A lot of role-playing games let you visit villages. Not a lot let you run them.
Dungeon Village, a new simulation game for mobile devices, does just that. It turns you into the mayor, zoning planner, and landlord of your very own medieval fantasy town. Your job: to make money and keep your people satisfied. In this case, your people are adventurers: little sprites with class archetypes like Archer and Merchant who run around buying things and killing the monsters outside your gates.
You won't get to control these adventurers, but you will have to make them happy. To do so, you can build shops, homes, and various decorations. You can send them out on quests. You can give them equipment and other gifts. And you can try not to let them die.
If you've played one of Kairosoft's other games, like Game Dev Story or Hot Springs Story, you probably know what you're getting here: adorable simulated sprites, broken English, and fiendishly addictive money-mongering gameplay.
In other words, it's a game well worth your time.
Warning: Although the iTunes link says it's compatible with iPad, the version I bought and downloaded would only work on iPhone and iPod Touch.
Android: Dungeon Village [$4.99, Google Play]
iOS: Dungeon Village [$3.99, iTunes]