Using the Castle Guide rules to build a Medieval Motte

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.