Seven Steps to a Successful Building a castle by the numbers

by L. Richard Baker III Cartography by John Knecht

Do you plan to build a castle soon? forlorn , 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 character’s fortress to- Tech describes the technological level 15’ X 15’ cellar. These chambers make gether. When you finish, you’ll have a required to build a castle module of that good storerooms or latrines. basic plan of your 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 with an outer wall 2’ thick, the simplest castle design can cost 50,000 from 1 to 8: broken by . 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 are more than one unit helpful. Also, I’ll 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. 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. , gatekeeps, towers, new castle modules that allow you to build Time and gold requirements list how and walls can be stacked. smaller and simpler , 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 , but the number of modules used. module per 50’ length of wall, a 45’ wall several fantastic variations have been Dimensions describe the feature’s 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 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 : 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, were used to guard a sage. They are often used as or their builders see fit. Small, medium and castle’s 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 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: , port- : The bastion is a strong point in finished with standard . 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. 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 bastion’s price buildings have the same dimensions as towers set 20’ apart. Lastly, the great includes hoardings or to their stone counterparts. gatehouse consists of two medium square match the surrounding walls, but does not Buttress/: The buttress is a tower towers set 30’ apart. The medium and include the 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 tower’s 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 fortress’s 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 , 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. stacked or built with cellars. assistance. Buttresses may be round or square, and The lesser gatekeep consists of two small A bridge can span an unsupported gap are usually found on the corners of square round towers set 20’ apart, with a linking whose width is equal to its height, so a 40’ towers or evenly spaced around round structure like a barbican. It is set 20’ out causeway could span a 40’ wide crevasse towers. Buttresses can be stacked up to from the castle’s walls, with 15’-high stone with one arch. (This is a gross over- one unit higher than their host tower; if walls connecting the towers to the walls to simplification of medieval engineering, but the buttress rises above the tower roof, it create an enclosed killing ground before it works for game purposes.) A causeway is often called a turret. Buttresses can be the castle’s gates. has to be built from the lakebed or river- left unstacked or partially stacked, run- The greater gatekeep is built around bed up, so to create a causeway whose ning only part of the way up the side of a four medium round towers. The forward road surface is 10’ above a 20’ deep lake tower. pair of towers is 20’ apart and 20’ in front would require three causeway units to be Small towers cannot be buttressed. of the castle walls, and is connected by a stacked. Other towers cannot have more than four linking structure. The rear pair of towers Like a stone wall, one extra causeway buttresses. is built into the castle walls. Stone walls module must be allocated per 50’ section : Each ditch module is 10’ long, 10’ 15’ high join the outer and inner pair of for each level the causeway must carry wide, and 5’ deep. It is possible to build towers. above it. A 20’ tall causeway requires one deeper or wider ditches by doubling or The grand gatekeep uses large round additional module per 50’ section, a 30’ quadrupling the number of modules used towers in place of the medium towers. causeway requires three additional mod- for a 10’ length of trench. The outer towers are spaced 40’ apart, ules, and a 40’ causeway requires six Gate: Gates can be built into , and are 39’ in front of the inner pair of additional causeway modules. wooden or stone walls, and wooden or towers. If the causeway will not leave dry stone buildings. They are assumed to be a /Channel: are nothing more ground (e.g., a road up a hillside or across part of gatehouses, barbicans, and gate- than ditches that are finished so that they a dry ditch), the embankment can be keeps. Light gates are made of 6”-thick will contain water permanently. A channel constructed from earth and reinforced wood, bound with iron, and protected by is a waterway built to connect the moat with timber and stone. The cost and time a sturdy bar. Medium gates are made from with the body of water that will be used to requirements are reduced to 25% of their 9”-thick wood sheathed in bronze, iron, or fill it. listed value if this is done. An earthen steel and protected by several barring Motte: A motte is an artificial mound causeway can be stacked two units high. devices. Heavy gates are made of 2”-thick that provides a castle with the advantage Bridge/Causeway, wooden: The same bronze or iron plate riveted to an iron of height. One unit of motte raises a 10’ considerations for a stone bridge apply, frame, with locks and heavy bars. square section of earth 5’ in height. Mottes but a wooden bridge can be stacked to A gate module is 10’ wide and 10’ tall. must be at least twice as wide and long as bridge a gap of 60’. If the builder wishes More impressive portals can be created by they are tall. to pay an extra 50% in cost and time re- doubling or tripling the number of mod- Motte modules also can be used to create quirements, the wooden bridge can be ules used. All gates come with a free port- artificial islands. The lakebed or riverbed rigged with a quick collapse framework cullis if the builder wishes to have cannot be more than 20’ deep. Artificial

DRAGON 35 islands double building times and costs of diameter of 60’. Round towers provide less angled skirt of stone at the base of the the motte. space than square towers, but are strong- wall that reinforces the wall against at- : A palisade is a wall of wooden er and use less stone. tacks by sappers or bores. A wall built posts about six inches thick. It is often Tower, square: Square towers are built with a includes hoardings, if de- used on the defending side of a ditch. Each for the same reasons as round towers, but sired. Machicolations are very similar to palisade module is 10’ long and 5’ tall. are less desirable because they cost more hoardings, but are made out of stone. A Palisade modules can be stacked up to 20’ and are not as resistant to sapping or machicolated wall includes a glacis, if in height, but if the builder wants his bombardment. However, people learned desired. troops to have a catwalk to fight from, a how to build square towers before they A wall can be built to include a wooden wall module will have to be were able to build round towers, so the gate, which is a small doorway through bought for each stacked palisade module. designer may be forced to use square which defenders can sally to launch raids Reinforcement: It is possible to build towers. and counterattacks against their enemies. towers and other buildings extra-strong by Square towers can be stacked or built Add the postern cost to the wall’s normal thickening the bases and the foundations with cellars as described in the Construc- cost. to resist the effects of sapping or bom- tion guidelines below. Small square towers Wall, wooden: A section of wooden wall bardment. Reinforcing a structure adds are 30’ × 30’ on the interior, with 10’-thick is 10’ long, 15’ high, and 3” thick. It can be 50% to the building time and cost, but walls. Medium towers are 40’ × 40’ square, stacked using the same rules for stacking adds 25% to the building’s strength. and large towers 60’ × 60’ square. stone walls. Wooden walls also can be Walls cannot be reinforced, but they can Tunnel: Each tunnel module represents a used as flooring; each unit of wooden be built thicker than 10’ by building wall 10’ × 10’ × 10’ volume worth of under- flooring covers 150’ square feet. modules side-by-side. Each extra thickness ground chambers. Tunnel modules can be of stone wall adds 50% to its strength. bought to create dungeons, escape tun- Construction guidelines Tower, round: Towers are used to nels, or even as approaches to the castle. This castle-design process includes seven strengthen walls and provide the de- Wall, stone: A stone walls module is 10’ basic steps, from choosing the site to actu- fenders of the wall with extra cover and long, 10’ thick, and 15’ tall. Walls can be ally beginning construction. In regular better fields of fire. They also can be used stacked as described under the Construc- play, a character would be expected to go as free-standing defenses. Towers may be tion guidelines section. The stone wall is to extensive trouble to secure permission stacked as described under the Construc- assumed to include a walkway on its upper to put up a castle, find a suitable wilder- tion guidelines below, and may include surface, with crenellated battlements. ness to tame, and convince the locals to cellars at the builder’s option. Hoardings are wooden structures built aid him—but we’ll skip over that material Small round towers have an interior at the top of a wall to allow defenders to here. We’re only interested in showing you diameter of 30’, with 10’-thick walls. Medi- stand over the wall’s base and rain down how to design and build your castle. um towers have an interior diameter of missiles and other substances directly on The seven steps to building your castle are: 40’, and large towers have an interior enemies attacking the wall. A glacis is a

36 JANUARY 1994 1. Select a site. that site. keep as its donjon, or strongpoint, and 2. Choose a style of castle. Do this calculation as many times as you surrounds the tower with a sturdy pali- 3. Determine approaches. want to determine the best location. How- sade. An adjacent area known as the bai- 4. Customize design. ever, the DM is within her rights to charge ley was enclosed in a second . The 5. Finish design and add details. a 100 gp survey fee for each site you “sur- was often a small village, with sta- 6. Calculate cost and construction time vey” (perform the calculation for). After bles, barracks, armories, smiths, and of castle. all, someone has to go out and examine craftsmen. Usually, the gate to the castle 7. Build it! each site! led into the bailey, and a second gate led Each of these factors is discussed in into the donjon or centerpoint. The donjon By following these steps, you will be able detail in DMGR2 The Castle Guide. Table II was usually raised on an artificial hill to take your castle from untamed wilder- simply repeats the PM associated with known as a motte. ness to the drawing board to a polished each one. If there is any debate over what This design is stronger than a simple design just waiting for the first stone to be kind of climate, resources, or workforce tower and provides for a larger garrison. laid. Before you get started, you probably prevails at any given site, the DM gets the It provides good protection for the sur- will want to have a pencil, a calculator, final word. rounding lands, since the bailey can house some graph paper, and some scrap paper a number of people in time of war. Its handy. Choose a style downfall lies in the fact that its defenses Now that you have an idea of where this do not support one another. Select a site castle will be built, you should select a Refer to the Motte-and-Bailey Plan dia- Before you begin to lay out your castle, basic castle style. Most castles will fall into gram. Our design uses a stone tower as you should decide where you’re going to one of five different categories. These are: the donjon, but many historical designs put it. We will assume that your charac- the tower; the motte-and-bailey; the substituted a for a stone tower. ters have already won themselves a piece curtain-wall defense; the enclosed keep; The shell keep consisted of a curtain wall of land and are pretty sure that they want and the . that boxed in several stone buildings. The to construct a stronghold there. Take note, center of this arrangement was an open Dungeon Masters: This is a big assump- The tower courtyard. To build a shell keep, you buy tion, and you should seriously consider The cheapest castle to build is one with as much curtain wall as you need for the orchestrating several important adven- only one piece. A simple stone tower can exterior keep dimensions, and then buy tures around the acquisition of a title and resist small-scale attacks and provide a stone buildings to fill the inside. Don’t land to build on. safe home for a party of adventurers. The forget a gate! The site you select should enjoy some tower provides no defense for any out- Our motte-and-bailey design raises the strategic relevance. If there is something buildings or surrounding land, cannot central tower on a motte 30’ high, while of vital importance in your domain, such house a large garrison, and has limited surrounding the entire castle with a ditch as a city, deep-water harbor, or natural stores. On the other hand, it’s cheap com- and palisade. The central donjon is exactly resource, you probably will want to locate pared with the other designs. the same as the tower described in the your fortress nearby to watch over that Inside the tower, it was customary to Tower Plan above-a medium square asset. The castle is useless if invaders design the entrance hall as a last-ditch tower stacked on a large square tower. As choose to bypass it to go after something defensive position. The room would have in the previous example, the builder gets a of greater value. only one exit, and sometimes was built free cellar 30’ by 60’ in size. You should refer to the article by Thom- with arrow slits or murder holes facing In the bailey, we will assume that the as Reid, “The Evolution of a Castle,” in this into it so that the defenders could attack designer needs to build two stone build- magazine concerning castle locations and invaders who made it past the front door. ings (an armory and a barracks) and three development before you actually select These features are optional. wooden buildings (stables, a mess hall, and your construction site. Take a look at Diagram #l, the Tower a storage building.) The entrance to the Once you have found a site you want to Plan. Naturally, this is a very simple layout. bailey is guarded by a small gatehouse and build on, you need to determine how easy Simply pick the place where you want to a drawbridge to span the surrounding or difficult it will be to build a castle there. build the tower, and place it there. Since ditch. The gates between the bailey and This is reflected by the Production Modi- this is the entire castle, we’ll assume you the keep are not protected by a gatehouse, fier, or PM for short. The site’s terrain; want to build a large square tower, with a and are considered light gates. geography, and climate all contribute to medium square tower stacked above it, for The ditch itself is 40’ wide and 20’ deep. the Production Modifier and have a signifi- a total of four interior levels plus a cellar Wooden bridges have been added to span cant effect on the castle’s cost and time of and the roof. the ditch between the motte and the bai- construction. The tower’s roof is assumed to open and ley, and from the gatehouse to the castle During this step, you will figure out battlemented. Each of the first two floors approach. your site’s PM. If you come up with an is 60’ × 60’ on the interior, and the 10’ Variations on this design may include: astronomical modifier, you may want to stone walls make the castle 80’ × 80’ at its adding a gatehouse between the keep and consider selecting another site and trying base on the ground. The upper two floors the bailey; increasing the size of either the again. are 40’ square. A 30’ × 60’ cellar is includ- keep compound or the bailey; adding To determine the site’s PM, refer to Table ed in the price of the large tower. buildings to the bailey; replacing the tower II: Production Modifiers table. A castle’s Some easy options to add to this design keep with a shell keep; adding a draw- cost will be influenced by the climate, in the next step include: surrounding it bridge between the bailey and the keep. geography, and ground cover of the build- with a palisade or ditch; adding or You can save a lot of time and money by ing site. Another important consideration buttresses; changing the tower from finding a natural hill to build on, instead of is the location and quality of resources square to round; or building in a draw- creating your own motte. that will be used in the castle’s construc- bridge to help protect the entrance. Motte-and-Bailey components: large tion. Lastly, the workforce, society type, Tower components: large square tower, square tower, medium square tower, small skill, and morale also will be included. medium square tower. gatehouse, light gate, small stone building, Make a note of the figures listed in Table Cost: 25,800 gp. large stone building, three medium wood- II in each of the appropriate categories for Time required to build: 1,950 man-days. en buildings, 1,884 motte modules (200’ your castle’s building site. Multiply all the diameter motte, raised 30’, 2,321 ditch different factors together to determine the The motte-and-bailey modules (40’ wide and 20’ deep), 18 wood- Production Modifier for a castle built on This design uses a stone tower or a shell en bridge modules (two bridges 10’ wide,

DRAGON 37 20’ tall, and 40’ long), 145 palisade mod- is loosely based on the castle at Arques, along their outer bases, and hoardings— ules (1450’ long palisade, 5’ tall). France. Our plan takes some liberties with wooden fighting platforms along their cost: 108,490 gp. the proportions and the locations of the battlements. The small round towers are Time required: 12,422 man-days. towers and buildings. 30’ tall as well, with two interior levels The curtain-wall plan pinches pennies and a 15’ × 30’ cellar in each. The curtain-wall defense by making the donjon itself double as one The entire castle is surrounded by a The curtain-wall castle descended from of the towers defending the outer wall. ditch, crossed by only one set of draw- motte-and-bailey designs, shifting the This works especially well if the castle bridges. This is a fairly sophisticated castle defensive emphasis to the outer walls. Like builder can position the donjon so that it when all is said and done, and you’ll pay the motte and bailey, the castle is divided commands difficult terrain. The donjon dearly for this fortress. into two parts: a bailey and a keep. The consists of the same keep we’ve used in Variations on this design would include two parts of the castle do not support each the previous two designs, but we’ve added expanding the lower bailey to enclose a other. Despite this flaw, the walls them- two turrets to anchor the outside corners larger area, adding a barbican or selves are quite strong and are often pro- of the keep and included an escape tunnel, to help guard the approaches to the gate- tected by flanking towers. Two stone buildings have been built adja- house, stacking the towers, replacing the Replacing a wooden palisade with a cent to the keep to add to the lords living wooden hoardings with stone machicola- thick stone wall and adding towers as space. tions, or replacing the barbican with a reinforcement vastly improves the castle’s The keep’s compound, or upper bailey, gatekeep. strength, but also makes the curtain-wall includes three small round towers to Curtain-Wall Defense components: large defense quite costly. provide flanking fire along the walls. A square tower, medium square tower, six The keep is still the center of the castle, medium gate guards the entrance from buttresses (stacked in two turrets), eight and may rest on a tall motte or natural the lower bailey. In the lower bailey, five small round towers, medium barbican, hill. A stone wall surrounds the keep, and more small round towers and a medium two bastions, medium gate, medium stone towers protect the wall. One gate leads barbican (acting as a gatehouse) complete building, four large stone buildings, one from the keep’s compound to the bailey, the castle’s defenses. A bastion (actually grand stone building, three medium wood- which is also protected by a stone wall and two bastions built back-to-back) helps en buildings, one large wooden building, small towers. The keep and the bailey guard the gate with two . two drawbridges, 119 stone wall with share a common outer wall, but an attack- Several extra stone and wooden buildings glacis (hoardings included), 148 stone wall er who captured the bailey would still are thrown in to provide more living and modules, three postern gates, 3,264 ditch have to fight his way through the parti- storage space. modules (40’ wide, 20’ deep), 50 tunnel tioning wall to take the inner compound. The outer walls of the castle are stacked modules. Refer to the Curtain-Wall Castle Plan two modules high, and are 30’ tall. They Cost: 462,220 gp. diagram. In case you’re curious, the design are defended by a glacis, or stone facing Time required: 32,100 man-days.

38 JANUARY 1994 moat 40’ wide and 10’ deep. are protected by two lesser gatekeeps. The enclosed keep Options for customizing this design Beyond the inner wall lies the outer The enclosed keep is a design that saw might include: enlarging the keep by using bailey. The bailey is surrounded by a ma- very little historical use. However, it is medium or large round towers instead of chicolated wall 15’ high, with four small often found in fantasy literature and role- small towers; providing a barbican to round towers to protect and support it. playing games. While real-life castles usu- guard the gatehouse; adding turrets to the Ten bastions are added to strengthen the ally included open courtyards (or baileys) corner towers; stacking the entire castle wall even more. The outer wall is pierced between the outer walls and the inner another two levels high; or saving time by two gates, protected by medium gate- defenses or donjon, the enclosed keep and money by not building the moat. houses with drawbridges. Note that two actually roofs over this space. The castle Enclosed keep components: four medi- bastions are built jutting out on piers to becomes one huge building—even though um round towers, one large round tower, provide extra covering fire for the ap- it may still include towers, gatehouses, and medium gatehouse (drawbridge included), proaches to the gatehouses. The bailey other structures. two large wooden buildings, two medium itself is partitioned by battlemented walls The enclosed keep lacks the open spaces stone buildings, one small stone building, that ensure that an attacker who breaches of the bailey and can house only a limited one drawbridge, four wooden bridge the outer wall will be contained in one number of people before it becomes modules, five stone bridge modules, three small area of the castle. crowded. It is not good for area defense. light gates, 54 stone wall with machicola- Two stone causeways span the lake that However, it can be held with a minimal tions modules (glacis included), 191 stone surrounds the castle. garrison and is perfect for an adventuring wall modules, one postern, 1008 moat This design is extremely expensive, but party’s stronghold or a wealthy retreat. modules (40’ wide, 10’ deep), 100 tunnel would stand against a ground-based or “The Castle on the Moors” from DMGR2 is modules (100’ × 100’ dungeon), 506 wood- waterborne assault for months with a of this design. en wall modules. small garrison. If it has a weakness, it lies The enclosed keep has to be fairly small. cost: 303,011 gp. in the castle’s vulnerability to magical or If the outer walls are built to include too Time required: 24,622 man-days. monstrous attack—but none of the other large an area, the cost of roofing the space designs can accommodate those consider- between becomes astronomical. Another The concentric castle ations, either. disadvantage lies in the lack of a second Representing the ultimate in castle de- Variations on this design would include line of defense; once invaders are past the sign, the concentric castle uses two or changing its size by making the towers walls, they are in the castle. Even a motte- more curtain walls to create a layered larger or smaller or joining the defenses to and-bailey design forces invaders to pass defense. The outer wall and its towers are a small town and surrounding the town through the bailey before they can assault supported by an inner wall of greater with a curtain wall to protect it. It is possi- the keep itself. height, also reinforced by towers. The ble to save an enormous amount of labor On the other hand, there are advantages donjon becomes obsolete in this design, (about half of the time requirement) by to this kind of design, especially in a fanta- but may still be used as a central . A building this castle on dry land or on a sy setting. Its roof makes airborne attacks well-designed concentric castle built on natural island, instead of building an is- difficult. Since it is small and concen- good terrain can be impregnable. land from scratch. trated, it is cheaper than a curtain wall or The size of the concentric castle allows it Concentric castle components: six large concentric castle, while it is stronger than to support a considerable army and house round towers, 12 buttress modules, 12 a simple stone tower. Its small ground area a great number of people. Frequently, the medium round towers, two small gate- also means that it can be built in places cisterns and storehouses of the concentric keeps, four small round towers, two medi- where larger designs aren’t feasible, such castle are the deciding factors in its um gatehouses, 10 bastions, six medium as small islands or steep hilltops. strength. If it can withstand a long siege, it gates, four heavy gates, three medium Refer to the Enclosed Keep Plan dia- may not be worth attacking. wooden buildings, two large stone build- gram. Our design features three small Refer to the Concentric Castle Plan ings, four medium stone buildings, 200 round towers and one large round tower diagram. This design is loosely based on stone wall with machicolations modules as the corners of the castle. An additional the castle at Beaumaris, Anglesey, Wales. (glacis included), 122 stone wall modules, medium round tower is stacked on top of The entire castle is built on an artificial two , 72 stone causeway modules, the large tower, and will rise two levels island in the middle of a lake, so the first 14,496 Motte modules (artificial island). higher than the rest of the keep. The order of business is to buy a gigantic Cost: 1,241,670 gp. curtain wall linking the towers is capped motte with the artificial-island option. We Time required: 113,726 man-days. by machicolations and is doubled in height will assume that the lake is 20’ deep and to match the towers themselves. that we want the island to stand 10’ above When you finish with this step, you A medium gatehouse controls access to water level. should have a castle plan of the appropri- the keep through a drawbridge and a We’ll begin our design at the center and ate style. You can copy the plan to a piece portcullis. A postern gate at the keep’s work outward. Although the concentric of graph paper in order to customize it in rear leads to a second drawbridge, guard- defenses have rendered the central donjon later steps, or you can leave the plans as ed by baffled walls. Inside the main gate, somewhat obsolete, we’ll still build an they appear here. the castle is partitioned into three areas by impressive central tower as a seat of gov- If you wish to generate detailed floor internal walls. Part of the castle consists of ernment. Two large round towers are built plans from these overviews, feel free to courtyards open to the sky, but most of side by side and buttressed; because they improvise. You can place doors, stairwells, the keep is roofed over with wooden wall support each other, they can both be windows, or arrow wherever modules. stacked three units high for a six-level you wish, but you should remember two Each of the medium towers has a cellar tower standing 90’ tall. We also will place things: first, a section of wall or building 20’ in diameter, while the large tower has several stone buildings and a wooden should not have more than one opening a cellar 30’ in diameter. We also will in- building in the inner courtyard, (door, arrow slit, etc.) per 10 feet; and clude an additional dungeon area 100’ The central courtyard is surrounded by a secondly, it’s a bad idea to put windows or square beneath the keep itself. high curtain wall anchored by four double- exterior doors on the ground floor, since Since the castle is two levels high, we stacked medium round towers 60’ in they can be stormed during an enemy will need to buy wooden walls for two height. The towers are joined by a stone attack. levels of flooring, plus a third section as a wall with machicolations, stacked two roof, for the space enclosed by the curtain modules high for a 30’ curtain wall. This Determine approaches walls. We will surround this keep with a wall is pierced by two heavy gates, which You now should take a look at the build-

DRAGON 39 ing site and try to imagine just how your to substitute pieces to make your castle design, but don’t be constrained by them. castle will be situated on this terrain. If stronger (and more expensive), or try to You may be able to alter the designs pro- you are building a castle on a plain where economize by settling for smaller and vided and re-calculate only the portions it can be attacked from any direction, you cheaper components. Stone and wooden you changed, but don’t be afraid to throw shouldn‘t worry about this step—you will buildings can be added to the courtyards them out and start from scratch. have to make certain that the castle can and baileys to provide for additional bar- defend itself equally well on all sides. racks, storerooms, and work areas. New Finish and add details Otherwise, determine the avenues of outworks can be used to guard the ap- In this step, you should add any final approach that enemies are likely to take if proaches to the castle. details to the design that you wish to in- your castle is assaulted. The most important consideration in this clude. Are there any magical or unusual Again, you may want to refer to Thomas step is the castle’s topography and how to features that aren’t covered otherwise, Reid’s article in this issue about castle take advantage of it. Does the castle sit on such as crocodiles in the moat or a stone evolution and placement. In addition to a natural hilltop? If it does, you probably golem gatekeeper? Are there any spells suggesting a plan for your fortress, a don’t need to buy a motte, but you may that will be used to add to the castle’s diagram of the surrounding area also can need to build a causeway to the castle’s defenses, such as a permanent wall of fog, be useful for determining siege lines and gates. Does one wall of the castle overlook wall of ice, wall of fire, or distance distor- artillery positions should your castle ever impassable terrain, such as a or a tion? How about a landing platform for come under attack. body of water? You may be able to save hippogriff cavalry? In most cases, the DM If desired, the castle’s approaches can be money by skimping on the defenses there, will have to decide what a special feature altered by purchasing enough ditch, cause- since it is unlikely an attacker will be able will cost and how it must be constructed. way, or motte modules. Excavating is easy, to assault the wall in question. One special note on finishing the design: but the DM will have to judge any efforts Very few castles sit on a flat plain that is The times and costs for castle components to create ramps and roadways by moving equally vulnerable in all directions—look that appear in this article assume that the earth around. Mark these improvements for ways to channel attackers toward your designer is creating a typical castle that on a copy of your terrain diagram, and castle’s strong points. For example, by will be used as both a fortress and a living don’t forget to include this in the castle’s locating your castle on an artificial island place. The builder may skimp on all un- overall price. in the middle of a lake, you can guarantee necessary luxuries and build a spartan that the attackers will be forced to concen- keep that is suitable for use only as a Customize the plan trate their assault on the causeway that military base, or he may decide that his In this step, you can alter your design to bridges the lake. castle should be a work of art that is pleas- fit the exact terrain and considerations for You can use the generic castle designs ing to the eye. Spartan castles save the the castle you are building. You may want here as a guide in customizing your own builder 25% of the normal time and gold

40 JANUARY 1994 costs, while extravagant castles cost 50% cover the costs of hiring and equipping a To determine the workforce required to more than normal and require 50% addi- garrison, paying for any unusual hirelings build your castle, take the final tional construction time. or services such as spell-casters, or the construction time and divide it by 52. This costs of any sabotage or disasters, al- will give you the number of workmen Calculations though routine mishaps are considered to required to build your castle in one year Now, add up the costs and time require- be part of the building process. of continuous work. In our example ments of all the components of your cas- Take the new costs and times with over- above, Eric finds that his character will tle. This represents the fortress’s basic head included and multiply these by the need to find 938 laborers to do the job. cost. Don’t forget to increase or decrease Production Modifier mentioned above. Remember, the castle and overhead costs this figure if you are making your castle a This will give you the castle’s actual cost cover the worker’s wages for an average spartan keep or an extravagant work of and time of building. workforce. art. Once you have totalled the castle’s Example: Eric is building an enclosed You can increase the speed of construction basic cost and time of building, you will keep and decided that the basic plan was by hiring more workers. Each extra worker need to add 10% to both figures to reflect good enough for him. The enclosed keep costs 520 gp per year, including food, overhead costs. has a base time requirement of 18,932 Overhead costs cover the cost of recruit- man-days and a base cost of 254,712 gp. ing and training laborers, housing and The overhead increases these figures to Table II: feeding them while they’re on the job, 20,825 and 280,183 respectively. Eric Production Modifiers table putting furniture in the castle when it’s already calculated his Production Modifier finished, and paying any architect’s fees or to be 2.34, so his final building time is Climate other special charges. Overhead does not 48,730 and the final cost is 655,628 gp. Arctic: 4.00 Moderate: 1.00 Sub-arctic: 2.50 Table I: Expanded Castle Modules table Sub-tropical: 1.25 Name Tech Time Cost Dimensions Temperate: 1.25 Barbican, small 4 1,665 28,600 50’×120’ Tropical: 1.75 Barbican, medium 5 2,050 35,200 60’×140’ Barbican, large 6 2,880 49,500 60’×160’ Geography *Bastion 4 450 6,700 30’×30’ High mountains: 4.00 *Bridge/Causeway, stone 4 32 370 10’ × 10’ × 10’ Foothills: 1.50 *Bridge/Causeway, wooden 3 620 10’ × 10’ × 10’ Moderate mountains: 3.00 Building, small stone 3642,000 20’×20’ Rolling hills: 1.00 Building, medium stone 3 96 3,000 20’×40’ Low mountains: 2.00 Building, large stone 3 144 4,500 30’× 60’ Plains: 0.75 Building, great stone 4 300 10,000 30’×60’ Building, grand stone 4 600 19,000 40'×80' Ground cover Building, small wooden 1840 20’×20’ Jungle: 3.00 Building, medium wooden 1 12 60 20’×40’ Grasslands: 0.75 Building, large wooden 1 18 90 30’×60’ Dense forest: 2.00 Building, great wooden 2 40 200 30’×60’ Barren: 1.50 Building, grand wooden 2 75 375 40’×80’ Light forest: 1.50 *Buttress/Turret 5 360 6,000 30’×30’ Desert: 2.00 Ditch 1210 10’×10’ ×5’ Scrub: 1.00 Drawbridge 2 40 550 20' long Swamp: 2.00 *Gate, light 1 15 175 10’ × 10’ high *Gate, medium 285630 10’ × 10’ high Resource availability *Gate, heavy 3 225 13,800 10’ × 10’ high Distant and poor: 2.00 *Gatehouse, small 3 980 16,500 70’×30’ Distant and good: 1.50 *Gatehouse, medium 4 1,550 25,800 120’×50’ Near and poor: 1.25 *Gatehouse, great 5 2,040 34,800 150’×80’ Near and good: 1.00 Gatekeep, lesser 5 1,950 33,275 70’×120’ Gatekeep, greater 6 4,625 40,620 140’×140’ Local social structure Gatekeep, grand 7 6,410 110,800 200’× 190’ Nomadic: 2.50 Moat/Channel 3630 10’ × 10’ × 5’ Semi-nomadic: 1.75 Motte 1210 10’×10’×5’ Primitive agricultural: 1.25 Palisade 1510’ long, 5’ high Agricultural: 1.00 *Reinforcement (×1.5) (×1.5) Advanced agricultural: 0.75 Tower, small round 4 720 12,000 50’ exterior Tower, medium round 5 900 15,000 60’ exterior Workers’ skill Tower, large round 6 1,260 21,000 80’ exterior Very poor: 3.00 Tower, small square 3 840 14,000 50’×50’ Poor: 2.00 Tower, medium square 4 1,080 18,000 60’×60’ Average: 1.00 Tower, large square 5 1,440 24,000 80’× 80’ Good: 0.75 Tunnel 425100 10’ × 10’ × 10’ Very good: 0.50 Wall, stone 330500 10’ × 10’ × 15’ Wall, stone w/ 4 36 600 10’ × 10’ × 15’ Workers’ morale Wall, stone w/glacis 5 44 720 10’ × 10’ × 15’ Very poor: 3.00 Wall, w/ 653864 10’×10’×15’ Poor: 2.00 Wall, stone and postern 4 5 100 10’ × 10’ × 15’ Average: 1.00 Wall, wooden 1 15 l0’×15’×3” High: 0.75 Very high: 0.50 *New castle modules (explained in text).

DRAGON 41 housing, and skilled supervisors. If the count for a number of men equal to 5% of workforce is doubled, the construction their experience-point award if they are time is cut to 75% of normal. If the particularly suited for construction, or 1% Build the castle workforce is quadrupled, the time is cut to if they are useful but not especially so. Now you have a castle design, an idea of 50% of normal. The DM will have to decide which how long it will take to build it, and how You can save money by hiring fewer category any given magical item falls into. much it will all cost. You’re ready to begin! laborers, although this will slow Monsters also may be used as additional Of course, the campaign doesn’t construction time. Each man cut from the or replacement workers. If they are conveniently stop for your characters labor pool saves 10 gp per week of well-suited to the task, each monster does when they undertake a project of this construction. If enough workers are the work of a number of men equal to 5% scope. All kinds of trouble can find the removed to reduce the workforce to 75% of its XP award. Monsters that are only PCs while they’re building their fortress. of its normal value, the construction time moderately useful are only worth 1% of War may come before the PCs are ready is doubled. If the force is cut to 50% of its their XP award. for it, and the attackers may make a standard value, the construction time is Unfortunately, castles can’t be worked beeline for the partially-completed castle quadrupled. on all year-round in most climates. Cold to tear it down before it is finished. A war Example: Eric’s character is short on weather or torrential rains will put a stop on the other side of the kingdom may money and wants to cut the workforce to the building process until the weather arise, and the lord of the land may insist down to 75% of its normal value. He hires clear again. To determine the actual work on drafting some of the workers who are 704 men instead of 938, saving 2,360 gp season available, multiply the PM for erecting the castle. Monstrous incursions per week over two full years, for a total climate type and ground cover to generate may force the PCs to hunt down the savings of 245,440 gold pieces off the a Work Time Modifier (WTM) for the creatures troubling their workers. castle’s final cost! construction site. Eric’s castle, described Corruption and treachery also can slow In a role-playing setting, a group of PCs above, has a WTM of 1.875. Divide 52 by things down. also can save money by assisting in the the WTM to determine how many weeks While all of these things may sound like construction. The characters need not be an are available for work in a given year. In a tremendous pain in the neck, a actual part of the workforce, but are instead the case of Eric’s castle, the result is 27 resourceful DM can make the process of devoting their time to making sure that weeks per year. building a castle a series of exciting supplies arrive as scheduled, monsters don’t If the result is more than 52, then the adventures that can sustain a campaign trouble the workers, and so on. Each PC can work just goes that much faster—you’ve for quite some time. Most PCs have spent replace a number of workers equal to his found an ideal place to build a castle. years hunting down monsters or level, and spell-casting PCs replace an extra Since Eric skimped on his workforce, his participating in intrigues at the request of man per spell level that they can cast in a castle’s basic building time was two years, others—now they get a chance to see what day. A 5th-level wizard does the work of 16 or 104 weeks. Since 27 weeks of work can it’s like to defend their own people and men, by this calculation. be done in any given year, it will take his property against such horrible threats. Magical items used in construction can character a little less than four years to build the castle.

By Jon Carter

“Crud! I though it was just really far away. . . Well, so much for that castle raid.”

42 JANUARY 1994