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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 5115851" data-attributes="member: 4937">Typical D&D Dwarven fortresses suffer from unrealistic designs in alot of ways, especially when you compare them to Tolkien's dwarven cities that inspired them.If we take Erebor and Moria as typical, dwarven cities had alot of features that were deemed essential for livability that your typical D&D dwarf built fortress lacks.  For example, Moria had windows carved into the side of the mountain to let in light into the residential parts of the city.  These windows become points of entry for magical attackers that constitute not really more significant of a barrier than a castle wall.  Erebor fell to Smaug in part because the dwarves on watch outside the fortress could not communicate with the dwarves inside, resulting in a haphazard and poorly coordinated defense and dwarves being ambushed peicemeal.  The problem with most D&D dwarven strongholds is that in an effort to make them as assault proof as possible, they are turned into airless, lightless, waterless vaults with no provision for getting in and out on a daily basis.  Once you start adding things like air shafts to convey fresh air into the city and let smoke out, water for drinking and sanitation, windows to let in light, observation towers to survey the land, and so forth, you end up with a castle with unusually thick walls.</blockquote>