Entry 13: Locations, Locations, Locations

27. October 2009 by admin.

.::: Entry 13, 2009/10/27 :::.
Most of the things I have looked at over the last twelve entries have been things that are inherent to RPGs, or at least found in many of them. One subject that is much less touched upon is locations. True, maps are a staple of gaming, from the little overview maps of a tavern or the main street in a western shootout to dungeons larger than medium-sized cities! But maps are a very poor representation of locations for anything except knowing where in them you are.

Taking a location beyond merely a map allows the GM to define in depth how it affects an adventure. Factories are an old favorite of mine, complex and busy places with multitudes of chances to injure yourself or others, send heavy machinery spiraling out of control, things falling, breaking, even the occasional explosion. They are chaotic places, and conveying that chaos to players is a beautiful thing.

But one factory is not the same as the other, even if maps are ignored. Heavy machinery vs. sterile rooms, dirt vs. clean, people vs. automatic, chemicals vs. solid tools vs. lasers, etc. Anyone who has spent time in different factories will know that they give off different atmospheres and present seriously different challenges. Some are no challenge at all. Some are akin to the Minotaur’s Maze.

Ideally, any larger location, and many small ones, should be interesting enough that a full adventure could be run there. Anything larger than an apartment building should have enough opportunities to build a full campaign around!

:: Places & People ::

No, I am not referring to what people exist in a place, though that is a factor, too (discussed later here!). I am referring to how places are fit or unfit for people. And when I say ‘how’ and not ‘whether’, there is a reason for it! One reason I have a special thing for factories is that they blend so much together. In this case, there are the clearly marked and safety inspected paths for people to travel in, areas marked off for technicians and specialists (who know how to act safely there!), special paths for special teams, places not meant for humans in general (vents, shafts and many other places players are no doubt going to see as perfect ways to get in. They may be right. Or wrong), outright hazardous areas (dangerous machines, toxic fumes, etc.) and so on. How ‘fit’ a factory is for humans often depends on exactly where you are in it, and the definition of ‘fit’ changes from carefree to hardhat to full safety gear to just don’t go there.

Of course, factories in other times or just different regions are different, and that alone can make the place stand out. The clear safety markings may not be there, or rules are enforced by someone with a big gun. In some places, everyone is a specialist, not because they have special education but because it takes skill just to get around. Oil rigs in certain parts of the world are death traps, and poorly kept facilities are… interesting. And while factories are prime examples, anything can really go that way, from the servant quarters in a castle in the Dark Ages to hazardous interstates in a future of massive overpopulation and a fetish for fast vehicles!

This all makes for ways that characters can integrate with places: Knowing how to act around them. Knowing what goes and what does not in a starport bazaar gives you an advantage, something thieves and lowlifes constantly thrive on. Tricking someone into an area you can handle but they cannot can be as effective as any armed ambush! Thus, building a character around the idea that the character knows certain kinds of places well opens for opportunities to truly use the landscape to your advantage, or to end up in very dangerous territory, right in the middle of a normal town.

Flipping the subject on its head, people also become a depiction of the places they spend their time. Someone used to dirt and dust will not be scared of filth, whereas someone who has never set foot outside clean homes and hotels will probably be somewhat interested in appearances. Danger, noise, crowds, unsafe grounds and so forth all turn people into something that fits the places, or they perish (which need not mean ‘they die’, but simply ‘they leave’ or the like).

:: Enemy of the Estate ::

Of course, one good reason to be nervous about a location is if it is actually built to keep people out, or in, or to simply kill whoever comes by; fortresses, secure compounds, prisons, minefields, there are a whole host of possibilities in just our basic, real world. Such a place becomes the equivalent of a massive monster, often with mazes and all sorts of problems built right into it. The dungeon runs that are so integral to some game systems work because a large and inhospitable place screams adventure, but dungeons are far from the only options for that effect; intrusions, prison breaks, getting through places, there are endless options for making the location the challenge.

This poses the overall question of how not only people handle places, but how places handle people? Any advanced methods, from clever mechanics and hidden key mechanisms to guardian spells and sentient buildings can be made to interact on their own with those in and around them. While a security system is typically represented as something meant to just keep people out, that is not what it really is: It is meant to keep certain people out, and let certain people in. How it sorts them can wary greatly, and might include a human (or similar sentient) operator somewhere, possibly but not necessarily on the grounds.

And taking that a step further comes the question of how a location will handle people unknown and unexpected, perhaps people it has no way to know how to react to. The Frankenstein monster concept can translate to a location quite easily.

If a location is complex enough, it can require handling in a way not unlike a person; it can have its quirks and preferences, its habits and routines, and when things get out of hands, it might even throw the building equivalent of a tantrum, controlled guns or magical effects trying desperately to handle what they were not set up for by way of overkill!

On the other hand, some places are deliberately made to pamper to people.

:: Home Turf ::

One aspect of location that is as much an aspect of character creation is the idea that a special place or area has special meaning to the character. Someone who has lived a long time somewhere, or is a frequent visitor, might know all the little ins and outs of the place. This goes much farther than simply knowing how to act in a certain place; anyone might know how to act around a suburban neighborhood, but a long-time resident, especially an adventurous one, might know every shortcut and hiding place, and be able to use home court advantage against a much more powerful pursuer. Someone who has used the time living there to set up special little caches or spots, not to mention traps, will be able to do a lot of damage, or a lot of good.

Giving a character home turf is not limited to one per character, either. Some people instinctively begin to make themselves familiar with places they frequent, and anyone who spends some time on the road might have a few such places. With advanced communications and friends in the right spots, someone could even become fairly familiar with turf they have never physically explored!

The exact benefits of home turf will depend on the turf and the character. How to build it into a character is hard to say, but it could easily follow lines not unlike those that will end up governing friends and close acquaintances or ‘perfect fit’ gear, as discussed in Entry 12 and 8, respectively.

:: Property ::

Of course, some players are no doubt going to grow keen on the idea of spending character wealth on property, building their own places. This is quite likely going to involve shopping lists of rooms and contents for those rooms, be they labs, lairs, lobbies or lounges. And such a place can be something that the characters will continue to build on, expanding it for a multitude of purposes! As discussed in Entry 12, it is even possible to use property like this to affect status, from the fear of a man with his own dungeon chambers to the suave cool of a large pool and massive recreation rooms. Characters with multiple such places can move the concept of impressive property (or property that defines them in ways not quite to be called ‘impressive’, like dark drug dens or spartan safehouses).

But even more so, property can be an extension of tools, something that shows the benefit of work gear too big to bring along on adventures. A well-stocked garage is a typical example, building perhaps a bit on the Bat Cave concept. Similar things could work for space vehicles, power suits, even stables for riding wolves, griffons and dragons!

A property that is actually part of some operation adds another layer, be it adventure related (HQ for the rebels, for example) or not (earning an income by running a hotel or store, for example). Property uses locations to move parts of the background story into a greater light, and the fact that it is an actual location means the adventure could easily spread there; when the villain comes for them, it might take place in the very place they own! Unlike the average dungeon or other random shooting gallery, a character’s property will have value to the player(s), but they will also most likely have access to all the functions of it they would usually be the victims of, like traps and hidden doorways. Having an adventure spread to a character’s property turns the tables, making the characters the ones running the maze…

:: The Wild Places ::

All of this leans towards the idea of locations as buildings, or at least highly equipped lairs of some kind. But a lot of adventures, both in games and other media, take place in vast, untamed nature spots. From caves to deserts to canyon rivers, they offer great opportunities for affecting adventures. Any such place could be home turf to a character, and someone who has lived there long will have adapted somewhat to the risks and opportunities inherent to the place. It could even be owned, like a natural park or private resort!

Of course, setting up a natural area makes the standardized ’shopping list’ approach to filling the place a little less logical to use. Whether it would take simply a variant of that concept, or a whole new approach to creating a place, is impossible to say at this point.

:: And Fun ::

The purpose here is to make exploration and travel a more entertaining and perhaps even dramatic part of the game, by making different places truly different. That means different dangers, different options, different encounters and so on. The real challenge actually seems to be to make those differences work as a display of where the characters are; what kind of dangers etc. would make a factory feel like a factory and a swamp feel like a swamp? In the end, a part of this will no doubt rely on a strong gallery of things to put in places, in addition to what is inherent about the places itself. It is even possible that places will have to be assembled from different lesser things that actually provide the differences, like a particular swamp being not made special from scratch, but being a special blend of pre-designed terrains, creatures and features.

What is important is that the location work becomes a boon on the game without being a drain on the GM and players. That balance looks to be the greatest challenge.

Posted in Locations, Cash, Equipment/Gear, Old blog, Machines | No Comments »