I think three players (Rick, Thomas, cofdublin) is barely enough and very vulnerable to dropouts. I'd run with four.
I'm intrigued by cofdublin's "warrior beard" character. Would he be attached to the chin of another player character?
This wouldn't happen until after I finish my current project, building an escape room in my garage, but when that's done we'll see.
After I finish I'd be open to another person taking over as GM for one adventure, and maybe me coming back for an adventure after that, if people wanted that.
I think all or nearly all of the characters should be, well, villagers. They will have interesting pasts, part-time jobs, hobbies and/or whatever from which they acquire adventuresome skills but they'll all start at low to mid 30s attribute points, plus a bunch of freebies that aren't particularly useful (basic version of Farmer, basic Boats, maybe basic Seaman, Follower-level knowledge of the local religion, one of the main local languages at native fluency and basic knowledge of all the other languages, etc.) Probably no specialist wizards but I'll let people start with magic using my generalist rules (so they can buy both talents and skills at moderate prices). By local standards these are brave, dangerous and capable people, and everyone else tends to look in their direction when the wolves howl at their door. But none is a professional adventurer or warrior: they all have prosaic day jobs. I suppose one or two might be appointed sheriffs or the ilk.
I'm willing to be talked out of these ideas if anyone has a better one, or everyone says, "No, we'd rather do X."
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David