Ooo. OOOO.
The merchants didn't settle down because they wanted to, they were forced off of their old trade routes by a rival company. Now they're in a desolate, snowy place called the Frost Marsh, and need to make the best of the situation.
I think we could make this really interesting by playing off of the fact that our characters are merchants. They're not interested in fighting monsters for the heck of it, they just want to survive by trading with the area's locals. Quests could be based around finding other towns (you have no knowledge of the area in the beginning of the game, the world map gets filled in as you explore) which would then allow you to do business with them. For every town you discover your new town's wealth increases. The goal of the game is to get your town to a point where it is wealthy enough to exist stably in the Frost Marsh. Of course, when this happens your rival company is angry, and shows up to destroy you.
Gameplay is centered around exploration rather than combat, you can find resources (gold mines) to hasten the expansion of your town's economy, and obviously must search for other settlements to trade with. Exploration is dangerous, as if you stay out in the Frost Marsh to long you freeze to death (time can be measured in steps, maybe your heat decreases for every step you take, and is regained by sleeping at towns or using some items).
When combat does occur it's real time, you fight by tapping in a direction and then hitting a "swing sword" button. Maybe we can add stuff like attacking is one direction and defending in another later, but that would be the basis for the battle system.
