Paris, for Tourists ABANDONED

[Shepherd]

I'll be in Paris for a few days this summer, and looking at tourist maps got me to thinking that this would be a no-brainer for a MC map. It's the right shape, has a natural impassable river running right through it, and the subject matter will be instantly recognizable to most everyone.

Rather than a straightforward map with regions and command, i was thinking about making it a Tourist Map. Imagine you are an investor and you want to control the tourist industry in Paris. Bonuses would be earned by collecting and monopolizing key landmarks. For example, we could have three major museums, and if you hold all three you get a bonus. Four major rail stations for a bonus. Hold the public parks for a bonus. Key churches/cathedrals for a bonus. Eiffel Tower + Arc de Triumph + (I don't know, something else) for a bonus, etc.

Other than a tattered guidebook and my vague memories of being there 15 years ago, my knowledge of the City of Lights is quite limited. I'd appreciate any suggestions re. landmarks.

Before it is suggested, I'd rather not use the Metro as shortcuts... I could be talked into it, but it will be more visually appealing and easy to play if we keep everything on the surface.

Here are some travel maps of Paris to help kick-start thinking. Visually I am confident we can make a map look better than any of these.

 

[Robinette]

What an awesome idea...

The great landmarks of Paris as objectives is simply brilliant!

Not sure how many territories you are shooting for, but the 1st map shows the 20 arrondissements, which is key to how Paris is divided... also, that same map shows La Defense (92), but the remaining edges could be the rest of the Ile-de-France (there are 3 total in the inner ring, 4 more in the outer ring) some or all of those 7 could be able to fit in nicely too... but again, I suppose it all depends on how many territories you are looking for.

Anyway, I certainly hope you pursue this map...

 

[Shepherd]

I was thinking that using the 20 arrondissements for our regions would not provide us with a big enough map. However, if we expand the map to include some region beyond the 20 - Bois de Boulogne, La Defense, etc - and if we cut a few of the larger arrondisements in half we could fairly easily climb up to 30-32 regions, which might be plenty for a silly tourist map. Parc Montsouris, Parc des Princes, Pere Lachaise, the Eiffel Tower, and the islands could each stand alone as a region.

edit: here's ten minutes of work to bring us to 30 regions. 32 would be even better - anybody suggest how to logically split a couple more arronsidements?

 

[MrBenn]

You could always use some of the areas on the edges?

 

[Shepherd]

can you suggest which ones, Benn? Which outlying regions would be frequented by Baedeker-wielding Francophiles? I don't want to put somebody in the middle of the hood... or, rather, le hood.

 

[Robinette]

can you suggest which ones, Benn? Which outlying regions would be frequented by Baedeker-wielding Francophiles? I don't want to put somebody in the middle of the hood... or, rather, le hood.

HEY... didn't i kinda already do this... assuming you aren't looking for tourist attractions, then use the inner & outer rings of Ile-de-France...

Ile-de-France (there are 3 total in the inner ring, 4 more in the outer ring

To be more specific:
The inner ring is Hauts-de-Seine (92), Seine-Saint-Denis (93), Val-de-Marne (94)
and the outer ring is Seine-et-Marne (77), Yvelines (78), Essonne (91), Val-d'Oise (95)

 

[Shepherd]

thanks robinette, I'll look into that more closely... are the outer rings tourist draws?

Here's this morning's quick reworking of my earlier sketch, brought up to 32 regions.

 

[Robinette]

Another way to do this would be to add landmarks to some of the arronsidements, n'est pas?
They could be within, or they could border one or more.
This would keep the map more "touristie", and more interesting as well...

Outside Le périphérique there are only a few things of interest...
Versailles, La Defense, bois de B., bois de V., disneyland, Fontainebleau, Basilique de Saint-Denis...
That's all I can think of right now...

 

[Shepherd]

Thanks Robinette, that pretty much confirms my suspicions. The two Bois we have, as well as La Defense. Versailles and St. Denis are much further afield than would make sense for this map. And Disneyland... well... I was thinking I'd put this map in the 1950s/1960s and go retro. Something like the image below, but made much cleaner for game use.

And yes, there will most definitely be landmarks. Many landmarks!

 

[Shepherd]

I hate double posting, but here's a look at the bonus structure I had in mind. The individual landmarks will be illustrated on the map, and split up by category: churches, museums, monuments, parks, train stations, cemeteries/tombs. Hold any two like landmarks for +1. Any three for +2. Any four for +3. It's a build-your own bonus map, so no two games will be the same. I've sketched in what I think are the key landmarks, but I'm still open to suggestions.

My concern is that, other than the river, it's really difficult to come up with impassables. Suggestions?

 

[KungFuDuet]

My concern is that, other than the river, it's really difficult to come up with impassables. Suggestions?

Are there any highways or freeways or what ever they call it... that cuts through the map and walking cannot reach?

 

[Shepherd]

Are there any highways or freeways or what ever they call it... that cuts through the map and walking cannot reach?

No US-style freeways that I know of, but there are all sorts of train tracks that feed into the central stations... those could certain slow a pedestrian down. I'll check it out. Thanks KFD.

 

[Robinette]

No US-style freeways that I know of, but there are all sorts of train tracks that feed into the central stations... those could certain slow a pedestrian down. I'll check it out. Thanks KFD.

The only real freeway in Paris is Le périphérique, which winds around the city limits, so it would be good only for isolating the inner and outer rings i had mentioned earlier... which are of little tourist interest...

But your train station idea is VERY cool, and each station could be a territory as well... they are very important to Paris, and most tourists arrive via them, or at least do excursions via them. Paris has 6 main train stations:

Gare d'Austerlitz
Gare de l'Est
Gare de Lyon
Gare Montparnasse
Gare du Nord
Gare Saint-Lazare

 

[Shepherd]

packed more shit in, including all the train stations (two are so close as to be in the same region). No two regions of the same color touch. 4e is a stand-alone +1, and as such should start neutral.

 

[Robinette]

Another idea...

Make a bonus for holding all of the Champs-Elysées... from the Louvre to La Defense...
HUGE on the tourist list

 

[Shepherd]

Another idea... Make a bonus for holding all of the Champs-Elysées... from the Louvre to La Defense...

Interesting... what if we had two "Walking Tours" of Paris - one along the Champs and one around the Left Bank, from The Eiffel Tower to the Latin Quarter? I imagine little footprints showing the way.

 

[Shepherd]

two walking tours... from along the Champs from Louvre to Defense, and from Notre Dame to Eiffel Tower. Both are four contiguous regions. The Champs also includes a region without a color, so it brings it into the mix - which maks up for the fact that the walking tour includes two blues, which grants it another +1.

I've just got them as +1, since whoever holds one is likely to be getting other bonuses as well and I don't want these to be easy roads to victory, but is that too miserly? Champs already includes two blues, and I don't want to make it the obvious first move - folks should have to be more strategic and clever about how they put commands together.

I'm going to try to make the next update look more attractive... this is ugly by anyone's standards.

 

[Robinette]

Add Place de la Concorde to make it 5 ?

 

[Shepherd]

Add Place de la Concorde to make it 5 ?

You mean add another region between 1e and champs? It's already pretty cramped in that part of the map - if we're going to add regions I'd rather it be where the regions are already large.

 

[Shepherd]

No significant play changes to this version, I just wanted to present something that didn't look quite so ugly. It's still no work of art, but at least we can talk gameplay now without hurting our eyes.

Stats:
33 Regions; 4e will start neutral as it is a +1.
2 standard commands (the walking tours).
6 flew commands... bonus accumulates as you collect regions.
Rivers are barriers accept where marked (bridges). Railroad tracks are barriers.

edit: Now that I look more closely, it bothers me a bit that the southern walking tour is a +1 and the other is a +2 because it incorporates two blues... if the lower one starts in Latin Quarter instead of the islands, it would be a +2 and we could call it the left bank walking tour.