Villages

Population: <1,000 people.

A village is the smallest viable permanent human settlement possible that could feasibly sustain itself with whatever food practices are available to its residents. Villages tend to be tight-knit, and locals have a great deal of knowledge about the dangers of and how to navigate the surrounding area. However, there are also very few services available, and what local professionals or merchants that do exist are eccentric or hard to contact.

Villages’ small size means they are less sheltered from the elements than larger settlements. There is usually a village square and a place to honor and bury the dead. There will also be a few professionals, such as a blacksmith, a tanner, a miller, and a baker, as well as a big house for any authority figures. What those authority figures look like largely depends on the town’s culture. In towns ruled over by a monarch or imperial power, it might house the landlord or assigned bureaucrat, while in more independent or democratic polities it could be the meetinghouse for the council of elders or even the manor of an elected mayor. In any case, much of a village’s structure will be built around food production, and the GM</abbr>’s description of the village should reflect this. The smell of manure, the sound of rain and wind, and the texture of mud, dirt, and sand against the players’ boots, all of these emphasize the pastoral qualities that distinguish villages from their more populous counterparts.

When the GM decides a settlement should be a village, they should consider the following questions:

• How do the locals feel about outsiders? Are they mistrustful? Are they generous? Do they try to scam or steal from them?
• How amenable are the locals to letting the players rest? Is there a local tavern or family that will take them in, or will they have to sleep in the barn?
• What do the townsfolk do to procure food? They will probably spend a great deal of time farming, fishing, and/or hunting, and if it isn’t a festival day they will be busy performing these tasks. After all, for rural people they are a matter of life or death.
• What are the local beliefs of the townsfolk? Do they follow a mainstream religion, or do they have their own beliefs? Usually, the answer will be some combination of these two, and asking around about them can teach the players a significant amount of Lore.
• What local materials are available for the villagers to build their homes with? Do the locals make their houses out of reeds? Wood? Clay? Imported stone?