August 2010 Entry : Brushy, Kansas - 1873

[mearrin69]

I reckon somebody'd better keep Ravells company on this challenge. I don't have such a great track record with these so far but figured I'd give it a go.

So. Campaign starter. A couple of always-DM friends and I recently got together and started playing Deadlands...which is an absolute blast, especially when you're playing with folks that want to tell a story - not bicker over the rules and power game.

Brushy, Kansas is my kick-off location for a Deadlands (or other Wild West) campaign. Maybe the PCs are from Brushy (which has a whopping head-count of 43 men, women, and children) or maybe they're from somewhere nearby. Coffeyville is only about 40 miles away so Brushy, though small, is not completely lost in the wilds.

Kansas is neutral territory in the continuing War of Northern Aggression (okay, my PC in the Deadlands game is a Confederate calvary officer so you'll have to forgive me the anti-Yankee talk) so there's plenty of opportunity for North-South scuffles in the lands surrounding Brushy. The indians in these parts sometimes get up to interesting things as well...in particular, they often hire on as scouts and skirmishers for the CSA. Oh, and, I hear tell there's some sort of mad scientist type up in the hills north of town. He's usually makes himself scarce but sometimes comes into town to pick up some weird gadget or some such that he's ordered from Smith & Robards. And then there's the old cemetary...but folks don't talk about that too much.

Yeah, you get the idea...

Anyway, I've sort of been wanting to do an Old West town ever since I first took a peek at the RPG Citymap Generator (yeah, and Viking and African...but maybe someday). A while back I generated several towns and sort of liked the shapes in the one posted below. So I took that into photoshop and cleaned it up a bit (and rotated it) and then made the shapes into layers for buildings, water, etc. My current progress is posted below. I haven't done much of anything with the buildings (except cleanup) so that's next on my agenda. I'll likely texture them the same way I did the ones in my Haibianr docks map...but with more detail like dormers, chimneys, etc.

Critiques and comments appreciated. Thanks!
M