Taking inspiration from the real world for fictional locations is always going to happen, no matter how close to that real world location a studio wants to be. No matter how much inspiration is actually seen in the finished product. Such can range from Rockstar creating as close to real fictional cities to Game Freak condensing entire countries into a region.

For me, I’ve done concepts in the past that involved utilising real locations, such as with Hitman contracts based on communities close to me. But I’ve not yet crafted a location based on an area. So, it’s time for me to do so. In multiple parts, I’m taking the Halesowen Postal Code Area and turning it into a region from an RPG. This first part will focus on the north-east quadrant of the region, which means using the green areas of the Coombswood Wedge and Leasowes Park.

One thing to note about the entire Halesowen Postal Code Region is the amount of hills. Standing on the Coombswood Wedge, there’s Halesowen down below in the distance. But then, further in the distance, the land rises up again to form numerous hills such as those of the Clent Hills Country Park. No matter where you look from Coombswood Wedge, there’s hills on the horizon.

A fair few of those are outside the Halesowen Postal Code Area, but I would still want to feature them as part of the region, to provide a natural out of bounds barrier while also recreating that view from Coombswood Wedge. The only place hills wouldn’t work as a natural barrier is nearest to the Wedge. Since the hills only continue to rise, though less steeply than the others. Could always add some cliff edges or something, which is exactly what I’ll do.

Though not for the entire edge of the quadrant. It would look a bit unnatural to have the entirety of it be a cliff. Especially when needing to blend it with the hills that surround the rest of the region. And so, the rivers of Leasowes Park will run to the north as well. Where the cliffs there will form larger waterfalls than seen in the park. To the west of that will be a town based on the area near the cricket ground entrance of the Wedge, where the waterfalls will be visible. As for the natural barriers not based on a cliff, close-growing trees of a forest work best. Sloping down with the land.

Leasowes Park will be expanded slightly to fill most of the eastern edge of the quadrant. Just as with the real area, a golf course will make up a good portion of it, with one wooded trail running through the centre of it. The other wooded trail runs around the east side of that golf course. Which also houses the club building for the course. A path that leads out of the woods from that building will lead to a second town built from County Park Avenue and other roads attached to it.

Before getting to where the town based on Halesowen would be, it’s time to go back to the Coombswood Wedge, as that needs to fill in a lot of the land in this quadrant. As part of the Wedge is the Dudley Canal, along with the Coombswood Business Park running along the southern and western edges of it. The business park would be the only one of the three not to be expanded, instead leaving just a small part of it closest to the canal.

Said business park would be abandoned, with the story of why being unveiled through looking around it, along with the stories of those living in the nearby town to the west built from Coombs Road, Lodgefield Road and the small roads that splinter from them. Lodgefield Road would be smaller than reality, but the sloping nature of the roads will still be present. While not as great a view as from the Wedge, it will still be a great one.

For the Wedge, the combination of open fields and small forested sections – including tree-lined paths – will be present. Even the hidden pool within one of those forested sections will be present. Complete with its dirty look which includes a tennis net within the water. The eastern section of this expanded Wedge will wrap around Leasowes Park, merging into it rather than being split by the road of Mucklow Hill and the buildings of it.

The canal will have more bends in it, with a basin at the business park from one of those bends. The canal continues beyond this basin, where in reality that would be the end point, passing the pool of Leasowes Park and curving into the town that is built from Halesowen. A second basin in the town will be the end point of the canal. That basin exists just outside of the town centre, where the McDonalds and the roads that surround it are.

That town has a High Street running from the basin to where the plaza would be in reality. The shopping centre and the various other shops and offices would line that High Street, with roads splintering off it to the south. A road would surround the shopping centre and other shops on the north, connecting from the basin to the end of the High Street. At the end of the High Street would be the church. The layout of the roads there would aim to replicate the shortcut into the town that exists in reality.

The River Stour would run through the outer edge of the town, much like it does with Halesowen. Owing to the larger distance between this town based on Halesowen and Leasowes Park, places that would be near to them are similarly spread out. Such as Honeybourne Road, which would usually be directly attached to the road of the McDonalds. The two roads that splinter off it to the north are now connected by a car park. Where a stadium has been built on the inside curve of the canal.

Nearby to that road is another business park, which is placed a lot further away than in reality. So, to make sure that’s not the only thing in the area, I’ve taken a few roads from Carters Lane – on the edge of the B62 border, to create another town. This has also meant I get to bring the Bourne Brook river into the map. Which means the south-east corner of this quadrant isn’t completely empty of life.

The same has also been done to the north-east corner, where I’ve pulled roads that connect to Howley Grange Road to make the seventh town of this quadrant. You might think that’s a lot when there’s three other quadrants to create. Considering the north of the Halesowen Postal Code Area is a lot more urban than the south, it makes sense. Before I talk about the last parts of this quadrant of the region, providing the concept map for a visual of all I’ve talked about would be wise.

Being a concept map, it’s not fully representative of how things will look or are placed. And it’s certainly not to scale. But it does include everything I’ve talked about across this article. Except for elevation changes. If I was to include those lines on the map, it’d look a lot more messy than it is. Hopefully my own photos and the Google Earth Pro images I’ve included across the article given an idea of those.

For the last parts I want to talk of, the south is mostly made up of farms. There are more that will appear in the south-east quadrant when I get to that. I also put one to the north of the canal, just so the open land there was used. Near to that farm, close to the previously mentioned stadium, is an out of the way media centre. That belongs to a certain college.

Yes, I couldn’t be doing a map based on Halesowen without including the place that started one of my story universes. The main campus of Halesowen College has been included in this map, somewhat closer to the town centre than it is in reality. This campus is one of the major educational facilities of the region, teaching many different things. The adventure will make use of it, and the others of the region. How would be telling.

I’m building this RPG region across four parts, and I definitely have ideas for how it will be used. And don’t think for a second that just because this quadrant has been revealed first that the start of any ideas I have begin here. I hope this has been a great read and insight into how I would design a region based on such a small area of reality. For next time, I’m heading for the most urban of the quadrants. Though the natural parts will still be greater.

Images Taken From:
Google Earth Pro