Village defense

[Carlobrand]

Here's the problem in a nutshell: orcs have darkvision. So do many of the other sapient humanoids. Humans do not. Orcs love to pillage villages. The best time for that is at night, when the orcs can see, the humans can't, and most of the humans are going to be asleep. Even putting aside the 5e nonsense about seeing at night, humans would be at a disadvantage at night. One could put up a palisade and have mastiffs to sound the alarm, but it's still pretty easy for the orcs to get to the walls, scale them, and get into the village because humans would have a terrible time seeing attackers on a moonless night. I could hire a 1st level mage to cast light spells all night and sleep during the day, but that's likely to be an expensive line item in the typical village budget, and torches or lamp oil wouldn't be cheap either, not in the quantities needed every night. I can't see villagers settling down someplace where they're likely to be killed in some night raid. So, how do we address this without magic and without bankrupting the village? Any ideas?

[Amnestic]

Orcs don't hunt in total darkness because it makes it too easy and there's no sport in it. Instead, they light fires so that their god can better observe their battle, see their glory, and exalt them in life and death. This is also why they burn down villages instead of occupying them.

(To clarify, this is 'headcanon', it is not based on any sources other than that I just made it up)

[Sigreid]

Same way villages were defended in the real world. Start with geography. There's a reason villages tended to be at the top of hills and other places where direction of attack is limited or the enemy will be just plain tuckered out by the time they get there. Then we move on to a trench that among other things makes it much more difficult to get any heavy equipment to the wall.

From here, you can take a lesson from soldiers in Vietnam. On your defensive wall, you can put stick/posts that mark objects in the line of fire. This lets your defenders fire in the dark without hitting any obstructions. For example, the orcs are coming, the crossbow man is in his assigned position just firing into the darkness. as he moves across the range of fire, a stick up from the wall bumps his crossbow, so he knows he has to raise his crossbow to the top of the stick to fire over that boulder out there.

For more advanced techniques for the trench, the villagers can have it slop upward towards the wall, and straight up and down on the side opposite of the wall. This encourages the enemy to jump into the trench where the villagers have put pine tar in the bottom ready to be set on fire. Now the opponent is in a burning trench trapped between the shear wall that would have to be climbed to retreat, and a stone wall with archers firing down on them.

[Sorinth]

Well if it's a large group of orcs then you would still be able to hear them approaching so I don't think the orcs can simply get up to and scale the walls as easily as you make it seem. In terms of illumination they don't need to illuminate the area all night every night, it's only when there is an attack so throwing out torches or flaming bundles of wood soaked in pitch when they first realize an attack is about to occur doesn't sound like it would bankrupt any village.

But even if it's more or less a given that an orc warband will successfully sack the average village, if there's a powerful lord nearby who can retaliate against the warband then raids won't be all that common because it's not just about defeating the village it's getting back home safely with the loot afterwards. Now if there's basically a state of war such that raids would be common then there would likely be a large no-mans land between the human and orc forces.

[JackPhoenix]

That's why we tolerate elves. Not only can they see in the dark, they don't need as much sleep and have free Perception proficiency. Much better than guard dogs.

[InvisibleBison]

torches or lamp oil wouldn't be cheap either, not in the quantities needed every night.

I'm not sure this is correct. A hooded lantern provides light out to 60 feet, the same range as most creatures' darkvision, and is omnidirectional to boot. The cost would be about 2 sp/night/lantern, since a 1 sp vial of oil burns for 6 hours. So how many lanterns would we need?

I'm going to assume a village of about 100 people, partly because that seems about right for a typical village in a pseudo-medieval setting, and partly because the source I found talking about the size of villages also uses that number. That source suggests an area of about 107,000 square feet. A circular palisade surrounding such an area would have a circumference of about 1163 feet - let's round up to 1200 to be conservative. It would only take 10 lanterns to illuminate the entirety of that palisade, for a cost of 2 gp/night.

Could this village afford to pay that much? Well, there's a hundred people who are mostly living a modest lifestyle, which means that fueling the lanterns would consume about 2% of their income. That's not hugely expensive if it significantly decreases the odds of the village being raided.

[No brains]

Here's the problem in a nutshell: orcs have darkvision. So do many of the other sapient humanoids. Humans do not. Orcs love to pillage villages. The best time for that is at night, when the orcs can see, the humans can't, and most of the humans are going to be asleep. Even putting aside the 5e nonsense about seeing at night, humans would be at a disadvantage at night. One could put up a palisade and have mastiffs to sound the alarm, but it's still pretty easy for the orcs to get to the walls, scale them, and get into the village because humans would have a terrible time seeing attackers on a moonless night. I could hire a 1st level mage to cast light spells all night and sleep during the day, but that's likely to be an expensive line item in the typical village budget, and torches or lamp oil wouldn't be cheap either, not in the quantities needed every night. I can't see villagers settling down someplace where they're likely to be killed in some night raid. So, how do we address this without magic and without bankrupting the village? Any ideas?

I'm wondering how precisely you're considering this problem. What end are we trying to get to here?

Are you trying to think about this from the simulationist standpoint, and trying to reason how human villages live long enough to generate profit with the existential threat of orcs?

Another thing to keep in mind is that gp costs are not always 100% straightforward when it comes to village defense. Oil and other tools can be crafted at half its purchase price (or less if the village was built to exploit a great source of oil) as part of village life.

Similarly, better warriors than commoners (including magic capable ones) would defend a village not because they're getting paid, but because they live there. A Priest and some Acolytes might set up a mission in that town. An Illusionist and their Apprentice might have a workshop outside the jurisdiction of a meddling guild. Bob the Fighter, a Gladiator might have wanted to do farm work because it's less noisy than the arena. But none of these people can save ALL their neighbors, nor do they want to chance leaving them undefended. The risk of an orc attack is still enough to scare them. They don't see their friends and family as a numbers game. That's what makes them seek outside help from adventurers to attack the orcs where they live.

If you want to further complicate things from the orc's point of view, raiding specifically human settlements might be especially risky because Variant humans might be living there. This means spontaneous Magic Initates, Fey Touched, Crushers, Skulkers, Inspiring Leaders, Polearm Masters, and all sorts of crazy crap could be waiting for Orcs in a human settlement. It's better to raid halflings and gnomes, who are more predictably weak. Perhaps that's why those small folk are so rare?

Other good points have been made upthread about geography and a 'combined arms' approach to human/elf/dwarf demographics.

[J-H]

How are the orcs arriving at the village at midnight? They have to already be within a few miles to strike, which means that the lumberjacks, trappers, hunters, foragers, and other woodsmen of the village are likely to have seen the signs of their passing. Similarly, scouts/outriders from the local lords / authorities may have run across their tracks, particularly since there's probably a specific direction raiding parties come from.

[LibraryOgre]

Geese.

Geese are loud, aggressive, and territorial. And tasty. So, have your fowl, but make sure they are LOUD.

Hire a couple people to walk the town at night, with dogs. Keep an eye out for trouble, and make a ton of noise if there are orcs.

While you might want your wizard to know Light, also really useful is Alarm, which is a ritual. With about 2 hours of work, you can Alarm a few key points... places on the road, gaps between houses, etc.

[Envyus]

Orcs don't hunt in total darkness because it makes it too easy and there's no sport in it. Instead, they light fires so that their god can better observe their battle, see their glory, and exalt them in life and death. This is also why they burn down villages instead of occupying them.

(To clarify, this is 'headcanon', it is not based on any sources other than that I just made it up)

Orcs don’t like total darkness either, they can only see a short bit out and in black and white.

[Kane0]

Here's the problem in a nutshell: orcs have darkvision. So do many of the other sapient humanoids. Humans do not. Orcs love to pillage villages.

So, how do we address this without magic and without bankrupting the village? Any ideas?

I would argue that this one of the prime use cases of Continual Flame, which might be pricey in terms of initial investment but hardly unreasonable for a village to afford, and importantly carries no costs over time like regular lamps/torches would.

But magic aside, one or a few watchtowers in key locations ideally set up with bullseye/spotlight style light sources would be more efficient than scattering smaller, undirected lights along the perimeter.
Couple that with an audio alarm system like some hounds and a gong, horn or similar siren and that should be good enough for the occasional raid.

Though you'd still want some defensible walls to get everyone to safety, even if said walls dont necessarily protect any property.

[Skrum]

It's also worth considering the larger context. Yes, a random collection of buildings surrounded by a rickety fence with few or no warriors to speak of would be easily destroyed by an orc raiding party. But WHY are the orcs attacking the town -
1) the town is at the edge of human and orc-held territory. Well, that's probably not just a random collection of buildings surrounded by a rickety fence any more. It's a de-facto fort, and would be supplied and defended as such - a proper watch, trained warriors, towers, dogs, etc etc etc.
2) the town isn't at the edge of human and orc-held territory. So...why and how are the orcs attacking it at all?

If a town is in the latter category, and then events conspire to put it in harm's way, one of two things happens: it becomes the former category, or all the people pick up and leave for safer locations. That's the thing about war; commerce, trade, farming, and comfort kinda go out the window. You are exactly right that Randomtownsville would be very susceptible to orc attack. But if you're looking to get that in the weeds with worldbuilding, I think you're missing the bigger picture about how towns and society function in regards to outside threats.

[Carlobrand]

Clarifying a couple of points:
This is a village in the Yeomanry, Greyhawk, which by canon is a rather underpopulated setting. I chose to answer that by declaring that the setting had a problem with thin borders with other planes: monsters occasionally pop in from other planes in wilderness areas, making things more hostile out there than they'd be in our world, so sending troops out to clear territory tends to be only a short-term solution, and fraught with casualties given some of those baddies. Humanoid races respond by being aggressive hunter-gatherer cultures: kill threats unless the threat is too big, if the threat is too big then pick up and move someplace safer - which tends to bring them in conflict with other humanoids. A result is that, while they're aggressive, the tribes are no more numerous than what the local wilderness ecology can support, typically no more in a typical tribe than what would be in a typical village, and a square mile of wilderness can't support as many bodies as a square mile of farmland. They cooperate sometimes, and that's likely to lead to some village getting sacked and some force being sent out on a punitive expedition with supporting wizards and clerics. On the other hand, aggressive humanoid tribes are also likely to deal with most of the cross-planar baddies who pop up, so there's some benefit to having them out there.

Humans respond with roads and organization: in the Yeomanry, villages are either close to towns or along roads where relieving forces and aid can reach them with good speed, and they use messenger pigeons, riders, runners, bells and so forth for communication. They're defended with palisades and tend to be close to each other for mutual support, with an active and practiced militia based on light crossbows. That is in fact my argument for why everyone has simple weapon proficiency: some of them are just easy to learn, and some are things the children learn growing up in a rather militant society, young children using slings to drive small birds and animals out of the family gardens, older children contesting with each other to hit targets with darts and javelins. My model is actually more an early colonial America theme (without gunpowder) than a medieval theme, at least for the Yeomanry. Medieval would work for places like Keoland.

Light was a problem, since attacks are likely to be at night, but there are some good ideas here. Funds are limited, especially after a fee to the miller, a tithe to the church, and a tax to support the military that will be riding to relieve them, so maybe 5 or 6 SP per day, maybe hire a professional soldier to come be a militia sergeant and provide training - and that would leave money for oil for a bullseye lantern, so thanks for pointing that out (I'd forgotten they burn that long), or we could make a serviceable oil from some plant or from animal renderings (thank you for reminding me about that option), and hiring a demi-human for nightwatch is a good idea as well, and although Continual Flame is a pricey spell it's likely the bishop in town would bless the village church/temple with one at its founding, and we could set that up in the church tower in a lantern to illuminate the village itself at night (I'd forgotten that spell), and we can ensure the church/temple is stoutly build of stone rather than wood and is stocked with supplies to serve as a retreat during an attack.

I like the geese, very traditional. I think I'd need to hire a village hedge-wizard if I want Alarms since they last 8 hours; maybe offer him some land tended collectively by the villagers. A wizard could be useful for other things as well, especially if I incorporate the (somewhat overpowered) cantrips from Xanathar's Guide and make a couple of homebrew agricultural spells like divining water or something to protect the grain storage from rats and insects.

[Unoriginal]

Clarifying a couple of points:
This is a village in the Yeomanry, Greyhawk, which by canon is a rather underpopulated setting. I chose to answer that by declaring that the setting had a problem with thin borders with other planes: monsters occasionally pop in from other planes in wilderness areas, making things more hostile out there than they'd be in our world, so sending troops out to clear territory tends to be only a short-term solution, and fraught with casualties given some of those baddies. Humanoid races respond by being aggressive hunter-gatherer cultures: kill threats unless the threat is too big, if the threat is too big then pick up and move someplace safer - which tends to bring them in conflict with other humanoids. A result is that, while they're aggressive, the tribes are no more numerous than what the local wilderness ecology can support, typically no more in a typical tribe than what would be in a typical village, and a square mile of wilderness can't support as many bodies as a square mile of farmland. They cooperate sometimes, and that's likely to lead to some village getting sacked and some force being sent out on a punitive expedition with supporting wizards and clerics. On the other hand, aggressive humanoid tribes are also likely to deal with most of the cross-planar baddies who pop up, so there's some benefit to having them out there.

No offense, but it seems like you're the one who introduced the problem here.

As said in the MM, the main reason why Orc communities do raids is to get ressources and goods, and they generally conduct those raids as needed from their own fortified settlements. It's even noted that they generally don't kill the civilians because a) they know who's growing the food and crafting the goods they're claiming as booty and b) Orcs believe in harsh battles against tough foes is how you earn glory and social status, so killing the weak is of little interest to them.

If you change that to "Orcs can't settle in the wilderness because too-tough-to-be-beaten monsters keep popping off, so they need to claim the human villages which are in not-monster-spawning areas, then you're indeed looking at a completely different dynamic.

[Sigreid]

Also worth mentioning, defense is usually less about being impregnable and more about making the cost of success too high. If sacking that village is going to cost you most of a generation of your warriors, it's not really worth it.

[KorvinStarmast]

I can't see villagers settling down someplace where they're likely to be killed in some night raid.

So, how do we address this without magic and without bankrupting the village? Any ideas?

1. Pay the orcs the tribute they demand, and thus avoid getting invaded/overrun.

2. Hire some adventurers mercenaries to find the orcs' camp and put them to the sword.

3. Appeal to the local noble to raise the levy to run a punitive expedition against the local orcs who appear to be raiding and overrunning villages. That's not a big ask since (in the pseudo-medieval world assumption) each overrun village is a substantial decrease in revenue for that noble ... he has a motive to stop that.

Spoiler: Without Magic, you say?

Show

4. Dig a ditch/moat around the village, as was done in a great many medieval settlements.

5. As Kane0 pointed out, continual light.

6. Also, what Jack Phoenix and Sigreid said.

[Carlobrand]

No offense, but it seems like you're the one who introduced the problem here.

...

I apologize to everyone. I hadn't been aware I was introducing a problem. I received a great deal of very good advice and thought it might be helpful to provide additional details of the setting I'm working on. No, I'm not saying "Orcs can't settle in the wilderness because ..." and it is indeed possible for the monsters to "spawn" in the middle of a village or town - it makes things really interesting - but there's just so very much more wilderness than there is town or village that it's far more likely for them to pop up unseen someplace and then go wandering off. It's the best I could come up with but it does have a few refrigerator-logic issues. Still, it does let me stick monsters out there for the players to encounter without having to build an ecology that supports the monsters. (Yes, I'm overthinking it. I'm a wee bit compulsive that way.) However, I'm primarily here seeking advice on defense so, if anyone was offended because I appear to be breaking canon, I can only apologize and move forward.

Asking the government take a threat seriously before someone gets sacked is always Plan A. (There are no nobles in the Yeomanry, but there are analogs who function in roughly similar roles, the rich being the rich wherever they might happen to be.) Paying tribute is a good Plan B, if tribute is demanded: it will officially be frowned upon but, given the option and assuming its within their means, it's certainly something they'd consider. Hiring someone is a good Plan C and adventure hook if neither Plan A nor Plan B are possible. I will be using Continual Flame - in the church steeple to illuminate the village itself, that's the best way I can rationalize getting a 50 gp spell to the village - and I am going to have them hire a couple of demi-humans for night security, along with a Bullseye Lantern or two for the local night watch; those were great ideas.

And, no, it will never be impregnable. I'm already stretching affordability by assuming a palisade for the village and a light crossbow in each household, but I'm thinking if they could afford to have muskets on the colonial frontier - and I recall a few early places that used palisades to deal with raids - then I can assume owning a crossbow can be a requirement for a free farmer household in a fantasy community in which raids and such are a consideration; otherwise they can be tenant farmers for some wealthy person who can maintain an adequately stocked armory. I don't think these farmers would fair well in hand-to-hand, so I'm thinking the main goal is to spot the threat as early as possible, raise the alarm so the families get to the village church/temple or some other safe point, making sure that safe point is built solid enough that they can hold out a few hours until help arrives, then have the defenders on the walls cause a few casualties before the threat reaches the palisade and then retreat from the palisade to the safe point when the attackers are close, and snipe from there. I don't see a village being able to afford enough crossbows to repel a determined raid from the palisade.

[Sigreid]

I apologize to everyone. I hadn't been aware I was introducing a problem. I received a great deal of very good advice and thought it might be helpful to provide additional details of the setting I'm working on. No, I'm not saying "Orcs can't settle in the wilderness because ..." and it is indeed possible for the monsters to "spawn" in the middle of a village or town - it makes things really interesting - but there's just so very much more wilderness than there is town or village that it's far more likely for them to pop up unseen someplace and then go wandering off. It's the best I could come up with but it does have a few refrigerator-logic issues. Still, it does let me stick monsters out there for the players to encounter without having to build an ecology that supports the monsters. (Yes, I'm overthinking it. I'm a wee bit compulsive that way.) However, I'm primarily here seeking advice on defense so, if anyone was offended because I appear to be breaking canon, I can only apologize and move forward.

Asking the government take a threat seriously before someone gets sacked is always Plan A. (There are no nobles in the Yeomanry, but there are analogs who function in roughly similar roles, the rich being the rich wherever they might happen to be.) Paying tribute is a good Plan B, if tribute is demanded: it will officially be frowned upon but, given the option and assuming its within their means, it's certainly something they'd consider. Hiring someone is a good Plan C and adventure hook if neither Plan A nor Plan B are possible. I will be using Continual Flame - in the church steeple to illuminate the village itself, that's the best way I can rationalize getting a 50 gp spell to the village - and I am going to have them hire a couple of demi-humans for night security, along with a Bullseye Lantern or two for the local night watch; those were great ideas.

And, no, it will never be impregnable. I'm already stretching affordability by assuming a palisade for the village and a light crossbow in each household, but I'm thinking if they could afford to have muskets on the colonial frontier - and I recall a few early places that used palisades to deal with raids - then I can assume owning a crossbow can be a requirement for a free farmer household in a fantasy community in which raids and such are a consideration; otherwise they can be tenant farmers for some wealthy person who can maintain an adequately stocked armory. I don't think these farmers would fair well in hand-to-hand, so I'm thinking the main goal is to spot the threat as early as possible, raise the alarm so the families get to the village church/temple or some other safe point, making sure that safe point is built solid enough that they can hold out a few hours until help arrives, then have the defenders on the walls cause a few casualties before the threat reaches the palisade and then retreat from the palisade to the safe point when the attackers are close, and snipe from there. I don't see a village being able to afford enough crossbows to repel a determined raid from the palisade.

How about a moon tower powered by a continual light spell. Moon towers were a real thing where a tower was built with a light source and a mirror set to illuminate a town by shining reflected light down on it like a search light.

[KorvinStarmast]

How about a moon tower powered by a continual light spell. Moon towers were a real thing where a tower was built with a light source and a mirror set to illuminate a town by shining reflected light down on it like a search light.

Good idea.
Also, for Carlobrand: a light crossbow in every house is a rational assumption/requirement for settling on the frontier. It is a simple weapon that is comparatively easy to use and train with.

I note that you have placed this settlement in The Yeomanary: are you running in The World of Greyhawk?

[Mastikator]

Some ideas:

• A settlement next to a river may have "life boats" ready to ferry the villagers away from the village should the walls be breached. (I don't know if the village is next to a river, but it makes sense for it to be, freshwater is not optional, a river solves many problems)
• Villagers can keep household treasures in a buried chest inside their house, if the house burns down then the most valuable treasures will not be destroyed, and are less likely to be stolen.
• If the village is surrounded by large empty fields where any vegetation is regularly kept short then approaching the village undetected will be significantly harder. And if the field is covered by gravel, twigs and similar things then walking silently wouldn't be easier either.
• If the wooden palisade can be scaled easily, then perhaps a second palisade might help. You can hide sharp wooden sticks in muddy water between the two walls, anyone attempting to scale the walls will need at least some siege items (long, heavy and robust ladders), or they will be forced to jump from sharp wooden poles onto sharp wooden poles, OR jump down into sharp wooden poles.
• Defenses don't need to be impregnable, just difficult enough that a raid attempt is not worth the effort. As has been mentioned light crossbows for villagers. The houses may have balconies where villagers can snipe from relative safety. Raiders will incur losses trying to steal from the village.
• Use as much stone, clay, even dirt and other non-flammable materials as possible when building houses. Thatch roof might have dirt mixed in and moss on top, water and dirt will slow down the fire. If the raiders try to burn the village down.

Now that the village is not worth raiding, orcs may prefer to attack villagers who leave the village and extort the village in exchange for the captive.
Villagers with lifestock may prefer to keep their animals inside the walls at night, and walk them out at day for feed. And hunters may prefer using traps, it will increase the danger for strangers to be in the same woods, and reduce the risk for the hunters since they spend less time in the woods and more time behind walls.

[rel]

Armies don't come from nowhere. For there to be an army of orcs nearby you first need one of two things:
Orcs living in the area that can band up to form said army.
Or an orc army somewhere else which can then maraude its way over.

Either way the villagers have plenty of warning to prepare special defenses, flee in terror, or hire some adventurers to go engage in some proactive defense.

[KorvinStarmast]

Armies don't come from nowhere. For there to be an army of orcs nearby you first need one of two things:
Orcs living in the area that can band up to form said army.
Or an orc army somewhere else which can then maraude its way over.

Or an evil overlord somewhere with an army of creatures, some of whom are orcs. That's the original source of most "orcs are attacking" narratives.

Either way the villagers have plenty of warning to prepare special defenses, flee in terror, or hire some adventurers to go engage in some proactive defense.

Or they have terrible communication networks and are surprised by an orc raid, which leaves the town/village in flames ...

[Sigreid]

Well, except this is DnD and Grumpy One Eye could just get bored and move an orc raiding party into the area just for some entertaining T.V. 😀

[rel]

Armies don't come from nowhere. For there to be an army of orcs nearby you first need one of two things:
Orcs living in the area that can band up to form said army.
Or an orc army somewhere else which can then maraude its way over.

Either way the villagers have plenty of warning to prepare special defenses, flee in terror, or hire some adventurers to go engage in some proactive defense.

Or they have terrible communication networks and are surprised by an orc raid, which leaves the town/village in flames ...

Well yeah, why do you think so many heroes have ''childhood village burnt down by monsters" in their back story.
The villages that are not yet burnt down are either competent enough to survive reliably or lucky enough to remain standing until the PC's arrive.

Ultimately, if your setting is so dangerous that an idyllic village of level 1 commoners in straw shacks could never survive and the lack of verisimilitude bothers you then don't include idyllic villages of level 1 commoners without clandestine defences like bands of rangers in the woods or high level ex adventurers behind the bar.
Make the rest of the villages look more like military camps under siege and the lone farmhouses sturdy, defensible and populated by the kind of survivalist badasses that can see off the average band of raiders or at least make them reconsider an attack.

[KorvinStarmast]

Well yeah, why do you think so many heroes have ''childhood village burnt down by monsters" in their back story.

Roughly the beginning of the movie (Dar's origin) Beast Master with Marc Singer, John Amos, Tanya Roberts and Rip Torn.

[Mastikator]

Sometimes the villagers lose and the orcs win. That should also be a thing, otherwise there are no stakes in the game.

[LibraryOgre]

Roughly the beginning of the movie (Dar's origin) Beast Master with Marc Singer, John Amos, Tanya Roberts and Rip Torn.

Conan, too, if you allow that the Set cult is monsters in the less literal sense.

[KorvinStarmast]

Conan, too, if you allow that the Set cult is monsters in the less literal sense.

For sure.
You had the 'Thulsa Doom become a snake' bit, the 'stew' scenes, and the arrows that were snakes bit. I am trying to reconstruct the opening "Tower of the Elephant" thing with the giant snake...not sure there was any shape changing in that though.

[greenstone]

I can't see villagers settling down someplace where they're likely to be killed in some night raid. So, how do we address this without magic and without bankrupting the village? Any ideas?

We don't address it. The villagers live in fear. Sometimes villages are destroyed by creatures that go waagghh in the night.

However, they are a scrappy and expansionist people, so they don't let their fear hold them back.

I think that the inability to see in the dark is an important part of the makeup of the human species. It informs human culture.

Elves, when faced with threats, retreat to their forests. Dwarves do the same in their mountains. Humans, on the other hand, expand and colonise and overcome. Part of why humans are found everywhere is that they are scared of the dark. How do they deal with things that scare them? By attacking them head on.

As an aside, I think all physical features should inform cultures in the game and I'd like to see more gamebook notes about it. What does increased DEX mean for elvish cultures? Do elven cities scare the pants off humans because of the lack of railings? What effect has dwarven stonecunning had on darven society and religion? How has halfling luck informed their way of life?

[Silly Name]

I can't see villagers settling down someplace where they're likely to be killed in some night raid. So, how do we address this without magic and without bankrupting the village? Any ideas?

Well, I would surmise that most people don't settle down in an area they know is subject to raids by roving bands of maraduers. So, nobody is building villages deep into orc territory where this is a regular concern, because anyone foolish enough to do such a thing probably gets pillaged before they're even done building their village.

The at-risk villages are the ones close enough to borders that orcs can raid. Said villages will likely be a bit better fortified than the ones in the kingdom's heartland - so, yes, they will have palisades to slow down attackers, they will have guard shifts, they most likely are under the protection of some marcher lord, whose men-at-arms can usually reach the villages quickly enough to save them.

But they will still get pillaged. People are afraid of orcs because your average commoner knows he has very poor chances of surviving an orc raid. That's what adventurers are for. So, sometimes the village falls - they don't have the resources to build better defenses, and the lord's soldiers don't always arrive in time, and they sometimes get overwhelmed too.

Life on the border ain't easy.