A 5e Compatible GM’s Resource by John Bennett, Creighton Broadhurst, Jeff Gomez, Steve Hood, Greg Marks, David N. Ross, Jacob Trier, Amber Underwood and Mike Welham

Village Backdrops are short, richly detailed supplements that each present a single village ready to insert into almost any home campaign. Perfect for use as a waystop on the road to adventure, as an adventure site themselves or as a PC’s home, Village Backdrop present the details so the busy GM can focus on crafting exciting, compelling adventures.

GM’s Miscellany: Village Backdrops II comprises the following villages:

Byrnfort

At the edge of the Barainwood lies the woodcutter's village of Byrnfort. Under threat from massive, vicious beasts and shadowy horrors emerging from the forest, the villagers put their faith in the Green Men, a druidic cult promising protection from the forest's dangers. Now valuable goods flow from Byrnfort and attacks have lessened, but the village’s future remains uncertain. The cult and the local militia, the Brands, are increasingly at odds, and while prospects seem bright, there are costs to Byrnfort's prosperity. The villagers strive to protect their secrets and their way of life from prying eyes, but this grows ever more difficult as the village’s prosperity increases. 

Dawnmarsh

Dawnmarsh is that rare breed of lizardfolk village that welcomes trade, offering secret regenerative elixirs, techniques to tame riding lizards, poisons of the marshes and fleet guides to navigate the hazardous terrain. Cultures clash among the stilted houses on the Dawnmarsh swampy islands—here, trade is useful but the very presence of foreign traders sparks tension with neighbouring tribes and cautious locals. Adventurers can find useful allies in innkeepers and lizardfolk youths who hear much as well as an elderly visionary. The sun-worshipping lizardfolk have begun to abandon traditions deemed vile by the visiting traders, but even partial betrayal of the old ways has given a foothold to lizardfolk warmongers interested in transforming Dawnmarsh from a place of healing to a place of war.

Farrav'n

Farrav’n and its oasis of crystal-clear water provides a haven of rest and relaxation in the cruel Luminous Desert. To the surprise of visitors, a tribe of gnolls, usually known as savage raiders and slavers, hospitably oversees the oasis. Acting under the auspices of the little-known nature goddess Rrav through her head priestess, the gnolls have given up their cruel heritage. They accommodate their guests without extorting money or enslaving them, unlike the gnolls controlling the only other nearby waystation, the Shadescar Oasis. The gnoll leader of the Shadescar tribe is displeased business has dried up, and rumours of a kinder, gentler location has begun to reach him. It is only a matter of time before the two tribes come into conflict.

Fulhurst Moors

In the dreary village of Fulhurst Moors, most residents spend their days cutting peat from the nearby bogs or tending flocks of rugged sheep on the moor. When night falls, they huddle in their homes or gather inside the solid stone walls of the Bell and Whistles, trading stories of the latest gruesome misfortunes to befall those foolish enough to venture out onto the moor after sunset or unfortunate enough to be caught by sudden fog or rain while working in the bogs.

The local priest has been driven close to madness by his inability to provide solace to his congregation, and the mayor and constable become increasingly concerned as a growing number of villagers drown their fears in moonshine whiskey. The fearful atmosphere is well deserved, for ancient beings of malice and cruelty haunt the mists beyond the village. And they have struck a terrible bargain with someone inside Fulhurst Moors.

Hard Bay

Hard Bay’s fate has ever been tied to the sea. Although blessed with a natural, protected harbour and plentiful fishing, foul weather and a dangerous, unwholesome reputation have conspired to keep the village nothing more than a dreary, isolated place. A vein of smuggling and thievery ran deep through the village until the Sharkrazor pirates were crushed four decades ago. Now administered by three minor noble families, a darker horror than mere piracy lurks within the place. Rumours speak of strange fires set amid a circle of ancient, weathered stones atop a nearby shunned hill when the moon is new and of strange, abhorrent fishmen lurking in the abandoned, half- drowned smuggler tunnels beneath the ramshackle village.

Needlebriar

Needlebriar lies in a remote corner of a large duchy. Years ago, war devastated the small halfling community, leading the villagers to commit heinous acts of cannibalism and murder to survive. The violence awoke an ancient spirit who granted the desperate halflings the power to hunt those who dared to harm them. Generations have passed and the halflings continue to hunt the nearby lands, transforming into beasts to sate their hunger. Dancing around raging bonfires, they hold bloody feasts, devouring their captive victims, in worship of the fell spirit of the land, becoming more like wild animals every day as they slink further into depravity. Many of the halfling have the tell-tale shake of cannibalism about them and shuffle about the village in heavy leather cloaks. Meanwhile, the rest of the duchy becomes more and more suspicious.

Quey's Glade

Quey’s Glade is rarely ever the in same place on the map twice, but it is always nestled in deep woods. Whenever a child is lost, alone and scared in the woods, she often finds her way to this village. Just as a terrifying monster bears down on its victim, the victim stumbles into Quey’s Glade with nary a sign of the pursuing beast. The way to this village is through intense negative emotion, but the inhabitants cheerily greet new arrivals to instantly dispel their fears and other troubles. As the world becomes more interconnected and the forests fall to woodcutters’ axes, Quey’s Glade slowly runs out of secluded locations to position itself. Also, the more intelligent monsters losing their meals to the village have begun to learn its secret and lurk in the forest beyond, decreasing the halo of safety around the village.

Ronak

Nobody knows Ronak exists. Or, more precisely, nobody remembers. Ronak was the last hope of a dying trade company, a desperate attempt to settle and explore a distant swamp. When the colony found nothing but lizardfolk (exterminated in short order), the trade company did not have enough gold to retrieve their employees. Ronak never heard from civilization again.

Centuries later, the dwarves of Ronak believe civilization to be but a myth. Over the generations, they have become more savage, reverting bit by bit to a primitive state. They are haunted and guided by the ghosts of the exterminated lizardfolk who seek the continuation of their culture. The dwarves speak a hybrid of Dwarven and Draconic, build thatch huts amid the colony’s ruins and worship a mixture of half-forgotten dwarven deities and heathen serpent gods. Most disturbingly, some dwarven children now bear scales and jagged teeth. Perhaps one day soon the lizardfolk will be born again, this time from dwarven mothers.

Silver Bluff

Silver Bluff provides respite from the nearby harsh mountains. Chief among these is Mount Argent, which the villagers mine for its namesake silver on behalf of the Hargrave’s Resources mining company. However, the respite is anything but welcome, as the miners distrust each other as much as they do strangers. The rich silver seams the miners have worked for over fifty years have dried up. While the recent discovery of powdered adamantine temporarily buoyed hopes among the villagers, a grisly murder has put everyone on edge.

Skaalhaft

Skaalhaft is a whaling village, where the quarry are drakes, kraken and other magical aquatic beasts as well as more mundane prey. Each kill provides food and alchemical supplies for weeks, both for use in the village and profitable export. Whaling crews, marked with glowing tattoos, carved scrimshaw necklaces or strange arcane gifts, return with a prize or sometimes not at all. Back in Skaalhaft, women and children work in a miasmic processing mill. Stone faced and silent, they collect the valuable scales, blood and bone from rare beasts. The bay is thick with mutated sharks from the runoff of such arcane waste.

Despite the insular atmosphere, strangers roam the streets. A traveling wizard and alchemist, rich with gold from past misdeeds, make special requests of the whalers and pay their hires well. An orphaned daughter bent on revenge seeks her father’s killer among the villagers. And now the PCs have arrived...

Tigley

Wracked by disaster, Tigley is a village reborn. Standing on the fringes of a noisome marshland, its folk make their living from the swamp, and harvesting the guano excavated from the caves honeycombing the spire of rock upon which stands much of the village. But all is not peaceful in Tigley. The villagers’ unique burial rituals have attracted undead to certain nearby sunken ruins and goblins have been seen in the locality. In the village itself, influential figures vie for control of the local industries, a bully uses his influence to spread lies and cause trouble and the village priest hides a terrible secret. Once again, Tigley is a village teetering on the edge of disaster, but this time it is a disaster of the village’s own making.

Woodbridge

Ruled over for centuries by the scheming, ambitious Lorsch family, Woodridge is little more than a backwater village standing on the eastern bounds of the Duchy of Ashlar. Standing astride an ancient, now little-used trade route the village is a poor, but seemingly peaceful place. Its folk tend their small fields, pay their lord his due and are content to be left in peace. But all is not as it seems. Spies lurk among the populace, and dark forces gather which would see Woodridge’s lord, Hilduin Lorsch, converted to their faith or dead.

Y'taris

A stone circle marks the confluence of ley lines in this bleak and broken place. Among the ancient runes and onyx pillars burn secret powers hidden by gods and men alike. But to the people of Y’taris, the stone circle is just a tourist destination for the rich. Every year, hundreds of spellcasters make the long pilgrimage to the stone circle high in the Broken Mountains. The citizens provide food, shelter, baubles and entertainment, and all for exorbitant prices. Merchants bleed visitors of their gold, while pickpockets and scam artists take the rest. Y’taris is a nest of thieves. Anyone is welcome, as long as they have the coin.