5 NPCs each, 3 commoners, 1 expert and 1 aristocrat). Give some small boon to the one that comes up with the best NPC (I would give them a free randomly chosen trait).
A lot of players will keep interested in the NPCs created by the party and will ask about the left handed butcher or the baker who loves playing practical jokes.

Gnomezrule |

I would strongly suggest Northern Andoran, Darkmoon Vale area. There are some great low level adventures set there; Hollow's Last Hope, Crown of the Kobold King, Revenge of the Kobold King and others. There is a guide to Darkmoon Vale that is awesome. The region is different than standard fantasy society politically, great fronteir feel, plagued by werewolves, crazy druids, all sorts of fey and has both great small towns to set in/is remote enough to drop a new small settlement in without much trouble.

RayFinkle |

That's a great idea, HB. I may limit it to only a couple of NPCs to create for each PC, just because I can't see them doing all that work yet and they aren't experienced enough not to create a barkeeper who is somehow a god and is the secret keeper of life, or something.
Is there any place I can go to determine how many commoners, experts and aristocrats I need for an average town? I mostly need to know the nuts and bolts.
My idea (maybe I'll post this separately to get advice on it) is this:
A small town somehow near Riddleport made up of a melting pot of ambitious individuals from most of the nations around the Inner Sea region who came together for the purpose of competing for control over the not-yet-settled frontier of Varisia. Although it is struggling to compete with the main three cities of the Nation, there have been rumors that the leadership will seek to be incorporated with Riddleport if signs of improvement aren't visible soon. Most expect the motives of those seeking to join Riddleport is to wrest power of the city government.
Reasons:
- I can introduce the players to the different nations of the Inner Sea region through those who came to join the efforts of this town.
- Assuming the players will want to settle in a more developed place as a home base, the story will allow me to take the NPCs they know and love into Riddleport (or maybe another city) to maintain some continuity.
Thoughts?

RayFinkle |

I would strongly suggest Northern Andoran, Darkmoon Vale area. There are some great low level adventures set there; Hollow's Last Hope, Crown of the Kobold King, Revenge of the Kobold King and others. There is a guide to Darkmoon Vale that is awesome. The region is different than standard fantasy society politically, great fronteir feel, plagued by werewolves, crazy druids, all sorts of fey and has both great small towns to set in/is remote enough to drop a new small settlement in without much trouble.
Thanks, G. I'll definitely check it out. I'll likely be giving my players a couple of options in terms of setting flavor and something like this would be a good alternative. I think my general idea is flexible enough to drop in anywhere.