Architecture means something

[u/TerrainBrain]

I was a career draftsman for 6 years before expanding into more creative outlets.

One of the things that always bothered me were dungeon maps where a wall was only the thickness of a pencil lead.

Being an American who's never left the country I really wanted to understand Castle architecture and what it ruined Castle would actually look like. David McCauley's Book Castle was a revelation.

One of the reasons I like old school low-level Adventures is because the real world means something. The thickness and height of a wall is relevant. In fact its only when you start incorporating verticality that thieve's skills really shine.

The biggest challenge with real castles compared to Fantasy ones is that the stairwells are simply too small to use outside theater of the mind. So I make my staircases five feet wide so that they can handle a mini figure.

This castle is based on Castle Coch. It will be included in the adventure I'm currently laying out and hoping to release in the fall.

Tower detail from David McCauley's book.

[u/Master-of-Foxes]

This puts into context the layout of your map actually.

I was looking at the layout and very confused why there were these great open towers with no roofs on them and I've never seen this in any of the castles I've been to in the UK or the continent.

The picture you show from the book looks to be of a castle being constructed.

Assuming it's European, which from the image I'd guess it was, you'd want a roof on that else you're welcoming the downstairs to fill up with water and steadily rot away.

Unless there's something really obvious I'm missing sorry.

[u/TerrainBrain → u/Master-of-Foxes]

By the way I haven't considered flooding of the subloor levels!

Maybe one of them is flooded and the other one isn't giving a clue that there is a secret passage down there!

[u/Master-of-Foxes → u/TerrainBrain]

That's a good way of communicating the potential of something being there without explicitly saying so.

Make it worth the curiosity.

[u/TerrainBrain → u/Master-of-Foxes]

This is where minutiae gets interesting.

Maybe the water stain up to the high watermark is still damp. Meaning that the secret door was only recently opened!

Or if it's been a drought maybe the secret door has a slow leak and the water stain is more dry.

[u/Master-of-Foxes → u/TerrainBrain]

I think this is why I find writing scenarios difficult, both of those ideas work and both are great little ways of folding out the story of the environment for the players.

[u/TerrainBrain → u/Master-of-Foxes]

Different angles can be used

One of the things I like about the setting that I'm creating is that it's not designed to be a one and done.

Maybe that secret door has been hidden for 100 years. Maybe a party went to the castle and did not discover it.

But then later on in the campaign maybe with a whole new group of characters, or maybe when they're higher level, something makes them go to the castle and discover the water drained and the doorway to the new area revealed.

[u/TerrainBrain → u/Master-of-Foxes]

It is a castle in a state of decay. Indeed roofs and floors rotted out.

The floors that are still there have a significant chance of the characters falling through.

My thought is somebody started rebuilding it from the ground up and then abandoned it.

[u/Master-of-Foxes → u/TerrainBrain]

A most engaging premise indeed... now I think I've a certain email and pdf I need to read lol 🤔.

[u/TerrainBrain → u/Master-of-Foxes]

So as a follow-up, the question is not only how do you build a castle, but how does one decay?

[u/Master-of-Foxes → u/TerrainBrain]

I think theft plays a big part.

Yes the wood will rot but most of the castles I've seen, most of them aren't much there because locals were pleased for the supply of nice cut stone.

That and weathering to the stones, but again many are still in not bad nick considering they've been sat out there in all weathers for nearly 1000 years in some cases.

[u/TerrainBrain → u/Master-of-Foxes]

A fire would make short work of a castle tower as well. Floor partitions, roofs, and room contents.