I'm having issues building a suitably exporable house for a game. /tg/, when you design a building floor plan for a game, where do you draw the line between architectureally believable and playably maze-like? What are your preferences as players? What are some favorites tricks as GMs?
The building in mind needs to be a vaguely colonial american era mansion, possibly with extentions and alterations from over the years. Problem I find is that the floorplans of those sorts of buildings are all eminently practical with a centrall foyer and off branching rooms. None of that scoobydo style creaky halls shit. Problem is I sorta wanted the weird winding halls, but I'm not even sure how to arrange rooms such that there are corners and long stretches without the floorplan starting to look absolutely ridiculous.
>>44249068
Hallways are a feature of hotels, hospitals, and sometimes offices, rarely residences.
There is no general formula. You have to custom tailor each map to fit, which can be hard as you usually have to steal these from somewhere. Whether the focus is on historical accuracy, atmosphere, tactical layout, or a certain story device that requires a feature, there are no universal maps.
I usually start by deciding on how to convey flavor. Sometimes I want an architectural blueprint, sometimes a hand drawn sketch would be better. Often I find a great photograph and then produce a crude pencil floor plan. It really depends on the sense of space I want the players to have at the location.
>>44249068
>>44249519
>>44249519
Right i've done labyrinthine castles before and usually I can make it work just fine but the american neoclassical is very boxy and open. Looking at it now I realize I can build out and over generations of owners have extensions as well as annexes that deliberately defy immediate practicality. and I can repurpose certain rooms to have an almost corridor-like functionality to them. Trophy rooms and neglected dens and entertaining rooms and such.
>>44250145
Even in classic and Renaissance architecture you have corridors mostly for servants. The people who matter passed through decorated rooms, not hallways. The rooms all radiate out from the central open atrium or domed stairway open through all levels.
With Colonial architecture you get more linear structures with an elaborate front and less relevant sides and back. This necessitates hallways, but they were wide and open, like extensions of the atrium. And servants no longer had separate halls, although the servant stairs remained.
The functional hallway without decorative and representative purpose is a hallmark of the industrialization.
>>44248902
Furniture. Houses are one of the few layouts where I think lots of furniture is a good idea. Desks, shelves, bookcases, fireplaces, art, dressers, beds, etc. The rooms become much larger and more tactile when you account for all the exploitable spaces furniture provides. Fill the extra areas with clutter and finding something like a ring or a key becomes much more challenging.
Do you have any advice on tactical layout for a building, like a bunker? Floor plans are available for that stuff, so I'm wondering if you have any suggestions about things to consider in the design process.
>>44250937
What do you want to play in it?
>ambush
>siege
>infiltration
>tactical entry
>storm the front
>sneaking
>exploration
>flavor
>...?
I like loops. Ring structures allow you to sustain tension and keep things moving. You get more than one way. You can get 3 or more, but then it starts getting complicated topographically, so the story should justify it.
>>44249068
I ran a D&D game a few years ago with the exact same set-up. I had the main foyer with branching wings and no real maze-ness, and I really wish I hadn't. PermaDM's might care about this stuff, but your players won't.
Mine did have collapsing/collapsed areas and balconies/catwalks that *kinda* gave it some maziness, but not really.
>>44251117
Hmm. Good point, I hadn't even considered looking at it that way.
Not only does the structure have to be functional, it has to meet the needs of my game. This is an incredibly useful realization that I likely wouldn't have come to on my own.
>>44251274
Decades of GM experience, son.
>>44251383
Any suggestions for how to set up a building that can be either attacked head on or infiltrated?
I've got a bunker that some cult leaders are hiding in while their orchestrated apocalyptic event plays out. They have a bolt hole that can be infiltrated and a main entrance that is guarded by a ton of automatic sentry guns.
>>44251714
You can always hide the secret way in behind an NPC. The party must bribe the janitor/kidnap the recruit/get the old groundskeeper drunk to be told where to look for the then obvious secret entrance where no one will expect them.
I would change the map according to how the players approach it. Like if they go frontal there must be some cover and a gatehouse. If they sneak in I'd open up air ducts and cable shafts above and below, connecting rooms as I choose. If they go social there must be levels, like a camp, a secure zone, and a guarded area, each requires dealing with a different gatekeeper. Always funny: dumb players get caught and taken prisoner. Now they need to break out and gear up first, but they can't get distracted any more - so not very well secured cells.
>>44251859
Thanks!
I've wanted a XCOM one-shot at the UN, but I fear the FBI will be at my house if I Google "UN blueprints".
>>44252565
Oh come on man how many kids did you think do google that shit for school projects.
