A sneak peak at my current project! Yeehaw, cowboy.

[RecklessEnthusiasm]

So I've started my next big project for RPGNow, and this one might kill me before it is finished. Basically, I am mapping a full wild-west town. In 100dpi, encounter-map style. This bad boy is going to be huge-- 2x poster size, all together with, last count, 18 buildings in a classic cowboy "main street" road. I may end up dying due to stress... and actually, I kinda regret not having fit/included more buildings: I am running out of space for all the classic cowboy locations! Let me think--Saloon, stables, hotel, apartments, general store, gunsmith, church, town hall with clock tower, jail, undertaker's, brothel, mayor's house... and a little room for a couple more. I am racking my brain for all the other classic locations. If anyone can think of more, let me know.

The idea is that this is geared for VTT players to be able to wander around in and use as a "home base" for a western campaign. I guess it could work for things like Deadlands or Weird West. I dunno. There just isn't a lot of western-themed stuff out there so I thought I'd fill the gap.

Here is a super quick render of the view of the town from the entrance. Apart from lots of missing textures (which makes it look like winter or something), it looks ripe for a showdown at high noon, no? My only problem so far is that I can't think of a way to have awnings/overhangs that wouldn't cause problems with the overhead view.

[Midgardsormr]

Don't forget the barber! You can't have a huge Western brawl without at least one guy in his undershirt with shaving cream still on half his face.

[RecklessEnthusiasm]

Barber! Perfect! Handlebar mustaches EVERYWHERE.

[jbgibson]

Newspaper office, stage depot, bathhouse, Certified Painless Dentist & Surgeon, barbershop (often double duty with the dentist), assay office (if there's mining nearby), tack & feed store, bank, post office, land office, jail, supply yard (either there's a local sawmill, or else they bring lumber in by wagon - in either case, gotta have boards & nails), blacksmith, school (or is this town pre-family?), dance hall and/or fraternal hall, firehouse (once the place had burned down a couple of times), corral (parking lot for stock, as the stable might be parking lot for horses?), water tower & windmill, graveyard (OK, might be outside of town), boarding house (slightly distinct from apartment or hotel), a bunch of privies out back...

'Course a bunch of those could double up or be skipped if it's a young/small town. Aaaaand of course many a town would have multiples....

Your initial render is pretty awesome. I agree the missing overhangs diminishes the look; maybe once the board sidewalks are rendered it'll look less stark? Claiming it's in Arizona and it last rained in '47 won't do, since then the sun would be just as big a deal as rain. Could you maybe just blatantly have the overhangs on a separate layer and render 'em only if you're doing a street view? Maybe go all schematic & lightly crosshatch covered pieces of sidewalk in the over head view?

[RecklessEnthusiasm]

Newspaper office, stage depot, bathhouse, Certified Painless Dentist & Surgeon, barbershop (often double duty with the dentist), assay office (if there's mining nearby), tack & feed store, bank, post office, land office, jail, supply yard (either there's a local sawmill, or else they bring lumber in by wagon - in either case, gotta have boards & nails), blacksmith, school (or is this town pre-family?), dance hall and/or fraternal hall, firehouse (once the place had burned down a couple of times), corral (parking lot for stock, as the stable might be parking lot for horses?), water tower & windmill, graveyard (OK, might be outside of town), boarding house (slightly distinct from apartment or hotel), a bunch of privies out back...

'Course a bunch of those could double up or be skipped if it's a young/small town. Aaaaand of course many a town would have multiples....

Your initial render is pretty awesome. I agree the missing overhangs diminishes the look; maybe once the board sidewalks are rendered it'll look less stark? Claiming it's in Arizona and it last rained in '47 won't do, since then the sun would be just as big a deal as rain. Could you maybe just blatantly have the overhangs on a separate layer and render 'em only if you're doing a street view? Maybe go all schematic & lightly crosshatch covered pieces of sidewalk in the over head view?

Thanks for the praise! Several of those building ideas are gold! I entirely forgot outhouses--that's a must. Post office is really good too! I'll definitely be coming back to this list. This will be the very first of my "Western Maps," and if it does well I'll go back and do more stuff, particularly things that might be farther outside of town like a farmstead, coal mine, mill, etc.

As far as the overhangs go, I've been trying my darndest to wrap my mind around how I might include them without messing with the usability. It would be easy(ish) to have them as separate images for VTT use, but for I can't think of anything that wouldn't be a huge hassle for printed use.

Doing things like semi-transparency or crosshatching always feels like it throws off the look of the map to me. That's one of the reasons I deeply, deeply hate trees--there never seems to be a good way to handle foliage.

[Lukc]

What are you using for the modelling?

[tilt]

sounds like a great idea - and I'm sooo with you on the overhangs/trees/other small base big top thingies.. working on my city maps myself and also thinking what to do about roofs and stuff

[rdanhenry]

You have to have a bank. If you're playing outlaws, you need it to rob. If you're playing lawmen, you need it so you can stop the outlaws when they come to rob it. If you're doing neither... well, you still might have some financial business.

[ravells]

Not sure if it's been mentioned, but so many westerns I've seen have had an undertaker's office.

[Katto]

Good start RE. Hope to see more pics as you progress. And don't forget to watch 'Rango' to get additional ideas