I consider three essential procedures in every TTRPG game: Hexcrawling, Dungeoncrawling and Settlements. Today we will have a closer look on the last one. Something I deferred until now.
It seems that I procrastinated long over this subject. There had been a bandwagon in the meantime, that I completely missed (like so many others). To be fair, I think that this particular subject is very debated. Even considered as a holy grail.
But does it have to be?
Down the Rabbit Hole
You might be enticed to look onto medieval settlements as inspiration on how they have looked like. That looks like a good start, considering that's its inspiration. You end up with a first idea: The 100-Person Rule.
Services can cater to about 100-200 persons. So for every hundred people in a settlement you would need a tavern for example. But it breaks a bit down, when you think about more expensive luxurious services.
People far more patient then me, have gathered statistics and produced excellent material based on this idea.
- Medieval Demographics Made Easy by S. John Ross
- Fantasy Demographics by Robert S. Conley
The principal is the same. For different professions and services you get a rough number on how many people would need to be in a settlement to even have that particular service and how many.
So take as an example an Artist. If your settlement has 2000 people in it, then there are about 2.07 artists present (according to Fantasy Demographics). Maths is hard, so you can head over to donjon that has a neat little generator and calculator for it (although that one uses Medieval Demographics).
Focus. Focus. Focus.
If I would go with above number, I would need for a settlement of 2000 people, about 15-16 Taverns. That's a lot to take care of. And if you are realistic, your players will maybe only visit 2-3 of them. So why bother.
Be more player centric in your work. Only design that, what is actually needed. And in most cases it just suffices to say: Yes, there's a blacksmith in town. They don't have a name or specific place. Only if it's central to the players and their story, flesh them out.
You can take the above numbers as an indication if a settlement can actually provide a specific service or not. But you shouldn't lean on it for the exact number.
Wealth as Indicator
I have talked about economics before. And we can apply this here as well. Instead of thinking about on how many people are needed for a specific service, we can think on how much wealth must be available in a settlement instead. This results in a much cleaner table (and less maths).
| Profession | Wealth | Profession | Wealth |
|---|---|---|---|
| Artist | II | Metalsmith | II |
| Baker | II | Miller | II |
| Carpenter | II | Miner | III |
| Chandler | II | Ostler | II |
| Clerk | III | Physician | II |
| Engineer | IV | Pilot | III |
| Finesmith | II | Potter | III |
| Fisherman | III | Religious | II |
| Games | III | Sailor | III |
| Glassmaker | III | Scholar | II |
| Harper | III | Servant | II |
| Herbalist | II | Shipwright | III |
| Jeweler | II | Tailor | I |
| Laborer | II | Tanner | III |
| Leathercrafter | I | Tavern | II |
| Legal | III | Teamster | III |
| Luxury | IV | Timber | II |
| Mason | II | Weaponsmith | II |
| Mercenary | III | Weaver | II |
| Merchant | II |
This gives you an indication if a certain profession is present in the settlement or not. A profession or service needs a minimum Wealth. If a settlement has a higher Wealth, then it can also provide better services. So a weaponsmith in a Wealth II settlement has different offerings than one in a Wealth V settlement.
If you have a big enough settlement, you can split the settlement up in different districts and give each of these districts their own Wealth rating as well.
When deciding on creating a dedicated building or location for your players to explore and interact with for a certain profession, limit yourself to 1 per district. They won't probably visit more anyway.