To
demonstrate the Castle Guide Quickref, let’s build a Medieval
Motte.
A
medieval motte is a type of fortification originally invented by the
Normans in the Early Middle-Ages. It is composed of a raised
earthwork mound topped with a wooden keep. To enhance the protection
it was surrounded by a protective palisade.
1.
Final Production
Modifier
First
let’s calculate the Final Production Modifier. For this example, we
will assume the motte is built in the following conditions :
climate :
temperate ;
geography :
rolling hills ;
ground
cover : light forest ;
resource
availability : near and good ;
local
social structure : agricultural ;
worker
skill : average ;
worker
morale : high.
2.
Castle Modules
Let’s
start with the mound :
The
first level of the mound is built by raising a surface of 60’ x 60’
by 10’ in
height.
As the standard motte module is 10’x10’x5’, this will require
72 modules (60 x 60 x 10 = 72 x (10 x 10 x 5)).
72
modules will need 144 man.week of work and will cost 720 GP.
Then
we are rising a second level of mound :
The
second level will need 32 more modules which will require 64 man.week
of work and costs 320 GP.
Now
we can erect the palisade :
To
surround the whole mound with the palisade, we will need 24 modules.
In deed, one module is 10’ long and 5’ high, and the perimeter
here measures 240’ (4
x 60).
(N.B. :
with metric units, it would require 27 modules).
To
build the palisade, 24 man.week of work will be required and it will
cost an additional 120 GP.
And
finally, we can build the keep :
The
keep is made up of 2 small wooden buildings (20’ x 20’ x 15’)
and 2 layers of 4 flooring modules.
The
2 buildings will need 16 man.week of work and cost 80 GP and the
total flooring, 8 man.week of work and 40 GP.
Let’s
fill the Castle Module form to sum it all up :
As
explained in the Castle Guide, to calculate the final time and the
final cost, you will need to add all the time and costs of the
modules. Then you need to add a 10 % modifier and finally apply
the final PM previously calculated.
3.
Construction time
To
determine the construction time we will need first to calculate and
apply the number of required workers and the work force modifiers.
The
number of required workers is given by dividing the final time by 52.
This represents the number of workers required to achieve the
construction in a full year of work. Which is very theoretical as we
will see later.
To
build our motte, we will need 10560 / 52 = 203 workers. To make it
easier, we will consider that we are not going to hire more, nore
less, workers. We also won’t consider any heroic, magical nor
monstrous help. Thus, the modified time will still be 52 weeks.
Then
we need to determine how many weeks in a year can really be
considered as working weeks. To do so, we will need to divide 52 by
the Work Time Modifier we have previously calculated. Here,
the result will be 28. Which means that in a year (ie 12 months) only
28 weeks are effectively worked.
Considering
this, we can calculate that the construction should last 1 year and
24 more weeks (52 - 28 = 24). Which is equivalent to 18 months (12 +
24/4 = 12 + 6 = 18).
Let’s
fill the form with this :
4. Monthly events
Now
that we have all the required information, the construction process
can start. To do so, we just need to roll a D100 for each month of
work and refer to the « Monthly
Events »
table to see what happens. The description of each event is given in
the Castle Guide book.
Most
of the time, events will add more months weeks to the time needed for
the construction. Of course, for each extra month (4 weeks) you will
need to roll on the event table.
There
is below the report of how our motte was built :
As
you can see, it didn’t went as well as expected. In the end the
construction took 9 extra months and 21,762 GP ! But
we have eventually achieved it.
Note
that, each monthly event could have been an inspiration for a
scenario and have been played in-game.
