Comments

• Ralf Administrator, ProFantasy 🖼️ 18 images Mapmaker

  July 2011

  Again, great work! Sorry, I don't have any suggestion on how it could be improved.

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• sdavies2720 Traveler

  July 2011

  This is another great map. I assume you want the two rooms completely in darkness (one on left edge, entry between rooms 9&11, the other on the right side, entry through corridor 1).
  
  The only nit-pick I have is it's difficult to tell which of the stairs (between rooms 10 & 12) goes up and which one goes down.
  
  Seriously, I can't think of anything else to comment on other than to reiterate that this is a wonderful map -- both atmospheric and game-play useful.
  
  Steve

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• Terraformer_Author Newcomer

  July 2011 edited July 2011

  It's a terrific map - I LOVE IT! I do, however, have a few observations. - For instance - I do not know if the female / male shower / bathrooms are for single room residents, or if they are for groups of patients. I remember seeing a show (don't remember if it was Ghost Hunters or Ghost Adventurers) where they toured a turn of the century sanitarium that had a group shower stall area. It would stand to reason that since some patients would have to be constrained due to violent outbursts or siezures - larger stall areas with piped / hose attatched sprayers / mobile shower heads would be necessary - as some patients would not be capable of bathing without supervision, precautionary immobilization, or assistance. Such areas would also have large canvas towel bins on wheelers (about one per every four stalls), and towel cabinets - as well as wall mounted robe hangers. The stalls may or may not have pull curtains, which in the early twentieth century would have been heavy kaki colored canvas curtains - typically mounted on a cast iron or brass rack and tube system with metal or wooden curtain rings - which would make them very susceptable to excessive mold. These would have been changed to plastic curtains around maybe the mid 1950s.
  
  They also had male and female restrooms very much like any public restroom with seperate stalls and urinals for groups of people / patrons / patients. A turn of the century (late 19th / early 20th century) stalled men's rest room would likely have a "piss trough" (period slang term / popular nomenclature) as opposed to seperate urinals - which was typically an extended metal basin covering the length of a wall - like an extremely elongated work sink - that had a pipe drain on one end extending into the floor for urine drainage. Dangerous patients would either have a toilet in their rooms in a manner similiar to a jail cell - typically a metal toilet - or in the case of a late nineteenth century institution, a wooden toilet with a lid - the whole unit somewhat resembling a foot locker - or, they would be brought a portable toilet chair by an orderly if they had to be detained / immobilized. Minimum security rooms may or may not have personal restrooms with sinks and medicine cabinets - depending upon the era in question.
  
  Also - I do know that - at least back then - therapy rooms had hydrotherapy tubs, which would have been found in both asylums and sanitariums - as hydrotherapy was, and is still employed in some respects - for both physical ailments and as a mode of psychotherapy / relaxation.
  
  You also need a few laundry chutes and maybe even a dumb waiter or service elevator, as your going to not only have dirty laundry to contend with - but also your going to have trash to take out, and supplies and equipment to rotate. A laundry room is a must. Depending upon the era - it will either have large washing bins with wash boards - and drying rollers, and maybe a steam press - with rows of folding and stacking tables and cieling hung hanging lines - or it will have commercial grade electric washers and dryers and look very much like a typical contemporary coin laundromat.
  
  The orderly breakroom would be a little bigger - because you have to figure that your going to probably have at the very least three orderlys per every twenty patients. Somebody has to clean the bedpans, check the rooms, and do various other duties that are a little much for just one or even two orderlys. The break room would probably have an ice box and a sink, and maybe a small stove or a hotplate with a metal coffee pot, or for more modern settings - a Mr.Coffee machine - and maybe a soda pop vending machine? Either way you would probably have at least two tables in the break room - and not just one.
  
  At least a few of the patient rooms would have windows (barred of course), because NOT having windows would generally TODAY be considered a safety problem - as it would keep escape in the event of a fire limited to one door, and it's also very bad to completely cut off sunlight from patients (especially manic depressives!). Black metal fire escapes have been in use in the United states for well over a hundred years - so likely - if the building is old - it will probably have a wrought iron / cold riveted fire escape platform and steps / ladders somewhere on the exterior of the building with an outside access fire door.
  
  The patient rooms would be strictly segregated - with the more violent / unpredictable / dangerous patients seperated in one wing from the minor and intermediate needs patients (minimum security) in the other. A barred wall with a wide sliding jail door, or a double security door system would probably seperate / divide both wings - if not - then therein looms the danger of a major lawsuit - as demented psychotics and delusional pschytzomaniacs do not relate well with people who are just in there for a minor nervous breakdown, or a narcotics or alchohol addiction detox session. The rooms with the more "precarious" patients would have beds and chairs equipped with restraining straps.
  
  For the number of patients that would fit this area of the asylum - your looking at a rotational staff of six to eight people minimum (six to eight per shift) - not counting a custodian and a day clerk.
  
  Your building will also need at least one truck dock or bay for unloading supply trucks or loading waste / laundry trucks.
  
  All of this info courtesy of a LOT of net surfing, T.V., and educated guess work, lol.

  SANATO~1.JPG 266.5K

  

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• mosswood17

  July 2011

  Thank you all for your input. I was just a little concerned that the map style wouldn't transmit well to a larger structure. Apparently it did.
  
  Thank you Terraformer! You have a lot of good suggestions. This is but one floor of one ward in the hospital. The building is 4 floors high and very large. This is a non-violent, "mixed" ward with both male and female patients. I don't know if this was done or not but for the purposes of my story it is essential to allow both males and females. My explanation would be that the doctors are hoping to get everyone more comfortable socializing with the opposite sex.
  
  I think putting some stalls in the restrooms would be a good idea. I did put some isolation rooms in this ward to calm down any patients that become upset, but I was going to have it be common knowledge that the rooms hadn't been used in awhile.
  
  Appreciate all the help!
  
  Nick

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