Written by Annie Shi
Temples are some of the most versatile locations in any tabletop campaign. They could be sanctuaries or dungeons; places of devotion or corruption; bustling institutions or long-forgotten ruins. Whether your party is seeking divine guidance, descending into a cursed ruin, or trying to prevent a catastrophic cult ritual, the right temple battlemap can make the difference between a cinematic scene and one your players will never forget.
The maps below are our best temple maps, covering a range of sacred and profane spaces—each with three creative plot hooks to help spark your table’s next adventure.
1. Moonlit Rites — Moth God Temple
A hauntingly beautiful complex dedicated to a deity of twilight and transformation, this Moth God Temple comes with several stunning variants—including a lush daytime and breathtakingly illuminated night version for when things take a darker or more mystical turn. This map is ideal for use in campaigns with fey themes or nature deities.
Hooks and ideas:
🔖 The Moth God demands a sacrifice of memory—anyone who enters the inner sanctums forgets one thing precious to them. The party needs something from inside and must decide what they are willing to lose.
🔖 The temple exists at the boundary of day and night, a pocket of perpetual twilight that keeps something dangerous at bay. The party must pass through it—and several tests—to reach what lies on the other side.
🔖 The sacred branches at the temple’s center bloomed out of season—and every blossom is black. The priests see it as an omen, and the party has been hired to figure out what it’s an omen of.
2. Prophetic Peril — Temple of the Oracle
Sprawling and sun-lit, this Greco-Roman-inspired Temple of the Oracle captures everything a divine institution needs in a TTRPG campaign—grand enough to inspire awe and lived-in enough to provide interesting NPCs.
Multiple distinct buildings and outdoor gathering courts make it just as good for social encounters as for a dramatic confrontation with the local Oracle. This map is great for mythological campaigns, such as one set in the lands of Theros.
Hooks and ideas:
🔖 A young acolyte has been giving unauthorized prophecies… and they keep coming true! The head priests want the practice stopped, the acolyte wants protection, and someone—or something—has been making sure those prophecies come to pass.
🔖 An army general is on their way to consult the Oracle before a major campaign; their opponent wants to ensure the consultation never happens. The party is hired as protection—or to sabotage the meeting.
🔖 The Oracle delivered a final, cryptic prophecy and then vanished from a closed chamber. With pilgrims arguing over what the prophecy means and noble families getting worried, the party has been hired to investigate.
3. Sacred Archives — Celestial Chapel
Tucked beside a winding river deep in the forest, this serene blue-roofted Celestial Chapel is one of the most charming maps in the list—especially once you venture inside to its cluttered, book-strewn interior map and gorgeous celestial mosaic floor. Both the interior and exterior work beautifully for social encounters and investigation.
Hooks and ideas:
🔖 A powerful institution or faction wants the chapel’s archives destroyed, as the knowledge inside threatens their power. The monks request the party’s help in protecting the knowledge within.
🔖 The party discovers that the mosaic on the floor is a map, and it’s leading to a real location. This hook pairs well with the Celestial Mountain map series,sending the party on an expedition into celestial lands to find what the mosaic depicts.
🔖 The cure to a curse or illness is described in the archive—but the scriptorium is vast and disorganized, and the party needs to find it fast.
In addition to the interior, this map includes an animated illustration to set the scene for the chapel’s idyllic exterior.
4. Woodland Spirits — Forest Shrine
A quiet path through a dense forest, the sound of a waterfall nearby, and a beautiful traditional shrine—this Forest Shrine map a perfect picture of serenity. This map shines in campaigns that draw on East Asian mythology and folklore and is a great fit for settings such as Obojima. It’ll work equally well for atmospheric social roleplay—or a good old-fashioned monster problem in the surrounding forests.
Hooks and ideas:
🔖 An oni has moved into the forest surrounding the shrine—or has usurped the shrine itself!--and is demanding tribute from pilgrims and visitors. The shrine-keeper requests the party’s help in driving it out.
🔖 The shrine has been tended by the same family for generations. The last keeper has just passed with no clear successor, and two relatives are claiming the right—each with different ideas about how the shrine should be run.
🔖 The shrine’s god has not responded to offerings in months. The surrounding villages, whose harvests depend on its blessing, are growing increasingly desperate.
5. Arctic Sanctuary — Cave Temple
A sanctuary carved into the heart of a frozen mountain, this Cave Temple map is moody, isolated, and full of atmosphere. The winding snowy paths through dark cliffs lead to a lantern-lit sanctum and a massive carved deity watching over it all.
This map is a natural fit for frosty wilderness campaigns like Icewind Dale, or anywhere the party needs to stumble onto something ancient and a little unsettling in the middle of nowhere.
Hooks and ideas:
🔖 The party takes shelter here during a blizzard and discovers they are not the first to do so recently. The last group’s belongings are still here, their fire still warm, but with no sign of where they went.
🔖 The statue at the sanctum’s center depicts a deity that nobody recognizes, but one of the party members begins receiving visions the moment they enter.
🔖 The party has tracked a notorious hermit sage to this cave. They find him easily, but also find that he has no interest in helping them with whatever they need.
6. Overgrown Secrets — Jungle Temple
Ancient, overgrown, and half-devoured by the bog, this ruined Jungle Temple map is the perfect start for an exhilarating dungeon-delving session. Between the sealed entrance and stone altar, everything about this temple screams that there is something inside just waiting to be found.
Hooks and ideas:
🔖 The entrance is sealed by a mechanism that the party must solve—but the clues are carved into pillars that have been submerged in the swamp water.
🔖 The swamp surrounding the temple is patrolled by a terrifying amphibious creature that cannot be fought head-on; the party must find a way to unseal the temple without alerting it.
🔖 After the party’s failure to unseal the temple, the only way left is through a collapsed section of the room, which means dropping into the dark with no idea what’s inside.
The animated scene illustration drives the eerie, dangerous atmosphere home.
7. Divine Opulence — Imperial Bath Complex
This opulent and warm Imperial Bath Complex is an absolute treat for the eyes—the kind of map to make even your party’s downtime unforgettable.
The map works equally well as a social hub for factions, or just as a site of well-deserved relaxation for your party—a wonderful backdrop for urban campaigns set in cities such as Baldur’s Gate or Waterdeep, and a great fit as a temple of luxury and healing.
Hooks and ideas:
🔖 The party is just here to relax between adventures. Unfortunately, the pickpocket who lifted a very important McGuffin item from their lockers did not get the memo.
🔖 Clerics are hosting a grand festival dedicated to the goddess of beauty, and the party is helping prepare. But between stringing flower arrangement standards, a criminal faction that may or may not be poisoning the perfume, and a missing centerpiece statue that needs to be found before the doors open, it’s shaping up to be a long day.
🔖 The baths are the only neutral ground in a divided city. An attack on a patron inside threatens to end that neutrality, and the party has been hired to investigate.
8. Buried Curses — Tomb of Sand
Grand and imposing, the Tomb of Sand makes an immediate statement with a long causeway, celestial dome, and dunes pressing in on all sides. Bathed in shafts of golden light, this is one of the most dramatic illustrations on this list and is perfect for a desert campaign, such as one set in Calimshan.
This map also comes with a number of animated illustrations that set the scene for the tomb’s vast, ancient grandeur.
Hooks and ideas:
🔖 The tomb is guarded by constructs that come alive at sundown—the party has a short window of daylight to get through the traps, crack the tomb, and get out before the guardians reactivate.
🔖 A rival faction is racing the party to conquer the tomb and claim its rewards, but neither party has been told the full truth about what’s inside by the person who hired them.
🔖 Getting inside is the easy part, as it turns out. The tomb’s entrance is a one-way lock—and the last person who knew how to open the exit mechanism died two hundred years ago.
9. Void-Touched Faith — Eldritch Church
Something has gone very, very wrong in this Eldritch Church—that much is clear. Writhing tentacles flank a tiered nave leading up to a sickly yellow portal, painting a viscerally unsettling picture of a once-sacred place. This map makes for a gorgeous and terrifying climax for a cosmic horror adventure in Call of Cthulhu, or dark fantasy campaigns such as Curse of Strahd.
🔖 A cult has formed around the corrupted church, venerating what’s inside as a deity. They’re growing fast—and some of what they believe turns out to be true.
🔖 The church was sealed after a ceremony went very wrong a century ago. A scholar wants the party to sneak inside and document what’s there—but they quickly find it’s more than an abandoned room.
🔖 Something is trying to push through the portal from the other side. The party has a limited number of rounds to perform a closing ritual at the altar, while fighting off eldritch minions and cultists.
This map also comes with an animated scene illustration of the church’s corrupted interior—and it’s certainly not for the faint of heart.
10. Gothic Descent — Bone Dryad Ossuary
Perhaps one of the most unsettling—and certainly one of the most visually striking—maps in the library, this Bone Dryad Ossuary is the sort of climax location your party won’t readily forget. The geometric tile floor and gold-trimmed columns read as grand and orderly… right up to the moment their eyes reach the far end, where a skeletal tree erupts from the stonework.
It’s a perfect dungeon location with a strong identity, and a bone dryad—or necromancer—will make for a memorable antagonist, whether the party is here to fight or negotiate.
🔖 The tree at the end of the corridor has been feeding on the interred remains for decades. The party must cull it before there’s nothing left.
🔖 The party needs something from inside one of the sealed alcoves. The bone dryad who has made this ossuary her home does not want to share.
🔖 Someone has been stealing bones from the alcoves. The party figures out that the missing pieces could form one complete skeleton—and it’s almost finished.
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