I like the old idea of name levels. In my Alder King game, each hex contains at least one kind of building: a ruin, a dungeon, a lair, a village, a town, a castle, a tower. Most of these will be settled by some sort of humanoid civilization: goblins, kobolds, lizard men, fish men, frog men, humans, elves, dwarves, orcs.
Each such settlement will have one *key figure*. The paladin in the village, the captain of the guard, the wizard in his tower, the head priest. The key figure has *level 9-12*. I use the higher levels for bigger populations or figures of regional importance (such as ring-forging wizards).
There are some *henchmen* to the big boss. These can be a planar ally of the wizard, the priest council of the lord, the spy master of the castle, the best archer in the region. There will be **1-3** such henchmen having *level 7-8*. Bigger populations need more second in commands. Sometimes I will have competitors to the key figure at this level. Maybe the lord of the castle is the key figure, and the crime lord of the castle village belongs to the henchman tier.
The armed forces of a population center come in *groups of 5-20 individuals*, each one of them having *level 1*. These can be patrol riders, gangs, bandits, castle guards. Each such group is led by a *boss* having *level 3-6*.
By setting these guidelines for myself, I’m trying to prevent myself from auto-levelling the environment. As the player characters gain levels, I want the game to change. There must come a time when ordinary guards no longer pose a challenge to the characters unless they appear in very large numbers.
#RPG