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<blockquote data-quote="jgsugden" data-source="post: 8559309" data-attributes="member: 2629">How the town is explored/described/etc... will depend upon tthe story being told, and the role of the town, or parts of the town, in that story.&nbsp; There is no 'one size fits all' approach for me.&nbsp; I have towns that have existed in my campaign world for nearly 40 years.&nbsp; I have a clear mental picture of some of these towns, and I can remember what they looked like before certain tragedies changed them as well as what they look like now.&nbsp; I have other towns that PCs have been through a hundred times, but I have no record of any details about the town at all.&nbsp; It all comes down to how and why the group is going into the town, why they do (or do not) stay, and what happens when they're leaving.&nbsp; Those types of story details will determine what I need to tell them.&nbsp; If it is part of a story, I'll have elements of the town prepared for when they go looking around the town (often in search of something), but I'll often just wing things as I go and jot down a few notes about what they encounter when they are there as I improvise those encounters.However, there are a few general rules about how I describe the town presentation:1.) Whether I'm improvising or have planned out materials, I try to make it seem like everything is planned.&nbsp; When the PCs look down an alley, I want them to feel like there is already an answer as to what is down the alley.&nbsp; If they pick a random grave in the abandoned graveyard and dig it up, I want them to wonder why I knew exactly what was there.&nbsp; I want them to feel like they're only encountering planned materials.2.) I try to be consistent.&nbsp; Once I establish something, I take notes and make sure I fold it into the town records.&nbsp; I don't want them ever to return someplace and see me forget about the little nuance that caught their ear when I first described it.&nbsp; To do this, I often base locations in my game on real world locations I know.&nbsp; 3.) I have about 1000 different small story hooks that I can pull out and weave into a town at will.&nbsp; These give me 'minor quests' to assign to players that I can place if they take enough time in a location.&nbsp; This gives them motion to the story of their adventure, even when they're bogging down with unexpected minutia in a location.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="jgsugden, post: 8559309, member: 2629"] How the town is explored/described/etc... will depend upon tthe story being told, and the role of the town, or parts of the town, in that story. There is no 'one size fits all' approach for me. I have towns that have existed in my campaign world for nearly 40 years. I have a clear mental picture of some of these towns, and I can remember what they looked like before certain tragedies changed them as well as what they look like now. I have other towns that PCs have been through a hundred times, but I have no record of any details about the town at all. It all comes down to how and why the group is going into the town, why they do (or do not) stay, and what happens when they're leaving. Those types of story details will determine what I need to tell them. If it is part of a story, I'll have elements of the town prepared for when they go looking around the town (often in search of something), but I'll often just wing things as I go and jot down a few notes about what they encounter when they are there as I improvise those encounters. However, there are a few general rules about how I describe the town presentation: 1.) Whether I'm improvising or have planned out materials, I try to make it seem like everything is planned. When the PCs look down an alley, I want them to feel like there is already an answer as to what is down the alley. If they pick a random grave in the abandoned graveyard and dig it up, I want them to wonder why I knew exactly what was there. I want them to feel like they're only encountering planned materials. 2.) I try to be consistent. Once I establish something, I take notes and make sure I fold it into the town records. I don't want them ever to return someplace and see me forget about the little nuance that caught their ear when I first described it. To do this, I often base locations in my game on real world locations I know. 3.) I have about 1000 different small story hooks that I can pull out and weave into a town at will. These give me 'minor quests' to assign to players that I can place if they take enough time in a location. This gives them motion to the story of their adventure, even when they're bogging down with unexpected minutia in a location. [/QUOTE]

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