Evil Machinations

No scenario survives contact with the PCs … No system survives contact with the GM

Meadowbrook Needs You! Contest Extended

Jade | November 3, 2009

Since I’ve only received one entry for this contest, I’ve decided to extend the contest through the end of November. So, if you haven’t been wanting to enter but haven’t had the chance to get to it, you’ve still got time. I’ll post the winner in early December.
Just for reference, here’s a link to the [...]

Meadowbrook Needs You! — Win Dice!

Jade | September 30, 2009

Back in June, I created a town called “Meadowbrook”. This month, I’m sponsoring a contest based on that town. All you have to do is create a NPC — an inhabitant of Meadowbrook — using the information given in this blog. The characters I like best will become part of the “official” Meadowbrook setting. In [...]

City Creation: Kael Pathfinder Stoutpoppy, Swordsmith

Jade | July 1, 2009

Since the PCs aren’t likely to interact with Meadowbrook’s blacksmiths other than to have items repaired or commission new ones, I’m not going to spend much time detailing them.
Most Meadowbrook’s blacksmiths focus on creating practical items — horseshoes, plows and farming implements, iron nails and building tools, etc. Kael Pathfinder Stoutpoppy is the exception to [...]

City Creation: Hospitality

Jade | June 29, 2009

According to our demographics , Meadowbrook has two inns and ten restaurants/taverns/pubs and one of the innkeepers is a retired adventurer.
Let’s start with our inns.
The Inns
The most obvious choice would be to place one inn in Littletun and one in Bigtun. But since inns generally aren’t used by locals, and the river docks are in [...]

City Creation: Religion

Jade | June 26, 2009

The next entry on our list of Notable People is “Clerics of the local shrines”. While these would, indeed, be notable people (the head priest/ess of the largest shrines would likely have considerable influence), religions differ greatly from one game system to the next and one campaign to the next. So much so, in fact, [...]

City Creation: Thieves Guild

Jade | June 25, 2009

What would a fantasy game town be without a thieves guild? Whether the PCs work with it or oppose it, the local thieves guild frequently provides many opportunities for adventure.
Meadowbrook’s thieves guild is extremely small: 10 members. Until the recent trade boom, Meadowbrook had no thieves guild — there simply weren’t enough thieves in town. [...]

City Creation: The Town Guard

Jade | June 22, 2009

Town Guard are not employees of Meadowbrook. A guild in their own right, they’re employed by the town council. Each guild tithes a small percentage of their annual income directly to the Town Guard, in return the Guard protects the other guilds from dangers local and foreign. But how many town guard members are there? [...]

City Creation: The Fix-it Guild

Jade | June 18, 2009

Continuing our description of Meadowbrook’s notable citizens, we come to Barsus Tinner, the head of the fix-it guild.
The Fix-It Guild
First off, let’s give the fix-it guild an official name. As low-level arcanists, I can see the guild trying to give themselves a greater sense of status with a lofty-sounding name, something like: “The Noble Brotherhood [...]

City Creation: Character Class Demographics

Jade | June 15, 2009

Generally, I don’t detail numbers for the NPCs of my games. Unless I expect the PCs to pick a fight with one of them, I don’t even created stat blocks. I look at the NPC’s history, role in the game, personality and profession to decide what they can do, which is generally I need them [...]

City Creation: Guilds and Guild Politics

Jade | June 9, 2009

Now that we know what kinds and how many of each type of business Meadowbrook has, we can work out how powerful each of those guilds are, how they relate to each other, what part they play in Meadowbrook politics.
We’ve already postulated a split of the town council between the merchant guilds and the craft [...]

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