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Running the Game

Location Preparation

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Location Prep

Locations are one of the easiest ways to make your world feel alive, but they are also one of the biggest traps for over-preparing. In Stones, Scrolls, Swords & Sorcery, you rarely need to fully map every building, street, or cave system ahead of time. Most sessions only require enough detail to establish atmosphere, support decision making, and create interesting obstacles.

As a general rule, it’s usually enough to prepare:

  • One broad overview of the area
  • One or two important detailed locations
  • A few memorable visual details

A location should primarily answer three questions:

  • What does this place feel like?
  • What problems or opportunities exist here?
  • What makes it memorable?

The goal is not realism for realism’s sake. The goal is to give players enough information to interact with the world confidently and creatively.

For example, instead of preparing twenty individual shops for a city district, you might simply note:

The Floodmarket:

  • Built across partially sunken streets
  • Merchants trade from small boats and floating platforms
  • The smell of salt, mould, and fish hangs in the air
  • Lanterns reflect beautifully off the dark water at night
  • Local gangs extort traders for “canal protection”
  • Strange things occasionally surface beneath the water

Immediately the players have:

  • A visual identity
  • Several potential problems
  • Several possible opportunities
  • A tone

That is often more useful than a perfectly labelled street map.

Detailed maps should generally be reserved for places where positioning, exploration, or tactical decisions truly matter:

  • A noble manor the party intends to infiltrate
  • Ancient ruins filled with traps
  • A monster-infested mine
  • The hideout of a major faction
  • A ritual chamber where a final confrontation may occur

Even then, avoid feeling obligated to fill every room with content. Empty space is useful. It gives players room to breathe, investigate, speculate, and create their own solutions.

Theatre of the mind is heavily encouraged throughout SSS&S. Many fights and scenes work better when handled cinematically rather than mechanically. Instead of worrying about exact distances or movement speed, focus on what is immediately dangerous, useful, or dramatic within the environment.

A fight on a collapsing rope bridge is memorable because of the swinging ropes, snapping planks, and raging river below — not because the bridge is exactly 40 feet long.

When preparing locations, think in terms of:

  • Atmosphere
  • Hazards
  • Traversal
  • Interesting interactables
  • Escape routes
  • Things players may exploit