City Maps (and Feirmor!)

I shared the campaign map a while ago, along with step-by-step instructions on how to make one like it. City maps are a great deal different from large area maps like that one, however, and I'd like to share a city map and explain the importance of detail in their creation. As a case study, here is the city map of Feirmor, the first city in which the players met and are performing actual gameplay:

Feirmor, the city of Dez's birth and the campaign's true beginning.

When you develop a city for a role-playing game, it's important to build it with close attention paid to how the people in that city live. Other considerations are important, too: the city's history, rulers, and economics. Each of these factors was part of Feirmor's map, and I will explain how to create a map which reflects these ideas.

The first step with this map was creating the outline. Feirmor is a walled city, so I created the wall which protects the city. It is a simple circle with towers placed at fairly regular intervals. In Photoshop, this was as simple as placing circular towers and connecting them with a curved line. The only structures which I knew I had to include at this point were the palace and the large public square at the city's entrance. Then I set to work drawing in buildings.

The process of drawing buildings on the map is straightforward if time-consuming. I draw in boxes of various shapes (mostly squares and rectangles, but including other shapes which I use as indications of special buildings or as a particular race's style of architecture). The focus in drawing these buildings has to consider two factors. First, the size must be appropriate. I don't use a particular scale, but I try to develop a few of the smallest possible buildings for a rough scale example. When drawing larger buildings, I try to make them no larger than the owner of the building would need or be able to afford, treating the smallest buildings as a comparison of what is truly needed to survive. The second part of drawing buildings, and my favorite part of the building addition process, is placing the buildings in a shape that makes sense for roads. I place the buildings in curves and straight lines to create major streets, then fill in the blocks between major roads with smaller, tighter paths leading to buildings nestled off the beaten paths. The result is a system of roads which allows for transportation to any given building and which illustrates which buildings are likelier to have lots of traffic.

I added two large parks to Feirmor. One, the large park to the west, is called Riston Park. It is a mostly open field with a few trees. It is a marker of a higher class area of Feirmor, and the buildings nearby are the homes and businesses of upper class citizens. The other park is Malator Square, a park filled with statues, fountains, and quiet alcoves. It is near the palace and is named for the current monarchs of Feirmor; this indicates that it is a newer addition to the city. As such, it is still in the prime of its life, and it attracts the wealthier of Feirmor's citizens.

Malator Square is filled with serene places like this one. 

With all of Feirmor's land covered in buildings and parks, I began to create a district map of the city. Each of these districts is indicated by a different color scheme on the map. The Mulrennan District, for instance, is denoted by the color yellow. It is largely a commercial district, noted for its lively tavern and inn scene. At the center of the district is a circle of buildings dubbed "Six Bars." These are the most popular of Feirmor's taverns, and the Six Bars name is a reference to the location known as "Six Roads" in the Eastweald region (which you can see in the western area of the campaign map). I tried with each of the districts to choose dividing lines which offered clear borders between each cluster of buildings. Once the districts were divided, I set to work characterizing each one.

To accomplish this defining of each district, I selected one building from each district as noteworthy institutions. For each district, I tried to create a building which would suggest what sort of citizens and businesses make it up. Six Bars was the representation of the Mulrennan District. The Ostergard District in the northeast is home to the Trogan Center for Economics, an organization which caters to trade and development in and out of the city. The district's proximity to the palace and the presence of the financial headquarters of the city illustrate that it is among the most affluent in the city. Meanwhile, the Kearney Distict in the southeast is home to the Fulmora Orphanage, named for and founded by the late King Malator's wife. Along with the temples located in the Kearney District (shrines to Heironeous and St. Cuthbert, deities committed to zeal and caring for one's fellow humanoids), the Fulmora Orphanage suggests that the district is characterized as a tightly-knit community that does its best to help its neighbors. Paired with its relative lack of wealth (noted by its distance from the palace), this indicates a district which persistently helps those in need, of which there are plenty.

Temples were added along with the noteworthy buildings. I added one temple to each district (a few with more, and a few with less). These temples were placed considering what the people of Feirmor care most about and based on where each temple would find its largest audience. Temples of Chauntea and Malar, the deities of farming and the hunt, are in the district nearest the gates. This represents the interests of the farmers and hunter populations, who mostly live at the edge of or outside of the city. To facilitate the worship of these people, the temples are at the closest possible location for them. Other temples include those to Boldrei (deity of community and home), Olladra (deity of good luck and fortune), the Dalton Church of Pelor (an offshoot of the standard Church of Pelor, founded by the leaders of Dalton, a kingdom of imperialist humans from an island to the east), and the Shrine of the Many (with spaces for the non-human racial deities to worship their respective gods). These serve to illustrate that Feirmor is home to people who care deeply about their heritage and the well-being of their city. The temples each have a small icon of the deity worshipped inside its walls.

The imposing Temple of the Hunt, shrine for worshippers of Malar.

Finally, I added docks at the river's edge and a host of farms around the outside edge of the city walls. These show how the city survives, both as a shipping and trading center and as a self-sufficient state. The last step in creating the map was to make a legend in the corner. I used the city's name and population, along with color-coded boxes which show the meanings of each color on the map. For government buildings and temples, the color code was simple. Illustrating the other buildings (the vast majority of the city) was a bit of a challenge. Throughout the districts, I used a brighter, bolder color for all businesses and a lighter shade of the same color for residences. This was difficult to illustrate without words in the key, but I tried to show the lighter and darker variants of the same colors in the key as an indication of that scheme. I'm still not terribly happy with that detail, but I am largely content with the map as a whole.

I mentioned above that it's valuable to consider the way that people live when making the map. To that end, the explanation I've provided above about the locations of roads and buildings, the notable institutions, and the placement of temples answers some of that question. But the other factors I mentioned - the city's history, rulers, and economics - are valuable too.

The city's history and rulers are represented here in several ways. One of the simplest is in the naming of districts and important institutions. Each district is named for a previous ruler, so that citizens live in the domains of their city's past in much the same way that we name schools and streets for those who have marked history. To fill out more in this vein, I created a timeline of rulers for Feirmor, which has become its chronicle of leadership over time. From this roster of kings, I developed a sense of the city's legacy in the Eastweald: Feirmor aggressively expanded, inviting smaller townships nearby to relocate to Feirmor, adding to its wealth and citizenry. Former king Aldo Riston, for whom the large park is named, is commemorated for his pioneering of this policy with the broad expanse of park in the city. At the park is a plaque with his words justifying what many Eastweald residents see as a predatory practice: "There's a baby born in my kingdom every day. These are my people, and I need them to have a tomorrow they can count on. You say I'm ruthless because I compete with other settlements. I say I'm unwilling to let my people go hungry." This sort of detail, which I developed as a thread from the idea that Feirmor expanded in this way, characterizes the city and its aims in the context of the Eastweald.

Economics also come into play with the map. The docks and farms surrounding the city were a late addition; I realized that Feirmor would certainly capitalize on its location at the river's bank and that it would require a good deal of agricultural development to be self-sufficient. The inclusion of the Trogan Center for Economics indicates that the city pays active attention to its financial development, a trait that not all settlements have. Finally, considering all of these advantages and the city's attitude, there is still the matter that it isn't so populous or large as Woodhearth, the Eastweald's largest city. This seems to me to ask the question why Feirmor isn't a bigger competitor to Woodhearth or even bigger cities. The answer, I decided, lies in the walls surrounding Feirmor. It could grow bigger and more prosperous, but the city's growth is restricted by the walls. To underscore this idea, I had an NPC talk to some of the characters about Feirmor's current state; he proudly explained that Feirmor had reached its peak potential in terms of physical growth, confidently saying that it would rival Woodhearth if it were willing to sacrifice the safety afforded by the walls. This idea adds a sense that Feirmor is at an important part of its history. Affected by a plague and filled to capacity, Feirmor is at a crossroads. The characters, of course, will largely determine where Feirmor goes from here.

A crossroads in the Eastweald like any other. Right?

As you can see from the process I've explained here, there is a two-way relationship between creating the map and developing details about the city. Most of the time, you add something to the map because it is a reflection of the settlement's character. Sometimes, though, adding something to the map raises a question that you must answer, and this answer becomes part of the settlement's character. Obviously, I strive for improvisation in this campaign, but I think that making things up on the fly often yields the most entertaining and best results. Don't try to determine too much in advance when you create a city - the process of diagramming its skeleton, guts, and skin will give you every opportunity you need to create something rich in detail and consistent with your vision, whatever it might be.

Thanks for reading, and best of luck in your games. Look out for session two recap notes and more information about creating documents in coming posts. Happy gaming!

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