# Locations and the map

A **location** is somewhere the party can be. Everything else in the game hangs off them:
characters stand in them, items sit in them, creatures wait in them.

> **Image: `docs/locations-step.png`**
> The Locations step with several locations in the list and one open in the editor overlay,
> showing its name, description and connections.

## What a location carries

**Name and description.** The description is what the narrator reads to describe the place.
Write it as atmosphere, not as a list of contents — the things in the room are tracked
separately and will be mentioned on their own.

**Connections.** Which other locations you can reach from here. This is what the party
actually walks along.

**Items here** and **Creatures here.** What is lying around, and what is waiting.

**Entry requirements.** A location can require an item to enter — a key, a permit, a
lantern. Leave it as *no items required* for an open place.

## Making a place feel different

**Conditional backdrops.** A location can look different depending on world state — the
harbour before and after the storm — without being two separate locations.

**Weather and fog.** A location can force fog, or force a particular condition, overriding
whatever the world's weather is doing. A cave is not rained on.

**Temperature overrides.** Min and max °F for this specific place, when the world's climate
is not the right answer — a cold cellar in a hot city.

**Ambient sound.** Each location can carry its own background audio. See
[Sound and atmosphere](/docs/sounds).

## The map

The **Map** step lays your locations out spatially and draws the connections between them.
If your game shows a map to players, this is what they see; if it does not, the connections
still define where the party can walk.

Prompt for the shape rather than dragging every node:

> Lay the village out along the shore, with the lighthouse at the far end past the cliffs

## Time and travel

Moving between locations takes time, and that time is what
[`onTravel`](/docs/hooks) prices. How fast the party moves is the `travelSpeed`
[formula](/docs/formulas) — editable, not fixed.

## Next

- [Characters and NPCs](/docs/characters) — who is standing in these places
- [Items and creatures](/docs/items-creatures) — what is in them