Game in the Brain

Random Village Generation v0.1

A quick random village generator. It is intended to be used with Medieval Demographics Made easy. Useful accompaniments and reading: Lisa J. Steele’s Fief, Grain to Gold, Pyramid’s Building Low-Tech Landscapes I and II.

Roll 3d	Population	Product	Power Center	Problems	Disposition	Wealth
3-6	3d x 5	Mine/Forestry	Freeman	Civil Disupte	dangerous	Destitute
7-9	3d x 10	Low Grains	Clergy	Logistical	troublesome	Poor
10-12	3d x 30	High Grains	Bureaucrat	Abuse	Indifferent	Struggling
13-15	3d x 50	Pasture	Aristocrat	Failed Venture	friendly	Sustainable
16-18	3d x 100*	Luxury Produce	Military	Banditry	helpful	Prospering

Population

16-18 is practically a small town or a market village.

Roll 1d

1-2 seasonal market

3-4 small market

5 a small guild of artisans

6 sizable market

Product.

Roll twice for Primary and Secondary.

Mine/Forestry.

Roll 1d

1-5 Forestry

6 Mine or Quarry

Forestry

Roll 1d

1-3 Lumber

4-5 Game

6 Special Product

Mine

Roll 1d

1-2 Quarry

3-4 Iron

5 Copper, Tin

6 Precious Gems or Metals

Low Grains

Roll 1d

1-4 Feed Grain

5-6 Hedge

High Grains

typically Wheat, Rice can only be grown in the Jordan valley.

Pasture

Roll 1d

1-3 Sheep

4-5 Cow

6 Horse

Luxury Produce

Roll 1d

1-3 Olive Grove

4-5 Fruit Orchard

6 Vineyard

Power Center

Freeman – the rare independent self made man or woman, who seems to hold the people together through force of will.

Clergy – the religious authority, typically a stationed novice or monk.

Bureaucrat – the legal authority representative of a higher absent one.

Aristocrat – the powerful Land owners

Military – the martial authority, either terrorizing, disciplining, or protecting the inhabitants.

Problems.

Civil Dispute – a serious neighborly dispute that can get the entire village up in arms. This serious problem can have very petty beginnings that just escalated out of control.

Logistical – A problem managing resources or what can end up as a failed venture. Unlike failed venture, the community is buzzing or struggling to fix this before a deadline.

Abuse – the most common problem, given medieval civics. It usually begins with authority or power. It doesn’t have to have a direct relationship with the village inhabitants. This is essentially more powerful people causing trouble with the villagers.

Failed venture – the village is suffering from some loss or shortage. A classic example is the primary or secondary product failed and will cause the entire village to suffer. Problems with the village infrastructure projects is also quite common: not enough resources to complete the new mill, granary, palisade, holdfast, irrigation etc…

The Disposition.

Roll this secretly.

Dangerous – potentially dangerous or out-right hostile.

Troublesome – the type that can easily lead to problems with the PCs.

Indifferent – (self explanatory)

friendly – (self explanatory)

helpful – (self explanatory)

Wealth

Annual Income per Family and definition

Destitute ($1440 and below) – Sharecroppers who are poorly compensated.

Poor ($1500-$1560) – Sharecroppers who are barely making enough

Struggling ($1560-$1620) – A growing working class

Sustainable ($1620-$1680) – A strong working class and the start of a middle class.

Prospering ($1680+) – Sizable working class and middle class.

Village NPC encounter

roll 1d (and secretly roll disposition)

1 The Elder or Head

2 the Bailife or Caretaker

3 the clergy

4 the village hero or beauty (1-4 hero/ 5-6 beauty)

5 the village eccentric

6 the Transient

Village Name – typically a special feature of the village. This feature could be a unique product, founder, patron saint, part of the landscape, significant historical event etc. This also reshaped by the language of the inhabitants and the shifting and mixing of cultures.