In Mount & Blade: Warband, you play as an adventurer from the medieval land of Calradia, a fictional region devoid of magic and classic fantasy elements, instead resembling our own world during the Middle Ages.
The game offers a great deal of freedom to move around the game world. You can roam the map, visit towns and villages, trade, complete quests, participate in tournaments, and try out a myriad of other options. You'll soon notice that the world is dynamic in itself. Caravans travel from town to town, are occasionally ambushed by bandits, villagers carry goods to market, armies gather and march across the land, besiege towns or castles, and raid smaller settlements. Instead of giving you a set path to follow, Mount & Blade: Warband allows you to freely experience different adventures in this world. Over time, you'll gain notoriety in many places based on how you befriend or antagonize other characters, which in turn allows you to greatly influence the events of the game. You also don't have to remain a penniless adventurer. You can work your way up to considerable wealth and power, become a trusted vassal of the king, conquer and control 3 villages, castles and cities, command armies and, if you wish, you can even lead a rebellion, overthrow the king and replace him with another rightful claimant to the throne.
In Mount & Blade: Warband, you have no set goals, but rather a rich and interesting environment in which you can set your own goals, create and play out your own story.