I’m curious how folks are approaching the creation of their Homelands, especially in regards to scale. I can see that scale will differ based on some technological assumptions such as presence/type of vehicles, but in general what seems to be working? Are settlements parts of a town or are they dozens of miles apart? How much are you adding over time? Are additions in between established features on the map or is your Homeland expanding? I’m not looking for a-one-size-fits-all solution, just curious about the diversity of stories that have emerged.
I’m curious how folks are approaching the creation of their Homelands, especially in regards to scale.
I’m curious how folks are approaching the creation of their Homelands, especially in regards to scale.
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Our current campaign features a small portion of ruined Sydney: from Potts Point to Cockle Bay. Quite a small area, but using plenty of the underground and the sea. Battles are literally block by block.
We also have used wider, larger areas, featuring days of travel.
Douglas Santana I just google mapped that, it’s pretty small, like 2.5 km. Wow. Are there vehicles involved much? Was the wider area a different game?
My map has undefined distances much like the maps of the Dark and Middle Ages. The centre is more detailed and distances are closer. Out to the edge things are less defined and distances can be unreliable and generally much longer.
I tend to use pretty loose hand-waving, but often assume that the homeland is at most a few day’s travel across – unless of course you have pockets of ‘safe’ homeland separated by dangerous wasteland. It scales with the danger, too: in The Hordes of Night, the quickstart in the back of the book, the sun has gone out and monsters attack from the darkness so even short travels are full of drama. So the example map I put in the book ended up being a 90-degree rotated map of central York via watercolour Google maps: maps.stamen.com – / watercolor
I keep the distances deliberately loose, and have travel happen in plot time. The first time the players go to an area, I’ll have them tell me what the terrain is (unless I have evil schemes), and I make a note. I also have characters travel faster than Families on the move, but everyone arrives at a dramatically appropriate time depending on distance. If a Family is moving in force but has ground to cover, that’s a good time to have agents try to slow down whatever event they’re heading for, or send a character ahead to represent them.
Kirk Hockin yeah, it is our smallest map to date! Even with the heavy use of the sea, ships, subway underground and such. But ANY travel beyond this point is quite hardcore and triggers some serious fronts. My objective as a GM in encouraging such a small map is that i want them to consolidate a city-state and then expand.
We have played with much larger maps, counting a week of travel from border to border.
Douglas Santana This sounds awesome! So you’re essentially pushing the families to confederate as rulers of a city-state? Or is it a single family game? This is intriguing!
I’d imagine building The Capital would work well too for consolidating and claiming a city 🙂
Uplifted, Afflicted, Masqeurade, and Pioneers!
we are playing to find out what happens, of course. I am managing scenario pressure to unite them around the common goal of salvaging the infrastructure and nurturing population. But so far they have antagonized local populace and factions, instead of really seeking cooperation.
The Capital would certainly help a lot, but there are other ways around it.
Masquerade player is bent on Age of Discovery / The Revolution combo, to evacuate everyone to greener pastures.
Uplifted have started building a Total War.
Pioneers believe that Great Network, Energy Revolution and The Capital will save the day.
Afflicted are lost, isolated and belegueared – too powerful to be trusted, not powerful enough to turn the tide.
Me? I am making sure to show them that victories without cooperation are usually pyrrhic.
Douglas Santana So cool!
Thanks for the replies everyone, they’ve helped me get a better handle on what a Homeland might feel like. Now to round up a crew and create our own Legacy…