What elements make a good starter town?

Making
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The starter town recommendation thread has me wondering about this. I’m going to think on it and come back to post my take.

What do y’all think?

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A good starter town to me has
-Conflict but small scale
-Opportunities to build relationships with townspeople through performing short quests that require going into the wilderness
-Ruins of a fallen great place to explore
-Resources and tension over them
-Connections to a larger world

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Everything @hopefulweirdwonder said, and I’ll add:

  • people to hire
  • people to kill (bad people, sometimes in hiding)
  • direct connection to the land, the forest, etc. Shared history and a reason to be there.

Also I recommend everyone check out A VILLAGE, A FOREST, A DUNGEON, A BEAST.

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Just for furn, I asked ChatGPT what it thought would be helpful.

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• a powder keg situation between factions within the town
• an outside threat the town is facing
• oozing flavor and novelty in a way I couldn’t improv at the table

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I like it. I’m bugged a bit by the uniform armor and weapon prices, but that’s an easy change. Do you know if the DriveThru version has more content?

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I like

  • Potentially well-positioned geopolitically
  • But limited by something
  • That the PCs can clear
  • Allowing growth/change
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I don’t, no. And yes the tables are easy to adjust.