Hauthell, The Evolving Countryside Hamlet
Two families merged, and, in so doing, created a hamlet. Over time, this hamlet grew: first came the inn, then the mill, and then state built walls. A hamlet became a village, and then a fort, and then it all came crumbling down. Two families built a hamlet, and, in so doing, doomed it to someday fall to ruin.
Hauthell is Borough Bound's first setting that evolves over time. GM five different snapshots of this rural hamlet that changes dramatically over the decades. Follow each individual resident as their family tree morphs, grows, and winds up unraveled and forgotten.
This Germanic village is also our first quasi-historical setting. There is no magic, there are no fantasy creatures, and the technology is meant to roughly align with early 16th century central Europe. This makes it the perfect starting locale for adventures that gradually become more arcane and bizarre, or a homebase for campaigns that eschew magical themes altogether.
As your party returns to Hauthell throughout the years, they may decide to:
- Help new residents build an inn or stage station
- Sneak contraband past the toll collectors
- Meet travelers from afar along the thoroughfare
- Figure out what calamity ultimately reduced the town to ruins
Maps
Hauthell is our first map that progresses through time. Map 01 is little more than a handful of houses in the middle of nowhere. Map 02 shows progress, as new residents have converted the gathering hall into a tavern in earnest. By map 03, the state has taken an interest in Hauthell, and thus they've built a wooden palisade to surround the newly completed mill. Map 04 shows Hauthell as a proper fort with stone curtain wall and hardy watchtowers. And then, map 05 shows the rotten fruits of all this labor: a crumbled village overtaken by moss.
We've created interior maps for almost every single building at each stage of development: explore multiple houses, the barn, the inn, the mill, the stage station, the watchtowers, the barracks, the secret basement, and ruined variants as well. We wanted Hauthell to feel as exhaustively complete as possible!
Seasonal variants help add to the temporal verisimilitude. Lord knows winter in Hauthell is quite a bit more oppressive than summer. Weather variants (rainy and misty) also help you to transform the setting while staying true to the authenticity of the setting. Finally, two geographic variants (lakeside and tropical) reimagine Hauthell by putting it right up against some noteworthy body of water.
Music
Hauthell is rustic and hardy, and thus even as soldiers arrive, there is a quaint, pastoral mood to the music. Charming folk tunes like “Countryfolk” evoke the public spirit of the small village, while “Checkpoint” captures the sleepy but militaristic vibe of Fort Hauthell. Plenty of simple pieces of plucky noodling bring the everyday lives of the citizens to the forefront. There is an ineffable coziness to a track like “Supper,” and a simple melancholy in “Moss Swallows Stone.”
