Rosewood
The kindest first town: fire station, suburban streets, and a prison you should not tour on day one.
Rosewood is the starter map most new characters should see. Houses have yards, the fire station is a real loot pin, and the population is not Louisville. You still die to sound and over-encumbrance. Clear a two-story, sheet the windows, rope the second floor. The prison and the police station are late-week greed, not a frying-pan field trip. Call the firehouse, the main drag, and the woods west of town before you invent speedrun POIs.
- Start here
- Yes — with Riverside as the other kind option
- Loot
- Fire station, school, suburban kitchens
- Skip day one
- Prison interior
Key spots
Fire station
Axes, clothing, a roof. Still clear the street first. A siren is a magnet if you are loud inside.
Suburban two-story
Fence, water, sheets. Ground-floor sheet rope is an exit.
Police / school
Guns and noise. If you cannot sneak, you cannot loot them.
Prison
A horde factory. Week two with a car and a plan, not spawn.
Woods edge
Quiet farm path. Foraging after you can not get lost at dusk.
Play notes
- Never fight a crowd with a frying pan. Walk away, close doors, fence-split.
- Read skill books before grinding. XP multipliers are the early power spike.
- Custom sandbox if Apocalypse feels unfair. Population is the slider.
Setups for Rosewood
Rosewood · Day 1–3
First House
Two-story, fence if you can, sheets, water, a rope. Rosewood or Riverside — not West Point.
Best for: Spawns that immediately walk toward the prison or downtown
Any town · One pull
Fence Split
Walk away, close a door, put a fence between you and the pile. One zombie at a time.
Best for: People who fight fifteen zombies in a street with a pan