Larysian Communities
LadieStorm
🖼️ 50 images Surveyor
So I've started mapping out the hamlets, towns, villages and cities on my Larysian continents. Because I don't know yet, where my players will go (this campaign will be largely player driven) I've decided the best idea is to map so many 'generic' maps, instead of trying to make a map for every single hamlet/village/town/city. I will be making 5 generic plans for each, with a few elven, dwarf, orc communities. I will, however, make separate maps for those places that are significant, ie : their base town: the places with planned encounters or quests, that type of thing.
These are two starting hamlets, and they are mostly done... I just have to tweak them here and there. And of course, I'm always looking for suggestions to improve.
I hope you enjoy!
These are two starting hamlets, and they are mostly done... I just have to tweak them here and there. And of course, I'm always looking for suggestions to improve.
I hope you enjoy!
Comments
My second hamlet is almost a village, also a farming community in one of the grassland areas that support livestock more readily. I don't have names for these, of course, because these are generic places that they players might come through. Oh, and these were done in two different 'styles' to show variation of the different lands....
I have not played with the city designer much, too concentrated on my regional maps right now - LoL!
Just a few questions below to just stimulate ideas:
1. What kind of wall protects the village?
2. Will the village have gates?
3. How do they defend the wall?
Those are excellent questions
In the first Hamlet, some of these Hamlet's have been built on the 'bones' of others. Meaning there may have been a town or even city here, long ago. I believe in my continental maps, I explain that my world of Larysia is a world that has been ravaged by wars, the wrath of furious gods, plagues, and abused magic gone wild. Larysia was.once an advanced world with airships, spell jammers, and teleport rings. But the population was brought to the brink of extinction, and were blasted back to about the stone age.
There are a lot of ancient ruins of towns, cities and kingdoms. So.e of them have been rebuilt, but are just shadows of their former selves. The first Hamlet might be o e of these. The road was still there, the city walls were there, but crumbling, and the only thing left of the previous inhabitants were perhaps the foundations. The people of this Hamlet may have cleared the overgrowth on the road, repaired the walls as best they could, and built their homes and such inside. So the road and walls are cobblestone. No gates, because there are no Masons to build them...yet. Not many guards, there may be 7-10 families living here.
The second one was built 'from scratch'. Dirt and gravel roads. Wooden Palisades. Wood gates with maybe a watch tower or two. It probably has a blacksmith, which means weapons, and the beginnings of a town guard. As I said, it's almost a village.
But these are all things that will come out in game play. What I've done on my other maps, is numbered each of my Hamlet's, villages, towns and cities. Once I get all of the generic and specific maps created, and once my players turn in their back stories with their home towns named, then I will flesh out the other places on the continental maps. Each place will be assigned a 'generic' map number(or specific map if it's a significant place). I will then do a write up on each one...points of interest, possible local loords, NPCs they might meet, quests available, name of the place, that type of thing. That way, I'm not having g to come up with a whole village/town/city worth of people all on the spot.
Seems like a LOT of work, and it is for something my players may never see. But that's just the way I work... The infrastructure of the campaign will be bult and in place... That way, once the game starts, I can concentrate on the story with my players.
One of the 'cool' things I did, was make travel between the continents difficult in the beginning. So all I really have to do right now, is work on the stuff for the continent they are stating on, which is Andelar. So I don't have to come up with the ENTIRE world at once. In fact, all of the current maps you're seeing are just on Andelar.
A great thing to consider is; when does the map drive the story, and the story drive the map?
As an example, the first map, the wall is grey, but you describe a combination of more advanced ruins and cobbled together repairs. How can you demonstrate this "story line" in the look and feel of the wall on your map? Would it be a solid grey? Is there still some rubble around it? Are some of the homes built from that rubble?
On the second map, it is a palisade and therefore is brown, but how do you design it is such a way that the viewer knows that it is a palisade? From a top down view, would the wall be a solid brown, or would their be several posts (hence a palisade) that would be visible, all one beside another making the wall. If the technology exists to create a palisade, then it should be capable enough to create wooden gates (for either of the two walls) and guard towers.
That is why I asked the questions, because once you have the story, you can ask yourself questions connected to that story to help drive the map. Why was this site chosen for the location of a settlement? How will that decision affect the design? Who do they fear? Why? How do they defend themselves? Who do they trade with? What do they use for trade? So on and so on.
The more of the story you build, the more and more ideas you get for your map designs.
When does the map drive your story and when does your story drive the map?
#2- I'm still in my infancy when it comes to understanding how cc3+ works, and what I can do with it. I only bought the tome less than a week ago, and I've barely had the chance to start working with it...so I really don't know HOW to do the things you are talking about. That's one of the reasons I'm so I trigger by Shessar's work... I'm already thinking of ways to adapt her genius to what I need
Remember, these are my first ever maps. I've completed 1 regional map, 5 continental maps, 2 city maps and 3 passable battle maps, all with no more than the basic manuals, and Joe Sweeny's video tutorials. There's a huge possibility, probability even, that by the time I work my way through the tome I will throw out every thing I've do e, and start from scratch. Who knows ?
Besides... Why can't the story drive the maps which further drive the story? Or vice versa? To me, they work in tandem with each other to create a fantastic campaign!
I think you misinterpreted my posts.
I was not being critical of your work at all.
I was simply talking about how one can approach mapping challenges.
You are doing a great job! :-)
And I'm only slightly frustrated because I'm NOT capable of doing so.e of these things...yet. By the way... I do want to pick your brain on making mistakes and fog, I want to add an eary mist to one of my ruined cities, but I haven't the first clue how to do it.
Once you get it, you can go through this tutorial that I posted to make it: http://forum.profantasy.com/comments.php?DiscussionID=5797&page=1#Item_20
It is also a great example of how you can use items from other templates.
Don't worry, you will pick this stuff real quick, click on my name and you will see that I have not been a member myself for vey long.
We have a awesome support team in the forum and I would not have learned the stuff that I have if it was not for the great people here!
;-)