Topic: Need help with a small city

[Marc R]

If you wanted to get really byzantine about it, use the late renaissance/early modern german model. . . .

Farmers often owned the small house food plot in their yard, then communally shared out the major crop areas, or held the rights to farm portions based on verbal or written apportionments within the village collective. The rents could be owned by a church, lord, rich person or association, who collects rent on the crops, but the land itself (the mineral rights) are owned and managed by someone else, the right to hunt on the land is owned by someone else, the right to timber the land by someone else, the right to construct buildings run by the village itself, or another outside polity. The tithing districts might or might not run parallel to the political ones.

In fact all the above "land rights" might overlap or not, you might farm a section of land in which the part north of the stream the mining rights are owned by lord Farquat, and the part south of the stream the mining rights are held by the abbey of Tulips. . . .

The concept of owning land, "Free and clear" is very american, or post WWII European, the old way broke the property rights up in a complex and often hard to unravel structure. . .which could make it quite hard to buy or sell a parcel of land. (You either need to get the agreement of, or pay off, up to a half dozen people or organizations).

Also, a village or hamlet generally looks like a target. . .with all the houses in the bullseye and all the cropland around. . .in a world where hostile people, or animals might wander by and kill you, people tended not to live off in isolated farmhouses. . .you'd get up at dawn, hike up to your crop section (or drive your animals to pasture), then reverse at dusk. Houses huddled together in clusters like this, slowly over a long era of peace sheds and barns would be scattered around (laziness is the mother of invention), if you had a high pasture more than a day's walk off at sheep or cow speeds some rude shelters for the shepherds. It isn't until very late era that people start building houses widely separated from the village core.

Villages can't do much against armies other than submit or run, but a hundred or so adults living within screaming distance of each other discourage predators and solo criminals or small bands of bandits.

[pastaav]

Personally I am fond of settings when every hamlet have a place that can serve travelers. It is just a matter of quality. The little hamlet will have a farmer who has a barn where people gather together to dance, drink and gossip. Not what snobby adventurers are looking for, but it fulfill the needs of the people living there and the players can get food to sleep in the hayloft.

The classical Inn at the countryside is something that also might fit in if the local king desires a network of neutral places where his noblemen and rich traders can have a rest while on the road.

Another alternative is villages that keep a little cottage or shelter by the main road that can be used by travelers. Having untrusted people sleeping in the hayloft brings a risk for fire and it can make sense that the villagers prefer to avoid the hassle of strangers looking for trouble and provide lodgings for free to get rid of the problem. 

[GrumpyOldFart]

Well that's part of it though... the local smithy that does duty as a meeting hall, the village headman's house that does duty as an inn... the smithy shows up as one of those 15 "non-residential" buildings, but it doesn't come into that count as a tavern/inn, it comes in as a smithy. And the village headman's house doesn't show up in that count of 15 non-residential buildings at all.

In a really small burg there won't be a "tavern" or "inn" at all. There will be the smithy, or the stable, or the widow _____'s place, or that empty cabin that used to belong to old _____ before he lost an argument with a bear.

[jasonbrisbane]

Why not a residence? Multiple rooms like an inn, but rooms only available for the towns workers.

[Vector Z]

In a really small burg there won't be a "tavern" or "inn" at all. There will be the smithy, or the stable, or the widow _____'s place, or that empty cabin that used to belong to old _____ before he lost an argument with a bear.

Unless the inn was the foundation of the settlement. I believe the original post said something like that. This could be equated to a traders' outpost with just a few essentials that spawns a greater variety of establishments as it grows into a proper town.

Anyways, suggestions:

Maybe you can have a shop where the owner makes/sells some (possibly useless) trinkets that the villiage is famous for. Something like glass whistles, specially decorated eggs, treasure chests, i dunno...

On that note, as glass blower is another possiblility

[mocking bird]

The village I live in in Ireland has 5 pubs, 1 church, 1 school, 2 shops, a post office and one garage/service station. It used to have a fast food joint, but that closed down.

This is unusual ... most villages this size would have fewer shops ...

Sounds like small towns in Minnesota.  On one side you have the Catholic church, on the other the Lutheran one but each has their own bar - usually near the church but out of direct line of sight.  They populace does have to share the post office and the veteraniarian however. 

Other things to consider - is the town self-sufficient?  If all you have are the farms, smith and such what exactly would the shops be selling and who would the be selling to?  Another factor in this is how far is it to a larger town?  How much of a legal/lawful presence is there?  Is it increctibly out of the way?  Is there something special about the wood being harvested?

Lots of variables to take into account but I wouldn't get too obsessed about the realism or detail.  After all I can probably count on one hand the number of dungeons or castles that actually had bathrooms, with perhaps an otyough, in them.

[GrumpyOldFart]

And then on the other hand there's Mark Twain's description of Virginia City during the "flush times":

"There were military companies, fire companies, brass bands, banks, hotels, theaters, 'hurdy-gurdy houses', wide open gambling palaces, political pow-wows, civic processions, street fights, murders, inquests, riots, a whiskey-mill every fifteen steps, a Board of Aldermen, a Mayor, a City Surveyor, a City Engineer, a Chief of the Fire Department, with First, Second and Third Assistants, a Chief of Police, City Marshal, and a large police force, two Boards of Mining Brokers, a dozen breweries, half a dozen jails and station houses in full operation, and some talk of building a church."

If there was ever an economic boom, it probably completely changed the character of the town. And if one day the boom ended and didn't return, now there are a bunch of spare buildings no longer being used.

[Vector Z]

Rigby, I'm kind of curious. It's been a few weeks since your initial post. How's the town coming?

[KaBurr]

The most common profession outside of a 'farmer' was a 'cobbler'.  Everyone needs shoes!  Beyond that, just think of the basic needs of a community - who makes the ropes?  Who carves the wood?  Who makes the bricks?  Take a look at the equipment lists in the book, find an item you want made locally, and presto!