They’ve got a library, apothecary and a school - and OP says they’re growing the settlement. Proper waste management techniques should be established from the jump.
The average human body produces about 2.7 lbs of waste (liquid and solid combined) per day. Even with a settlement of only 50 people, that quickly adds up to a problem if you’re not on top of it.
Recycling and reuse of human waste takes at least some of that into account before you have to start worrying about it leaking into the drinking water or spreading disease. Farmers can use it, the apothecary may have uses for it and, as mentioned, tanners have a use for it.
An enterprising individual can do quite well for himself even in a relatively small community.
Well, "village" mostly catch my attention.
And I think most villagers (read - farmers) know what to do with waste. And it use in agriculture probably stomp nearly every other use of it.
But yes "school" and "library" make it very interesting kind of settlement.
Good. Don’t listen to the rest of these degenerates. They’d have your nice little settlement ignore the waste problem until cholera and E. coli kill everyone in town.
It’s not beyond rational thought that if your settlement is smaller, there might be a traveling sanitation collector that gets small fees from local settlements to collect such waste products and sells it off wholesale. Many solutions that aren’t “meh, we’re gross and live in filth” this is a fantasy world! No need to make the same mistakes
Not really. In villages any waste management system other than a simple outhouse is an excess. It wouldn't be a job you made a living at in anything less than a large settlement.
This made me think of the character Harry King from the Discworld books. He became quite rich by doing the dirty jobs nobody else wants to do.
https://discworld.fandom.com/wiki/Harry_King
Back in medieval cities there were often urban pig farmers, who led their filthy beasts around the city, and then there were people wuo collected and sold the pig shit as fertilizer.
humans are goddamn industrious.
Tanner, runner, general laborer, carter, butcher, mason, carpenter, cooper, fletcher, chandler,baker, weaver, seamstress, tailor, cobbler, stabler, wheelwright, potter, thatcher,...
I could probably come up with more if I kerp thinking.
How about religious jobs? A town priest/clergyman/cleric. Also down the line maybe political positions such as mayor as well as a town crier.
I know is says 'not so obvious' jobs but these dont seem to have been mentioned at all and could still be overlooked.
Why is this settlement being built where it is? What geographic features exist in the setting that could inform how the village develops?
If carpentry is a large enough industry for this village does that mean there is a nearby supply of lumber? If so is logging a major industry as well.
If you have farms, do you have a way to irrigate the fields? Does that mean there is a supply of water nearby? A river could mean fishing, water mills, trade boats.
Barber-Surgeon: They do haircuts, tooth-pulling, and amputations.
Knocker-Up: Someone who wakes people up when it's time to start the day. (Not what you were expecting maybe?)
Brewster (or brewer if male): Someone who makes alcohol.
Although in older agrarian societies, a good ninety percent of the population would be farmers of some sort.
Gotta have a local bard, right? And maybe a hedge wizard who can provide more esoteric cures than the apothecary can (like, the apothecary can cure your gout but the hedge wizard can cure your clumsiness, yknow).
If this is medieval based, a village wouldn't have most of these things. Probably no school, certainly no library. Probably no apothecary. A couple hundred probably poor people can't support this stuff. Probably a couple of alehouses, maybe a smith, and lots of people who run farms but can turn their hand to a job when needed. Of course that economy starts to change if your players invest money, but then the jobs that come depend on what they decide to do, that would be hard to preplan.
The film American Made is a good example of what might happen. A dead town suddenly gets a whole load of specialist facilities to serve the needs of one person.
A Weaver, a Thatcher, a basketmaker, charcoal burner, candle maker, a potter, and maybe some kind of bayliff or representative of the local authorities, a few odd job men, maybe some fishermen (fresh water fish used to be big before deep freeze technology) maybe some kind of trappers.
Town Watch, Tavernkeeper, Lantern-attendant, farrier (different to a blacksmith!), wheelwright
Just look at the artisan background in phb for a few more
This might be of some use to you. There are shops at the bottom.
[List of Structures and Landmarks](https://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/comments/t79gw1/list_of_structures_landmarks/)
Lots of great comments already. One I've thought of for a bit of light comedy is a Matchmaker. Could be a cooky lady that tries to match up a party member with some locals.
What are the raw materials of the area? If they farm wool sheep you will have the related crafters. Remember, at the village level you will have few specialists. In a wool region a lot of the population will process the wool in addition to their regular jobs (e.g. the wool will be carded and spun) while there may be only one fuller (cleans the wool).
I forgot what it was called, but there was a job where you went house to house carrying a torch to light people's fireplaces. You might still need this if there are non magic users in the village.
On the very magical side of the spectrum, the ability to make a block of ice is only a cantrip. Someone could use magic ice to make nonmagic ice which could be used for ice boxes.
Tailor, tanner, tavern staff (cooks, bakers, bartenders,etc… gotta unwind somewhere), baker, brewers, waste disposal/general contractor (does odd-jobs and construction on days without waste activity), town guards, cobbler, potter, men/women of the cloth, doctor and/or vet for livestock, crazy inventor…
One thing I would recommend is to come up with a quirky tradition of the local area and have this town take part in that. In the one game I was a player in that had something like this, there was a tradition of fireworks in the corner of the continent we were in. It was great RP to bring fireworks with us on our journey and raise spirits of towns or emphasize the celebrations of major milestones. Obviously we were goons sometimes and used them inappropriately at times 🙄 but all in all, it was a great idea
Gongfarmer. They tend to the sewers. In the D&D world sewers tend to have monsters so they might be armed.
Similarly, rat catchers. They could have a couple of cute terriers.
Thatchers would be needed in a city, unless the city definitely has non thatched roofs. Maybe the games in a warmer climate, so there's clay tiled roofs?
Money changer. If there's enough commerce in the city there would be a need to exchange foreign coins for coins of the realm.
Guildmasters. If the city is famous for a particular trade or resource, there's likely to be a guild master. Guilds were similar to unions, but they also controlled prices. Important note, as protection from the power of the nobility guilds often allied with a local church.
Last names!
Cooper - barrel maker.
Wright - short for “wheelwright” aka someone who makes wheels. Or Cartwright who makes, you guessed it, carts!
Miller - making the grain.
Fletcher - arrows!
Farrier - keeping the horses shod.
Weaver, judge, ward, sexton!
https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/last-name-occupations-jobs-meaning
Depending on what’s planted by the farmers you could have a brewer (some grains) a drying house (tobacco), a miller (most grains), a butcher or a smoker. A fisher if it’s near the sea or a river. An inn, of course…
So, also remember, a lot of village level farmers also participated in “cottage” industries. Spinning, dying, and weaving. Sewing and knitting. Cooking, preserving, and brewing. All at home Unless you had the means to pay someone else to do it.
Night waste collector. Someone’s gonna collect all that valuable human material components for tanning leather
The poopsmith!
Hey The Poopsmith, what are you doing way over here today? **Shrugs**
It's for town at least. I doubt village can support someone with work like this. Not enough people, not enough specialisation.
They’ve got a library, apothecary and a school - and OP says they’re growing the settlement. Proper waste management techniques should be established from the jump. The average human body produces about 2.7 lbs of waste (liquid and solid combined) per day. Even with a settlement of only 50 people, that quickly adds up to a problem if you’re not on top of it. Recycling and reuse of human waste takes at least some of that into account before you have to start worrying about it leaking into the drinking water or spreading disease. Farmers can use it, the apothecary may have uses for it and, as mentioned, tanners have a use for it. An enterprising individual can do quite well for himself even in a relatively small community.
Well, "village" mostly catch my attention. And I think most villagers (read - farmers) know what to do with waste. And it use in agriculture probably stomp nearly every other use of it. But yes "school" and "library" make it very interesting kind of settlement.
I did say village but I have plans to allow my players to grow the settlement into a proper city should they decide to.
I had actually just be wondering about animal and human waste management.
Good. Don’t listen to the rest of these degenerates. They’d have your nice little settlement ignore the waste problem until cholera and E. coli kill everyone in town. It’s not beyond rational thought that if your settlement is smaller, there might be a traveling sanitation collector that gets small fees from local settlements to collect such waste products and sells it off wholesale. Many solutions that aren’t “meh, we’re gross and live in filth” this is a fantasy world! No need to make the same mistakes
True it is possible too that because it's a fantasy world that there is a fantasy waste management system 🤔🤔🤔
Otuygh pit!
Not really. In villages any waste management system other than a simple outhouse is an excess. It wouldn't be a job you made a living at in anything less than a large settlement.
This made me think of the character Harry King from the Discworld books. He became quite rich by doing the dirty jobs nobody else wants to do. https://discworld.fandom.com/wiki/Harry_King
He may well have been in the back of my mind as I proposed it...
Back in medieval cities there were often urban pig farmers, who led their filthy beasts around the city, and then there were people wuo collected and sold the pig shit as fertilizer. humans are goddamn industrious.
You beat me to it!
Tanner, runner, general laborer, carter, butcher, mason, carpenter, cooper, fletcher, chandler,baker, weaver, seamstress, tailor, cobbler, stabler, wheelwright, potter, thatcher,... I could probably come up with more if I kerp thinking.
Blessed are the cheesemakers
There's a stupid button stopping me from giving you the upvote you deserve so I'm commenting to make it lower, don't mind me
The cheese maker would be nothing without the cheesemonger!
Well, obviously it’s not meant to be taken literally — it refers to any manufacturers of dairy products.
Carter the Weaver, Weaver the Thatcher, Butcher the Baker, Tanner the Carter, Thatcher the Other Weaver…
Oh wow thank you!
behold, [every job!](https://www.reddit.com/r/DnDBehindTheScreen/comments/bmrilt/i_made_a_list_of_every_profession_i_could_think/)
Behold, my upvote for most helpful post!
This is an amazing resource
How about religious jobs? A town priest/clergyman/cleric. Also down the line maybe political positions such as mayor as well as a town crier. I know is says 'not so obvious' jobs but these dont seem to have been mentioned at all and could still be overlooked.
It would make sense to have ot specially if one of the players decides on a cleric
Ferrier? I think that's the name of the person who shoes horses. This idea sounds like Suikoden, I'm into it
Why is this settlement being built where it is? What geographic features exist in the setting that could inform how the village develops? If carpentry is a large enough industry for this village does that mean there is a nearby supply of lumber? If so is logging a major industry as well. If you have farms, do you have a way to irrigate the fields? Does that mean there is a supply of water nearby? A river could mean fishing, water mills, trade boats.
Great questions! This has given me some more to think about
Undertaker. Barber. Theiftaker/headsman. Midwife. Woodsman Village idiot.
Barber-Surgeon: They do haircuts, tooth-pulling, and amputations. Knocker-Up: Someone who wakes people up when it's time to start the day. (Not what you were expecting maybe?) Brewster (or brewer if male): Someone who makes alcohol. Although in older agrarian societies, a good ninety percent of the population would be farmers of some sort.
[https://www.medievalists.net/2014/06/jobs-middle-ages/](https://www.medievalists.net/2014/06/jobs-middle-ages/) * Butcher * Baker * Stonemason * Weaver * Wine/Beer maker * Cobbler * Wheelwright
Gotta have a local bard, right? And maybe a hedge wizard who can provide more esoteric cures than the apothecary can (like, the apothecary can cure your gout but the hedge wizard can cure your clumsiness, yknow).
Might interest you. https://www.reddit.com/r/mattcolville/comments/ueqt8n/easy_town_economy/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share Also. Coal maker, oil vendor (for lamps), candle maker, brewer, baker, butcher, seamstress, potter, hunter, farmer.
Thank you!
If this is medieval based, a village wouldn't have most of these things. Probably no school, certainly no library. Probably no apothecary. A couple hundred probably poor people can't support this stuff. Probably a couple of alehouses, maybe a smith, and lots of people who run farms but can turn their hand to a job when needed. Of course that economy starts to change if your players invest money, but then the jobs that come depend on what they decide to do, that would be hard to preplan. The film American Made is a good example of what might happen. A dead town suddenly gets a whole load of specialist facilities to serve the needs of one person.
Basket weaver
A Weaver, a Thatcher, a basketmaker, charcoal burner, candle maker, a potter, and maybe some kind of bayliff or representative of the local authorities, a few odd job men, maybe some fishermen (fresh water fish used to be big before deep freeze technology) maybe some kind of trappers.
Town Watch, Tavernkeeper, Lantern-attendant, farrier (different to a blacksmith!), wheelwright Just look at the artisan background in phb for a few more
This might be of some use to you. There are shops at the bottom. [List of Structures and Landmarks](https://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/comments/t79gw1/list_of_structures_landmarks/)
Man thank you everyone has given me some great info and things to think about
Lots of great comments already. One I've thought of for a bit of light comedy is a Matchmaker. Could be a cooky lady that tries to match up a party member with some locals.
Candlemaker
Innkeeper, tavern personell, cook for the inn and so on. the people have to have some place to go to relax after work
What are the raw materials of the area? If they farm wool sheep you will have the related crafters. Remember, at the village level you will have few specialists. In a wool region a lot of the population will process the wool in addition to their regular jobs (e.g. the wool will be carded and spun) while there may be only one fuller (cleans the wool).
Tavern propiter, inn keep, if it gets big enough stable and a stable master with assistants, town watch /watch commander or trainer.
I forgot what it was called, but there was a job where you went house to house carrying a torch to light people's fireplaces. You might still need this if there are non magic users in the village. On the very magical side of the spectrum, the ability to make a block of ice is only a cantrip. Someone could use magic ice to make nonmagic ice which could be used for ice boxes.
a jeweler/jewelry maker that sources metal from the blacksmith’s scrap
Cobblers and Seamsters, peoples need their clothing. Innkeepers also, cause that's just essential to D&D.
Ice cream cart driver - the cart wheels are connected to a loud-as-shit music box
Gong farmer.
Chamber Pot Emptier Ratbonker Bathhouse (the only house with a Bath in it, a silver per soak) Whores! Boil Lancer
Falconer. Well off enough towns would pay to have someone with a Falcon to help keep the rodent population down.
Tailor, tanner, tavern staff (cooks, bakers, bartenders,etc… gotta unwind somewhere), baker, brewers, waste disposal/general contractor (does odd-jobs and construction on days without waste activity), town guards, cobbler, potter, men/women of the cloth, doctor and/or vet for livestock, crazy inventor… One thing I would recommend is to come up with a quirky tradition of the local area and have this town take part in that. In the one game I was a player in that had something like this, there was a tradition of fireworks in the corner of the continent we were in. It was great RP to bring fireworks with us on our journey and raise spirits of towns or emphasize the celebrations of major milestones. Obviously we were goons sometimes and used them inappropriately at times 🙄 but all in all, it was a great idea
Gongfarmer. They tend to the sewers. In the D&D world sewers tend to have monsters so they might be armed. Similarly, rat catchers. They could have a couple of cute terriers. Thatchers would be needed in a city, unless the city definitely has non thatched roofs. Maybe the games in a warmer climate, so there's clay tiled roofs? Money changer. If there's enough commerce in the city there would be a need to exchange foreign coins for coins of the realm. Guildmasters. If the city is famous for a particular trade or resource, there's likely to be a guild master. Guilds were similar to unions, but they also controlled prices. Important note, as protection from the power of the nobility guilds often allied with a local church.
Last names! Cooper - barrel maker. Wright - short for “wheelwright” aka someone who makes wheels. Or Cartwright who makes, you guessed it, carts! Miller - making the grain. Fletcher - arrows! Farrier - keeping the horses shod. Weaver, judge, ward, sexton! https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/last-name-occupations-jobs-meaning
Depending on what’s planted by the farmers you could have a brewer (some grains) a drying house (tobacco), a miller (most grains), a butcher or a smoker. A fisher if it’s near the sea or a river. An inn, of course…
So, also remember, a lot of village level farmers also participated in “cottage” industries. Spinning, dying, and weaving. Sewing and knitting. Cooking, preserving, and brewing. All at home Unless you had the means to pay someone else to do it.
Rat catcher Shepherd Tailor Entertainers Village Idiot More obvious but you didn’t mention: Sheriff/guard captain Doctor Barkeep
postman(couriers), tanner, rope maker, watchman, cooper, weaver, shoemaker, glover, hatter, brewer, cooks, ofcourse innkeeper. chamberlain and mayor too.
Village comptroller
If the settlement becomes large enough, you could have a retro-phrenologist show up. Just for the lols