Temple and Church Generator

A series of tables designed to produce buildings that are places of worship, with a number of features - architectural, social and so forth. This is not a 'place of worship generator'; stone circles or sacred groves are out. This also rather places itself in an urban context; a town large enough to have multiple temples. A list of real world inspirations will come at the end.

This all acts as a compliment to my Religious Processions post - though it is less Roman; more London-like. Nonetheless, the two should be able to overlap. Even if you find yourself sacrificing a White Ox in the Methodist Central Hall.

Why write this? Aside from an interest in ecclesiastical architecture, it seems to me that architectural detail sometimes takes a back seat in description. This is not super detailed and doesn't require that you tell your Perpendicular from your Decorated. Nonetheless, buildings should have an impact on players, especially those built to impress (or those that cannot help but do so). Many fantasy worlds bring religion to the fore; this is doubly true if Clerics or Prophets (or Mendicants, or Dervishes, or Disciples or Pietists or what have you) are among the player characters. Further: temples, churches - the seats of so many great occasions, a focus of communal life - these should not be all cast from the same mould. Even if they are of the same faith, from the same region or as an article of faith must be built to a specific plan. Let there be variety!

Likewise, there was an intent to remove them from a 'Lean Times in Lankhmar' style religious quarter and put them in districts; within a wider context. Yes, there are Forums, Acropoli, Kremlins, Cathedral complexes and the like, but I hoped to imitate parishes and wards: teeming urban life. Prayer and holiness being no small aspect of life.

Moreover, the more details you have of a place, the better use that the GM or players can make of it. There is, naturally, a time for detail and a time for broad sketches, but one should be able to 'zoom in' on specific scenes - and will require a form of description by which to do so. Go out; practice your descriptive writing on a building sometime: could you describe well enough to hold the man features of it in someone's mind? I have linked to this interview before, but there is very real benefit in being able to describe something, even in an age when you can just find a picture of it on your magic internet brick.

I suggest there is even an appetite for this. I have no great knowledge of the Assassins's Creed series of video games, but folk certainly seemed to appreciate the possibility to get up close to and exploit Florentine churches. A different medium, doubtless, but not without impact on another. If you want another example, look to Victor Hugo and The Hunchback of Notre Dame  - a book very focussed on buildings. Or indeed, Ackroyd's Hawksmoor. The mysteries of P.D. James also tended to be fairly stuffed with architecture.

Some of the below ideas will have a social impact; others a physical one. A fountain in the square by the Church will be of interest to the hydromancer; the more church officers there are the more people there are to convince to give you the key to the Holy Water Cellar; a copper roof will have an impact for the lightning wizard whereas a lead roof may offer some protection from the magical radiation of a baleful comet.

	d10 Building Material
1	Red brick
2	Yellow brick
3	Limestone
4	Flint
5	Marble
6	Stone - dressed
7	Stone - rough
8	Stone - heavily banded
9	Decorative tiles
10	Covered in stucco

                                         

	d6 Window style
1	High and Classically proportioned
2	A riot of stained images
3	Narrow, swirling patterns
4	High set, decorative tracery
5	Low set, small windows
6	Narrow, set back arrow slits

	At least3d20 Features and scheme
	Notable Exterior Feature	Notable Interior Feature	Overall scheme
1	Clock accompanied by statues	Tall iconostasis	Gothic ‘Dome’
2	Clock, with clockwork figures	Intricate rood screen	Baroque, decorated dome
3	Circular colonnade around spire	White and gilt pillars and ceiling	Four towers, one at each corner
4	Numerous gargoyles	Whispering gallery	Very tall spire with many sides and windows
5	Flying buttresses	Numerous memorial plaques on the walls	Flat-topped tower
6	Ornamental balcony	Faded flags hang from the celing	Numerous turret-topped ribs across the roof
7	External pulpit	Ornate fan vaulting	Thick twin towers at the front
8	Flat front with rising curiliques	Hammer-beam ceiling	Ridged, pyramidal spire capped with a statue
9	Protruding turret	Intricate, well kept, wall paintings	Circular, focussing on a central platform
10	Onion dome	Wide second tier	Broad triangular pediment and columns
11	A Sacred stone is set into a wall niche	Transi tombs	Tall, square tower with a cupola
12	Rounded, barrel-vaulted roof	Simple wooden panelling	Only the tower of this church remains
13	Squat, round tower	Ornate wooden panelling	Long and low roofed, with many arches
14	Ornamental porch with caryatids	Plaques with scripture	Wide, with a large entrance underneath a great arch
15	Square tower, diamond shaped upper level and three small turrets	Crypt in imitation of pilgrimage destination	Wider than it is long
16	Long, curved scrollwork on the front	Box pews	A high, narrow arch supports a tapering spire
17	Copper/Lead roof	Stove among pews	Square, underneath a wide dome
18	Gilt statues in stone niches	Elaborate altar canopy	No tower. High, thick, buttresses
19	A series of urns decorate the roof line	Gilt and mosaic decoration	Perfectly round, with a low dome.
20	A balcony occupies the front	Elaborate lamps and symbols hanging from ceiling	Unassuming, unornamented, at a similar height to buildings around it.

	At least 2d20 for infrastructure.
	Place in Urban Infrastructure	Place in Religious infrastructure
1	Island church, right in the middle of the road	A Peculiar, outside the usual hierarchy
2	Burial place for a noble lineage	Devoted to fallen soldiers
3	Centre of worship for a specific Guild	The Seat of a Bishop/High Priest
4	Centre of worship for a society of lawyers	Shares space with another denomination
5	Attached to an infamous prison	Devoted to a foreign population in the city
6	Attached to a law court. Those condemned to death have their last service here	Attached/formerly attached to a Monastery/Convent/Nunnery/Abbey (&c.)
7	Outside the city walls	A synod or prominent committee meet here
8	Terraced among houses and shops	An Ecclesiastical court meets here
9	Attached to a barracks.	Attached to a school
10	In a rough area	Former temple of the unbeliever
11	In a prosperous area	Contains a holy relic
12	By the waterfront	Former/current parish of a radical or controversial clergyman
13	On a viaduct	Respected for the quality of it’s music and liturgy
14	The temple is close by a neighbourhood of non-believers	Former/current residence of a militant order
15	Coins are held in safety here before being inspected to ascertain their quality	Church-run hospital
16	Large Churchyard	Devoted to an obscure divine figure
17	Meeting place for intellectuals	An especially devout congregation
18	Leper chapel (or set aside for other quarantined persons)	A rather less than devout congregation
19	Close to a Market	Well-staffed with priests and lay assistants (possibly including anchorites)
20	Close to a fountain, conduit or other water supply	Definitely not well staffed with priest and lay assistants

Inspirations include: The Temple Church, Inns of Court; St Dunstan's-in-the-West, London; New St Pancras, Greater London; St Clement Danes, London; St Mary Le Strand, London; All Saints Margaret Street, London; St Mary Woolnoft, London; St George's Bloomsbury; Westminster Abbey; Westminster Cathedral; St Magnus Martyr [inexplicable splendour of white and gold]; St John's Smith Square; St James Garlickhyhte, London; St Olave Old Jewry; St Sepulchre without Newgate ['The bells of Old Bailey']; St Bride's, Fleet Street; St Peter ad Vincula, Tower of London; St George's Garrison Church, Woolwich; Methodist Central Hall, London; Quaker Friend's House, Euston Street, London; St Alphage, Greenwich; St Chad's, Shewsbury; King's College Chapel, Cambridge; Jesus College Chapel, Cambridge; St Edward's, Cambridge; The Round Church, Cambridge; Ely Cathedral; Cordoba Cathedral; St Mary's, Whitby; St Peter and St Paul's, Pickering; The Pantheon, Rome; The Jerusalemkerk, Bruges; St Anne's, Bruges; St Walburga's, Bruges. 

Go forth and investigate for yourself!

Questions for readers: Do these produce unique, interesting buildings?

Are any categories confusing?

Does this rely too heavily on the listed examples?

Is anything missing? Is anything superfluous?