The City of Pace

Feel free to clone this map and use it for your world! Below is a description of the city that you are welcome to use. I tried to keep the details and lore generalized so it can easily be adapted for your own world. At the very end are the technical notes about the map if you want to clone it for yourself. Be warned: this is a hefty map and very resource-intensive on your computer. Read the specs of the map at the end of this description before cloning.

City Lore

Welcome to the city of Pace (pronounced "pah-chay"), seen here just after harvest during peak Autumn foliage. The city sits at the confluence of two rivers, acting as a through point for those traveling along the rivers.

The Winding District, named so due to its haphazard layout, is the oldest part of the city. Buildings were added on as needed, so there was very little planning. As such, there are residential and commercial buildings intermixed with each other. The streets ebb and flow into each other, with forks at every corner. City officials have given up trying to name the streets and instead simply rely on landmarks to navigate the Winding District. While its layout is certainly confusing for newcomers, its old-world, rustic charm is endearing and worth traversing.

Huntington Rows was the next addition to the city about 25 years after its founding. It was named after the city's first mayor, Elisar Huntington. This district was designed with somewhat more intent. The streets are easily navigated and the buildings are much more densely packed. There are a few stores and markets, but Huntingtown Rows is mostly residential homes.

The Estates were built around the same time as Huntington Rows, and is mostly a wealthy district. In the middle of the district are luxury apartments and penthouses, surrounded by large houses and mansions. The shops in The Estates are certainly high-end, catering to their ritzy clientele. Most of the people who live here are government officials or people who come from old money.

Riverside was built throughout the city's history (and is still being built up as needed). Riverside is where the Consort Warf is located for shipping needs in and out of the city, both for travel and goods. This part of the city is designed with travelers in mind. As such, most of the buildings here are commercial buildings; utility buildings; warehouses; and inns, taverns, and restaurants. The few residential homes here are occupied mostly by people who work the docks or the farms south of the city.

The Timber Parkland is a lovely, naturesque park that contours the south end of the city, connecting Riverside to the city proper.

The Open Farm Claim is a large farmland that extends south of the city. The West and East Villages are tiny, single-street villages that house the workers of the farms. Though, there are also a few general stores, market stalls, and inns for travelers coming in from the south on foot. The Open Farm Claim, including the villages, are within the borders of Pace, and its residents are considered citizens of Pace. But because they are so separated from the main city, many view them more as suburbs.

The Emissarian Prairie begins just outside the borders of Pace on the northeast side of the city. It is a beautiful open range of rolling hills that extends for miles beyond this map.

Notable Landmarks

The landmarks in this map are specific to the lore in my own homebrew for a D&D campaign I am running. Below are some general ideas and prompts for adapting them for your own homebrew.

The Choy Estate: An old abandoned mansion in the middle of Timber Parkland. Who lived here? Why is it abandoned? Maybe the former resident was an eccentric mage who cast an experimental spell, scorching the land around. Maybe an enemy of the former resident set an alchemical fire and the land has yet to recover. What kind of rumors or ghost stories do the local teenagers share about the estate?

The Myrinn Den: A fortified building built on a rocky island at the confluence. What is this building's purpose? The obvious choice would be a prison. But instead, perhaps this is where a very paranoid, very wealthy individual lives. Maybe this is where the town guards headquarters is located. Maybe it was an ancient castle that has since be repurposed for a more modern use.

The Turrell Lodge: A massive building in the middle of the Winding District. Perhaps this is a large hotel with dozens of rooms. If so, why does such a city need a hotel to house this many people? What kind of tourist attractions are there in Pace? Perhaps the Turrell Lodge is simply the mansion of a wealthy aristocrat.

The Cyllene Fort: Another large building, this time in Huntington Rows. The building is enclosed by a wall. Within the walls appears to be an exotic garden and a mausoleum. Perhaps this building acts a city morgue. If so, what kind of tragedy happens in this city to warrant such a large morgue? Perhaps this is a wealthy family that has been apart of the city for centuries, and the mausoleum is where their ancestors are interred.

The Squacoo Atropolis: A building, or series of buildings, in the middle of Timber Parkland. Perhaps this is an animal sanctuary for abandoned, endangered, or exotic animals. Maybe this is the headquarters of the park rangers who manage the Timber Parkland.

Map Specs and Important Info

This map is very hefty and resource intensive. There are over 34,000 stamps (including the grouped ones). I highly recommend opening this map at 1k resolution and work your way up. Here is some useful info to know about this map:

  • Because of the scale of this map and the small size of the stamps I used, this map is best downloaded at 8k to be able to use it functionally as a city map in a game. Any smaller (even 4K) will only be useful if zoomed out; attempting to get any details will be too blurry. Unfortunately, that means it will be a very large file size, likely too big for places like Roll20. You may need to use the "New Map from Region" tool and split the map into several smaller sections. Perhaps you can make each city district its own map.
  • Many of the stamps used are smaller than the minimum size of 10. This can make it tricky to add more of that stamp, or adjust it in any way. If you weren't aware, you can make a stamp smaller than is technically allowed by selecting the stamp and manually dragging the resize handles down. You can make the stamp significantly smaller this way, but it can make it awkward to work it.
  • Because of the previous two points, and with Inkarnate's limitation of only 4k editing, this map can be difficult to edit, especially if you are working on an older computer/laptop. If you plan on making significant changes to this map, I recommend exporting the map at 8k every so often to view details you would otherwise not see while editing. When working such small scales like this, I've found several mistakes in the final 8k export that were basically impossible to see while editing at 4k.
  • The cliffs along the river are accented by adding mountains underneath the cliff stamps to make it look more like a rocky riverside. To do this, I had to flatten all of the mountains to the background (the cliff and wave stamps are not flattened; only the mountains). Keep this in mind if you want to adjust the shape of the river/land.
  • Similarly, the Myrinn Den island includes several flattened stamps: the bridge leading to the Myrinn Den is flattened to the foreground. The building itself is flattened to the foreground. The foundational rocks are flattened to the background. The rocks and waves surrounding the Myrinn Den are not flattened.
  • For the water, I used the "Water Wave" texture from the Fantasy Battlemap set on top of a normal water texture from the Fantasy Regional set. In other words, there are two textures used. Keep this in mind if you want to change the water texture.
  • Note the filters I have on. They aren't necessary, but I felt they added to the Autumn tone I was looking for. You can create other aesthetics by changing the filters around.
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Created by: Vince 3 years ago
Last edit: 3 years ago
Aspect ratio: 4:3
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