Nice! I think I'll try something in these lines. Thanks.
Nice! I think I'll try something in these lines. Thanks.
There's always too little time to make maps. However I managed to make some changes based on suggestions here. I'm not sure if the floor is better now, at least it's not so uniform anymore. I added some doors and windows, rearranged some of the rooms, etc. I think I'll make some more furniture next, decide what the empty rooms are meant for and so on... Any comments are always welcome!
A very nice map; you've done a great job.
I do have a few ideas that you might want to consider. None of these are things that are wrong with the map, mind you, but things that might help you make it a little more... lived in.
Private rooms were a luxury in the past; monks and religious individuals often had them for religious reasons (prayer without being distracted, for example), but they were small, little more than alcoves. Your bedrooms are 15x15 and 10x15; in other words, friggenly huge (large even by modern standards). If this was an ascetic order, I'd recommend closer to 5.5 or 6 feet by 3 or 4 feet. Enough to lay down with your head & feet touching the walls and to pray. No more. You said this was for DnD; 4th edition? If so, a few large open spaces are good for battle (a 6x4 foot room wouldn't work for that, though it might have in AD&D), but a battle doesn't need to happen in every room either.
However, resizing those rooms isn't to say you need to remap those rooms. Well, not exactly at least. You said this was a temple to a good god that is now a temple to a bad god. So, 50 years old at the least, probably older. The rooms as they are used now are probably not how they were originally designed. So, I'd recommend having two types of walls (well, three counting the outer wall). Fancy walls, defining the original rooms, and simple/crude wooden walls added later to split those rooms up to serve other purposes. The order probably hasn't changed the original walls, but adding dividers in rooms is fairly easy.
On the topic of rooms, how many individuals are living here and what purpose do they serve? Orders generally don't have 10 priests all in one place if only 3 are needed, for example. Perhaps some rooms are abandoned if the order is smaller than the original order. Or perhaps they are crammed tight.
The red carpet is odd for a very simple reason; this is a temple, the focus should be on the god and the altar. The carpet draws the eyes away from the altar, and it doesn't seem to relate to the religious functions of the building. Additionally, if you have an ascetic religious order, it is totally out of place. Perhaps the original order had the carpet leading to very important religious rooms, but it was left behind? The new order ignores it; thus, a decaying carpet could be a nice touch.
Random curiosity, but where are the kitchen, food stroage, and dining hall? Assuming priests live there, they need food and they probably eat together too. Also, where do they keep basic religious supplies (vestments, incense, human sacrifices, candles, etc)?
Religious orders are also often very focused on time keeping. Both in the hours of a day (so the proper prayers can be said at the proper time) and over the course of a year (so proper holy days can be observed at the correct time). As such, you might want to include space and objects for that purpose (or not; small religious branches often receive calendar updates from a more central authority).
Are there any religious immovable objects about? Statues, water basins, pulpit, cages, etc.?
Where do they get drinking water from? Is there a well in the temple or on the surrounding grounds (or do they have to go a distance to get it)?
Also, does the order value physical labor? Many religious groups undertake simple physical labor in order to help them mediate on religious matters. As such, there might be a garden nearby or something else to provide physical exertion (but perhaps not on the map).
How do they offer sacrifices? If fire is involved (either with this order or the original occupant) the room might have a hole in it to let the smoke out (and in turn, rain and such might come in, thus developing the need for a drainage system).
Hope some of that helps. Again, great job.
~Thought
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