Keeper of the Lost Cities Plot

Sophie is not a normal 13 year old, she has the power of telepathy and can always hear everyone’s thoughts. To go along with that, she’s extremely smart, and has a photographic memory. She’s an outsider because of all of those things. Then, she sees a boy, on a class field trip, who just looks too pretty. And he is looking at her, something feels off and she talked to him.

Turns out that something is off about her life. Fitz, the boy, tells her that she isn’t a normal human, in fact, she isn’t a human at all. There is a secret world of elves and other magical and mythical creatures out there. In our own world, but just out of sight due to magic. But her life as a human will need to go away if she is going to be an elf and live the life that she’s supposed to.

More Details and Harry Potter Comparison

So I don’t want to go into much more. What I wrote is basically the back blurb on the cover, but it’s something that should wet your appetite. And don’t worry, Keeper of the Lost Cities is not another Harry Potter. There are elements that might feel similar. The main character integrates into a new world that they didn’t know existed.

And to continue that comparison, she is a bit of a chosen child, but not in the way that Harry Potter is. I think that chosen child comparison is something people will latch onto, but Shannon Messenger does a better job of writing a chosen child. Sophie is really behind for an elf. She doesn’t know the world, she is expected to know and catch-up to what she doesn’t know. When she gets stuff wrong, elves are disappointed.

Harry Potter constantly should be in trouble, and he is not. Sophie often should be in trouble, and when she is, she gets punished. Her life has many more real elements to it. Characters worry about her. They pester her. They bug her, stuff that you don’t see happen in Harry Potter. People either hate Harry or love Harry, there is nothing between the two. For Sophie, people look to use her, to befriend her because of who she is, avoid her, and expect everything from her. And she is trying to balance all of that.

What Doesn’t Work?

There is very little, if anything that doesn’t work. I should talk about book 8.5 here. Mainly because that might be something that won’t work for some people. Even for me, I found it fairly boring. The point of book 8.5 is that it’s a bit of a recap for everything that has happened. Plus a novella that tells some story where book 8 left off and where book 9 begins. Or at least I am assuming that.

If you read the series in a compressed period of time, most book 8.5 is unneeded. I know what the characters did recently. I don’t need a full recap, no matter what way it is written. And some of the sections are better written than others. It is more the authors notes turned into something in the world that you are reading through.

I don’t even mind that they exist. I mind that there is a pretty important feeling novella in the book. It is different than she could write for the main book. The main books only show Sophie’s perspective. The novella bounces between perspectives. But to get the novella, you get the whole book. And I say now, get the book, just read the novella.

What Works?

Characters

So much works in this series. Sophie is a believable main character and the side characters are strong as well. Often in Middle Grade or Young Adult books, the main character is a paper cutout of a character. It is meant for the reader to put themselves into their shoes. Sophie is not that. She is a fully realized and deeply developed character. And each of the side characters at least the core, are as realized as she is.

I fail to think of many series where this is the case. Especially in that grade range. And I think there should be more. The story is easily digestible for an adult. And while there are intense moments for maybe middle grade reader, it is going to be pull them in.

Story Depth and Intensity

And let’s talk about the intensity. The story, unlike others in it’s age range, isn’t shy about bad things happening. And not like they happen around Sophie. Some of them do happen to other people. And it is character development for those characters. And reasons that friendships become stronger. But often the bad is directed to Sophie. She is not given an easy life. She is not a hero who always steps in and saves the day.

In fact, most of the time, she needs to rely on others to help her. Does she lead, for sure, she is the chosen one after all. But it isn’t a situation where she can do it alone. And that is a struggle for her. To compare her to another fictional character, it is a lot like how Harry Dresden, in the Dresden Files, is always looking to do stuff himself. He does so because he doesn’t want others to get hurt. Sophie is the same way.

World Building and Themes

Shannon Messenger is very good about building out her world. It helps that some of it is our world. But the rest of it, with the elves, dwarves, goblins, orcs, and more is different. But it is still similar. I think it is worked well like good fantasy or sci-fi. It is different enough that you feel like it isn’t our world, but close enough that it can touch on themes and issues that are true for us our world as well.

And I think that is another thing Messenger does well, also. She tells a good story with items that ring true. Now, it is still middle grade, so the depth of an issue isn’t always there. But that is okay, she is writing through the eyes of a 13-15 year old. Sophie is not going to understand everything, so as a reader, our view of these issues in the story should be simpler.

At the same time, I talk about the intensity of the story. And that means that as an older reader of the series, I understand some things that Sophie doesn’t. The story ages up well, that way. It makes the young reader start to think and the older reader understand the depth that is there.

Who is Keeper of the Lost Cities For?

I think that the young end would be twelve for the series. Though you maybe could go younger just reading it aloud and talking about what is going on. But that depends obviously on how you spend time. I don’t want to assume that people do a story that way. But twelve or thirteen is when I’d say a kid would be up for reading it.

As for getting older, it depends. I think a lot of people around my age and younger so mid-thirties and younger. The story is familiar. It feels a bit like Harry Potter, but in my opinion better. And my generation and younger, we read Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, Twilight, Divergent, Maze Runner and more. Keeper of the Lost Cities contains all of that and more.

Final Thoughts

I love this series. I am reading a few other things right now, but I fully expect to come back to the series and read it all again. And I already pre-ordered the next book in the series. I want to know what is going to come next, and I want to spend more time with these characters in that world.

I really believe that a lot of people are going to enjoy this series as well. Like I said, the story is different, more meaningful than things it feels similar to. Yet it will hit the same beats that you expect from a Middle Grade or Young Adult series and novels. Plus there is a lot to the story, just in terms of how long the story is.

Have you read Keeper of the Lost Cities?

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10. Elves

They almost didn’t make my list, but they are good. I mainly find that the elves are annoying. They don’t lose a troops when they are killed in a battle, so you can run with elves the whole game. So it’s annoying to decide when to go into decline, because you’ll likely always be getting solid points from them. But they are annoying to deal with as well because you can’t kill them to get them off of the board. They can be a bit of a trap race if the combo is wrong because you get decent points each round, but not enough to get close to being in first. But you still keep playing them, because you get decent points.

9. Orcs

This might be higher on some people’s lists, because they can work really well in the right combos. Getting extra coins for taking over spots is always good. But they have limited numbers. Generally, you’ll see, I like the races with a lot of character tokens. But the orcs can be a nice, rush in there, get points, go into decline team. Even something like the special power stout with them works really well because you don’t have to waste a turn while they are in decline getting limited points potentially.

8. Dwarves

Dwarves are another race that has very few tokens. In fact, probably the fewest tokens of any race. But I don’t mind them because they are a good point getting race. The fact you can still get points while in decline is great. I like trying to hide one or two on mountain spots with mines so that I can quickly go into decline but still be collecting a few points a turn from them and put them in that harder to get to spot.

7. Trolls

Trolls are the ultimate turtle team. By that, I mean when you play them, you can possibly just only play them. If you have the right combination with a special power that is giving them some points passively. Merchant for example, which is a special power that I don’t love, but can work with a defensive race. Getting 2 coins, plus being able to more easily defend a location is great. If you can get into the mountains with the trolls, they are hard to get out of there. Plus their lairs stick around when they go into decline. That’s not that common and makes them, hard to move even when they aren’t active.

6. Giants

The next two are pretty similar, I just like the other one slightly better than the giants. Giants give you a discount when attacking down from a mountain. Anything that makes conquering a region easier is really nice. Plus they are coming down from the mountains which gives you better defensive position with them. That said, getting into the mountains in the first place isn’t discounted, so that’s why they are slightly lower than the one to come.

5. Tritons

Tritons are, in my opinion, slightly better than Giants. Mainly because they only care about being next to the shore to get their discount. And most of the maps, you can navigate from shore to shore relatively easily, possibly without ever leaving a shoreline. That makes them a great race to rush a large number of areas. The big reason they are ahead of the giants is that the Tritons are less situational. For the giants, someone could be entrenched in the mountains and make it hard for the giants to get a foothold. For the tritons, they can basically always have a weak spot to start.

4. Skeletons

Now we’re getting into the races that I really keep an eye out for. Skeletons add in more skeletons the more you attack. They are one of two races which grow over time. And while theirs might not be as strong a good combo, something like the special power commando makes them hard to stop. Even without a great combination, you can really push them around the map. They are a good one to come in and squeeze a player who is doing well or wipe out a large group of a race that’s in decline.

3. Amazons

Much like the Skeletons, the Amazons can wreck someone’s strategy. I really like how theirs works in comparison to Skeletons. While with the skeletons you add more, the Amazons actually lose some when it’s not your turn. But then you get them back for attacking. Again something like commando is great for them. Pillaging Amazons is also a little bit crazy with everything that they can do. I will at times seek them out in the right combination over the next two.

2. Ghoul

Ghouls are fun because they are extremely unique. When they go into decline, you don’t take anything off of the board, and they spread like they are an active race. Now you lose your special power, but that’s okay. Being able to attack in multiple different areas keeps people from being able to focus as easily on your troops. And you can get some huge turns depending on who the ghouls are paired up with.

1. Sorcerer

I’m not sure if people would consider this the top race. But I do, for one main reason, they can deal with the elves. But beyond that, they can spread extremely fast. The sorcerers once per player per turn, can replace an adjacent single enemy character with a sorcerer from the supply. In a four or five player game, you can spread quickly. Give them flying or underworld and they can pop up almost anywhere on the board. And like I said, they deal with the elves who don’t lose troops when they die, but being replaced by the sorcerer, they go back into the supply container. It’s hard to find a downside to the sorcerer, unless it’s early game, then players haven’t spread out enough.

Now, if I were to add in stuff from the Underground base game/standalone expansion, and the Be Not Afraid expansion, I could probably change this up. But just the base game, there are a lot of fun characters to try out. What are your favorite races? What is your favorite race and special power combo? For me, I’d have to say flying sorcerers.

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In Dark Sun, magic has failed and corrupted everything. Because of this, casters are despised. But it makes sense in a world where the land has been turned into a desert primarily, magic draws from the life force of the world, and things like metal are extremely rare. Characters are going to be fighting with bone, wood, and obsidian, which are all prone to breaking. The same is true for armor, so no one is really ever safe. With all of that, there is still magic in the world in the way of psionics. More of a mental battle, think of the Doctor Strange weird dimensions that they can get into, almost all races and people have some psionic abilities. Ruling over all the lands are the Sorcerer-Kings. They are the only ones who really have a right to cast spells. And they rule with iron fists. Slavery is common in the lands of the Dark Sun setting. If you’re are able bodied and can be grabbed, you can turned into a slave.

Playing in this setting is going to be about the struggle for survival and making small improvements. You’re more apt to be surviving disasters than you are likely to fix the world. Since magic draws life energy, the world is basically lost at this point. Add in that magic, while a thing, is really frowned upon because it got the world to this point. So if you have a spellcaster in your party, they are going to be an outcast of society. Even clerics are going to be looked at oddly because there are no deities in this setting. Clerics gain their powers from making pacts with powerful elementals, not because of their devotion to a certain deity. It gives them more of a warlock flavor while still having the cleric abilities and this hasn’t even been the case in all editions of D&D. In 4th edition (Dark Sun hasn’t been done for fifth yet), cleric was just not a playable race at all in the Dark Sun settings.

The races also change up as well. Most notably, our friendly halflings now live in tribes ruled by shaman and are cannibals. You can still be a halfling, just know what what means for your character. There are a few other races that were introduced into the world. Thri-Kreen are six legged humanoid mantis folk. Their legs/arms and harder skin allow them to more easily adapt to the dangerous lands of Dark Sun. Aarakocra were another race that were introduced. These are your bird humanoids who are able to fly. Beyond that, you can play most of the normal races without any problem just with slight differences. For example, dwarves in basically all settings are known for their beards and beards can be kind of a status symbol, in Dark Sun, they don’t have hair.

What sort of game would you play in this setting? I would think that it’s going to be heavily focused on survival. Maybe you are a band of former slaves who have escaped their owner, possibly even one of the Sorcerer-Kings, and you need to stay alive. This could mean that you need to stay on the run survive long enough to become strong enough to take on whomever is chasing you down. It could be that you are part of a group who believes that the Sorcerer-Kings are the force that is still corrupting the lands and that if you can take out one or two of them, the lands might return and not be such a wasteland. Or maybe you want to do the D&D version of Mad Max: Fury Road. But, in all the cases, it’s going to be about survival, about making or finding weapons so that you’re never out there defenseless, finding food. It’s going to be a game where you track everything, the arrows you’ve lost, the meals you’ve had, because eventually things are going to run out, will you have found more by the time they do, that’s the question.

So, to wrap this up, would I want to play a game in this setting? Sure, I’d be up for it. The survival nature of the game doesn’t sound highly interesting to me, but because of how the world is created so uniquely, it does seem like it would be a more interesting world to play in. I actually think playing a spellcaster would be interesting in the setting, playing a caster who has the power but doesn’t know if they should be casting spells because of it’s negative effect on the life energy in the world. I don’t know that it would be my first choice, but I’d definitely play in it

How about you, would you or have you played in a Dark Sun game?

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The Hobbit is a semi-cooperative game where players are bidding with dwarf cards to see how far they move on a board, but it’s done at the same time, each spot has a different skill or ability that you can raise the level of, so that when you reach locations in the Hobbit story. There you need to complete challenges, and the person who is doing the best gets first crack at them, but those challenges can be difficult and do you want to push your luck further into the pile to get more treasure early or hope to gain it late. At the same time, as a group you need to complete these challenges otherwise Smaug will advance towards Esgaroth (Laketown). You have to work together to make sure everyone is building up their skills, but you can’t discuss how you’re bidding. This leads to people getting something they don’t need at times or someone being under powered, so you have to be careful with that. But in the end, the dwarf with the most gems wins.

This game is interesting because it’s not that complex. You are playing a card, moving on a board, and getting skills. But the semi-cooperative nature adds in some depth to it. You want to get your skills high fast so that you’re able to collect more gems that’ll win you the game. However, if you do that at the expense of others, then Smaug is going to move more and that can cut short the game. So if someone hogs all the skills early in the game, they can get early gems but those might be worth less than later challenges which would give more gems so even in a short game trying to push the end you could still end up losing. For some people, this semi-cooperative nature isn’t going to work, but for me, and the times that we’ve played it, it’s been fun. Everyone can see what everyone else needs so you’re trying to be strategic getting the skills that you need, but not getting it too out of balance, and inevitably it does with someone being extremely cunning but having no power, and that makes it hard to beat some of the challenges. This semi-cooperative nature can be enhance by adding in the rule that if Smaug reaches Laketown the game is over and everyone loses.

A downside to the game is that it can be a little bit simple. I think the rule that everyone loses if Smaug reaches Laketown is almost needed in the game. Otherwise it can have someone rush to get as much treasure as possible and it’s possible that they will end up winning just because they are the only ones with enough skills. There is still luck with that, though, because to defeat these encounters, you are rolling dice and then supplementing with the skills that you have. I’ve pulled off a win by passing on all the smaller treasure encounters and only grabbing the big ones, and I’ve seen that cause people to lose as well if they get a really poor roll while going for those bigger treasures. I think that first blush the game can be a bit simple and the die rolls a bit too random for some people, but there is more strategy hiding in the game than one might expect.

Let’s talk about the theme a little bit. I think that the semi-cooperative nature works for The Hobbit because while Bilbo isn’t after anything more than an adventures, the dwarves want to get as much as they can and to take back the mountain for the riches that are in there. The greed is what is driving them, and that’s what drives the players in the game. You are trying to get the most gems, because that’s how you’re going to win. For that reason I’d say that it’s fairly thematic, but there’s also just this abstract push your luck piece to it as well. It’s a game that you can bring the theme into it, but one that won’t feel like it has as much theme as it might compared to some other Lord of the Rings/Middle Earth themed games.

Finally, let’s talk about the components. The artwork on the game is really nice. It’s very much art that was done before the movie, so if you’re expecting to see something that’s similar to that, it’s not going to tick that check box for you, but it’s classic Hobbit/Middle Earth art. But the game has plastic little gems which is what really makes it shine on the table. They are very cute and actually very thematic because as players, you want to have the games just to play around with. It’s the same mold that’s being used for other games, like Century: Golem Edition. Beyond that, it’s just a well done production of a game.

Overall, this is a fun game. It’s a light game, as much as I liked to talk about how there is more depth than it first seems, it never has a ton of depth to it. Can you workout where you want to be and get that certain ability or land in a certain spot to make your dwarf better? There’s both luck of the dwarf cards that are dealt to you, which you use to bid, and luck as to what everyone else plays. But the game says it only takes 30-45 minutes, which seems right to me, and so for a lighter game, it doesn’t overstay it’s welcome. I’d recommend this game to people who like Lord of the Rings/Hobbit/Middle Earth, as it has a decent thematic feel to it, and even if they aren’t gamers, it’s pretty easy to understand.

Overall Grade: B-
Gamer Grade: C+
Casual Grade: B

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In Dragonlance, you have a lot of stories and games that are going to be focused around the deities or dragons. Which is classic fantasy and classic Dungeons and Dragons. The deities are active in the world and are regularly fighting each other which of course is going to cause problems in the world that the adventurers are going to need to take care. The world where the characters join in is already going to be at the point where things have gone poorly and they are going to be fighting to bring things back to some level of good, or at least to keep the world from ending.

Dragonlance, being that it’s an earlier world doesn’t have the fully fleshed out set of races. While you’re going to have your classic races, Elves, Dwarves, and Humans, some of the other ones such as gnomes, halflings, tieflings, etc. aren’t going to be in this world. Much of this comes, again, from the time when this was created. Those other races were added onto Dungeons and Dragons at a later time. However, with that, because it’s been around so long, there are some well known NPC’s that you can interact with in the world. Raistlin is probably the most well known. He’s an extremely powerful mage, probably the most powerful in the land, so while he’s dealing with the bigger things, it would make sense then for the players to deal with smaller things that aren’t worth Raistlin’s notice.

So why would you play in this world? It’s fairly generic, and you don’t have the options that would be there in The Forgotten Realms which is also generic. I think that the reason you’d play here is that it’s going to have that grittier feel. If you wanted to play in a more generic settings but one that is darker and grittier, The Forgotten Realms is about being heroic, and while Dragonlance can have that feeling as well, it’s not going to be handed to you as much. Your characters will have to fight their way for it keeping track of everything. Now, that isn’t going to be for a lot of people. I would say that this is for the people who care more for the simulation piece of Dungeons and Dragons and a little bit less about the role playing piece. Not to say that you couldn’t play that more heroic style of game in Dragonlance, but what can set it apart is going less that direction and delving more into the darker and grittier side of fantasy.

As for the sort of games, it’s going to be the big epics. Eventually, your characters will be up there fighting with Raistlin against some deity or taking care of some dragon that he doesn’t have time for. It’s a world that is on the swords edge of falling into just complete war and chaos, which is what one of the gods wants, and the players will need to fight back those forces. You can do more stories in the world as well, but with the history and lore that is in place, that’s going to be a common style of game, is keeping Dragonlance and the lands of Krynn from falling into chaos and destruction that they can’t come back from. Again, leaning towards more of that fight for survival in a world that’s falling apart versus a grand heroic adventure.

So, would I play a game in Dragonlance? I’d play a game in any D&D setting, but I really don’t care to play in Dragonlance. Because it’s older, it would feel like an older setting with more constraints on what I can play and do. And this idea that it’s this darker and grittier world, just make something really bad happen in the Forgotten Realms or Eberron and you can gain that same survivalist feeling. So if I want this generic fantasy feel and to have that survival and darker setting, I can do that, I can even make it more unique in some other settings, so for me Dragonlance is a setting that’s had it’s moment and I really don’t care if I’d play in it.

Would you play or run a game in Dragonlance? Have you played a game in that setting before?

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Forgotten Realms
This is a high fantasy setting where you’re going to see all the content (almost) from Wizards of the Coast coming out in. It’s your typical fantasy setting where Dwarves act like Dwarves and Elves act like Elves. This setting can be seen as a little bit vanilla in how standard it is, but it also makes it an amazing jumping off point for new players because it has a level of familiarity to it. The main cities in the Forgotten Realms are going to be Waterdeep and Baldur’s Gate.

Eberron
Eberron is a very different setting than your typical fantasy setting. Magic is basically used as technology in this world. And it isn’t just a world where you have your standard races that you can play, there are shifters, changlings, and monstrous races that you can play as well. What also makes this setting unique is that the setting and call the adventures are set after this great war has ended when a country wiped off the map do to some cataclysm, but it’s never stated what it is, so it leaves it open for players and DM’s to decide for their campaign. The setting is very pulp and noir in it’s feel.

Ravenloft
Another different sort of setting where it’s less your standard fantasy setting and more focused on a Victorian Gothic setting. It is also going to be focused on a lower level of magic. The land is ruled by a vampire, Strahd, that is basically locked into the cursed land and most adventures set in Ravenloft are going to be about finding out Strahd’s history and then dealing with him. In 5th Edition the Curse of Strahd adventure pulls players from the Forgotten Realms and sticks them into this setting that is different than the world that they know and they are stuck there until they can defeat Strahd, if they ever leave.

Dragonlance
One of the first, if not the first D&D setting, Dragonlance is going to be another epic fantasy setting. The world is greatly influenced by the deities and a lot of the stories revolve around the good deities fighting the evil deities or the return of dragons after centuries of absence. It’s going to be much more in the standard version of fantasy and another good jumping off world that you could use to introduce Dungeons and Dragons.

Grey Hawk
As compared to the epic fantasy settings, Grey Hawk is more of a sword and sorcery setting. It is going to be darker and more dangerous for your characters. Magic is going to be less common than some settings. Grey Hawk is more of a world that is on it’s way out and the adventures that you might be more about keeping the world going versus bringing the world into a new great place which some Epic Fantasy stories can focus on more so.

Spelljammer
Now, if you want something completely different. Spelljammer is kind of a setting, but it can hit up most settings as you have magically powered space ships. This is going to be a game where you want to hop between a lot of worlds, have grand space exploration sort of adventures, versus a more traditional traveling adventure like Lord of the Rings. It really isn’t something that they’d call it’s own setting anymore, but it’s something that you could easily focus on to move between the worlds in your own campaign.

Dark Sun
This used to be a great world, but now, magic has defiled and the land and use of magic can make it even worse. And there is a god-like Sorcerer King who is ruling and can you stay out of their wrath or will they crush you and your party as you try to survive the harsh lands. Dark Sun is going to be a lower magic game that is much more focused on the survival throughout the lands and avoiding the halflings who are jungle cannibals. There are some new races that you can play in this setting as well and one of the biggest types of magic is psionics.

Birthright
If you want to play that extremely epic nation level game, Birthright is going to be the setting of you. In Birthright every player is going to be connected to a nation and have some sort of royal blood. These campaigns are going to be more about that nation ruling, epic wars, versus that smaller adventuring party. Birthright is a setting you’re going to have to come up with or tweak combat for to make it done at a bigger scale.

Planescape
This setting wraps several planes of existence into a single setting. It also takes it out of the normal medieval fantasy setting and puts it into a more Victorian and pseudo-steam punk world. There is a city of Sigil which is the home base for the players and is generally where you are going to be sending them out to the other planes to have their adventures and then returning back to Sigil to resupply, recover, and get new adventures.

Now, that’s just the start of Dungeons and Dragons settings. There are new ones being created as well as old ones that might come back. Most of these settings don’t have official books for fifth edition, but if you find older world setting books, you’d be able to turn them into something that you can use in 5e.

Do you have a favorite setting or is there a setting that you’ve really wanted to play in?

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I think that the criminal underworld is one of those things that is tricky to get right in a city. I find that it tends to go to one of two extremes. Either, there is little to none criminal activity in the city because you’re just supposed to shop there and not look for trouble or look beyond the surface of where you’re at, or everyone is involved in a conspiracy. Now, both have some issues, the main one being that it isn’t all that realistic. We know that organized crime and gangs exist in the real world, and they have throughout history, so why is a D&D town different? It shouldn’t be.

Let’s get back to Greenfang though, what sort of criminals are going to be there?

Outside of the town you’re definitely going to have a larger number of bandits than you would normally watching the roads because they are going to be trying to hit up caravans, or, more likely, they are going to try and deal with adventuring parties that come into town for the auctions on goods because they are going to be loaded with money and not yet have the gear that they want. Most likely there is going to be more organized group that is pretty specific on whom they hit. Then there will be a few who have split off from that group or who try and go it on their own from the start who end up having shorter careers as bandits.

The organized group of bandits, The Green Falcons, are going to know to avoid the merchant guild caravans because those are going to have better guards, and even if they don’t, the merchant guilds are going to hit back hard with their mercenaries if they lose a caravan. So, the Green Falcons are likely going to try and keep the random bandits down as well, like the merchant guilds would want, because the merchant guilds would crack down on all bandits if they lost a caravan. The Green Falcons would also have people in the city who are sending information back out to the bandit camp wherever that is located. It probably wouldn’t be someone in every guild, but there would probably be a couple around who are gathering information when a guild is going to send out mercenaries to crack down on the bandits.

Beyond that, I think Greenfang is going to be more focused on the white collar crimes. That’s what the guilds are going to crack down on but also what the cons that people are going to try and pull. You likely always have dirty money changers who are keeping some extra for themselves. The merchant guilds are probably going to consider that the cost of doing business and as long as it’s not too much, they won’t make a stink about it.

I think, also with so much money being in town you are going to find that there is gambling. I would suspect that there is some guild in town that all they do is run different fights, tournaments and stuff like that to keep people entertained, especially since it’s in the middle of no where. But that’s probably fairly tame and while someone might die, it probably doesn’t happen too often. So, most likely there is going to be something going on under the table, a secret gambling den either for fights, games or chance or possibly both. This is going to be ignored by the merchant guilds because it doesn’t take any money from their pockets, just the pockets of their employees.

So Greenfang is definitely going to have a criminal side to the town. There’s probably even a good amount of money to be made if you are careful about it, and at all points in time there is probably someone trying to get rich by scamming one of the guilds. In your game, that’s useful for your story because you can either have your adventuring party brought in to help stop it sometime. Your adventuring party, though, might be blamed for it if they have been in the town too long and because they are the “new” people. Also, a battle or two with bandits seems very likely since they aren’t probably going to be coming in with a caravan. Or it’s possible that the players are brought in to deal with some bandits as part of a larger crackdown and some extra bodies are needed. The thing with all of these story hooks is that they aren’t going to be your whole game, but a good bit of combat if you want something simpler and also a good way to get your players involved with the guilds if you need it for your story line.

Next, we’re going to talk about religion in the city as well as how the city might physically be laid out.

But the last big things about a Dungeons and Dragons town and with Greenfang is religion. Dungeons and Dragons has it baked into it’s core with Clerics and Paladins having divine magic, that means, it’s going to play an important part in any city that is built up, because people can just see this magic.

So what sort of religion is likely to have shown up in Greenfang?

You’re looking at three primary groups that would be there. While I’m sure that most dwarven and human deities would show up in a large city, especially one surrounding ore, there would be three more powerful ones for Greenfang.

First, you are going to have the temples for the god or goddess who protect people as they travel. There are several of these around the city with a larger central one by the guild halls. The merchants and mercenaries who travel stop by to drop off a coin or say a prayer at the smaller temples, but w hen a bigger group is heading out, there might be some pomp around it at the main temple. The traveler god/goddess gets worship or offerings from even those who might not believe fully in them, just out of the traditions of Greenfang. There is completely circumstantial evidence that if you give an offering that you’re more likely to have a safe trip. Even those who know that there is no connection still don’t want to risk it.

Then, the Dwarves have a strong presence simply because of the ore. That means you are getting temples to the dwarven deity for both safety in mining and also with the forge. There is a singular giant hall for this, but many come there. The dwarves have actually set-up a smaller one in the mines that only dwarves are allowed into, but for the larger groups and non-dwarves, there is the main location. Most all guilds give some sort of tithe there, even if they aren’t dwarves, again out of respect and tradition, but also because it keeps the dwarven workers happier to know that they are respecting their deity.

Finally, there are the deities of trade. Probably the second biggest after the god/goddess of travel, the deities of trade and money are also worshiped by many. While the other temples consider their role in the city to be one that is more serious as it is about the safety of the individuals who give an offering and pray there, the temples for trade and money host extravagant celebrations to keep the mood of the city good. Almost monthly there are different feasts, holidays, and festivals. They do it to show how much the deities are blessing the town as well as keeping morale up. There are temples throughout the city, and people have their preferred one to worship at. In fact, each guild will worship at a different one, just to show that their temple and their priests and priestesses are better than the others, hence so many celebrations demonstrating this fact. While the guilds might be loathe to give up money, they also want to attract the best workers, and by flouting their wealth through the temples, they are able to show their strength.

Now, there are many more deities that will show up. The master craftsmen who are making armor and weapons have deities that they have little shrines to for creativity and art. You can tell what part of the continent they come from based off of what the deity looks like. Plus there are deities for weather, crops, hunting, and other trades that are needed in the city that have popped up as well. And even deities that don’t tie into anything that’s done in Greenfang simply because they wanted to spread their word. But all of these pale in comparison to the big three. Whenever any of those three has a large event, Greenfang almost comes to a standstill as people celebrate.

We now have our economy, politics, crime, religion, and layout generally figure out. It would be easy to create a bunch of note cards with random NPC’s on them to fill out the town and to create the different wares that will be in some shops. I’m going to do that coming up here, but it won’t have to be specific to Greenfang, though it might be so I can continue building out the city.

I hope that this has been an interesting exercise. It has been interesting for me to think about as I’ve mainly built cities that are along the coast which definitely can have a different feel or cities that need to be more defensible. I hope to get Greenfang into a game soon.

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Alright, the article is done, you can all go home now.

No, let’s talk a bit more about it and start to talk about where and what this city is.

Greenfang, as a name, doesn’t imply this big sprawling metropolis with a lot of rich people who want a nice and comfortable life. I would put, and I think for the city, it out into the wilderness. Probably deep in the woods on a river. The reason that there’s a city there is a little bit limited. Greenfang is probably other a hub of trade, meaning that it has several different trade routes going into and out of it, or it’s a logging community that then sends everything down the river, or both.

For my city, Greenfang was a small trading post, but things changed when ore was found in one of the nearby mountains. Now, dwarves trade ore from the mountains with humans and elves and whomever is willing to buy. While shipping the ore down the river worked to reach some of their potential customers, other peddlers and the like started creating roads through the woods, and more powerful merchant guilds from neighboring lands have hired mercenaries to watch the forest routes. The forest routes are the most dangerous, but players want the ore and the armor/weapons that the dwarves are forging.

Greenfang, since it wasn’t much of a town until there was ore, so the name hasn’t been made fancy, and it’s probably more of a rough and tumble town. And it’s probably something where the city has spread out into the forest and to both sides of the river. I think that it’s more of a sprawling city, versus something that gets built up with tall buildings. These buildings are a bit more rustic and rough looking, most of them wood buildings with a few of the larger buildings being a combination of stone and wood, but there are no pure stone buildings or any buildings that stand more than two levels in height.

You can see what the name is able to imply. I’ll dig into some of the ideas that I’ve talked about here and how they are going to continue to to shape the idea for the city in the next article. In fact, the next article is going to dig into the trade aspect to see how the city might be set-up and spread out and how a city building up because of ore will look differently than other cities.

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So, we’ve talked about this a little bit. Greenfang is a town that doesn’t have much in terms of it’s own resources. It was instead built in the wilderness close enough to the mountains to be able to handle shipping of ore, and because of that, multiple different trade routes were started to get the ore heading out more directions than just down the river. And that, then made Greenfang into a town that has a lot of trade going through it and a good hub for secondary headquarters for merchant guilds.

So the town is really full of merchants and that’s where most of the money is changing hands. But because of the proximity to the mountains and ore, you’d have a few other businesses pop up. Obviously, you are going to need inns for the merchant guild members who are coming in to get the newest shipment of goods from their guild. Plus, people who are hunting for food or growing some food, though, that is most of what is shipped and brought back into Greenfang. That, and goods that are specific or well known from the cities at the end of the trade routes.

But there is another group that would have definitely moved into the area and probably into Greenfang, and that is master crafters who forge the ore. If they can buy it before it goes through a reseller, that means that they are getting it at a better value, and then they probably sell to multiple different guilds. In fact, since this is my city, they actually hold a monthly auction for these master worked weapons and armor and other things so that the guilds bid it up and the master crafters can get the best money. In Greenfang the auction day is basically a holiday that everyone attends. A non-guild member can buy items, but most of the items are sold in bulk because the master crafters have apprentices who are turning out things in bulk like pots, etc. which are cheaper to buy when they are made in Greenfang and shipped out, than raw ore shipped out and smelted elsewhere, though that still happens.

Now that we are seeing where the money is flowing through Greenfang, we can start to see who has power. I think that there is a high council in the town that is technically supposed to be neutral, but every seat is going to be attached to a guild and is probably a guild member or related to a guild member. The high council is going to be focused on what is best for keeping the business running strong for a long time. This can lead to some contentions when a new guild tries to get established and steal out a council seat from under another guild. It also can cause troubles when a guild needs something specific, but generally the guilds ideas all align because they care about keeping their guild making money by selling goods, so the ideals don’t diverge too much.

The merchant guilds are also going to be the ones in charge of protection. While there might be an official standing guard, they are basically used to split up disputes between squabbling merchant guilds, or to run new guilds out of town before they can be established if the new guild is bugging enough of the old merchant guilds. But the protection around the city, most of that is done by the merchant guilds who have a good number of mercenary soldiers. They keep them busy keeping the roads out of the town clear so that their caravans can stay safe. This means both dealing with bandits which tend to give Greenfang a wide birth, but also wild animals that might show up. Most everyone in Greenfang can deal with something like a rabid fox or maybe even a wolf, but for larger or more monstrous creatures, the merchant guilds send in the mercenaries.

Greenfang in general is fairly rough and tumble for being as large as city as it is. But it’s also in the middle of nowhere, so the faint of heart aren’t that apt to travel to it, and they also aren’t that apt to stay. So on the criminal side, while they crack down hard on things like stealing from the merchant guilds, other things that are technically not legal in the nation are allowed here. The city guard is kept somewhat busy busting up bar fights or dealing with drunks in the street. But stealing something is cracked down on hard, so that isn’t much of an issue. It’s more apt that someone will stab another person or a slight than someone would steal something.

We’ve made it into Greenfang a little bit, and we can start to see how the city is running. We can see why a city was built up there and how it’s running. Next time we’re going to look a bit at the criminal aspect and what other groups besides the merchant guilds and master crafters might be out there.

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