What's in your town?

We all make towns in our RPG games. So what do you put in your owns? Do you have games, restaurants, offices, shops, etc? Do you allow the gamer to enter most or every house in town? Is there an Mayor office? How many people are walking around town?

In my towns I like the player to be able to enter most homes so the player can interact with the citizens. I love to make restaurants in towns. It gives a nice realistic feel to the game. A Mayor office is always important to me. I like to have a good amount of people in town.

It's usually up to the type of game it is. If it's more modern, then sure I guess there would be some offices maybe and a mayor. If it's totally old school, then hell there's probably a temple, not a church. There's way too many things here to really help you decide what you should do with your town. I tend to stick to the swords and bows ages. Some good ol' castles and junk. I have an up town and down town, some slums, a big ol' castle, a church or sometimes a temple, and of course shops that pertain to my game and an inn. Generally. Not always.

Every town needs:

Two guards at a gate that say, "You cannot pass here yet."

A dungeon in a basement filled with dangerous creatures.

An Inn that plays annoying piano music, that begins at the start of the song every time you walk in the door.

Serously though, I like to make sure that each town has a story, just like your characters. Give it a long term history (like who founded the town or why it was built where it was built) and then a short-term history (is the town in the middle of a boom or in the middle of a bust, due to war, drought, new trade routes or whatever). Although I don't directly tell the player this information, I make sure that everything in the town is consistent with its history. So when I am creating characters, or cemeteries or markets, i already have ideas in mind.