River town has been in the making for months, this will be a quick summary of my thought process and next goals. Keep in mind that this version still HAS TO BE PLAYTESTED, be open to change elements.
On first notice, you can see that the special buildings differ per area. Near the harbour you’d have more brothels, taverns and breweries compared to the upper area. This is for narrative reasons. Sailors who just got off the ship might have more need for taverns and brothels than the more established/wealthy citizens near the church. It’s a simple change and can give DMs something to work off. Think of this when designing towns.
Furthermore, River Town has a great wall separating the upper area from the harbor area. This wall acts as a mental separator for the players to make the difference between the harbor and upper area greater. The top side of the wall isn’t accessible to players.
The Keep and the Great Hall are kept secure on the top left. This area is the highest point of the city and has the best overview. The political building takes advantage of the terrain height, further emphasizing the importance of the building. The terrain is quite steep, so making use of it can emphasize certain buildings over others and create a natural landmark.
Combining POI’s can create a very clear mental map in the player’s mind. Players will have a harder time getting lost if POI’s can pinpoint exactly where you need to go, and best of all, it feels natural!
River Town is big, very big. It’s important that traversing it must not be boring. To make sure walking through River town is fun we can apply a few simple Urban design tricks in the road network.
Have you ever cycled down a really long straight street? Why did it feel like it took ages, when in comparison, that same distance feels much faster in a city?
The first trick is using the houses as artificial walls to limit player vision. By limiting the vision players have a harder time anticipating what’s next, therefore walking around the corner will be a lot more fun and exciting because it is much harder to predict.
Unpredictability is fun, but it’s also nice to have a bit of reassurance for the direction you’re heading in. That is why we give the players a few breadcrumbs in the form of exposed roads.
These breadcrumbs can be very small, and still be a nice reminder of where to go and not ruining the surprise of what might be on the road.
Thank you for your attention!
