Nice comic. That said, as cliche as it can be, I like the tavern as a starting place for soem adventures. Why? It's just plausible. I spent a month in Ireland several years back. The area where I spent most of my time was quite rural. There were quite a few sheep/goat farmers in the area, but they didn't live on top of one another in a quaint village (not that Ireland wasn't full of quaint villages), but the pub(lic house) in the area served as a place for all of them to get together, talk, share ideas...hire adventurers (well not really this last, but you can see how it works well in a fantasy RPG).
Chad