Your Game World - Bricks? Carved Stone? Mud?

[Raven Crowking]

Depends on where you are.

This is actually stuff that I find fun to think about, and try to use in descriptions. Every type of housing material implies things about the area. Stone implies quarries. Bricks imply clay and brickworks. Good clay is actually more expensive than most stone, because it is easier to use, but offers less solid fortification.

There is an episode of Tales of the Green Valley (BBC) where they show how a barn is thatched. Very interesting stuff. More thought goes into it than a modern individual might think.

Re: bricks, this may be of interest: Brick - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

One book I really value is The Boy's Book of Trades, which lists tools and working methods for a number of trades which have largely fallen by the wayside. It is a great reference work for the harried GM. My copy came from Lee Valley Tools.


RC

 

[vikram1248]

Brick would be somewhere between sawed wood and stone in cost, and somewhere between log cabin and stone in durability.Like most here, wood is what I describe most often; it is usually either sawn plank from logs, or logs. Some is half-timbered, and the cheap peasant stuff is wattle and daub.Stone and brick are usually used out of necessity (ie. there is no timber available), however wealthier owners might pay extra to have stone/brick structures built because they are stronger, fire resistant, and remain stable in vertical construction (tall walls and multi-storey buildings) plus they result in more symmetrical (and therefore potentially more attractive) buildings.

 

[Stoat]

My current campaign is set on a tropical island. Most structures are made from wooden planks with shingled roofs. Important buildings are built from blocks of volcanic stone.

Generally speaking, I try to give the matter a little thought, mostly because it's an easy way to give an area some flavor.

 

[Oryan77]

In my Planescape game, there are buildings made up of all kinds of materials depending on the city. Sigil is made up of just about everything, and it is common to have one type of building built on top of a building made up of a completely different material.

One of the PCs went to the city of Dis, where the buildings are made out of heated metal. The current group just left Elshava, a city on Arborea that is surrounded by water and made out of coral & giant shells.

It is exotic things like this that makes me like Planescape

 

[Ed_Laprade]

Peasents get wattle and daub mostly, city folk get wood or half timbered construction. Important buildings/those owned by the wealthy are made of stone. Hadn't thought about brick, but should have. Will have to add some brickworks and brick construction.

 

[Snoweel]

Brick would be somewhere between sawed wood and stone in cost, and somewhere between log cabin and stone in durability.Like most here, wood is what I describe most often; it is usually either sawn plank from logs, or logs. Some is half-timbered, and the cheap peasant stuff is wattle and daub.Stone and brick are usually used out of necessity (ie. there is no timber available), however wealthier owners might pay extra to have stone/brick structures built because they are stronger, fire resistant, and remain stable in vertical construction (tall walls and multi-storey buildings) plus they result in more symmetrical (and therefore potentially more attractive) buildings.

Nice bot.

 

[Thunderfoot]

Just as a side note - medieval fortifications weren't really made out of cut blocks, they used two walls of layered "formed" rocks back-filled with "rubble" - spare stone, mortar and sand (basically an early version of concrete).
Afterward they were either white-washed, painted or swathed in plaster to give them the "carved from a single block of stone" look.

Brick was used quite a bit by late medieval mason (through and including the neo-modern era) for fireplaces, especially chimneys. Many examples of Tudor homes that were built during the period are still standing today in England and many of those either have brick chimneys and later brick lower levels (where the bottom level of waddle and daub had started to go and was replaced.) This might even be a way to introduce it into your campaign.

Hope this helps.