Then, you can make the areas that border your starting area. If you’re getting ready to run your first game of D&D 5e, you are going to be perfectly fine with making a town where the party begins, a dungeon where they can have an adventure, and maybe a random encounter to put in between.Īfter that, you can grow and tinker with the space around that town until you have a starting area. I’m here to tell you that this needn’t be so. When you set out to run your own campaign, it’s very easy to become wrapped up in ancient lore, creating your own bizarre creatures and factions, and to generally get kind of overwhelmed by the prospect of creating a whole world from scratch. The “Middle Out” Approach to Worldbuilding Only the very brave (or very foolish) venture beyond the town, off the roads, into this wild unknown. In opposition to the town is the wilderness, which represents danger and the unknown, a concept known in the OSR scene as “the mythic underworld” – a place where normal rules cease to apply. It’s a slice of (usually) medieval Europe, perhaps only distinguishable from the real world by the presence of the occasional wizard or alchemist. In many respects, a good starter town represents stasis or normality. Towns in D&D exist as little points of light in a dark and scary expanse. #Tavern master dnd fullIt’s full of monsters, random encounters, dungeons, dragons – you get the idea. Towns, by definition, exist in opposition to the wilderness.Īt low levels, the wilderness is a scary place. In this guide, we’re going to give you everything you need to build, steal, and cobble together your very own starter town from which your bold adventurers can sally forth in search of monsters, dungeons, and some sweet, sweet loot.Ī starter town can do an awful lot of legwork in your campaign beyond a place for the “heroes” to get into tavern brawls. Sure, some campaigns take place in cities (I’m playing in one right now that’s basically CSI: Waterdeep), or hop from one dimension to another, or just take the one-shot approach and drop you right outside the dungeon with a pat on the head and a note that says, “ THIS WAY TO THE TREASURE.”īut the majority of campaigns (and certainly, if you’re a new DM, this is the route I’d recommend) start out with the same core loop: leave town, find the dungeon, beat the dungeon, back to town to heal and rest. While the exciting, adventurous bits of Dungeons & Dragons all happen in the wilderness or down in a dungeon where danger lurks around every corner, it’s the humble town that I’m increasingly convinced is the unsung hero of a successful campaign. You all meet in a tavern… You sally forth into the unknown… You slay the dragon, claim its hoard, and set off back to town.
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