A Player Guide to Towns, Plots, Taxes & Protection
Towny is the system Blockhead Odyssey uses to protect permanent settlements, organize towns, manage resident plots, and help players build communities that last.
On Blockhead Odyssey, Towny is primarily a land protection and community system. You do not need to learn Towny’s war, conquest, nation-PvP, or administrative features to play here.
For most players, Towny comes down to a few practical things:
- join a town,
- claim and maintain protected plots,
- understand who can use your property,
- pay your plot taxes,
- expand your holdings as your rank increases,
- and, if you choose, create and manage a town of your own at Citizen rank.
Most importantly, you are never required to found your own town. A player can remain a resident of Ithaca or another established town indefinitely and still become a substantial landowner.
Your First Towny Experience
New players begin with the ability to own:
1 personal Towny plot
As your server rank increases, you gain access to additional resident plots.
This means progression does not force you into becoming a mayor. You can continue living inside an established settlement and gradually expand your personal estate as your rank allows.
A convenient place to begin is the capital city of Ithaca.
Once you are a resident, look for a residential plot that is available to claim. Stand inside the plot and use:
/plot claim
In Ithaca, your first plot is free to claim.
That does not mean it is free forever, however.
Plot Taxes in Ithaca
All claimed resident plots in Ithaca are subject to daily taxes.
Towny attempts to collect those taxes from your personal player balance.
If you do not have enough money to pay the tax on a plot, that plot becomes:
Unowned
For that reason, players should avoid claiming more land than they can comfortably afford to maintain.
A good rule is:
Keep enough money in your personal balance to cover your daily plot taxes.
Your first plot may cost nothing to claim, but every plot is still an ongoing financial responsibility.
You Can Remain a Resident and Still Own Significant Land
Reaching Citizen rank does not mean you must leave your town or become a mayor.
Some players may prefer to remain residents of:
- Ithaca,
- another established city,
- or a player-run town they enjoy being part of.
As your rank increases, your personal plot allowance increases as well.
That means you can become a powerful landowner without ever creating a town of your own.
You might maintain:
- a large residence,
- workshops,
- farms,
- storage buildings,
- commercial properties,
- stables,
- or multiple developed plots,
while still remaining a resident of an existing town.
Town ownership is an option, not a required stage of progression.
What Is a Town Plot?
Towny divides land into townblocks, which correspond to Minecraft chunks.
A standard Towny plot is:
16 × 16 blocks
and extends vertically through the buildable world.
A town claims these chunks as part of its territory. Town leadership can then leave land as town-owned property or place individual plots up for residents to claim.
Your player rank determines how many personal plots you may own.
You begin with one plot, with additional plots becoming available as you advance in rank.
Checking Where You Are
Useful information commands include:
/town
View information about your own town.
/town <town name>
Look up another town.
/town here
See which town owns the location where you are standing.
/resident
View your own Towny resident information.
/resident <player>
Look up another resident.
These commands are useful when checking town borders, ownership, and settlement information.
Claiming and Releasing a Plot
When a town makes a plot available, stand inside it and use:
/plot claim
If the plot has a purchase price, Towny charges that amount when you claim it.
In Ithaca, your first plot is free, but daily plot taxes still apply.
To release one of your personal plots back to the town:
/plot unclaim
Do not unclaim a plot casually. Once released, it returns to town ownership and may later be claimed by someone else.
Who Can Build on My Plot?
Towny separates permissions into categories such as:
Resident — members of your town.
Ally — members of allied towns, where applicable.
Outsider — everyone else.
It also separates different kinds of interaction:
Build — placing blocks.
Destroy — breaking blocks.
Switch — using doors, buttons, levers, chests, and similar blocks.
Item Use — using certain items inside the plot.
For ordinary players, the easiest way to manage these settings is:
/plot perm gui
This opens the plot permission interface so you do not need to memorize complex permission syntax.
Giving Someone Access to Your Plot
If you want a specific player to use your plot without opening access to everyone, use Towny’s trust system.
/plot trust <player>
To remove that access later:
/plot trust remove <player>
This is generally safer than broadly changing outsider or resident permissions.
Plot Types
Blockhead Odyssey’s Towny setup includes several plot types, including:
- Default
- Bank
- Shop
- Wilds
- Inn
- Farm
- Embassy
- Arena
- Jail
Most ordinary players will mainly interact with default residential plots.
Specialized plot types are usually something to discuss with town leadership.
Joining a Town
Most towns require an invitation.
You can view Towny invitations with:
/invite
Once you accept an invitation, you become a resident of that town and may be able to claim plots that town leadership makes available.
Leaving a Town
To leave your current town:
/town leave
Before leaving, make sure you understand what will happen to your plots and property.
If you are planning to establish a town of your own, however, there is an important Blockhead Odyssey exception for players living in Ithaca.
Moving From Ithaca to Your Own Town
At Citizen rank, players gain the ability to create a town.
If you have already developed property in Ithaca, you do not have to abandon those builds when you leave to found your own settlement.
The Mayor of Ithaca can convert your existing plot or plots into:
Embassy plots
This allows you to retain those properties even after you become the mayor of another town.
So a Citizen who chooses to establish a new town can keep:
- their original home,
- established workshops,
- shops,
- storage,
- decorative builds,
- or other developed properties in Ithaca,
while also owning and managing their new settlement elsewhere.
If you plan to found a town, speak with the Mayor of Ithaca before leaving so your existing properties can be handled properly.
You Do Not Have to Become a Mayor
Citizen rank unlocks town creation, but it does not force you into it.
There are two equally valid paths.
Remain a Resident
You can stay in Ithaca or another established town and continue expanding your personal holdings as your rank permits.
This is a good choice if you:
- prefer building over administration,
- want access to an established community,
- do not want to manage town finances,
- do not want responsibility for other residents,
- or simply like where you already live.
Found Your Own Town
You can leave your current town and create a new settlement.
This gives you much more control over land and town development, but it also gives you responsibility for:
- the town bank,
- upkeep,
- expansion,
- residents,
- available plots,
- and the town’s long-term financial stability.
Neither path is considered more correct than the other.
Creating Your Own Town
Town creation unlocks at:
Citizen rank
The Towny command is:
/town new <name>
Creating a town makes you its mayor.
When your town is created, you begin with:
8 town plots
These provide an initial amount of territory to establish your settlement.
Buying Bonus Town Plots
A town can expand beyond its initial allowance.
You may purchase up to:
100 bonus plots
Each bonus plot costs:
$5,000
This gives towns substantial room to grow, but expansion has an ongoing cost.
Buying additional plots increases the maximum amount of land your town can claim, while each claimed plot contributes to the town’s daily upkeep burden.
Town Upkeep
Every claimed town plot increases the town’s daily upkeep cost.
That upkeep is paid from the:
Town Bank
This is separate from your personal player balance.
Residents and town leadership can deposit money into the town bank with:
/town deposit <amount>
As a town expands, its daily upkeep becomes more expensive.
For that reason, mayors should avoid claiming large amounts of unused land simply because they can.
A town should expand when it can afford to maintain the land it is claiming.
Bankruptcy
If a town does not have enough money in its bank to pay its daily upkeep, the town enters:
Bankruptcy
When a town is bankrupt, its Towny protections are removed.
That means the settlement is no longer functioning as protected Towny territory until its finances are restored.
To recover:
- Put money back into the town bank.
- Make sure enough money is available to cover the town’s required upkeep.
- Once the town can meet its financial obligations again, its protections can be restored.
Use:
/town deposit <amount>
to add funds to the town bank.
For mayors, maintaining the town bank is one of the most important responsibilities of town ownership.
Personal Plot Taxes vs. Town Upkeep
These are two different systems.
Personal Plot Taxes
- apply to resident-owned plots,
- are paid from the player’s personal balance,
- and can cause a plot to become unowned if the player cannot pay.
Town Upkeep
- applies to the town itself,
- increases as the town claims more land,
- is paid from the town bank,
- and can cause the entire town to enter bankruptcy if the bank cannot pay.
A simple way to remember it is:
Residents maintain their plots.
Mayors maintain their towns.
A Good Strategy for New Residents
When you first join Ithaca or another established town:
- claim your first plot,
- keep enough money in your personal balance for taxes,
- set a home,
- learn your plot permissions,
- expand only when your rank allows it,
- and claim only as much land as you can afford to maintain.
There is no pressure to rush toward town ownership.
You can remain a resident for as long as you like.
A Good Strategy for New Citizens
When you reach Citizen, decide which kind of landowner you want to be.
If You Stay a Resident
Continue developing your estate and make use of the additional plots unlocked by rank.
You can become a major property holder without taking on mayoral responsibilities.
If You Found a Town
- begin with your 8 starting plots,
- avoid buying large amounts of bonus land immediately,
- keep money in the town bank,
- remember that claimed land increases upkeep,
- invite residents gradually,
- and expand only when the settlement can afford it.
If you own developed property in Ithaca, arrange for the Mayor of Ithaca to convert those plots into embassies so you can retain them after founding your town.
Permanent Worlds vs. the Outlands
Towny is meant for permanent settlement.
Blockhead Odyssey’s permanent worlds are where you should build long-term homes, towns, infrastructure, and community projects.
The Outlands are temporary resource and adventure worlds that reset.
Do not treat the Outlands as permanent settlement land.
Anything you expect to keep long term belongs in a permanent world.
Commands Most Players Actually Need
/town
View your town.
/town <name>
View another town.
/town here
See who owns the land where you are standing.
/town spawn
Teleport to your town spawn.
/town leave
Leave your current town.
/town deposit <amount>
Put money into the town bank.
/resident
View your resident information.
/invite
View Towny invitations.
/plot claim
Claim an available town plot.
/plot unclaim
Release your personal plot back to the town.
/plot perm gui
Manage plot permissions.
/plot trust <player>
Give another player trusted access to your plot.
/tc
Use town chat.
What You Can Ignore on Blockhead Odyssey
Most generic Towny guides include a large number of systems that are irrelevant to normal play here.
You generally do not need to learn about:
- Towny wars
- conquest
- nation warfare
- siege systems
- enemy-town PvP
- nation diplomacy
- jail administration
- TownyWorld administration
- database commands
/townyadmin- other staff-only tools
Towny on Blockhead Odyssey is primarily about:
property, protection, settlement, community, and responsible expansion.
Final Advice
For a new player, Towny is simple:
Join a town.
Claim your first plot.
Pay your taxes.
Protect your home.
As you rank up, your options grow:
Own more land.
Build a larger estate.
Stay in the city if you like.
Or, at Citizen, create a town of your own.
Town ownership is a choice, not an obligation.
And if you do decide to leave Ithaca to establish a new settlement, you do not have to erase your history there. Your existing properties can be converted into embassy plots so they remain part of your holdings even after you become a mayor elsewhere.
Need Help?
Use the in-game guide menu, ask in chat or Discord, or check the rest of the wiki.
Good next pages: