Settlement Basics

Settlement Scores

Each settlement has ability scores comparable to — and associated with — the normal character ability scores.

Settlement Score	Ability Score	Description
Military	Strength	How well the settlement can deal with military and other active threats.
Trade	Dexterity	How much commerce is done and how well-connected the settlement is to other entities.
Infrastructure	Constitution	How resilient and enduring the settlement is in physical terms; includes actual infrastructure such as roads and aqueducts, and availability of important resources such as food and healing.
Craft	Intelligence	How much artifice, creation, and innovation are available in the settlement.
Stability	Wisdom	How well-regulated the settlement is, especially in the face of disruption.
Social	Charisma	How active and sophisticated social elements of the settlement are.

Generate these through the normal means: point buy, random roll, whatever. I favor adapting ‘27-25-23′, making it instead ’23-21-19′:

• Roll 3d6, subtract from 23. These are two scores.
• Roll 3d6, subtract from 21. These are two more scores.
• Roll 3d6, subtract from 19. These are two more scores.
• (reroll anything that would result in a score outside 3..18)
• Assign to taste.

I like that all settlements start with some difficulties. These will be overcome as they get larger (see below) and generally aren’t crippling anyway.

Settlement Levels

Level	Qualities	Population	GMG size	Low Pop	High Pop
1	1	18	thorp	15	21
2	1	25	thorp	21	30
3	1	35	hamlet	30	42
4	1	50	hamlet	42	59
5	2	71	village	59	84
6	2	100	village	84	119
7	2	141	village	119	168
8	2	200	village	168	238
9	3	283	small town	238	336
10	3	400	small town	336	476
11	3	566	small town	476	673
12	3	800	small town	673	951
13	4	1,131	small town	951	1,345
14	4	1,600	small town	1,345	1,903
15	4	2,263	large town	1,903	2,691
16	4	3,200	large town	2,691	3,805
17	5	4,525	large town	3,805	5,382
18	5	6,400	small city	5,382	7,611
19	5	9,051	small city	7,611	10,763
20	5	12,800	large city	10,763	15,222
21	6	18,102	large city	15,222	21,527
22	6	25,600	metropolis	21,527	30,444
23	6	36,204	metropolis	30,444	43,054
24	6	51,200	metropolis	43,054	60,887
25	7	72,408	metropolis	60,887	86,108

Like characters, settlements have levels. Small, minor settlements (thorps and hamlets and whatnot) are very low-level, major settlements such as large cities and metropolises are high-level. This affects how good a settlement is at something, and the population.

At levels 4, 8, and every fourth level after that, add 1 point to all six settlement scores.

I’m going to say that a level 2 settlement has a population of about 25 people, and that every two levels the population doubles. Increasing or decreasing by one level multiplies the nominal population by the square root of 2 (about 1.4).

The exact populations aren’t particularly important, so I’m looking at ‘nominal population’ to provide an estimate.

Population and Experience Points

Population of a settlement grows on an exponential scale. Every two levels the population nominally (it’s not likely to be exact) doubles.

Settlement Qualities

A settlement has ‘qualities’ that modify the nature of the settlement. In some cases a quality might provide a modifier to a settlement score (‘defensible’ indicates that the settlement is easier to defend from attack than most, providing a bonus to the Military score). In other cases a quality might indicate a specific resource or other benefit to the settlement.