Mapping the town??...Help!

[mrloucifer]

You going overkill my friend.... you players cant be everywhere in the city at once.

In fact, unless your group is at a particular location that needs to be visually detailed, having some rounds of combat where the terrain is important, scrap the maps entirely. They tend to make things more complicated than their worth.

Role players by nature will map things out in their head if you take a minute or two to explain the scenery. In my experience, using maps only gets the people to focus on the map, not the game. Then they start asking questions about the map, arguing about the terrain, and so on.

For my money, maps are to be used sparingly. In a pinch, I will take a minute or two to draw up a basic outline of an area if needed, and that's about it. Using entire maps are more trouble than they are worth.

[mrloucifer]

I guess I am just struggling with the whole modern setting in general, any help or advice is extremely appreciated.

To me, the beauty of running a modern campaign is that the players don't need to stretch the imagination so hard, unless you start adding details.

To start things simple, explain the layout, but keep details simple at first; for example, this description of an office building: "Built in the late 1940’s, the three story Woodman Office Building was once part of a bustling downtown; containing offices of a variety of professional trades including dentists, family practices, accounting firms, real estate, insurance agents, stock broker agents, an office supply company, an Italian restaurant and even a bowling alley. Today, it’s a crumbling, boarded up, mere shadow of its heyday. The only sign of life outside it is a scraggly bearded bum who’s sleeping nearby an old rear employee entrance door. He’s covered in rags, newspapers and an oily blanket for warmth as he lovingly cradles a liquor bottle in his arms. An unfortunately all too common sight in this part of the city."


There is plenty here for the players to see in the mind's eye. They've all seen old buildings and get that its a craptastic part of town, should be an easy visualization.

Now, With the layout firmly in mind, go into better details when you need them: “Stepping over the planks that used to block the entrance, the group moves into a dark and dusty entrance; you’ll need lighting to venture inside (wait till the players say they’re going in). The entryway walls are a mix of painted over brick or plaster walls, the original color of the paint now yellowed with age, or at least the sparse patches that haven’t been covered by a variety of graffiti symbols (Note: A Streetwise roll will point out that there's both local street gang symbols as well as street artist related).
Trash and debris is everywhere, along the walls, in corners, in piles, in trash bags; all of it making the footing into the east bound hallway loud and treacherous. Heavy duty steel shelving, rusty nails, jagged bits of metal and various other pieces of shrapnel are also strewn about the hallway.”

You following me on this? Once the layout is presented, it all about the details as you go from location to location. I hope this has been helpful in some way.

[Hendrik]

Hi willus772,

I agree with all that Mrloucifer has said. Allow me to summarize and further suggest like this:

1. A place you can handle. Choose a small town. It is easiest to get a grip on and to start from.

a. You may want to choose a place you have personally seen, not necessarily - although that is also good - a place you have lived.
b. You may want a medium sized town as it is less confined. Big cities are great, but other than that possible create too much variance and thus carry the danger to confuse or become a "flat / monotonous description".
2. Research. Get a map of the place and the buildings you need. If you cannot find the concrete building simply go for a plan of a similar structure that is available to you. It is great if you use the real world map, but you do not have to. Get and use newspaper copies as a source for your informaton and handouts. Even tourism websites and pamphlets help a lot. Museum websites are great resources, too.
3. Do not fall prey to perfectionism. Research is great, but for our modern world there are too many sources and it is easy to lose yourself in detail.
4. Delegate. You may want to use the players energy and "will to win". Players are always interested to try to control the situation, give them a chance. You could say something like "if you find the real map of the place and give it to me x days before gameday, I will use it". It also transfers gametime to out of game as well, so the gamers stay interested (always provided you have active and not consumer gamers).
5. Rather sketch than make an elaborate picture. Players fill in the details, they know the modern world as well as you. You do not need to describe how a BMW looks like, everyone knows.
6. Detail only the highlights. The difference in description will work like a spotlight and warning sign.

Cheers
Hendrik

[Hibik]

1: Never define anything well that you don't see them definitely using at one point or another. Gunsmiths, watering holes, police stations, occult bookshops and libraries, etc - these all make sense. Beyond that though, it's all in the 'fog of war' as it were until it becomes relevant to your characters.

2: Always keep the place general and undefined enough that you can make something up on the fly, because players surprise you. 'A spinster? Why yes, there is one I suppose...'.

The rest is really all just window dressing.

[Rimdall]

There's a series of titles on rpgnow.com called 'Modern Floorplans'; that may be what you're looking for. That site has a lot of great resources. I've used several in my games. In addition to the great advice they gave you earlier, I'd add: Don't stress. Maybe try just mapping a neighborhood of the town; that would be about the size of a fantasy village and if you keep it generic enough, you can use it serveal times, maybe placed around a small downtown with more commercial buildings. That's all a town is really, an assortment of neighborhoods.

[mrloucifer]

I know they cant be everywhere, however I'm running a zombie adventure so I have no idea what building they are going to try to break into and hide, lol.

That's fine, because you don't have to know, but you have a better idea than they do at this point (the obvious places will be police stations, building with few windows, etc.). Let the players tell you where they want to try and hide out, and then play it out from there.

In a zombie adventure, zombie seem to be everywhere anyway, so it shouldn't matter where they try to go, they're gonna deal with those undead bastards, especially in locations of heavy traffic, like hospitals, police stations, office buildings, and so on. this is especially true if your pulling zombies from the Dead Reign books as they like to get in the tight hiding places and literally come out of the woodwork at the damnedest times. No matter where the players go, if they feel safe, your going it wrong... its a horror game after all.

[Jasper]

I agree it's best to plan ahead. Having a generic outline of the town will help you a lot even if you choose to change things on the fly later.
What's the population of the town? I've been in a lot of small towns for various jobs and, at least in my experience, there's a breaking point where the town goes from being a "satellite" town to a nearby larger one where everyone commutes to for work to being a self-sustaining town in its own right. Of course farming communities and logging/mill/oil towns will be their own centers of work.
What kind of town is it? A farming town? A mill town? A sleepy residential satellite to a larger neighbour? Mountain towns usually are resource based, having a mill or mine as the main source of work. They are also easier to cut off from the outside world with less roads accessing them, not withstanding all those forest service roads (useable only by 4x4s or ATVs) criss crossing the boonies. Farming towns tend to be more spread out (in my experience) and have easier access.
Also, I've found that small towns have some of their population spread out in obscure little roads with a few dozen homes intermixed with woodlots or farming acreage.
Town centers often consist of one or two main drags with other main streets intersecting them. Smaller streets shoot off from these with more houses and businesses. Quite often the middle of town will be laid out like a grid. Geographical boundaries will mix this up (hills/bluffs, rivers, marshes, a lake).
Found on the main streets or just off them will be:
Gas stations/Corner stores/Restaurants/Garages/Hotels & Motels
Retail shops: If the town gets tourism at all you’ll get more knick knack shops selling curious. Self-owned shops usually can’t afford the rent on the main drags and are off a bit.
Banks: Pretty much always found in the main part of town
Possibly larger stores: A lot of Wall Marts have moved into small towns (pop 5000+) or you may have the local co-op selling everything from soup to nuts.
Drug Stores/Pharmacies
Used Goods: selling old books, old furniture, clothes – every small town has at least one
Outdoor Outfitters – if the town is a jumping point for campers there will be several. If your campaign is in the States (like most) it would sell guns and ammo as well.
Churches (not as often on main streets but they can be)
Bars/Pubs
You could have a small office building including offices for the local lawyers/notaries/accountants.
If the town is big enough it may have a strip mall including some of the above
Community services: Police, Fire, Postal, Hospital or clinic, Town Hall In my experience these are usually a block or two off the main streets. Don’t know why, maybe the rent is cheaper.
Schools will be in the more residential areas.
You could include a car/truck lot, new and/or used. Possibly even RV sales. These would likely be on the edge of town though not always.
It could have a radio station. The local tower would be somewhere up high but the station would likely be in town.
If the town is resource based you’ll find large garages for servicing farm or logging equipment, plus more specialized shops (seed stores, chain saw sales/repairs, tire stores, ATV sales/repair.
Franchises have crept in everywhere. If the town’s really small you may not have many but don’t be afraid to throw in McDonalds, Subways, Esso’s etc) but that’s for flavour so it’s up to you.

If the town has a nearby river (most do) that will influence how you lay things out as well. If there is a highway going through the middle of town many shops (especially gas stations, restaurants and hotels) will be along that. It may even have a full blown truck stop.

There’s enough variance that you can ignore any of the above and mix it up if you feel like it. You could have a river with a bridge running through the middle of town, splitting the services.

Really small towns have very little in my experience. A gas station and local general store (sometimes one and the same) can be all sometimes. These towns would likely be within half hour of something bigger though.
All the above is based on my anecdotal experiences doing seasonal work throughout rural areas in Western Canada for years so others may have vastly different opinions.

I googled “small town maps” for images. I suggest you do the same, one of those should inspire you to do a basic layout of the town then just start dropping in all the notable stores/facilities you want in the town. Just don’t forget to put in houses .