I have a love of city- based games but cities in terrinoth seem a little vague. Are any maps featured in any of the previous sourcebooks? I would love to run a Tamalir based game, for example but may have to adapt other city-based suppliments.
City Maps
If you end up needing to adapt other cities I heard that the following are good:
city state of the invincible overlord
lankhmar city of adventure
vornheim the complete citykit
Although I have never checked them out myself.
I use old maps of German cities to represent the cities of Terrinoth in my campaign, as I imagine Terrinoth to be the equivalent of the Holy Roman Empire.
Specifically for Tamalir, I use Wurzburg:
It's not at all detailed, but it gives the general idea of a city divided into several districts. I find that most of the time players don't demand accurate maps, and are just satisfied with knowing whether they are in the richer neighbourhood, the seedier side of town, etc.
You can just find a fantasy city supplement you like, then instead of following the layout strictly, just plonk the districts and places in the supplement to the districts on the map you chose to use. This certainly is easier than finding a city supplement that matches exactly the geography of Tamalir.
As part of my adventure building exploits I'm researching mapmaking tools (I've yet to think of the best solution for cities or to see if what I'm intending to use for regions/ wider areas has the kit needed to do city maps too) so any thoughts on what should be in each city (or village/ settlement etc) and on the nature (in terms of size/function etc) of such cities would be useful.
Ideas for this can come from canon material such as RoT and the 'Haunted City' FFG adventure or your own ideas, useful if you say which e.g. 'canon (source)' or 'own idea', maybe some ideas for street names (for some reason I'm thinking 'Executioners Corner' for Nerekhall. But that it should also have some more pleasant - possibly somewhat sugar coated! - names that sit slightly uncomfortably alongside the city's more dangerous side.) I'm toying with the idea of earlier timelined events in my adventure series not having street names but these being introduced further down the timeline as one of various ways I intend to evolve my maps over the course of the world's history to give it a feel of societal changes and shifts, the 'old' and 'new' etc.
Also tag places as major city, village, outpost etc.
This thread can then be a means to collate ideas on the more specific local areas that myself or others may use to inspire our mapmaking.
It's also a chance for you to get creative with ideas for places and locations within those places, as well as to suggest where you'd locate some of the Descent adventures should you own them (this is something I'm also considering so my maps will incorporate the locations I have in mind for these adventures to take place.)
City maps can be really useful for many reasons, three biggies being:
- get out of jails for gm's if the pc's take things too off-track story wise - alternative routes to the same or different outcomes
- inspiration for players and gm's including effectively the opposite of the above- alternatives for pc's if they don't like current events
- if the sessions are totally free or have only limited storylines they're even more important for 'what could happen here' progression options and 'unstuckers' if inspiration should run a bit dry for players or GM's in a session (a city map can have locations that may never be used but are there should they come in handy).
As quite a few of such locations are mentioned in RoT and other resources, maybe also think where things in a city/ location should be in relation to other things- close by or far away, in the same 'complex' and so on. But think of the flavour of each location in RoT and what might be there, such as a fishing wharf/harbour/boatyard in a coastal town, and the buildings / places these might suggest in turn that serve or are served by other buildings (a good starting point is to think of the functional buildings in computer games and the like).
Edited by Watercolour DragonI have some old HARN setting RPG books from years back. Full of interesting maps and plot hooks etc. They have been pressed into service for me.
In my campaign site, I really tried to find maps that captured the feel and purpose of the different free cities. Feel free to check it out here. (in the search, type in the name of a city, or just go to the maps tab).
The map of the Baronies of Terrinoth is interactive. Can click on the pins and go to the city and its map. https://www.scabard.com/pbs/campaign/235523/place/236967
As someone preparing to begin a Terrinoth campaign, I have to say your site is an amazing resource. Thanks for all the work you've done, and for sharing it!
You're very welcome! I may have some more that is currently marked "secret" and won't show, so if you don't see something, and think I may have it, feel free to ask!
For each of the city maps, I selected maps that fit the geography of how the city is situated (if on a river, etc., and where in relation to the river they are). For Greyhaven, I selected the one from the Elder Scrolls game that has the super tall college of magic in the center. For Archaut, I used the one from Lord of the Rings (really fits the description of it), the large white city. Of course, for the Elven capital, that was a no-brainer (also from LOTR). For Forge, I used the Dwarven city from one of the Elder Scrolls game (one with the waterfalls). Thelgrim was from LOTR as well. Frostgate, used a Skyrim city for it. I found a great city map with a lot of little islands for Riverwatch. I used the city of Freeport for Tamalir, as it's a massive city, with walled sections, similar to pics. For Vynelvale, I found a city centered around a large church. (I'd post pics, but for some reason can't right now).
Edited by IamGazrokOn 6/18/2019 at 9:28 PM, SavageBob said:As someone preparing to begin a Terrinoth campaign, I have to say your site is an amazing resource. Thanks for all the work you've done, and for sharing it!
Borrow whatever you like! I still have quite a library of maps and images, etc. too, that I haven't even used yet, so if you have something you need, and don't already see it on the site, it either a) may be there, but secret, or b) be something I have an image to suit, etc. For example, the Mahkim race is mentioned in the RoT book, and sounds cool (6 limbed lizardman type creature). But, is there a pic in the book? Nope. But I have one on the site!
Note, I've since found some more info.
I have an official map of the city of Nerekhall. Here's the entry (go to Map tab): https://www.scabard.com/pbs/campaign/235523/place/238545
While not a map, it is a pretty good pic of buildings in Greyhaven, so this too was updated (again, Map tab) : https://www.scabard.com/pbs/campaign/235523/place/238543
The other cities, I found maps that fit the geography and "feel" for those cities, but I'll replace them out if I find official info.
Cheers everyone. Cool resources!
If you want to have a smaller village map, there is a map of Dragonholt from "Legacy of Dragonholt":
Yep, same map I have for it. https://www.scabard.com/pbs/campaign/235523/place/307602
I found some local area maps too that may be useful for folks.
Link below, go to the Map of Local Area tab and the Environs tab (white text is labels I added, fyi).
https://www.scabard.com/pbs/campaign/235523/place/235528
Link below, go to Environs tab.
If you want the maps without the white labels, I can send them to you via a message.