Creating Towns & Cities
Towns and Cities are essential for world creation as they are places for your characters to visit and also places for significant events to happen. You probably won't need as many as we have in the real world but 1 main city and 3-4 small towns for each region is a good amount to have. The main city is likely to be the capital city, you could have another city if you wanted but not as big as the capital. The smaller towns are there for realism as well as a place for your adventurers to travel through or be a source of commotion. There is also going to be one or two villages scattered around your country, places where people live a more simplistic life.
We'll look at towns first because they are smaller versions of cities and have fewer places of interest.
The Town centre
The town centre, the main hub of your little village is where you will begin to construct your town/village. This is the place where the majority of your townsfolk gather on an almost daily basis to share news, sell their wares or hold significant events.
This will be one of the following:
- An Inn or Tavern
- The Town Hall (or equivalent meeting place. In forest based communities like elves, it is often a Great Tree)
- A communal green or paved plaza
Although this location may not be directly in the village centre, all pathways will branch off of it, leading to every other building in the town.
Buildings of note
In a small town there will be very few buildings of significance. The types of buildings that will show up as important are:
- Inns/Taverns (in a small town there may be only one)
- Blacksmith's workshop
- Woodcutter's house
- Town hall or Mayor's office (house of the Elder's etc.)
- House of other craftsmen/women
- Stables
- Heroes home
- Butcher/bakery
- General store
Not all of these will be significant to your own stories but quite often they have a place in setting the mood and atmosphere of a scene. A smithy usually provides us with sounds of clanging steel, a bakery with the smell of baking bread. Craftsmen/women are often highly respected by other people in the town.
Roads or pathways
In a small town there will only be 2 or 3 significant roads (maybe less) with a few minor pathways branching off towards houses and other buildings. They are not often paved and are most often a form of dirt track.
Other buildings
Once you have placed your significant buildings and a main road or two, it is then time to add a few houses and a few areas for decoration, like a well or cemetery.
We'll look at towns first because they are smaller versions of cities and have fewer places of interest.
The Town centre
The town centre, the main hub of your little village is where you will begin to construct your town/village. This is the place where the majority of your townsfolk gather on an almost daily basis to share news, sell their wares or hold significant events.
This will be one of the following:
- An Inn or Tavern
- The Town Hall (or equivalent meeting place. In forest based communities like elves, it is often a Great Tree)
- A communal green or paved plaza
Although this location may not be directly in the village centre, all pathways will branch off of it, leading to every other building in the town.
Buildings of note
In a small town there will be very few buildings of significance. The types of buildings that will show up as important are:
- Inns/Taverns (in a small town there may be only one)
- Blacksmith's workshop
- Woodcutter's house
- Town hall or Mayor's office (house of the Elder's etc.)
- House of other craftsmen/women
- Stables
- Heroes home
- Butcher/bakery
- General store
Not all of these will be significant to your own stories but quite often they have a place in setting the mood and atmosphere of a scene. A smithy usually provides us with sounds of clanging steel, a bakery with the smell of baking bread. Craftsmen/women are often highly respected by other people in the town.
Roads or pathways
In a small town there will only be 2 or 3 significant roads (maybe less) with a few minor pathways branching off towards houses and other buildings. They are not often paved and are most often a form of dirt track.
Other buildings
Once you have placed your significant buildings and a main road or two, it is then time to add a few houses and a few areas for decoration, like a well or cemetery.
Above is a quick example I made to demonstrate how quickly you can make the basic structure of a town or village.
I started with the green/plaza area and added all the other buildings around it. The roads and buildings are all very square in the diagram, but in your stories the roads will weave and there will be some rounder buildings or more complex polygonal shapes, but this is more than enough to know roughly where your important buildings are, where the important main roads are and where they lead. The point of interest (POI) can be used to reference where your character is situated and what sights, sounds and even smells they may be experiencing! This all adds to the realism of the story.
e.g. "In the air was the scent of freshly baked bread, I knew before I left my house that I would see Mr. Baker tending the ovens covered in flour, as usual. I was on my way to the Mayor's office at the far eastern side of the village. It was an important day."
These small sentences I wrote were based purely off the locations above. You know the character was at home, that they were near the bakery and that the bakery was already open and people were working. There is an indication that the character would first be heading south (towards the bakery) but then would be heading east towards the Mayor's office, which is at the far edge of town (the character has some walking to do).
In you can illustrate the world you have created in your mind on a piece of paper, just by using simple shapes, when you are writing you can more easily see and reference the world that you are in. This will increase the sense of reality of this fictional place and draw people in as it is more believable.
That's it!
It sounds simple, but deciding how to layout your buildings and roads can be tricky so I advise taking a pen and a piece of paper and drawing out a few rough lines as to where these significant locations may be.If you do it in the form of a map then you know where the compass directions (North, East, South and West) are, plus when your character has to travel around the town you can reference locations and visualise where things will be.
I started with the green/plaza area and added all the other buildings around it. The roads and buildings are all very square in the diagram, but in your stories the roads will weave and there will be some rounder buildings or more complex polygonal shapes, but this is more than enough to know roughly where your important buildings are, where the important main roads are and where they lead. The point of interest (POI) can be used to reference where your character is situated and what sights, sounds and even smells they may be experiencing! This all adds to the realism of the story.
e.g. "In the air was the scent of freshly baked bread, I knew before I left my house that I would see Mr. Baker tending the ovens covered in flour, as usual. I was on my way to the Mayor's office at the far eastern side of the village. It was an important day."
These small sentences I wrote were based purely off the locations above. You know the character was at home, that they were near the bakery and that the bakery was already open and people were working. There is an indication that the character would first be heading south (towards the bakery) but then would be heading east towards the Mayor's office, which is at the far edge of town (the character has some walking to do).
In you can illustrate the world you have created in your mind on a piece of paper, just by using simple shapes, when you are writing you can more easily see and reference the world that you are in. This will increase the sense of reality of this fictional place and draw people in as it is more believable.
That's it!
It sounds simple, but deciding how to layout your buildings and roads can be tricky so I advise taking a pen and a piece of paper and drawing out a few rough lines as to where these significant locations may be.If you do it in the form of a map then you know where the compass directions (North, East, South and West) are, plus when your character has to travel around the town you can reference locations and visualise where things will be.