Seven Stepsto a

SuccessfulCastle

by L. Richard Baker III

Cartography by John Knecht

Building a castle by the numbers

Do you plan to build a castle soon?I f y o u h a v e a D & D ® g a m e

character above 8th level, you should be thinking about it. The castle is often thedrowning point of a character's career, thesign of prestige and power that marks hersuccess. Every powerful wizard has his

forlorn tower, every cleric her fortifiedtemple, and every warrior a castle to callhis own. The challenge of designing andbuilding a stronghold can add a whole newdimension to a campaign.

The castle-building system described inthe following pages lest you decide just

how to put your character�s fortress to-gether. When you finish, you�ll have abasic plan of your keep as well as an excel-lent idea of how much it costs and howlong it will take to build. Be warned: Eventhe simplest castle design can cost 50,000gold pieces! Building a castle is a seriousfinancial proposition.

The construction rules expand on thesystem found in DMGR2 The Castle Guide.Having a copy of that book would be veryhelpful. Also, I�ll show you how to puttogether five different castle designs, andgive you a good start towards customizingyour own designs from these basic tem-plates. This system also includes severalnew castle modules that allow you to buildsmaller and simpler keeps, as well as adddefensive features such as weapons em-placements and strengthened walls.

One more note before we get started:These castles are based on historical forti-fications found in medieval Europe, butseveral fantastic variations have beenincluded to reflect common stereotypesfound in fantasy literature and role-playing games. Ahistorical options areclearly marked so that the DM can crossthem out if he does not wish to allow themin castles built in his campaign.

Design guidelinesThis section summarizes the design rules

from DMGR2 The Castle Guide. In addi-tion, several new castle modules (pieces,or �building blocks� of a castle) are intro-duced in Table I: The Expanded CastleModules table. The table lists four charac-teristics for each module: Tech, Time,Gold, and Dimensions. The various entrieson the table are explained below.

Tech describes the technological levelrequired to build a castle module of thattype. Societies with crude stone-workingcapabilities will be very limited in whatthey can construct. Tech levels are ratedfrom 1 to 8:

l-Early wooden construction2-Advanced wooden construction3-Early stone construction4-Advanced stone construction5-Early gatekeeps and hoardings6-Advanced gatekeeps and machicola-

tions7-Grand gatekeeps8-Full concentric castles

Time and gold requirements list howmany man-days and how much money ittakes to build one unit of the listed castlemodule. A typical castle will have severaltowers and hundreds of wall modules, soremember to multiply the listed figures bythe number of modules used.

Dimensions describe the feature�s sizeand any notes about its composition.

ModulesDoors, windows, or arrow slits can be

installed wherever the designer wants, buta good rule of thumb is that no more thanone opening of any kind can pierce a 10�stretch of wall or building. Stairs are as-sumed to be included in any multi-storybuilding.

All towers are two storeys, (30� tall andhave a ground floor, an upper floor, and aroof. If desired, a one-level cellar equal tothe half of the internal measurements ofthe structure can be added for free. Forexample, a stone tower with a 30� X 30�interior measurement can include a

15� X 15� cellar. These chambers makegood storerooms or latrines.

Stone walls are assumed to be capped bya parapet. This is an open-air, crenallatedbattlement with an outer wall 2� thick,broken by merlons. This means that astone wall is solid on the ground level, butpart of the castle floorplan on its top.

Stacking modulesMany castles are more than one unit

high. For example, a stone curtain wallmodule is 15� tall, but a curtain wall 30� oreven 45� tall can be raised. Towers can bedoubled in height by building one on topof the other. Barbicans, gatekeeps, towers,and walls can be stacked.

When walls are stacked, they requireadditional bracing. For each 50� length ofwall, an additional wall module must bebought for each level to be stacked above it.A 30�-high wall requires one additionalmodule per 50� length of wall, a 45� wallrequires three additional modules, and a 60�wall would require six additional units.

A tower may support a second towermodule of lesser size on top of it with noadditional bracing, so a large round towercan support a medium stone tower. If thetower is anchored to a stone wall, it cansupport a second tower module of equalsize. Towers cannot be stacked more thanfour modules high.

Barbicans and gatekeeps can be stackedby simply stacking tower modules on topof the towers that are included in thestructure. A large barbican features twomedium round towers, so two small roundtowers can be stacked on it.

34 JANUARY 1994

DefinitionsBarbican: A barbican consists of two

round towers with a building linking themtogether above an open archway or pas-sage. They are often used as outworks orto guard gates. The small barbican consistsof two small towers 20� apart, the mediumbarbican consists of two medium towers20� apart, and the large barbican consistsof two medium towers 40� apart. Thebarbican is two storeys tall, and its towersmay include cellars or be stacked as de-scribed in the Construction guidelinesbelow. All barbicans include a gate of theappropriate size and a portcullis at noextra charge.

Bastion: The bastion is a strong point ina stone wall designed to support a heavywar engine. It is basically a short, solidtower. Bastions are 30� across and may beround, square, angular, or even D-shaped.A bastion module stands 15� tall, but theymay be stacked to bring them level withthe surrounding wall. The bastion�s priceincludes hoardings or machicolations tomatch the surrounding walls, but does notinclude the siege engine it is designed tocarry.

Bridge/Causeway, stone: This is a stoneor earthen roadway that is used as a roadup steep hillsides, over lakes or wetlands,or even over dry ditches. A causewaymodule is assumed to be 10� long, 10�wide, and 10� above the surroundingterrain. Causeways can be stacked tocreate higher roadways, but cannot bebuilt more than 40� tall without magicalassistance.

A bridge can span an unsupported gapwhose width is equal to its height, so a 40�causeway could span a 40� wide crevassewith one arch. (This is a gross over-simplification of medieval engineering, butit works for game purposes.) A causewayhas to be built from the lakebed or river-bed up, so to create a causeway whoseroad surface is 10� above a 20� deep lakewould require three causeway units to bestacked.

Like a stone wall, one extra causewaymodule must be allocated per 50� sectionfor each level the causeway must carryabove it. A 20� tall causeway requires oneadditional module per 50� section, a 30�causeway requires three additional mod-ules, and a 40� causeway requires sixadditional causeway modules.

If the causeway will not leave dryground (e.g., a road up a hillside or acrossa dry ditch), the embankment can beconstructed from earth and reinforcedwith timber and stone. The cost and timerequirements are reduced to 25% of theirlisted value if this is done. An earthencauseway can be stacked two units high.

Bridge/Causeway, wooden: The sameconsiderations for a stone bridge apply,but a wooden bridge can be stacked tobridge a gap of 60�. If the builder wishesto pay an extra 50% in cost and time re-quirements, the wooden bridge can berigged with a quick collapse framework

Ditch: Each ditch module is 10� long, 10�wide, and 5� deep. It is possible to builddeeper or wider ditches by doubling orquadrupling the number of modules usedfor a 10� length of trench.

Gate: Gates can be built into palisades,wooden or stone walls, and wooden orstone buildings. They are assumed to be apart of gatehouses, barbicans, and gate-keeps. Light gates are made of 6�-thickwood, bound with iron, and protected bya sturdy bar. Medium gates are made from9�-thick wood sheathed in bronze, iron, orsteel and protected by several barringdevices. Heavy gates are made of 2�-thickbronze or iron plate riveted to an ironframe, with locks and heavy bars.

A gate module is 10� wide and 10� tall.More impressive portals can be created bydoubling or tripling the number of mod-ules used. All gates come with a free port-cullis if the builder wishes to have

Small towers cannot be buttressed.Other towers cannot have more than fourbuttresses.

The buttress is a supporting structurethat is built into a tower to strengthen it.Buttresses may be round or square, andare usually found on the corners of squaretowers or evenly spaced around roundtowers. Buttresses can be stacked up toone unit higher than their host tower; ifthe buttress rises above the tower roof, itis often called a turret. Buttresses can beleft unstacked or partially stacked, run-ning only part of the way up the side of atower.

Building, wooden: Wooden buildings areassumed to have walls averaging 3� to 6�thick, and may be designed with anyshape or interior partitioning the builderdesires as long as the square footage re-mains the same. Great buildings and grandbuildings have the same dimensions astheir stone counterparts.

Buttress/Turret: The buttress is a towerwith a 10� interior dimension (10� diameterfor round buttresses, or 10� × 10� forsquare buttresses) and walls equal inthickness to its host tower. It creates alittle extra room inside the tower, and alsoprojects far enough from the tower�s sideto allow fire from the buttresses to affectenemies standing near the base of the hosttower.

Building, stone: Stone buildings areassumed to have exterior walls averaging2� thick and whatever interior partitionstheir builders see fit. Small, medium andlarge buildings stand 15� tall with onelevel; the greater stone building stands 30�tall with two internal levels, and the grandstone building stands 45� tall with threeinternal levels. The building dimensionsare not required to be identical to thoselisted-the building can have any shapeconceivable, so long as the square footagestays the same.

For an extra 25% in cost and buildingtime, the roof of a stone building can befinished with standard battlements.

for easy destruction.

The lesser gatekeep consists of two smallround towers set 20� apart, with a linkingstructure like a barbican. It is set 20� outfrom the castle�s walls, with 15�-high stonewalls connecting the towers to the walls tocreate an enclosed killing ground beforethe castle�s gates.

The greater gatekeep is built aroundfour medium round towers. The forwardpair of towers is 20� apart and 20� in frontof the castle walls, and is connected by alinking structure. The rear pair of towersis built into the castle walls. Stone walls15� high join the outer and inner pair oftowers.

The grand gatekeep uses large roundtowers in place of the medium towers.The outer towers are spaced 40� apart,and are 39� in front of the inner pair oftowers.

Gatekeep: Gatekeeps are sophisticateddefenses that enclose the castle entrancewithin a courtyard of walls and towers.The attacker must pass within the gate-keep to get near the fortress�s main gates.Gatekeeps can be assumed to containmedium gates and portcullises, if desired.The tower portions of the gatekeep can bestacked or built with cellars.

Gatehouse: The gatehouse is a strongbuilding that protects a set of gates. His-torically, gatehouses were used to guard acastle�s gates before barbicans and gate-keeps became popular. They tend to beweaker than a full gatekeep, but are alsosignificantly cheaper.

All gatehouses consist of two towerswith a narrow passage between them. Astructure links the two halves of the gate-house at their upper levels. Gatehousesare built as part of the wall defenses anddo not project outward as do gatekeeps.

Gatehouses are assumed to come withtwo of these features: drawbridge, port-cullis, or medium gate. Their towers mayinclude cellars, as with other towers.

The small gatehouse consists of twosquare towers with 5�-thick walls, measur-ing 20� × 20� on the interior. The two tow-ers are spaced 10� apart. The mediumgatehouse consists of two small squaretowers set 20� apart. Lastly, the greatgatehouse consists of two medium squaretowers set 30� apart. The medium andgreat gatehouse towers can be stacked, ifthe builder wishes to do so.

one in stalled.

Moat/Channel: Moats are nothing morethan ditches that are finished so that theywill contain water permanently. A channelis a waterway built to connect the moatwith the body of water that will be used tofill it.

Motte: A motte is an artificial moundthat provides a castle with the advantageof height. One unit of motte raises a 10�square section of earth 5� in height. Mottesmust be at least twice as wide and long asthey are tall.

Motte modules also can be used to createartificial islands. The lakebed or riverbedcannot be more than 20� deep. Artificial

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islands double building times and costs ofthe motte.

Palisade: A palisade is a wall of woodenposts about six inches thick. It is oftenused on the defending side of a ditch. Eachpalisade module is 10� long and 5� tall.Palisade modules can be stacked up to 20�in height, but if the builder wants histroops to have a catwalk to fight from, awooden wall module will have to bebought for each stacked palisade module.

Reinforcement: It is possible to buildtowers and other buildings extra-strong bythickening the bases and the foundationsto resist the effects of sapping or bom-bardment. Reinforcing a structure adds50% to the building time and cost, butadds 25% to the building�s strength.

Walls cannot be reinforced, but they canbe built thicker than 10� by building wallmodules side-by-side. Each extra thicknessof stone wall adds 50% to its strength.

Tower, round: Towers are used tostrengthen walls and provide the de-fenders of the wall with extra cover andbetter fields of fire. They also can be usedas free-standing defenses. Towers may bestacked as described under the Construc-tion guidelines below, and may includecellars at the builder�s option.

Small round towers have an interiordiameter of 30�, with 10�-thick walls. Medi-um towers have an interior diameter of

Square towers can be stacked or builtwith cellars as described in the Construc-tion guidelines below. Small square towersare 30� × 30� on the interior, with 10�-thickwalls. Medium towers are 40� × 40� square,and large towers 60� × 60� square.

Tunnel: Each tunnel module represents a10� × 10� × 10� volume worth of under-ground chambers. Tunnel modules can bebought to create dungeons, escape tun-nels, or even as approaches to the castle.

Wall, stone: A stone walls module is 10�long, 10� thick, and 15� tall. Walls can bestacked as described under the Construc-tion guidelines section. The stone wall isassumed to include a walkway on its uppersurface, with crenellated battlements.

Hoardings are wooden structures builtat the top of a wall to allow defenders tostand over the wall�s base and rain downmissiles and other substances directly on

Tower, square: Square towers are builtfor the same reasons as round towers, butare less desirable because they cost moreand are not as resistant to sapping orbombardment. However, people learnedhow to build square towers before theywere able to build round towers, so thedesigner may be forced to use squaretowers.

diameter of 60�. Round towers provide lessspace than square towers, but are strong-er and use less stone.

angled skirt of stone at the base of thewall that reinforces the wall against at-tacks by sappers or bores. A wall builtwith a glacis includes hoardings, if de-sired. Machicolations are very similar tohoardings, but are made out of stone. Amachicolated wall includes a glacis, ifdesired.

A wall can be built to include a posterngate, which is a small doorway throughwhich defenders can sally to launch raidsand counterattacks against their enemies.Add the postern cost to the wall�s normalcost.

Wall, wooden: A section of wooden wallis 10� long, 15� high, and 3� thick. It can bestacked using the same rules for stackingstone walls. Wooden walls also can beused as flooring; each unit of woodenflooring covers 150� square feet.

Construction guidelinesThis castle-design process includes seven

basic steps, from choosing the site to actu-ally beginning construction. In regularplay, a character would be expected to goto extensive trouble to secure permissionto put up a castle, find a suitable wilder-ness to tame, and convince the locals toaid him�but we�ll skip over that materialhere. We�re only interested in showing youhow to design and build your castle.

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.2. Choose a style of castle.3. Determine approaches.4. Customize design.5. Finish design and add details.6. Calculate cost and construction time

of castle.7. Build it!

By following these steps, you will be ableto take your castle from untamed wilder-ness to the drawing board to a polisheddesign just waiting for the first stone to belaid. Before you get started, you probablywill want to have a pencil, a calculator,some graph paper, and some scrap paperhandy.

Select a siteBefore you begin to lay out your castle,

you should decide where you�re going toput it. We will assume that your charac-ters have already won themselves a pieceof land and are pretty sure that they wantto construct a stronghold there. Take note,Dungeon Masters: This is a big assump-tion, and you should seriously considerorchestrating several important adven-tures around the acquisition of a title andland to build on.

The site you select should enjoy somestrategic relevance. If there is somethingof vital importance in your domain, suchas a city, deep-water harbor, or naturalresource, you probably will want to locateyour fortress nearby to watch over thatasset. The castle is useless if invaderschoose to bypass it to go after somethingof greater value.

You should refer to the article by Thom-as Reid, �The Evolution of a Castle,� in thismagazine concerning castle locations anddevelopment before you actually selectyour construction site.

Once you have found a site you want tobuild on, you need to determine how easyor difficult it will be to build a castle there.This is reflected by the Production Modi-fier, or PM for short. The site�s terrain;geography, and climate all contribute tothe Production Modifier and have a signifi-cant effect on the castle�s cost and time ofconstruction.

During this step, you will figure outyour site�s PM. If you come up with anastronomical modifier, you may want toconsider selecting another site and tryingagain.

To determine the site�s PM, refer to TableII: Production Modifiers table. A castle�scost will be influenced by the climate,geography, and ground cover of the build-ing site. Another important considerationis the location and quality of resourcesthat will be used in the castle�s construc-tion. Lastly, the workforce, society type,skill, and morale also will be included.

Make a note of the figures listed in TableII in each of the appropriate categories foryour castle�s building site. Multiply all thedifferent factors together to determine theProduction Modifier for a castle built on

that site.Do this calculation as many times as you

want to determine the best location. How-ever, the DM is within her rights to chargea 100 gp survey fee for each site you �sur-vey� (perform the calculation for). Afterall, someone has to go out and examineeach site!

Each of these factors is discussed indetail in DMGR2 The Castle Guide. Table IIsimply repeats the PM associated witheach one. If there is any debate over whatkind of climate, resources, or workforceprevails at any given site, the DM gets thefinal word.

Choose a styleNow that you have an idea of where this

castle will be built, you should select abasic castle style. Most castles will fall intoone of five different categories. These are:the tower; the motte-and-bailey; thecurtain-wall defense; the enclosed keep;and the concentric castle.

The towerThe cheapest castle to build is one with

only one piece. A simple stone tower canresist small-scale attacks and provide asafe home for a party of adventurers. Thetower provides no defense for any out-buildings or surrounding land, cannothouse a large garrison, and has limitedstores. On the other hand, it�s cheap com-pared with the other designs.

Inside the tower, it was customary todesign the entrance hall as a last-ditchdefensive position. The room would haveonly one exit, and sometimes was builtwith arrow slits or murder holes facinginto it so that the defenders could attackinvaders who made it past the front door.These features are optional.Take a look at Diagram #l, the Tower

Plan. Naturally, this is a very simple layout.Simply pick the place where you want tobuild the tower, and place it there. Sincethis is the entire castle, we�ll assume youwant to build a large square tower, with amedium square tower stacked above it, fora total of four interior levels plus a cellarand the roof.

The tower�s roof is assumed to open andbattlemented. Each of the first two floorsis 60� × 60� on the interior, and the 10�stone walls make the castle 80� × 80� at itsbase on the ground. The upper two floorsare 40� square. A 30� × 60� cellar is includ-ed in the price of the large tower.

Some easy options to add to this designin the next step include: surrounding itwith a palisade or ditch; adding turrets orbuttresses; changing the tower fromsquare to round; or building in a draw-bridge to help protect the entrance.

Tower components: large square tower,medium square tower.

Cost: 25,800 gp.Time required to build: 1,950 man-days.

The motte-and-baileyThis design uses a stone tower or a shell

keep as its donjon, or strongpoint, andsurrounds the tower with a sturdy pali-sade. An adjacent area known as the bai-ley was enclosed in a second stockade. Thebailey was often a small village, with sta-bles, barracks, armories, smiths, andcraftsmen. Usually, the gate to the castleled into the bailey, and a second gate ledinto the donjon or centerpoint. The donjonwas usually raised on an artificial hillknown as a motte.

This design is stronger than a simpletower and provides for a larger garrison.It provides good protection for the sur-rounding lands, since the bailey can housea number of people in time of war. Itsdownfall lies in the fact that its defensesdo not support one another.

Refer to the Motte-and-Bailey Plan dia-gram. Our design uses a stone tower asthe donjon, but many historical designssubstituted a shell keep for a stone tower.The shell keep consisted of a curtain wallthat boxed in several stone buildings. Thecenter of this arrangement was an opencourtyard. To build a shell keep, you buyas much curtain wall as you need for theexterior keep dimensions, and then buystone buildings to fill the inside. Don�tforget a gate!

Our motte-and-bailey design raises thecentral tower on a motte 30� high, whilesurrounding the entire castle with a ditchand palisade. The central donjon is exactlythe same as the tower described in theTower Plan above-a medium squaretower stacked on a large square tower. Asin the previous example, the builder gets afree cellar 30� by 60� in size.

In the bailey, we will assume that thedesigner needs to build two stone build-ings (an armory and a barracks) and threewooden buildings (stables, a mess hall, anda storage building.) The entrance to thebailey is guarded by a small gatehouse anda drawbridge to span the surroundingditch. The gates between the bailey andthe keep are not protected by a gatehouse,and are considered light gates.

The ditch itself is 40� wide and 20� deep.Wooden bridges have been added to spanthe ditch between the motte and the bai-ley, and from the gatehouse to the castleapproach.

Variations on this design may include:adding a gatehouse between the keep andthe bailey; increasing the size of either thekeep compound or the bailey; addingbuildings to the bailey; replacing the towerkeep with a shell keep; adding a draw-bridge between the bailey and the keep.You can save a lot of time and money byfinding a natural hill to build on, instead ofcreating your own motte.

Motte-and-Bailey components: largesquare tower, medium square tower, smallgatehouse, light gate, small stone building,large stone building, three medium wood-en buildings, 1,884 motte modules (200�diameter motte, raised 30�, 2,321 ditchmodules (40� wide and 20� deep), 18 wood-en bridge modules (two bridges 10� wide,

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20’ tall, and 40’ long), 145 palisade mod-ules (1450’ long palisade, 5’ tall).

cost: 108,490 gp.Time required: 12,422 man-days.

The curtain-wall castle descended frommotte-and-bailey designs, shifting thedefensive emphasis to the outer walls. Likethe motte and bailey, the castle is dividedinto two parts: a bailey and a keep. Thetwo parts of the castle do not support eachother. Despite this flaw, the walls them-selves are quite strong and are often pro-tected by flanking towers.

Replacing a wooden palisade with athick stone wall and adding towers asreinforcement vastly improves the castle’sstrength, but also makes the curtain-walldefense quite costly.

The keep is still the center of the castle,and may rest on a tall motte or naturalhill. A stone wall surrounds the keep, andtowers protect the wall. One gate leadsfrom the keep’s compound to the bailey,which is also protected by a stone wall andsmall towers. The keep and the baileyshare a common outer wall, but an attack-er who captured the bailey would stillhave to fight his way through the parti-tioning wall to take the inner compound.

Refer to the Curtain-Wall Castle Plandiagram. In case you’re curious, the design

The curtain-wall defense

is loosely based on the castle at Arques,France. Our plan takes some liberties withthe proportions and the locations of thetowers and buildings.

The curtain-wall plan pinches penniesby making the donjon itself double as oneof the towers defending the outer wall.This works especially well if the castlebuilder can position the donjon so that itcommands difficult terrain. The donjonconsists of the same keep we’ve used inthe previous two designs, but we’ve addedtwo turrets to anchor the outside cornersof the keep and included an escape tunnel,Two stone buildings have been built adja-cent to the keep to add to the lords livingspace.

The keep’s compound, or upper bailey,includes three small round towers toprovide flanking fire along the walls. Amedium gate guards the entrance fromthe lower bailey. In the lower bailey, fivemore small round towers and a mediumbarbican (acting as a gatehouse) completethe castle’s defenses. A bastion (actuallytwo bastions built back-to-back) helpsguard the gate with two drawbridges.Several extra stone and wooden buildingsare thrown in to provide more living andstorage space.

The outer walls of the castle are stackedtwo modules high, and are 30’ tall. Theyare defended by a glacis, or stone facing

along their outer bases, and hoardings—wooden fighting platforms along theirbattlements. The small round towers are30’ tall as well, with two interior levelsand a 15’ × 30’ cellar in each.

The entire castle is surrounded by aditch, crossed by only one set of draw-bridges. This is a fairly sophisticated castlewhen all is said and done, and you’ll paydearly for this fortress.

Variations on this design would includeexpanding the lower bailey to enclose alarger area, adding a barbican or outworkto help guard the approaches to the gate-house, stacking the towers, replacing thewooden hoardings with stone machicola-tions, or replacing the barbican with agatekeep.

Curtain-Wall Defense components: largesquare tower, medium square tower, sixbuttresses (stacked in two turrets), eightsmall round towers, medium barbican,two bastions, medium gate, medium stonebuilding, four large stone buildings, onegrand stone building, three medium wood-en buildings, one large wooden building,two drawbridges, 119 stone wall withglacis (hoardings included), 148 stone wallmodules, three postern gates, 3,264 ditchmodules (40’ wide, 20’ deep), 50 tunnelmodules.

Cost: 462,220 gp.Time required: 32,100 man-days.

38 JANUARY 1994

The enclosed keepThe enclosed keep is a design that saw

very little historical use. However, it isoften found in fantasy literature and role-playing games. While real-life castles usu-ally included open courtyards (or baileys)between the outer walls and the innerdefenses or donjon, the enclosed keepactually roofs over this space. The castlebecomes one huge building�even thoughit may still include towers, gatehouses, andother structures.

The enclosed keep lacks the open spacesof the bailey and can house only a limitednumber of people before it becomescrowded. It is not good for area defense.However, it can be held with a minimalgarrison and is perfect for an adventuringparty�s stronghold or a wealthy retreat.�The Castle on the Moors� from DMGR2 isof this design.

The enclosed keep has to be fairly small.If the outer walls are built to include toolarge an area, the cost of roofing the spacebetween becomes astronomical. Anotherdisadvantage lies in the lack of a secondline of defense; once invaders are past thewalls, they are in the castle. Even a motte-and-bailey design forces invaders to passthrough the bailey before they can assaultthe keep itself.

On the other hand, there are advantagesto this kind of design, especially in a fanta-sy setting. Its roof makes airborne attacksdifficult. Since it is small and concen-trated, it is cheaper than a curtain wall orconcentric castle, while it is stronger thana simple stone tower. Its small ground areaalso means that it can be built in placeswhere larger designs aren�t feasible, suchas small islands or steep hilltops.

Refer to the Enclosed Keep Plan dia-gram. Our design features three smallround towers and one large round toweras the corners of the castle. An additionalmedium round tower is stacked on top ofthe large tower, and will rise two levelshigher than the rest of the keep. Thecurtain wall linking the towers is cappedby machicolations and is doubled in heightto match the towers themselves.

A medium gatehouse controls access tothe keep through a drawbridge and aportcullis. A postern gate at the keep�srear leads to a second drawbridge, guard-ed by baffled walls. Inside the main gate,the castle is partitioned into three areas byinternal walls. Part of the castle consists ofcourtyards open to the sky, but most ofthe keep is roofed over with wooden wallmodules.

Each of the medium towers has a cellar20� in diameter, while the large tower hasa cellar 30� in diameter. We also will in-clude an additional dungeon area 100�square beneath the keep itself.

Since the castle is two levels high, wewill need to buy wooden walls for twolevels of flooring, plus a third section as aroof, for the space enclosed by the curtainwalls. We will surround this keep with a

We�ll begin our design at the center andwork outward. Although the concentricdefenses have rendered the central donjonsomewhat obsolete, we�ll still build animpressive central tower as a seat of gov-ernment. Two large round towers are builtside by side and buttressed; because theysupport each other, they can both bestacked three units high for a six-leveltower standing 90� tall. We also will placeseveral stone buildings and a woodenbuilding in the inner courtyard,

The central courtyard is surrounded by ahigh curtain wall anchored by four double-stacked medium round towers 60� inheight. The towers are joined by a stonewall with machicolations, stacked twomodules high for a 30� curtain wall. Thiswall is pierced by two heavy gates, which

Representing the ultimate in castle de-sign, the concentric castle uses two ormore curtain walls to create a layereddefense. The outer wall and its towers aresupported by an inner wall of greaterheight, also reinforced by towers. Thedonjon becomes obsolete in this design,but may still be used as a central citadel. Awell-designed concentric castle built ongood terrain can be impregnable.

The size of the concentric castle allows itto support a considerable army and housea great number of people. Frequently, thecisterns and storehouses of the concentriccastle are the deciding factors in itsstrength. If it can withstand a long siege, itmay not be worth attacking.

Refer to the Concentric Castle Plandiagram. This design is loosely based onthe castle at Beaumaris, Anglesey, Wales.The entire castle is built on an artificialisland in the middle of a lake, so the firstorder of business is to buy a giganticmotte with the artificial-island option. Wewill assume that the lake is 20� deep andthat we want the island to stand 10� abovewater level.

The concentric castle

Time required: 24,622 man-days.cost: 303,011 gp.

Options for customizing this designmight include: enlarging the keep by usingmedium or large round towers instead ofsmall towers; providing a barbican toguard the gatehouse; adding turrets to thecorner towers; stacking the entire castleanother two levels high; or saving timeand money by not building the moat.

Enclosed keep components: four medi-um round towers, one large round tower,medium gatehouse (drawbridge included),two large wooden buildings, two mediumstone buildings, one small stone building,one drawbridge, four wooden bridgemodules, five stone bridge modules, threelight gates, 54 stone wall with machicola-tions modules (glacis included), 191 stonewall modules, one postern, 1008 moatmodules (40� wide, 10� deep), 100 tunnelmodules (100� × 100� dungeon), 506 wood-en wall modules.

moat 40� wide and 10� deep. are protected by two lesser gatekeeps.Beyond the inner wall lies the outer

bailey. The bailey is surrounded by a ma-chicolated wall 15� high, with four smallround towers to protect and support it.Ten bastions are added to strengthen thewall even more. The outer wall is piercedby two gates, protected by medium gate-houses with drawbridges. Note that twobastions are built jutting out on piers toprovide extra covering fire for the ap-proaches to the gatehouses. The baileyitself is partitioned by battlemented wallsthat ensure that an attacker who breachesthe outer wall will be contained in onesmall area of the castle.

Two stone causeways span the lake thatsurrounds the castle.

This design is extremely expensive, butwould stand against a ground-based orwaterborne assault for months with asmall garrison. If it has a weakness, it liesin the castle�s vulnerability to magical ormonstrous attack�but none of the otherdesigns can accommodate those consider-ations, either.

Variations on this design would includechanging its size by making the towerslarger or smaller or joining the defenses toa small town and surrounding the townwith a curtain wall to protect it. It is possi-ble to save an enormous amount of labor(about half of the time requirement) bybuilding this castle on dry land or on anatural island, instead of building an is-land from scratch.

Concentric castle components: six largeround towers, 12 buttress modules, 12medium round towers, two small gate-keeps, four small round towers, two medi-um gatehouses, 10 bastions, six mediumgates, four heavy gates, three mediumwooden buildings, two large stone build-ings, four medium stone buildings, 200stone wall with machicolations modules(glacis included), 122 stone wall modules,two posterns, 72 stone causeway modules,14,496 Motte modules (artificial island).

Cost: 1,241,670 gp.Time required: 113,726 man-days.

When you finish with this step, youshould have a castle plan of the appropri-ate style. You can copy the plan to a pieceof graph paper in order to customize it inlater steps, or you can leave the plans asthey appear here.

If you wish to generate detailed floorplans from these overviews, feel free toimprovise. You can place doors, stairwells,windows, or arrow embrasures whereveryou wish, but you should remember twothings: first, a section of wall or buildingshould not have more than one opening(door, arrow slit, etc.) per 10 feet; andsecondly, it�s a bad idea to put windows orexterior doors on the ground floor, sincethey can be stormed during an enemyattack.

Determine approachesYou now should take a look at the build-

DRAGON 39

Customize the planIn this step, you can alter your design to

fit the exact terrain and considerations forthe castle you are building. You may want

If desired, the castle�s approaches can bealtered by purchasing enough ditch, cause-way, or motte modules. Excavating is easy,but the DM will have to judge any effortsto create ramps and roadways by movingearth around. Mark these improvementson a copy of your terrain diagram, anddon�t forget to include this in the castle�soverall price.

ing site and try to imagine just how yourcastle will be situated on this terrain. Ifyou are building a castle on a plain whereit can be attacked from any direction, youshouldn�t worry about this step�you willhave to make certain that the castle candefend itself equally well on all sides.Otherwise, determine the avenues ofapproach that enemies are likely to take ifyour castle is assaulted.

Again, you may want to refer to ThomasReid�s article in this issue about castleevolution and placement. In addition tosuggesting a plan for your fortress, adiagram of the surrounding area also canbe useful for determining siege lines andartillery positions should your castle evercome under attack.

to substitute pieces to make your castlestronger (and more expensive), or try toeconomize by settling for smaller andcheaper components. Stone and woodenbuildings can be added to the courtyardsand baileys to provide for additional bar-racks, storerooms, and work areas. Newoutworks can be used to guard the ap-proaches to the castle.

The most important consideration in thisstep is the castle�s topography and how totake advantage of it. Does the castle sit ona natural hilltop? If it does, you probablydon�t need to buy a motte, but you mayneed to build a causeway to the castle�sgates. Does one wall of the castle overlookimpassable terrain, such as a gorge or abody of water? You may be able to savemoney by skimping on the defenses there,since it is unlikely an attacker will be ableto assault the wall in question.

Very few castles sit on a flat plain that isequally vulnerable in all directions�lookfor ways to channel attackers toward yourcastle�s strong points. For example, bylocating your castle on an artificial islandin the middle of a lake, you can guaranteethat the attackers will be forced to concen-trate their assault on the causeway thatbridges the lake.

You can use the generic castle designshere as a guide in customizing your own

ing to the eye. Spartan castles save thebuilder 25% of the normal time and gold

One special note on finishing the design:The times and costs for castle componentsthat appear in this article assume that thedesigner is creating a typical castle thatwill be used as both a fortress and a livingplace. The builder may skimp on all un-necessary luxuries and build a spartankeep that is suitable for use only as amilitary base, or he may decide that hiscastle should be a work of art that is pleas-

In this step, you should add any finaldetails to the design that you wish to in-clude. Are there any magical or unusualfeatures that aren�t covered otherwise,such as crocodiles in the moat or a stonegolem gatekeeper? Are there any spellsthat will be used to add to the castle�sdefenses, such as a permanent wall of fog,wall of ice, wall of fire, or distance distor-tion? How about a landing platform forhippogriff cavalry? In most cases, the DMwill have to decide what a special featurewill cost and how it must be constructed.

Finish and add details

design, but don�t be constrained by them.You may be able to alter the designs pro-vided and re-calculate only the portionsyou changed, but don�t be afraid to throwthem out and start from scratch.

40 JANUARY 1994

costs, while extravagant castles cost 50%more than normal and require 50% addi-tional construction time.

CalculationsNow, add up the costs and time require-

ments of all the components of your cas-tle. This represents the fortress�s basiccost. Don�t forget to increase or decreasethis figure if you are making your castle aspartan keep or an extravagant work ofart. Once you have totalled the castle�sbasic cost and time of building, you willneed to add 10% to both figures to reflectoverhead costs.

Overhead costs cover the cost of recruit-ing and training laborers, housing andfeeding them while they�re on the job,putting furniture in the castle when it�sfinished, and paying any architect�s fees orother special charges. Overhead does not

cover the costs of hiring and equipping agarrison, paying for any unusual hirelingsor services such as spell-casters, or thecosts of any sabotage or disasters, al-though routine mishaps are considered tobe part of the building process.

Take the new costs and times with over-head included and multiply these by theProduction Modifier mentioned above.This will give you the castle�s actual costand time of building.

Example: Eric is building an enclosedkeep and decided that the basic plan wasgood enough for him. The enclosed keephas a base time requirement of 18,932man-days and a base cost of 254,712 gp.The overhead increases these figures to20,825 and 280,183 respectively. Ericalready calculated his Production Modifierto be 2.34, so his final building time is48,730 and the final cost is 655,628 gp.

Table I: Expanded Castle Modules tableName Tech Time Cost DimensionsBarbican, small 4 1,665 28,600 50�×120�Barbican, medium 5 2,050 35,200 60�×140�Barbican, large 6 2,880 49,500 60�×160�*Bastion 4 450 6,700 30�×30�*Bridge/Causeway, stone 4 32 370 10� × 10� × 10�*Bridge/Causeway, wooden 3 6 20 10� × 10� × 10�Building, small stone 3 64 2,000 20�×20�Building, medium stone 3 96 3,000 20�×40�Building, large stone 3 144 4,500 30�× 60�Building, great stone 4 300 10,000 30�×60�Building, grand stone 4 600 19,000 40'×80'Building, small wooden 1 8 40 20�×20�Building, medium wooden 1 12 60 20�×40�Building, large wooden 1 18 90 30�×60�Building, great wooden 2 40 200 30�×60�Building, grand wooden 2 75 375 40�×80�*Buttress/Turret 5 360 6,000 30�×30�Ditch 1 2 10 10�×10� 5� ×Drawbridge 2 40 550 20' long*Gate, light 1 15 175*Gate, medium

10� × 10� high2 85 630

*Gate, heavy10� × 10� high

3 225 13,800*Gatehouse, small

10� × 10� high3 980 16,500 70�×30�

*Gatehouse, medium 4 1,550 25,800 120�×50�*Gatehouse, great 5 2,040 34,800 150�×80�Gatekeep, lesser 5 1,950 33,275 70�×120�Gatekeep, greater 6 4,625 40,620 140�×140�Gatekeep, grand 7 6,410 110,800 200�× 190�Moat/Channel 3 6 30 10� 10� 5�× ×Motte 1 2 10 10�×10�×5�Palisade 1 5*Reinforcement (×1.5) (×1.5)

10� long, 5� high

Tower, small round 4 720 12,000 50� exteriorTower, medium round 5 900 15,000 60� exteriorTower, large round 6 1,260 21,000 80� exteriorTower, small square 3 840 14,000 50�×50�Tower, medium square 4 1,080 18,000 60�×60�Tower, large square 5 1,440 24,000 80�× 80�Tunnel 4 25 100 10� × 10� × 10�Wall, stone 3 30 500 10� × 10� × 15�Wall, stone w/hoarding 4 36 600 10� × 10� × 15�Wall, stone w/glacis 5 44 720 10� × 10� × 15�Wall, w/machicolation 6 53 864 10�×10�×15�Wall, stone and postern 4 5 100 10� × 10� × 15�Wall, wooden 1 1 5 l0�×15�×3�

*New castle modules (explained in text).

To determine the workforce required tobuild your castle, take the finalconstruction time and divide it by 52. Thiswill give you the number of workmenrequired to build your castle in one yearof continuous work. In our exampleabove, Eric finds that his character willneed to find 938 laborers to do the job.Remember, the castle and overhead costscover the worker�s wages for an averageworkforce.

You can increase the speed of constructionby hiring more workers. Each extra workercosts 520 gp per year, including food,

Table II:Production Modifiers table

ClimateArctic: 4.00Moderate: 1.00Sub-arctic: 2.50Sub-tropical: 1.25Temperate: 1.25Tropical: 1.75

GeographyHigh mountains: 4.00Foothills: 1.50Moderate mountains: 3.00Rolling hills: 1.00Low mountains: 2.00Plains: 0.75

Ground coverJungle: 3.00Grasslands: 0.75Dense forest: 2.00Barren: 1.50Light forest: 1.50Desert: 2.00Scrub: 1.00Swamp: 2.00

Resource availabilityDistant and poor: 2.00Distant and good: 1.50Near and poor: 1.25Near and good: 1.00

Local social structureNomadic: 2.50Semi-nomadic: 1.75Primitive agricultural: 1.25Agricultural: 1.00Advanced agricultural: 0.75

Workers� skillVery poor: 3.00Poor: 2.00Average: 1.00Good: 0.75Very good: 0.50

Workers� moraleVery poor: 3.00Poor: 2.00Average: 1.00High: 0.75Very high: 0.50

DRAGON 41

housing, and skilled supervisors. If theworkforce is doubled, the constructiontime is cut to 75% of normal. If theworkforce is quadrupled, the time is cut to50% of normal.

You can save money by hiring fewerlaborers, although this will slowconstruction time. Each man cut from thelabor pool saves 10 gp per week ofconstruction. If enough workers areremoved to reduce the workforce to 75%of its normal value, the construction timeis doubled. If the force is cut to 50% of itsstandard value, the construction time isquadrupled.

Example: Eric�s character is short onmoney and wants to cut the workforcedown to 75% of its normal value. He hires704 men instead of 938, saving 2,360 gpper week over two full years, for a totalsavings of 245,440 gold pieces off thecastle�s final cost!

In a role-playing setting, a group of PCsalso can save money by assisting in theconstruction. The characters need not be anactual part of the workforce, but are insteaddevoting their time to making sure thatsupplies arrive as scheduled, monsters don�ttrouble the workers, and so on. Each PC canreplace a number of workers equal to hislevel, and spell-casting PCs replace an extraman per spell level that they can cast in aday. A 5th-level wizard does the work of 16men, by this calculation.

Magical items used in construction can

Since Eric skimped on his workforce, hiscastle�s basic building time was two years,or 104 weeks. Since 27 weeks of work canbe done in any given year, it will take hischaracter a little less than four years tobuild the castle.

If the result is more than 52, then thework just goes that much faster�you�vefound an ideal place to build a castle.

Unfortunately, castles can�t be workedon all year-round in most climates. Coldweather or torrential rains will put a stopto the building process until the weatherclear again. To determine the actual workseason available, multiply the PM forclimate type and ground cover to generatea Work Time Modifier (WTM) for theconstruction site. Eric�s castle, describedabove, has a WTM of 1.875. Divide 52 bythe WTM to determine how many weeksare available for work in a given year. Inthe case of Eric�s castle, the result is 27weeks per year.

Monsters also may be used as additionalor replacement workers. If they arewell-suited to the task, each monster doesthe work of a number of men equal to 5%of its XP award. Monsters that are onlymoderately useful are only worth 1% oftheir XP award.

count for a number of men equal to 5% oftheir experience-point award if they areparticularly suited for construction, or 1%if they are useful but not especially so.The DM will have to decide whichcategory any given magical item falls into.

War may come before the PCs are readyfor it, and the attackers may make abeeline for the partially-completed castleto tear it down before it is finished. A waron the other side of the kingdom mayarise, and the lord of the land may insiston drafting some of the workers who areerecting the castle. Monstrous incursionsmay force the PCs to hunt down thecreatures troubling their workers.Corruption and treachery also can slowthings down.

While all of these things may sound likea tremendous pain in the neck, aresourceful DM can make the process ofbuilding a castle a series of excitingadventures that can sustain a campaignfor quite some time. Most PCs have spentyears hunting down monsters orparticipating in intrigues at the request ofothers�now they get a chance to see whatit�s like to defend their own people andproperty against such horrible threats.

Now you have a castle design, an idea ofhow long it will take to build it, and howmuch it will all cost. You�re ready to begin!Of course, the campaign doesn�tconveniently stop for your characterswhen they undertake a project of thisscope. All kinds of trouble can find thePCs while they�re building their fortress.

Build the castle

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

42 J A N U A R Y 1 9 9 4

By Jon Carter