The Valley and Village of Rotbadden
The Valley of Rotbadden, map created with Wonderdraft
The central village of Rotbadden, between two rivers, surrounded by a low stone wall. In the north, the wall is overgrown with high thorny hedges to reinforce its use as a defense.
This setting was created collaboratively on my stream by myself and my Twitch community, and is available here for everyone to freely use for any fantasy game. It is particularly suited to DnD5e, Tales of the Valiant, GURPS, or Daggerheart. It is intended as a stand alone starter area for new GMs and players, and as a foundation for later worldbuilding. It is designed to be useable with little or no knowledge of the world surrounding it, and the player characters would likely know just as little (or as much) as you would like them to. I will be adding material to support this in future, like ancestries and monsters.
High in the mountains is an isolated valley, where people have lived as they do now for hundreds of years. Founded around the red baths (colored by iron deposits and algae) and competing iron mines, they long ago lost contact with the greater barony and kingdom they were a part of. A perfect place for adventure, as many threats loom over this small rural collection of communities.
Rotbadden Village
Village (500~ people)
Authorities:
The Valley and Main Village:
Eggard Fischer Thane is a local petty noble, descended from the last Thane officially appointed by the King, over two hundred years ago. Second in command, his Huscarl, is Olga, a female ogre who acts as his primary enforcer. The Shire Council includes all individual settlement leaders, prominent citizens, and recognized Elders, but is mostly advisory. Officially the Council can overrule the Thane by majority vote but in practice never have
Commerce:
Four or five times a year they get a peddler. Elves and goblins provide game, hunt and gather; Humans and goblins farm and provide lumber; ogres quarry stone and build; goblins and dwarves mine, dwarves smith.
Demographics and Population:
500 ~ people in village, 2000~ more in valley (humans, goblins. Nearby elves, ogres, dwarves)
Notable Imports:
Tools, processed metal, only rarely. Little commerce.
Notable Exports:
Lumber, game
Local Products:
Barley, oats and rye. Fish, game and furs. Lumber, herbs. Honey. Gin, juniper, and rhubarb. Herbal liqueurs, stone pine liqueur, edelweiss vodka. Ale, beer, cider, and mead, along with applejack and honeyjack. Beef, pork, goats. Cheese. Carrots, cabbages, kale, radishes, turnips, and leeks. Onions and garlic.
Architecture:
Buildings of stone and lumber, Alpine and Swiss chalet style. Stone foundations and walls, wooden pillars, roofs and balconies.
Crime:
None, just mischief.
Law and Order:
The Thane handles such matters, with the help of a local militia under his authority.
All ancestries equal under law and generally in practice. Law is stern but fair.
Layout:
Rotbadden is an organically developed village centered on hot springs and a stone circle, surrounded by a low stone wall, with rivers on either side. The wall to the north is overgrown with a high hedge of thorns and brambles with only a single small gate for entry. Some fields are inside the wall, but pastures and more farmland are outside the wall. The Thane’s home is centrally located, on the shore of one of the hot springs, as are the temple and the inn that doubles as the town hall.
Persona:
Rotbadden is very much an isolated alpine village that trades almost exclusively with other settlements in the valley. As such it is parochial, backward, and a little xenophobic, though not against valley natives, whatever their ancestry. It is cozy and rural, but its people tend to blunt directness and kindness more than toward courtesy and ‘niceness.’
Religion:
"None but the RiverMother could wear the StoneFather down and smooth his jagged edges."
Stonefather, Rivermother, and their seven children: Sunsister, goddess of the sun, summer, and the underworld; Moonsister, goddess of the moon, winter, and the underworld; Harvestbrother, god of autumn, crops, fertility, and death; Stormsister, goddess of storms, wrath, and spring; Forgebrother, god of fire, forge, and metalwork, husband of the sun; Treemaster, androgynous, genderless deity of the forest, trees, and wild things, and The Runt, the youngest brother, the trickster god of pranks, fun, parties, and drinking. Subservient to the two goddesses of the underworld is the Poet, chancellor of the underworld, who was a mortal elevated to godhood for the poems he wrote and his dedication to the moon goddess. He loves her, but she is distant. The Treemaster is prayed to and asked for his blessing and forgiveness when a tree must be felled or when hunting wild game.
The dead are usually interred in the foothills of the mountains to the southwest, in cairns made of local stone. Great heroes, leaders, and prominent families are given burial mounds faced with stone that hold large catacombs.
Art, Festivals, and Culture:
Poetry and song are considered important ways to honor the gods, and are often considered somewhat magical. It was poetry that garnered the attention of moon and sun and made a mortal a god. Skalds (bards) are greatly honored. Spruce, maple, mahogany, and cedar are often used to craft musical instruments, as well as occasionally black oak.
Woodcarving is prized, done primarily with fallen wood that is left to season and cure. Stonecarving is also common especially among the ogres. Patterns and themes are often religious or natural, as a tribute to the forces they live with, and often involve complicated knotwork, spirals, and solar crosses. Deadwood and driftwood discovered in the forest or rivers are considered gifts from the Treemaster, and are highly prized for carving. The more gnarled and knotted they are, the more difficult they are to work, and are more prized. Much effort is expended on keeping the character and form of the original wood, simply ‘revealing’ the carving inside.
Textiles are mainly linen and wool, brightly dyed and often lavishly embroidered with similar patterns to the carvings. Wall hangings and tapestries depict natural, historical, or religious scenes, and help insulate the insides of most houses.
Painting is generally reserved for religious murals and manuscripts.
Metalwork is always both functional and decorative, with elaborate brooches, weapon and tool hilts evoking the power of favored animals, and inscribed runes and patterns intended to dedicate the item to its purpose.
At the spring equinox, Stormsister is celebrated with maypoles that represent her favored tree, the oak, and with flower crowns and courting rituals. Many athletic events are held as part of contests to be ‘King and Queen of Spring’. Each chooses their own consort, regardless of the competitions. The consorts rarely refuse, as that would be disrespectful, but nothing more than a dance is required of them. The King and Queen, at the end, plant a new acorn in the hopes that it eventually becomes an oak, and are expected to tend that acorn their whole lives.
At midsummer, great bonfires are lit for Sunsister and her husband, and the people of the valley leap through the fires, and drive their livestock over them, for purification from evil. Both of these festivals involve tacitly condoned and mostly anonymous promiscuity.
At the autumn equinox, the harvest is celebrated, but the dead as well. Ancestors are believed to walk freely among the people . . . as well as darker things. Children wear scary costumes to protect them from evil spirits. The third day is the Mourning Moon, dedicated to solemn respect for the dead.
At midwinter, the villagers prepare for the Feast of Eberret, in honor of the Runt, by hunting a wild boar, commemorating the tale of the young man of the name who was turned into a wild boar by the Runt for carving his name into trees and disrespecting the lord of the forest. For the duration of the multi-day celebration, the largest party of the year, a villager, usually the lowest social status, is made “Master of the World”, and wears a goat horned mask to resemble the Runt. That individual is treated like a King or Queen for the duration. Wild celebrations ensue, directed by the so called Master of the World, who is carried around on a litter and fed the choicest foods and drinks.
History:
The village of Rotbadden, and the surrounding settlements in the valley, were founded over a thousand years ago, as part of a wider kingdom called Altstaat “The High State”. The village was centered around the “Red Baths”, so named because the water of the hotsprings was tinged red from iron deposits. The current Thane’s ancestor, Magnus Fischer, was made Thane of the Valley when he saved the King from drowning in the hotsprings, which were once a major destination of pilgrimage for their healing properties. In addition, the two iron mines to the north were once bustling, thriving concerns, one run by a goblin noble family, the other by a dwarven noble family.
600 years ago, invading giants made it all the way to the village before they were defeated by the armies of the King at the First Battle of the Red Baths.
About 200 years ago, some unknown event cut off the valley from the outside kingdom, at least for the most part. The valley is now functionally autonomous. The output of the mines has slowed to a trickle, and their depths have been abandoned, as much less iron is needed to supply the valley.
10 years ago, Eggard Thane met Olga of Bergdorf while defending the village from another giant attack at the Second Battle of the Red Baths, and they have been fast friends and companions ever since, having saved each other’s lives during the battle. Originally the Thane thought the local ogres were at fault, then was corrected by Olga and they banded together against the ogre and hill giant raiders.
Rumors:
One of the Thane’s sons, the biggest one (also the eldest) is Olga’s child rather than his wife’s, and is thus half-ogre.
The hot springs are actually warmed by the fires of Hell itself.
The Thane has been romantically linked to nearly every major figure in the Valley, male or female. He does not bother to deny these allegations.
Hooks, Details, and Notes:
Eggard Fischer Thane has seven squabbling sons who act as his militia and one beloved daughter (his jewel) Juwel. He dotes on her but she has dreams of leaving the town and may try to romantically enlist player characters to do so. He does not trust his sons, seeing them as bumblers. The brothers brawl and fight, and Juwel physically abuses them without repercussion because of her favored status.
The giants and ogre raiders of the west are an ever present threat, and perhaps a new leader rises amongst them, one who thinks . . .
The Karren Hills to the southwest are said to be the burial place of ancient peoples, long gone from these lands. Some say every hill is a barrow or cairn, and that the dead walk. All agree that the dead would take extreme vengeance on any who disturbed their resting place, even by accident.
To the northeast, wyverns and stranger monsters still hunt the high passes and craggy hillsides.
No one remembers what lies beyond the tall mountains to the north, several of which are extinct volcanoes . . . or what might lie beneath them.
Other Villages:
Alfwald
Authorities: The Eldest, presumed to be the wisest, leads by example and advice. Eldest Vroedeen is 700 years old, very sagacious, and very kind. Presents on the slightly masculine side of nonbinary, very androgynous.
Population: 120 known. 10 children, 5 youths, 40 women, 40 men, 25 elders
Character: The town, if it can be called that, is a mixture of flets and platform houses in the treetops with hollow trees and burrows under the roots acting as homes and halls for others. Large gatherings are outdoors in the central grove.
As the elves age they become more detached from their bodily concerns, including sex and gender. Child from birth to 20, youth from 21 to 100, adult from 100 to 500, elder from 500 to death around 700 to 750).Most elves make their own clothes, over time, preferring simple but high quality garb. Elven finery is passed on from generation to generation and is a treasured gift to those few non elves that possess it. Many elves are craftspeople in addition to their hunting and gathering, a long life leads to many skills. Each family has a necklace that they pass down to the new Elder when the old one passes, and each adds something to the chain.
Businesses: None as such, the elves mostly engage in hunting and gathering. There are many usdeful herbs that cannot be cultivated and only grow wild in the forests. The only specialists are the bowyer/fletchers, and the tanners, and even they possess other skills.
Key People: Eldest Vroedeen; Highmother Snowflower, a reclusive hermit, sagacious and powerful in magic. Despite her great age, she still identifies as female, and stays away from the villages to focus on her own secretive concerns.
Key Locations: The Central Grove, where all major gatherings, both religious and secular, occur.
Rumors:
Elves don’t die of old age. They just eventually choose to become one with the forest and sleep, to be contacted by their descendants at need. All of the forest houses elven ancestors.
Snowflower has stayed alert longer than any other elf in the history of the valley, and remembers when humans first came, and their less than friendly initial meeting.
Elven youths, though not yet able to bear or sire young, are intensely sexual, and will wear out partners of other ancestries. Some even claim they take part of their partners soul! It is said the Thane had an elven lover before he married, but she left him to return to her people.
Once adult, elves mate for life, and will not take another partner if theirs dies. This is particularly tragic when they pair with shorter lived peoples.
Bergdorf aka Quarrytown
Authorities: Olga rules the village of Bergdorf as chieftess by right of challenge. Challenge is resolved by nonlethal unarmed combat: fists, feet, wrestling, careful biting. The ogres are strongly matriarchal, and the women are the warriors, though not all of them. Note that usually only the women have tusks.
Population: 367 ogres and various others, mostly goblins. 97 of them are women, 140 men, 130 children, who are not considered to have a gender until young adulthood.
Character: A quiet place, but humming with activity. Work focused due to love of the craft. Workers honored as much as the craftsmen. There are no long term formal pairings, and the whole village raises the children equally.
Businesses: There are several quarries for different kinds of stone, there are many sculptors and stonecutters providing materials for the whole valley. The quarries produce granite, marble, basalt, and limestone, as well as sometimes uncovering gems like amethysts, emeralds, garnets, and quartz.
Key People: Olga Marmor, the chieftess; Smaragd, the quarry master; Quarz, the master mason,
Key Locations: Each of the quarries, a large shrine near them to the Stonefather; the Firespring, a hot spring with a geyser too warm for the other ancestries besides dwarves and ogres to bathe in. Most of the village is actually a huge communal stone hall with private rooms and apartments inside.
Rumors:
Some people claim that there are ogres there who are in league with the western raiders.
A less commonly believed rumor suggests that the ogres are stockpiling weapons and intend to attack the human village.
The ogres don’t believe in marriage. (This is true, there are no long term formal pairings, and the whole village raises the children equally.)
Wichtelgrube:
Authorities: The goblins select leaders based on merit in a system that makes no sense to anyone else and seems to be randomly timed. They have some kind of arcane term limits. Currently a young goblin named Verrückt.
Population: 600 or so, no one really counts. Seem to be evenly divided between men, women, and children. They tend toward high attrition rates because they are curious, mostly fearless, and love new and different things. They can be too trusting, whether of animals or strangers.
Character: While Wichtelgrube is centered around the mine, the actual village rambles in an unplanned manner around the entrance, with small but pretty homes plopped down wherever the goblins felt like it. Their homes aren’t known for sturdiness or permanence, but their mines are crafted to be stable and last for ages. Many of their folk live in the mines, but just as many prefer the open air and their small shelters. When danger threatens they do all retreat inside the mines. The village is protected by a sophisticated but bizarre alarm system, looking like a ramshackle collection of oddities assembled into interconnected ‘Rube Goldberg’ devices that acts as traps and make a *lot* of noise.
Businesses: They have a bewildering variety of small businesses, mostly operated on the surface. Each home doubles as a market stall for their finely detailed handicrafts, gems from the mines, cool rocks they found, things they gathered in the woods, fur and skins from wild game, almost anything that catches their fancy.
Key Locations: The mines and chambers below, the ‘goblin market’ of homes and stalls on the surface, the hot spring in front of the mines (constantly full of laughing goblins, day or night)
Key People: No one really knows. Verrückt currently represents them in council.
Rumors:
Goblins dry out and die if they don’t get in the hot springs every day.
Goblins eat a lot of rats and mice.
The leaders are chosen by lot because no one wants to do it.
Verrückt became leader because he invented a machine that tells the time of day underground.
Giant rats and wererats infest the lower levels of their mine, abandoned due to lowered demand for iron.
Zwergdelf:
Authorities: Leaders must be physically hardy, and their spokesperson is the Stone, or Delflord, the head of the Miners’ guild, currently Hammar Rüthack. Young dwarves leave their families to join their guilds when they become apprentices. Becoming a journeyman is considered achieving adulthood, and depends on skill.
Population: 470 dwarves. 116 are female, and are highly prized and protected, though they still have all the rights and freedoms of other dwarves. The rest are male. About a 100 are still with their families.
Character: The community is based around an old iron mine and the other minerals commonly found with iron, including chalcedony, garnet, and peridot. The community feels very straitlaced and formal, except during feasts and parties. Dwarves love work and craft for their own sake, and most spend nearly every waking hour other than meals and socialization, at their profession.
Businesses: Major guilds are Miners’, Smiths’, Masons’, Finders’, Guards’, Provisioners’.
Key People: Stone Hammar Rüthack, Masons’ Guildmistress Achatia Spitzhacker, the other guild leaders
Key Locations: The Locked Gate severs all connections to the deeper levels that once bore great veins of iron, mithral, and adamantite, as well as diamond and many other gems. The Great Hall is where all the dwarves meet for feasts, parties, politics, and more.
Rumors:
The dwarves long ago dug into chambers they shouldn’t and found something dangerous and evil, potentially some sort of trapped devil. Now the lower levels are walled off, but something foul lurks in the darkness below them looking for a chance to strike.
Somewhere below, a famed pickaxe stuck in the stone will give great power to the one that can pull it free. It is said that it could break up any material, even adamantine.
Many of the lower caverns are haunted by the dead who were lost when they found the evil below, and still walk, as they never received proper funeral services.
Miscellaneous notes:
A ‘runthorn’ is a local word for a drinking horn.
if you want to watch video about how we built it, start here. It stems from my examples from another of my works, Marshcliff.
