Barking Alien's RPG CAMPAIGN TOUR CHALLENGE! Day 24

Elowen's Newest obsession

Day 24 - Imports

Day 24-What are the major imports to the area?
What is it your campaign region needs but doesn't have and how do they get it? Maybe it's not a need but a want? Some other place has the very best something and the people of your campaign desire some of that action.  

Elowen’s Journal

"I suppose I should mention that I have a job.

I work part-time at Renee’s Tea Shoppe. Larina thought it would be good for me, a way to interact with both the living and the dead without hiding behind my journal all the time. She was right, of course. And the extra spending money doesn’t hurt either. What does this have to do with imports? Everything, as it turns out.

West Haven’s most important import is tea. I’m not exaggerating. This village drinks three or four times as much tea as anywhere else I’ve ever seen. Twice as much as East Haven, at least. It’s borderline alarming. If the tea supply ever dried up, I’m fairly certain there would be an uprising. Coven-wide. Possibly armed.

I work with a girl named Rebecca. She’s friendly, kind, and endlessly patient in a way I envy. She isn’t particularly academic, but she knows tea the way some witches know spells. She can look at someone for five seconds and hand them exactly what they didn’t know they needed. She introduced me to something called a chai latte, and now my life is divided into before and after. Some of the spices grow here, but many don’t. Cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, and ginger. More imports. Rebecca says she’s a “Pumpkin Spice Witch.” I don’t know what that means, but it sounds wonderful.

There are other things we bring in, too. Fine textiles like silk. Certain building materials we can’t get locally. We have wood in abundance, and the mountain dwarves supply more stone than we could ever need, but not everything can be pulled from the valley or the mountains. That’s where the markets come in.

Market days are my favorite. Our open-air market is just that: open. Anyone can sell. Anyone can browse. Goods come in from places I’ve never seen and probably never will. I’m not even sure East Haven has the same variety we do. I think people just want an excuse to visit what they call “Witch Haven,” even if they pretend otherwise.

West Haven grows its own food. It makes its own magic. But it imports comfort. Flavor. Texture. Little luxuries that make the days gentler. I think that says something important about the kind of place this is."

Designer’s Notes

Imports in West Haven are intentionally modest and specific. The setting doesn’t rely on exotic goods to function, but it eagerly embraces comforts and cultural exchange. Tea functions as both a literal import and a social ritual, reinforcing community, rest, and conversation. Renee’s Tea Shoppe acts as a crossroads for locals, travelers, and spirits alike.

Market days emphasize openness rather than control. West Haven’s lack of restrictive trade policy allows for variety that even larger, more structured cities like East Haven struggle to match. This reinforces the idea that flexibility and hospitality can be more economically and culturally resilient than rigid systems.

Day 24 complements Days 22 and 23 by showing that while West Haven grows much of what it needs, it deliberately welcomes what it lacks. The town survives not by isolation, but by selective openness.

Join Adam Dickstein of Barking Alien, and his RPG CAMPAIGN TOUR CHALLENGE 2026!