Settlements

Table of contents

Settlements

Types of Settlements

Villages are small settlements, on the fringes of the wilderness. Locally extracted or farmed resources are gathered here and transported to nearby towns, usually over dirt trails. Beyond a small general store, a tavern, and a weekly market, not a lot of commerce happens here. When faced with danger, local farmers might band together with simple equipment — or perhaps that grumpy old retired adventurer will pick up their blade once more. Villages tend to be ruled by a chieftain or elder.

Towns are a bit bigger and feature larger-scale agriculture and resource extraction. Towns are generally located in strategic locations, such as along important trade routes, near resources, or near borders. Simple refinement of goods is also performed here. A town will have a daily market and its own town guard. The roads from towns to cities will feature a variety of travelers, trade caravans, pilgrims, and patrols. A town is ruled by a baron, who has several knights serving them. When faced with danger, the baron can call upon these knights and can also recruit a militia from the town and its surrounding villages. A single town often serves as the central hub for a number of villages. These villages and its town together form a barony.

Cities are the largest forms of settlements and are major hubs of commerce, culture, and governance. Various markets, guilds, courts, and academies can be found here. Cities are either ruled by a duke (if subservient to another city) or a king/queen (if the city is a capital). Both dukes and kings will have knights as retainers. A duke rules over multiple baronies, and all the baronies put together are a duchy. If ruled by a king or queen, all the duchies together form a kingdom.

Forts are fortified structures such as keeps, towers, and castles found in the wilderness. Their functions can vary. A fort run by priests could be considered a monastery; a fort run by magic-users could be a wizard’s tower. Forts generally hold some sway over the region nearby (and patrols from the fort can be encountered in the area). There may be a few villages that provide food and supplies to a fort, in exchange for security.

The Role of Settlements

Settlement provide the following services:

Appraising and selling treasure

See Treasure on page 65.

Purchasing supplies and gear

See Weapons & Gear on page 40.

Finding leads & rumors

Provide characters with interesting hooks to go out and explore. These hooks can lead to people, settlements, dungeons or the wilderness (“Somewhere in the Crooked Woods”). Investigating and following up on leads can be handled as Complex Tasks (page 13). Also see Generic Jobs (page 71).

Treasure isn’t the only way to bait an adventure hook; knowledge, training, skills, magic, and equipment all make for good rewards.

Training for new skills

See Learning New Skills on page 37 and Finding A Trainer on page 76.

Recovery and recuperation

See Healing & Recovery on page 11.

Hiring Help

Help can come in various forms.

Settlement hirelings are hired and deployed in settlements. They do not partake in combat, but perform their task and report back or can be visited later. These hirelings might also be recruited to live in the party’s settlement or fortification.

Messengers can get important information to people in other settlements.
Spies can track and shadow persons of interest, verify or plant rumors, and intercept messages.
Criers can spread the word of the party’s deeds, increasing their renown.
Translators and interpreters can help with language barriers.
Sages can answer questions about the world through research, at a cost.

Wilderness hirelings will travel alongside the party into the wilds but will not enter dungeons. They are a bit more expensive than settlement hirelings.

Local guides can provide the best routes to points of interest.
Carriers can carry supplies and gear (8 slots per carrier) but will not fight, beyond defending themselves when in danger.
Henchmen are trained to fight “normal” threats such as people and wildlife. They are moderately armed but might be frightened by monsters.

Dungeon hirelings are those brave enough to venture into dungeons alongside the party. Besides regular pay, they might want a share of the loot.

Torchbearers will carry light sources, supplies, and loot. They are lightly armed, backpack with 6 slots. They won’t willingly endanger themselves by going first or fighting beyond self-defense.
Fellow adventurers are similar to PCs and are useful backup characters. See Other Adventurers (Page 69) on how to roll for their stats and equipment.

Warfare hirelings are hired to protect or attack fortifications, patrol the wilderness, and generally wage war. They act as a detachment (see page 21), and a single detachment consists of roughly 10 men. An example stat block would be:

Squad of Troops. 4 HP, 1 Armor, STR 12, DEX 12, WIL 10. Detachment. Longsword (d8) and bow (d6).

Specialists and Where to Find Them

The following is a rough overview of where one might find specialists of a certain kind. Each of these specialists can provide training (if they feel like it) and possibly additional services. The What They Want column is a suggestion of how players might be able to gain their favor; the What They Offer is a suggestion as to what they offer in return.

Career Specialist	Location	What They Want	What They Offer
Assassin	Cities, Forts	Ingredients for poisons, information about a target, intercepted messages	Poisons, special weapons, to kill someone, disguises, secret routes and shortcuts
Blacksmith	Everywhere	Good quality ore, rare instruction manual	Repairs, weapons, armor
Destitute	Towns, Cities	Revenge on snobby nobles, respect, a better life	Knowledge from previous careers, high-quality rumors, obscure secrets
Farmer	Villages, Towns	Those damn monsters gone, supply routes cleared, their missing sheep found	The lay of the land, location of hidden caves, a dry and warm place to sleep
Gladiator	Cities	A worthy challenge, a special weapon, a solid retirement plan	Rumors on nobles, boastful anecdotes
Hunter	Villages, Towns	The local wildlife in balance, a rare pelt, vengeance on the wolf that took their hand	Guided journeys through the land, advice on taking down dangerous creatures
Magic-User	Cities, Forts	Obscure knowledge, ancient tomes, special ingredients, a worthy apprentice	Glimpses into the 7th dimension, special wards and hexes
Mercenary	Towns, Cities, Forts	A good pay day, a stiff drink, employment	Tactical information on various regional powers, war stories
Minstrel	Towns, Cities	A captive audience, a breakthrough in their career, exposure	Songs with morale-lifting properties, dirty limericks, the hottest noble gossip
Noble	Towns, Cities, Forts	To be the sole heir, recognition and parental approval	Access to high-society, funding for ventures, the finest clothes
Priest	Towns, Cities, Forts	Absolution and salvation, possible holy relics, punishment of heretics	Blessings, vague words of wisdom, the approval of a Higher Power (or so they claim)
Sailor	Towns, Cities	Calm oceans, good booze, rowdy shore leave	Transportation, knowledge of faraway lands
Scribe	Towns, Cities, Forts	High-quality parchment and quills, survey data of the land, historical records, ancient diaries	Dusty old maps leading to ancient crypts and treasure, forgotten tomes of prophecy, shocking revelations about bloodlines
Thief	Towns, Cities	One last job, a clean getaway, that one big score, a good distraction for the city guard	Fencing services, the best alleyways to escape through, overlooked entryways into important buildings
Wanderer	Villages, Towns	To be left alone, good travel gear and supplies, to preserve a sense of natural balance and peace	Rumors from all over the area, routes through dangerous terrain, knowledge of regional factions