Map Confusoin

[Rechan]

So, I decided to use this map off WotC's Map-a-Week for an abandoned town my PCs are now in.

The problem with the Map A Week is that there is no legend. Thus, I can't figure out what some things on this map are. Or at least, conceptualize them.

Particularly:3, 4 7, 8, 16, and 19. Is each section a long, thin house? Is it just a wall, and if so so, then what is the whole POINT of 8?

Help me understand this map.

 

[WayneLigon]

Eh, it looks like something randomly generated. Each section is a long thin part of a house. 4 looks like a garden plot. 7 and 8 are probably multi-family dwellings; as each new generation starts a family, they build another one of these courtyards off the first one. 16, given the two hitching post things in the central court, might be an inn or market area. 19, given it's apparently importance, might be the permanent market store areas, or some temple or governing buildings.

 

[frankthedm]

So, I decided to use this map off WotC's Map-a-Week for an abandoned town my PCs are now in.

The problem with the Map A Week is that there is no legend. Thus, I can't figure out what some things on this map are. Or at least, conceptualize them.

Particularly:3, 4 7, 8, 16, and 19. Is each section a long, thin house? Is it just a wall, and if so so, then what is the whole POINT of 8?

Help me understand this map.

The houses are all joined together. The arial view means you won't be able to see the streets that pass through the houses.

The map also looks like people were allowed to use the town walls as part of their houses.

Area 8, when I conceptualize it, it is the crowded 'bad' section of town. A near maze of dark alleys and crumbling houses all leaning on one another for support.

BTW, yes the map keys are mostly useless. You also have to decide were the 'underpasses' are to make the map work.

 

[jdrakeh]

You know, this actually looks a lot like a monastery. Locations 7 and 8 look specifically like cloisters. Location 4 looks very much like a garden. Location 3 looks like it may be the abbot's residence. Location 16 seems to be a training field of some kind (assuming martial monks). 19 may be a covered observation area (such areas are commonly found flanking the main courtyard. As for the cloisters, I think that the others on the right track by saying that connecting walkways are not visible from the air.

 

[Beginning of the End]

Particularly:3, 4 7, 8, 16, and 19. Is each section a long, thin house? Is it just a wall, and if so so, then what is the whole POINT of 8?

4 is a different type of terrain. My first instinct is "a park that's been burned to ash".

7 and 8 would appear to be row houses with shared courtyards. (EDIT: FranktheDM's interpretation is a good one, too.)

3 and 19 could be more row housing, but they could also be large mansions.

16 looks like the courtyard between two sets of gates designed to give access to this walled-in area.

 

[Rechan]

THANK YOU frankthedm. That's very helpful, and works beautifully for what I want.

Using your interpretation though, I'm left wondering what the SCALE is going to be. After all, those long housese must be at least what, 20x10 rooms? Two stories, too.

However, I think I'm going to alter the landscape just a little:

The center central hub of 3 is a tower that's demolished above the 2nd level. Thus you have a tower with these little buildings springing off of it.

6, instead of being one of the Long houses, is a multi-level temple.

16 looks like the courtyard between two sets of gates designed to give access to this walled-in area.

I initially said that area 1 was the general 'entrance into the town/whathaveyou'. Now that I'm thinking about it, I think Area 16 could be a livestock area or a walled in garden, or walled in store for food, to prevent monsters from coming in and munching on something. But the fact this is a blasted desert doesn't help that theory.

I'm trying to think of some sort of appropriate critter to put into 16.