A work in progress - always

I spent some time Sunday scattering ruins randomly across the town (using dice to decide latitude and longitude and how many blocks involved. It took forever), as well as marking gates in the walls, and where the walls had been more or less demolished (grey areas such as the park in the southwest).

But it is still a work in progress. Which I decided I would talk a bit about.

Building a world, especially one that is meant for roleplaying, is rarely a task that will ever be finished. Not only can you always add more detail, but even after you have started playing, you can still change stuff. The world created is not an absolute place, an entity in its own right. It is merely a background for the players to adventure in. So sometimes you'll want to change your world, so it will have more or better places to adventure in.

The map above isn't meant for the players. The information it portrays is meant for my own inspiration, which is one of the reasons that I've tried to be as random about it as possible. I've followed the guidelines in City Works (mostly), but whenever there was a choice to make, I tried to let the dice rule. This gives excellent inspiration material, because it will give situations that you wouldn't have thought off yourself. Of course, sometimes I did specifically place tiles in a certain way, because there was certain features that I wanted.

I'll throw in another map:

Here I've marked a few areas, the nature of which I have decided on.

The imperial administration, and the dwarven enclave were handplaced. The imperial district I knew that I wanted, and so placed the government districts from the very start to fit my vision. Though I did randomize which sides of the imperial palace would have administration districts. The dwarven enclave came after I had placed all the districts, as I decided I wanted a dwarven hold. I'm not quite sure yet whether it might be partially or completely in ruins.

I also knew that I wanted a necropolis. But as fate would have it, there was a temple district inside the walls, close to the nobles and the palace, and largely in ruins. Perfect. No need to add one to the hills, where it wouldn't really be integrated in the city.

Then there is Plague Row, and the Ruined University. Neither of those were planned. They just happened to be ruined as completely as they are. And when I saw those areas being ruined, I figured there must be a reason for it. I decided that Plague Row has been walled off at both ends, due to the deadly plague that may or may not have turned the inhabitants into zombies. The areas close to the wall was abandoned by people who didn't want to live that close to the area. The ruined university was destroyed by some magical experiment gone wrong, wrecking the entire university as well as some of the nearby administrative district.

My next step will be to decide on where the players will start off, and then more closely determine the nature of the surrounding area. The entire rest of the map will be left as it is. Maybe I will add further areas to the edge of the city. Maybe I will ruin further areas. The dwarven enclave might, or might not be ruined. But I will get to that as it comes up.