The best villages burn down during the protagonist's childhood.
There is a well, there's even a quest around it.
A water source of some kind. Well, river, lake doesn't matter but there needs to be SOME way for villagers to get potable water.
If it's a permanent settlement, then some resource and basic form of economic purpose. Mine, farms, logging or even clay deposits (for potters) work fine. A town has to have some reason to exist however. In settings with plate armor, armorsmiths should be located near the river since it is needed for their automatic hammers.
If the scale of the game world is large enough (world and not just a country), have villages vary culturally. Building styles, local food ect.
A water source of some kind. Well, river, lake doesn't matter but there needs to be SOME way for villagers to get potable water.
If it's a permanent settlement, then some resource and basic form of economic purpose. Mine, farms, logging or even clay deposits (for potters) work fine. A town has to have some reason to exist however. In settings with plate armor, armorsmiths should be located near the river since it is needed for their automatic hammers.
If the scale of the game world is large enough (world and not just a country), have villages vary culturally. Building styles, local food ect.
Well, the type of source of water does matter. You usually can drink water directly from the well, but from a river or lake - a bad idea if you don't want a nasty diarrhea. So a respectable village should have a well or be situated near the sources of a stream, but that means its in the mountains.