Shop Cards

I recently played a Dungeons & Dragons game with my sons, ages 13 and 10. They arrived in Neverwinter of the Forgotten Realms for the first time. I found that having them explore the city was a bit unwieldy for the Dungeon Master (me), and a bit of a drag for the players. They would just go, “I want to find a shop that sells weapons,” or “we need a to find a place to sleep,” or “what’s this building?” (pointing to a random plain building on the map).

I think what’s needed is for me to treat the city map more like a game board. I’m thinking I should divide the city map into 1-inch squares so the players can control a token to represent where they go in the city. Prior to the game, I should note something interesting about each square in the grid, either something they see, specific establishments there, or someone they meet.

For each establishment, I should make a “shop card,” which would list what’s inside each establishment and a menu of products and services the players can get while there, along with prices.

My kids are still young for table-top role playing games, and they do not appreciate the “role-playing” aspect. I think the more I add visuals and make the game like a board game centered on combat and dungeon exploring, the more fun they have.

For this project, I’d like to create a grid for each city or town the players visit, and create a shop card for each establishment they can visit in the city.