Different kind of Scroller ... using map and char to move?

Im eager to make a certain type of scroller for my game which is an rpg. At first I was just going to have each section of the town on different frames (ie. get there by hittest) but i think ive decided on using a special scroller if possible.

i was thinking of a traditional scroller where the character stays in the middle of the screen, but, when the background reaches the limit the character moves while the background stays still.

i attempted a few things that were seeing y axis of both but to no luckā€¦
any help