I'm running a western style campaign and I have my players approaching a city that's heavily Mexican styled, so I was wondering if you guys had any ideas on particular buildings/amenities that would make sense for the place. I've been changing saloon names to cantina's, and I have authentic style restaurants set up as well, was wondering if there are other things I could include that would help with immersion.
How big is the city? "Western" suggests a certain technology level, where the Industrial Age is reaching places it hadn't yet. Trains and telegraphs and whatnot. Is the city big enough for a train station? Is it just a refilling tank and a platform? "Western" also suggests kind of a desert feel (as opposed to the more jungle-y South) and building materials would probably reflect that, ie, the classic adobe hacienda with the interior courtyard. Ceramic roof tiles, etc. I think a church would be a hugely important part of any town. Big cities go through epidemics, so if it's a big place, a hospital, for sure. A theater. Some kind of sports arena. A schoolhouse. Basically, the same stuff you'd have in any city, just the landscape and the architecture would be different. There are plenty of early photographs of Ciudad Juarez, or Nogales, and plenty of movies full of Spanish Colonial architecture, so you can draw from those.
Yes, absolutely look at pictures of what you’re going for and speak out loud the features you like. Those are what you need to include in your world.
Just off the top of my head (and admitting some are near-racist stereotypes) I think of the half-rounded roof tiles, walls on buildings that look to be coated with smooth, bleached mud. I picture laborers trickling back from the forest with baskets or wagons pulled by donkeys filled with large, exotic fruits. Vendors on the street selling flavorful, simple snacks. People sleeping against buildings with large hats blocking their faces.
Well, keep in mind that Mexico is actually a fairly large country with many types of ecological niches, from beaches to deserts to tropical rainforests. The movies you see about Mexican-style environments depict the SW of the USA or the desert parts of Northern Mexico only.
Re: architecture and other embellishments in the Northern Mexico/SW U.S. style, you can also consider:
Alcohol made from fermented maguey plants (looks like a bigger version of aloe vera).
Family residence buildings of the wealthier folks will have an interior-facing courtyard.
Rattlesnakes and scorpions would be fairly common dangerous nuisances to many.
Most large farming estates would operate like miniature fiefdoms.
Instead of bread, most people would eat corn-based foods as the staple; not only tortillas and what people in the US call "tacos" (actually means something else in Mexico proper), but also sweetened drinks, tamales, and corn-based biscuits.
So sorry I haven't gotten back to these sooner, my DNDBeyond wasn't giving me the notifications that people had replied! But yeah, the city is basically the capital of the area, it's set in an altered version of America, so in New Mexico. I have a lot of the ideas you suggested implemented, but the theater is a really strong idea for the area and i think I'll start including those throughout most of the bigger cities.
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I'm running a western style campaign and I have my players approaching a city that's heavily Mexican styled, so I was wondering if you guys had any ideas on particular buildings/amenities that would make sense for the place. I've been changing saloon names to cantina's, and I have authentic style restaurants set up as well, was wondering if there are other things I could include that would help with immersion.
How big is the city? "Western" suggests a certain technology level, where the Industrial Age is reaching places it hadn't yet. Trains and telegraphs and whatnot. Is the city big enough for a train station? Is it just a refilling tank and a platform? "Western" also suggests kind of a desert feel (as opposed to the more jungle-y South) and building materials would probably reflect that, ie, the classic adobe hacienda with the interior courtyard. Ceramic roof tiles, etc. I think a church would be a hugely important part of any town. Big cities go through epidemics, so if it's a big place, a hospital, for sure. A theater. Some kind of sports arena. A schoolhouse. Basically, the same stuff you'd have in any city, just the landscape and the architecture would be different. There are plenty of early photographs of Ciudad Juarez, or Nogales, and plenty of movies full of Spanish Colonial architecture, so you can draw from those.
Yes, absolutely look at pictures of what you’re going for and speak out loud the features you like. Those are what you need to include in your world.
Just off the top of my head (and admitting some are near-racist stereotypes) I think of the half-rounded roof tiles, walls on buildings that look to be coated with smooth, bleached mud. I picture laborers trickling back from the forest with baskets or wagons pulled by donkeys filled with large, exotic fruits. Vendors on the street selling flavorful, simple snacks. People sleeping against buildings with large hats blocking their faces.
Well, keep in mind that Mexico is actually a fairly large country with many types of ecological niches, from beaches to deserts to tropical rainforests. The movies you see about Mexican-style environments depict the SW of the USA or the desert parts of Northern Mexico only.
Re: architecture and other embellishments in the Northern Mexico/SW U.S. style, you can also consider:
So sorry I haven't gotten back to these sooner, my DNDBeyond wasn't giving me the notifications that people had replied! But yeah, the city is basically the capital of the area, it's set in an altered version of America, so in New Mexico. I have a lot of the ideas you suggested implemented, but the theater is a really strong idea for the area and i think I'll start including those throughout most of the bigger cities.