Section	Page
INTRODUCTION	4
PART ONE: THE TOWN - A REGIONAL COMMONS	5
TOWNS AND FOOD SOURCES	5
TOWNS’ FUNCTIONS AND SERVICES	6
TOWN LOCATION AND DEVELOPMENT	6
TOWN FUNCTION	8
TOWNS IN A SOCIETAL FRAMEWORK	11
SETTLEMENT ZONES	11
POLITICAL SYSTEMS	12
TOWNS IN THE POLITICAL LANDSCAPE	12
SAMPLING GOVERNMENT TYPES	13
ECONOMIC SYSTEMS	15
TECHNOLOGY	16
TOWN POPULATION	18
TOWN SIZE	19
DAILY LIFE	19
PART TWO: THE FANTASY TOWN	23
SAMPLING OF TOWN LAYOUTS	24
UNDERGROUND TOWNS	29
UBIQUITOUS TOWN STRUCTURES	30
PART THREE: CREATING TOWNS	32
STEP-BY-STEP PROCESS (1-16)	32-44
PART FOUR: ENCOUNTER CHARTS	45
APPENDIX A: AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT	49
APPENDIX B: ARCHITECTURAL STYLE	49

INTRODUCTION

As with all game supplements produced by Troll Lord Games, Engineering Towns is not intended to be nor should it be interpreted as a scholarly work. Although a reasonable amount of research on pre-renaissance towns has gone into this production and I have made every reasonable attempt to adhere to historical examples and analysis, it is a tabletop roleplaying game supplement.

The descriptions are my own and do not reflect any scholarly interpretation but rather, the information contained herein should provide ample information to produce a satisfactory and reasonable facsimile of a town that functions within a broader framework of one’s setting. Engineering Towns contains much of the necessary information needed to create a town in a campaign setting or a fictional universe. This includes descriptions of settlement patterns, types of buildings, a town’s support needs, typical types of craftsmen one could find in a town, types of governmental institutions, town functions, as well as other aspects unique to towns in the renaissance and pre-renaissance periods.

A sampling of towns from across the globe and throughout time is presented to help design a town with a distinct architecture or layout. A quick method for creating towns is presented afterward including charts, lists of craft types, manufacture, and other unique features of towns. This is followed by a section describing how to add fantasy elements to the town. Finally, a sampling of towns is presented at the very end of the book.

Engineering Towns can be used in conjunction with Engineering Villages to create a vibrant and more realistic setting for a campaign. This is a useful reference tool for creating towns that fit within a milieu, providing examples of places and locales to explore or interact with. The information provided can be used to create a single town or used to populate a large region with villages and towns that interact with one another, and thereby adding depth to a campaign setting.

A Word of Caution It would be easy to get caught up in the calculations, acres under plow, trade routes, land productivity, weather, location, and a host of other variables when trying to lay out a town. Don’t! Just don’t! You can eat up hours creating and managing something that never gets explored or is ancillary to the purpose of most (if not all) TTRPGs. The idea is, more often than not, to create a landscape for the players to be able to immerse themselves without breaking that suspension of disbelief.

PART ONE: THE TOWN - A REGIONAL COMMONS

Engineering Towns describes communities that function differently than both cities and villages in the commercial, cultural, and political landscape. Although the delineation between the three can be murky and arbitrary at times, for purposes of this book, a town is primarily, though not exclusively, determined by its population. Towns are communities that number between 1000 and 5000 inhabitants. The actual number of inhabitants can vary, being higher or lower if it meets several criteria.

As a rule, a town is a large community that serves as a hub for commercial activity, has religious significance, has civic importance, and has a notable percentage of its population not involved in agricultural pursuits.

Key Town Functions

Craftsmen: Towns typically have a higher percentage of craftsmen than villages. They congregate there for better access to customers, resources, and shared knowledge.
Cultural Hub: Towns have significant influence over the culture of surrounding regions. Festivals, markets, fairs, and religious ceremonies are ubiquitous expressions of this importance.
Civic Hub: Governing officials, troops, tax collectors, and judges are likely located in a town, extending their rule over villages and hamlets.
Population: Typically between 1000 and 5000. Populations can swell dramatically during festivals or administrative events.
Religious Hub: Temples, monasteries, or holy places can be the genesis for a town, attracting participants from distant places.
Commercial Hub: Towns located along trade routes attract merchants and craftsmen. Populations ebb and flow with arrivals and departures.
Manufacture: Inhabitants primarily produce high-demand goods like rope, clay pots, silk, or boats. These towns develop near resource centers or trade routes.
Education: Rare towns that develop around educational institutions, often associated with monasteries.

What fundamentally separates a town from other communities is its size and the number of people who are not involved with agricultural pursuits. In villages, almost the entire population is involved in agriculture; in towns, the number of farmers can be very low.

TOWNS AND FOOD SOURCES

For those towns that cannot feed themselves, a source for their food must be available for the town to continue existing. Smaller towns should be able to feed themselves while larger towns will necessarily depend on nearby villages or trade networks.

The key to a town’s development is that it can rely on rural farmers to supply most of its caloric needs, leaving the rest of the population to engage in other industries. Typically, the higher the population of a town, the lower the percentage of those involved in farming. This creates an ever-expanding clustering of villages near towns.

TOWNS’ FUNCTIONS AND SERVICES

The primary purpose of a town is not the production of food, but rather the production of goods and services. As few as 20% of the population can be involved in services for a settlement to still function as a town.

Services

A service refers to activities provided to help a community function within its culture, commercial sphere, or political organization.

Examples: Overseeing religious rituals, providing guards, garrisoning troops, banking, housing, and establishing laws.
Nexus Points: Most towns are points for trade, but can also develop around military outposts or caravansaries.

Goods

This refers to material produced that is sold or owed to merchants and nobles.

Resource Access: Goods produced often reflect local resources, but resources can also be shipped in.
Vulnerability: This reliance makes towns vulnerable to shifts in supply, leading to rapid population loss or abandonment in times of stress.

TOWN LOCATION AND DEVELOPMENT

Like any community, towns must have access to drinking water and food. The most important factor is access to water.

Water Sources: Towns tend to be located along major rivers, lakes, oases, or aquifers.
Engineering: Canals, aqueducts, and underground storage facilities (cisterns) make towns viable in arid or remote locations.
Organic vs. Planned: Most towns develop organically from hamlets and villages. Planned towns are chartered by ruling authorities, guilds, or the military for specific purposes, like supply nodes for trade.

Flourishing Towns Towns flourish when they have easy access to markets, craftsmen, and resources. The further afield each becomes from one another, the less likely the town is to flourish.

TOWNS IN A SOCIETAL FRAMEWORK

SETTLEMENT ZONES

Settlement zones represent the degree to which an area is under the control of a central authority and its general safety. These zones impact the layout, population, and density of a town.

Core: Safe, settled regions free from constant warfare or raiding. These towns are often un-walled, wealthy, and serve as administrative or religious centers. They are typically surrounded by support villages within a few days’ travel.
Peripheral: Located outside the core, these areas are relatively settled but further from central protection. Towns here usually have a military presence, standing militias, and some form of protective walls (wood, stone, or earth).
Transitional: Found along borders abutting differing cultures or ethnicities. These are zones of significant cultural and commercial exchange. Towns are almost always fortified and culturally diverse, with eclectic architectural styles.
Border: Contested regions along the edges of nations where the threat of warfare is high. Towns are heavily fortified and militarized, often building “up” instead of “out” due to space constraints within walls.
Frontier: The very fringe of settled areas bordering untamed wilderness. Large towns are rare here. Settlements are usually independent, remote, and protected by difficult terrain or basic walls.

POLITICAL SYSTEMS

Towns in the Political Landscape

Independent: Rule themselves by charter or circumstance with no political ties to others. They maintain their own military and laws.
Self-Ruled: Follow local customs and leadership while falling within a larger polity that controls external affairs (like taxes or military housing).
Ruled: Under direct supervision of an outside authority, such as an empire or kingdom. Laws and taxes are dictated from afar and enforced by present administrators or troops.

Sampling Government Types

Autocracy: Power rests with one or a few elites; laws are based on their desires.
Tribal: Ruled by a chief or council based on tradition; often smaller populations with heavy agricultural focus.
Feudal: Land belongs to a king and is managed by lords; inhabitants are often considered property of the landholders.
Imperial: Administrative and commercial control focused on extraction of wealth; local customs are often overlain with imperial law.
Monarchical: Inherited right to rule; towns are often owned by the monarch or a designated lord.
Oligarchy: Rule by several groups or families (merchants, nobles, military) through consensus or dispute.
Theocracy: A priestly class makes and enforces rules based on religious beliefs.
Aristocracy: Ruled by a class of nobles whose authority comes from birthright.
Democratic: Citizens participate in creating laws and electing leadership, often requiring plazas for meetings.
Republican: Power is vested in elected representatives of the citizens.
Authoritarian: Vested power in a central authority with no protected individual rights; often characterized by public monuments to rulers and corruption.

ECONOMIC SYSTEMS

Barter Economy: Direct exchange of goods and services; common in rural or undeveloped areas.
Feudal Economy: Centered on land distribution in exchange for military support and goods.
Slave Economy: Economic output is largely performed by a huge slave class used in agriculture, mining, or manufacturing.
Tributary Economy: Wealth is accumulated through tribute (goods, slaves, money) from conquered regions to fund further conquest.
Market Economy: Based on supply and demand; requires a reliable medium of exchange (specie) and regulation.
Manorial: Landholders collect resources from their estates and distribute them; typical of agriculture and resource gathering.
Distributive: All goods are collected and redistributed by a central authority through representatives.

TECHNOLOGY

The technological development of a society has a significant impact on the capacity for towns to form and be supported. The more advanced the agricultural process is, the more excess foodstuff can be reliably and steadily produced to support non-farmers. These technological levels reflect physical and social developments used to determine if a culture can develop a town and its function.

Technology Types

Type I: Domestication: Reflects the domestication of plants and/or animals, providing a reliable flow of excess foodstuff. Primary energy comes from humans and animals, and tools are typically made of wood and stone.
Type II: Social Stratification: Allows for a broad division of labor and the rise of elite, priestly, and merchant classes. This leads to architectural advancements like canals, levees, and monumental structures.
Type III: Crafting: People increasingly devote themselves to specialized crafts and industry. This stage sees the development of empires, standardized coinage, and complex irrigation works.
Type IV: Engineering: Mastery of math, science, and practical application allows for global trade and towns of immense size. Key factors include advanced water works (aqueducts, deep wells) and the use of concrete, arches, and vaulting.

SUPPLY NETWORK

A town needs a supply network of food, materials, and other goods for its inhabitants. Without this, a town’s growth is limited.

Local: Supplies are sourced within a day to a week’s travel. Food comes from nearby farming communities, and water is sourced from local rivers or wells.
Regional: Networks spread out from a week to several weeks of travel. While most water and food are local, there is dependence on distant resources for specific industries, like clay for pottery.
Distant: Found in remote locations like oases or frontier zones. Local supplies are insufficient, so food and resources are acquired through trade or provided by rulers.

TOWN POPULATION

Towns number between 1000 and 5000 inhabitants. At the lower end, they create enough surplus to support non-farmers. At the upper end, they become dependent on regional and distant imports.

Location Impact: Towns on large rivers and coastlines tend to become larger due to higher traffic.
Demographics: Populations usually have a 50/50 male-female split. Towns often have a population “bulge” between ages 20 and 40, reflecting the attraction of adult laborers and merchants.

TOWN SIZE

Town size refers to its physical imprint on the land, including association fields, roads, and public buildings.

Density: Towns are compact; the average population density is 50 people per acre.
Structure: In areas of conflict, structures are densely packed within walls. As populations increase, houses may add floors rather than expanding outward.

DAILY LIFE

Life in a town shares commonalities across different landscapes despite regional differences.

Class and Division of Labor: Populations are separated by class, wealth, and social standing, often visible in clothing and weapon-carrying rights.
Workday: Work usually begins at dawn and ends in the evening. Unlike villages, towns have brisk activity after sunset in taverns and inns.
Market Days and Fairs: Market days are vital for buying and selling goods and occur throughout the year. Fairs are primarily celebrations, often held after sowing and reaping.
Transactions: While barter exists, coin is standard for merchants, nobles, and the well-off.
News: Information travels via wanderers, merchants, or official criers in central plazas.
Rules of Conduct: Towns have strict social expectations and laws (codes of conduct) to manage friction in close living quarters.
Weapons and Armor: Many towns restrict the open carrying of war weapons and metal armor to prevent conflict.

PART TWO: THE FANTASY TOWN

There are dozens of intelligent races in nearly every fantasy setting, each with unique requirements or considerations in types of construction, structure spacing, and food and water needs. Beyond the common demi-human and humanoid races, there are devils, demons, magical beasts, dragons, and a host of other highly intelligent creatures that might inhabit, build, or live within towns.

Fantasy Elements in Town Design

Races: Each race should realistically have a distinct architectural style based on its background, history, and social needs. A simple method is to take a standard town style and morph it to reflect the fantasy race, providing familiarity for players.
Cultures: Towns are nexus points for cultural exchange and should reflect this in layout, materials, and clothing. Differences should be implanted so that various races remain distinct.
The Divine: Deities often have a direct impact on the nature of the world and worship. Temples should be of vast import, as a deity could intervene to design, create, supply, or protect their place of worship.
Megastructures: In a setting with beasts of great strength and magic, the creation of massive canals, towering walls, and expansive dungeons is much easier and more common.
Magic: The more common magic is, the greater its impact on town design.
- Examples: Continual flame for street lighting; Create water or purification spells to support larger, healthier populations ; and unique protective spells to withstand arcane or divine attacks.
Technology: Creatures of extraordinary intelligence can further technological advancements, designing architectural wonders or extraordinarily good plumbing.

SAMPLING OF TOWN LAYOUTS

Towns usually develop organically from villages through commercial activity, administrative utility, religious significance, or simple inertia. Others are “designed” or “chartered” towns, intentionally built for military, civic, or migratory reasons. Planned towns typically have a more uniform and coherent layout than organic towns.

Administrative

These towns are nearly entirely devoted to civic functions.

Administrative Organic: Reflects the layout of the initial village, maintaining the original road structure. It results in a wrangle of curving streets with a mixture of private residences and administrative buildings.
Administrative Emergent: A complex mixture of planned and organic growth where newer structures partially replace or incorporate older village buildings.

Keep and Town

These develop around a fortification, usually built first as a place of protection. Densely packed structures often hug or abut the castle, with main avenues leading to markets or the keep.

Commercial Ports

Planned Port: Designed specifically for the movement of goods. They feature warehouses, moving services, sea walls, and artificial bays. They are often reliant on imported foodstuffs.
Organic Port: Develops as a happenstance of location. They are often chaotic jumbles of quays and warehouses following landforms rather than efficiency.

Caravan Towns

Built on remote trading routes to service caravans, primarily supplying food, water, and rest. They often feature craftsmen capable of repairing carriages and managing animals.

Cliffside and Cliff Towns

Cliffside Town: Built on top of cliffs for defense or because the surrounding land is valuable for farming. They build “up” as space is constrained.
Cliff Town: Built into cliff faces or mountainsides, creating interconnected chambers and tunnels deep into the rock.

SAMPLING OF TOWN LAYOUTS (CONTINUED)

Colonial Outpost: Established by conquerors or settlers, often developing from garrison villages. They are well-defended from the outset with walls and keeps that expand with the population.
Military: Comprised of a barracks portion (well-made, organized, and walled) and an adjacent support town. The support town houses civilians providing markets and services like laundry, gambling, and drinking.
Industrial Town: Located near abundant resources like minerals, wood, or crops. They feature highly organized processing areas designed to maximize output.
Commercial Port, Riverine: Located at significant junctures in rivers, such as broad bends or depth changes. Layouts often follow natural river contours and are almost always walled due to their high value.
Temple Complex: Formed around or built as part of religious sites. They offer places for worship and religious management, often attracting large numbers of pilgrims.
Education: Centered around intentionally designed institutions which can include pagodas, temples, or multi-story buildings.
Riverine Towns, Mountains: Stretched along riverbanks and mountain cliffs, conforming to difficult geography. They are rare due to the risk of mudslides, flooding, and rockfalls.
Prominence, Unwalled: Built on rocky heights or buttes surrounded by cliffs, which provide natural protection. Structures are densely packed with narrow, serpentine streets.
Donut Towns: Features several rings of continuous houses where the outer ring functions like a defensive wall.
Canal Towns: Built on ocean marshes or lakes, utilizing bridges and boats for transportation.
Dispersed: Houses are built some distance from each other, found in open plains or steppes with few threats.
Ring: A central core surrounded by agricultural fields, all contained within a large outer wall.

WALLED TOWNS

Because towns are important hubs, they are often surrounded by defensive walls, especially in contested regions. Average walls are about 30 feet high and 5 to 30 feet wide.

Main Types of Walls:

Wood: Palisades made of thick logs, often banked with earth and featuring a moat.

Earth: Very thick (30+ feet) walls made of earth packed within a wood or stone exterior.

Stone: The most expensive and labor-intensive, usually only found in the wealthiest towns. They are built of cut or uneven stone, often faced on both sides.

UNDERGROUND TOWNS

Underground towns are built for protection or as a response to harsh environments. They require significant engineering skill for ventilation and to prevent collapse.

Underground Concentric: Created as a series of interconnected circles or rings off a central shaft.
Underground Linear: A single long shaft with rooms attached, typically opening to the surface at both ends.
Underground Ventricle: A more chaotic system of akimbo tunnels and shafts that develops organically as needed.

UBIQUITOUS TOWN STRUCTURES

Market Square: The heart of commercial and social activity.
Administrative Centers: Areas housing the offices of leadership, tax collectors, gaols, and courts.
Temple/Shrine: Large places of worship or smaller devotional structures (fountains, sepulchers).
Aqueduct: Engineering marvels that port water into town from potentially miles away.
Public Toilets: Buildings used to manage human waste, often utilizing running water.
Warehouses: Large buildings near market squares or ports for safe goods storage.
Food Stalls: Carts or stands selling cooked meals to travelers and locals.
Sewers: Essential for large populations to prevent disease and flooding damage.

PART THREE: CREATING TOWNS

This section discusses how to create a town. This process does not consider the most important aspect of creating a town for a TTRPG: the town as an adventure nexus or location. Narrative rationale is not in the purview of this book; rather, its point is to create a town around which those stories may comfortably live.

Creation Steps Overview

Step	Action
Step One	The Two in Ten Rule
Step Two	Create a Village
Step Three	Choose a Settlement Zone
Step Four	Choose a Political System
Step Five	Choose a Function
Step Six	Choose a Location
Step Seven	Choose a Support Zone
Step Eight	Choose an Architectural Style
Step Nine	Choose a Layout
Step Ten	Determine Population
Step Eleven	Determine Average Family Size
Step Twelve	Determine Number/Occupation of Craftsmen
Step Thirteen	Determine Number of Houses and Structures
Step Fourteen	Determine Number of Unique Structures
Step Fifteen	Determine Size of Town
Step Sixteen	Finalize Town

STEP ONE: THE TWO IN TEN RULE

A town is distinct from a village because a higher percentage of inhabitants are involved in non-agricultural pursuits. For a community to be considered a town, at least 1 in 10 people should be engaged in non-farming activities.

Assumption: For towns, assume at least 2 in 10 inhabitants (20%) are non-farming.
Range: This can range from 10% to 90%.
Ratio: It takes roughly 10 farmers to feed one non-farmer.
Craftsmen Support: Assume 10 craftsmen support 2 other non-craftsmen (nobles, teachers, etc.).

STEP TWO: CREATE A VILLAGE

Imagine a village growing in size for the reasons mentioned previously. This provides the town’s genesis, architectural style, and basic culture.

STEP THREE: CHOOSE A SETTLEMENT ZONE

Consider the town’s relation to neighboring communities and its placement within a larger political entity.

Core: Safe, wealthy, sophisticated, and heavily taxed .
Peripheral: agriculturally driven, likely to have walls and local rule .
Transitional: sparsely populated, prone to strife, and likely to have close supply zones .
Border: heavily militarized and lucrative for cultural exchange .
Frontier: small, hastily constructed, and garrisoned .

STEP FOUR: CHOOSE A POLITICAL SYSTEM

Politics can dramatically affect layout, such as democratic towns needing plazas or guild-run towns having specific craft neighborhoods . (See the list in the previous section for options) .

STEP FIVE: CHOOSE A FUNCTION

Determine the primary reason for the town’s existence.

Table 5.1: Function (d20)

Agricultural | 2. Mercantile | 3-4. Market | 5-6. Commercial Hub | 7-8. Trade Center | 9. Military | 10. Administrative | 11-12. Political | 13. Labor | 14. Religious | 15. Education | 16. Colonial Outpost | 17-18. Resource Town | 19. Cultural Center | 20. Designed.

Table 5.3: Industry (2d10)

2: Banking | 4: Shipbuilding | 7: Forestry | 8: Quarrying | 9: Textile | 10: Commerce | 14: Mining | 16: Fishing | 18: Salt Production.

Table 5.4: Basic Buildings by Function

Military: Outpost, Garrison, Barracks, Training, Weaponsmith .
Religious: Shrine, Temple, Monastery, Nunnery, Scriptorium .
Administrative: Court, Gaol, Authorities Residence, Civil Servant Housing.

STEP SIX: CHOOSE A LOCATION

Ensure the town meets two fundamental requirements: water and food.

Water: Rivers are the primary source; mechanical means or cisterns may supplement supply .
Food: Sourced from satellite farming communities.
Stability: Proximity to nodes of power (kings, capitals) increases safety and growth speed .

STEP SEVEN: CHOOSE A SUPPORT ZONE

Local: Needs met within a few days to weeks of travel; homogenous culture .
Regional: Resources from up to a month away; more culturally diverse .
Distant: Imports from hundreds of miles away; highly diverse but vulnerable to war .

STEP EIGHT & NINE: STYLE AND LAYOUT

Architecture should be unique and memorable. Layout depends on environment, purpose, and technology level.

STEP TEN: DETERMINE POPULATION

Roll d20 and adjust with modifiers .

Table 10.1: Population Modifiers

Bonus (+1)	Penalty (-1 / -2)
Trade Route (+1)	Border (-1)
Core Zone (+1)	Frontier (-1)
Coast (+1)	Tech Level 1 (-2)
Major River (+1)	Tech Level 2 (-1)
Tech Level 4 (+1)	Off Waterway (-1)

Table 8.0: Population (Base 1000)

Roll (D20)	Range	Calculation
0-3	1100-1600	$d 10 + d 6 \times 100$
11-13	1300-2400	$d 12 + d 12 \times 100$
22	2200-5000	$6 d 6 + 6 d 2 \times 100$

STEP ELEVEN & TWELVE: FAMILY AND CRAFTSMEN

Family Size: Typically 3 generations; roll d20 on Table 9.0 (1-3: 2-3 members; 19-21: 10-12 members).
Craftsmen Percentage: Determine non-farming population (20%-90% or $1 d 8 + 1 \times 10$ ).
Expert Craftsmen: 10% of the non-farming population are actual experts/masters .

Table 12.1: Common Occupations (Selection)

Leatherworker | 5. Blacksmith | 10. Cooper | 21. Merchant | 26. Brewer | 34. Mason | 36. Weaponsmith | 46. Scrivener.

STEP THIRTEEN & FOURTEEN: STRUCTURES

Divide population by family size to get number of houses.

Unique Structures: Roll on Table 13.1 based on population (e.g., 2000-2500 pop adds $2 d 6 + 3$ unique structures).
Examples: Gaol, Guild House, Lighthouse, Theater, Public Toilets, Scriptorium .

STEP FIFTEEN: SIZE OF TOWN

Average living space is small (roughly 1 person per 1000 sq ft).

House Sizes

Class	Average Square Feet
Poor	100-300+ sq ft
Middle	200-900+ sq ft
Upper	$1000 - 2000 + s q f t$
Elite	2000-10000+ sq ft

Land Use per Population

1000 pop: 1 mile radius; Disparate/Moderate density.
3000 pop: 3 mile radius; Moderate/Compact density.
5000 pop: 5 mile radius; Compact/Concentrated density.

STEP SIXTEEN: FINALIZE TOWN

Add competing factions, adventure hooks, and unique history to ensure it is a nexus for player activity .

PART FOUR: ENCOUNTER CHARTS

Towns are relatively small, and routines are often established, with most people knowing the major figures in town. However, beneath the surface of civility, towns offer enough anonymity to allow for vastly different personalities, vicious competitions, and unusual occurrences. To determine an encounter, roll a d20 for the type and another d20 for the specific event.

Table: Encounter Frequency

Type	Population	Frequency
Settlement	1000-2000	1-6 per month
Thorp	2001-3000	1-2 per week
The Hamlet	3001-4000	1-3 per week
The Village	4001-5000	1-4 per week

ENCOUNTERS 1-4

1. Merchant

Merchants buy and sell goods or services and can be a decent source of information on current events.

Roll	Result
1-2	Merchant seeks to sell contraband
3-6	Merchant seeking bodyguards
7-8	Merchant is looking for person who stole from him
9-10	Merchant desperate for buyers
11-15	Merchant needs crew
16-18	Merchant has rumor of treasure
19-20	Merchant seeks to buy contraband

2. Bounty Hunter

Ruthless individuals who work for states or private parties to locate, catch, or kill people.

Roll	Result
1	Bounty hunter with a bounty on his head
2-3	Bounty hunter catches criminal in front of characters
7-10	Bounty hunter seeking information approaches character(s)
18-19	Bounty hunter seeking to hire help catching criminal
20	Bounty misidentifies character as their target

3. Ruffians

Groups of thugs or thieves targeting visitors for intimidation or pilfering.

Roll	Result
1	Ruffians follow and ambush characters
2-3	Ruffians demand money
11-14	Ruffians block road, challenging characters
15-17	Ruffians claim characters stole from them

4. Town Guards

Professional or semi-professional soldiers responsible for keeping peace and guarding gates.

Roll	Result
1	Town guards attempt to arrest characters
4-7	Town guards stop characters to inquire where they are going
11-13	Town guards trying to fleece a merchant
19	Town guard hints toward bribery or prison for trumped up crime

ENCOUNTERS 5-10

5. Official

Represents town leadership and assesses newcomers.

1-2: Official checks identity.
3-6: Official seeks to tax characters.
20: Official seeking outside aid in nefarious scheme.

6. Highwaymen Guild Member

Operates along trade routes but hides within towns.

1-5: Attempts to befriend character(s).
6-10: Provides fake directions for an ambush.

7. Criminal

Individuals (not associated with guilds) involved in theft, extortion, or worse.

1: Attempts to murder and steal from a character.
18-19: Criminal has escaped and is attempting to hide.

8. Vagabond

Itinerant workers or ne’er-do-wells seeking handouts.

2-4: Tries to sell fake information.
5-10: Offers to work for food.

9. Apothecary

Valued for potions and charms, though many are merely “bottled wants”.

2-3: Selling fake magical potions.
4-6: Seeking aid in finding rare ingredients.
20: Selling rare magical potions.

10. Beggar

Harmless itinerants asking for money or goods.

3-7: Beggar is crippled and diseased.
10-11: Informs thieves of characters’ whereabouts.

ENCOUNTERS 11-20 (SUMMARY)

11. Farmer: Local or distant traders seeking medical help or selling overpriced goods.
12. Herdman: Well-traveled individuals who may know of nearby caves or dungeons.
13. Pilgrim: Devout or fanatical travelers participating in rituals.
14. Traveler: Lost foreigners looking for help navigating the town.
15. Street Performers: Dancers or singers who are great sources of rumors (and pickpockets).
16. Thief: Individuals or small groups targeting strangers to steal unnoticed.
17. Priest: Local or foreign missionaries who may be looking for aid in holy quests.
18. Soldier: Non-garrison military carousing or recruiting for distant patrols.
19. Animal: Escaped pets or guard beasts (tigers, dogs) on the loose.
20. Beast: Rare creatures of high intelligence brought in for display or hunting.

APPENDIX A: AGRICULTURAL TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT

Technology plays a vital role in any community’s settlement, development, architecture, and manners of production. Small improvements in agricultural technology have significant impacts on production, allowing communities to flourish in areas they otherwise could not.

Technology Levels

Preagricultural: Societies gather most food through hunting and gathering. Villages frequently change locations as resources are stripped and rarely create enough surplus to support a ruling class.
Protoagricultural: Food is gathered through a mixture of hunting and simple crop fields. These villages can produce enough surplus to support specialists but are often abandoned after a few decades as the land is used up .
Agricultural: Extensive use of grain crops, fruits, or domesticated animals . Techniques create a huge surplus supporting specialists, ruling elites, and merchants for decades or centuries .
Advanced Agriculture: Methods to increase yield per acre, such as the plow, draft animals, canals for irrigation, levees for flood control, and crop rotation .

APPENDIX B: ARCHITECTURAL STYLE

House materials and shapes are reflections of both environmental restrictions and local traditions. Reflecting these in a setting makes it feel more real and immersive.

Materials and Characteristics

Brick: Durable and lasting centuries; made from clay and typically supported with a wooden superstructure .
Clay and Wood: Used where timber is scarce or unsuitable for substantial structures; common in arid regions .
Mud Brick: soil with high clay content mixed with water and reeds, dried in the sun . It requires an arid environment as heavy rain erodes the bricks.
Stone: Labor-intensive and expensive; typically reserved for public buildings, the wealthy, or nobility.
Stone and Wood: Combines stone foundations and ground floors with wooden upper structures for durability .
Wood: The most common material if timber is available; easy to shape and durable for centuries if treated correctly .
Wattle and Daub: A layer of mud or clay packed onto woven branches; requires regular repair in high-rainfall areas.

Roofing

Thatch: Bundles of straw or grass; waterproof and durable for decades .
Hide: Tanned animal skins stretched over wood frames; used by highly mobile communities .
Shingles: Overlapping pieces of wood, clay, or slate placed on sloped roofs .
Flat Roof: Common in arid environments; can be used as livable space for cooking or crafts.

HOUSE STYLES

A-Frame House: A sloped roof that reaches all the way to the ground; common in wet and humid environments.
Barn in House: Shared interiors where the lower floor houses animals and cooking, while the upper floor is for sleeping .
Bone Houses: Uses ribcages of elephants or mammoths for superstructures; typically found in steppes where wood is scarce .
Cave House: Carved into mountainsides; living quarters are often very small and follow veins of weaker rock .
Common, Square: Single-level, single-room houses where families live in one communal space .
Domed Houses: Built in hot, arid climates; the dome height (up to fifteen feet) provides a cooling effect .
Elevated on Pylons: Found in jungles or swampy areas; protects against flooding and insects .
Longhouse: Narrow, long structures housing large extended families under one roof; can be made of stone, wood, or rattan .
Pinnacle Roofed: Found in tropical climes with open floor plans for airflow and high roofs for water diversion .
Rooftop House: Entries are on the roof, which is used for cooking and sleeping; often found in arid cliff or canyon locales .

BACK COVER

Engineering Towns, a follow up to Engineering Villages, provides all the information needed to quickly establish medium sized communities, specifically towns.

Types of Towns: Understand the purpose of towns, development, and food sources.
Function of Towns: Explore agricultural, mercantile, cultural, administrative, and military reasons for town existence.
Town Life and Economy: Settlement zones, political systems, and daily life.
Fantasy Setting: factor magic systems and magical races into infrastructure.
Creating a Town: A host of ready-made tables and charts for game, story, or scenario.

DM Yan

Mestre Cronista

Explorador

Castles & Crusades - Engineering Towns

TABLE OF CONTENTS