BTW, my adventure module idea, 'Tales from the Green Gryphon Inn' centers around a town in Rhakhaan next to an ancient Earthwarden bridge with mystical warding and portal powers. Not to mention the town is at a crossroads, next to a moor, and populated by all number of questionable people. I think you might like it.
Could you do one favor for me: Put a dang wall around the town and don't have the swamp and/or forest grow right up and into the town, please.
I really do not understand the concept that a settlement would not have basic defensive features in a fantasy world filled with all manner of ickiness. Not to mention, that half of the villages are not only unwalled/defended, but they are comprised of a bunch of houses like on
The Little House on the Prairie and have the woods growing right up and into them! Even our world's Middle-Aged villages did not have that, for the simple fact that the land needed to be cleared for crops. But to have woodlands go through the village is just asking to be eaten while you sleep, or do anything at any time of day. The only time I could see the "typical" unwalled/defended village is if it is within the most central part of a civilized region, which probably means they see 2-3 guard sweeps per day, minimum of 1, but multiple per week, and they are not far from a much larger settlement with all sorts of high-level back up. (Of course, another reason would be it is inhabited by extremely high-level & powerful individuals, so if you are traveling in the wildlands and happen upon a small village, unwalled, seeming very idyllic, be afraid and treat everyone there with great respect because they are powerful enough to deal with all the monsters that would come around - until they learned better, of course - just about every day. Can you say
Shadowdale?)
Sorry, but that has become a serious pet-peeve of mine. Sure the woods look all cool drawn on the map, and it gives them a reason to use "Forest Green", but it makes absolutely no practical sense whatsoever from a "I want to live past 3" sense.