Bottom Up World Creation Part 4

Generating Towns
First, a town sits on roughly the same amount of land as a village in terms of political land for use and wild lands found within its domain. Use the Size of Village table from before(found here). You also make the determination of what land is usable based on the same criteria as for a village .

While the population index remains the same, the factor changes. In addition to the changed Population Factor, there’s one more stat you need to worry about. The Trade Index. The trade index is in effect, a measure of the trade that occurs in a town.

2d6	Trade Index	Population Index(Factor)
2	07.00	0.5 Wilderness(35)
3	08.00	0.6 Wilderness(34)
4	09.00	0.7 Wilderness(33)
5	10.00	0.8 Rural(32)
6	11.00	0.9 Rural(31)
7	12.00	1.0 Rural(30)
8	13.00	1.1 Rural(29)
9	14.00	1.2 Urban(28)
10	15.00	1.3 Urban(27)
11	16.00	1.4 Urban(26)
12	17.00	1.5 Urban(25)

Modify the Trade index using the following modifiers.

• Well Maintained Roads +0.05
• No Roads -1.00
• Ocean Port: +1.00
• Major River Port: +0.10
• Taxation Level: Non-existant +0.10, Light +0.05, Average: +0.00, Heavy: -0.05, Severe: -0.10
  
• Local Alignment: Chaotic: -0.10, Lawful: +0.05
• Local Situation:Every year of War: -0.10; Every year of major bandit activity: -0.05
  

Using the following formula, you are then able to determine the number of households in your town.

(Total Usable Acres/Population Factor) x Land Quality Index x Trade Index = Total number of Households(round down)

Bottom Up World Creation, Part 3

Populating the Settlement
Most settlements are going to have a church of some variety. Each household gives a 5% chance to have a priest and a shrine. Anything over 100% gives a chance of a church instead of a shrine. Anything over 200% gives a chance of a Temple or Cathedral. If there are conflicting religions, determine which religion is dominant. Use the normal percentages for the dominant religion for their churches. For the minor religion, it depends on how the dominant religion gets along with it. If the religions are friendly towards one another, multiply the base percentage by 0.75. If the Dominant religion is neutral towards the minor religion, multiply the percentage for the minor church by 0.5. If it's hostile, multiply by 0.25 instead. If the minor religion is illegal, the multiplier is 0.1.

Populating Steadings
Unlike villages, steadings offer a greater opportunity for strangeness, as such, a DM may choose to roll on the following chart when populating a Steading

1d00	Result	Description
01-70	Homesteader	Roll on households as normal to determine populations.
71-85	Religious Commune	Either a Monastary/Abbey, Druid Circle, or Cult Compound, depending on the nature of the campaign. Roll 2d4 instead of 1d6 to determine population. Young Adults and younger are either orphans, prisoners, or acolytes in training. Generally found on the outskirts of another settlement.
86-93	Hermit/Survivor	Either a ranger, druid, or just someone else looking to stay away from others. Alternately this steading may hold the sole survivor of some sort of invasion or other disaster. Population: 1
94-98	Monster	Some monsters live by pretending to be something they’re not. Lycanthropes, Hags, or even a polymorphed dragon may find it easier to pose as freemen living on their own.
99-00	Wizard	Well, a wizard needs to build a tower somewhere, right? Roll on households as normal, results over 1 indicating the wizard’s family or apprentices and other servants.

Populating the Household
To determine the population of a household, roll 1d6 for basic population. Roll on the following chart for the modifier to the roll. If you roll a 6 on your basic population roll, roll again on the chart to determine how many extra people live there.

Roll	Base Die Modifier	Extra on a max roll
1	-1	+1d6-1
2	+0	+1d6-1
3	+1	+1d6-1
4	+1	+1d6
5	+1	+1d6
6	+2	+1d6+1

This population determines the total number of persons living in the household, including dependents such as infants and those too old to work. If you're looking for a quicker means of generating population, perhaps because you're just after an idea of your population averages for multiple settlements, just assume 5 people per household. A result of 0 on the table indicates that the buildings for a household exist, but no people live there.

Yes, But who are these people?
For determining who exactly lives in the household, you may roll on the following chart. Keep rolling until every person is accounted for.

1d100	Result	Qty	Age	Profession%	Class%
01-04	Venerable	1d3-1	89+2d20 years	10%/50%	5%
05-12	Old	1d3-1	60 +1d20/1d10**	10%/60%	3%
13-32	Middle Age	1d3-1	40 + 1d20 years	10%/60%	2%
33-60	Adult	1d3-1	15+ 1d20/1d10**	10%/75%	1%
61-80	Young Adult	1d3-1	12+1d3 years	5%/50%	NA
81-92	Child	1d3-1	2+1d0 years	NA	NA
93-00	Very Young	1d3-1	1d3-1 years*	NA	NA

* = On a roll of 0, roll 1d(# of months in year)-1 instead. If that roll indicates a 0, do the same but for weeks, etc.

** = First roll 1d3. If the result is 1-2, roll the 1d20 as is. If the result is a 3, roll the 1d20 + 1d10.

Profession%: This is the chance that the individual is a member of a non-agriculture related profession. The Number before the / indicates those living on steadings or in villages, while the number after the / indicates those who live in towns or cities.
Class%: This is the chance that the individual has at least 1 level in a class.

More to come!

Bottom Up World Creation, Part 2

The Size of Villages
This generates the size of the political division of the village's lands which includes the fields, woodlands, and other less-than-arable-lands that the village may claim for itself. While this was initially used to develop manorial villages, it will function for most types of agrarian settlements. Larger settlements may be generated, but they would likely be quite rare.

Table 1.a: The Size of the Village

1d000	Size of Village
001 - 071	Roll on Table 1.b Small Villages
072 - 214	1,200 + 1d00 acres
215 - 357	1,300 + 1d00 acres
358 - 500	1,400 + 1d00 acres
501 - 643	1,500 + 1d00 acres
644 - 786	1,600 + 1d00 acres
787 - 929	1,700 + 1d00 acres
930 - 000	Roll on Table 1.c Large Villages

Table 1.b: Small Villages

1d000	Size of Village
001 – 015	116 + 4d20 acres
016 – 045	200 + 1d00 acres
046 – 090	300 + 1d00 acres
091 – 150	400 + 1d00 acres
151 – 225	500 + 1d00 acres
226 – 315	600 + 1d00 acres
316 – 421	700 + 1d00 acres
422 – 542	800 + 1d00 acres
543 – 678	900 + 1d00 acres
679 – 829	1,000 + 1d00 acres
830 – 000	1,100 + 1d00 acres

Table 1.c: Large Villages

1d000	Size of Village
001 – 145	1,798 + 2d00 acres
146 – 235	1,998 + 2d00 acres
236 – 320	2,198 + 2d00 acres
321 – 400	2,398 + 2d00 acres
401 – 475	2,598 + 2d00 acres
476 – 545	2,798 + 2d00 acres
546 – 610	2,998 + 2d00 acres
611 – 670	3,198 + 2d00 acres
671 – 725	3,398 + 2d00 acres
726 – 775	3,598 + 2d00 acres
776 – 820	3,798 + 2d00 acres
821 – 860	3,998 + 2d00 acres
861 – 895	4,198 + 2d00 acres
896 – 925	4,398 + 2d00 acres
926 – 950	4,598 + 2d00 acres
951 – 970	4,798 + 2d00 acres
971 – 985	4,998 + 2d00 acres
986 – 995	5,198 + 2d00 acres
996 – 000	5,398 + 2d00 acres

The Size of Steadings
Steadings tend to be small. While larger Steadings could exist, such places tend to be the starts of villages. Anything smaller than this though and you're more into hunter/gatherer territory than any sort of true settlement. Unlike the village generation method, these acres are entirely those that are built upon, planted, or used as pasture.

Table 2. The Size of Steadings

1d00	Size of Steading
01-40	1d6 x5 acres
41-70	2d6 x5 acres
71-90	3d6 x5 acres
91-00	4d6 x5 acres

Hides and Households
Now that you've determined the Physical size of your settlement, you'll want to know how many households and how many hides of land are present. To do this, the first thing you must do is figure out how much land is actually used and how much is allowed to remain "wild". This is already done for steadings, but villages require an additional process.

The first thing you'll need to determine is what the basic terrain and climate band types are. You should know based on your map, but there are also random generators presented in the 1st edition DMG, World Builder's Guidebook, as well as the spiffy random map generator Hexographer. To determine how much of the land is used you first find the least favorable % based on the terrain:

Grassland, Coastal: 75%
Light Forest: 65%
Medium Forest, Hills: 55%
Heavy Forest: 45%
Swamp, Desert: 35%
Mountain: 25%
High Mountain: 15%

You then modify percentage as follows:

Super-Arctic: -30%
Arctic: -20%
Subarctic: -10%
Temperate: +0%
Subtropical: +10%
Tropical: -10%
Super-Tropical: -20%

You then multiply the result by the Land Quality and Population Density Index. If you haven't decided on how dense the local population should be or how good the soil is, then the following table is presented. Please note, the descriptors in the Population Density Index Column do not mean the same thing as normal. an Urban village is one that is in a relatively well settled area within a close proximity to a town or city. A rural density is one where the area is less developed, with no nearby towns or cities, and wilderness means it tends to be on the border somewhat.

Table 3: Land Quality and Population Density

2d6	Land Quality Index	Population Density Index(Factor)
2	0.75 Barren	0.5 Wilderness (45)
3	0.80 Poor	0.6 Wilderness (44)
4	0.85 Poor	0.7 Wilderness (43)
5	0.90 Poor	0.8 Rural (42)
6	0.95 Average	0.9 Rural (41)
7	1.00 Average	1.0 Rural (40)
8	1.05 Average	1.1 Rural (39)
9	1.10 Good	1.2 Rural (38)
10	1.15 Good	1.3 Urban (37)
11	1.20 Good	1.4 Urban (36)
12	1.25 Fertile	1.5 Urban (35)

The resulting % should be lowered or raised to be within the 5% to 85% range. Roll a 1d10 for additional variation, and the result is how many acres are used for agriculture or dwellings by the local populace.

Using the numbers generated above, you may then determine number of households. Use the following formula For BOTH Steadings and Villages:
(Total Used Acres / Population Factor) x Land Quality Index = Total number of households(round down)

To determine the number of Hides, remove total used acres, and replace with the total acres rolled for the village.

More parts to come!

Bottom up world creation, part 1

The next few posts on this blog will be about creating a game world from the smallest units, namely villages and steadings. It is probably best to start with a few definitions so we’re all on the same page. This will likely only be of interest to people who are modeling their cultures on NW Europe during the a rather broad section of the middle ages(900 AD to 1300 AD)

Types of Divisions

• Hide: A hide is a section of land capable of supporting one household. The size of a hide varies, because the hide is not a measurement of area, but a measurement of assessment, and will be discussed further in the articles on economics and taxation.
• Household: A household is a family, usually 2 adults and any associated dependents. Dependents include ancestors of the 2 adults, siblings, the families of siblings, and children. The key here is that everyone is living in the same space, using the same utilities, and working together for the survival of the household as a group.
• Acre: This corresponds to the modern unit of measurement.
• Bushel/stack: The basic measurements of agrarian production.
  

Types of Settlements

• Steading: A steading is usually only a single household, but sometimes it’s actually a handful of households clustered together. A steading is usually not self sufficient in terms of food production and requires the people living there to either trade, raid, or hunt/fish in areas beyond the steading.
• Village: A village is like some steadings in that it’s a number of households clustered together. The major difference between steadings and villages is that the village has more households, resulting in greater self sufficiency. Villages are the basic unit of feudal societies and are almost always agrarian in nature.
• Town: A town in D&D is generally defined as any settlement with between 1,000 and 10,000 people. A town in a historical sense(and that which will be used here) is actually defined by economic character instead. A town is thus a settlement in which the majority of the population will derive their living from industry, trade, or service as opposed to agrarian pursuits. We will be using the historical definition, with a population between 1,000 and 8,000
  
• City: In traditional D&D, a city is usually defined as having a population of more than 10,000 people. The historical definition is mostly synonymous with a town, except that a city usually had a royal charter and a Cathedral. For the purposes of these articles, we’ll instead use the Medieval Demographics Made easy definition of more than 8,000 people.

Types of Climate

• Super-Arctic: This climate is not found in a traditional earth-like world. It represents places generally too cold to support human life for extended periods of time without the aid of magic.
• Arctic: This climate is generally found at extreme northern or southern latitudes, or on glaciers in most earthlike worlds. It is possible to survive in these areas, but generally organized crop based agriculture is impossible without magical aid as the ground is usually to cold to support most known types of crops. Generally this band only has 2 seasons; winter and summer.
• Subarctic: This is the first climate band warm enough to support normal organized crop based agriculture. Winters tend to be long and summers short. Spring and Autumn tend to be shorter still.
• Temperate: This is the climate band most players are familiar with. It has 4, relatively equal length seasons
• Subtropical: This band is ideal for the growing of crops. It will tend to have either long growing seasons and mild winters, or possibly even 2 growing seasons in a single year.
• Tropical: Tropical climate bands tend to have a dry season and a wet season, neither of which are particularly great for the growing of crops, but it’s still possible.
• Super-Tropical: Like Super-Arctic, Super-Tropical generally doesn’t exist in Earth-like worlds and humans(as they appear on earth) generally can’t survive in them long term without some form of magical help or adaptations. Much of the Dark Sun Campaign Setting is probably the best example of a Super-Tropical climate.

Types of Terrain

• Grassland: Grassland tends to be any relatively flat(or very gently rolling hills) in which shrubs and grasses grow. This also refers to areas in which crop or pasture based agriculture is maintained. Also known as perpetual meadow and agricultural meadow.
  
• Light Forest: This consists of forest which have been previously cleared, and are starting to regrow. Trees tend to grow in bunches amid thickets, and are easily cleared. Also known as transitional meadow.
  
• Medium Forest: This type of forest is characterized by heavy undergrowth. Like Light forest, it's a result of deforestation(natural or intentional). Also known as Secondary Growth Forest.
  
• Heavy Forest: Heavy Forest is land in which meadows are either small or incredibly infrequent. Heavy forest consists mostly of Old Growth Forest.
  
• Hills: In the context of this series of articles, hills are considered to be steeper than the rolling hills, prairies, and traditional farmland of grassland terrain.
  
• Coastal areas consist of any area in which a settlement sits on the shores of a body of water that gives the settlement access to trade and/or supports a large enough population of water-dwelling life to support the settlement.
• Mountain: This type of terrain is steeper and generally more rocky than that found in Hill terrain. It represents smaller mountains and areas of larger mountains below the tree line. large scale crop farming is generally(but not always) impossible in these areas without the use of terraces.
  
• High Mountain: This terrain represents the parts of mountains above the tree line. large scale crop farming is almost always impossible without the aid of terraces.
  
• Desert: This type of terrain is characterized by a lack of precipitation. Large settlements are nearly impossible unless found near sizable sources of water.
  
• Wetland: This type of terrain consists of Bogs, Fens, Marshes, Swamps, etc. The ground tends to be submerged in water requiring the people living there to either perform major acts of engineering or turn to other forms of crops/subsistence.
  

Types of Soil Quality

• Barren: This consists of area with no soil at all(areas of stone), or soil that can't support any but the very hardiest of plant life. This makes farming almost impossible. This includes areas that have been salted or have been completely leeched of nutrients.
  
• Poor: Poor soil can be rocky, mostly clay, or the result of slash and burn farming techniques, or those areas that have been farmed for long periods and the use of crop rotation and knowledge of fertilizers.
  
• Average: Average soil is exactly that, average. The farming techniques used here generally include at least 2 field crop rotation or perhaps basic composting usage.
  
• Good: Good soil is generally the result of skilled farming techniques(or technology) over many generations on average land or the result of average or poor techniques in areas that were once fertile.
  
• Fertile: This is very rich land, the result of yearly flooding(like on the nile), volcanic soil, or some means of magical boosting of soil quality.
  

Next time: Size of steadings and villages.

Arcane Research

Given that the economies and cultures vary too widely between campaign settings, I'm leaving specific costs out this post. Ultimately it should be roughly the same as the costs for hiring a sage or undertaking spell research.

Materials needed by the character:

• Library: Anyone wishing to undertake arcane research is going to need at least a handful of writings on the subject(or a similar subject if he is pioneering a new field of study)
  
• Laboratory: Sometimes research requires experimentation. A fully stocked lab may be required in such cases(up to the DM)

Types of Research

• Insight: This kind of research gives the character experience, but little else(unless the DM wishes to throw in some adventure hooks)
• Recipe: This kind of research has the ability to yield fragments of a recipe required to make magic items.
• Spell Research: This is the standard spell research present in the DMG.

Mechanics of research

Once the player decides WHAT he's researching, the DM may then determine the 2 biggest parts of the research itself: The Cost, and the Time.
Research should not be a cheap undertaking, especially where magic is concerned. There's a reason why so many mages in fantasy literature are often found either serving wealthy and powerful patrons, or have wealth and power themselves!
The second consideration is time. The more time spent researching, the better the results should be.
At the end of each period of research in which you're using, there should be a success check. You may use the Sage tables if you like(from the DMG in the NPC chapter), or make it a function of the Learn Spell sub-ability with modifiers applied to Specificity of information sought and time spent researching/experimenting.
The DM should be the one to make the success checks.


Effects of Research

Insight: By Day: 1 minor clue/1 XP x Character level ; by Week: 1 major clue, or 1d4 minor clues/10 XP x Character level

Recipe: The character gains knowledge of 1 ingredient or process required to create the item desired. Note: the player should not automatically know how many ingredients there are in the item's recipe unless he researches that specific information. Additionally, the DM should be free to withhold certain information if it isn't asked. For example: A wizard learns that the Acid resistance potion he wants to make requires Dragon's blood. What the DM isn't telling him is that the blood must specifically be from a Black Dragon, until the character continues his research. In this way, a character is never certain that he has the entire recipe until he tries it out.

Spell: As standard rules.

New Class: Trader

The Trader class has been presented at least twice in D&D, the first being the Dark Sun version from the supplement Dune Trader, and the second being the Guilder class from the Birthright expansion Havens of the Great Bay. This class isn't just any old merchant on the street hawking his wares at all who pass, but a class for the merchants who brave the goblin infested mountain passes and dare to cross the high seas and great deserts of the world in pursuit of profit. It's the class for the diplomatic trader who goes into the territories of others and negotiates trading deals with races normally inimical to the trader's society.

Rogue Sub-class: Trader
Ability Requirements: Intelligence 10, Wisdom 8, Charisma 12
Prime Requisites: Intelligence, Charisma
Races: Human(U), Half Elf(12), Dwarf(12)
Alignments: Any
Proficiency Groups: All

• Weapons Allowed: Any
• Armors/Shields Allowed: Any
  
• Thieving Abilities: The trader starts off with the following thieving abilities modified by race, armor(for heavier armors see Complete Thieves' handbook), and dexterity. He gains no points to spend to improve these abilities at first level. At second level, and every level thereafter, he gains 20 points to divide among the abilities, with no more than 10 points going into any 1 ability. Additionally, no skill may be raised over 80%. Pick Pockets: 15%; Open Locks: 10%; Find/Remove Traps: 5%; Move Silently: 10%; Hide in Shadows: 5%; Detect Noise: 15%; Climb Walls: 60%; Read Languages: 20%
  
• Bonus Modern Language proficiency slot at every odd level.
• Influence Reactions: Like a ranger or bard, a trader may influence the reactions of NPCs. In order to use this ability, the trader and the target NPC must share a common language. By speaking to the individual NPC for a round, the trader forces the NPC to make a saving throw vs. Death with a -1 penalty for every 3 levels of the trader. A failed save indicates that the trader may change the reaction by 1 category step.
  
• The Trader may set up his own trading company(stronghold). The Trader gains 1d3 individuals, determined by the DM at each level, starting at 10th level. These individuals are those who seeks to achieve their fortunes by working for the Trader. They may be of any race or class. The Trader may bring no more than 1 of these individuals for every 2 levels he possesses with him when adventuring.