The Quintessential Empire Village
- Thread starter Michael Stockin
- Start date
Michael Stockin
Lord
My village (Heilisgheld) or the one from WFRP with the stone wall?
Though I am sure Kleindorf wad described as having wooden walls in the novel.
The Serene Badger
Baron
Yours, Heilisgheld, though I could be mis-remembering. Was there not a witchy woman who lived in the woods surrounding the area, or am I mixing things up?
Michael Stockin
Lord
Oh yeah for sure, I would not use a stone wall. I was just commenting on the one from WFRP that did have one.
Palisades at best for my village, if anything at all.
Palisades at best for my village, if anything at all.
dieselmonkey
Lord
It's something I think about a lot in relation to writing WFRP scenarios. I think to start with you need to work out the primary reason(s) for your village existing and go from there.
Is it based around farming, and if so, livestock or agriculture? If not that then mining, perhaps? Is it similar to a Roman vicus, and a civilian settlement formed on the edge of a fort to supply the soldiers. Or it could be an entirely artificial settlement built to support a Manor Lord or built up around a Coaching Inn on a major route. Another option would be a settlement built up around a religious site. Once you've worked out the reason for it being there, then you can work out the buildings that should be there.
Farming villages would be mostly small houses for the workers, some with attached smallholdings, a communal barn, a couple of small inns, a blacksmith, several shrines with maybe a temple and perhaps a general store. Larger villages might have a bigger house for the local head honcho. They might be built around a green, or a well, develop organically and on a map can look fairly haphazard.
Mining villages would be similar but perhaps with more of a watch/security presence, a small facility for processing ore if it was needed, and the temples would more represent the work taking place. The whole thing could possibly even be protected by a pallisade if it was mining a more precious material. They would invariably be more planned at the centre, but again, could be more shanty town like at the fringes.
A vicus style settlement would largely be shops and housing for craftspeople supplying goods and services for the local military, based in a line along the main road into and out of the fort.
Villages around Coaching Inns, Manor Lords and Religious sites would again mostly be supporting businesses with small houses for the workers.
All in all, it's really about imagining why it's there in the first place for me, and then taking the story on from that.
Is it based around farming, and if so, livestock or agriculture? If not that then mining, perhaps? Is it similar to a Roman vicus, and a civilian settlement formed on the edge of a fort to supply the soldiers. Or it could be an entirely artificial settlement built to support a Manor Lord or built up around a Coaching Inn on a major route. Another option would be a settlement built up around a religious site. Once you've worked out the reason for it being there, then you can work out the buildings that should be there.
Farming villages would be mostly small houses for the workers, some with attached smallholdings, a communal barn, a couple of small inns, a blacksmith, several shrines with maybe a temple and perhaps a general store. Larger villages might have a bigger house for the local head honcho. They might be built around a green, or a well, develop organically and on a map can look fairly haphazard.
Mining villages would be similar but perhaps with more of a watch/security presence, a small facility for processing ore if it was needed, and the temples would more represent the work taking place. The whole thing could possibly even be protected by a pallisade if it was mining a more precious material. They would invariably be more planned at the centre, but again, could be more shanty town like at the fringes.
A vicus style settlement would largely be shops and housing for craftspeople supplying goods and services for the local military, based in a line along the main road into and out of the fort.
Villages around Coaching Inns, Manor Lords and Religious sites would again mostly be supporting businesses with small houses for the workers.
All in all, it's really about imagining why it's there in the first place for me, and then taking the story on from that.