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Places to see in a small town


quozaxx

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Hey, long time no see fellow Hero gamers!

 

I am making a Fantasy Hero game and I need to lay out the town.  So I need help in figuring out what places people may see in a town of about 1000

 

This is what I have so far:

Schools

Temples

Blacksmith Shops

Farmer's Market.

General Store

Low income homes

Nice homes / castles

Mill

Jail and 'police' station

Hospital

Fire station

Town Hall

Mayor's house / castle

Diner

Trading Post

Taverns

Brothel

 

Yes, some of the places are very progressive for a medieval setting.  I'm thinking more the lines of an old Western Town mixed with a medieval setting.  So what am I missing?

 

 

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Undertaker? Good for a little Old Western gallows humor, if this is the sort of small town that sees a lot of duels or is afflicted by bandits.

 

Some locations might be merged. In a Generic Fantasy Warehouse polytheistic world, many social services might be run by temples. The hospital is the shrine to the healing god, the undertaker is the death-god's priest, another temple runs the school, the fire god's priest runs the village fire brigade (and people pray for the fire god not to be angry as they put out a burning house), etc.

 

Dean Shomshak

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Wells, a number of them; a few would be decorated with statuary and fountains, the others more workaday.

 

One or more market squares, for purely local wares ... think farmers' markets, chandlers, coal or charcoal or firewood sellers, small goods merchants (pins, pans; knife-grinders; flowers; medicinal herbs etc.). Probably markets open once or twice a week.

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community well where everyone comes to draw water, and where gossip is exchanged

 

job post where announcements are posted for events, wehre laborers gather and landlords come to hire them, and bounties are posted for wanted criminals

 

a long wall overgrown with brambles where everyone picks berries in late summer, but in springtime is swarming with hundreds of bees and everyone avoids it

 

wainwright who repairs carts and wagons, does a lot of business for the nearby farmers

 

chandler who sells tallow, oil, and beeswax candles (everyone needs to light their homes)

 

bakery and butcher (townsfolk have to eat)

 

woodcutter who sells firewood in town. maybe he also has a business as a charcoal burner, supplying the blacksmith

 

cobbler/cordwainer, there are probably enough people needing shoes to keep him busy all year. Gary Gygax was a cobbler. maybe also doubles as a general leatherworker who can repair saddles and other goods, make you some squeaky pants, etc. bonus points if the cobbler is an actual elf. (hmm, now I'm thinking the cobbler is a halfling named Squeaky)

 

watchtower where a lone sentry keeps an eye on the surrounding land for wildfires and raiding parties. generally only manned on an as-needed basis, during the dry season or when there are orc troubles.

 

apothecary who sells herbs and oddities, and who may also double as a healer. the apothecary is officially a disreputable foreigner and lives on a back alley, but most people respect him anyway and buy his wares. (thinking of the chinese in the old west, such as Kam Wah Chung Company in John Day, Oregon. In a fantasy world this could be a foreigner or a humanoid)

 

teamster who hires out his team and wagon, taking loads to and from nearby farms, mines, or towns

 

coaching inn. this is where the daily or weekly stage stops, passengers embark or disembark, and mail can be sent or picked up. could be a dedicated office, or maybe it stops at an inn. It could be a coach like was used in england or in the old west, a canal boat, a pony express type of service, the royal courier who carries the mail, or whatever else might link the town to the outside world. (this was replaced by a bus stop or train station in recent times. Greyhound buses often stopped at a diner or a general store, if the town was too small to have a dedicated station)

 

the town hall might double as a grange hall for farmers, a miner's guild hall (or other trade), or a "secret" society like the freemasons or elks or oddfellows

 

you didn't say whether the mill was a grain mill, sawmill, stamp mill for processing ore, or something else. depending on the local economy there could be multiple mills. if a stream is available water mills will be preferred, probably with a duck/goose pond; a windmill if there is no water; or a horse mill if neither wind or water is available

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