Cartfall

A Crowdsourced TTRPG Starter Town

This document was crafted by the community of TTRPG lovers on Bluesky. I drew a map with
buildings (varying levels of abstractness) and numbered them. Some lovely folks commented
descriptions for the buildings. The writers for each description appear right after the number
(where no one is listed, I was the writer). I also did not edit responses, so forgive typos.

The text and map (both labelled and unlabelled) are released under Creative Commons 0.
Effectively, this means they are in the public domain. You may do anything you want with it,
commercially or non-commercially. No attribution is necessary.

Building Descriptions:

1 – Kirhon.vi: The Ram Gate. The middle part of this iron gate is shaped like 2 rams that butt
heads together when it closes,to represent the stubbornness of the people of this village to stay
here despite hostile attacks,the wilderness seeming to want them gone and the initial fear of not
being able to survive.

2 – Nael Fox: Velmag the Midwife herbalist, witch, wise woman. The strangely pointed walls of
Velmag's hut indicate the directions of leylines running through the village. She will exchange
knowledge/healing/soothsaying and sometimes potions for small tasks. Usually securing some
rare magical ingredient.

3 – LaTerry: is definitely the house where a family lives whose child is missing. Classic early
quest to help find the kid. Depending on the type of TTRPG will change where the kid is. Fantasy
setting? Kidnapped by fae who will agree to give him back for something of equal value.

4 – Spiffy Chicken: Dagr's General store. The original Dagr has long since passed on but his
great-great grandson Pokr now runs the place. To any traveller it is a regular store. However, the
citizens know if you can't find anything, ask Pokr and he can somehow fetch it from the back.

5 – Nael Fox: By the end of the day the idol had convinced Loudon to keep the items, and not to
speak of them. After three days the idol had taught him the incantation to open the iron clasp,
two weeks later he was able to read the book The Brithnex. 8 months later Loudon has converted
his friend. Truxton the Carter, and their wife Jessa to the worship of Brith. The three have eaten
two people, one recently dead villager, one friendless traveller. The priest is quietly looking for
someone to investigate a grave robbery, they don't want to alarm the village. Theophase, a
woman from Vendolme has come in search of her brother Bredford (the stranger who was eaten).

6 Jimothy the "Bridge Troll" hangs out here. Not actually a troll. Just an odd, harmless guy. Most
people indulge his Riddles Three for fun.
7 – Parismio: The Bardbarians guild. A place for the most rippest, stronkest, and charismatic of
artists to meet up and collaborate. Each year they have hold a special event that lasts for an
entire week of aritstry, music, dances, and bodybuilding poses.

8 – thisisvictor: The Spire. Old, older than the village itself. Tall, towers over every other building
in town. Featureless and impossible smooth. Part of a long forgotten teleportation system, the
ancients would simply touch it and reach their destination. Now broken, except on the full moon,
when it cracks with white energy and instantly vaporizes anything that touches. Locals know to
keep their children inside on these nights. Repairable, if the right knowledge and tools are found
in the tombs of the ancients.

9 – DiscoDanLives: Old Mambo's Sauna Hut, built by the one-legged half-orc Old Mambo, a will-
o-the-wisp he captured in the nearby swamps is trapped inside of a cage in the center of the
sauna. Anyone resting here for 1 hour gains resistance to fire for 1d5 days.

10 – Hephsit, the Fletcher. Hephsit makes arrows. And does all sorts of handyman work. And
hunts. And fishes. And solves problems. A person of many talents that is constantly set upon by
others. Seems fundamentally incapable of saying “No.”

11 – The Tainted Waistcoat: Tavern, dimly lit, smoky, warm from the fire, and shockingly clean. A
new, exotic cocktail available daily. The mixologist might pay for rare and unusual ingredients.

12 – Triloby’s Barber Shop: the people of Cartfall greatly value their hair. Enough so that the
local barber keeps rather busy cutting, shampooing, dyeing, shaving, and styling. Anyone who
passes through town with unkempt hair would be wise to stop here first, lest they be taken for a
fool. Or a cheapskate.

13 – d10blog: is a shrine dedicated to Kivik, the God of livestock. Kivik has been angry recently
due to its shrine being ransacked by bandits, and has been causing problems with the Livestock.

14 – Magnolia Keep: Temple of the Drowned. His temples (really open-air altars) are constructed
on land before being submerged in the nearest body of water.

15 – J.: An old burial mound that the people of the village haven't used since the earliest
memories of the town's eldest elder. Rumors of large rats and skeletons emerging at night. Is it
the site of a dungeon, or just a local legend locus? What's absolutely true--nobody wants
adventurers near it.

16 – The Scorpion Den was once the loveliest house in the town, until Ms. Grawl was murdered
there. Ever since, it has been absolutely overrun with scorpions. It’s been boarded up and sealed
off.

17 – Cats Have No Lord: The Fish Rocks Nobody knows why the fish like these rocks so much,
but wow do the like them. Jumping out of the water to lay on them, and you can just grab one.
Locals made a big pile once they realized what the fish were doing with this kind of rock and all
the fishers lost their jobs.

18 – R-L-Z: "The boxes" Communal living units built for the poor and needy, sparing every
expense. Mostly populated by the fishermen who lost their jobs because of the rocks and their
families as well as other socially disadvantaged people. If the town had tracks it would be on the
bad side of them.

19 – Hugh Bongo: Pelman Haines, carpenter, farmer-in-absentia abides; most local woodwork is
done-up by him and his three daughters. Only the youngest has any desire to farm what was
once a trio of verdant fields, now restrained to three long rows of tubers and hardier greens. She
(Wae) married Mambo's boy, Gerri, who has a good green hand but really wants to buy 'the
boxes' back, first to honor the Haines old family name and second because Een Leafly is a
slumlord rarely around, a parasite on Cartfall's poorest.

20 – Kapra’s Petting Zoo: Kapra keeps livestock here that you can pet for a copper or a favor.
Small children admitted for free. Rumor has it that Kapra really wants to get their hands on an
Owlbear for the zoo.

21 – ktrey: Goat-Gate Bridge: On Market Days, Livestock is often paraded across here in
deference to local superstition. Most days, Local Lads/Lasses dangle legs over the edge. Old-
Timers will regale you with stories of the “Wet Uncle” who used to dwell below it and only came
out at Night to steal Chickens.

22 – Created Wrongly: Welkin's Statue Long used by travelers as a waypoint marker, this aged
stone bust quite literally points towards Cartfall's town square. It was raised in honor of a visiting
Half-Elf merchant who rescued 3 local children from a mudslide accident during a particularly
heavy rainy season

OR

22 – Ziggy: a cache of goblin weaponry and assorted trinkets/ brick a brack left there for storage.
Bottles with "GOBLIN JUICE" scrawled poorly on their labels.

23 – Churros89: a churro stand ran by a mad disheveled wizard. It is like a regular churros
stand, but they use their magic to handle the churros instead of proper kitchen tools and stuff.
They don't accept money, you must win against them in a fight to be granted a churro.