5 Simple S.T.E.P.S. to Building Better Cities in D&D 

I always used S.P.E.R.M. (Socail, Political, Economical, Religious, and Military) But I like the S.T.E.P. Method too, I think the combination of the two would be even better.

What you actually did is show how any DM can create the frame in under a minute. The greatest parts of this town came from all the rabbit holes you went down. Pick a theme and let your creative juices flow. Brilliant.

Great timing! I'm actually world building with a fellow DM right now and we were really struggling with how much to plan ahead in our cities. The tables are genius, even if you don't roll, it's nice to look at so you can remember what shops you may want in a certain city. Also, "The Drowned" had me dying 😂

The first thing I thought with taxidermy was Demi humans and other slain foes. What a terrifying place and so confusing to the undead.

Population will affect the theme of the city. A dwarven city will be very different from an elven one. Architecture style is a great way to make a city memorable and unique.

Whoa!!! So excited!!! Definitely need this for sandbox games or last minute one shots!! Or starting steps!!! Thanks coach!!

I can't wait to use this! I might work some of these ideas into my dragonheist campaign. Maybe use it to make the different wards more interesting.

My DM has given me full agency over my characters home city....he's about to get blown away lol. Great vid! Liked and subbed!

I am not even done the video and this is blowing my mind. Thank you so much. I just had my party fail a teleport spell so they are dropping into an entirely unprepared area, so I absolutely needed this. Can't wait to dig through more videos and hit up that PDF. Epic level stuff my dude!

I'd probably swap out "Shops" for "Structures" or "Sights" so it includes things outside of the "shopping episode!" sessions, such as spa days or exploring a church/museum.

Dael Kingsmill has a system for world building called SPERM--Social, Political, Economic, Religious, and Military

New shop name: An Abundance of Leather

I love this concept. Totally using this idea for my next campaign. Also I came up with a different defense force for the city. Since it's a city that essentially thrives off the dead, a necromancer would not be so out of the ordinary, so the defense commanders are necromancers and the army are raised imperfect animals whose hide was determined to be of low value and were sold to their military.

Yooooo! Just wanted to let you know, I was doing some final prep for the first session of a Witcher RPG game today, and I downloaded the PDF in this video, and holy crap. It was super handy. I haven't used it to create a full town yet, but just the random NPC tables and your advice to have 10 of them rolled up and then some male and female names to just be able to smash them together randomly in-session. It was HUGE. Seriously helped me do some of the best improv and running of NPCs that I've ever done. And the NPCs felt memorable as well, like "Squints" who rolled as "Cocky, Near-sighted" and so the characters first learned of him as "Squints" and later they learned, "His real name is Callum, but everyone calls him Squints 'cuz he can't see good and is always squinting." Just added a level of immersion to the NPCs and my improv with them that I've never really been able to feel comfortable doing. So...all that's to say thanks. I just thought you'd be stoked to know how your product helped a GM run a better game, so I came here to leave this comment. Cheers, good sir!

Fathomless Warlock owns the magic shop in your fishing village. Add class benefits to your shopkeepers as well.

Great stuff, going to give the system ago for flushing out a city when my players venture from forgotten realms to eberron 🤟 should make for a distinct different feel than what they have explored so far 😁

Frekin awesome love it

The Village you created in under five minutes was amazing! I personally would add RACE or CULTURE when creating a new settlement because my mind thinks on humans by default lol That village is clearly Lizardfolk btw

Nice video, Dungeon Coach! There were some really nice tips in here. Quick question: If I have already bought the previous version of the pdf you made, is there a way I can get this new updated version without paying again?

The Inn in the fishing place should be called The Deep Sleep. Thank you. I'll let myself out. Lol

At the stables with the horses they should have hyenas, I love the idea of all these vultures and people in bone armor walking around, in the background is the cackling of hyenas as they get excited for the next raid for dead bodies. They have a hunting pack of them as well just running around with the horses when they ride out, getting rid of whatever might have found the corpses they want to scavenge first. (Fighting off wolfs or lions in unison) And then when they come back the hyenas might have super red faces from feasting on the organs of the corpses to make them lighter as the organs aren't needed for the skinning and the texidermy stuff and gutting them beofore transportation makes the bodies lighter. Maybe the leader of these hunts even wears the skull of the former alpha female hyena as a headpiece, showing that he is the pack leader so to speak. Sorry I went in on the deep end with the hyena idea, but vultures and hyenas go really well together. There are also vultures that can eat bone, could be a very intense description and fitting for the town as well. (Look for "Bearded vulture" - if u wanna check that out)

“…. And dragons question mark. I wouldn’t make that decision yet.” -Dungeon Coach 2022

Great video. But I too disagee with "kingdom" as a settlement. It is a series of settlements and the lands between them, all ruled by a central power (king)

Another banger

One extra thing to consider for the town centered around processing animal hides is that tanning requires chemicals to cure the hides. Salt is also useful.

Thanks, now I have an image of a Jurrasic Park style "City" in my head. City in " ", because it's not much of your traditional city. In Terms of size, or space it occupies, it'd be more of a Mega-City (maybe even the size of a small nation), with magic everywhere, but you wouldn't find much of a City by looking at it. The whole thing is a gigantic park, filled to brim with all sorts of creatures. It's sorted into different districts, with magical barriers to keep certain creatures (or maybe even all creatures) from passing through, keeping them from leaving or entering certain districts and leaving the city grounds. In that way, certain districts could portray own ecosystems, like one is a Savannah, the next a Tundra, the 3rd a rainforrest, etc (maybe something like how it looks in Zootopia). The "City" takes the shape of several settlements of varying sizes throughout the districts. The Citys income comes mainly from tourists, that visit to see those creatures and get a taste of what adventure feels like in a (somewhat) secure Environment. Another source of income are mages and Scholars that come to study those creatures in their natural habitats, as well as nobles and trophy hunters, that can partake in irregularily held hunts on different creatures, which has the double benefit of filling the Citys pockets with coin and keeping the populations in check (as in, the City Rangers notice a significant rise in the population of creature X, which could threaten the balance of the districts ecosystem, so the City holds an official hunt for creature X, in which those Nobles and trophy hunters can partake in exchange for a fee, helping to thin out the population. The Nobles get to tell Stories of the hunt and maybe get to show off a trophy, the city gets money and the balance is kept). They also export wares that are difficult to come by and are sought after by all sorts of people, wares like fine and rare furs, ingredients needed in spellcraft and alchemy, etc. I also think, that that "City" would act as something of a neutral ground for others, as they accept money from everywhere, and I imagine it'd be quite difficult to actually conquer the City, since it's so vast, and due to the fact that it consists of so many smaller settlements, teems with all sorts of dangerous Wildlife (both mundane and magical), has several different climatic zones with their own challenges, and is inhabited by people that grow up facing those challenges on a daily basis, know the Wildlife and Terrain and are trained to hunt and survive there. Maybe they even have set up those magical wards, that surround the City and each district, in a way, that only creatures possessing a "key" item, like an enchanted pendant, can pass through the barriers. So you'd have to be, for example, an intelligent humanoid in possession of a Key to be able to pass through, with those keys given out to visitors when they enter, and collected once they leave. Or maybe it's some form of Rune, that is inscribed on the visitors skin at entry, that vanishes the moment they exit the Cityborders, like a magical entry stamp. Things like that would pose additional problems to every army that would try to invade the City, since they would need to get someone who knows how to do it to stamp every single soldier so they could enter. Maybe the Citys inhabitants would even have some spells unique to their City, that only function within its borders, but won't work anywhere else, like unique shielding spells to protect visitors if something goes wrong (e.g. in case a stupid visitor from another big City decides to ignore the warnings given to them and wander over to that Nest, aggravating the Mother, that now attacks and chases them. In such a case a Ranger that takes notice can cast a spell that shields the visitor against the attacks), communication spells between the settlements and districts, maybe unique forms of teleportation spells, or "entrymancers" that are specialized in creating those magical key pendants or casting those entry stamp runes/sigils on visitors. One of the biggest problems of the City could be poachers that sell creature parts on the local black market, host illegal hunts for nobility/trophy hunters, or help to find and get close to creatures or catch them for mages who want to experiment/test their spells on those creatures. If you have enough imagination, you could even run an entire campaign around that concept, where the Players are City Rangers (as in, that's their Job, not their class. They can just play as Ranger, but can just as well play a Druid, Fighter, Sorcerer, etc, but should make them nature/survival/wilderness flavoured. For example, while a Ranger, Druid, Nature (or Tempest) Domain Cleric would already fit nicely, a wizard could be some sort of scholar that studies creature behaviour and seeks to improve living conditions for them. Maybe you could tweak some things from the war mage tradition to give it more of a nature feel and call it Game Warden, or something like that. Be creative) and have to protect the City against outside threats, fight poachers and/or smugglers, investigate strange occurances in the different districts, etc. If that gets a bit too monotone, mix things up a bit, send the team outside the City (where they have to think and strategize differently, because some of their spells won't work there) and into a far away Jungle to study a recently discovered creature, to capture a rare and/or endangered creature to relocate it into the City, or maybe they have to track down a group of poachers that stole a rare specimen from the City and find whoever offered this contract.

When making small towns try to think about the land around it. If there's no forests nearby, then there's going to be a lack of wood, which influences the theme. Water access will gives some direction for trade. Location will also influence some politics and culture. From there I try to find the theme and purpose of the the city. A city located in a swampland will have access to lots of herbs and fauna, which can be used for trade. But roads don't often go through these areas, so the town will make most use of the fresh ingredients. Apothecaries and herbalists will offer goods at cheaper prices, and a more aviable stock. A blacksmith may not be aviable in town as transporting ore is more challenging. From there I think about the Population, as they will affect a lot. Lizard Folk could be the dominate race here. I would make the town more primitive, featuring bones and thatch in most of the buildings. Politics. With what'd given above, a tight knit community will fit in well. Elders, or a shaman, or both would be in charge. Then how is the next selected? Politics lead to conflict. What's going on in the town, that the players can get involved in if they choose. Maybe a second town is gearing to go to war to aquire this land, or someone is trying to remove the elder and forcefully take their position as they believe they deserve it. Large cities I follow this same pattern, but try to scale things up. Is it split into districts? How's the economy? Would there be slums? Population will also be more diverse, so is there racism? Maybe the majority here sees elves as less than human, so expand a quick story as to why. Conflict could be a group has been stealing from the rich, and following this could reveal that the taxs have been raised so much everyday people are struggling, so they're taking back what's theirs. Expand it. Why are they being taxed more? The new person in charge could be a dragon disguised as a human who just wants to see the city fall to ruin as it grows its hoard. Anything else can be added as needed, or through random generators. Thinking about the resources around them they have access to. Wood, stone, ore, transportation, farmland, and natural defenses will drastically shape a settlement if they're lacking or over abundant in any of them.

Hey man, love your combat pdf, had a question about the martial dodge, how does it work exactly, there doesn't seem to be an indicated limit on the number of attacks or if it's just on the first attacker. Also the armor table does not have a property column, so which armors have what properties, or are these properties to add on a case to case basis to armors in an attempt to make them all more unique, if so why are the shield different? Also, last question, what do you consider a martial class ?

A cool idea I think for that city you built would be what if they are traveling nomadic kind of people who follow around armies and battlefields and set up tents to live in for a while when they're nearby. They could be left alone because they trade with anyone and because they're a niche culture they could have secret crafting techniques that make bone more durable and use as armor and weapons. Since armies have to eat loads of food and there would be bound to have lots of animals or monsters nearby get killed along the way they could trade for the pelts and the bones and in turn sell tanned armor or whatever back to the armies. The bone armor or weapons they could maybe more keep for themselves or sell at a higher price and maybe some commanders would be able to trade for those. Since they follow around armies this could also give a chance for the characters to run into them multiple times and give them chances to buy potions or other things from them on the way to doing stuff.

In regard to the taxidermy town with no blacksmith - WOOD CARVER 🧙‍♀️

A village supported a lord's manor. That was its purpose. The lord needed a blacksmith, a miller, etc. They worked the fields or supported the people who work the fields. That's pretty much it.

Looks like a solid $5 spent

Hey Coach! Great video! I already used your previous method to create lots of cities and it was really useful, and I find this even more complete! Do you have any systems to create landmarks, dungeons or rooms of a dungeon? I always struggle to think about things to fill a dungeon, and I think that even other people struggle at it. If you have any system for these things, do you think you will ever make a video about it?

This is fantastic but how do you work that around maps? At the moment I am in, I struggle to create a great theme till my map is finished which takes a bit. Perhaps I am missing something? Do you just create generic interiors and pop em into the city or do you create generic town maps as well?

Please give us your npc video!! Thanks for the awesome content coach!

Chainmail but teeth sounds terrifying and awesome. Plate could be shoulder blades of large quadrapedes like elephants, rhino or bison; with helmets as full skulls, obviously. Softened, woven and then hardened ribcage for shields. Oooo I like this idea. Red herring and/or bad guy could be nicknamed "the Tooth Faerie" but nobody says it to their face. Ooooo magical shield made of skin of humanoids, specifically faces, thstcjsutvlooks like a leather covered shield until activated and then causes fear for all who look at it!

I'll add that dragonhide is a great option for something to be illegal. Morally, it's the flesh of a sapient being (and probably a young one if you're looking for scales to be small enough for it to be flexible on a medium-sized humanoid). Politically, angering dragons by dealing in the body parts of their dead is unwise. But...it's prestigious and useful enough that some (including possibly your PCs) are going to want it, even with the hassle that comes with it being illegal.

I hope that someday, my players ask to go to the Entomologist... @10:24

Will this be in alkanders?

I like the idea in general but I think the scale is a bit off. The people wizards has writing these days don't really seem to know the subject matter as far as medieval society is concerned and tend to write in relation to the modern world. Keeping it in line with medieval actual can make world building much easier. I will in general i do think how you explain your process and the examples you give are very good. Especially the unique small touches, those must certainly bring your world to life and be memorable to your players. Those size numbers are very big, beyond the norm for medieval habitations. Most villages averaged around 150 people and may have provided a service but many didn't. Towns tended to top out around 5k people or 1k families but where usually much smaller and would offer a couple different services in general. A major trade area might top out at 1,500 people. Large cites where very rare and poor or small kingdoms might only have one major city. Pre-plague they could top out at up to 200k people but there would have to be some major reason's for that to happen and a lot of support in the way of farms for food and domestic animals close enough to supply such a city would be needed. Such a city might require a thousand farms to supply it.

💜💜💜

How many pages is in your PDF book for this?

1st maybe :3

You should've started off by saying your examples are based on a very high fantasy setting. Zebras, zoos, colorful leather/armor is not something you can use for low-medium fantasy. At least not if you're trying to keep it fairly close to realistic medieval times.

So S.T.A.N.D and S.P.E.R.M isn’t relevant anymore?