Fantasy Sandbox in 5 Easy Steps (#4): The Town System
- Paul Wolfe
- 9 minutes ago
- 2 min read
4.1 Start Local! Start Small!
When starting a fantasy sandbox journey, your first instinct is to start worldbuilding at the "world" level. Don't! Your sandbox should *always* start local and as small as possible. I start with a safe place -- a tavern, a cottage, a built-out cave -- where the characters can gather, trade, rest, train, learn spells and generally get really bored. No adventure should happen in your safe place. Maybe some carousing table shenanigans, some role playing with NPCs, but all adventure, riches and fame are "out there."
4.2 Bexley: Tiny Hamlet of Adventure!
For my open table Shimmering Tower megadungeon campaign, I started with just a tavern -- the only public building -- in the village of Bexley. As more adventurers came through -- drawn to the rumored riches of the Shimmering Tower -- the tavern and the village grew. But, at the beginning, the village had no other services -- all the characters had was what they brought with them to Bexley and what they could find in the Shimmering Tower.
4.3 The Fantasy Sandbox Town System
From that, I developed a "Town System" to manage how the settlement grew as the PCs brought in more and more treasure.
The Town System is detailed in the attached PDF, but breaks down like this:
Even though nothing should "happen" in town, you should have some interesting events that engage the PCs in the business of the town.
Limit what the PCs can sell/buy by using a market cap. This drives them into the wilderness for all "solutions" to their problems.
Every gold piece they spend or receive in town is accumulated like experience points, which leads to town events and growth.
Growth means more services. More services means more engagement.
Your home base should be a place that becomes almost like another trusted NPC for the party (that might occasionally stab them in the back).
Check out the Town System and tell me what you think.
I use the Town System with Witch-Lords of Skull Mountain. The second issue is currently in kickstarter.
The first issue is available here:
