#HI!
I was hoping you could help me create a village that my players will start in, for there session 0.
If you are unfamiliar with session 0 the idea is to play a session before the main story begins. Where the players create their characters with backgrounds and ties to the information given, in this case detailed information about the Village of Home.
That i hope you can help me create in great detail.
A session 0 is a powerful tool for a DM to have the players care about things. They no longer save the town to get a reward, they save the town because its their home, with friends and people they care about.
So if you would be so kind, share your great imagination and ideas for this little village. weather it be a npc family, how the village works, what's it labor, whats its location etc etc etc
Guidelines for the town
* Only humans
* Populace 300
* No more then 6 magic wielders.
* The Village is fairly weak in combat prowess.
* Characters start at lvl 3.
##Contributed work## From reddit
NPC's
Wampasully
>Jona Stantler, 57 year old local farmer. Slightly racist, level 2 fighter. Is proficient in Pitchfork.
Jim has had to protect his farm from local monsters (goblins, other demi-humans, whatever you as the DM want) for nearly his entire life. Due to almost all of his experience with other species being centered around violence, he mostly just sees them as inconveniences and threats to his crops.
Constantly protecting his farm has somehow earned him enough combat prowess to be pretty handy in a fight, but he doesn't realize or care about this. Kicking hordes of goblin-ass is just another day in The Village of Home for ol' Jona.
Draivan
>Dagnar Human son of raeger and eulyse fairly typical childhood. Got his first job with his father helping local farmers with odd jobs eventually becoming just a general handyman not specializing in anything.Every night after work him his father and co workers would go out drinking. Dagnar eventually started feeling the pull of the drink and inevitably just working for enough coin for a drink
ilpalazzo64
>Timothy Timson, 17 year old lvl 1 Bard. Timothy followed in his parent's footsteps as an entertainer. He regularly weaves intricate tales to enrapture the townsfolk in the local tavern or town square and the Timson family are always called upon to recount the towns history at local festivals.
However Timothy has a wild streak and what sets him apart from his family is the tiny bit of magic he's managed to pick up from travelers. He uses his magical talents to prank the locals and sometimes add a bit of flair to his performances.
Kitten_of_Death
>Hubert Frugmont, A 46 year-old widower who lost his Inn and family and fortune to a fire which destroyed his Tavern in a regional city. The Tavern was called The Salamander's Redoubt.
With what he had left he started a new life in the Village of Home.
He works at the Village of Home's Tavern [Unnamed] as the barkeeper and is granted a small room in the basement as part of the terms of his employment.
First question:
Why does the village exist where it is? Is a major shipping or warehousing hub? Is there a natural resource nearby that is shipped from there?
What is the point of the village's existence in the world/setting?
How close is it to the 'big' town where your adventure starts? What is the relationship between that big town and your village? Why would the PCs be in the village instead of the town?
And why only humans?
A small village probably has a shrine/temple and a way to purchase healing. Do you also need resurrection services? A bar/tavern. A place where strangers can find sleeping accommodations (sometimes the inn and the tavern are the same place). A place to replenish adventuring gear. A merchant to buy the loot they don't want. Someone who can make/supply better weapons/better armor. Or will all of this happen in the big town? And of course, magic supplies and equipment. And most importantly, where does the beer come from?
Did the adventurers grow up here? Or have they come from other places? If they came from somewhere else, why did they choose this place instead of any others?
Who are all the NPCs who run all these businesses? Relatives of the PCs? Childhood friends? Or, if the PCs aren't from around here, what starting attitudes does each NPC have toward each PC?
Thanks, this are all good questions!
I will refrase my text above a bit to better understand.
What i want is for ppl like you to come up with the answers to question such as this.
I want the community to create everything :)
As for the players, if they have grown up there or just recently arrived will be up to them, once we engage session 0 together :)
Alesander wrote: Thanks! :D This are all very good questions I hope you and others her can contribute with :D Why not just use Sandpoint? Or one of the 3rd party pre-made villages?
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CrystalSeas wrote: Alesander wrote: Thanks! :D This are all very good questions I hope you and others her can contribute with :D Why not just use Sandpoint? Or one of the 3rd party pre-made villages? Well, why not play a module instead of creating a story my self.
Its because its fun to make things, and fun to interact collaborate with others :)
The village has a small militia, they train for 1 week a month. they wield shortspear, handaxe, light wooden shield (with iron band) and leather armour.
Like most village, the militia is composed of local men between the age of 16 to 54, farmers, foresters/lumberjacks shepherds, craftsmens, etc. the vast majority are commoners (1st level), with a few experts (1st level) mixed in the lot. In the best of case, only a handful are Warriors, Fighters, Rangers or Hunters (1st or 2nd level) are ever present (and in 90% of the cases they are Warriors.
They are led by the blacksmith Kerevar. Kerevar is the son of the previous smith and he left town for a few years trying to make it on his own, but came back 15 winters ago, scarred and missing his left eye, picking up where he had left. His adventuring experience made him a natural leader for the militia and he trains them to stand firm against the enemy and to take full advantage of the surrounding.
Militia
XP 65
N Small (60) Human (Commoner 1)
hp: 1
ACR: 1/6
DV: 12
OM: +0
Tactics: Standard, withdraw
Special: None
Speed: 2
Morale: +0
Consumption: 1
Commander: Kerevar (LN Expert (Smith)3/Fighter 3)
Charisma mod: +2
Profession (Soldier): +0
Leadership: +8
Boon: Defensive tactic, Hold the line
The village militia is an old institution,that harken to the early year of the village, when the land was still wild and goblins tribes were known to ply the area. The were trained in shortspear and handaxe, as spears were quick and easy to do and the ax as most men back then had a hatchet close by at all time.
They had numerous attack, raids mostly, by the goblins or brigands, had to deal with winter-staved wolves most winters, but the most significant event was three generations ago, when a group of bugbear led by their Shaman had settled in nearby hills and were raiding around. for several months, close to a year an a half, the villagers were victims of those monsters, until their lair was finally discovers by a shepherd seeking a lost lamb.
Their leader at the time, Jebezor, mobilised the troops and they took the fight to the bugbears. Casulty were high, as the bugbears where stronger and more used to combat, but the villagers eventually preveiled after Jebezor, singlehandedly killed the bugbear shaman, breaking their morale.
I'd say hold off on answering all those questions yourself and ask them to your players. It might help them get more invested in defending home if they come up with some details about it.
Ventnor wrote: I'd say hold off on answering all those questions yourself and ask them to your players. It might help them get more invested in defending home if they come up with some details about it. Yeah that might be true.
But I have a lot of free time and find it fun as a DM to create.
And specially read all the tips, stories community brings to the village.
I think it will be enough for the players to be able to create there own background story based on the information.
I will however allow them to add things also to the village, or change certain things they see fit to better suit there character.
But, yes, the more I allow the players the more they become bonded most likely :)
Andre Roy wrote: The village has a small militia, they train for 1 week a month. they wield shortspear, handaxe, light wooden shield (with iron band) and leather armour.
They are led by the blacksmith Kerevar. Kerevar is the son of the previous smith and he left town for a few years trying to make it on his own, but came back 15 winters ago, scarred and missing his left eye, picking up where he had left. His adventuring experience made him a natural leader for the militia and he trains them to stand firm against the enemy and to take full advantage of the surrounding.
Awesome :) Do you have more specifics for the militia, a story to go on. A past perhaps, Kerevar is awesome but how about his men?
Alesander wrote: Awesome :) Do you have more specifics for the militia, a story to go on. A past perhaps, Kerevar is awesome but how about his men? I've added this small paragraph to my description after the 1st
Quote: Like most village, the militia is composed of local men between the age of 16 to 54, farmers, foresters/lumberjacks shepherds, craftsmens, etc. the vast majority are commoners (1st level), with a few experts (1st level) mixed in the lot. In the best of case, only a handful are Warriors, Fighters, Rangers or Hunters (1st or 2nd level) are ever present (and in 90% of the cases they are Warriors. This was done in keeping with you wanting the village to be weak in combat prowess (small militia for the village size, amd mostly composed of non-combatant).
edit:
The village militia is an old institution,that harken to the early year of the village, when the land was still wild and goblins tribes were known to ply the area. The were trained in shortspear and handaxe, as spears were quick and easy to do and the ax as most men back then had a hatchet close by at all time.
They had numerous attack, raids mostly, by the goblins or brigands, had to deal with winter-staved wolves most winters, but the most significant event was three generations ago, when a group of bugbear led by their Shaman had settled in nearby hills and were raiding around. for several months, close to a year an a half, the villagers were victims of those monsters, until their lair was finally discovers by a shepherd seeking a lost lamb.
Their leader at the time, Jebezor, mobilised the troops and they took the fight to the bugbears. Casulty were high, as the bugbears where stronger and more used to combat, but the villagers eventually preveiled after Jebezor, singlehandedly killed the bugbear shaman, breaking their morale.
The bramblewood lies just to the southwest of the village. The rose river runs through it. The bramblewood is wild and dense, having never been logged. This is not just due to the thick layer of skin ripping bramble thorns that covers the forest floor, but also because of family of were boars that dwells in its interior, and the redcap that haunts the banks of the rose river, who is known to the villagers as Mr. Redpunch.
A secretive group of villagers in Home carry on a dark tradition of giving Mr. Redpunch those elderly villagers that seem unable to care for themselves. These evil villagers delight in watching Mr. Redpunch brutally beat and stomp these elders to death.
The town began as a small camp to service the nearby mine. After many years of profit, the managers grew lazy and began shortcut safety measures. As the time bomb it was, there was eventually an explosion the likes of which has not been seen since. The mine now long forgotten lies deep in the nearby woods, overgrown during the last hundred years but still haunted by the victims of the incident. Recently though a small tribe of kobolds, fleeing a band of adventures, have taken up residence there. Though small in number they have already entrenched themselves deeply and set many viscous traps around the mine's hidden entrance. Not knowing the mine's history, they have just begun digging. Its anyone's guess what was buried in that terrible explosion. The sole remaining manager/owner, an unscrupulous dwarf now in his venerable years, is the only one who is aware of the situation through the last remaining security spells still on the mine. He has decided to allow the kobolds to develop until a chance for profit arises
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