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Dragon Magazine #201 Seven Steps to a Successful Castle Building a castle by the numbers by L. Richard Baker III Cartography by John Knecht Do you plan to build a castle soon? forlorn tower, every cleric her fortified If you have a D&D® game temple, and every warrior a castle to call character above 8th level, you should be his own. The challenge of designing and thinking about it. The castle is often the building a stronghold can add a whole new drowning point of a character's career, the dimension to a campaign. sign of prestige and power that marks her The castle-building system described in success. Every powerful wizard has his the following pages lest you decide just how to put your characters fortress to- Tech describes the technological level 15 X 15 cellar. These chambers make gether. When you finish, youll have a required to build a castle module of that good storerooms or latrines. basic plan of your keep as well as an excel- type. Societies with crude stone-working Stone walls are assumed to be capped by lent idea of how much it costs and how capabilities will be very limited in what a parapet. This is an open-air, crenallated long it will take to build. Be warned: Even they can construct. Tech levels are rated battlement with an outer wall 2 thick, the simplest castle design can cost 50,000 from 1 to 8: broken by merlons. This means that a gold pieces! Building a castle is a serious l-Early wooden construction stone wall is solid on the ground level, but financial proposition. 2-Advanced wooden construction part of the castle floorplan on its top. The construction rules expand on the 3-Early stone construction system found in DMGR2 The Castle Guide. 4-Advanced stone construction Stacking modules Having a copy of that book would be very 5-Early gatekeeps and hoardings Many castles are more than one unit helpful. Also, Ill show you how to put 6-Advanced gatekeeps and machicola- high. For example, a stone curtain wall together five different castle designs, and tions module is 15 tall, but a curtain wall 30 or give you a good start towards customizing 7-Grand gatekeeps even 45 tall can be raised. Towers can be your own designs from these basic tem- 8-Full concentric castles doubled in height by building one on top plates. This system also includes several of the other. Barbicans, gatekeeps, towers, new castle modules that allow you to build Time and gold requirements list how and walls can be stacked. smaller and simpler keeps, as well as add many man-days and how much money it When walls are stacked, they require defensive features such as weapons em- takes to build one unit of the listed castle additional bracing. For each 50 length of placements and strengthened walls. module. A typical castle will have several wall, an additional wall module must be One more note before we get started: towers and hundreds of wall modules, so bought for each level to be stacked above it. These castles are based on historical forti- remember to multiply the listed figures by A 30-high wall requires one additional fications found in medieval Europe, but the number of modules used. module per 50 length of wall, a 45 wall several fantastic variations have been Dimensions describe the features size requires three additional modules, and a 60 included to reflect common stereotypes and any notes about its composition. wall would require six additional units. found in fantasy literature and role- A tower may support a second tower playing games. Ahistorical options are Modules module of lesser size on top of it with no clearly marked so that the DM can cross Doors, windows, or arrow slits can be additional bracing, so a large round tower them out if he does not wish to allow them installed wherever the designer wants, but can support a medium stone tower. If the in castles built in his campaign. a good rule of thumb is that no more than tower is anchored to a stone wall, it can one opening of any kind can pierce a 10 support a second tower module of equal Design guidelines stretch of wall or building. Stairs are as- size. Towers cannot be stacked more than This section summarizes the design rules sumed to be included in any multi-story four modules high. from DMGR2 The Castle Guide. In addi- building. Barbicans and gatekeeps can be stacked tion, several new castle modules (pieces, All towers are two storeys, (30 tall and by simply stacking tower modules on top or building blocks of a castle) are intro- have a ground floor, an upper floor, and a of the towers that are included in the duced in Table I: The Expanded Castle roof. If desired, a one-level cellar equal to structure. A large barbican features two Modules table. The table lists four charac- the half of the internal measurements of medium round towers, so two small round teristics for each module: Tech, Time, the structure can be added for free. For towers can be stacked on it. Gold, and Dimensions. The various entries example, a stone tower with a 30 X 30 on the table are explained below. interior measurement can include a 34 JANUARY 1994 Definitions for easy destruction. one in stalled. Barbican: A barbican consists of two Building, stone: Stone buildings are Gatehouse: The gatehouse is a strong round towers with a building linking them assumed to have exterior walls averaging building that protects a set of gates. His- together above an open archway or pas- 2 thick and whatever interior partitions torically, gatehouses were used to guard a sage. They are often used as outworks or their builders see fit. Small, medium and castles gates before barbicans and gate- to guard gates. The small barbican consists large buildings stand 15 tall with one keeps became popular. They tend to be of two small towers 20 apart, the medium level; the greater stone building stands 30 weaker than a full gatekeep, but are also barbican consists of two medium towers tall with two internal levels, and the grand significantly cheaper. 20 apart, and the large barbican consists stone building stands 45 tall with three All gatehouses consist of two towers of two medium towers 40 apart. The internal levels. The building dimensions with a narrow passage between them. A barbican is two storeys tall, and its towers are not required to be identical to those structure links the two halves of the gate- may include cellars or be stacked as de- listed-the building can have any shape house at their upper levels. Gatehouses scribed in the Construction guidelines conceivable, so long as the square footage are built as part of the wall defenses and below. All barbicans include a gate of the stays the same. do not project outward as do gatekeeps. appropriate size and a portcullis at no For an extra 25% in cost and building Gatehouses are assumed to come with extra charge. time, the roof of a stone building can be two of these features: drawbridge, port- Bastion: The bastion is a strong point in finished with standard battlements. cullis, or medium gate. Their towers may a stone wall designed to support a heavy Building, wooden: Wooden buildings are include cellars, as with other towers. war engine. It is basically a short, solid assumed to have walls averaging 3 to 6 The small gatehouse consists of two tower. Bastions are 30 across and may be thick, and may be designed with any square towers with 5-thick walls, measur- round, square, angular, or even D-shaped. shape or interior partitioning the builder ing 20 × 20 on the interior. The two tow- A bastion module stands 15 tall, but they desires as long as the square footage re- ers are spaced 10 apart. The medium may be stacked to bring them level with mains the same. Great buildings and grand gatehouse consists of two small square the surrounding wall. The bastions price buildings have the same dimensions as towers set 20 apart. Lastly, the great includes hoardings or machicolations to their stone counterparts. gatehouse consists of two medium square match the surrounding walls, but does not Buttress/Turret: The buttress is a tower towers set 30 apart. The medium and include the siege engine it is designed to with a 10 interior dimension (10 diameter great gatehouse towers can be stacked, if carry. for round buttresses, or 10 × 10 for the builder wishes to do so. Bridge/Causeway, stone: This is a stone square buttresses) and walls equal in Gatekeep: Gatekeeps are sophisticated or earthen roadway that is used as a road thickness to its host tower. It creates a defenses that enclose the castle entrance up steep hillsides, over lakes or wetlands, little extra room inside the tower, and also within a courtyard of walls and towers. or even over dry ditches. A causeway projects far enough from the towers side The attacker must pass within the gate- module is assumed to be 10 long, 10 to allow fire from the buttresses to affect keep to get near the fortresss main gates. wide, and 10 above the surrounding enemies standing near the base of the host Gatekeeps can be assumed to contain terrain. Causeways can be stacked to tower. medium gates and portcullises, if desired. create higher roadways, but cannot be The buttress is a supporting structure The tower portions of the gatekeep can be built more than 40 tall without magical that is built into a tower to strengthen it.
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