How To Play Astro Knights

Astro Knights is a deck building and boss battling game. Your end goal is to defeat the boss. You need to do that before the boss runs out of level cards, we’ll talk about those, knocks out both characters, or destroys the home world that you are defending.

Player Turns

Turns consist of players firing weapons that they have in play. Playing out weapons and spending the currency to buy more cards. The weapons you fire go into your discard pile. Then any cards you buy go into your discard. Finally, you set the order of the cards going into your discard pile that you play out. While most of them are just currency, there are tech cards as well that might be in the mix.

When you spend your currency there are three things that you spend it on. The first is buying more cards. These are weapons, more currency, or tech cards. You also can unlock more slots to hold more weapons. And finally, you can power up your character. Each character has their own special ability that needs varying number of power-ups charged to make it work. Each power up costs two currency, and each slot coats three. Cards depend on that card.

Then you draw up to your hand size of five cards. If you run out of cards to draw, you flip the discard pile. You don’t shuffle the discard pile, you just flip it, and you draw from there. So if you plan things out, you can set-up combos for yourself or keep a good distribution of purchase power and weapons.

Boss Turns

The boss also gets a turn. Each boss is going to play differently and have some unique rules. But there are some elements that are always the same. First, you activate anything, either on the boss or minions, that says activate. Then you draw a new card. It is either going to be a minion, which goes into play, or an action card. If it is an action card, do what it says and discard it.

If the boss is out of cards you shuffle up the boss cards. And you play out the next level of card for that boss. Generally bosses have a few levels that you play through. The levels generally add a new condition, like the boss powering up, and additional health to the minions. And as I said, if the boss needs to shuffle to draw a card and there are no level cards, you lose the game.

The final thing here, with one thing for the differences between Astro Knight and Aeon’s End coming later, is that turn order is random. In a two player game there are two cards for player one, two for player two and two for the boss. You shuffle those up and randomly flip them out. It is possible to get the boss going four turns in a row. Or it’s possible for the players to go eight turns in a row.

What’s Different from Aeon’s End

The Boss Cards

There are are a few differences between Aeon’s End and Astro Knights. The first being what I talked about with the boss. In Aeon’s End, the boss never reshuffles their cards. I like this element of the game because it gives the boss an interesting timing mechanism and a chance to beef up in power as they level up. Now it isn’t the cards that level up but the boss and that makes it easier to table.

In Aeon’s End, you would need to pull out boss cards and other cards to mix together to make the boss deck. Here, each boss has their own deck. And you only need to sort the cards in there a little bit to create the starting deck. Because the starting deck is determined by the player count. So fewer players, the faster the boss is going to shuffle up their cards.

The Card Market

One element that I glossed over in the how to play is purchasing cards. I think if you are familiar with a deck builder you know how that works. But the market is a bit different. In Aeon’s End you have nine cards. There are three piles of currency, two of artifacts (or tech in Astro Knights terms) and four for your spells (weapons in Astro Knights). All the cards in each pile are going to be the same.

In Astro Knights the market is a bit different. You still have piles of cards that are specific types of things. Two are going to be piles for currency, cheap and more expensive, one for tech, and then three for weapons. The big thing is that the piles are not all the same card. Instead, they are cards in a range. The first weapon pile, for example, is weapons that cost two or three. Then the next one is four through six. And the last one is even or higher.

So, you won’t know what is going to be flipped. But if one weapon or tech doesn’t synergize well with a character, you don’t have a whole stack of only that weapon like you do in Aeon’s End with spells.

But these are the two big differences for the game. Now back to the normal review. I just wanted to call these out so if you’re like me and love Aeon’s End, you’ll know if the differences are enough for you.

What Doesn’t Work

I think the one thing that I’d say here is that the market can sometimes not be great. If you end up with cards either that don’t work with your character that well, or are on the upper price of their pile, you might have a turn where there isn’t much to buy. Now, that is when you power up or buy a new slot. But you can’t assume or plan that a card is going to be there to buy.

The game is also like Aeon’s End where I think that it is probably better as a solo or two player game. The reason for that is that at higher player counts the turn order deck is going to change. You always have four player cards and two boss cards. So at a four player game it is possible that someone could be first one shuffle and last the next shuffle. That means that they have ten turns between their turns.

What Works

Now as a two player game, I want to say, or solo, this is great. Because it is an even number of turns you never way too long. Plus, there is an element of excitement that can come going back to back. Or even having three or four player turns in a row. Because it means you can do a lot of damage to the boss.

I really like how the bosses work. This is one area where I definitely see it as a step above from Aeon’s End. But I think this is one area where it is nicer. I like how each boss has it’s own deck of cards. That means it is easier to play any given boss. But it’s also fun with the level up. You feel like the game is escalating in difficulty. And while I get that feeling in Aeon’s End as well, Astro Knights is a bit smoother.

I like the ease of set-up of the game as well. I just said that the boss is easier to get out and play, it is very true. But it is also easier for the market as well. For me the changes to the market are kind of “meh”. I like having the fixed market in Aeon’s End because you can create some interesting strategies around it. But at the same time, this is faster to set-up. I don’t need to look for specific piles or cards, are just shuffle up and go with them.

Who Is Astro Knights For?

I think this is a game for people who like Aeon’s End but want a game to get to the table easier. Or people who like Sci-Fi and deck building and maybe don’t like fantasy as well. It isn’t enough of a change from Aeon’s End that Astro Knights would be a game you like if you don’t like Aeon’s End. But if you like deck building, I think that you’ll enjoy it. And it is probably great, like I said, for that ease of getting it to the table compared to Aeon’s End.

Final Thoughts on Astro Knights

I enjoy this game a lot. I’m not sure that I like it better than Aeons’ End though. Some of that is that Aeon’s End has had a legacy version, and I enjoy a good legacy game. Plus I own so much for Aeon’s End that I have an insane amount of variety.

But I do think there is a difference between the two that are going to keep both in my collection. Mainly, Aeon’s End is a game that I need to plan out when I’m going to play it. For that reason, it is more likely that I will play it solo. But Astro Knights, on the other hand, with the ease of set-up and ease of getting the boss ready, that is going to be a game where I can see playing it randomly and just pulling it off the shelf. Both, though, still have the limitation that I would probably only play them as solo or at two.

My Grade: A
Casual Grade: B
Gamer Grade: B+
Strategy (out of 10): 7
Luck (out of 10): 5

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How To Play Imhotep

Imhotep is a pretty simple game to play. On your turn you take one of three actions. You either add a stone from your quarry to a ship. You sail a ship to one of the locations. Or you gather more stone so it is ready for you to use. That’s it, the three actions that you do, and you do them over six rounds until all four ships have sailed to locations.

When you sail a boat you go to one of those different locations. But you can’t sail a boat unless it has enough stones on it. And you can sail any boat. You don’t need stones to be on the boat to sail it. So let’s talk about the locations you can sail to.

Locations

The main part of the game are the five locations. Each one of them is going to give you something different to do, but generally it’s about placing your cubes and scoring points. There is one that is different that we’ll get to, and how each scores points is different.

Obelisks

The Obelisks will be the first location that I talk about. When you sail to that location you add your stones to your obelisk as do your opponents. Whomever at the end of the game has the most stones on their obelisk is going to score the most points, and then fewer points as you go down in height.

Tomb

Next up there is the Tomb. The tomb scores at the end of the game and you score for your areas in the tomb. The larger the area that more points it’s going to score for as scoring scales. And each of your areas is going to score separately at the end of the game. Stones for the tomb and the rest of them are always placed in the order they come off the boat, front to back.

Temple

Then we have the Temple. The temple scores each round. And you score points for each of your cubes visible from the top. Depending on player count the temple is longer and offers more scoring each round that way. Once the temple reaches it maximum length for the player count, you start a second row.

Pyramid

After the temple is going to be Pyramid. The pyramid is built up throughout the game. You start with a three by three base level. Then as you move up it goes to two by two and then a single one on top. Each of the spots has a specific value associated with it. And if more stones are brought to the pyramid than can be placed, each extra stone scores a single point.

Market

Finally there is the Market. The Market doesn’t give you points directly. In the market you gain cards. The cards might give you a special action, bonus scoring for a location, an immediate affect, or set collection scoring. The two scoring you just keep by you for the end of the game. The action will take place instead of your main action. And the immediate affect is, well, immediate.

After six rounds are played the total scoring is tallied. And the player with the most points is going to win the game. I’m sure that there are tiebreakers as well, but you can figure those out when and if you need them.

What Doesn’t Work

I do think there is one flaw that can happen in the game. The game can get stuck in a rut if players aren’t being a bit daring. What do I mean by that? It is probably to your advantage to fill up a boat before sailing it. Because that’s going to limit the number of cubes you can get out. If everyone does that, though, then the game can become stale. Yes, it matters where you end up with your stone still, but it loses some of the fun of the game.

I have only played a game where this became an issue. And I think that is because once a player starts doing it, all other players need to follow suit at least somewhat. Otherwise the one player is potentially going to run away with the stone advantage. Now, you can also stick them in spots, especially just giving them the most stones on the obelisk, but it does make the game less fun.

What Works

So that is a flaw with the game up there. But otherwise I really think the game can sing when played as it’s meant to be played. The game works really well when players are sailing boats early, either to optimize their scoring or the hurt others. And that’s the great cat and mouse of the game. You play a single stone into a boat that holds a single stone, I might sail that to the spot that is least useful for you. It really works best when you get in the other people’s way.

I also like how all of the scoring is different. Each location is going to give you some solid points throughout or at the end of the game. And the scoring you can get from the market, like a point for every three stones in the temple, for example, helps you formulate a strategy because those bonus points can help a lot. It also means that your strategy can be different every game if you want.

Next up, I think the game nails the game speed of play and game length. You feel like you get to do a bunch Imhotep. But it always feels like you want to do just a bit more. Especially when you see a partially filled ship sail, I always wish I could have gotten one more stone on it. But turns go fast, and the game with six rounds lets you do a lot and really optimize some scoring.

Who is Imhotep For?

I think this is a good game for a lot of people. Mainly because it is simple to learn what to do in the game. Then as you play you get to explore more scoring options and challenges of the game. And because there isn’t a ton of variety in the game, it’s going to be one that is easy for people to pull back out and play again.

Final Thoughts on Imhotep

I very much enjoy this game. In fact I picked up a copy of it. And when I can find the New Dynasty Expansion for it I will. The downside is that the expansion is not easy to come by so it’s not that cheap. And the most reasonable priced ones that I found on eBay didn’t ship to the US, to bummer for me.

But that is it that got me to buy the game? I think it’s the different scoring mechanisms. Each of them really does give you a great new way to play the game. And while they are fixed, so I’m a little bit worried that it might become stale over time, it is an easy to play and table game. It falls into that category of a game that I’ll like to pull off the shelf once or twice a year when I don’t know what else to play and I want to a puzzle to get to that is going to be different each time.

My Grade: B+
Gamer Grade: B
Casual Grade: B
Strategy Level (out of 10): 6
Luck Level (out of 10): 4

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How To Play Vegetable Stock

Vegetable Stock is a simple game of drafting and vegetable market manipulation. It is played over six rounds, and the veggies you draft, you want them to be worth the most at the end of the game. Each round a number of the player plus one. In turn order players draft a card with three vegetable symbols on it.

The last card, the one not drafted, is what determines the market. It pushes the vegetables on it higher in price. But if you push too high, the market crashes and resets. But don’t worry, it can climb up again. After the six rounds, players multiple their number of veggies by the current value of those veggies and the person with the most valuable vegetables wins.

What Doesn’t Work

Just minor nitpicks here. Firstly, this is a game that is nearly impossible to find. I ordered it from Taiwan Boardgame Design and had it shipped from Taiwan. That is the only way that I could find it. So if this game looks fun, know that it’s a bit of work to get it. The price isn’t too bad, though a bit higher than if you could get it locally, for what is basically a deck of cards.

The other thing is that I wish it came with a score pad. Yes, it would add to the box size, possible. But there is room for more in the box, though the box is small. Give me a score pad and let me do the scoring on that. My math skills are good from playing board games and just decent in general. It is a lot of numbers to hold in your head to multiply one veggies times three then count up another group of veggies to multiply by four and then add those two numbers together. A score sheet would make it simpler.

What Works

As for what works, I think the core of the game is solid. The drafting is very nice because it is a choice, but the choices are limited. On your turn you do one thing, you draft a card. So turns are quick that way. But as the game progresses you start to think about what card you are leaving behind. The decision space is small, but there are decisions to make in the game.

The stock market works as well. This goes into that decision that you make. When it’s your turn to pick, you think about what you are leaving behind and how it will influence the stock market. Because sometimes you might have a lot of a single card and if it crashes that would ruin your score. So drafting more of that is good, but you other times need to let it crash, maybe early, so you can push it back up again.

And the time frame of the game is great. A two player game takes 10 minutes. More players, sure it takes longer, but the turns are snappy. And if people know how to play, a lot of the judgments on what to take and leave can be done more quickly, especially early in the game.

Who Is It For

This is a filler game through and through. I think for more casual gamers it might fit into that category with games like Skip Bo or Uno. Where the idea is play a short game and enjoy that experience. But for gamers, I think it is also a good filler game. There is more going on than a lot of fillers. You manipulate that stock market. It is a decision versus some fillers which are just actions for the sake of filling up time. So I think that Vegetable Stock can work for a lot of people.

Final Thoughts – Vegetable Stock

This is a fun filler game. It is one that plays well with a wide range, 2-6, of players. Now, there is more randomness with more players because at six you only control the final card one time. But it’s such a fast filler that I think it’s a moot point for the most part. You hope that how you manipulate and how cards come out that it’ll end like you want. And at lower player counts there is more control and thought put into it.

And it is a game that I’ve found I shuffle up and play again when I play it. The game is so fast that it’d work for a lunch time game with co-workers, between classes, or at a restaurant waiting for your food to come. And once a game is done, I play again because I have more time. Which to me is a sign of a good filler. You want it to fill the time, but not to over fill the time. And some filler games might give you 30 minutes of light game or a random amount of time. Vegetable Stock doesn’t do that. It is a set time that works well.

My Grade: B
Gamer Grade: B
Casual Grade: B+

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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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There are two real ways that a city can grow, you can either grow up or you can grow out. And for a fantasy game, you really do have the option for either of those. With the use of magic, you’d be able to build a city that stands higher than it should. And, for places that need to be highly defensible, you are probably going to build higher up. Greenfang, however, is in the middle of nowhere and every nation that does trade with them might want to take it over, but they are going to be concerned about retaliation from multiple fronts.

So with Greenfang, it’s a city that has spread out. There aren’t hard edges defined as people can just cut down more trees to get more room to build houses. It’s grown out further on one side of the river where the first settlement was, but as it’s grown into a city, both sides of the river have houses and there are ferries that run often to shuttle people across. Compared to most cities of the size of Greenfang, it’s a much larger foot print as in giant forest, houses can spread out more. There were houses that were built outside of the town that is now part of the city proper, sometimes to the chagrin of their original owner.

Now that we know how it grew out, is there any rhyme or reason to how it grew?

There are a few areas that are probably worth noting. Near the river on the larger side you have the town hall and it’s the primary location for most of the guilds. From there are some shops that have popped up around there as one of the market locations. But further from the river and on the other side of the river there are more market locations. There are also random shops attached to houses, though, most of the business is done in the markets. The guild artisan smiths who came to get direct access to the ore have their own area of the town. In the center of that is a large open space where they hold their auctions.

There isn’t a ton more rhyme or reason to how Greenfang is laid out. There are inns, a few random shops, temples and churches throughout the town. As new places came, they built at the edge of town, pushing other business further in. Some of the inns a little bit into the town have gone out of business because the ones at the edges for convenience, or those nicer ones by the guild halls get most of the business. A fair number of the temples are just inns that have been updated some into a place or worship as a cheaper option than building a new place, plus, it helps keep them more centralized. That can be an interesting time as some of the temples have blood on the floor where it got stained when the place was still an inn.

Towards the outskirts on the downstream side of Greenfang is the slum neighborhoods. This is where those who weren’t able to hack it in the mine live. It’s rough living conditions because they can’t afford good building supplies, but they are actually fairly well fed because of proximity to fish in the river and creatures in the woods. In the slums, having a good bow and arrow is extremely important to your survival and is the possession that you keep in the best shape. As compared to other slums in other cities, especially those with nobles, it’s actually fairly nice. Compared to others, the people there are more competent since they were able to travel all the way out to Greenfang and survive.

There’s more for how a city would be laid out, but that is the general of what you need to start to create your town. Are there any places that you think that I should have talked about? This city really was founded on a population that would be there for a bit and then leave when new guild members came in, but it’s developed over time to be a much larger and booming city that does more business than just trading of ore and other goods.

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