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View Full Version : Big City Sewer maps, and how make and handle them?



shadowkat678
2017-08-27, 10:37 AM
So, I'm trying to find a Sewer map right now, but there's nothing I can find that really suits what I need so I'm trying to figure out how to make one. It's a pretty big city, and there's multiple districts, and l need to have multiple exits. Should I just make one giant map? Should I make multiple maps for different sections? Has anyone done this before that can give some tips?

Anxe
2017-08-27, 10:55 AM
I did it once. I didn't bother to actually map out the twists and turns. There were rooms (drainage collection sites or something) and then arbitrarily twisting tunnels that connected them. On my map i just drew straight lines between the rooms I wanted to connect.

I also threw in some catacombs and basement magic labs because they were fun.

Vknight
2017-08-27, 12:01 PM
I did it once. I didn't bother to actually map out the twists and turns. There were rooms (drainage collection sites or something) and then arbitrarily twisting tunnels that connected them. On my map i just drew straight lines between the rooms I wanted to connect.

I also threw in some catacombs and basement magic labs because they were fun.

Basically just this though include some burrows made from thieves making hollows and passageways too move around.

Bogwoppit
2017-08-27, 12:08 PM
You know of course that sewers are generally just narrow pipes and ducts full of slime, urine and excrement, right?

You might be thinking of storm drains.

shadowkat678
2017-08-27, 02:41 PM
Pretty sure yes, sewers, It's a staple of a lot of big cities in rpgs.


Dirty. Smelly. Places people don't want to go. Perfect for getting around different parts of the city without being seen.

Anxe
2017-08-27, 08:02 PM
You know of course that sewers are generally just narrow pipes and ducts full of slime, urine and excrement, right?

You might be thinking of storm drains.

It's a fantasy trope that doesn't really have a bearing in reality. *shrug*

jayem
2017-08-28, 02:32 AM
It's a fantasy trope that doesn't really have a bearing in reality. *shrug*

Paris does. in fact Pintrest has a map of it, but it allegedly pretty much matches the road map (makes sense, cut and cover)
And some bits that at least are (probably the inspiration) very like the fantasy trope (although probably not as much of it?).

London too. the new one is to be 7m wide. (Map on Wikipedia, but not sure if any scale), And New York I think

Of course in both cases the proper network is what we would call Victorian, before that the sewers were open. While Paris also has caves from Medievel times they mostly have different histories

The ones outside my house and yours on the other hand are basically gutter sized.

Anxe
2017-08-28, 10:33 AM
Paris does. in fact Pintrest has a map of it, but it allegedly pretty much matches the road map (makes sense, cut and cover)
And some bits that at least are (probably the inspiration) very like the fantasy trope (although probably not as much of it?).

London too. the new one is to be 7m wide. (Map on Wikipedia, but not sure if any scale), And New York I think

Of course in both cases the proper network is what we would call Victorian, before that the sewers were open. While Paris also has caves from Medievel times they mostly have different histories

The ones outside my house and yours on the other hand are basically gutter sized.

I knew about some of those, but they feel like exceptions to the way sewers usually work, as you said.

The reason I included catacombs in mine was because of the Paris one!

Drakevarg
2017-08-28, 10:48 AM
For the most part, a sewer map should largely match the street map, as that's where most water/waste will flow from, with larger streets getting more representation and smaller back alleys getting either smaller pipes or nothing at all. That said cities are living things and roads change, so it's easy to slip in things like say a huge cistern beneath an ordinary residential street, because a hundred years ago there was something important there.

Pex
2017-08-28, 01:45 PM
Use a real world sewer design of some city. Make it where you live for fun. See if players notice. If you can't find any use a subway/train map. New York City and London provide nice complexity for inspiration.

Hmm, now I want to do this.

Mastikator
2017-08-28, 01:56 PM
It's a fantasy trope that doesn't really have a bearing in reality. *shrug*

Just use a standard dungeon then, maybe add in some water for decor

Vogie
2017-08-28, 02:03 PM
Use a real world sewer design of some city. Make it where you live for fun. See if players notice. If you can't find any use a subway/train map. New York City and London provide nice complexity for inspiration.

Hmm, now I want to do this.

That would have been my offer as well.

You can also use things like direction dice (usually d6s or d8s), or use the pieces of Maze-generation games like Saboteur to make one up on the fly.

FreddyNoNose
2017-08-28, 05:24 PM
I knew about some of those, but they feel like exceptions to the way sewers usually work, as you said.

The reason I included catacombs in mine was because of the Paris one!

So you now claim that you knew about them when you responded to the OP about this situation in a FANTASY WORLD.... Something isn't right about that.

Malimar
2017-08-28, 06:08 PM
When I had a sewer to map, I made a more or less complete single map of the city's whole person-accessible sewer system. (Helped that only the richest district has sewers.) I did it at a scale of 1 map square : 20 battlemap squares (so : 100 ft) and just had every map square be an identical block of territory. No, like, catacombs or things like suggested upthread, but access points to such places were designated.

However, I recommend doing this only for a sandboxy megadungeony game like mine. If your game is more story-oriented, don't bother mapping the whole sewer system.

Aliquid
2017-08-28, 06:24 PM
As mentioned above. Follow the streets... cut and cover was the easiest construction process. It could also be the path of an existing stream that would used to run through the city before they built up. The stream still runs through the underground tunnel now, and empties into the main river/ocean. The steam-flow helps keep the sewage moving.

Storm drain and sewers would be the same for a RPG city like this.

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/09/16/article-2038281-0DEEAC4200000578-969_310x440.jpg
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/09/16/article-2038281-0DED785B00000578-904_964x632.jpg