Castles

[Dr Midnight]

One of my players drew from the Deck of Many Things. He won a keep.

Trouble is, the DMG isn't really clear on the dimensions of the keep, or keeps in general.

There's a good castle reference section in the rear of S&F, but it doesn't provide everything we'd like to know. Mostly, I'd like to know how many square feet your average "keep" would have available. Is there an old AD&D castles supplement that might help? Is there a castles book we can reference?

I know any of these answers would be easily answered with a creative DM's call, but I'd like to hear as many facts/opinions as I can before I tell him what he has to work with.

 

[The It's Man]

There's a 2nd ed. Castle guide IIRC - you could take a keep out of a dungeon - DM's choice wether it is occupied or not

You can do a google serach for floorplans of castles maybe that will help

i.e. http://www.hut.fi/~vesanto/link.useful/maps/castles.html

or check the library for some books about castles

 

[Someguy]

I would base it off his level...

 

[THG Mage]

Maybe a little help

Hello there. I was reading your post with great interest, as I have been researching this very topic for some time now. Although I wont go into a lengthy response, I will try to help you out with it some.

As far as I have found, in all honesty, a "keep" can vary in size based on the power of the person building it and the finances they had when they began constructing it. The keep was actually the last line of defense for a castle, and was the main living quarters of the lord of the castle. Boiled down to its simpliest meaning, "keep" is a relatively modern word for "great tower", so in effect, that is what it is.

You could have a "keep" or great tower standing by itself as mainly a place of refuge and living, but usually, like I said before it would be a part of a greater castle structure.

Keeps could be round or square, but were mostly square. Most were built fairly high to allow for better visibilty in defending them. The walls would be fairly thick and the keep itself would provide a decent amount of defense to those in it.

On you question of size and square footage, that would vary based on who built it. Some could be as small as 25 foot on a side to as much as 100-200 feet on a side, based on surrounding geography, materials available, and power held by the lord.

Well, I hope I've helped you out, if even a little bit. Good gaming.

 

[A2Z]

The 2E Castle Guide is available for download on the WotC site here. It's at the bottom of the page. It's not a PDF like the usual downloads though. I'm not sure what the format is. There's a zip file with some gif maps and an .asc file (whatever that is?). It might be worth checking out though.

 

[Maerdwyn]

*pokes his head in*

ASCII text, I believe, but could be wrong. Any text reader (notepad, wordpad, etc. in Windows) or word processor should be able to open it. Notepad worked on my computer, anyway

*ducks out again*

 

[Skullfyre]

The 2E Castle Guide is available for download on the WotC site here. It's at the bottom of the page. It's not a PDF like the usual downloads though. I'm not sure what the format is. There's a zip file with some gif maps and an .asc file (whatever that is?). It might be worth checking out though.

I believe it is in doc format, at least the version I have is

 

[Kaptain_Kantrip]

The GIFs of the maps look terrible! You're better off buying the print version if you want them. They're also all 3D like Ravenloft and kinda hard to read as a result...

 

[Deadguy]

How long is a piece of string is a fair answer, Doc! It depended enormously on the era, the country, the location and, as has been mentioned, the wealth and power of the builder. That said, most aren't all that large by comparison with modern buildings. It's intresting to note that the keep building itself was frequently not much larger than a church, whilst the great cathedrals outsized all but a few large castle complexes.

However, as a simple rule of thumb, a basic keep - the place of last refuge for a castle, or the basis of a castle itself - might be only 30 feet on a side (plus possibly corner towers), and say three to four storeys high. Small is the norm in the mediaeval period. of course, in D&D, with walls of stone and similar spells, it might be easier, though not cheap, to build much larger structures.

 

[Jack Haggerty]

A quick internet search on "castles keeps" found this web-page on this web-site...

It is a very informative site about medieval castles, and British castles in particular.

Skenfrith Castle is located in South Wales and was built in 1220. It is a good example of a Round Keep surrounded by a curtain wall (including four round towers and a gate house) for defense, and is probably typical of what a Character might gain from a Deck of Many Things.

Here is a sort of tourist's guide page to Skenfrith Castle. It does include photos, and a blueprint of the castle.