Before I started this blog, I used to play MMO’s, the gateway back to pen and paper in my case. I played a good deal of City of Heroes, a superhero MMO released in 2004 and now about to be shut down by its owners unless somehow the players get someone else to step in.
I don’t see many similarities between MMOs and RPG’s, but my recent forays back into COH have highlighted something that I would like out of RPGs as a player: a sense of place.
When I launch City of Heroes and my character spawn in Paragon city, I know where I am. The streets I’ve run on (and flied over) since 2004 are places with memories.
I can remember the northwestern corner of Atlas Park that is a sort of walled off area with warehouses. It used to be populated with the Clockwork, but now it’s controlled by Arachnos. It’s easier to get in and out and slightly more survivable than it used to be. I don’t know why or when they changed the mobs there but it’s not how it was back in the day and that is EXACTLY how it happens in real places.
I’m getting nostalgic, but what I’m getting at is this: City of Heroes managed to pack a lot of adventure into a small area, one that had its own inconveniences and idiosyncrasies. Because MMOs are an audio and visual medium, I don’t need to imagine the path from Steel Canyon’s southern subway station to the northern station. As I moved, I saw where I was going and heard the incidental music that played as I moved from neighborhood to neighborhood, avoiding the outcasts.
I’m in a 1e game where I’m the only PC from the village nearest the dungeon. To save money, the party crashes at my character’s parents’ barn. Since there’s never been a map, drawing or description that I have heard, I am sure we are all imagining this place quite differently.
What I am wondering is how we can (or do we need to) create a sense of place in a pen and paper game. Do you use maps, illustrations, descriptions? Do your players even revisit the same places often?
In my next game, I’m making the City as much a part of the game as I can. I’ve put a lot of work into turning it from a comic book to an RPG setting, and will certainly be using some of the imagery from the books to give people a better idea, as well as using the fact that I’ve devoured the comic books repeatedly, and know the city very well indeed.
http://shortymonster.co.uk/?p=206
Have a small town or city as your base of party operation. Give the players a map of the city or town, a map with taverns/inns/and other things they could see from the street noted. As they come across gangs or corrupt guards they can mark those areas on their map as well creating more and more of a sense of familiarity. Be consistent and bring back NPCs (corporal of the guards is honest but his men are not, Archibishop of Blah the Merciful is corrupt and well connected with the Merchant’s Guild) and they will start to get a sense of place.