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<blockquote data-quote="HellHound" data-source="post: 2410692" data-attributes="member: 3397">The trick with a huge city is to make it not feel like a huge dungeon.I have a map drawn out with the street names and some ideas. When the players want to go to a shop, I pull out a shop name, pick a street for it to be on, and try to make it flavorful enough that the players don't go looking for another shop that sells the same goods. In time, the city becomes a series of transit ways from shop X to bar Y and residence Z, with the players dividing the city into 'known' and 'unknown' in their minds and their characters' perceptions. Bax Y is known, but Bar P is unknown. In time, people in the known areas will be friendly to the characters and gather information checks in known areas is easier, while going into unknown areas (even if you know where they are, you just don't go there often) feels vaguely alien, and unfriendly.Players are generally good for helping this phenomenon out. As you describe places and people in detail, they begin to feel at home in those environments - now give them reasons to keep going back to those same places, and add a new shop or tavern or residence into the mix every game session - either to add the new area to their collection of repeat locations, or to remind them of how big the city really is.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="HellHound, post: 2410692, member: 3397"] The trick with a huge city is to make it not feel like a huge dungeon. I have a map drawn out with the street names and some ideas. When the players want to go to a shop, I pull out a shop name, pick a street for it to be on, and try to make it flavorful enough that the players don't go looking for another shop that sells the same goods. In time, the city becomes a series of transit ways from shop X to bar Y and residence Z, with the players dividing the city into 'known' and 'unknown' in their minds and their characters' perceptions. Bax Y is known, but Bar P is unknown. In time, people in the known areas will be friendly to the characters and gather information checks in known areas is easier, while going into unknown areas (even if you know where they are, you just don't go there often) feels vaguely alien, and unfriendly. Players are generally good for helping this phenomenon out. As you describe places and people in detail, they begin to feel at home in those environments - now give them reasons to keep going back to those same places, and add a new shop or tavern or residence into the mix every game session - either to add the new area to their collection of repeat locations, or to remind them of how big the city really is. [/QUOTE]

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