Terrainmonkey's Map-A-Day thread

[terrainmonkey]

there are a few thought processes that went into the design of this town. i'm thinking it is a boom town that has a mine nearby that was discovered by a woman named Kate Saddlman, or Lucky Kate. The main road was a stage coach road that went past the bluffs to the north. one day, kate went walking after a gruelling day on a coach and tripped over a couple of rocks fell into a cavern, and wound up finding one of the largest viens of (Insert Precious Metal or Substance here) in new mexico. The stage men helped her back out of the cave, and she staked the claim right then.

the town grew up around the main street first, and all the basic amenities are fulfilled. after about 6 years, the rail road was added, so that is a new addition to the area. more and more speculaters and miners are flooding the area, making the site ripe for any kind of adventure one needs.

i hope this explains a little bit about what went into my thoughts about this.

[RPMiller]

Sure does. Thanks for the back story.

[terrainmonkey]

so i got to working on a saloon, but it wasn't the one i originally thought of. this one is named the Gingernut Saloon. the proprietors are Kelly and Colleen O'Donahue. Colleen is a vibrant beautiful redhead, 10 years younger than her husband, and Gingernut is "redhead" in irish. they have two sons, colin and finn, teenagers who help operate the saloon and clean up after the last customers have gone. it stays opne until midnight, and there's a huge grandfather clock against the back wall of the bar. When this chimes, everyone has to leave. anyone attempting to stay behind is given the boot by Kelly himself. he's a rough and ready strong guy, fast with a pistol, a former soldier in the british army, strong convictions, and protective of his place. he's got a sawed off shotgun behind the bar, visible just in case anyone wants to cause trouble, and a shileliegh that he uses quite often, thus coining the term used by patrons, "don't get kelly shileliegh mad." mostly now all he has to do is reach for it and the offending person runs from the bar.

There are to be no ladies of the night or scandalous behavior here. this is a nice place for those citizens who appreciate the better things in life. kelly has some of the best liquor, imported german and english beer, fine wines, and cigars money can buy on the frontier. one will also find a greater percentage of foreigners here than in other bars. this has also coined the term, "Ferner's Club" by less upright members of the town.

the trail to the outhouse is marked by boundaries of a white picket fence, overgrown a bit with vines. this is to keep the drunks from losing thier way to the outhouse and goin somewhere else, like next to the building, fer instance.

1 square on the map equals 4 feet.


since this is still a work in progress, i'm going to go over it later on with brushes and see how it looks. i'll post something else a little later on, perhaps after work

[Venardhi]

Whats the point of drinkin' in public if ya can't engage in scandal while you do it? RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE!

[RPMiller]

Not a bad floor plan, but unfortunately it is historically inaccurate for the old west and I won't be able to use it for my game, but perhaps others can.

[pyrandon]

Just a quick chime-in to say Terrainmonkey rocks! I always look forward to this thread's newest tag-on; it's becoming a consistent smile for me! Keep it up you wicked, mad monkey, you!

[terrainmonkey]

Not a bad floor plan, but unfortunately it is historically inaccurate for the old west and I won't be able to use it for my game, but perhaps others can.

since i don't normally do a lot of western style maps, i would like to ask how this is so with the most current one. just to get better, you see. is the description wrong, or is it the layout or floor plan? i'm just curious, as i would like to make things as accurate as possible. i've been researching floorplans in a few books and on the internet and i would like to understand how i may have messed up. please, enlighten me.

[RPMiller]

since i don't normally do a lot of western style maps, i would like to ask how this is so with the most current one. just to get better, you see. is the description wrong, or is it the layout or floor plan? i'm just curious, as i would like to make things as accurate as possible. i've been researching floorplans in a few books and on the internet and i would like to understand how i may have messed up. please, enlighten me.

Gladly! Always glad to help.

Here are the main points, but keep in mind that I'm assuming the time period to be in the mid to late 1800s.

Dart board - Darts didn't make it to the US until the turn of the century and even then they were considered a child's game. They didn't make it into pubs until about 1920 or there abouts. There is a popular misconception that darts were brought over on the Mayflower, but that is entirely wrong as it would have been against the Puritan's beliefs to have such a game. Do a search on Dart History. There are some authors from the UK that have disproved the myth and give some more accurate analysis.

The privvy in the house - during this time period especially in the Old West people simply didn't have in house plumbing and thus wouldn't want the smell of the pit to be hafting through the house.

Gaming room - There really wasn't any such thing as a "gaming room" in saloons. They were usually far too small to devote to a space like that, and games were to be played out in the open so that they could be watched by the bartender/owner and in case of a fight breaking out they could be moved outside quickly.

Smoking loft - No such thing in any books I've read. The very concept would be foreign to them. At this time in history no one had any idea smoking was bad. Again space restrictions would mean that space would be devoted to what was absolutely needed. The fireplace in this room would extend to the lower level if it existed at all. Most buildings built during this time did not have the structural integrity to support a huge fireplace like that just on the floor joists. There appears to be some sort of closet near the stairs. While these did exist, they aren't typical.

Upstairs living - This was typically only seen in hotels or brothels. Hotels would typically double as saloons, but not the other way around. There would have to be considerable cash flow for a building like this. There are a few examples of upstairs living, but they seem to be an exception.

Main bedroom - I'm not sure if that is a fireplace on the west wall, but if it is, it would extend all the way downstairs. Most public buildings did not have fireplaces. They usually used wood burning stoves as bricks were expensive or simply unavailable.

Sitting room - This is an Eastern room. Houses built back east by wealthy landowners would have sitting rooms. Most families just had one main room again because of space restrictions.

Kitchen - most "kitchens" were either disconnected from the main building, or they were the wood burning stove that was used to heat the main room. There weren't many saloons that offered food. That was typically restricted to the hotels and brothels.

Finally the outhouse - I'm not positive on this one, but from most of the maps I've seen, outhouses are set quite a ways away from any buildings and they were often communal meaning one outhouse would serve many buildings and be positioned 'out back' between all the buildings in an area that was essentially the "garbage yard". It would be strewn with broken bottles, food waste, and other cast aside items.

I hope all that helped. Your map is certainly not a bad map, but I'm shooting for a historically accurate setting (as best as I can achieve anyway) and this map has a lot of Eastern US, fantasy, and modern elements in it.

[RobA]

A reputable(?) source suggests:

How far away from the house was the outhouse?
Anywhere from 50 to 150 feet.

http://waltonfeed.com/old/out.html

-Rob (Gotta Love Google) A>

[RPMiller]

A reputable(?) source suggests:



http://waltonfeed.com/old/out.html

-Rob (Gotta Love Google) A>

That equates to my findings as well.