Every player enters Travian as a leader of a small village as a Roman, Gaul or Teuton with two people in their village. The village has only one building, known as the Main Building. Around the Main Building are spaces for further buildings to be constructed. Around the outside of the village there are 18 resource fields that are level 0. Each resource field is either a Woodcutter (produces Wood/Lumber), Clay Pit (produces Clay), Iron Mine (produces Iron) or Wheat Field/Cropland (produces Wheat/Crop). These fields produce a certain amount of resources per hour, depending on their levels. At level 0, each resource field produces two units per hour. Resources are required to construct buildings, to sustain the population and to train and feed troops (see below). A player can increase the production rate by upgrading the fields.
At the start of the game, the selection of buildings a player can construct is very limited. As the village is developed, a wider range of buildings become available for construction.
A greater aspect for the game is its troops. Troops are produced in the Barracks. They allow a player to raid other villages and steal their resources, which will benefit the attacker. When the Barracks have been upgraded to a level three, the player may build an Academy, which allows them to research new types of troops; the player may also construct new types of buildings (such as the Armoury and Blacksmith ) once the Academy has been upgraded to a sufficient level. A Stable allows cavalry to be trained. These units are faster and more expensive than infantry.