How to randomly generate a village or town for old school D&D game?

Question

There is a lot of material written on random generation of dungeons for play. But inevitably characters have to return from the to spend those ill-gotten gains. And where else but a nearby settlement, be it village, town, or city?

Obviously the larger the settlement the more involved or recursive the process could become. But does anyone have some good methods for quickly generating or stocking a village or town? For example, information like (but not limited to):

-Local leader (e.g. minor noble, major noble, church official, usurping villian, etc)
-Defensible structures (wall, keep, castle, etc)
-Number, size, & affiliation of temples
-Number & size of taverns or inns
-Major export / economic focus

My goal is to be able to generate something like the Keep in the Keep on the Borderlands (or at least a sketch that could be developed into something similar). For reference, I've consulted AD&D 1st edition, D&D 3.5 DMG, A Magical Medieval City Guide, and Judge's Guild Ready Ref Sheets. Now I'm looking for you help and recommendations. Thanks.

Answer 1

Been a while since I've used these and I think most are 3rd ed at best but they are good to have around for ideas. I still use the tavern one all the time.

• http://www.hackslash.net/?page_id=561 (defunct)
• http://www.mathemagician.net/Town.html
• http://www.rdinn.com/town_generator.php
• http://jtevans.kilnar.com/rpg/dnd/tools/

For taverns try: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/20010223d

Answer 2

Check out Kellri's CDD#4. It has a good section on settlement design (written for AD&D 1e, but easily adaptable to other editions).

Another resource that's less useful for the nitty-gritty details but is great for inspiration is the Settlements and Countries section of Tables for Fables. It's eclectic and not very well organized, but it's a treasure trove of ideas.

Lastly, I haven't used it, but tons of people swear by AEG's Ultimate Toolbox.

Answer 3

Medieval Demographics is one of my goto sites on generating material.

Answer 4

This has become my favorite resource for generating towns:

http://www.mathemagician.net/town.html

It does pretty much everything you describe here.

To give an example of the level of detail provided, it tells who is likely to be at a tavern at any given time in the day, including staff, entertainers, and patrons.

Combine that with the RPG City Map Generator, and you are set.