AD&D - DMGR2 - Castle Guide (2e)

On our own world. the White to the vegetation that will be found ground cover with a little effort. In
Mountains in New England and in the region. Forexample. while It addition. th e fl ora and fauna of
portions of the Appalachians might be difficult to buUd a castle such region s are far less danger-
throughout the eastern United in a m ountainous region, It be- ous than those of the jungle or
States will fall Into this grouping. comes a lmost Impossible If we dense forest environments.
cover the mountains with a dense
Foothills ( 1. 5 0 ) rain forest. Many sections of North America
and Europe are covered with light
Unlike the low, rolling hills Each type of ground cover has a woods.
found In many parts of the typical PM associated with It. record this
AD&DiII game world. these regions number when you determine the Scrub ( 1.00)
are noted fo r their rough terraIn type of cover you will be building
and broken nature. They are rug- In as it will be used la ter on In the This type of vegetation grows In
ged and dangerous. often consid- construction process. areas where the sallis not very fer·
ered to be mountains by those who tile or cond itions are otherwise too
live on or among them. Jungl e ( 3.00) h a rs h for larger plants to take
hold. Scrub terrain is a fairly gen-
Areas such as Greece. Thrkey. This is the most difficult type of eral category that is meant to In-
and Italy fall into this category. ground cover to work In. The com- clude any area without large trees
bination of dense undergrowth , that is dominated by bushes.
Roiling Hills ( 1.00) towering trees. and otherwise un- sh rubs. and similar small plants.
suitable conditions m a ke jungle Dangerous animals are rare a nd
A very common type of geogra· construction very daunting. Jun · construction in such a region is
phy. roiling hills are very appeal· gles are also noted for the danger- fairly easy.
ing to most human cultu res. They ous monsters and a nima ls th at
offer the advantages of rougher dwell in them. Scrub regions are com mon
terrain without the hazards and along the seacoasts of New En-
difficulties associated with moun- Examples ofjungles on Earth in- gland and in colder climates of the
taJns and the like. clude the rain forests of South world like Canada.
America and the heart of Africa.
Much of the United States and Grasslands (0 . 7 5 )
Europe Is dominated by rolling Dense Forest (2.00)
hills. The term "grassla nds" applies
While not as difficult to clear and not on ly to wide regions of savan-
Plains (0 . 75 ) work as areas of Jungle. dense for- nah a nd veldt. but also to areas
ests are still a m ajor challenge to that have been under cultivation.
Plains are regions of long. fl at any castle construction team. As a rule. the lack of heavy vegeta-
terrain wi th out major geographi- They offer resistance In the fonn of tion and absence of dangerous ani-
cal la ndmarks. T hey have no natu- large trees, heavy undergrowth . mals makes these regions well
ral windbreaks and are often and fatrly danger ous fl ora and suited for the task of castle con-
subject to strong breezes and the fauna. struction.
like. Despite this . the plains are
ideal for many occupations if the Regions of the Earth that fal l into Much of the midwestern United
climate Is hospitable. this category Include the rain for- States fa lls into this category. as do
esls of the nort.hwestern United the farming regions of Canada and
The midwestern United States States. the Soviet Union.
and cen tral Soviet Union are fl ne
examples of this type of geogra· Light Forest ( 1.50 ) Barren ( 1.50 )

phy. Light forests a re common in Barren regions are noted for
many parts of the average AD&DiII their absolute lack of vegetation.
Ground Cover game world. They can be difficult As a rule, however. this m eans that
to work In . but most construction they are poorly suited to construc-
The third Important feature of teams are able to overcome s uch tion because of the condition of the
the con struction site Is the ground
cover. For the most part. this refers

50

soil. While such places are not as Distant and Poor (1.00) As with the previous section on
difficu lt to work in as deserts. they the cons truction site itself. all of
are ex posed to strong winds and This category is used whenever the following characteristics will
make life dlfficult for those forced the resources (stone. food. tools. generate a PM that must be reo
to live and work there. and so forth) are far from the con- corded for future reference.
struction site and of Inferior qual-
Examples of barren lands on ity. While this is the worst possible Local Sodal Structure
Earth include the prairies of the case. it is sometimes unavoidable.
United States and the steppes re- The nature of the local people
glon of the Soviet Union. Distant and Good ( 1.50) and their native culture will have a
lot of influence on the construction
Desert (2 _00) In this case, s upplies a nd re- of the castle. The reason for this Is
sources are of acceptable quality. simple enough. most of the actual
1\vo things make construction in but are very far away and must be work force will be drawn from
the desert difficu lt: the lack of wa- transported to the site. This is a these people. If they are. for exam-
ter or other supplies a nd the un- fairly common occurrence. ple. nomads with no history of
suitable nature of the soil itself. building large. static structures.
Although it is possible to build in Near and Poor (1.15) then it will be difficult to work with
the desert, It is not easy. them. While they might not di-
In this Instance. the supplies are rectly oppose construction, they
On Earth, the Sahara and Gobi close at hand. but are of poor qual- wi1l not have an understanding of
deserts fa ll into this category. Ity. While this Is not the best case the techniques to be employed or
by any means. it is the most com- the tools that they may be required
Swamp (1 .00) mon condition. As a rule. castles to work with. Careful guidance
will be built with materials from and s upervis ion of such laborers
Swamps. marshes. and similar the local area. even if they are not will be time cons uming and expen ·
wetlands are noted for their hostil· the best available. s ive.
ity to man and his projects. Dan-
gerous animals a bound . the land is Near and Good ( 1.00) Nomadic (2.50)
soft and wet. and the climate is
hostile. Few places are more By far the best of conditions. this Nomadic people travel from
daunting to workers and engineers is a rare occurrence. 1b fall into p lace to place throughout their
alike. this category. a construction site lives. They build no long term
must be near a source of high qual- structures and have no concept of
Examples of swamps on Earth ity supplies. The most com mon In- enduring projects. As s uch. they
include the Everglades in North stance of such a construction site can be difficult to train and tend to
America and portions of the Ama- might be the building of a castle to think of the work they are doing as
zon river basin. defend a large town whose main foolish and pointless. Why build
Industry is mining and stone· such an immense thing when we
Resource Availability working-obviously. not an every- will all move on in a few months?
day thing.
Another important aspect that 5eml·Nomadlc (1.15)
must be considered is that of con- The Work force
struction resources and supplies. Although these cultures have
If a castle is being built in the arc- Now that the physical nature of many ofthe same traits as nomadic
tic. then stone and food must be the area has been determined and people, they do build longer lasting
imported from far away. Read its various production modifiers structures that they may return to
through this section and deter- recorded. the design process can many times. For example. a central
mine which category best de- move on to its next phase. In this temple might be established which
scribes the conditions that a section. we will deal with the peo· several different tribes may jour-
specific castle will be built under. p ie who live in the area where the ney to for a brief period each year.
castle is going to be buUt.

51

Although working wi t h semi- of b etter qua lity. While some this group have a natural affinity
nomadic people is difficult. It is not might argue that it is ch eaper to for stone work. like the average
nearly as frustrating as working use unskil led workers w ho can be dwarf or a skilled human cons truc-
with nomadic societies. paid less. they are not taking into tion worker.
account time and m on ey los t to
Primitive Agricultural (1.25) training. mistakes. a nd lack of Good (0.75)
worker pride.
These people have begun to un- Workers in this category a re
derstand the importance of farm - As a note. the followi ng catego- nOled for their talent. productivity.
ing a nd the like. Wh il e less ries assume that work crews will and work ethics. They can be
advanced c ul tures tend to be vic- be la rge ly un skilled. b ut s uper- counted on to make few (if any )
tims of the environment. these vised by artisans a nd ind ividuals mistakes and to undertake prompt
people have begun to con front a nd with kn ow ledge a nd ex perience. If corrective action when accidents
even change the local ecology to no exper ienced professionals a re occur. An experien ced team of
su it their needs. They have fi xed available. the OM may wis h to re- dwarven s tonewrlgh ts would fall
settlements that they live In all duce the worker skill by one level. in to this category.
year round and understand the If a wealth of experts is availab le
concept of land owners hip in som e for some reason . the worker skIll Very Good (0 . 50)
basic way_ may be increased by one level.
T hose who fa ll In to this category
Agricultural ( 1_00) Very Poor (3.00) are the most highly s killed of all
cons truction teams. They make al-
The typical fe udal culture. agri- This category includ es a ll man- most no mistakes. have very few
cultura l societies have organized ner of people who have n o fam iliar- accidents, and are a ble to under-
farms, understand crop rotation ity with buUdlng large structures, take even the most daunting pro-
and similar farming techniques. like dryads. sylphs. or merfolk. In jects without fear of fa ilure. The
a nd have a solid understanding of ad d ition. it Incl udes t hose w ho dwarven artisans of lege nd fa ll into
la nd owners h ip. T h ey recognize mus t be constantly su pervised or this category. as do stone gian ts
the importance of a large fortifica- are not free-th inking. like the un- a nd similar races.
tion as a benefit to themselves and dead or characters acting under
their own society. some sort of mental domination. Worker Morale

Adnnced Agricultural (0 _75 ) Poor (2.00) Of course. no matter how good
the building s ite or how s killed the
More advanced than the typical This class of wor ker is not famil- workers. low m orale can spell di-
feuda l society. advanced agricul- iar wi th stone work or s imilar con - saster for a project. In fact. h igh ly
tural cultures a lmost demand the struction projec ts, but does not s killed workers on a project they
presence ofa castle or keep in their find the concept wh olly alien . The do not s upport can spell doom, as
region as a sign of power. prosper- typical "man-in-the- s treet" would they a re able to sabotage the pro·
ity. and a bility, They also have s kill fall into this category. In addition . ject in subtle and disastrous ways.
and knowledge in building tech - some races that are not noted for
niques far in excess of those pos- large scale construction s (like li z- Very Poor (3 .00)
sessed by lesser cultures. ard men or troglodytes) migh t fa U
into this grouping. Workers in this category can be
Worker Skill counted on to avoid work when-
Average ( 1.00) ever possible. to sabotage the pro-
The next important category Is jec t. and generally to do a very
that of worker s kill , If the castle is As a rule. nearly every construc- poor job. Construction time is
being built by people who have a tion project will be able to recruit greatly increased and costs are
natural affinity for s tone work and workers of this caliber. unless higher due to s upervisory needs
fo rtress design , like dwarves. then there are unusual circumstances and constant reworking of past er-
work will be quicker. cheaper. a nd that dictate otherwise. Persons In rors. Slaves a nd prisoners fa ll into

52

this ca tegory, as do those who have Very High (0.50) bu ilt i n temperate climat e (Pro-
no free will (skeletons, zom bies, or
persons who are under som e form T he most motivated work fo rce duction M odifier of 1.25) on a n
of men tal dom ination ). available, very high morale workers area composed p r im arily ofrolling
will put in long hours in bad cond i·
Poor (2 .00) tions with only a m inimum of grum - hi1ls (PM 1.00). The reg ion around
blingand fuss. T hey can be counted th e castle was dom inated by
Wh ile workers In t h is grou p on to take corrective action the mo- marsh es and swamp lands (PM
migh tnot gooutoftheirway to un- m ent a problem (or potential prob-
derm ine a project they will cer· lem) is spolled . Their work will be of 2.00) and the available resources
tai nly not go ou t of their way to the highest caliber and they will do w ere som ewhat distant. bul of
help it along. Mi nor problems that everyth ing they can to further the
m ight be caugh t early on and cor- interests of the project. good quality (PM 1.50).
rected a re ignored. leading to a po- In determining the composi t ion
tential d isaster later on . Loafing is Exam ples of those in th is cate-
com mon and the pace of work is gory include the fan alic fo llowers of the w ork force, we decide that
generally very s low. Poor working of a popu lar religious or m ilitar y the local c ulture is a n agric ultural
con dition s or cru el superv is ion leader and th e hench me n of player
can easily d rive a work c rew th a t c h ar a c te r s . o n e (PM 1.(0). T h e local folk w h o
normally has "average" morale
into this category. Determine the Final will be called upon to build the cas-
Production Modifier
A\lerage ( 1.00) Ue are typical humans. However.
Now that all of the major facto rs because the king has commanded
Unless th ere are unus ual co ndi- that will go into determin ing the
tions that might ma ke a cons truc- ease with wh ich the castle can be that this casUe be built. h e has
tion team m ore or less incl ined to buil t have been defined. it's lime to
work on a project. they will fall in to calcu late the to ta l Prod uction sent along a team of experts to s u-
this category. Ma inta ini ng this Mod ifier for th e castle. Th do this. pervise. The DM consid ers t h e
leve l of morale is sim ple enou gh if s imply multi ply all of th e PMs that matter. and decides that thei r in-
s u perv isors a r e competen t a n d h ave bee n generated so far to-
skilled , cond itions are fairly good, ge th er. H is recom mended that you fluence will increase the worker
and the projec t Is not detri m ental round off you r figu re to two deci· skill from " poor" to "average",
to the in terests of th e wor kers. mal places when you have com-
pleted the ca lc ula tion. giving the project a PM of 1.00. Be·
High (0 . 75 ) ca use the local people have been
Castle on the Moors
Wor kers with h igh m orale te nd bo th er ed by in vaders from lhe
to be in terested in the project for In order to illustrate the d eSign
one reason or a nother. For exam- swamps before. they support th e
ple, they m igh t be th e sold iers who process. we will pa use al th is point construction of the castle and are
will be stationed in th e castle or and present you with a n example consider ed to be of high morale
m igh t recognize its need to defend of castle construction. Those of
them from a n eighborin g s ta te. For (PM 0.75).
w ha teve r th e reason . t hey will you who are familiar with the first
work hard and attempt to do what- Putting th e numbers a ll l o-
ever they can to s peed the project book in this series. The Campaign
along a nd In s ure h igh quality con - Sourcebook and Catacomb Gu ide, gether. we find that we have the
struction. will remember the Castle on the foJ/o wing modiflers:
Moors from that text. For those of
yo u wh o ar e not fa m iliar with i t. Thmperate Climate 1.25
we have reprinled the m ap and a
Rolling Hills 1.00
briefd escription of lhe struct ure at
the end of t his ch apter. Swamp 2.00

The Castle on th e Moors was DisianUGood Resources 1.50

A gricultural Society J.oo

Average Workers 1.00

Hig h Mora le 0.75

In order to d etermin e the total pro-

duction modifler. we multiply all

these num bers together (and round

to two decimal places) giving us a
PM of2.81. As you can see. the loca-

tion chosen for the construction is

hardly ideal, despite the workers
enthusiasm for theJob.

53

Castle Design Castle Modules Table

At this point. it's time to think Module Type Tech Time Gold
about the actual castle itselr. What Barbican. S ma ll 4 1.665 2B.600
Barbican. Medium 5 2.050 35.200
features wUl it have? How large Barbican. Large 6 2.BBO 49.500
will it be? These and other Impor·
BuUding. Sm a ll Stone 3 64 2.000
tant aspects must be decided upon Building. Medium Stone 3 96 3.000
Building, Large Stone 3 144 4.500
now. Building. Great Stone 4 300 10.000
Building, Grand Stone 4 600 19.000
Castle design is a m odular proc-
BuUding, Small Wooden 1 B 40
ess. For example. a s imple outpost Building. Medium Wooden 1 12 60
might consist of four round towers Building, Large Wooden 2 18 90
(each four floors high), linked by a Building, Great Wooden 2 40 200
solid stone wall (also four floors Building, Grand Wooden 75 375
high). with a basic gatek eep se t in
the center of one wall to allow en- Ditch 2 10
trance to the casUe. FrOm this ba-
sic description of the structure. we Drawbridge 2 40 550
can design the entire castle.
Gatekeep. Lesser 5 1.950 33.275
Castle Modules Gatekeep. Greater 6 4,625 40,620
Gatekeep. Grand 110.800
The foll owing modules can be 7 6.410
used in the design of a castle. 30
When you select a module for use. Moat/Channel 36
however. be sure to take into ac- 10
coun t the tech level of the area (as Motte 2
den ned at Lhe start of the design 5
Palisade 1
process). 12.000
Thwer, Small Round 4 720 15.000
Module Descriptions Thwer. Medium Round 5 900 21.000
Thwer, Large Round 6 1.260
Many of the terms used in the 14,000
above tab le may be unclear to Thwer. Small Square 3 840 18.000
those unfamiliar with m edieval Thwer, Medium Square 4 1.0BO 24.000
architecture. In addition , the ac· Thwer, Large Square 5 1.440
tual construction of. say. a barbi· 100
can may be grea tl y varied in Thnnel 4 25
different kingdoms, Thus, we pro· 500
vide the fo llowing description of Wall. Stone 3 30 600
the castle modules in a n effort to Wall. Stone & Hoarding 36 720
fully define them for use in castle Wall. Stone & Glacis 4 864
design. Wall. Stone & Machicolatlon 5 44 100
Wall. Stone & Postern
Readers should note that the di· Wall. Wooden 6 53 5
mensions given in the descriptions 5
of the various modules are internal 4
dimensions. Thus. a small. square 1
tower that Is described as 30' by
30' has external dimensions of 50'
by 50' because of its 10' thick
walls.

54

Barbl ean S m all buildings are gen erally waJls, usually only a few inches
square in shape. The walls average thick. Small buildings are 20' by
Barblcans are a form of con- 2 feet in th ickn ess and stand 15 20'. giving th em 400 square feet of
struction intended to protect the fee t tall. The Interior of the build- floor space. Medium bu ildings are
castle gate from attackers. In this ing has 400 square feet of floor 40' by 20' and have 800 square
sense, they are much like the gate- area (us ua lly 20' by 20'). feet of floor space. Large buildings.
keeps that even tua lly evolve from which are often fo und as storage
them . Barblcans are set into the Medium a nd la r ge buildings areas or large shops. are 60' by 30'
outer and curtain walls of a castle. have s lmtlar wall constructions. a nd have 1.800 square feet of Ooor
bu t have. respectively. 800 square space.
Small barblcans are composed feet a nd 1,800 square feet of fl oor
of two small, round towers set a rea . Usually, a m ediu m building Great wooden bu ild ings are two
some 20 feet apart with a stone is 40' by 20' and a large building is story affairs that stand 30' tall.
building linking their upper sec- 60' by 30'_ They are 60' long a nd 30' wide.
tions together. The space beneath with 1.800 square feet of surface
the su spended building often Great stone buildings are two area on each floor.
houses a gate, but may be found level affa irs. stand ing 30' tall . Like
open from time to lim e, In our the other stone structures. their Grand wooden buildings are
module. a gate is always assumed walls average 2 feet thick (more at th ree stories (45 ') tall and measure
to be Included. the base, less at th e top). Each of 80' by 40'. Each floor has a surface
the great building's two floors has area of 3.200 square feet fo r a total
Medium barbicans are com- 1,800 square feet of surface area, of 9 .600 square feet.
posed of a brace of medium. round usually with dimensions of 30' by
towers that are spaced 20 feet 60'_ Dlteh
apart and connected with a small
stone building. Once again, a gate Gra nd stone buildings are large Ditches are used in castle de-
is assum ed to be Included beneath and im pressive things. They stand fense to make the land which at-
the building. 4 5' tall. having three internal tackers must cross uneven and
levels. The building is usually 80' dangerous. While giving their a t-
Large barbicans are also based lon g by 40' wide. giving each floor tention to getting past a ditch or
on two m edium, round towers but 3.200 square feet of surface area. other obstacle. a ttackers are far
are spaced 40 feet apart and have a Other shapes and dimensions are more vulnerable to defensive mis-
large linking structure between possible. but the Internal surface sile fire.
them. area will remain similar.
Each ditch section is 10' long.
In all cases. the floors a nd walls Buildings. Wooden 10' across, a nd 5' deep. Thus. a
of the connecting structure have 100' long ditch would require 10
murderholes and embrasures Like stone buildi ngs. the follow- ditch m odu les. A ditch is not fi n-
through which attackers can be Ingstructures are found within the ished and will not hold water like a
assaulted. Further. each tower, castle walls as out-buildings. In ad- moat. a lt hough water will poo l
whether s m all or medium, Is as- dition. they make up the majority there after a storm .
sumed to be two stories (30') tall . of buildings in a town. village. or
other community. The dimensions Drawbridge
Buildings. Stone listed for each entry are the most
common, but builders are by no A drawbridge . which is assumed
Sto ne buildings are genera lly m eans restricted to them. When to include a small structure from
used in the design of a bailey or determining the price and labor which It is operated. Is u sed to al-
castle compound , and a re not an time for a nonstandard building. low easy passage over ditches.
actual part of the castle itself. For base your estimate on the square moats. and olher castle defenses.
those who wis h to build them- footage of its nearest eqUivalent Theaverage drawbridge is 20' long
selves a home. warehouse. s hop, from this listing. a nd 10' wide. Larger examples can
or other structure (either within be created by combin ing two (or
the confines of a castle wall or In a S m a ll . medium, a n d large more) drawbridge m odu les. The
small village) . these buildings can wooden buildings have very thin drawbridge is assumed to be made
be used.

55

from ha rd wood a nd Is braced (or ranged in th e same man ner as the availa bl e, m a nmade on es ca n be
eve n s hod) wi th metal to Increase towers in th e grea ter gate keep. crea ted . As a rule, one motte mod·
its stre ngth . a nd can hold off huge numbers of u le represen ts a 10' by 10' square
e nem y forces for ex tended periods area ra ised 5'. Thus. ifan area 400'
Gate keep of time. The two forward towers by 400' (160,000 square feet) were
are set some 30 feet out from the to be ra ised, 1.600 m oat uni ts
A major step in the evolution of castle and 40 feet apart. A fu lly en- wou ld be required for eac h 5' rise
the castle. a gatekeep permi ts the closed stone passage runs along in ground level.
defenders of the castle to confron t th e upper section of the two fl ank·
altacke rs before they reach the ing walls. a llowi ng easy and safe Palisade
m ai n ga tes th e m se lves. In es· passage from the towers to the cas-
sence. a ga tekee p is much like a lie and back again. A pa lisade is a fence of wooden
barblca n tha t Is set away from the pos ts (usu a lly about six inches
castle walls a nd connected to them Moat/Channel thick) that is set up as a defense
via a pair of strong stone walls. against enemy cha rges a nd the
Eve n If the outer barriers of the gao As technology Improves, t he like. Palisades are often set up
tekeep are breached. the walls act idea of m aking ditches even more along the de fending edge of a ditch
to create a killi ng field that makes effec tive by filling them with water or moat to make th em eve n more
the fi na l assaul t on the gates even naturally arises. Thus. in essence, difficul t 10 bypass. A pal isade mod-
more difficult. a moat is nothi ng more tha n a u le ru ns 10' long and stands 5'
d itch tha t has bee n fi nished so that high .
A lesser gatekeep consists of two wa ter w ill be co ntai ned by it.
small . round towers and a linking Channels are used to link moa ts Tower, Round
struc ture (essen tially a small bar- with th e wa ter ways th at wil l fill
bican) tha t a re set some 20 feet out them . In som e cases, it may be Round ed towers prov ide belter a
from the castle's main gate. 1\vo necessary to dam part of a water· better defense agains t things like
15 ' high walls run from the na nk- way to d ivert water into the moat. screws a nd sa ppers. As a rule. they
ing towe rs to the main gate and se- Da ms can be built like s tone walls. tend to be som ewhat s m a ller In ter-
cure the structure to the castle. but cost twice as much and take na lly than thei r square coun ter·
twice as long to complete. parts. and use less stone. Thus.
Gr ea te r gate keeps are so m e- th ey cost som ewha t less to build.
what larger and Incorporate four It is som etimes possible to fill a The technology required to build
m edium. round towers. 'TWo are m oat with dangerolls a nima ls that s uch s tructures. however. may nOl
positioned forwa rd just as they are can be used to in crease its e ffec· a lways be ava ila ble to the castle
in a lesser gatekeep, but two more tlveness du ring a n attac k. Exact d e s ig n e r.
are built In lo the cas t le wa lls de ta ils in s uch cases are left to the
around the m a in gate itself. In this DM 's Imagination . It is important S m all towers of th is ty pe have a
way, the rear towers can provid e to keep In m ind. however. tha t un- 30' d iam eter interior s pace ava ila-
beLler fire Into the killing fie lds be- intelligen t moat guardians will at- ble for use and are 40' in diameter
tween the castle a nd outer de- tack defender and intruder a like on t he o utside. A s ing le tower
fenses and can a lso support the a nd that intelligent denizens will m od ule is assumed to be 2 stor ies
forward towers in holding off at- require some reason for accepting tall {30'} a nd have wal ls which avo
tackers. Persons in the forwa rd a position as " moat guard ". erage 10' thick. Of course, this as-
lowers can move a long the top of s um es th at th e wa lls will be
the walls (w hich provide partia l Motte thinner a t the top and wider at the
cover from enemy a rchers) to base. Embrasures in the wall a llow
reach the castle towers. In tim es of Just as it is so metimes wise to fres h air in to the tower and permit
combat. th is is dangerous to a t· ring a castle with ditches to defend those within to fi re on troops out·
tempt. it. it is a lways better to build on s ide.
high ground. In cases whe re a nat-
Gra nd gatekeeps are the ultl· ural earth en mound or motte is not Medium a nd la rge lowers resem-
mate in gate defe nse. Th ey a re ble their s m aller cous ins In most
composed of four large towers, a r- ways. Again, they are assumed to

56

be 30' tall and be divided into two construct without magical assist- are 40' a nd 60' square respec-
levels. Medium towers have a 40' ance. tively. Square towers can be
in ternal d iameter while large tow- stacked just as rou nd towers can.
ers are 60' across. Tower, Square Furt h er. it is possible to stack a
round tower atop a squar e tower
Larger towers can be built by Al th ough less sturdy and some- so long as size restrictions a re
combining two or more tower what m ore expensive to make. obeyed.
modules together and com bining square towers are easier to bu ild
the costs. If th e stru cture Is to than round ones. Thus. they are Tunnel
stand alone, then the second m od- som ewhat more common. Square
ule must be one size sm aller t h an towers are found in the same basic A tunnel m odule represents an
the tower below it. Thu s, a large sizes as round on es. and a tower underground chamber o f 1.000
round tower could act as a base module is agai n assumed to be 30' c u bic feet. Usua lly. this is a 10'
w ith a medium round tower atop it tall Wilh two internal leve ls. The long by 10' wide by 10' h igh sec·
and a small round tower atop that. intern al space available in a lion. but th e configura tion may
If the structure is anchored to a sq u are tower is somew hat gr ea ter var y based on need and purpose.
wall. then two similar towers m ay than it is in a round tower of simi- For examp le. a c hamber tha t is go·
stand atop each other. Thus. a six lar size because the chamber is not ing to be 20' by 40' with 10' high
leve l tall an chored tower could be rounded ofr. ceilings has a vol ume of 8.000 cu-
made upoftwo large t owers for the bic feet and would require 8 tunnel
base and one mediu m tower atop. A sm all tower is 3D' by 30' in- modu les to complele.
Exceptions are possible, but are side, with ou ter dimen sions of 50'
very rare, ex pensive. and hard to by 50'. Medium and large towers

51

Wall, Stone m les a t the castle walls. Advances complex, but s hould Identify all of
in technology a llow the wall itself the m odules that you wan t to use.
A typical section of stone wallis to be built wi th a stone overhang
assumed to be 10' long, 10' thick, that serves the same purpose, but Castle on the Moors
a nd 15' high. Walls can be s tacked , is far less vulnerable to attack. As
like towers, but mus t follow som e with hoardings, m ac hicolations In order to h elp you better un·
restrictions, For every level that Is are dotted wi th murderholes for at· derstand this phase of the desig n
going to be s tacked above it. an ex· tacks on those below them . A wall
tra m odule must be added toa wall with machicola tions is assumed to process, we will switch back to our
for every 50' (or fraction thereoO in include a glacis at its base .
Its length . Thus, If we are planning example of the Cas tle on the
a 3 level h igh (45' tall) wall that Is Posterns are small gates that al- Moors. As you kno w. we have al-
50' long we need to add 2 a ddl · low one or two m en to s lip ou t of ready determined the various en·
tlonal modules to the lower level the castle without drawing atten-
a nd one additiona l module to th e tion to thems elves . They are not vironm ental an d social features
secon d level for bracing. Thus, ou r secret doors, but are not nearly as that will dominate the construc-
three level high. 50' long wall reo obvious when opened as the main
quires the 15 mod ules that make it gates. The cost for a seclion of wall tion effort . now we must layout
up , plus an additional 3 modules with a postern In It Is In addition to
for bracing. any cost for things like machicola- the cas tle itself
lions. Thus. a wall section with
In addition to th e wall Itself. a m a chtco latlons a nd a postern Looking at the castle floorplan
number of options are availa ble at would require 58 weeks to build
h igh er tech levels. In som e cases, and cost 964 gold pieces. that follows this chapter . you wi1J
walls are assumed to possess cer-
tain featu res as described in the Wall , Wooden see that the k eep is in tended to
text tha t fo llows. have four s quare towers, each of
A wooden wa ll sec tion is as- which is four floors high. Beca use
Hoardings are wooden s truc- s umed to be 10 feet long, 3 inch es a standard tower m odule is only
tures that are added to the top of a thick, and 15 feet tall. They can be
wall. Becau se t hey ex tend ou t· used to set up barriers or in the as- two floors hig h. eight m odules
ward from th e castle a nd have nu- sembly of larger structures as in· must be used. Since the towers are
m erou s holes in their unders ides, ternal walls. For example, the Ooor
defenders can move about in them area of a large keep can be bought to be anchored to walls. th e same
and fire on attackers at the base of as if it was a wooden wall. as can size module can be used on the top
the wall. Because they are made of th e roof if it is made of timber.
wood, however. hoardings are vul- When using the wooden wall mod- and bottom of the tower. Th e cas-
nerable to fire and artillery. ule in s uch a fashion just note that tle is n ot intended as a great for-
it has a surface area of 150 square
A glacis Is a n additiona l section feet. For an example of wooden tress. so the designer opts to use
of stone added to the base of a wall wall modules being used in this
that angles outward and creates a manner. check the Castle on the small towers.
s loped or slanted base , In addition Moors example that foll ows at the Next. we move to the walls that
to making the wall more resistant end of this section.
to screws a nd sappers, a glacis will link the to wers together. A dis-
cause thin gs like boiling oil to Laying out the Castle tance of 11 0' separates each of the
splatter when the defenders above towers, so 44 wall sections wlll be
pour It on the attackers around the Now that you understand the
glacis. A wall with a glacis Is as- various modules and their uses. go required to complete the lower
sum ed to include hoardings if de- ahead and layou t a rough noor l evel of the walI. However. the wall
s ired . plan of the castle you want to
build. It needn 't be very detailed or is m eant to be {our floors high. so
Machicolations replace hoard - additional bracing must be in -
Ings as a means of attacki ng e ne- cluded. Since three l evels will be
added to the lowest level of wall.

three extra wall m odules must be

added per 50 feet or fraction
thereof Th us. 26 additional mod-
ules must be added to support the

second level. Since the second
level must s upport two m ore
above it. two modules must be

added for every 50 feel of its
l ength. for a total of18 modules. 1b
support the upper level . 9 modules
must be added to the third l evel.

58

Note that this does not Include the Average Construction Time "- in. but wUl sun fill its role as a mlli·
additJonal walI that Is set up around Cost tary fortress. Spartan castles cost
the castle gate. This area works out 25% less to build and require 25%
to require 55 wall sections. Thus. for Now that you have laJd out the ba- less time.
our whole cast/e. we will need 285 slcstructureofth ecasUe.It's time to
wall modules. The lower level of the determine just how much all this is O verhead Costs
main wall (which requires 70 mod- actually going to cost a nd how long
it's going to take to buUd, Because of Overhea d costs are assum ed to
ules) Includes a glacis. but the other the modular nature of this system , include a great many things that
214 sections are ordinary wall sec- that's very easy to do. Simply add are not detailed in this system.
t ion s. up the cost of all the modu les you Overhead includes the time spent
wish to purchase and add up the recruiting and training workers,
As you can see, we have already time required to build them. obtruning food and housing for the
accounted for the vast majority of labor force. and fillin g th e castle
the castle 's construc tion. Th e de· Once you have these totals, you with furniture and the like when
signer wants to have the Inside of know the basic values that we will the project is finished.
the keep roofed over and split Inlo be working with. The values you
3 Internal levels. These floors will have just calculated are the aver· For the sake of simplicity, over·
be roug hly l20' squares. so each age time and cost factors for the head is always assumed to add an
one has a surface area of 14.400 project. 1b determine the actua l ex tra 10% to the castle's cost and
square feet. Th er e are four such time and cost involved. we must time. Thus. a castle that has a total
surfaces to be cr eated (3 floors. in - go through a few more steps. cost of 250.()(X) gold pieces would
cluding the bottom one. and the cosl275.()(X) when overhead is fig -
roof). Tn the interest of simplicity. Works of Art ured in. The construction time re-
the DM agrees to assume the r oof is quired Is likewise increased.
a flat surface. despite its ang ular Of course. all of the above values
n ature. Thus . a total of 57.600 have been generated with the Final Calculations
square feet of w ooden flooring thought ofa typical castle in mind.
mus t be purchased. Since each Ifyou wish to build an ornate com· Once you have established the
section ofwooden wall (floor in this plex that Is both a fortress a nd a base cost and the overhead costs,
case) Is 150 square feet . 384 such work of art. you may do so by add· you can figure o ut exactly how
modules must be bulll. ing an additional 50% to the cost long it wUJ take to build your castle
and time required for your project and how much of your precious
The smaller aspects ofthe castles Such structures as this are rare in gold you are going to have to part
design. like the spiral stairways. in- the extreme, of course, and are with before its done. 1b do this,
ternal furnishings, and maln stairs usually reserved for the seat of a simply total the base and overhead
are assumed to be included in the great king or mighty empe ror. values that you have calc ulated
castle's overhead costs (described a nd multiply them both by the
later). Since the maln entrance is Lesser structures. like the production modifier (PM) gener·
not a grand affair, the DM agrees wooden buildings or free·standlng ated in the first part of the castle
that It can also be included in the towers. can be made ornate in a construction procedure.
overhead costs. If the gate were similar fashion . Further, it Is possi ·
larger, it would have to be bought as ble to have part of a castle be or- Castle on the Moors
a barblcan or gatekeep. nate. the main keep is an obvious
choice, while the curtaIn walls and Going back to the Castle on the
So, what do we have now? Our outer defenses a re more struc- Moors project, we can total up the
castle is going to r equire the fol- tural. 10 do this, just apply the In- costs and Umes required as fol-
lowing: creased cost and time to the lows:
s pecific module being selected. • Eight small. square lower mod-
• 8 Small, square towers
If desired . a castle can be made ules cost a total of 112.000 gold
• 70 Wall sections with glacis very spartan. In such cases it will pieces to build and requjre
• 214 Standard wall sectio ns not be a comfortable place to live 6.720 man/ weeks of work.
• 384 Wooden wall sections (used

as floors and roofing)

59

• Our wall requires 70 sections which we determined was 2.81 in If the desig ner ca n ra ise enoug h
with a g lacis, which requires the first phase of desig n . money (and find e noug h willing lao
3,080 man/ weeks to build and borers). to increase his work force
costs 50,400 gold pieces to fi- Our next step is to multiply our to twice its s tanda rd valu e. con·
nan ce. most recent values for cost and s truc tion will be com ple ted In 75%
time by our PM. Wh en we do this. of the establis hed time . If the wor k
• The upper l evels ofour wall reo force is quadrupled . the cons truc-
quire 214 standard wall sec· wmwe find that our castle actually tion ti m e is cut to 50% of its calcu ·
tlons, for a total of 6.420 lated value. Larger work forces are
man/ weeks and 107,000 gold require 51.322 m an/weeks to not permitted.
pieces. bUild. Further. it will cost usa stag·
Before you calculate th e cost for
• The wooden floors and roofing gering 838,650 gold pieces. a ll these new m e n , Skip to the sec·
tions on Heroic Charac te rs. Magi-
will require 384 wooden wall The Work Force cal ite m s, a nd Mo ns te rs. Once you
sections. The total time re- h ave d ete rmin ed the e ffects of
quired for this phase of can · Now that the castle plans have these sections. return here a nd
struction is 384 m an / w eek s been committed to parc hment, it's work out the new duration of the
and the total cost is J.920 gold time to get on with the actua l con- co nstru c tion project (in wee ks ).
s truc tion of your castle . The firs t Mu ltiply it by the numbe r of ex tra
pieces, As you can see, this is pOint to cons ider in th is phase is men who will be h ired and then
cheap when compared to the your work force. The prices that multiply the total fro m that o pera·
you paid a bove assume that you tion by 10 to determine the total
rest of the project. will be building the castle In one cost for the increased work force.
year. Add this s um to the cost for the
The castle is not in tended to be castle as a whole and don 't worry
overly ornate-after all. it:S in the At this point. you s hould take about a weekly payroll.
middle of a swamp, H owever. the the cons truction time that you
knight who must live here Is not have a nd divide it by 52. T he Smaller Work Forces
expected to be un comforta ble. produc t of this calculation is the
Hence, the cas tle. will n ot be spar- number of m en that must be hired If money is a fac tor. but tim e is
tan either. Cost and production to comple te the job in one year. It is not, the designer may wish to con·
time values are unmodified. assumed that the cost of s upport· s ider cu tting his work force. For
ing a work force of this s ize is in · each man rem oved from the la bor
Thus, our total cost for the con· e luded in the cost of your castle so pool. the cost of the castle w ill be
struction of this castle is 271 .320 far. Thus. if yo u take n o other reduced by 10 gold pieces per work
gold pieces. Wh en we add In the action at this tim e, you will be a ble for th e duration of th e projec t.
to build your castle in 52 weeks.
overhead charges (which work out If enou gh workers are removed
Larger Work Forces to reduce the work force to 75% of
to be 27.132 gold pieces) we bring its s tandard value, the n cons truc·
our total up to 298,452- quUe a In order to inc rease the s peed tion tim e is doubled . If the work
lot of money. with which a castle is erected. de- force is cut to half its s ta nda rd
Sign e rs m ay wis h to hire a ddl· value, then cons truction time is
As far as con struction time is tio nallaborers. As an average. the q ua d rupled . No red uction be lo w
cost to hire a worker is assumed to 50% in the work force is poss ib le.
con cerned, our base value works average out at 10 gold pieces a
out as 16.604 man/weeks of Jabor. week for the duration of th e pro- It is poss ible to reduce the work
When we add our 10 % overhead j ect. While the typical laborer is fo rce to below its s ta ndard number
o nly going to receive a salary of I without In creasing the ti m e reo
time to tha t. we have a total of gold piece per month , they are q uired so long as the contributions
18.264 man/ weeks-quite a Jot of supported by skilled s upervisors of heroic c ha racters, magical ob-
work. as well. a nd a rtisa ns wh o rece ive far j ects. and m on s te rs (as d etailed in
greater pay. In addition , this cost
We're almost through. but n ow assumes that they must be fed ,
we have to reme mber that these housed , and train ed .
values assume that we are work·
ing in perfec tly average condi-
tions. The Castle on the Moors Is
being built In a region ofswamps,
far from its base of supplies. All of
these things are part of our PM,

60

th e fo llowing th ree sections ) re- of the construc tion force counts as Thus. the spade ofcolossal excava-
turn the work level to it's standa rd one labore r for each level tha t they tion counts for 5% of 1.000 points
number. For example. if a group of have a ttained . In addi tion. they or 50 men .
PCs is a ble to do the work of 100 count for one man for each s pell
men. then 100 laborers may becut level tha t th ey can cast in a given If the item seem s to have some
from the work force a nd the money day. Be s ure to include a ny bonus possible a pplication . like wand of
normally spent to hire the m saved. spells for wisdom that a priest lightning(which could be useful in
might be e ntitled to. clearing land or digging the foun-
Once you have determined the dation of th e castl e ), then it is
new duration of the proj ect (in For example. a 5th level wizard worth I % of its associated ex peri-
weeks). m ultiply it by 10 to deter- wou ld be a ble to do the work of 16 e nce point a ward . Thus, the afore-
mine the sav ings that is m ade pe r m e n. He counts as five men be- mentioned wand would count as
c ut labore r. Su btrac t this savi ngs cause of his basic level. In a ddi - 40 men.
from the cost of the castle now a nd tion. he can throw four 1s t level
don't worry about a weekly pay- s pe lls in a day (which counts as Ite m s tha t the OM feels a re of no
ro ll. fou r m ore workers ), two 2nd level particular use in the construction
s pe lls (whic h counts as four m ore effort. like a ring ofregeneration or
Heroic CharActers workers). a nd one 3rd level s pell elven boots a re not counted to-
(which counts as three worke rs). ward the manpower tota l. If the
Both p layer c ha rac te r s a nd OM rules an ite m to be useless. the
higher level NPCs can augm e n t The Importan ce of magiC in cas- owning player s hould be a llowed
the wor k fo rce cons ide rably. This tle construction s hould not be un - to ex pla in how he feels the Item
is du e pri marily to their greater ex- de restimated . as a 20th level mi ght be u seful. If t he OM is
perience and worldliness, as well wizard can do the work ofover 180 swayed by his or her case. then the
as their genera lly higher determi- normal men! While playe r cha rac- decision may be reversed .
nation . After a ll . these specia l peo- ters are free to work on a project.
ple have proven th em s elves to be OMs s hou ld make the recrui tm en t Monsters
far more than just the average c iti- of high leve l NPCs a n expe ns ive
zen, otherwise they wouldn 't be hireli ng who. m ore than likely. will It may be poss ible for the charac-
heroes! require a n adventure to recruit. te r 's to recruit monsters to aid in
the building of the castle. Many of
As a rule, a ny non -magiC u sing MAgiCAl Items the mons te rs listed In the various
c haracter will be a ble to do the monstrous compendiums can be
work of one ma n for every level Som e magical ite m s. like the pressed in to service, though some
that he or she has attained, For ex- sa wofmig hly cuWngor the spade will be more s uita ble for suc h work
a m ple. a 6 th leve l th ief can do the of colossal excavation h ave an ob- than others.
work of six normal laborers. It is vious value in the construc tion of a
assu med tha t the thief need not be castle . In cases where som e ques- If the players have a m eans ofob-
an actua l part of the work force. tion arises as to the usefulness of a tai ning mons trou s laborers. the
but is ac ting in a supporti ng role pa r ticu la r item, th e OM must OM must determine how s uitable
by obtain ing good prices for items m ake a judgem e nt call on whethe r they are for s uch work. If they
and m a kin g s u re that th e loca l or not the ite m will be a Sign ifican t might be prone to devouring other
ba nd its and c rime syndica tes do factor. For exam ple. an enc hanted m embe rs of the work force. they
not in terfere with the project. s hield is not like ly to b e of m uc h should be considered poorly
help in building a castle. a lthough s uited. Similarly. if they have little
Characters who a rc able to use gauntlets of ogre power might be. ta len t or ability in such things (like
magiC can be of trem e ndous help a unicorn) they might be deemed
when it com es to building a castle. As a rule. if the item Is we ll useless or poor.
Arter a ll. consider the benefits of a s uited to cons truction work . like
slOn e shape spell or a wish s pe ll the matlOck of the titans. the n it If a monster is well s uited to con-
when construction is in progress. will be worth a number of me n struction work. like a stone giant.
In order to simplify matters, a ny e qua l to 5% of the experi ence centaur. or bugbear. it is worth 5%
spell usi ng c harac ter who is a part poin t award for its di scov e ry. o f the experie nce value that a
player would receive for defeating

61

it in combat. As a rule. most hu- Next, divide 52 (the number of The knight who will be lord of
m anoid creatures of lawful . neu- weeks in a year) by the WTM to de-
traL or good alignmen t will fall into termine how m any weeks are the castle is a 12th level paladin .
th is category. available for work in a given year.
Note that in some cases you will As such , h e counts as 18
If a monster is som e what suit- have m ore weeks available than laborers- 12 beca use ofhis experi-
able. but has drawbacks, it is you have In the year. In this case. it ence level plus six more because of
worth 1% of its XP value. Most Is assumed tha t the climate Is so
c haotic or evil humanoids fall into favorable that your work precedes his spell casting ability.
this category. as do those who have at a very rapid pace and you are
restrictions to their movement or ab le to accomp lish muc h more The paladin has four compan-
dexterity. Dragons. because they than m ight normally be expected.
have no m anipulatory limbs. fall ions. 1Wo of them are not spell
into this category. Castle on the Moors casters. a 10th l evel thief and an

Monsters that are wholly useless • We r eturn now to our fine exam- 11 th l evel warrior, who will coun t
to a construction project. like a ple of the Castle on the Moors. As
green s lime or s hrieker. will con - as 21 addition al men be tween
tribu te nothing to the work being you will r ecall. the current calcula- them. The spell casters are a 10th
done. tions show that the castle will cost level wizard (who will do the work
of 49 men) and a 9th l evel priest
Work Seasons us 838.650 gold pieces to build. with a 17 wisdom (who can do the
T h e entire project. as it now work of52 men).
Once the construction time and stands. will take 5 1.322 man/
cost have been a ltered to renect weeks of work to finish . Lets con - Thus. between aI/ the player
the efforts of the player c haracters. characters, the work of 140 men
their spells and m agic items. and t.inue with t h e process . going
changes in the size of the work can be done.
force. the DM needs to con sider th e through the steps that we have In addilion to their own efforts.
area's climate again . just ouWned.
the party has a number ofmagtcal
We now know how long it will Our first step is to determine objects that they want to use to
take to build the castle If the c rew how large our standard work force
works straight through . Of course. will be. 7b do th is, we divide the help speed construction. The pala·
it is not possible to work every day current tim e r equired forconstruc-
because of weather and similar t.ion (51.322 man/weeks) by 52. din has a suit ofPlate Mail of Ethe-
fac tors. For example. a region that T h e result. 987. is the number of realness and a holy avenger
has harsh win ters and is m arked
by severe storms during spring men that must be hired to com- sword. but the DM rules that these
a nd a u tumn might restrict the
construction crew to wor king on ly p l ete the castle In 52 conUnuous will not help the project. Similarly.
25% of the year! That means that a weeks. They are assumed to be in -
castle might take. on the average. cluded in the cost we h ave already the DM rules that the other mag i -
four calendar years to buil d. paid for the castle.
cal weapons and armors of the
In order to determine the actual Since the king and his advisors party members wilJ be of little
number of weeks available for work see the danger In the swamps as a
In any given region begin by record- growing probl em . they dec ide value.
ing Its PM values for clima te type q uadrup le th e work force and at-
a nd ground cover. Multiply these The priest. however. has ob-
two numbers together to determine tempt to complete thecastl e in half
the Work Time Modifier (WTM). tained a pair of gauntlets of ogre
This value should range between the usual time. Thus. they will power. which th e DM rules to be of
0.75 and 12 .00 when you are done. need to hire 2.961 additional men. some use. Thus . the priest can
save the treasury the hiring of 10
Before we determine the cost of additional m en ( 1 % of 1.000 XPs).
such an increase. we must look at
The warrior has obtained a lyre
t he contributions that wl1l be of building. which the DM agrees
will be of obvious value o ver the
made by the p layer cha racters course of the project. Thus. the
who are in charge of the castle's warrior's magiC Item can do the
work of (4 .000 x 5 %) 200 m en!
construction.
All told, we now see that th e

characters will be abl e to contrib-
ute grea tly to the constructi on of
the Castle on the Moors. Betw een

tJiemselves and t h eir magica l

items. they can do the work of 350
men. Tru ly. these are the folk of

62

whom songs will be sung! Monthly Events Severe Weather

Tn their efforts to furth er speed Over the cou rse of the castle's Severe weather conditions are
construction. th ings may not al- dangerous indeed. They not on ly
construction, the characters call in ways go as planned. Each month. halt work fo r the m onth. just as
the referee should roll Id 100 on bad weather would do. but set the
a debt owed to them by a stone gi- the following table to check for un- project back by 2-8 (2d4) weeks. In
ant. The DM agrees that a stone gi- planned hazards a nd even ts. Ref- order to keep things s imple. just
ant is an excellent ch oi ce for such erees are encouraged to add to this roll 2d4 and a dd that m any weeks
works. so h e will be worth 5 % of chart or customize it Lo better fi t to the completion date of the pro-
his experience point value (8.000). their own campaign. Ject.
Thus. the stone giant can do the
work of 400 m en all by himseJfl Tn IdlOO Event Monster Attack
addition. the DM rules that two of 01 - 65 No unus u al even t
the stone giant's sons will join Bad weather Some sort of monster or great
66 - 75 Severe weather beast is stalking the area! The con-
their father in working on the cas- Monster a ttack struction crew will lose 2-20 (2d 10)
76-81 laborers to its hunting or evil ma-
tle. Each of them counts for only 82 - 83 Hi g h w ay m e n nipulations. Funeral expenses will
200 men. h owever. as they are bu t 84 - 85 Local unrest be 100 gold pieces for each m an.
86 - 87 Labor dispute Once that is out of the way. the
growing boys. 88-89 Raid player characters must seek out
and destroy the beast. The OM
When all is said and done. the 90 - 91 Call to arms s hou ld make this a separate ad-
92 - 93 Civil war venture. No work on the castle can
player characters. their magic 94 - 95 Royal visit be done until after the beast is
96 - 97 Bad omens hunted down and destroyed or
item s, and their monstrous al1ies 98 - 99 Natural disaster otherwise pacified.

can 1111 the slots of 1.1 SO m en . 00 Highwaymen
Returning now to the n eed for
No Unusual hent A band of thieves and murderers
additional workers. we find that has started stalking t he supply
More often than not. noth ing out routes to the castle. Because of
the crown stiJJ needs to hire and of the ordinary will occur during their pillaging, work is reduced to
support 1.811 more men. Since the course of the month . In such ha lf speed (that Is. one week of
the construction tim e of tile castle cases. a full four weeks of con - work Is done every two weeks) un-
will be cut in half by their efforts . stru ction is comp leted with ou t til they are dealt with. As with the
they n eed only be paid for 26 major accidents or mishaps. previous entry. the OM should
w eeks of work. At 10 gold pieces make resolving this an adventure
each this works out to be a total of Bad Weather of Its own.

470.860 gold pieces. This figure Depending on the area in ques- Local Unrest
tion. this could be any thing from a
may seem high. but remember sandstorm to a bad series of thun- The actions of th e work force or
that the efforts of the player char- derstorms or a blizzard. In a ny player characters have stirred up
acters have prevented the n eed for case. no work Is possible for the e n- the local population and they no
an additional 1.150 men and tire month . Note that the bad longer support the construction of
saved nearly 300.000 more gold weather is not assumed to last the the castle. In fact. they demand
pieces for the crown. Th e king is e ntire month, but rathe r that much that a ll work be stopped and the
s ure to remember their actions! of the work done during this period exis ling constructions be torn
is spent countering the event. For down. Work will stop for Id4
With all of that taken care of. we example. waiting for the land to dry
turn our attention to the weather after a severe rainfall. removing the
sand or snow following a sand-
and working conditions. Because storm or blizzard. and so forth.

the climate around the castle is
t emperate (PM 1.25) and the

ground cover is swamp (PM 2.00).

wehave a WTMof2.50. Thus. only

21 weeks out of the year will be

suitable for work on the cas tle.

Since 26 weeks are required, the
project will be completed in about
14 cal endar months ifall g oes well.

63

weeks. After that tim e. construc- project would require an addi- nation of 33-90% (3D + 3d20) of
lion may conUnue, bur If the prob- tional 90.000 gold pieces in com-
lem is nOl resolved It will be at half pensation. The money ca n be the laborers. These heroes died de-
speed (one week of work every two spent as a lump·sum at this point fending their castle and are enti-
weeks). Restoring the public's to avoid ongOing paperwork. tled to a good burial and pensions
faith In the proJecl should be han- for their families. The remaining
dled by role-playing and mayor RAid portion of their wages is assumed
may not require an outlay of cash to count for this. In addition. new
as a "sign of good Inten tions". A neighboring power, whether workers must be hired at 10 gold
another kingdom or just a power- pieces each per week for the rest of
labor Dispute ful arc tribe. stages an attack o n the project. Figure out this cost
the castle. Their number will be right now and pay it in advance to
The workers are up In arms roughly equal to th e work force at avoid lo ng term accounting.
about some thing. Perhaps It's the the castle. making It a fair nght.
player characters doing so much ull to Arms
work with their magical Items that There are a number of ways to
they look bad or maybe It's the resolve such a struggle. but the The kingdom is at war! The king
working conditions. Whatever the one we recommend Is with the calls upon all of his vassals to send
reasons, their pay must be In- BATTLESVSTEM'" miniatures him aid in the form of troops or
cr eased or all work will stop for 3- ru les and the supplemental mate- money. The pes can decide that
18 (3d6) weeks w hile new workers rial presented in this book. If the they will contribute.
are recruited . In order to avoid the group is not Interested In resolving
shut down. an additional 5 gold the connict en masse. then seL H If the pes opt to send gold. they
pieces per week must be paId to up as an adventure. At leasL a por- are expected to send gold equal to
each man on the work force for the lion of the major battle should be 5% of the castle's total projected
remaining duraUon of construc- fought. however. with the pes cost. Thus. a castle worth
tion. For instance. a 1.500 man la- playing an important role. 2.500.000 gold coins would re-
bor pool with 12 weeks to go on a quire a donation of 125.000 gold
If the OM wishes. the event can pieces.
simply be resolved with the climl-
If the pes decide to send forces.

they m ust give u p 25% of their la- with the call to a rm s (above). the Impact. Whatever the case. the
borers fo r the rest of the project. Re- pes will be ex pec ted to appear be- castl e Is in ruins. All work to date is
gard less of t he new n um ber of fore their king (and pOSSibly hi s ri- lost a nd clean-up costs will con-
workers. construction on the castle val) to explain their ac tions a nd sume the entire budget remaIning
s lows to ha lf speed (one week of give their decislon _ for constru c tion . In short. it's back
work every two weeks) because of to square one.
reductions in supplies and concern Roy.' Visit
over the future of the kingdom . Because of the severity of this
The king Is com ing to inspect event. the OM is encou raged to al-
It is also possible that the pes work on the castle. His visit makes low the c harac ters a c hance to
may refuse the order. although for a n excelle nt role-p lay ing e nvi- thwart th e calamity (or lessen Its
til is is a violation of their oaths La ro nmen t as the pes altempt to effects) with an adventu re. T hei r
the king. If they do this. th ey will prove thei r gra titud e fo r the right quest should not be an easy one. as
branded as rogues and subject to to build this castle in the king's they a re playing for keeps (sorry
anyth ing from a n outr ight allack name and stay on his good side. abou t the pun).
by the klng's forces to a revolt by However. the royal presence has a
the local populace and labore rs. It negative impact on the work in Castle on the Moors
is doubtful that the king's enem ies progress. as everyone must stop
would treat them much better. for working to make the area look as Well, construcUon ofthe cas tle Is
they have proven themselves to be nice as possible fo r his royal high- finally under way! The DM r olls for
untrustworthy. ness. A total of 1-4 (I d4) weeks of an even t for the first four week s of
work will be lost. construction. The dice come up a
In any of lhe above cases, the 3 1. so there is no event in the first
pes are expected to trave l to the Bad Omens month. Th e die roJ} for Vl e second
klng's castle a nd in form him of m onth Is a 61. again Indicating
their choice in person . This should Perhaps the stars are aligned "business as us ual". So far. con -
be a n adventure planned out and poo rly. or a b lack cat has been struction Is right on schedule!
run by the OM. hanging around the construction
site. Whatever the case. the pes Next month '5 roll is a 78. Indica-
Civil War are advised to SLOp a ll work on the
casLle for I to 6 (I d6) weeks. ting Lhat the wea ther has turned
One of the king's vassa ls is in re- sever e. Not only will no work get
vall! The pes are bound by th ei r If they opt to ignore this warn- done this m onth . pushing the
oaths offealty to aid th e ki ng in the ing. they must roll on the even t ta- completion da te back by 4 weeks}.
war. Th e ir c hoices a re mu ch the ble once per week for t he d uration but the DM rolls 2d4 and deter -
sam e as they a re in case of a call to of the crisis. In addl Uon. a ny roll of mines t.hat th e project has been set
arms. sa ve that they can opt to 100r less is re·rolled while the por- bac k another 7 weeks! This Is al -
support either the existi ng ru le r or tents are unfavorable. An a ddi- most a disaste r. Beca use of th e
the u s urpe r. Ma king th e wrong tiona l ro ll of "bad ome ns weather, the tim e r em a ining to
choice will cost them dearly in the Inc reases the duration of the dan- complete the project is increased
e nd . If they s upport the king, a nd ger period a nd requ ires a ll rolls of from 18 weeks to 29 weeks.
he Is defeated. then they will be in 20 or less to be re-rolled. Furth er
a bad position to negotiate with the results of "bad omens" Increase The fourV) month rolls around.
new ruler. If they support the th e h azardous ti m e, but do not fur- with the PCS and laborers h oping
us urper a nd he loses. then th ey are th er modi fy the die rolls. that It will be better. The dice come
tra itors to the crown and will prob- lip a 94. Indica ting a civil war In
ably be executed or banis hed from Natural Disaster the kingdom. The p es decide to
the ki ngdom. support the king. and travel to him
Th e m ost horrib le o f even ts. a with n ews. While they are there.
Adve nture possibilities run ram- natural disaster might range from /Jo wever, they attempt to convince
pant here , and the good OM will re- a n earthquake or volcanic e rup- /JIm to " let t/Jem olTt/Je hook " for
quire much role-playing before the tion to a nood. tornado. or meteor donations to his war elTort. They
civil war draws to a close. Just as point out the damage done to the
castle by last mont/J'S sever e

65

weather and remind his majesty of work must be hail ed for t.he year. end. The last roll on the even ts ta-
the imporlance of the castle to his ble comes up a 00, indicat.lng a
At the start of th e next season. natural disaster. The DM sets up
defense against the m ons t.ers In an advent u re to give th e player 's a
the swamps. The DM decides that bad w ea ther delays the project by
they have made their case well. chance at thwarting it. but they
shown theIr loyalty to the crown. four weeks. While this upsets the are unable to do so. Massive floods
and deserve a break after last r aise the water Jevel in the moors.
PCs. th ey remember the dimcul-
month's events. The king agr ees softening the earth . and ca using
that their efforts to complete the ties of the first year and consider the k eep to sink into the m orass
casLle are far more imporlant and f o re ve r .
that he can deal with the rebels themselves lucky.
himseJ[ T h e DM absolves the play- As th e last of the battlem en ts Is
Construction res umes with a roll fl naJJy consumed by the mud and
ers of their responsibilUies and of 27 for the next month indica- wa ter. their st.one giant assistant
ting that four more weeks of work turns to his sons. "That'S why you
does not Impose the normal penal- are done. The end is right around should never build a castle In a
ties associated with this event on the corner! T her e Is only one week
them. Thus. the month 's labor of work Jefllo do! swamp".

goes as planned. l eaving only 25 As those ofyou who own a copy
of the Campaign Sourcebook and
more weeks to compleLion of the Catacombs Guide know. the Cas-
tle o n the Moors Is fated for a bad
cas Lle.
Next m onth's roll is a 29. allow-

Ing four m ore weeks ofgood work
to be done. There ar e now 21
weeks of labor left on the castle.
However, 20 weeks have passed

and the season (which is only 2 1
weeks long) Is coming to an end.
The PCS order work stopped for

the year and throw a grand feast to

thank the workers for their efforts

over the past few months.

Winter passes through th e
moors and work is ready to begin

again the next year. For the first

four w eeks, h ow ever. the random
event roll is a 98. indicating bad
omens. The pes decide to halt

work and walt for things lO im -
prove. Five week s pass without in-
cident. and the bad om en s fade
fr om promin en ce. Con stru ction
can begin agaln.

Next m onth's roIJ is a 19. indica·
ling clear sa fling for th e cas tle
crew. There now remain only 17
weeks of work to do.

The n ext three months also pass
without problem. 1\velve more

weeks of work are added to the pro-
ject. leaving only 5 m ore to go.

Wint er Is closing in. however. and

66

The Castle on the Moors

1 Storage
2 Kitchen
3 Great Hall
4 Day Room
5 Bedrooms
6 Lord's Office
7 Knight's

Bedrooms
8 Work Areas
9 lbwers

67

The castle design system pre- W hen a charac ter constructs a m eager looking exter ior for tifica-
sented in the previous chapter has keep. m ore often k nown as a pal· tio n s. suggesti n g to the passerby
been purposefully Simplified. The ace or castle. h e must remember to that litlle is held within. Once in
reason for this is fairly obvious- build all facets of his estate in hi s domain. however. a thiers keep
by keeping it simple we have made larger than life proportions. That wi ll be ado rn ed w ith preci ous
it easy to use and kept it highly is. if he desi res a moat to surrou n d silks. beauti fu l scu l ptu res. and
versatile. In this chapter we will his keep. m ake it a lar ge m oat. fi n e statues. Gold an d silver p lates
discuss some of the more unusual measuring hundreds of feet w ide. and eatin g uten sils w ill be set at
types of castles that may be found I f h e plans on building a wall. the tables and a variety of servants
in the typica l AD&D® game. In make It two or three limes as thick a n d u n derlin gs w ill se r ve aged
some cases. w here it seems and high as the stan dard Euro- wines and succulen t foods of every
needed. we have included notes on pea n wal l. variety. In short. thieves lik e the
the use of the casLie design system . good life. and they do tend to pam -
In oriental kingdoms. land is per themselves w h en they can.
Oriental Designs gained eith er by grants from a no-
ble lord or in conquest and aggres- A stronghold w ill often start out
T he oriental em p ires of the sion. Rarely w ill a lord obtains as nothing m ore t han a large
twelfth. thirteenth. and fourteenth land by Royal Charter. In addition. wooden buildi n g. As time goes by.
centuries though t in terms of great the practice of o ne lord b u ying i t m ay develop into a stone build-
achievemen ts and m agnificent land from another is un h eard o f. ing if t h e t h ief becom es ve ry su c-
s tructures. Wh ile feu dal Europe cessfu llater in life. As h is for tunes
lacked the popu lation and re- Honor is the driving force b eh ind grow. so does his estate. Unlike
sources to build anyth ing more oriental castles. lb create a m igh ty warr iors. who often setout to build
than a motte an d bailey. or in t h eir fortress is to gain hon or. lb make it a m ighty fortress. thieves find that
greatest ach ievem en t. con struc t a also a work o f art. is to p rove one- t h eir keeps j u st evol ve ar oun d
concentr ic castle. the orienta l em- self a wise and thoughtful lord. By them .
pires engaged in m assive develop- com bining these elements. an orl-
ments. T heir work s were beyond ental lor d may pr ove h imself to his The inter ior and the basemen ts
anyth in g i m aginable by med ieval peers and h is beloved an cestors. beneath such a b uilding w ill be a
Europeans. maze of rooms and corridors. some
Thieves' Castles laced w ith leth al t r aps for any fool-
The palace of Shi H uangdi. for ish invader . The former character-
examp le. requ ired the effor ts of Thieves' cas tles. or strongholds. istic is often the result of the
700.000 slave laborers working for castle's growth . while the latter is
more than two years. By the tim e are almost always built closer to an in tentional safegu ard. In gen -
the palace was fin is h ed it cou ld major ce n ters of civi lizatio n than eral. since the th ler s stron ghold is
h ou se and en tertain 10.000 typical warrior holdings. T h ieves so close to a town or city. an d
gu est s. rarely seek lan d t;:harters or g rants. within the boundaries of another
and only in a ver y few instances lord's estate. he rare ly wo r ries
Oriental empires are obsessed w ill they take land by force. More abou t large scale invasion . Rath er.
with size and grandeu r. T hey do common ly. th e th ief si m ply buys a the th ief m ust contend with his
not thin k twice abou t building gi- small parcel o f land. usually near ow n kind. who are fond of slipping
gan tic statues that stand a h un- or wi thi n a town or great City. I f in and stealing a bau ble or two.
dred feet tall. or construc ti ng need be. and the situation presents
3.000 t erra-cotta sta tues o f foot itsel f. a thiefw ill also lease t h e land Wizards' Keeps
soldiers to be placed i n a tomb. he requires to feed and care for his
W hen an oriental palace or castle retainers. Unlike most adventur- W izards. in general. are a
is b u ilt. it is looked on as a place of ing thieves. the com m on burglar haug h ty lot. Th ey prefer a se-
exqu isite beau ty. Thu s. all orien tal or h ighwaym en cares little for the cluded tower in some rem Ol e land
castl es ar e required to be built dangers and u nk nowns of virgin to a mi ghty keep in a civil i zed
with t he price and time in cre- coun t ryside. besides t h ere is noth - coun trysid e. A wizard is also far
m ents for "orna te" stru c tures. ing to steal in the wild lands. mor e interested in the esoteric

A thief will l end to go in for ve ry

69

realms of m agic. than in m a in tain - tress is not m ade or brok e n by the statues. a nd foun ta ins. Suc h con ·
ing a la rge assemblage of servants . tith ing or by lar ge trac ts of land. s truc tions are assu m ed to be
reta ine rs. a nd farm ers. They will bu t by t he a bili ty of th e local present in any orna te cathedral.
rarely seek to becom e a lord and c hurc h to touc h upon the peas-
th us be forced to deal with the day an ts' hearts a nd souls . Th rough A religious fortress. unless lo-
to day activ ities of som e pe tty fief. th is uniq ue a bility. the re ligion will cated in la nds fra ught with da nger.
be stronger than any barony or will ra rely cons tru ct la rge defe n·
Wizards. with their c un ning in- fiefdom coul d ever hope to be- s ive walls or battlem e n ts. Som e reo
telligence and resourcefulness wil l com e. ligious temples may co n ta in a
alm ost always seek to gain a lan d nu m be r of unde rground con s tr ue·
c harter or gran t from the preva il- In m ost real ms it is as bad to tlons su ch as la rge wine cellars. se·
ing gove rnm e nt. So m e w izar ds ha ve no religion as it Is to have no cre t a bbeys, long tw is ting tun nels.
may a ttempt to take la nd by force laws. Any decent and re ligiou s or a n umber of undergrou nd
bu t. as wizards are not known fo r lord will be all but required to con- c h a mbe rs used for var ious pu r·
their ba ttle prowess . they usu ally s truc t a te m ple or c h urc h firs t on poses.
leave that m ethod to the warriors or near the s ite of h is own castle.
and knights. Thus, a priest's fortress can . a nd A priest will m ore tha n likely be
give n a land gra n t from the head of
Wizards' keeps are always con - man y of tim es will b e. fo u n d his religious ins ti tution . In som e
s tructed of s tone and m ore ofte n with in the boundar ies of a nothe r cases, howeve r, la n d m ay be ac·
than not contain a moa t with some lord's ba rony. q uired by Royal Charte r. On ra re
terrifying beast to keep the m a ny occasions. priests m a y com e into
distractions a t bay. As one migh t In certa in ra re occ a s ion s. a possession of the land they desire
im agine. the use of magic in the afte r a fi e rce c rusade agains t a n
construction of a wizard 's towe r of· priest m a y go off in to t he wilde r· opposing faith. In s uc h cases. the
ten overs hadows the comm on folk ness to construct his own fo rtress. m ora le of the local wor k force is
who migh t be caJled u pon to bu ild bu t in s uch cases the priest's goal likely to be poor. a t best.
it. ThIes m ay be told for ge ne ra- is seclus ion . As a rule. hi s reti nue
tions to com e of the grea t m agicia n a nd a mbitions will te nd to be far Priests. de pe nding on their doc-
who buil t his home with a brillia n t s m a ll e r than those of h is city tr ines, moralities. a n d a lign m en t.
dis play of fire and m agic - a n d a dwelling bre th re n. will eithe r favor s la ve ry an d the
little help from the towns fo lk. use of fear and pain as induce·
A priest's fortress will always be m e n ts. or will re vile agains t the
Priests' Fortresses made of s trong s tone, unless the use of s uch horrors a nd hire their
s urrounding la nd a nd people a re local wor kers with gold a nd divine
In m ost fa n tasy en vironme nts too dimin utive to support s uch a offerings of assis tance (bleSSings .
religion will be an enorm ous ins ti- cons tru ction or his fa ith forbids its worki ng of wonde rs. curi ng. heal-
tution . covetin g la rge tracts ofl a nd ing. salva tion . e tc. ).
a nd hoarding la rge coffe rs of trea - u se. T h e fort ress w ill ac t a s a
s ure a nd tribute . Pr ies ts' te m ples s hield agains t ou ts ide Infl uences Paladins' Castles
will vary in s ize a nd s hape cons id- as much as the cas tle's walls do.
e ra bly. depending on the type of T h e paladin c ha rac te r will con ·
cli mate. the lay of th e land . and the In a ny e ve n t; the fortress will s truc t a cas t le that is s im ilar to the
people of the area . us ually be opu len t in every aspect ge nera l outli nes presen ted in the
of its design . Where pOSSible. roofs bas ic construc tion syste m . How-
Once a priest b uilds h is for tress. of bu ildings will be worked m e ta l ever. they will also ha ve a num ber
th e cha rac te r will ofte n receive fi· s uc h as coppe r. and pla ted with s il- of design ele m e nts that are s imila r
na ncia l s u pport from th e commu· ver. gold , or othe r luxurious to those of a priest's castle. After
nity in the form of tithes . in th eory m etals . Un less the te ne ts of the all . a paladin is a m ixtu re of war-
equa l to a ten th of the loca l tow n 's fai th fo rbid it. a priest 's fortress rior eth ics an d d ivine m ora li ty.
worth. This. on more tha n one oc· s hould always be ornate.
casion . has cau sed rifts between In tru th , the palad in has th e bes t
lord and religion. The pries t's for· The centerpiece of the priest's of both worlds. From the very be·
fo r tres s is th e large cath ed ra l gin n ing . the pa ladin 's castle will
s truc tu re a t its heart. Th is portion
of the keep con tains th e greatest
a m oun t of adorn m en ts including
fri ezes. facad es, co lonn a des,

70

be looked on with e n vy by the Rangers will also demand less in composed of large. se m i-dressed
warrior lord and peasantry a like. tracts of la nd . fo r they will hold the Slone blocks.
The paladin 's castle will be con- vie w that the land is not for them
structed In t he form of a typical alone. A ranger c haracter will ask Around the keep itse lf will be
keep. ullll zing the best technologi- for very little la nd if offe red a Roya l gardens and paths. In fact. hall ·
cal achievem en ts possi ble for the Charter or la nd grant. Un like a ways a nd rooms built from living
area, At the heart of h is caslie. typical warrior or pala din . a ranger shrubs and trees are not uncom·
ra rely has h igh Ideas of co ntrol ling ma n . Druids will u se their magiCto
however. will be his te mple or the vast tracts of la nd a nd people. A affect the ra te of growth of these
c hurch to h is de ity. ranger wi ll work best with n o· rooms. co nstru cting them in a
m a dic or se m i· noma dic people. frac llon of the lim e that might be
The paladin c harac ter will ofte n since his idealogy would ma tch required if they were m olded na tu ·
gain th e land for his kee p through those types of cullures. In su ch ra lly.
his or he r crusades aga ins t infi dels cases. a ranger Ignores the us ua l
or ev il c reatu res a n d em pires. Prod u c ti on Modifier associated Along with the garde ns a nd nat·
While any pa ladin of note Is a lmost with such peoples. In h is case. t he ural room s. druids will cons truct a
assured La receive a Royal Charte r PM is assum ed to be 1.00 for bot h number or dens. both of stone and
or land gran t in Lime. th ey prefer societies. wood. for woodland creatures s uc h
the more direct met hod of acqulr· as wolves. bears. and other such
ing la nd by conquest. Druids' Shrines beasts. These a nim als will act as
guards and sen tries. e nabling the
A Paladin wil l ne ver use s laves A dru id c ha rac te r will cons truct druid and his close retainers to
or use inducem e nts of fear and a castle somewhe re between tha t concentrate on more pressing mat-
pain to acquire workers for th e of a ranger and that of an elf. Utill z, ters.
construction of his keep. Rather. ing the styles of both with grace
the anoi nted knight wUl use pay· and splendor. Rarely will druids use or ask for
mentsof gold and his d ivine gifts of help In cons lrUc ting their esta tes
healing to a id the local peasan try. A druid obta ins hi s land almost fr om the local peasa ntry. Th e
Since a paladin is a lmost certainly exclusively through the use of a d ruid would rather take his retain·
a great hero who is beloved by the Royal Cha rte r. though m ay u se the e rs. followers. a n d special h ire·
masses. recruillng workers is sel· othe r methods in certain ra re occa· lings a nd carve ou t his s hrine at a
dom a problem. s ions. A druid will ask s peciOcally more leisurely pace. Druids will
for areas that a re heavily wooded never use s lave labor. nor use a ni ·
Rangers' Forts and that are rough a nd often mals of a ny nature abus ively. As a
mountainous. rule. thou gh . the work force of a
The ranger c haracte r will con· druid will consist of a great varie ty
s truct a kee p that is m odest and Once a tract of la nd has been of sy lvan beings. incl udi ng cen·
pracllcal. All castles built by s uc h fo und . the druid wi ll se t a bout taurs and similar creatures.
ch aracte rs are co nsidered to be clearing very s m all portions of th e
spartan in design a nd lac k a ny land. with a conservative eye to· Druids rarely con ce rn th e m -
trace of orna m e n taUon . Every ef· wards destroying anything of na t· selves with political endeavors or
fort is m ade to maintain the in teg' ural beauty. conquest. but have th ei r own in -
rity of the local land. The result of terests that occupy their time.
this te nde ncy is that a ra nge r will A typical druid shrine will be Druids. wUJ be m ore than happy to
rarely le ve l or clear the land . but comprised of a loose fi tti ng s tone live within the confines of a nother
will try to live off the la nd as best wall. looking more like a picket lord 's estate and become his loyal
he can . With his insights and a bil- fence that will a lso serve as a n as· vassal.
ity to commune with nature. his tronomical aid or in divina tion of
lands will a lways have ple ntiful spirits. In the heart of the s tone Dwarven Citadels
game a nd food. In addition . the wal l. which may be circ ular or
ranger will keep the s wamps a nd s quare . will rest a s tou t wooden The dwarve n style of livi ng and
th ic k brus h in his la nds as a na tu · keep . In some ra re instances. the their c ul ture radically diffe rs from
ral defense. lower leve l of the keep may be that of humans. Their unusual at·
tl tud es a nd tastes have resulted in

7t

t he con struction of castles and face t hat shields th e keep from air- men. In the sides of t he pit. they
keeps that are very strange to hu- borne attacks. open up w ide and taU tu n nels that
man eyes. radiate upward s at a sligh t angle,
From this plateau the dwarves usually no m ore than fifteen de-
As a rule. any castle that Is built d ig a single thi n road or path lead- grees. These hallways lead in turn
by h uma ns under the gU idance of ing to the outside world. Along its to the room s and great halls of the
dwarves will be assum ed to have length they m ay build one or more k eep.
workers of "average" skill or bet- barbicans or gatekeeps.
ter . Any structure built prim arily At the far end of each tu n nel is a
by dwarves will have workers of Along the plateau. the dwarves wide cistern holding water. From
"good" skill. The morale of a pri- ingeniously quarry stone from the t h ese great cha m bers. t h e dwarves
marily dwarven c rew is never rear of the cave and construct. draw their drinking and bath wa-
worse than poor. because they en- with c hisel and ham m er. both nat ter. Further. they employ this re-
joy working in stone more than faced and curved stone walls. Wi th source to powcr various w inches
anything else. the prec ision of fin e craftsm en. the o r m ech a n ical devices. Wasted
dwarves snap these broad blocks and unused watcr. runs down the
Dwarves tend to dwell under- of stone together with wood and sloping corridors where it falls into
ground. At the very least. th ey like s teel pins. The resul t Is a forti fied the pit. Thus. the bottom of the pit
to have a rocky shelf c loaking castle of unequ alled migh t. Pew will gradually fill with water and
them from the rays of the sun and kiva citadels have ever fallen into be used to maintain a school offish
stars. They have three basic castle enemy hands. and those that have similar to those raised i n the kiva
types that Include the Kiva design. were taken only after a major loss citadels.
the Pit and Cistern design. and the of life to t h e attackers.
Spoked Well design. Spoked Well Design
Withi n the kiva c itadel. t he
Dwarves hate slavery and w ill dwarves will have built cisterns of In this d esign. which is an off-
never u se s laves. or constru ct their water both for drinking and for use shoot of the pit and cistern citadel.
citadels with the u se of whips or as tanks for the breedin g of blind t h e emphasis is placed on numer -
through fear and Intimidation of catfish and lake trout. With such ous small pits. called wells. that
workers. On the other han d. provisio n s. the castle ca n with- rare ly exceed fifty feet in depth.
dwarves have the ability to o ffer s tand a prolonged Siege. From each well . a number of tu n-
great am ounts of gold . silver. nels radiale outward.
gems. and worked iron in the form Fit and Cistern Design
of weapons and arm ors as indu ce- In a number of cases. a pit and
ments in the recruiting of laborers. Unlike the kiva citadel. this de- cistern design has been co n verted
It should be noted. however. that sign type Is built completely un- over to a spoked well layout. wi th
dwarves in general are qu ite derground and normally on ly the central and older sha ft still
greed y and will not o ffer such constructed in areas with large out u sed as a reservoir for unused wa-
goods unless th e labor is superior outcropplngs of rock or dense clay ter and as a "farm" for various
or in great deman d. As a ru le. soi l. fish es.
dwarves will not hire other races to
do their work for them. Rather. In con struc tion of this type of Elven Sanctuaries
they prefer to labor at their own cas tle. t h e dwar ves first find a
steady pace. large suitable cave. If that is not Elves are very similar to humans
available, th ey will build u nder the in their ph ysical appearances and
Kiva Design shelter o f an expansive sh el f of can easily walk among men with-
hard stone. From there they dig out drawing too much attention.
The most radical design of the straight down. creating a vast pit Despi te their physical si milarities.
t hree is th e Kiva citadel. It Is built with a diam eter ranging anyw h ere however. elves are very d ifferen t
on a ledge or plateau of rock along from thirty to one hu ndred feet. mentally. with their concepts of
a sheer mountain face. Usually. material wealth and time being
thou gh not always. the structure is From th e walls of the pit. th e radically divergent from those of
capped with an extending stone dwar ves con struct a spiral stair-
case. wide and stou t enough to
hold mu les. ponies. h orses, and

72

humans. This is no more sharply ever feel cold. hungry, or isolated of better times and more plentiful
observed than in the construction in its living embrace. harvests in the area. Most human s
of their caslles. It should be noted. and demi-humans. i f t hey have
however. that the generally pacific In designing his sanct uary. an el- any sense, w ill q uickly agree to
nature of the elvish people leads ven c haracter will rarely. if ever. hel p th e elf. These workers will no
th em to call t h ei r keeps "sanc tu- enlist non -e leven races in Its con- doubt laugh beh ind the elfs back
aries". The thought of a castle as a struction, nor is it necessary to a t such undertakings since to
primarily militar y structur e is a claim a large tract of land to build them the sanctuary will look very
human invention . su ch a sanctuary on . In actuality. much the same w hen the workers
elves do not claim ter ritory as t.he are you ng as it does w hen they are
The largest and most prominen t younger races do. An elf will never old and feeb le.
difference in the design of a sanc- close th e door to his keep. so to
tuary is the amount ofUme an elfis speak. since he does not believe he Elves rarely clear land as hu-
willing to put into it. In human owns either the trees or the ground mans or other d emi ·hu m ans
terms the construction of a castle it is on; he is simply USing it. It is might. but will clear the ground of
is measured in years. Elves. on the worth noting. however. that elves debris su eh as rotting logs. danger-
other hand measure their con- w ill die to protect their forest cas- ous fens and marshes (where m on-
struction times in decades. Time tles from hostile In truders. ster may prowl). rocky pitfalls. and
means nothing to an elf. at least such. Elves tend to attain their
time as seen by humans. As they Elves also do not be lieve in slav- land th rough Royal Charters given
view it, there is little need to scurr y ery and will n ever u se force or pai n to them by elven courts. though
around like excited children build- as inducem en ts. Elves also rarely some impatien t elves w ill see k out
ing a snowman. offer gold or other monetary land grants from human or half-
awards as inducem en ts. but ling courts.
The construction of an elvish rather t he promise. a spoken con -
sanctuary starts with a basic idea, tract tha t has never b ee n brok en . The h istory of elven sanctuaries
much as any castle construction
does. From t h is starting point.
however. the elf spends his time
meticulously adding to his idea
nearly branch for branch. leaf for
leaf. A ll of these details he will
keep secret. for it is the love of the
elven people to hold sec rets great
and small.

As one might expect. elves build
their sanctuaries from living
things. 1b an el f. a hom e made
from cut and hewn wood is like liv-
ing in a mausoleum; the elves
barely put up with it from the
'younger' races. bu t the sigh t does
revile them . Cut stone is used In el-
ven sanctuaries. but it must never
cloak the sk y or cast large sha-
dows. Thus. stone is used as more
of an ornament than as a fortifica-
tion or dwelling.

Light and warm th are small con-
cern s in elven sanctuaries and
with a touch of magic and the gen-
erosity of elves. few visitors will

13

extends so far back that even the ate var ious sized gr een cou rt· The second concern for halfl lng
nea rly Im morta l elves do not re- yards. The trees that make up the holds Is tha t of storage space. A
mem ber the or igins of thei r de· ri ng will be worked and m olded by ha lO ing keep m u st have enough
sign. There are two gen eral sty les delica te and tender hands into dry SlOrerooms to outlive any but
of elven sanctu aries. the Gree n rooms to be u sed as s torage areas. the m ost prolonged of Sieges. In
Labyrint h design a n d the Blu e livi ng quarters. d ining areas. li· addition. the food kept here Is not
Ring design. brarles. or w hatever else is deemed salted meat or meager grains. but
necessary by the individ ual. fi nely preserved foods and good
Green Labyrinth wines. Hal fl ings will not sacrifice
Halfllng Strongholds their comfort over something as
The features of this type of sane· minor as an enemy attack. After
tuary are best und erstood If on e Although not well docume nted. a ll . A h ungry halOing is even more
imagines that he is fly ing above these s ma ll fo lk do on occasion un happy than a cold one .
the keep and looki ng down on it build stro ngholds a nd sizable cas·
with magical vision that can pierce ties. Of course. mos t halntngs Ha ln lngs In general will not use
the tops of the dense trees that would be content with a com fo rt· s laves or use pain and fear as an In·
make up It's roof. In this way. one able a nd clean hole in a boring lit· ducemen t to work. it's just too
could see that the green labyrin th tle valley far from adventure and messy and disruptive. Strangely
Is nothing more than a co m p li · In trigue. enough. however. halflings always
cated maze of greenery. have a litter of s m all gold a nd s ll ·
Whe n a halfl ing sets out to build ver Items lay ing about tha t they
The design of such a sanctuary a fortificatio n . It will a lmost a lways may te mpt workers wi th. Even
will take anywhere fro m several be of a s impler motte a nd bailey more stra n ge. is that a ft er t he
years If poplar and other fas t grow· design . After a ll. reaso ns the half- work is a ll done. they seem to have
Ing trees are used . to cen turies If li ng. there Is li ttle point In clu tter· regai ned a ll of their pretty th ings.
oak. maple. or spruce a re u sed to ing u p the coun tryside with a great
create the walls of the maze. In a ny mass of stone and timber. A lesser Halnl ngs dislike swampy
case. the entire maze is choked keep can do the Job Just as well a nd ground and w ill shy away from It,
with snares. b rambles. and sim ilar still provide fo r a com fo rtable a nd rather building in moderate and
natural hazards. happy home. As one migh t expect. temperate a r eas fu ll of sma ll
the dwarves fi nd halfling keeps to copses and shrubs with creeks
Within the labyrinth the elve n be. a t best. am us ing. Elves. on the fi lled with trout and tasty frogs.
lord can create room s. cham bers. other ha nd. can see a nd respect.
chapels. anyth ing desired. With the halfl lng's love of nature and its Gnomish Castles
the carefu l plann ing In herent to el· good ness as it is reflec ted in the
ven sanctuaries. an area of the for· more basic castle. T he gnom e Is a n anc ient brother
est can be grown In s uch a manner of the dwarf. wi th many s im ilari-
as to offer entwined branches that The main difference between a ties to the short but muscled men
act as a secu re roof. or create beau· ha lfling keep of this type and those of the dee p. Despite their s imilari-
tifu l cou rts and Hving halls. built by h u mans Is one of percep- ties. gnomes are very different
tions. In a halfllng mOlle a nd bai- from dwarves and build their own
Blue Circle ley. the tower on the motte is on ly sty les of castles.
the tip of the Iceberg. Nestled be-
This design obtains its name neath it is a maze of housing. Gnomes seem to be the rarest of
from the circles of blue sky tha t rooms. a nd nooks. de m i-h umans. bu t that's not be-
dom e th e ring of trees that make cau se t.hey have a low popu la tion .
up the sanctuary. This design ty pe Above all oth er concerns a half· Li ke the d warves. gnomes have a
is far less co mplicated. thoug h not ling stronghold m ust be com fort· very lopsided sexu al im ba lance .
necessarily a ny q u icker to de- able. In genera l a ll of Its rooms wil l with far more males than fe m a les.
ve lop. be plu s h and very well kept. and if Communities of gnomes are far
possi ble each will have its own fire- more recl usive. and prefer living in
The elven lord grows h is "cas· place or stove-a cold halfling is an huge underground environmen ts.
tle" In prede termined sized rings unhappy halfling. Rarely do gnomes venture to the
that. upon developme n t. will cre·

14

surface and seek lives under the and can withstand the ha rs hest
open s ky. Th e typical gnome e n- wea th er for hundreds of years.
joys a close knil relatio ns hi p with
other gnomes and in community Gnomes pre fer to go through
affai rs: they find very little need for their own kind to secure land
venturing In th e s trange lands of grants and Royal Charters. but on
the surface world. certain occasions, they may make
a quick journey to a nearby dwar-
The gnome doesn't have the pre- ven or even human court to ask for
occupation . like the dwarves, In the right of settlemen t.
taming nature under the hammer
and anvil. Nor is the gnome as pre· Orclsh Keeps
occupied with the preserva tion of
nature as the elves. The gnome. If Orcish keeps te nd to be primitive
like a ny race, is m ore akin to the and can be constructed just about
halflings who enjoy a good drink anywhere. They arc typically built
and a warm bit of food over adven- exclUSively by slave laborers. and
ture or intrigue. use excessive inducem ent by the
use of the whip and hot poker. As
Gnomes have one of the longest such. the morale of their workers is
life expecta ncies of any demlhu- almost always '"very poor'" and orc
man race-only the elves will out· task masters are forever bemoaning
live them . With this in mind the their fate a t having to work with
gnomes have a very laid back atti- such '" lazy'" servants.
tude In castle construction, very
often working on Individual con- Their forts are simply con·
structions by themselves or with struc ted by building a woode n pa l·
close friends and family. isade surrounded by a fie ld strew n
with boulders and s harp rock to
Gnomes will never use s laves or prevent any organized charge by
eve n offer inducements for th ose Infantry or ca lvary. This design
who don't openly offer their servo makes moving Siege weapons
ices. In the g nom e's mind, some· close almost Impossible without a
one being paid to perform work is great dea l of man ua l labor under
In reali ty a slave to the gold coi n , the crucl eye of the orc is h archers.
and will have the wrong frame of
mind in construction. Suc h work· On the Inside of the wooden pali-
ers will do Inferior work. sade, the bailey is nat except for a
s harp angled motte topped by a sim·
As for the actual design, a pie stone fan nonnally consisting of
the great hal) on the ground noor,
gnome prefers the spoked wheel elite troop and the lord's living ac·
designs of the dwarves. With the commodatlons on Ule second and
only difference in the two designs possibly third noors. and with any
being that the gnomish castle will upper stories delegated lO simple
be topped with a stone tower of defense. These noors will bristle
som e nature. usually rounded a nd with battlements and arrow slits.
with full battlem ents. T he gnome
will a lso build the kiva design base Orcs obtain land in but one way.
as well . When they do. they select by force. An ore hasn't the pa·
areas with large out outcropping of tience to wait for a Royal Charter
rock. using much stronger rock and rarely stands out from his
sheets to fo rm the kiva butldings. peers enough 10 meril the gift of a
In this way, the buildings are al· land grant.
most Impervious to outside attack

7S

Note: This chapter r efers to comfo rt a ble posillo n -a s om e- would be much beu er all around If
r ul es a nd con ce pts u sed i n what less uncomfo rta ble one , tear IJe jus t did n 't come back. Gr alnor
T SR's BATTLESYSTEM '" m i n - it. Here h e was, a ba ltle·scarred had seen what was left of the last
iatures rules. Since siege w ar- v eteran wifh som e two·score fleld commander to disappoint the
fare Is, by Its very· n ature, an h eads /.0 his p er sona l credit, and so War Chieftain. As an oreis h war-
acliv ity invol ving scores, hun - fa r in this campa ig n th e only op- rior, Gralnor was n o stranger LO
dred s or eve n tho u sands o f portunity he had to show his true physical ai.r ocities .. . but even so
troops, B ATTLESYSTEM " Is m ettle was to suffer s tOi cally a bad h e'd been i mpressed,
the sy stem of ch oice. Of cou rse,
this doesn ' t m ean th at sm all case of saddle-so res. Much more of A s to the fort ahead . Gener a l
segm en ts of a siege can 't be role- this and h e'd be as soft as a hu- Gralnor would much rath er ju st
played to grea t effect u sin g man, bottle it up-totally inf erdlc l a ll
s tandard AD& D® rules. supply routes a nd communica lion
Still. h e knc w t.ha t wou ld cha nge infO an d oul of Vle place, and then
Offensive Tactics soon cnoug h . Befo r e the day was wait , There couldn 't be m ore than
out. h e'd h a ,' e m or e weighty three weeks worth of food within
Gen er al Gralnor muttered a n , things to worry abou l tha n th e the wal ls, four at the outside. Th eil
o th er curse to Gruum sh the AIl- condition of his hindquarter s. the garrison would r esort to eating
Seeing. god of the or cs-in whom (.heir war dogs and their horses,
h e d idn 't quite believe. He s hifted The orc ish gen eral 's mission maybe even each other, Gralnor
on his saddle unLil he fo und a m or e had been made clcar to h i m - quite was n ', s ure a bout thaI lasl
painfully clear- by the War Chicf- thoug ht: his o nly r eal kn owledge of
lain. Reduce the elven forI tha l lay el ves was ho w to kill them. Another
a h ea d. If didn 't ma tter h ow, j ust
d o H. An d if h e did n ', su cceed . it

76

three weeks after that and his army me nt was laid. Interdic ting lines of Siege. Its effectiven ess d e pe nd s
communication ens ures tha t the la rgely on the castle's level of s up·
could scale the walls confident that garrison can ' t ca ll for help, a nd ply whe n the Investme nt was laid.
they'd meet no m eaningful resisl· must stand or fall on its own abili- Most castles are built around a well
ties. of some kind: un less the attackers
a nce from those within . are able to poison or otherwise
Elsewhere that would be a valid MedIeval Tactics eliminate this well. thirst s hould
not be a problem for the defenders.
lacUc; it even looked so here. ifyo u During th e true Medieval period. On the other hand . food soon will
investm e n t was the o nly via ble become a problem.
exam ined the fort in iso/aUon . But m e thod for deali ng with a fortiO ca·
tlon of any s ize. Without gun pow- The leve l of su pply varied widely
eight weeks was a long Ume. more de r (and without magic. of course). fo r his torical castles. Forts on the
a rmies had no practical means of border be tween England a nd Wales
than enough for r einfor cements to breaching walls any stronger than we re t rad itionally stocked with
be caJled by magical m eans. And log palisades. TI-ue, s iege engines e nough food fo r two months; Krak
s uc h as catapults and ba lJlstae had des Chevaliers, a Crusader castle in
Gralnor had no desjr e to parUcipate been used by the Roman s. but even what is now Syria. was provisioned
in the classical military slt.uation of these weren't overly effec tive for a full year. Other castles . partic-
against the s tone c urta in wa ll of a ularly those whose garrisons didn't
double encirclement. castle. Also. investments of the me- expect imm inent attack. might
dieval period were usually undc r- have had conSiderably lowe r levels
No, the walls would have to com e take n by s malle r-and freque ntly of supply.
less-organized-groups tha n were
down . And the sooner the better . .. later Sieges. Such groups wou ld Starvation
rarely have b rought Siege e ngines 1b si mplify what would other-
The general ofa force planning to a long with them. hav e access to
attack a caslle has a number of op- them after they reached the target. wise be a rather complex discus·
tions from which to choose. The or know how to build them . s lon , let's start with a fe w
right choice depends on a number assumptions. First. when a castle is
of factors Including the s ize of the The usuaJly s ma ller s ize of medi- said to have a certain level of provi-
target. the expected resistance. the eval Siege a rm ies had a nothe r can· s ion (for example. "the garrison
preSJ!nce or absence of heroes (on seq u e nce: t here we re s imp ly has two weeks' worth offood"), this
both sidesJ. the presence or ab- InsuffiCient troops to set up a com - amount represen ts a daily ration
sences of fantastic beasts, the mag· ple te cord on arou nd th e fortif- just ba rely s ufficient for u nim -
ical capabilities of both forces. the ication. Ins tead. the a ttacker would paired functioning (the assumption
c hance of counterattack or reller. typically just block off a ll gates and is that a norma lly-func tion ing cas·
s upply co nst ra ints. ter rain and other porta ls Into a castle. concen· tie will have a constan t influx of
weather conditions. More impor- tra tlng its forces a t these key fresh food). Cu tting the rations a ny
tant than these, however. are three points. A sensible gen eral would further would lead to malnutrition.
othe r fac tors: the stze of the attack- place a pic ket line of soldiers to with effects similar to those of out-
ing force, the general's estim ation keep watch on Ule rest of the build- a nd -out starva tion . Seco ndly.
of his or her army's morale. and the ing. Even so. it would us ually be Lroops can remain totally out of
length ofUme wi th in whic h the cas- possible for someone In side the cas· s upply for five days without s how-
tle must fall . tie to escape at night-either over ing a ny physical symptoms of s ta r-
the wall or through a concealed vation.
In general. th ere a re two distinct passage and flee the area to s um·
techniques for defeating a fortlfica· ma n help. In BATTLESVSTEM"" ga m e
tion: investment, and reduction. te rm s. progr ess ive starvation
T he attacker's purpose, of through lac k of supply can be
Investment course. is to prevent resupply a nd viewed as a form of attack. It a lso
reinforceme nt to the castle under has effects on moraJe. These effects
In its simplesl tenus. investment fall Into th ree categories:
is wha t most people think of when
they hear the word "stege": cutting
offaccess to and escape from a forU -
fi cation . Interdic ting lines of supply
e ns ures that no food s hlpmentscan
make It Into the castle: the garrison
is thus limited to the supplies on
hand a t the mome nt the invest-

77

Morale decrease s maller-su ffer less of an effect Day Effect
On a regular basis. the morale fro m attri tion . This is because the I Decrease m orale by 1
nasty stuff tha t star Ving soldiers 6 Automatic morale check
base for each unit am ong the garri- grub up during a Siege isn't too far (no option for retreat)
son decreases by 1. These d e- out of line from thei r regular diet. 7 Attrition occurs
creases a re cumulative. a nd These troops roll for attrit ion us ing
remain in effect until the fortifica- Id4. but th e total number of hits Il Decrease mora le by 1
tion is relieved, or until it falls. In ei- 14 Attrition occurs; automatic
ther case, the morale of survivin g from these rolls is decreased by
troops returns to nonna l as soon as 25% (round fractions up). Thus. m orale ch eck
they are once more In com plete the attrition dice rolled for gObli- 2 1 Decrease mora le by 1: attri-
s upply. nold troops and th e resuiling hits
are kept separate from those rolled tion occurs
Morale checks for other troops in the garrison. 22 Automatic morale check
The total num ber of hits (after the 28 Attrition occurs
Regular morale checks reflect the 25% reduction) is stil l su mmed. 30 Automatic morale check
debilitating effect of being ou t of however. and the defending com- 3 1 Decrease m orale by 1
supply. Eventually. units will be- 35 Attrition occurs
come sha ken . and commanders mander can decide how best to al· 38 Automatic morale check
must make an elTort to rally them if locate those h its. This pa rtia l 41 Decrease m orale by I
they wish to make sorties against amelioration of attrition effects 42 Attrition occurs
the inves ting forces. can be extended to other troop
types. a t the OM's option. On Day 45, any units still In good
AUrWon order automattca ll y become
Fig ures representtng individ- shaken, and shaken units can no
Tt)is fepresen ts actual death or uals of size M or even size L never lo nger be ra llied. Attrition con-
incapacitation due to starvation . s uffer attrition ("one person can al- tinues to occur every seven days
Each time a ttrition is scheduled to ways find enou gh to eat"). Figures (on Days 49. 56. 63. 70. etc.) unti l
occur, the defender must roll Id4 rep resenting creatures of sizes th e garrison s urrenders or is to-
for each figure In the total garr i- grea ter than L (dragons, for exam - tally eliminated.
son. The result of each roUls taken
individually: t he r olls are not ple) are a differen t case. however. In terms of gam e mec ha n ics. as-
su mmed. Using the Combat Re- Since th ese hu ge creatu res will s ume that mora le effects and attri-
sults l able. compute the total genera ll y be ha ndl ed throu gh tion occur at sundown on the day
numbe r of hi ts that th ese rolls AD&D® rules anyway. attrition is in question.
have cau sed. Now the defe nder handled through saving throws
must distribu te these hits as he or
she sees fit against the garrison . and hit pOints. Each li me the garri-
Note that Ar mor Ratings have no son is scheduled to undergo a ttri-
effect on attrition . Giving the de- tion. each h uge creature mus t save
fender a choice as to where to ap- versus staves with a - 5 pena lty or
ply these hits represents a de-
fending general's ability to a llot lose a number of hit pOlnts equal to
what little food is available to the 25% of Its hit paint total when a t
most importan t troops. fu ll strength.

Larger creatu res (s ize Lan d Undead a nd elemen ta l creatu res
greater) need proportiona tely more are not affected by hunger. and so
food than smaller ones. When cal· are immune to attrition.
cula ting hits from attrition . use Id6
for each figure of s ize L or larger The following chart outlines
creatures. rather than Id4. when each of the above effects
takes place. Consider " day 1" to be
Goblinoid and gian t-class crea- the nrst day that the garrison is to·
tures-but on ly those of s ize M or tally out of supplies.

18

Thirst creatures are not affected by thirst, s ma ll force encamped directly out-
Lack ofwater has a much swifter and so are immu ne to attrlUon . side the gate.

effect than lack of food . Morale ef- Later Periods Complete enc irclement made it
fects are the same as with s tarva- mu ch m ore difficult for the de-
lion ; whe n a ttrition occu rs. roll During la ter periods. particularly fe nders to send word of their pre·
Id4 for each figure In the defend- in Western Europe. the nature ofin- dlcam en t to al lies who could come
ing garrison . For the following ta- vestme n t changed co nsiderab ly. a nd relieve them. Finally. shou ld
ble. Day l is again the first day that Rather than concentrating entirely relief finally corne to the besieged
the garrison has run ou t of water. on closing the gates. the attacker fo rtifica tion , the attackers would
would often go to great efforts to to- be dee ply entren ch ed . equ a ll y
Day Effect ta lly e nclose th e cas tle within ready to re pel a sortie from withi n
I Decrease mora le by 2 s iegeworks, often elaborate enough or a n attack from withou t.
3 Automallc morale check to b e considered s tro ng ho lds In
(no opllon for retreat) their own right. S uch an enclosure Fantastical Combat
4 Attrilion occurs often comprised two distinct sys-
S Decrease mora le by I temsofwallsand trench es: linesof When magiC. non -human troops
6 Automatic morale ch eck "circumvallaUon" (faCing the coun - and the occasional monster are
7 Attrition occurs try) and "coun tervallalion " (faCing thrown into the mix, investm ent
S Decrease morale by I the besieged fortress). These siege- ta kes on a totally new aspect. Sor-
9 Attrition occurs: automatic works first appeared as tentative ti es can be considerably more ef-
morale check experim e nts around Milan in IS22 fecti ve if led by a gian t or two. the
and grew into the elaborate con- attackers must concern them-
10 Decrease morale by I s tructions besieging Grave in 1602. selves with possible air-lifts. and
II . Attrition occu rs: a utomatic s upply takes on a new significance
The principle of complete end r- si nce hungry mons ters are less
mora le check clem ent had a num ber of be nefi ts likely to fo llow battle plans ...
in a gunpowder -free ca mpaign
On day 12. a ll units sti li In good (and ma ny more wh en Siege can- The options for the attacker are
order a utom aticall y beco m e non were available). T h e firs t was many. Magical s pells like wizard
shaken . and ca n no longer be ral · defense for the a ttackers. Rath er lock o r pe rhaps ho ly sy mbo ls
lied . Attrition occurs eve ry second tha n taki ng up positions to guard might be used to deny the use of
day (o n days 13. I S. 17. 19, etc. ) the ga tes-often nearer to the the castle's ga tes to its own garri-
until the garrison s urre nd ers or Is walls tha n was comforta ble- and so n . The potential uses for power-
lOtallyelimlnated . ha ving to suffer with eri ng fi re ful batt le m agiClike finger of dea th
fro m the battleme nts. th e a lLack- s pells are obvious. and the effects
In terms of game m echa nics, as· ers could s heller behind rampa rts of s uch dweomers a re covered in
sume that m orale effects a nd a ttrl- and breastworks. the BATTLESYSTEM'" miniatures
lion occur a t sundown on the day rul es. Even if the attacker prefers
in question . The slegeworks a lso provided keeping up the investment to fo rc-
defen se In depth . 1b break out of Ing entry. there's no reason why a
Certain creatures a re more af- th e e nCirclem ent. a sorli e would m aglcally·endowed cha racter or
fected by wa ter loss (liza rd men , for have to leave th e casUe , cross th e group of characters couldn 't enter
exam ple). For troops of this type. " no- ma n 's-Iand" between It a nd the castle (via a pass wall spell , for
roll Id6 per figure for a ttritio n. the siegeworks-a prime killi ng example). a nd engage in a little
rather than Id4. Truly amphibian ground . s hou ld th e attacking force mayhem or assassination.
creatures such as bullywugs or have a ny number of arc hers or
grung are affected even more; roll mus keteers at a ll-th en fig ht its The attacker m u st also be on
IdS per figu r e fo r th ese troop way over or lhrough th e a ttackers' guard agaInst the many options
types. own fortincations. This would ty p- open to the defender. For example.
ically prove much m ore difficu lt the attacking troops must be ready
For desert--dwellIng creatures. de· than bursting Lhrough a rela tively to re pel sort ies led by fantasti c
crease all hits from thirst attrition
by 2S %. Undead and elem ental

7.

"shock troops" that m ightor m ight sum mon help, h arass t h e attack- heroes. or a sorcerou s d uel be·
not be illusory. It is usually a good ing troops, or eve n ferry in sup· twee n spe ll cas ters . Of cou r se.
idea to hav e mages sta tion ed pli es. The attac king com m and er there's no guar an tee that the los·
around the perimeter to analyze must be prepared. with ar chers or ing side in such an exercise would
and perhaps counter these threats. wizards ready to engage from the follow through with their side of
gr ound. or flyi ng creatu res to dog- the b ar gain , but th is is an age of
Magic makes it much easier for fight with the enemy. chivalry and honor.
the defenders to send troops over
the wall wi thout being observed. Cer tai n thin gs become i mpos- Reduction
These troops might simply be on a
mission to su mmon hel p. or might sible for the attacker. Th ere's noth- In a tru e m edi eval setting.
be c harged w i th destroyi ng t h e be· ing th e m ost skilful gen era l can do reduction-that is. forc ing en try
siegers' su pply dump or assassi- to preven t a spellcaster wiUlin the into a castle by storming the walls
n a ting t h e attacking command er. castle from teleporting elsewhere or gates-was simply not a viable
Skirmish er s stationed arou nd the to recruit h elp, Si milarly, a power- optio n in m ost cases. The tec hnol-
perimeter, or regu lar p atrols. be· ogy just didn't exist to break down
come more Important. If a break· ful enou gh mage can s ummon or a well-built stone wall. and the
out in force occurs, cavalry should ga te i n reinforcemen ts. d espit e the gr eatl y superior position of th e
be available to run t h e en emy to garrison-shielded by battle-
ground and mop up. tightest encirclement. ments. towers and bastions-
made i t possible for a handful of
The defen ders can use n y ing Historically, d u els betwee n sin · troops LO h old off an ar my many
creatu res. or mages equipped with gle champions or sm all groups tim es super ior in numbers.
appropriate spells or items. to were som etimes used to decide
vicLOry i n a battle. Similar circu m -
stan ces could arise in a Siege: sin -
gle combat bel\veen oppOsing

8.

This is not to say that armies In a ny case, the a ttacki ng gen- hits per 1" (10 feet in scale) of
didn't try. of course. The value of a eral has a number of options w hen height- makes sense as an aver-
castle was just too great for an in- it comes ti me to force en try into a age, the actual number of hits can
vading army to ignore. While th ey fortificatio n . The fo llowing exam - range from 6 hits per I " of he igh t
cou ld certainly bottle up the garri- ples a re certai nly the mos t com - to as high as 15 hils pe r 1" for sin ·
son and prevent them from having mon ly u sed . gula rly ela borate towers.
any say in curre nt even ts. the cas-
Escalade Siege towers are vulnerab le to
tle continued to be a threat. As
long as a castle and its garrison reo Why bother to break down the fi re a ttacks, as described on page
mained untaken , the defenders walls of a castle when you can sim - 86 of th e BATTLESVSTE M r ules .
could harass the invaders' lines of ply go over them? In renaissance Troops within an ign ited siege
supp ly or communi ca tion and. ti m es, the task of ge tting troops tower s uffe r casualties as if they
whe n the attacki ng force with- over the walls into the fortification were the ta rget of an AD 8 a ltack
drew. emerge from th ei r refuge was som etim es called "escalade".
and regain control of the coun try- Methods for scaling walls include on each turn they remain In the
side. ladd ers, grapples a nd Siege towers. burning s truc ture. If they don't
immediate ly leave t h e bu rnin g
T his c hanged with the in troduc- The standard BAITLESVSTEM'" tower. th ey must also make a Mo-
tion of gunpowder. Ifleft to its own mi n iatures rules (page 80) cover rale Check. at a-I pe nal ty. a t the
devices. a well -equipped attacki ng the u se of ladde rs and grapples. beginning of the second turn.
force skilled in the lise of cannon and the co nsequences of trying to
scale a defended wall. More details The weigh t of Siege towers
co uld eve ntu a ll y r ed u ce the are necessary on Siege towers. makes It very difficu lt to move
strongest fortifica tion to rubb le_ however. them. The BATTLESVSTEM
The bravery of the garrison's rules state (page 84) that th ey can
tro~ps ' or th e skill o f Its com - Siege Towers be moved up only the gentlest of
mander come to mean little when T hese massive. cumbersome s lopes. and at that on ly If propelled
unopposed cannon systematically by tw ice the us ual number of fig-
pound the walls into gravel. If the creations ranged from simple scaf- ures. S hould it be necessary to
Siege was co nducted correctly, the folds of hastily-felled trees. some- move the Siege tower downhill - in
attacker could be almost certain of times with little or nothing to th e rare case of a castle set in a de·
eventual success. Of course, protect those within . to elaborate pression or dell or surrounded by
"even tual " Is definitel y the key enclosed s lructures with su ch re- earth ramparts-the same rule ap-
word. The attacking general must fin e m e nts as hinged shutters and plies: the tower can negotiate a
even s m a ll draw -brid ges to s lope no steeper than 1" rise or fa ll
be ready to commil a lot of effort stream lin e access to the tops of the for ever y 12" of horizonlal dis-
and tim e. and to s pe nd a lot of castle's walls. Siege towers often tance. and eve n then only if twice
men. in orde r to su cceed. Some provide thei r occu pa nts with some the normal nu m ber of figu res pro-
his torians s tate that. with the bon us to AR against missile weap- pel it. Note that additional m otive
widespread introduction of the ons. Depending on the particular force won't make It possible for the
cannon . th e day of the castle be- tower's construction. this bonus
gan to come to an end. can ra nge from - 2 (for target fi g- tower to negotiate steeper grades.
ures protected by a n open door- S heer mass is n 't the only problem:
The situation changes even way or wi ndow) to -4 (for target havi ng a s ma ll base a nd h igh cen-
more In a fantasy enviro nme nt. In figu res behind loopholes or arrow ter of gravity. towers a re typica lly
fact, it can be argued that tradi- s lits). rather unstable, a nd wou ld topple
on a steeper s lope regard less of
tional caslles make no sense in a This varia lion in construction moUve force.
magic-rich fantasy cam paign. Is it a lso a ffects t he s turdin ess a nd
logical to invest years of labor and "survivability" of a Siege tower. Al- Intelligent opponents would rec-
m any thousands of gold p ieces in a though the figure for h its given in ognize tha t wrecking the w heels of
castle when a low-level mage the BATTLESVSTEM ruies-IO an ap proaching Siege tower will
could - theore tica ll y, at least- render it use less. and would proba-
approach the gate invisibly and bly concen trate their a ttac ks on
open it with a knock s pell? these targets. Assume tha t a Siege

s,

tower that has s us tained 25% of Its Airborne Operations a ttacking unit must have enough
total number of hits has been im- In a fa n tasy world. it's easy to room to dive to the attack. a nd to
mobilized . Re pa irs can be made. pu ll out safely a fter the attack is
but require the participation of at imagine many other tec hniques complete.
leas t 20 troops (two fi g ures ) fo r ge tting troops over a castle
equipped with tools and materials. wa ll. The BATTLESYSTEM"" rules Diving causes a fl ying un it to ac·
and take 2-6 hou rs . During this (page 72) covers s uc h tactics as cele rate (this is represen ted by the
pass-by attacks a nd vertical envel- bonus of I " to forward moveme nt
tim e. these troops a re ex posed to opmen t. but th ese rules mus t be for each 3" dived), and this addi-
missile fi re. so m ew hat mod ified (or a t leas t
clarified ) to take into account the tiona l s peed migh t be difficult to
Other Climbing Techniques close q ua rters of a fortified envi- "bleed off '. As a rule of thumb, a
Thieves can use their climbing ronm en t. diving unit mus t ex pen d 1/4
(rounded down) of its total move-
skills to help them scale a wall . in Ground a ttac k-w her e a flyi ng men t a llowance for each 3" (or por-
the a bsence of ladde rs or g rapples. unit lan ds an d then attac ks a
Although very unlike ly. It's possi- g round unit-Is viable. but o nly if tion thereon it dives.
ble that a unit of on e or m ore fig- there's enough space for the e n tire For example, a fl yin g unit (ma-
ures might be deSigna ted as fl ying uni t w hen it lands. This be-
having th ief skills. This ra re even t com es a significa nt issu e in close ne u verability class C) has a base
m ight occur s hould one thieves' quarters. s uch as in the courtyard
guild be trying to force en try into of a castle. If walls or outbuildings move m e nt a llowance of 12" ,and it
the stronghold of a n o ther such m ake it impossible fo r the e ntire dives 6". For the turn in whic h it
guild . for example. S ince s u c h attacking un it to land. those fi g- dives, its actual m ovem en t allow-
trooRs c::ou ld theoretically assist ures fo r w hich the re is no space a re a nce is 14" (l2 " plus 2 " bon us for
each other. It becom es easier to as- re moved fro m play. They a re as-
s ume that a ll of the m will complete s um ed to have com e to grief by diving). During the dive it picks up
the ascent unless they a re op- s lamming in to walls or buildings . so m uc h speed that it must use 1/2
posed. If they are opposed . how- While a n attacking commander of Its total movemen taJlowance, or
ever. they su ffer the sam e effects mig h t som et,imes co nsider s u c h 7". Som e of this required move-
as troops scaling the walls o n g rap- losses to be worth th e poten tia l m e nt a llowance can , of course, be
ples. and must make th e sam e Mo- benefi ts of the attack. it 's probably used up by climbing again after a
raJe Check whe n they reach the more likely that the attacker will pass-by a ttack.
top to determine If they can attack . r eali ze that the s pace is inade -
The real ris k fo r a uni t conduct-
It's m uch mo re like ly that only quate o nly after moving a few of in g a pass-by attac k in close quar-
one or at most a handful of attack- the fig ures in th e a ttacking u nit. In ter s is in the pull -up after th e
ers are trained thieves. In this this case, the movemen t can't be attack (rem ember that c reatures of
case. their ascent of the walls a borted . The unit must co m ple te maneu vera b ility class C, 0 , or E
should be ha ndled us ing the its actio n . even if it means the loss
standard AD&D®game rules. of figures. The justlflcation fo r this m ust m ove forward I " for each 1"
is that flying troops will theore ti- they climb in a lti tude).
Th e same is true fo r m ages usi ng cally be holding (at least loose) for·
spells like spider climb. thoug h it's mation on leade rs or wi ng- m en . As a n exam ple, take the unit dis-
a lmost unthinkable that a unit of They are too busy concentrating
wizards should be throw n agains t on their formation to realize their c ussed a bove. H is c urre ntly at an
the wall of a castle as th ere are danger un ti l it's too latc. Th is s ilu · a ltitude of 6". and it is I " away
surely better ways of uSin g their ation has caused the deaths of sev- from a unit in a castle courtyard .
ta len ts. Assaults on the walls by e ra l members of aeroba tic team s First. it dives 6" a nd m oves 1" for-
one or a few s pe llcaste rs should in the real world . ward , to conduct a pass-by a ttack.
a lso be hand led u s ing role-playing Afte r the combat. the rule above
rules. Walls a nd othe r obstacles a lso requires that it use at least a nother
represen t real risks to flyin g troops 6" of its movement a llowance. At
conducting pass-by a ttacks, The its s teepest ra te of c limb, it can as-
cend 3", but it mus t a lso move for-
ward by 3" (see the BATTLE·
SYSTEM rules, page 72). If a n ob-
s tacle s uch as a wall is less than 3 "
a way from the unit, and 3" (30
feet) or more in he ig h t. the flyin g

82

unit can ' t avoid cras hing Imo the Som e preny far-out situations Giant s
wa ll. Figures forced to fiy [mo ob- might arise in a m agic-h eavy cam - G ian t humanoids pose a spec ial
stacles by this rule are removed paign world .1)'oopsequipped with
from play. sufficient m agical i tems or spells case when it com es to scaling
might be ab le to m ake a kind of wa lls. Theoretically, a unit of gi-
After a vertical en velopm ent at- "paratroop" au ack . For exam ple. an ts could be equipped Wllh lad-
tack (BATTL ESYSTEM'" rules. lake a unil of human cavalry rid· der s or g r apples of a scale
page 73). one or other of the units ing flying moun ts. eac h ofw horn is appropriate to the creatures' size.
eq uipped wi th a rlngoffeaLher fa ll- (Obv ious ly. normal grapples or
must be dislodged from its place jng. At any time i n th ei r move- lad ders would be u seless to giants;
on the battlefield. Obstacles might m en t. th ese r id ers m ay " di s- conversely. such eqUipment for gi-
m ake this Impossib le, how ever m oun t" and use their rings to de- an ts cou ld not be u sed by norma l-
(again. a caslle courtyard is an ex- scend safely to the ground . A n a t- si zed troop s.) Gia nts can climb
am ple). I f t h e combat result re- tack from above like this would be appropriately-si zed r opes or lad ·
quires a unit to withdra w . but Il is a special form of ver tical en velop- ders at twice the ra te for oth er
unable to do so because of wa lls or ment. Although eve n ts like this troo p s: in other words, 2~ of
build ings, the unit Is re m oved would probably be very rar e. even m oveme n t allowance to climb 2~
from the battlefield. the possibility sho uld put d e- (20' scale) for ladders. and 3" of
fe nders on th ei r guard. A unit of m ove m ent allowan ce to cli mb 2~
Note that flying units can make enemy " paratroopers" skydiving for grapples.
pass-by attacks against units atop a i n to a castle courtyard m ight
castle wall or tower. In such a case, prove disastrous. Giants are ab le to scale walls
the defending unit gains no benefit 1.25 ti m es their heig ht wi th out us-
from batUements or cr enellations ing any equ ipm ent. (Th e h eigh t of
since the attack is from above.

83

different ty pes of gia nts ca n be The figu res give n for walls refer creatures of gar gan tuan si ze have
to sec ti ons 3 ~ (30 ' scale) long. AD 12.
found i n t h e AD&D® Monstrous Wh en t h e section is reduced to
zero hits. a breach 1ff wide appears Certain creatures h ave signifi -
Compendjums. A wall less t h an i n th e m iddle of the 3" section. ca n t effec ts against fortifications
one-half the height of a gian t q uali - This isn't an Instantaneous mat- for r easons other t han sh eer mass.
fies as an obstacle (with the appro- ter. of cou rse. and if two breac h es For exam ple. becau se of their kin-
pr iate m ovem ent cost to cross). are created I " or less apart. the ship with the stone. earth elem en -
wall between the breaches col- tals can do grea t damage. Treants.
Climbing a w all betw een on e- lapses as well. too, can tear down wall s by insinu-
ating thei r root-like limbs between
half and 1.25 limes t h e g iant's W h en an object su ch as a gate or the stones and tearing them aparl.
a waH is redu ced LO zero hits. il Detai ls on this are given i n a subse·
heigh t takes one complete turn. doesn 't si mply disa ppear: wreck- quen t section.
Like troops using gr apples. gian ts age or rubble is i nevi tably left be-
climbing su ch a wall mus t suc- hind . In the case of doors or gates. Magic
cessfully m ake a Mor ale Check to the w reckage is considered to be In addition to u seful spells like
be able to attack when they r eac h an obst acl e (i.e .. it costs 4 " of
the top. movem en t to cross i t). Troops re- kll ock and passwall. there are sev-
ceive a -I m odifier t o th eir A R eral dweomers that do significant
Breaching the Walls again st missile fire that passes amounts of damage to fortifica tion s.
through such an obstacle. These are listed in the next section .
Som eti m es an attacker h as no Note that most of these spells don't
options b u t to breac h the castle's W h en a wall is breach ed , it col- appear in th e BATTLESVSTEM
walls. In m ed ieval tim es, this was lapses into rubble. This pile of rules spell list. Player s engaged in a
attempted u sing a wide var ie ty of shattered rock is con sidered as BATTL ESYSTEM ballle or cam ·
siege engin es-catapults, ram s, rough/rocky terrain for movement paign might agree to include them.
and the like-which are discussed an d com b a t purposes . TI-oops u sing castin g times and su ch as
i n m ore detail in a la ter section . " holding th e breach " w ill almost given in the A D&D game rules. If
Gene rall y speakin g, these siege al ways be at a highe r eleva tion BA1iL ESYSTEM rules are being
engi n es had minimal effect o n a than troops attack i ng in to the u sed to d ecide a siege in an AD&D
well-bu il t and stoutly-de fen ded breach. A breac h is nobody's "fa- game, the OM should probably al-
cas t l e. vored ter rain ". low t hese spells to be used.

In the ear ly Ren aissance period, Note: This me thod is quite d if- Siege Attack Values
however, m atters changed, Can· fer ent from th e system descr ibed The table on page 85 lists the AD
non appeared on th e battlefield,
and the days of the castle were on page 76 of the A D&D® 2nd Edi- values associated w ith variou s
n u m bered. Most AD&D game cam- ti on Dungeon Mas ter 's G u ide. for ms of attack. 1radition al Siege
paigns l ake place in worlds where engines are described i n more de-
gunpowder ei ther doesn't explode While the latter method is useful tail In a later section.
or h asn't b een discover ed . The for " quick and dirty" situations
BATTLESVSTEM'" rules bring in where the OM has to decide the reo The Course of a Siege
arquebusiers, however. and thus su Its ofa PC's or NPC's aclions. t h e During t he Si xteen th Ce n tu ry.
open the door for o ther firearms . . . system described above and in the
including cannon, used by both BATTLESYSTEM r ules is a more Siege warfare was refin ed into a
defender and a ttacker. Details on thorough and consistent treat· sci ence. Comm ander s q u ick ly
siege guns are give n in a later sec- m ent o f the subject. learned the m ost effective m eth -
tion . ods for r edu cin g a forti fication,
Fantastic Creatures and th ose meth ods becam e an al-
T h e BATTLESYSTEM rules By their very m ass. large cr ea· m ost standardized. ste p -b y-step
(page 82) list the numberofhitscer- procedure. A ty pical Siege in the
tain bui.lding fea tures can take be- tu res like d ragons can b e very ef- age of gunpowder would proceed
fore being destroyed. While the fective agai nst fortifica ti on s. like this;
information provided there is fi ne Creatures of huge size have AD 10
for m ost minia tures games, it must against bu il d in g fea tures, wh ile
be expanded upon for use here.

84

Siege Attack Values Damage to agai ns t missile attack s, pr ov ided
t h e fi gu res w i t hi n ar e d oin g no th-
Mean s of Attack Earth Soft Stone Hard Stone ing. This bon u s d ecreases to - 2 if
Bigby's clenched fist 4" the troops in the trench are m ov-
3d1 2 in g or involved i n combat.
Dig 2dl Z 2dl 2 2d l 2 2d 12
Di s in t egrate 2dl Z' 4 d12' 2d l Z' 3ctS' The firs t t ren c h w ould t h en be
10· 100" 5·50" ex t ended tow ards t he fortresses
Earth elem ental 10- 100" 5-50 "
6'" by mean s of sm a ller trenc hes
Earthq uake or
Fireball 3dS' ca ll ed ·saps· . O ve r firm . c lear
Giant (clou d . s lone, 2d l Z' 2d l O' 2dlO' 6" grou nd, the sap would zig-zag to-
s lann) 2d l O' 2d lO" 2dlO' 6" w ards t he fortress. each " arm " of
Giant (firc o r fras O 2 · 12" 4" t h e tren c h being b etw een 3 50 and
Giant [hill) 3d 10 6" 500 feet long . and t h e su ccessive
3d l Z 3d6 arms d im in ish ing as the approach
Giant- hurled bou lder s 3dS' 2dlZ 2d l 2 n eared the ou t wor k s. If th e t err ai n
cloud. flrc . or fros t 3dS' 3d 10 2ct lO' was so tight as to prev en t Zig-zags.
stone or storm 6·36" 2d l Z' th e saps wou ld ru n directly to-
2d l O' 6" w ards th e for tress. Timber covers
Calem (iron) 6'" 3· IS'· 1- IZ" a n d other pro tective m easu res
Calem (stone) w ould h ave to b e u sed in these
4dJ2' 2d 12' 3d6' cases to m inimize the m urderous
Horn ofblasting effec ts of en filade fire from the
Lightn ing boll w alls.

Move earth A ll t h e wh ile, t h e garrison w ou ld
7teant figh t bac k with cannon and mus-
k etry. They w ould also launc h sor-
Notes ties. w h ic h w ould often be b r u tally
• Per rou nd o f attack . effective again st t h e wor k ers in the
nar row saps. Infantry and cavalry
•• These fi gures are not a ttack dice. Instead. t hey represenllhe total number would r epea tedly su rge from th e
outworks. n o t o nly k i llin g t h e
of hils do n e to s truc tures within their area o f effect. Obv iou s ly. s pell s like w orkers. bu t also wrecki ng and
fi lli n g the tren c h es. The coun ter -
.. . these are devastatingly powerful. For instance. an earlllquak e spell can in· vallation wou ld u su ally be too far
stantly breach a wall of soft stone. a w ay t o lend effective suppor t to
Damage Is increased by I h it for each 3 levels the spellcaslcr possesses. t h e worker s. a nd th e beSi eger s
This also assu mes fire damage. If a wooden target Is protected by green wou ld oft en h e forced to con vert
hides. is wet. etc" reduce dam age by 50%. the ac t ual ap proach es i nto d efen -
sive posi tion s. Thu s th e t ren c h es
First t h e besieging army w ou ld arranged in a line rou ghly parallel would oft en be studded every 300
surround t h e fo r tress w ith a to t h e w al ls. Compan ies of i n fan try to 6 00 feet with square r ed ou b ts.
st rong hold of its own . As m en · w ou ld b e sent ou t ah ea d. and each a min iature for tress. Cavalry
tioned earlier, this st ron g ho ld wou ld lie nat on the grou nd in w ould often b e sta tion ed n ear by in
w ould comprise lines of ci rc u m val· r eadiness to ward o ff sorties . The hollows in t he ground or beh ind
lation [faci n g t h e cou n try, to d e- sold ier s in the li n e would star t t h e breastwor k s. to com e oul of hiding
fend against t h e attack of r eliev ing earth w orks by each digging a w h enever t h e d efen d ers' ca valry
troops) and cou n ter valla tion (fac- trenc h t h r ee feet w ide and t h ree m ade a sortie,
ing t h e fortress i tsel f) . fee t d eep . and t h rowi ng the ear t h
towards th e fortress so as to m ake The heads of th e saps-par-
The a ttac k er w ould t h en se lect a parapet th ree feet hi gh . Over the ticu larl y as they dr ew n earer to the
the point of attack. and build one n ex t few n igh ts. the trenc hes fortress- h ad to b e protec ted rrom
or more square redoubts t o act as w ould b e w iden ed to a b read th of
b ases for t h e operation . These re- si x to t w el ve feet. or m ore i f i t was
d ou b ts w er e retreats for the wor k · in te nded to draw carts and cannon
er s. should t h e d efen d ers m ak e a through t h em . Some ti mes t h ese
sa lly. In t h e red ou bts, t h ey could t ren c h es wou ld b e so d eep tha t t h e
hold off th e defender s un til the side facin g t h e fortress h ad to b e
sally was thrown back . rec essed in to a fi r ing s tep to en able
t h e musketeers to level t h eir w eap -
Som e t wo to five hundr ed sol- ons over th e parapet. 1fench es lik e
dier s w o uld t h en b e led [a f ter t h ese provid e an A R bon u s o f - 4
n igh t fall) to within m usket-r an ge
o f t h e outworks of the fort r ess. and

.5

fire. or at least shielded from vie w m ounted opposi te the bastion lO tota l time wi ll be decreased by
(such cover wou ld provide a -2 breach It, while s u pp le m e ntary
bonus to AR agai ns t missile fire). batteries would be placed on eith er 25%.
The sap attack would us ually end s ide in orde r to k noc k out the e n -
100 feet from the outworks. e m y cannon ,in th e flan ks of the ad- The above fig ures are based on
Tre nc hes wou ld now be dug to Jacent bas tions. human , half·orc, o r ha lf-e lven
right and left. with the earth being troops. For other troop types. mul-
The next s tep would be to cross tiply the amoun t of time laken by
heaped up to form a musketry po· the ditc h or moa t. jf the castle had the following factors:
o ne. Hi s torically. t he technique
s ition and a n assembly area for the used varied from covered cause- Elf 1.1
com ing assau lt. ways of earth. to covered bridges Dwarf 0 .9
floating on barrels. (By this time In Halfling 0.85
It is importa n t to note that. by a we ll -man aged s iege, t he de- Gnome 0.9
this point in the proceedings. as fenders' can non had been s ilenced . 0.9
many as two- thirds of the worke rs dim inishing the vulnera bility of the O'e 1.0
would have been killed by the gar- attackers). Goblin 1.2
rison's missile fire a nd sorties. Ob- Kobold 0.95
viously. th is kind of warfare was If th e can non hadn't ye t G n o ll
breach ed th e wa ll , the attacker 0.85
extreme ly expensive in terms of would usually resort to mining Bugbear
pe r s o n n e l. (disc ussed in a subseque nt sec-
tion). Once a breac h was opened. it Thus. one fi gure re presenting
The progress of the trenches would be a ssaulted b y in fa n try. dwarf troops will dig a tre nch 10'
would be suppon ed by artillery still su pported by artillery.
deep by 20' wide a nd 300' long in
fire. often from a Battarie Royale. a In our world . by the early Seven- 27 days. while a n equa l number of
monster battery of up to 30 a rtil - teenth Centu ry. the techniques for kobolds would take 36 days to dig
le ry pieces pe rhaps a quarter-mile reducing a fortress had so evolved th e sam e ditc h . (N ote that t he
from the fortress. These guns as to make the outcome a lmost a trench could ta ke other dimen-
wou ld continue to fire throughout foregone conclusion. It wasn 't un - s ions. as long as the lotal volume
the investment. varying ta rgets as common fo r fortified towns unde r of ea rth moved - 60.000 c u b ic
requ ired. Later deve lopments in- Siege to s urrender as soon as the at- feet-remained the same . Thus.
vol ved splitting th e s ingle large tackers had completed their lines of
battery into three: a centra l ba t- circumvallation and countervalla- the trench could be 20' deep by 30'
tery. plus two s m a ller fl anking bat- lion, the rationale being that their wide a nd on ly 100' long with a
teries. which cou ld bring cross· fire walls would fa ll e ven tually. a nd rampart 24 ' high .)
to bear upon a breach . thus that it made little sense to pro-
long the unpleasantness. For troop types not listed above,
As walls got better. the cannons
ha d to be brou ght in closer. In Excavation u se this rule of thu mb based on
some late r sieges. s om e pieces Asa gene ra l rule. on e figure (re p- s ize:
were brough t down the saps a nd
se t up on a "counterscarp" (rein- resenting 10 troops) can dig a S iz e S 1.2
forced earthwork) as near as 100 trench 10' deep by 20' wide a nd SizeM 1.0
feet to the castle's outerworks. 300' long in 30 days , assumi ng Size L 0.8
normal soil. This will include a Larger than L 0.6
Conve ntional wis dom held that rampart of about 8' height. s ince
the earth has to go som e whe re. Ex- Theoretica lly. any infantry unit
it made more sense to attack the tre m ely wet. s wampy soil or heavy or unilS can dig trenches. In prac-
"salien t"" (point) of a bas tion. or to clay will doub le thi s tim e. If the tice, however. the troops involved
attac k a tower, tha n to concenlrate workers are supervised by gnomes can wear no armor (h eavy digging
or dwarves (races known for their is n 't possible while wearing c hain
on th e c urtain wa ll between bas- prodigious s kill at excava tion), the mail) . Thus. wh ile a heavy infan-
tions or towers. Even though the try unit might be assigned to dig-
walls would be a much easie r tar- ging tre nches. while they're
get. this tactic would expose the at- actua lly diggi ng their AR drops to
tackers to murderous c ross-fire 9 (representing no armor) . These
from the bastions . Four or more
heavy can n on would o ften be

.6

Race of Mine r Earth Soft Ha rd they mus t rest ano ther eight inte r-
Gnoll , haJfling, or h uma n 150 S tone St one rupted hours before they can re-
Gnome o r kobold 160 s um e d igging. The re's no reason
Go bli n or are 170 100 50 w hy troops can' t work in s hifts, of
Dwa rf or ho bgoblin 180 120 60 course,
Og re 300 130 60
Hill glanl 500 140 70 Colla psing the Mine
Fire or frost gia nt 600 200 100 Once the gallery has been exca-
S tone gia nt 1.000 150
300 200 vate d. the nex t s te p is to burn ou t
400 350 the woode n s upports so that th e
700 roof-and t heore tically th e wa ll
abo ve-coll apses. Us ually th e
troops can s top digging at any time ties won ' t be bu il l on sand). wooden s upports are s plash ed
a nd re-arm or them selves: how- T heore tically, as w ith digging w ith oil . and flammab le m a teria ls
ever, donning a rmor ta kes one a re packe d a round the m. One fi g-
complete turn _ During this turn, trenc hes . any infantry uni t can as- ure equi p ped w ith to rc hes can ig-
they retain an AR of 9 a nd are un - s is t in excavation . In p ractice, how· nite the s upports : a lte rnaLive ly.
a ble to a ttac k (e ither in m elee com - ever. the troops in vo lved can wear s pe lls like fir eba ll can be used . Th e
ba t o r w ith missile weapons )_ If no armor (heavy digging Is n ' t pos- s upports w ill ta ke I d 3 tu rns to
they opt not to don their armor, of s ible while weari ng a nnor) a nd can bu rn away.
course, they can a tta c k with the ir
normal AD; their AR rem ai ns 9 . carry weapons no la rger tha n short Mine rs can also use gu npowder to
swords. Th us. wh ile a heavy infan - assist the burni ng of the supports
MIning' try u nit m ig ht be assig ned to m in - (historically. the S paniards used this
ing d uty. wh il e they' re actu a lly tec hniq ue ). Unless g u n powder is
If canno n or o ther m e thods a re d igging the ir AR drops to 9 . a nd confined, it doesn 't explode, Even
una ble to brea ch a castle's wa ll , the ir AD to 6 (representing no a r- so, however, bags of gun powder
the attackers ha ve a t lea s t o ne mo r a nd only persona.l weapons ). piled around the s u pports bum very
o the r option : min ing . In si m ples t rapidly and im prove the chances of
term s, th is involves d igging u nde r The speed of excavatio n depends collaps ing the gaJlery.
t he walls of the castle a nd excavat- both on the nature of the ground
ing a "ga llery " . the roof of wh ic h is and on the race of min ers involved . Wh ethe r o r no t gunpowde r is
shored u p with pos ts and woode n T his is s hown in the fo llowing table used. m ining is never o ne h und red
supports. Whe n the galle ry is la rge which lists the volume of earth (in pe rcen t s ure . This is re fl ected in
enough. the m iners bu rn out the cu bic feet) which ca n be mined in a n the rollowing ta ble. W hen the a t-
s u pports - or blow the m up , using ta cker a tte mpts to co lla pse the gal-
g un powder - wh ic h (hopefull y) eight hour s hifl. le ry, ro ll Id 10:
ca uses th e ga lle ry, a nd the wa ll In ge ne ra l. on ly one fi gure can
abo ve it. to co llapse. The practical· Die
ity of this techn iqu e depe nds heav- work in a tunne!: more ca n work in Roll Result
ily on th e ty pe of g ro u nd th e ca s tle a la rge ga lle ry. li m ite d by th e a c- 1-2 S u p ports fail to burn away;
is bu ilt o n . Soft s to ne or earth a re tua l s pace ta ke n up b y the fi g ures
id ea l. s ince t h ey' re (re latively ) and bases. Thus. th ree fi g ures of no effect
easy to exca vate a nd solid e nou gh dwarve n workers (re presenting 30 3 S u pports bu rn bul gallery
that the ga llery won ' t colla pse pre - dwarves) d igging a la r ge galle ry in
matu rely. Hard rock is a prob le m . hard rock could excavate a volu m e fa ils to collapse; no effect
s imply beca u se e xcavation will be abou t eig ht fee t h igh by fiv e feet 4-5 Ga llery collapses, bu t wi th
so tim e-consuming. Sand is per- w ide by fiv e fee t lon g in e ig h t
haps the wo rst of a ll , s ince It's a l- hours. Obv io us ly. m in ing is a s low no damage to s tructures
m ost imposs ib le to di g o u t a process, made even s lower by the a bove; no effec t
galle ry a t a ll (of course, mos t ca s - necessity of s hor ing up the ce iling 6-10 Ga ll ery co lla pses fu ll effect
wi th wooden s upports. on s tructures above

Excava tio n is g ru e ll ing work . Note : Add + 1 bon us to d ie roll if
TI-oops can work no lo nger tha n g un powder is used .
eig ht consecutive hours. After that.

81

I f a m i n e fails to collap se. lhe plod ed spec tacularl y. b lo wi n g are made to cau se the gun powder
miners must enlarge the ga. llery by much o f the wall i n to the air. and LO exp lode. not simply burn .
25 % of its current volum e before k illing the castle's gover nor and
try ing agai n . h is council w ho w ere a t debate in Battles in the Thnnels
th e chapel above th e galler y. I f th e d efend er s know th at min -
Mining Dam age
The am ount of dam age Inflic ted Th e am ount of damage done by ing Is going on . th er e's no reason
gunpowder d epends on t he why they have to simply sit still
on s truc tures above by a collaps- amount u sed . T he base dam age
don e to struc tures above the gal- w hile the allack er s go about their
ing m ine depends on the volume of lery is shown in the following ta-
the galler y and the terrain on b l e. Th e figures r eprese n t the busin ess. Histor icall y. counter·
w hiCh the castle stan d s. A collaps- number of hi ts Inflicted for each mining was not an un common taco
ing gallery Inflic t s t h e follo win g 100 pounds of gunpowder u sed : tic.

number of h its for each 1.000 cu - On ce th e garrison has estab-
lished the loca tion of the en em y
bic fee t o f ga ller y volum e: mi n e (by obser vation . listening. or
m agical m eans). they might begin
Ear th 2d8 Earth 1d 6 excava tions of their own . The gar -
Soft Earth I d8 Soft Stone I d4 rison w ou ld d ig a tunnel tha t m et
Hard Stone Id6 Hard Stone I d3 up with lhe en em y's galler y. t h en
send t roops down it LO kill t h e at-
For exam ple. a castle is built on Th ese hi ts ar e in a ddition to tacking m iners. The w eapon and
soft ston e. T h e a ttack ers h ave ex- th ose in flic ted b y t h e collapse of arm or restric tions on miners ap -
th e galler y (see th e table in the sec- plies to bot h sides ... a t least while
cavated a galler y 20 fee t wide by tion on " Mining Dam age"). exca vation is actually goi ng on .
Once tunnels ar e complete. how-
30 feet long b y to feet hig h (6.000 Getting gunpowder to explode is eve r. fu lly-armed troops ca n be
a lways proble m a tical. This is re- sent down them . limited on ly by
cubic fee t) beneath one o f t he n ec t ed in t h e follo win g t ab le. the space in t h e exca vation s.
w alls. I f th e galler y is su ccessfull y When the gunpowder Is touch ed
collapsed . it w ill inflict 6d8 h i ts on off. roll I d6. Coun ter -m in in g was raised to an
lhe wall above. art b y the Muscov ites w h en Mos-
cow was b esieged by t h e boyars In
Explosive G unpo wder M i nes Die 1606. The Musco vite miner s h ad
Som etim es conditions can be ar- Roll Resu lt prepar ed sec ret galleries und er th e
1-2 G u npowder bu rn s. but wa lls. and from th ere. they d u g un -
r anged so t hat th e g unpowder der the foundations and out. They
u sed in a mine actually explodes. does not explode. Use th e 10caLed the a ttacking mines and
Per haps the gunpowder Is pack ed table In th e section " Co)- galleries. broke into th em and
tlghLly in ear t h enware con tainers lapsing the Gallery". killed t h e en em y miners. In som e
or something similar. 3-4 G u npowder " n a r es up" cases. Lh ey even exca vated under
(minor explosio n). Gallery the a ttacking galleries and b lew
The most spectacular u se of a collapses. and the ex plo- them up with gunpowder.
gun powder mine was at the fall o f sion d oes on e-h alf d am age
th e Fr en ch castle o f Uov o . n ear Na- (in addition to the dam age Rul es for m or ale and movem en t
p les. In 1503. The castle w as situ - inflict ed b y the collapse of in tunnels are Identical to those re-
a ted on a narrow peninsula sep - th e galler y). fer ring to buildings. with th e fol-
ara t ed from th e mainland b y a 5-6 Gunpowder ex plodes. col- lo wing exceptions. Missile comba t
deep ditch . and cannon alone w er e lapsing th e gallery and do- (except for spells such as m agiC
powerless to reduce the p lace. Th e ing an d doi ng full d am age missile) is forbidden : t h ere is sim-
attacking Span iards had an exper t (in addition to th e damage ply not enough space to u se such
am on g th em - Pedro Na varro- inflic ted b y the collapse o f weapons effective ly. I f figures rep -
who had perfected the gunpowd er t h e galler y). rese n ti ng unarm ored an d lightly-
mine. After spending t hree w eeks armed m i n er s are m et by full y-
d iggi n g a lar ge en ou g h ga ll er y. Note t h a t t h e above tables are
Navarro pac k ed It w ith gunpow der u sed only if sullable preparation s
and touch ed It off. The powder ex-

ss

armed troops. a ll Morale Checks rapid spread and terrible conse- mulative (except where common
made by the mi ners are at - 2. quences of the Black Death migh t sense dictates otherwise). and are
imply that this tactic was some- app lied to ever y Morale Ch eck
For movement purposes. tun- w hat m ore erfective than ori gi- made by a ny attacking un it while
nels are cons idered as rough/rocky nally bargained for ... the cond itions of the modlfier(s)
terrai n. Troops in tunnels and gal- are in effect.
leries can be ordered to " hold the In a fa n tasy milieu. the viable
breach". options are wider. Unscru pu lous - I Derenders have cannon while
attacke rs could taint a garrison's the attackers do not.
Trickery and Corruption water or food s upply with material
carry ing pathogens from Virtually - 1 Defenders have used magic,
The vast majority of fortin- any form of disease. Of course. get- while attackers have no spell-
cations-typically fortified towns- ling hold of these pathogens might casters.
that fell during the Middle Ages and be difficult. Alternatively,
early Modern period did so to tac- animals-or people-Infected with - I S iege is tak ing place in
tics other than standard siege war- lycanthropy or the wasting disease wi nter.
fare. In fact. almost as man y carried by m ummies might be in -
European citadels were taken by troduced into the castle. The con - - 1 Weather is storm y (whether
bribing the castellan or suborning sequences for the garrison-and na tura l or m agical in nature).
the governor as by a ny other ror a nyone taking possession of
means. the castle la ter-would depend on - 1 Relief troops allied with the
the actua l disease or infectious defender are expected to ar·
Ifbribe ry was ineffective or inap- agent used. rive within 24 hours.
propriate. there were many other
options still open. The m ost fa- Because of its generally unpleas- -2 Relief troops allied with the
mous stratagem in history Is the ant nature. initiating bio]ogicaJ war- defender are s urrounding or
Trojan horse. but there were other fare is an inherently evil act. Races challenging the attackers'
tricks a lmost as audacious. A good of evil alignme nt may use it. if prac- position (includes double en·
example might be the city ofYpres tical or desired; any other com - ci rclem ent).
falling to the Dutch in 1578 after a mander who orders its use
wagon co ntainin g an unusua lly immediately becom es evil , with all + 1 Attackers have cannon while
hairy "bride" a nd party of "brides- the consequences of this change. defenders do not.
maids" broke down by a rrange- The change can be reversed by s uch
ment at the Messines Gate. magiCS as atonement. however. + 1 Attackers have spellcasters
while defenders have (as yet)
Magic-speciBcally ill us ion - Morale Issues
orrers m any possibili ties. Few gar- used no magiC.
rison s would fa il to open their Siege warrare Is a long. drawn + 1 At least one wall or gate of
castles' gates when they saw a out process. Much of the time, the
well-arm ed column of "allies" ap- attacking army is in volved in s im - th e ror tifica li on has b ee n
proaching to re inforce them . ply waiti ng for something to hap- breached.
pen or in digging ditches-neithe r + 2 Derenders have offered to
More unpleasant tac tics were of which carries much of th e ex- surrender (whether or not
sometimes use.d. Some historians citement and gla mour often de- th is ofrer has been accepted
clai m (!.hough others deny it) that scribed by military recru iters. by the attackers).
a nasty version or biological war· Even if the Siege is going well. a nd
rare was used during the Midd le th e opposing fortincatlon wi ll In addition to the rac tors above,
Ages. Certain factio ns introduced eventually fall. th e a u ackers have the le ngth or the Siege carries with
material that th ey knew to be in- a potential morale problem. it its own modifiers. The following
fected with bubonic plague (the table shows how the length of the
Black Death) in to enem y cities. or The fo llowing tab le lis ts morale Siege (in days) affects the morale of
so the story goes. believing that modifiers that apply to the besieg-
soon the ci ty would rail to them Ing army. These modifiers are cu- the attackers:
without a shot being fired. The
Length Morale
of siege modifier
0-20 days
21-60 days o

61-80 days -1
8 1+ days
-2
-3

89

As s ta ted before, a ll of th ese ,.,...... garrison's own ar tille r y. These
modifiers are c umulative. (sometimes conflicting) goals broke
lad's father. Although he sfXJke no down a long the following lines.
For example, a n arm y of orcs- spell. wove no dweomercrafter's
without benefi t of s pellcasters or Firs t, a rampart that was spa-
can non - have been lay ing siege to web about himself. sUll his power
an elven fortress for 50 days in the was evident-whether in his man- cious and low·lying enough to pro·
depth of winter. The elves have no ner and bearing. or in something vid e a s tab le platform fo r arti lle ry
cannon , but their mages have more mysterious. Every warrloron had to be built.
been raking the a rcis h troops wi th the walls could feel his determina-
fireba lls. As if that weren't bad Second. the wa lls had to ma in -
e nough . rumors are circ ula ti ng tion. determination burning so tain a low e nough profil e lO make it
among the orcish ranks that a host diffic ult fo r the enem y to hit. while
of elve n cavalry will arrive before strong that even his daughter s till being s trong enough to resist
nightfall to relieve the casLie. The the blows of the enem y s hot. Fur-
orcish com mander has a serious feared to approach him. Gllgalad ther. a wall and ditch arrangem en t
problem ; each Morale Check Mooncrow was preparing to kW. had to be formida ble e nough to de-
made by one of his units suffers a te r attempts at escalade.
pe na lty of -4. Preparing to sell his life as dearly as
he could. Las tly, a trace had to be so ar -
Defensive Tactics ra n ged that it le ft no " d ead
Yes- The castle was doomed, ground" through wh ic h an enem y
Acting Legate Thlgllgalad Thlgilgalad and her comrades-in· migh t reac h the rampart wi thout
coming unde r the defe nsive fire of
shielded her eyes from the sun, and anns knew that. and accepted Il to the keep's wea pons.
strained her elven vision to the ut the core of their being. Within one
moon-two at the outside-the Sa ti sfyi n g more th an one of
most. Yes. that was dust on the ho· these requirem ents was not a n
orcs would foul the marble court· easy task for the m edieval a rch i·
rizon. Again. the sharp eyes of her yards and despoil the gold·chased
teeL
commandingofflcerhadpicked out floors of the Councl/room. Cer- Probably the most s ignifican t ad-
the approaching force before she
tainly, surrender was possible: vance in fortification archi tecture
was aware of It. It was shameful. even orcs accepted surrender was the developm e nt of th e "bas-
she thought. for she was more than (sometimes). IL was possible, but It tion" in the la te Fifteenth and early
300 years his junior. But. she ad· S ixtee nth , and its ascenda ncy over
was never an option. The elves the round tower so typical of the
mltted to herself. experience-not Medieval period. Bastions were pro-
would fight. and they would die,
Ilust sensory acuity-played a part. but they would take a legion of. j ections shaped like a n ace of
orcs with them. s pa des. pos iti oned wh e re older
He knew where the orcs would be' forts would place round towers .
attacking from . Or, at least. where When hope Is gone. all that re- They were us ually no higher tha n
he would attack from. were he an mains Is duty. the walls fro m which they sprung.
a nd had battlemen ts a nd crenella·
arc. Fortifications tions running around their tops.
Basti ons we re so m e times hun -
Thlgllgalad looked right and left Historians and m ilitary stra te- dreds of feet across.
along the battlements. The prepa· gists have said that defensive tac-
tics s tart with th e building pla ns. The bas tion nea tly m et most of
raLions were made. Vats ofoil were Certainly, the defend ers' options the require m e nts d iscussed above.
readied to raJn fire on the attack- are a ffec ted by the " trace" (ground Bastions had wide fl a nks . making
p lan). and a well laid ·ou t cas tle is it possible for the garrison to con ·
ers, engines (called bombards by easier to defend than one with de- ce ntrate withering cross-fire on
the dwarves) were positioned to s ign fl a ws. troops try ing to a pproach the wall.
Tho, the angular salie n t- the meet-
duel with any orcish Siege guns. As it had a ltered s trategy fo r the ing of the two faces of the bas tion-
attacker. the introduction of gu n· eliminated the patch of dead
cold·eyed archers tested bow- powder made the job ofthe military
architect conSiderably more diffi·
strings or used whetstones to cult. In addition to withs tanding
touch up already razor-edged the assaults of a besieging army-
broadheads. a nd the pou nding of Siege
batteries-the fortification 's trace
And there. standingat the salient had to m aximize the effect of the
of the east bastion. stood 7WJ!illta·

90

ground wh ic h had ex is ted in fron t ted a nd u nreinforced earthen The Pisans came up wllh an im-
of the circula r medieval tower. walls a re treated the same with re- prove me n t to th e standa rd ra m -
Fields of fl rc were opened for the gard to th e tablc in th e sec tion on part du ring their con nicLwUh the
na nks of neighboring bastions. "Siege Attack Va lues". French In 1500. Th ey preferred an
which mean t that ind ividua l LOw- earth en in teri or rampart that
ers no longer were on their own Interior Ramparts wasn't in contact with the walls.
when It cam e to close-range de- but was se parated from it by a
rense_Fi nally, th e derenders cou ld When a fortress was auacked.
mount considerably more cannon the de fe n ders wou ld often pile w ide ditch . This added no s trength
on the walls of a bastion than they earth high against the inside of the to the outcr wall (and applied no
cou ld on a circ ula r tower of equal wall . making an interior rampart outward pressure). of course, but
size (and cost) . (or "rampi re", in Medieval par- whe n a breach was form ed. the a t-
la nce). Th is had the dual advan- tac kers would have to enter the
Other Forms of Construction tages of r ei nforc ing t he wa ll breac h (rough/roc ky te rrain).
against im pact. and of formi ng a n cross the interior ditch (an obsta-
When we think of"castles". weal- additiona l ditc h withi n the castle cle. costing 4 H to 6 " of moveme nt
most always imagine imposing edi· that the attac kers wou ld have to a ll owance, depe ndin g on Its
fices of rock and stone. His torically, c ross (the earth fo r the rampart depth). a nd then assault th e ra m -
however. many fortresses- had to com e from somewhere, af- part. During a ll this. the auackers
particularly semi-pennanent or im- te r all). The d isadvan tage-and a wou ld probab ly be taking fi re from
provised ones-were built of earth, Significant one, at tha t-was that defenders on the rampart and
braced wi th Umber. and trans- this earth applied Sig nifica nt out- maybe even o n the s urviving
versed with beam s for ex tra ward pressu re aga in s t th e wall. s tre tc hes of ou ter wal l. Th is Inte-
strength . Fortresses like these were When the wall was weakened . th is r ior ram part. usually throw n up in
c heaper a nd much faster to build, pressure would ofte n cause it to haste, would probably not be reo
and had one great advantage: im- colla pse outward . The earth would
pacting cannon balls didn't knock then pou r out through the breach , vetted a nd c ross-beam ed (al·
ofT s plinters or shrapnel of rock. mixing with the rubble and mak- though in some cases it might) .
which ofte n caused more casualties ing a hill which was easy for the at- and therefore would be able to s ur·
than the actual enemy cannon shot tackers to walk over. vlve 40 hits per 30 ' section.
the mselves did (this effect is dis-
c ussed In a later section). Perhaps In ga me te rm s, a n interi or This technique became known
s urpris ingly, fortresses of this kind earthen rampart adds 10 hils to as the " re tirata " or "double Pisan
we re quite resilient. In three succes- the section of wall against which ram part", and was very success-
s ive days of Siege in 1555. a It's bU ilt. When th e wa H-plu s- ful. evcn in improvised form. For
revetted-earth fortress In Piedmont rampart is reduced to 20 hits re-
absorbed 3,500, 1.600 a nd 1.200 maining (I.e .. w hen thc wa ll is exa m p le. in 1573 th e S pa n is h
rounds of Spanish cannon fire, and significantly weakened). the were besieging the Dutch town of
emerged unscathed. weigh t of the earth starts innicling Haarle m . While the Span is h were
damage in addition to a ny done by po u nding down th e wa ll s. th e
In gam e te rms. a well-revelled the attackers. Eac h turn after the Dutc h demolished a number of
earthe n wall with properly ·placed section of wall reaches th is weak· houses inside the walls and e n-
cross-beams can withstand as e ned s tate, roll an AD of 6. T he reo trenched the town with ramparts
m a ny hits as can a s tone wall of s uiting hits a re a pplied to th e waH. a nd a large ditc h . This made the
simila r th ic kn ess. (Th e fig ure Wh e n a breac h is form cd (th at is, old wall of the town (what little was
given for earthen walls on page 82 whe n the sec tion of wall is reduced left of it by th at tim e) a counters-
of the BATTLESYSTEM'" ru les re- LO zero hi ts), the earth -an d-rubble carp to their new forti fi cation. A
fers to wa ll s without revetments m ixture fi ll ing th e breach is Span is h cap tai n was recorded as
and cross-beams-perhaps a ram- treated as norm al terrain (instead exclaiming. "Who would believe
part throw n up in haste to close a o f rough /rocky. as with normal tha t we a re no fu rt her forw a rd
breac h .) Note, however, that reve t- breach es). than on the first day of the sieger'

91

Sorties tum. By the ti me the gate is fully hungry. As an example. take a un it
open. one quarter of the turn has o f wolf-riding gob li ns who are
Although many advantages lie ela psed, which m eans that th e making a sortie against besieging
with the attackers in a s iege. they unit can only expend three quar- elves. Neither goblins nor wolves
a lso labor under a sign ificant dis- te rs of its move me nt allowance. In have had anything to eat for ten
advantage. While they're waiting other words, this tum the cavalry days. Is illikely tha t the wolves are
for the garrison to hurry up and unit has an effective movement al- going to obey the orders of their
starve. or while they' re digging an lowance ofB". riders when they're s urrounded by
extensive network of trenches a nd food (I.e .. elves)? Not really.
saps. the attackers a re pretty A ga te ca n't be opened a nd
much out in the open , and can'tre- closed on the same tum. For ex- Th represent th is, there is a
ally go a nywhere. The defenders- ample, if a heavy ga te is opened chance that creatures with intelli-
although they can't go anywhere during Thrn 4. it won't be com - gence of "low" or less. which have
either-are under cover of wa lls plete ly closed a nd secure until undergone at least one attrition
and roofs, a nd can pick th eir mo- half-way through the defender's roll as a result of starvation . will
ment to sally forth and wreak movement phase of 1"llrn 5. This c ha rge uncontrollably whenever
havoc on the besieging forces. A means that opening a ga te to a llow they're in volved in a sortie. The
well-timed sortie can have cata- a sortie can be a grave risk. The at- base chance is 10% per turn {non-
stroph ic effe cts on lightly-armored tackers will have one movemen t c umula ti ve }. with the fo llowi ng
troops digging trenches. destroy phase during wh ich they can pass modifiers:
inadequately-guarded batteries or through the gate or attack its
Siege e ngines, or even punch guardians. Remember. too, that +5% Creatures have been out of
lhrough the encirclement and go t he gate has to be opened again to s u pply for 15 or more days
for heip.. a llow the troops back Into the cas-
tle ... +5% Creatures have an imal in -
Sorties can be staged through telligence
breaches in the waH, but will more Units must s tart a sortie with a
often issue through gates, w hich frontage s ma ll enough to let them + 10% Creatures a re non -in tel-
take time to open and close (parllc- pass through the gate. Once
ularly s ince they are often barred through. they a re free to change ligent
and latched) . Opening or closing a their fro n tage (standard costs ap- -5% Creatures a re acti ng as
large gate (s ingle or double, larger ply. of cou rse). Units can ch ar ge
than 20' across and 10' high) takes th rough a gate: however. their to- mounts for more intelli-
one-half of a tum: opening or clos- tal movement allowance is de- gent troops
ing a small gate or a door takes creased by one·ha lf or one-quarter
one-quarter turn. Obviously. there to re presen t the time taken to open Thus, there is a 10% chance
must be at least one figure adja- the gate. Rules for minimum each tu rn that th e wolf unit de-
cen t to the gate to open or close it. c harge distance a re still in effec t. scribed above will c harge uncon-
This duration equates directly to a trollably (that is. 10% base cha nce
portion of a unit's movem e nt a l- If a unit engaged in a sor t ie is + 5% for animal Intelligence -5%
lowance. Note that addillonal de- forced to re trea t. it can retrea t for acting as mounts for intelligent
fensive measu res-like a portcullis through an open gate back into a troops).
or drawbridge-doesn 't add to the castle. If the gate is n't open at lhe
ti me required, since m echanisms beginning of the unit's re treat. An "uncon trolled charge" roll is
ex is t to open both gate and port- however. the unit is eliminated. made a t the beginning of each turn
cu llis Simultaneous ly.} for every eligib le unit. If the roll in -
Uncontrolled Charge dicates that the unit becomes un-
Assume that a cavalry unit (MV con trolled . it imm edia tely charges
12") is with in a castle, adjacen t to Sometimes creatu res with intel- d irectly towards the nearest "edi-
a s ma ll gate. and wishes to make a ligence of "Jow" or less forget th ei r ble" unit .. . whether enemy or
sortie. The unit begins to open the orders a n d act in an uncontrolled all y. ("Edible" is a key word: noth-
gate at the start of the defenders' m a nne r. This is particularly true ing will consider s ton e gole m s or
when carnivorous creatures are trolls as edible.) No c harge initia-
tion morale c h eck is necessary.
The charging unit wUl e ngage the
target unit in melee com bat, and

92

attempt to maintain contact by u s ing grapples a nd ladders. other rive to deal with them properly, for
a ny means. than wailing for them to reach the exam ple.
top then meleei ng with them. In
At the end of each turn. the fact. troops atop the wall that are Ladders a re a nother matter.
player can try to regai n control of not engaged in other aclivl lies- Rather than concentrating on slay-
an uncontrolled unit. The base such as missile com bat-s hou ld ing the troops on the ladders, the
chance to regain con trol is 50%, have several options. defenders above can try to pus h
with the following mod ifiers: th e ladd ers over or otherwise
Wall top units ca n drop missiles
+5% Creatures a re acting as wreck them. The chance of over-
mou nts for more in te lli - on enem ies at the foot o f th e wall ar
gent troops on figures attempting to scale the lh rowing or wrecking a ladder is
wall . as mentioned on page 83 7% per wall top figure lhat is adja-
+ 10% Un it has su ffe red 25% or of th e BATT LESYSTEM '· rul es. cen t to the top of the ladder. Fig-
more casualties since it ures tryin g to overth row a ladder
began its un contro ll ed These rules state that the targets
charge of th ese a ttacks gain their stand - can do noth ing else in tha l turn . If
a rd AR agai nst s ma ll p rojectiles or th e dice roll indica tes s u ccess.
-5% Creatures have been out of regular weapons, but are allowed each fig ure on the ladder s u ffe rs
s upply for 15 or more days Id6- l hits (faJli ng damagel . Th ere
no armor checks against large pro- is a lso a 50% cha nce lhat the lad·
-5% Creatures have animal in - jectiles or hot and cOHosive s ub- der is no longer usable.
tel ligence stances. 1b reflect the vulnerable
nature of troops on ladders or sca l- T he BATTLESYSTEM'" rules
-10% Creatures are non -in tel- state on page 82 t hat. in melee
ligen t ing the walls usi ng gr a pples. this com bat b etwee n wa ll top de-
rule s hou ld be exte nded. Against fenders and units that have
If , an uncontrolled unit fails a s ma ll projecti les or regular weap- climbed ladders a nd grapples. th e
morale c heck , it a utomatically re- ons. scali ng troops receive armor defenders receive the AR benefit
turns to con trol; th is Is in addition checks. bu t with a pena lty of - 1 to (- 21 of being protected by a wall.
to any other consequences of the their AR. Against large projectiles. T h is is tru e only dur ing th e fi rst
failed morale check. or hot a nd corrosive substances. turn of m elee between these un its.
they receive no a rm or c hecks. On the second a nd subsequent
Defending the Walls turns. the a ttacking unit is con sid-
In addition to dropping heavy ob- ered to have attained the same
Troop Tactics jects or unpleasant materials on a t- positi on-i.e.. the wa lk way or
tackers, wall top defende rs can turreHop-as the d efenders. In
Defendin g troo ps atop a wal l. sever grapple lines and wreck lad-
protected by crenellations a nd bat- ders. A defending unit atop a wall the case of a narrow walkway, the
tlem e nts. are in a n admirable posi- being climbed by a grapple- rules for "Fighting in Narrow Pas-
tion. They can fire on or s imply equipped unit can forego all other sages" (page 8 1) come into play.
drop Objects onto enem ies outside actions in order to deal with the
the walls while still enjoyi ng the grapples. This action has the same Being at the foot of a wall. or at-
protection of the surrounding effect as an attack with AD 4 (no ar- tem pting to scale it, wh ile the wall
stonework . Once the attackers mor check allowed. since this dam- top Is defended Is a te n se situation.
have established a "beachhead" age represents troops falling when to say the least. This is even more
on t he wall s. however, th e de- their grapple lines are c utl. In addi- tru e when death in particularly
fenders' position is no longer a tion , It increases the movement cost nasty forms is raining down upon
com fortable one . Thus. it's impor- for scaling the wall to 5~ per figure you . 1b reOect this. a unit in su ch a
tant for the defenders to make scal- position must m a ke a m orale
ing th e walls as diffic ult as possible moving up 10 feet. Although the at- c heck on each turn that it loses a
for the a ttackers. tack component is unlikely to inflic t figure from a partic ularly terrible
as many casualties as other fonns of attack lau nc hed by the troops
The current BATTLESYSTEM'· attack, this might sometimes be an above. Suc h "ter ror" attacks in-
rules see m to Imply that the de- appropriate tactic-when an attack-
fenders on the battlements have clude fire (it's definitely demoraliz-
little recourse against attackers in g unit must be delayed u ntil Ing to see comrades burn ing to
e nough defender reinfo rcements ar- death around you), corrosive ma-

93

terials, a nd magical spell s that are very effective In closing a breach , posed of somewhere, and pilcs of
"visually spectacu la r" . F'ireball. Slightly less effective, but s UIi use- s uc h debris a re a dead give-away.
Jjghining bolt and meteor swarm ful. is the wall of thorns. particu- The second, however, can be more
spells would fa ll into this category larly since the caster doesn 't have difficul t.
while a magic missile, cone ofcold, to maintai n c·oncentration. In a fu ll
or creeping doom spell does not. AD&D®game campaign, the list of To be success fu l In co unter-
NOle that this morale check is in useful spells is grea tly en larged , to mining. the defenders have to
add ition to checks required for Include more wall spells, glyphs. know where along the line of the
other reasons (su c h as laking 4 or symbols. a nd many others. illu -
more hits in one step). sions might also do the trick. if the wall the attackers are digging, and
attackers can be made to believe
Holding the Breach that there's another wall behind how deep their galleries are driven.
the one they've just breached ... Otherw ise. there's little chance lhal
Once a breach has been opened or that they haven't really the defenders' tu nnels will inter-
in a wall. or once a gate has been breached the wall at al l. sect (or undermine. If thc garrison
bashed down, the garrison must wishes to emu late the Muscovites)
find som e way to defend the gap. Given enough lime, the garrison the attackers' d iggings.
There are other methods in addi- could repair the breached wall (or
tion to packing it with troops or- at least construct a s ma ller wall in Excavation can't be totally silent,
dered LO "hold the breach". its place), Use the con s tru c tion and the impact of metal tools on
ru les earlier in this book to calcu-
First, assuming they have the la te time and reqUirements for this stone can carry quite well under-
lime, the defenders can throw up work. Note that, during a Siege. it's ground, depending on conditions.
an earth rampart (assuming they very unlikely that the garrison will Defendcrs in the cellars or
haven't ·done so earlier). This is be given the lime to do any real dungeons of a castle might be able
basically the same activity as dig- construction as defined in the sec- to localize Ule attackers' excavation
ging trenches. and follows the tion on castle cons truction, so a ll
ru les described under "Offensive of the figures given here are as- and gauge their progress. Alterna-
Thclics". For example, 10 figures s umed to be for makeshift struc- tively. the defenders could drtve nar-
representing human troops could tures. row test s hafts unde r the wal l.
raise an earth rampart 16' high hoping to find the a ttackers' gal-
a nd 50' long in one day. Counter-mining leries that way. The disadvantage of
th is method is that it will often warn
If manpower or time were In Although counter-mining was the attacke rs' tilat tileir m ines are in
short supply, the garrison could discussed in the section on "Offen- peril. A third option is to dig tunnels
try to block the breach with rub· sive Thctlcs", there are some add i- and chambers ahead of where the
ble. empty barrels, broke n wagons tiona l issues important to the attackers are expected to be, and
... literally anything they cou ld defender. then wait for them to "run into" the
lay their hands on. While not as ef·
fective as an earthen ram part, 0bviously, before the garrison defenders' excavations. The advan-
blockades like this would qualify can begi n cou n ter -mining, t hcy tage of this technique is that well-
as "obstacles", cosling 4" of move- have to know both that mi ning is armed and·armored warriors can
ment a llowa nce to cross. and lend- underway a nd exac tly where the wait in the defenders' chamber,
ingdefendersa -lor -2 benefit to enemy mines a n d galleries are. ready to wreak havoc on the unar·
AR. Blockades of this type wou ld The first is relalively easy: observ- mored and lightly-armed attacking
typically be able to w ithstand 10 ers on the walls can pr obably see miners.
hits. where the attackers begin to dig.
Even if they can't (If the a ttac kers Magic can be Inva luab le. In
Magic can a lso be invaluable. have roofed the whole area before an AD&D game campaign, clair-
The wizard spell wall offire will re- the wall over with logs, fo r exam- voyance, clairaudience and
main in effect as long as the caster ple). the large volum es of rock and
maintains concen tration -and es- earth being excavated must be dis- other scryi n g spe ll s and items
capes being hit in combat-and is can tell the defender exactly
where enemy excavations arc. In
th e BATTLESYSTEM'" rules. ho-
wever,there are no spells that
would prove of any use.

Note that a ll these means of de-

94

tection work both ways. While the end of the anteroom . Set in to the difficult to concentrate on defend·
d efend ers mus t kn ow wh ere the walls of th e passage w erc man y ar · in g yourself when you 're trying
attackers ar e digging in order to row slits or loopholes. through not to fall over). This penalty is in
counteract them , th e attackers whic h the defenders. totally pro- addition to any oth er penal ties (for
them selves would b e quite in ter· tected, could shoot down upon the exam ple, due to lower elevation).
ested to know the exact progr ess of Inva ders. The attacke rs cou ld ei ·
the defenders' counter -mines in ther turn tai l. or try to breach th e T he vas t majority of spira l
staircases-even today-form a
order to avoid them. second gate while all the while suf· co un terclockw ise heli x (that is,
someone climbing the stairs turns
Defenders should con sider car e· fer in g with ering crossfire. 1b rep- left or counterclockwise). In fac t.
fully the consequences of counter· resen t the close quarter s, limited this convention is so pervasive
mining. While a su ccessful ba ttl e m obility and horror of a killing that. when people use one of the
in th e tunne ls can slay numerous passage. troops try ing to operate few staircases th at turn s "the
enemy troops and prevent the cas- wrong way". they get the feeling
tl e walls from being brea c h cd. in su c h an ar ea suffer a + I pen alty that "so m ethin g's stran ge" abo u t
th ere is a risk . If it turns out to be the staircase, even though they
the attacking miners who ar e vic- to their AR against missile attacks ca n 't pu t th ei r fi nger on the differ-
torious. the counter ·min e gi ves from the wall slits. and suffer a en ce.
them a passage Into the castle inte- penalty of - 1 to mora le w hile in
rior .. unless . of course . the d e- th e k illing zon e. This con ven tion developed from
fenders have guarded or blocked a con sc ious d esig n d ec ision of cas-
off th eir end of the tunnel. Even such simple thlngsas stair- tle architects. They knew that
cases could be turned into obsta- most warr iors were righ t -handed:
Spe~la.1 "Terrain" and cles for the attacker and advan- they also knew that most invaders
Obstacles tages for the d efend er. Psychologi- would have to fight their way up a
cally, people expect t h at the r iser s taircase. That's why a coun ter-
Castles are designed so as to of each step in a flight o f stairs w ill c loc kwi se spiral makes sense:
m ake It as dlmcuit as possible for b e of about the sam e height. If on e right-handed w arriors will fi n d
in vaders to m ove. fight. and sur- riser is significantly lower or t h eir sword swings hampered by
vive within their walls. Militar y ar- high er than the others. the walls of the spiral. Defe nders
c hitect s. particularl y in t h e Middle ch ances are good that so m eone above have no such hindrance. 1b
A ges proved to have fertile {and who doesn ' t know abou t this "trip refl ec t t h is in game term s. units
rather nasty) imaginations in this equi pped with slashing or bludg-
regard. A mong their triumphs step " will stumb le or fall wh en eoning weapons (particularly long-
w er e such things as "killing pas- t h ey reac h it. H istorical ly, this was or broadswords, m aces or ham-
sages". spiraJ stai rcases. spikes. a very common trick. and trip me rs) who are fightin g their way
and trip steps. steps can be found in m any castles up a s piral staircase suffer a pen-
alty: from eac h AD the uni t rolls,
Most castles have arrow slits and s till standing i n Engla nd (u su ally subtract l. Units u si n g pier cing
loopholes on the outside. Many. painted while or otherwise weapons su c h as shor t swords su f-
however, also h ad th em on the in- marked so t ou r ists won't break fer no su c h penal ty.
side. A common d esign-and one their necks).
seen in m ore modern construc- Other Obstacles
tion s, up to and including Alca traz In game terms. a unit must pay a
Penitentiary-was the double gat e movement penal ty of 2" the fi rst In add i tion to fea tures of castJe
or "killing passage". Once attack- ti m e it uses a stair case that in- design, the garrison can use a
ers had broken down a door or cludes a trip step. For each subse- number of unpleasan t pieces of
gate, th ey found them selves i n a quent time that the sam e unit u ses equ ipm en t to mak e life diffic ult for
high·walled passage or an teroom. tha t s tai rway. th ere is no move- invader s.
The only exits were th e gate by men t penal ty, D efending units-
which they'd just entered, and an who th eoretically know about t h e A commonly employed object is
equally reinforced gate at th e far the ca ltrop. w hi ch looks so m e-
trip step- pay no such movem ent
pena lty. In addi ti on . any unit-
invader or garrison -forced to me-
lee while on a sta ircase that

includes a trip step suffers a + I

penalty to AR (becau se It's more

.,

thing li ke a fo ur-li mbed s piked eties: in fa ntry a nd ca valry. In fa n- th rough the s piked a rea a t a cost of
jack from the child's ga m e of "ball try caltra ps a re s ma ll e r. a nd do 6 " fo r each I " moved ; m ou n ted
a nd jacks" . T hese ra nge in s ize more da m age agains t fOOL units. cavalry can not clear away s p ikes.
from a n Inc h or so across to th ree S uc h devices have a n AD of 4. Cav-
inches or m ore. The four- li mbed alry caltrops are la rge r. a nd do se- Alte rnatively. in fant ry uni ts can
arrangement makes s u re th at. no rious damage to cava lry or un its c hoose to m ove through a s pi ked
m atter how the caltrop lands , one composed of s ize L or larger crea· a rea wi th ou t clearing the s pikes at
a cost of 3" for each I " moved .
s pike is always poin ted u p . De- tures (AD =6), These caltrops are Eac h in fan try figu re of size M or
smalle r m ov ing into a s piked area
fe nders can lay caltrops a long the s o la rge tha t it's easy for M or against the area's direc tion of fac·
approach es to the cas tle. sca tter s ma ll er s ized in fa n try to s te p ing s u ffers a n attack of AD 6 ; no
th e m from th e wa ll s, o r s tre w around the m . T his negates da m · da m age Is done If the unit e nters
them across the cou rtyard when age to the infa ntry un its, but they from a non-fa cing di rec tion. a l-
s till m ust pay the m ove men t pen· though the movem e n t cost s till a p·
the wa ll is breac hed . In each case. alty discussed above. plies. For example. ta ke a n area
the purpose is the sam e: to cause with s pi kes a ll facing north . A u n it
a ttacking units to s low down wh ile Ca ltrops take n o s id es: a ny m ov ing south into the a rea s uffers
they sweep away the caltrops (as- unit. a ttac ke r or defe nder. s uffers damage. If the u nit had e nte red the
a rea heading west, however. it
suming they notice t hem ) or press the sa m e conseque nces from e n· wou ld ha ve s uffered no damage.
on th rou g h t h e a rea. s u ffe ri ng tering a caltrop·sown area. Areas of s pi kes fa cing in a ll direc-
da m age a ll th e while. tion s ca nnot be e n te red safely. re-
Anoth er effec tive tac tic is to set gardless of direction of a pproach .
Any unit equipped wi th caltrops s pikes in the ear th . eit her in the Routi ng in fa n try u n its, or un its reo
can "sow" them as they m ove bottom of trenc hes . or along the treating for m ora le rea sons, wh ic h
a pproach es to the casUe. Like ca l· pass th rough a s piked a rea can not
throu gh a n a rea . T he area sown is traps. a s piked a rea s lows down el ect to c lea r away t he s p ikes .
equa) to. the size of the unit in its movement and has the potentia l to Cha rging units who enter a s piked
curre nt formation . plus 1/2" on in fli c t da m age. An infa ntry un it (or a rea in a direction opposite to its
each s ide. Whe n thrown from atop dis m ounted cava lry unit) eq ui p· fac ing cannot elec t to clear a way
a wall . the caltrops cover a n a rea ped with s pikes can pla n t the m as the s pikes . a nd s u ffe r double da m -
as wide as the fron tage of the u n it they move through an area. The age fro m the devices.
doin g the sowin g, plus 112" on a rea so s piked Is equ al to the s ize of
eac h side. a nd 1" deep (i.e.. away the un it In its c u rre n t formation. Mounted cavalry a nd c reatures
from the wa ll). Setting spikes costs 4" of move· of s ize L or la rger can not e nter an
m e n t a llowance. a rea set wi th s pikes. un less they
Infa n try or dis mounted cavalry pay the m ovement cos t to clear the
ca n clear away caltrops , by mov- Unlike caltrops. a placemen t of a rea. Figu res of th is ty pe th at rou t
spikes can have a defin ite facin g. lnla a s piked area are elim inated .
ing th rough the sown area at a cost T his is because the s pikes are set at
of 5~ for each 1" moved : m ou n ted a n angle so their points are aimed in Morale Issues
cavalry can n ot clea r away ca l· a certain direction . T he u nit settin g
traps . Alt e rnative ly. units can the s pikes can select a n y facing or While mora le effec ts on th e a t-
choose to move th rough a sown combina tion of fac ings for the tac ker during a long Siege ca n be
area without clearing the caltrops. spikes (i.e.. the s pikes can a ll point severe, they a re much more pro-
T h e unit pays 2 " for eac h 1" north, half can point n orth while fo und a re on th e d efe nd er. T he
moved , a nd s uffers damage based half point south . or the s pikes can conseque nces to mora le of being
on the type of caltrop (discu ssed point in all directions like s pines on ou t of su pply have been d iscussed
la ter). Rou tin g un its, or u n its re- a sea urchin). T his facin g m us t be in a n earl ie r s ec tion. The re a re
treating for m orale rea sons, which m arked somehow when the s pikes m a ny other fac tors that come Into
pass through a sown area can not a re origina ll y set. a nd can 't be play, however.
elect to clear away the caltrops. c ha nged u n less the s pikes are
Charging units who pass t hrough cleared (see below) the n re·set.
a sown area ca nnot elect to clear
a way the cal trops, and s uffer dou · Infa n try or dismoun ted cava lry
ble da m age from the devices. can clear a way s pikes by moving

Caltraps com e in two m a in vari·

96

T he followi ng table lists morale it its own modifiers. The following capitulate against his or her w ill.
modifiers th at apply to t he be- table shows how the length of the An NPC commander. however. will
sieged garrison. These modifiers Siege (in days) affects the mora le of offic ially surrender at the first op·
are cumulative (except where the d efenders: portunity whenever the average
common se nse dictates other- morale (Including m odifiers) of all
wise). and are applied to every Mo- Length Morale surviving garrison troops drops to
rale Check made by any defending of Siege modifier 4. or is 10 or m ore poin ts less t h an
unit while the conditions of t he 0-30 days th e aver age m orale of all attacking
modifier (s) are i n effect. 31-80 days o units.
8 1- 100 days
- I Auackers have cannon w hile -1 The above rule refers to official
defenders do not. 101 + days surrender . where t h e com mander
-2 capitu lates in the name of all
- I A ttackers have used magic. -3 troops under his or her command.
while defen ders have no Som eti mes th e decision is take n
spe l l c a s t e r s. As stated before. a ll of these out of t he hand s of t he com ·
modifier s ar c cum ulaUve. mander. of course. If the condition
- I Siege is taking place in arises w here all defending units
winter. For example. an el ven garrison are shaken. th e troops w ill look for
has been en circled by an orcish the firs t available c han ce to offer
- I Attackers have flyi ng troops force for 45 days. T he o rcs have no su rrender. Any friendly unit that is
(w hether or not defenders do spellcasters among their number. with in 1" of an en emy un i t but is
al so ). while the el ves h ave a handful of not en gaged in melee combat must
mages. Unfortu nately. the orcs make a special Morale Ch eck . If
- 1 Defenders have tried to break have a number of cannon. and the uni t fails. it immediately o ffers
encir clement wi t h a sor t ie, have been r ein for ced by a unit of surren der to a n y enemy unil
ev il bandits mounted on griffons. with in I ". Th quali fy. en emy un its
, but failed . A n el ven sortie. i n an abortive at- mu st be on the same level (a u ni t
- I At least one sortie has suf- tempt to break the enc irclem ent. a top a wa ll isn ' t going to o ffer sur-
Inflicted casualties on t he orcs. bu t render to a unit 40' below on the
fered 50% casualties. suffered grievous harm itse lf: only ground).
- 3 The a ttack ers ar e known (or one in ten of the elven troops r e-
turned. On th e brigh t s ide. a small The enem y unit now has a
believed) t o have performed force o f el ven cavalry has arrived c h oice: accept su rren der and take
"atrocities" 0 11 prisoners in from elsewhere. and is harrying lhe friendly unit prisoner. or refuse
the past. the orcs' supply lines. T he elves' t he offer an d a ttac k the su rrender·
morale is suffering. bu t n ot m uch: ing unit.
+ I Relief troops allied w ith the each Morale Check made by an el-
ven unit suffers a penalt y of -2. Prisoners of War
defender are expected to ar-
rive withi n 24 h our s. Surrender If an enemy unit accepts surren-
der. th e figures of the su rren dered
+ I Defenders have cannon while Good commanders know when unit are interspersed with those of
it's time to cu t their losses and sur- the unit taking them prison er. T he
attackers do not. r ender an un win nabl e si tuation. prisoner figures are m oved by the
Even If the commander doesn't ac- player w ho owns the capturing
+ I Defenders have spellcasters ce pt th e n ecessity of surren de r. the unit. The combined unit has the
troops will ofte n take the i n itia ti ve. movem ent allowance of the slower
w hile attackers have (as yet) of the two types of figu res (I.e .. a
used no magic. I f {i n AD&D® game terms) the cavalry unit with in fantr y pr is·
com mander of a besieged fortifica- oners moves at the same rate as
+ I At least on e sortie has in- tion is a Player Ch aracter. the d eci - the in fantry unit). In addition. it
sion of w hether or not to officially
flic t ed casualties on the a t · surren der Is up to him or h er.
tacker s without suffe ring There is no rule to force a player to
more than 10% casualties it-
se lf.
+2 Relief troops allied with the
defender ar e surrounding or
c hallen g ing the attackers'
position (includes double en-
Circlem en t).

In addition to the fac tors above .
th e length o f the Siege carries with

97

suffers a movement allowance RefUSAl of Surrender Thrgets ofartillery attacks are not al-
penalty of 2". A unit with pris- lowed to make armor checks: every
oners must always be In irregular Traditionally, ev il armies aren't hit does damage.
formation. and cannot Initiate me· a lways keen abou t accepting sur-
lee combat (it can Initiate missile render. They'd much rather not be A bombardment engine only in·
combat. however) . hindered by prIsoners. fllcts half the actual hits it rolls
(rounded up) when fir ing at a unit
If a unit with prisoners is the vic- If a unit decides to refuse surren- in skirmish formation. If 7 hits
der. it immediately attacks the s ur- were indicated. for example, a skir·
tim of missile fire. half of the at- rendering unit In m elee combat. mish unit would on ly suffer 4.
tacking figures (rounded down) The unit offering surrender cannot
a re considered to be attacking the attack that turn (i.e .. the enemy Hits is the number of hits re-
prisoner figures. while the remain- unit gets a free attack), and for that quired to disable the machine.
der a re considered to be attacking turn it receives no roll for AR. lIthe "D isabl e" has different defi ni -
to the captors. surrendering unit survives. its tions. depending on the engine in
condition is routed (but it can be question.
For example. an orcish unit with rallied normally).
a n AR of 8 has taken prisoner a Range is given in minimum and
unit of peasants (AR 9). The com · Siege Engines maximum distances. There are no
bined unit Is attacked by 7 figures s hort . medium and long range cat·
of longbow men (AD 6). By the rule Siege engines break down into egories for these weapons, and
above, the components of the com · two main classes. These are born · they don't receive a range bonus
bined unit suffer damage as bardment engines which are de· for elevation .
s igned to hurl large missiles. often
though it's the vic lim of two dis· with little or no accuracy, but do· Crew is the number of figures reo
linct attacks: the peasants suffer ing a great deal of damage if they qulred to operate the weapon at full
an attack by 3 figures of longbow· hit. This category also includes effectiveness. The weapon can oper·
m en (half of 7, rounded d own). cannon and mortars, which might ate with less than a full crew, but its
while the orcs suffer an attack by 4 not be allowed in all campaigns. rate of fire Is slowed to half speed. A
fi gures (the remainder). The other category, crushing en· weapon cannot fire or be loaded if its
gines, includes all non·missile de· crew has been reduced to less than
If a unit with prisoners Is at· vices designed to breach gates or half the number given here.
tacked in m elee combat. the prls· walls through Impact or other
oners instantly break free and methods. Crew members can defend them-
move 4" in the direction of the selves against a melee attack. but
" friendly" side of the table. At the Bombardment Engines they cannot fire missile weapons or
end of this movement, they are make a melee attack. If they do ei·
All bombardment engines make ther, they are considered not to be
routed (but can be rallied nor· use of the same concepts and crewing the weapon during the tum
mally). For the first step ofcombat. terms. These are listed be low: In which the attack Is made.
the captor figures suffer a penalty
of + 1 to their AR. AD is the s ize (and number) of at- Rate of fire is the number of
tack dice rolled when the device is turns required for the weapon to
As can be seen. taking (and fired. Attacks can be rolled against be reloaded .
keeping) prisoners isn 't the easiest specific target units or reasonably
matter. In some cases. however- large building features: to be eligible Move is the distance the weapon
and in some scenarios-there as targets, building features must can travel in one turn over clear.
be at least 3" along one dimension. flat terrain. A bombardment en-
should be some significant bene· gine is treated as cavalry for pur-
fits to taking prisoners. Perhaps Apart from the ballista (diSCUssed poses of determining what types of
they can give the attackers valu· below), no bombardment engine special terrain it can negotiate,
able information a bout the castle's can fire at a single figure, whether a nd how quickly it can move
defenses, or s hould the Siege fail, that figure Is a hero or part ofa unit. through special terrai n-half
maybe they could be ransom ed speed through li ght woods or
back for a handsome profit.

98

when ascending a slope. and one- Ing the table that describes th is that look like oversized spears. Al-
thir d speed through s ha llow water weapon . we find that the shot though not as effective as cata-
or brush/scrub. m isses its mark by Id3 inches. pults or trebuchets. ball istae could
infl ict Impressive dam age against
A weapon can only be m oved If the s hot Is aim ed at a vertical bu ild ings {th e projectiles a ren't as
when it has a fu ll crew. An ar tillery surface. the scatter diagram is s UlI heavy as trebuchet missiles. b ut
weapon can not m ove and fi re in used to determine the im pact their moment of inertia-and
the same turn. though it can be point. A roll of I . for example. indi- he nce th eir "stoppi ng power" - is
moved fully loaded. ready to fire cates that the s hot fe ll short of its very high ).
the turn after it moves. m ark. If th is is the case. but the
roun d still reached the target. then Ballistae were used by the Ro-
A turn in wh iCh a bom bard me n t the point of Impact was lower than mans. both as land weapons and
en gine moves does not counl for intended. If a roll indicates that a as s h ipboar d dev ices for fir ing
reloading or for pu rposes of deter- scattered s hot wen l h igh and the grapples at enemy vessels to pull
m ining rate of fi re. Su ch a weapon tar get is too low to be struck. then them alongside for board ing.
can change fac ing du ring a tu rn the m issile will continue past the
when it is bei ng re loaded. target and strike the ground be- T he poten tial energy stored in a
yond it. T hus. a s hot fired at the bent and cocked ballista is consid -
Scatte r is a concept common to top of a wall or fla n king tower still erable. m aking the loaded weapon
all m issile weapons. When a pro- has a chance of doing damage to som ewhat frag ile. As the old say-
jectile misses its target. the con- the keep Inside the walls even if it ing goes. "A be nt bow is seven-
cept of scatter determines exactly m isses Its mark. eigh ths broken". If the ballista has
where the projectile does hit. suffered serious structural dam-
Dungeon masters who are run- age {that is. if it has been red uced
T he odds that a given s hot will n ing a n AD&D\!I game campaign. to 2 hits). there is a 20% chance
scatter vary from weapon to not just a skirm ish foug ht with the each time th e weapon Is reloaded
weapon. and a re given in the indi- BATTLESYSTEM" rules. migh t that it will misfire, destroying the
vidual descriptions. as are the pos- consider adding the "artille rist" weapon. If a ballista m isfires. it
sible distances that s hots m ight be wea pon profic iency: fires as soon as reloading is com-
01T the mark . In a ll cases. however. p lete. wheth er or not the c rew
the method for determi n ing direc- Artille rist wan ts It to. T he s hot is very inac-
tion of scatter Is the sam e. T hose with this skill a re c u rate. however: it a u tomatically
scatters. a nd the scatter distance
If a shot scatters. roll Id IO and t rai ned in th e u se of various is twice norm al. Each figure with in
consul t the fo llowing chart: Siege e ngines. In addition to pre- I" of the device su ffe rs Id3- 1 hits
ven ting the drawbac ks of non- (no arm or check ) as the ballista
Sutler Diagram ® profiCient weapon use. if a shatters. Of course. th e device is
ch aracter with th is skill com - use less fro m then on.
<81 mands the crew of a bombard-
m e nt e ngi ne {I.e.. is w ithin 1" of A ball ista shot hasa 15% chance
~,®\ the weapon whe n it fi res). the of scattering: scatter distance is
®~ c hance of a shot scattering is Id3 N • ha lf tha t (rounded up) if the
halved. Warriors may s pecialize range is 13" or less.
, ,@I- - - - - " f , ; ' = - - - - - - - in thi s skill . but t h ere is n o
change to the weapon 's rate of A ballis ta with full crew can fi re
, IN'[lND£D T.UG(l fir e for experience levels or spe- at a single large-sized individual
cia lization . figu re (a dragon or the leader of a
For example. a heavy catapult troop of giants. for example).
s hot at an en em y un it scatters. 8 ....1115t....
The IdIO roll is 7. which means Bomb....rd
that th e s hot is long and s lightly to Also referred to as a mangonel or
the right. Ch ecki ng th e text fo llow- scorpio n . a balllsta looks li ke a Over the centu ries. weapon-
huge c rossbow. It fi res projectiles sm iths developed a staggering va-
riety of diffe rent gunpowder-fired

99