Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Sangredwarf89 10-24-05, 04:01 PM	Hi, I want to construct a castle but it has to be very detailed. I was wondering if anybody has game friendly stats on the output of farms (the castle will have grounds compleat with farms, in otherwords I want it to be self-sufficent). Also any ideas on castle requirements will be welcome. THanks
revnk 10-24-05, 06:35 PM	There are a number of good books out there on castles, as well as some excellent entries on Wikipedia.org. Googling castles will also get you a good bit of information. My own opinion is that getting rules stats for farm output probably isn't, well, productive. There are so many variables that go into crop yields, etc. that any rules set would be an abstraction and would get you away from the kind of game D&D is really supposed to be. My suggestion would be to simply handle things like that by fiat: whenever crop yields are irrelevant to plot, they're sufficient--but whenever your plot requires a famine to strike the land, oh no, there's a grain blight, wouldn't you know? You can even handle the situation in that manner if you're dealing with a siege or similar situation: few sieges are going to last an entire agricultural cycle, and the castle is going to depend on what it has in stores (or can get in by river or sea--in which case the besieging army will probably have to withdraw anyway) for the duration, anyway. So that's my advice: just make it up. I'm sure a number of people can give you a nice crunchy system, but I'd really ask you why you need it (and you very well might, but it's worth asking yourself). Either way, good luck.
kliate 10-24-05, 08:21 PM	Use the profession: Farming skill. Rather than gp output, you could interpret the output in trade goods (such as wheat). For added realism, allow the farmer to roll for each acre or so on very large farms.
CzarGarrett 10-25-05, 09:04 AM	The Stronghold Builder's Guide can be useful (and its softcover, so it isn't too expensive). History books on actual castles and all could help. Maybe some sort of economic books? When it all comes down to it, you'll probably have to artbitrarily say "There's X number of farmers, and each produce Y number of bushels of wheat"
Robert 22 10-25-05, 09:30 AM	Hi, I want to construct a castle but it has to be very detailed. I was wondering if anybody has game friendly stats on the output of farms (the castle will have grounds compleat with farms, in otherwords I want it to be self-sufficent). Also any ideas on castle requirements will be welcome. THanks It will likely be a castle surrounded by a small town, then fields will be organised around villages in the immediate area. Don't worry too much, except when there is a war on and the castle has been specially garrisoned it would be unlikely to have more than 30 or 40 people actually inhabiting it. Remember to modify your castle to take into account magical assualts. The obvious stuff is as follows: Moat (shallow, to counter water breathing, and muddy to counter invisibility) at least 200ft to prevent magic missiles (which bypass cover). False Windows, to make dimension door very risky. Corridors should curve or kink, preventing a straigh-line LOS greater than 20 feet (that way spells like fireball tend to backfire). Put a roof on (to provent flight) Robert
KGodwin 10-25-05, 10:46 AM	Use the profession: Farming skill. Rather than gp output, you could interpret the output in trade goods (such as wheat). For added realism, allow the farmer to roll for each acre or so on very large farms. @OP I would not use this guy's advice. 1 rank in Profession (Farmer) would allow the character to produce (if he/she takes 10) 5.5gp/week. Which is about the output of an entire acre in a YEAR for that time period. The average medieval farm produced about 7 bushels (minus seed) per acre for staple crops (like wheat). Based on the DnD system 1 bushel of wheat = 6sp. And that was over the course of an entire year. Not counting the fact that 33-50% of the land the farmer owned would lay fallow in any given year. The farmer would need to own 50+ acres for a profession check to come close to 'accurate'. It would be safe to assume that 1 acre of farmland supports 1 medium creature. Or if you are like me and want to assume that magic noticably helps the process... 1 Acre does the work of 2 productive acres (and I ignore fallow needs, so it is really 3x reality) produces enough for 2 medium creatures to eat for a year. For every 5 ranks in Profession (Farmer) the NPC can raise the output on the acres he/she works by 1 medium creature. But that is only if you want something that has some semblance of reality.