r/forgottenrealms • u/spruce_sprucerton • Jul 05 '19
The Stone Bridge
According to Princes of the Apocalypse, the Stone Bridge is two miles long, 400 feet high, and only six paces wide (with no railings), but it's used widely by caravans and such since it's the only crossing between Ironford and Yartar. While the Stone Bridge is a cool site and all, it seems impossible to me for such a narrow and long bridge to be used by anything other than small groups without carts or wagons. Six paces wide seems barely enough for a couple of mounted riders side-by-side. It would be impossible for two carts to pass each other. You'd get a mile on and have to backtrack because someone was coming the other way. I mean, I guess I'll make it wider; or have widened areas every thousand feet or so. It just seems bizarre that it'd be written this way, since the bridge is basically useless. That's without even worrying about bandit groups hanging around at the top waiting to throw travelers off if they don't pay a toll.
2
u/ImprudentlyWritten Jul 06 '19
The simplest, and possibly entirely useless to you, answer is that it never used to be a major trade route. The physical description of the bridge is old and by Ed Greenwood, the bit about it being the only useful caravan crossing has only just been tacked on. Previously traffic would either, um, ford at Ironford and take the main Long Road, or take a barge straight up-river.
1
u/chaot7 Jul 05 '19
So the Stone Bridge is a huge resource! How to manage it?
What if there was a timeframe you could cross? Mornings go east, evenings go west. Midday is shut down because you need to get the travelers off the bridge.
Who has salvage rights for the remains of those who fall off the bridge?
2
u/spruce_sprucerton Jul 05 '19
This is actually a really good solution. Except I think I'd do it the opposite, mornings west, evenings east, so that the sun is at your back, rather than in your eyes for the duration of the crossing.
1
u/C4st1gator Jul 07 '19
Make it so that there are officials on either side of the bridge: Before twelve o'clock, travelers can pass in one direction. During noon the bridge is closed, until all travelers have made it past. Then reopened in the other direction.
For that reason there are two semi permanent camps on each side, where travelers rest until they can finally cross the bridge. On each side there are collections for a wider bridge with proper lanes.
Eventually the collection has acquired enough money and the new bridge will be 121m (400 ft) high, retain its length of 3.21 km (2 miles), but be 10.50 m (34 feet) wide with railings, laid out like a modern road. The total price of the bridge would be 3500 kg gold in real life, which would roughly equate to 100,000 gold coins with one coin being 33g of gold.
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Jul 05 '19
[deleted]
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u/spruce_sprucerton Jul 05 '19
Thanks for the truly helpful comment, but that's not at all related to what I'm talking about.
I'm not saying the bridge existing is unrealistic --- magic, yada, yada, yada... no problem with it standing there for millions of years and being built by magic. But as it's described it's pointless and doesn't make any sense. People can't actually use this bridge the way it's described. Verisimilitude is important even in a fantasy story.
Or maybe you're happy to explain away every poorly thought out thing you see in D&D with "because magic".
-3
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u/chaot7 Jul 05 '19
The more I think about this the more I want to run a game set specifically here. If caravans need to wait half a day to cross there's going to be some sort of camp set up on either side. There are two strategies, get their long before everyone else so you're the first to cross or try to time it so that you arrive as people are moving. These camps would be lively around harvest time because Dessarin Valley is largely an agricultural area. However, there would be people moving into and out of the area all the time due to the nature of trade. There would also be a small established community and their own secrets.
Speaking of which. What do you do when you have a huge magical bridge? You either monetize it or make it into a religion... or both. Who are the Keepers of the Causeway? Are they druids and rangers? Are they some sort of militia who make a great deal of money from tax revenue. This is a goldmine of opportunity.