The Construction Site (TCG)

__TOC__
Now that you have determined how the character will come into possession of the land on which he wishes to build, it's time to look at the land itself. The designer of the castle must take into account the climate in which work will be done, the terrain which workers must deal with, the vegetation on the site, and the availability of resources.
==Climate Type==
The first piece of information that must be generated about the castle is its Climate Type. As you might imagine, building a castle in a temperate region is far easier than building one in the frozen north or blistering heat of the tropics.
Each of the six climate types listed below includes a Production Modifier(PM). This number rates the difficulty associated with castle construction in that climate. A value of "1.00" is the average from which all other numbers deviate. When you record the climate type, also note the PM associated with it. PMs will be used later to determine how much it costs to build your castle and how long it will take to complete. Whenever you record a PM, remember that a low number indicates better conditions and, therefore, faster and cheaper construction.
===Arctic (4.00)===
This area of the world is marked by its frigid temperatures and otherwise hostile conditions. The ground is made up of snow and ice, for the region seldom grows warm enough for water to melt. A castle built in such a region is probably going to have to be supplied with imported provisions, as there will be no local agriculture possible. Examples of arctic climates in our own world include both the arctic and antarctic, as well as the peaks of some mountains.
===Sub-Arctic (2.50)===
While not as hostile as the arctic, sub-arctic climates are harsh and difficult to work in. While a short growing season is possible, it is followed by a long and deadly winter. Castles in this area will be very small if forced to depend on their own agriculture. If food can be imported regularly, then a larger castle is possible.
Much of Alaska, Canada, and Scandinavia fall into the sub-arctic category, as do portions of Greenland, Iceland, and the Soviet Union.
===Temperate (1.25)===
A region marked by distinct changes in season, Temperate zones have short, but adequate, growing seasons and produce good harvests. Winters are harsh. but can be weathered by those who are ready for them.
Examples of temperate zones on Earth include New England, portions of Northern Europe, and much of southern Canada and the Soviet Union.
===Moderate (1.00)===
Perhaps the best suited for human civilizations, these climates offer fairly mild winters. long growing seasons, and are otherwise comfortable to dwell in. Nearly any type of human society can be found in a moderate zone, with great empires often having their seats in such regions.
Examples of moderate regions on Earth include much of the southern United States and most of the regions around the Mediterranean Sea.
===Sub-Tropical (1.25)===
Although these regions are marked by an almost year-round growing season, they are generally too warm for optimum comfort. Winters are short and, as a rule, not harsh at all. Many regions in this climate will never see snowfall unless at higher elevations.
On Earth, much of northern Africa and large portions of South America would fall into this category.
===Tropical (1.50)===
The hottest regions in the world, the tropics are marked by very high temperatures and nonexistent winters. The growing season has no end, but there is no relief from the harsh temperatures that dominate such areas.
Much of Central America and portions of Africa fall into this category, as do sections of southeast Asia and the Indies.
==Geography==
The next important aspect that must be considered about a potential building site is that of geography. In its most simple terms, this can be thought of as the roughness of the terrain.
On important distinction must be made here. An area's geography refers only to the earth itself, and not to what is growing on it. Thus, a barren arctic plain and a flat field in a temperate region both fall into the plains category. Later, when we discuss ground cover, you will see the forestation and vegetation of an area come into play. For now, though, think only about the rocks and soil.
As with climate type, an area's geography will generate a PM that must be recorded for later use.
===High Mountains (4.00)===
The most daunting and dangerous of geographies, high mountains include only the most lofty of peaks. Travel to and from such regions is assumed to be almost impossible, unless magical means are used to aid the voyager. Even dwarves tend to avoid such rugged lands, although they greatly admire them and their solid construction.
On Earth, the mountains of Tibet might fall into this category.
===Moderate Mountains (3.00)===
Somewhat less imposing than the high mountains, these regions are still overwhelming. Dwarves and gnomes dearly love such places, and will seek them out above all others to make their homes in. Human cultures in such places will be few and far between. but not unknown.
The Swiss Alps and Rocky Mountains both have areas that fall into this category.
===Low Mountains (2.00)===
Although rough and challenging, these areas are far more friendly to human societies than the other mountain types. Those cultures that do thrive in such regions will tend to be small, for the difficulties inherent in such places make large cities difficult, if not impossible, to maintain.
On our own world, the White Mountains in New England and portions of the Appalachians throughout the eastern United States will fall into this grouping.
===Foothills (1.50)===
Unlike the low, rolling hills found in many parts of the typical AD&D game world, these regions are noted for their rough terrain and broken nature. They are rugged and dangerous, often considered to be mountains by those who live on or among them.
Areas such as Greece, Turkey, and Italy fall into this category.
===Rolling Hills (1.00)===
A very common type of geography, rolling hills are very appealing to most human cultures. They offer the advantages of rougher terrain without the hazards and difficulties associated with mountains and the like.
Much of the United States and Europe is dominated by rolling hills.
===Plains (0.75)===
Plains are regions of long, flat terrain without major geographical landmarks. They have no natural windbreaks and are often subject to strong breezes and the like. Despite this, the plains are ideal for many occupations if the climate is hospitable.
The midwestern United States and central Soviet Union are fine examples of this type of geogra phy.
==Ground Cover==
The third important feature of the construction site is the ground cover. For the most part, this refers to the vegetation that will be found in the region. For example, while it might be difficult to build a castle in a mountainous region, it becomes almost impossible if we cover the mountains with a dense rain forest.
Each type of ground cover has a PM associated with it, record this number when you determine the type of cover you will be building in as it will be used later on in the construction process.
===Jungle (3.00)===
This is the most difficult type of ground cover to work in. The combination of dense undergrowth, towering trees, and otherwise unsuitable conditions make jungle construction very daunting. Jungles are also noted for the dangerous monsters and animals that dwell in them.
Examples of jungles on Earth include the rain forests of South America and the heart of Africa.
===Dense Forest (2.00)===
While not as difficult to clear and work as areas of jungle, dense forests are still a major challenge to any castle construction team. They offer resistance in the form of large trees, heavy undergrowth. and fairly dangerous flora and fauna.
Regions of the Earth that fall into this category include the rain forests of the northwestern United States.
===Light Forest (1.50)===
Light forests are common in many parts of the average AD&D® game world. They can be difficult to work in, but most construction teams are able to overcome such ground cover with a little effort. In addition, the flora and fauna of such regions are far less dangerous than those of the jungle or dense forest environments.
Many sections of North America and Europe are covered with light woods.
===Scrub (1.00)===
This type of vegetation grows in areas where the soil is not very fertile or conditions are otherwise too harsh for larger plants to take hold. Scrub terrain is a fairly general category that is meant to include any area without large trees that is dominated by bushes, shrubs, and similar small plants. Dangerous animals are rare and construction in such a region is fairly easy.
Scrub regions are common along the seacoasts of New En gland and in colder climates of the world like Canada.
===Grasslands (0.75)===
The term "grasslands" applies not only to wide regions of savannah and veldt, but also to areas that have been under cultivation. As a rule, the lack of heavy vegetation and absence of dangerous animals makes these regions well suited for the task of castle construction.
Much of the midwestern United States falls into this category, as do the farming regions of Canada and the Soviet Union.
===Barren (1.50)===
Barren regions are noted for their absolute lack of vegetation. As a rule, however, this means that they are poorly suited to construction because of the condition of the soil. While such places are not as difficult to work in as deserts, they are exposed to strong winds and make life difficult for those forced to live and work there.
Examples of barren lands on Earth include the prairies of the United States and the steppes region of the Soviet Union.
===Desert (2.00)===
Two things make construction in the desert difficult: the lack of water or other supplies and the unsuitable nature of the soil itself. Although it is possible to build in the desert, it is not easy.
On Earth, the Sahara and Gobi deserts fall into this category.
===Swamp (2.00)===
Swamps, marshes, and similar wetlands are noted for their hostility to man and his projects. Dangerous animals abound, the land is soft and wet, and the climate is hostile. Few places are more daunting to workers and engineers alike.
Examples of swamps on Earth include the Everglades in North America and portions of the Amazon river basin.
==Resource Availability==
Another important aspect that must be considered is that of construction resources and supplies. If a castle is being built in the arctic, then stone and food must be imported from far away. Read through this section and determine which category best describes the conditions that a specific castle will be built under.
===Distant and Poor (2.00)===
This category is used whenever the resources (stone, food, tools, and so forth) are far from the construction site and of inferior quality. While this is the worst possible case, it is sometimes unavoidable.
===Distant and Good (1.50)===
In this case, supplies and resources are of acceptable quality, but are very far away and must be transported to the site. This is a fairly common occurrence.
===Near and Poor (1.25)===
In this instance, the supplies are close at hand, but are of poor quality. While this is not the best case by any means, it is the most common condition. As a rule, castles will be built with materials from the local area, even if they are not the best available.
===Near and Good (1.00)===
By far the best of conditions, this is a rare occurrence. To fall into this category, a construction site must be near a source of high quality supplies. The most common instance of such a construction site might be the building of a castle to defend a large town whose main industry is mining and stoneworking-obviously, not an everyday thing.
==The Work Force==
Now that the physical nature of the area has been determined and its various production modifiers recorded, the design process can move on to its next phase. In this section, we will deal with the people who live in the area where the castle is going to be built.
As with the previous section on the construction site itself, all of the following characteristics will generate a PM that must be recorded for future reference.
==Local Social Structure==
The nature of the local people and their native culture will have a lot of influence on the construction of the castle. The reason for this is simple enough, most of the actual work force will be drawn from these people. If they are, for example, nomads with no history of building large, static structures, then it will be difficult to work with them. While they might not directly oppose construction, they will not have an understanding of the techniques to be employed or the tools that they may be required to work with. Careful guidance and supervision of such laborers will be time consuming and expensive.
===Nomadic (2.50)===
Nomadic people travel from place to place throughout their lives. They build no long term structures and have no concept of enduring projects. As such, they can be difficult to train and tend to think of the work they are doing as foolish and pointless. Why build such an immense thing when we will all move on in a few months?
===Semi-Nomadic (1.75)===
Although these cultures have many of the same traits as nomadic people, they do build longer lasting structures that they may return to many times. For example, a central temple might be established which several different tribes may journey to for a brief period each year. Although working with seminomadic people is difficult, it is not nearly as frustrating as working with nomadic societies.
===Primitive Agricultural (1.25)===
These people have begun to understand the importance of farming and the like. While less advanced cultures tend to be victims of the environment, these people have begun to confront and even change the local ecology to suit their needs. They have fixed settlements that they live in all year round and understand the concept of land ownership in some basic way.
===Agricultural (1.00)===
The typical feudal culture, agricultural societies have organized farms, understand crop rotation and similar farming techniques, and have a solid understanding of land ownership. They recognize the importance of a large fortification as a benefit to themselves and their own society.
===Advanced Agricultural (0.75)===
More advanced than the typical feudal society, advanced agricultural cultures almost demand the presence of a castle or keep in their region as a sign of power, prosperity, and ability. They also have skill and knowledge in building techniques far in excess of those possessed by lesser cultures.
==Worker Skill==
The next important category is that of worker skill. If the castle is being built by people who have a natural affinity for stone work and fortress design, like dwarves, then work will be quicker, cheaper, and of better quality. While some might argue that it is cheaper to use unskilled workers who can be paid less, they are not taking into account time and money lost to training, mistakes, and lack of worker pride.
As a note, the following categories assume that work crews will be largely unskilled, but supervised by artisans and individuals with knowledge and experience. If no experienced professionals are available, the DM may wish to reduce the worker skill by one level. If a wealth of experts is available for some reason, the worker skill may be increased by one level.
===Very Poor (3.00)===
This category includes all manner of people who have no familiarity with building large structures, like dryads, sylphs, or merfolk. In addition, it includes those who must be constantly supervised or are not free-thinking, like the undead or characters acting under some sort of mental domination.
===Poor (2.00)===
This class of worker is not familiar with stone work or similar construction projects, but does not find the concept wholly alien. The typical "man-in-the-street" would fall into this category. In addition, some races that are not noted for large scale constructions (like lizard men or troglodytes) might fall into this grouping.
===Average (1.00)===
As a rule, nearly every construction project will be able to recruit workers of this caliber, unless there are unusual circumstances that dictate otherwise. Persons in this group have a natural affinity for stone work, like the average dwarf or a skilled human construction worker.
===Good (0.75)===
Workers in this category are noted for their talent, productivity. and work ethics. They can be counted on to make few (if any) mistakes and to undertake prompt corrective action when accidents occur. An experienced team of dwarven stone-wrights would fall into this category.
===Very Good (0.50)===
Those who fall into this category are the most highly skilled of all construction teams. They make almost no mistakes, have very few accidents, and are able to undertake even the most daunting projects without fear of failure. The dwarven artisans of legend fall into this category, as do stone giants and similar races.
==Worker Morale==
Of course, no matter how good the building site or how skilled the workers, low morale can spell disaster for a project. In fact, highly skilled workers on a project they do not support can spell doom, as they are able to sabotage the project in subtle and disastrous ways.
===Very Poor (3.00)===
Workers in this category can be counted on to avoid work whenever possible, to sabotage the project, and generally to do a very poor job. Construction time is greatly increased and costs are higher due to supervisory needs and constant reworking of past errors. Slaves and prisoners fall into this category, as do those who have no free will (skeletons, zombies, or persons who are under some form of mental domination).
===Poor (2.00)===
While workers in this group might not go out of their way to undermine a project, they will certainly not go out of their way to help it along. Minor problems that might be caught early on and corrected are ignored, leading to a potential disaster later on. Loafing is common and the pace of work is generally very slow. Poor working conditions or cruel supervision can easily drive a work crew that normally has "average" morale into this category.
===Average (1.00)===
Unless there are unusual conditions that might make a construction team more or less inclined to work on a project, they will fall into this category. Maintaining this level of morale is simple enough if supervisors are competent and skilled, conditions are fairly good, and the project is not detrimental to the interests of the workers.
===High (0.75)===
Workers with high morale tend to be interested in the project for one reason or another. For example, they might be the soldiers who will be stationed in the castle or might recognize its need to defend them from a neighboring state. For whatever the reason, they will work hard and attempt to do whatever they can to speed the project along and insure high quality construction.
===Very High (0.50)===
The most motivated work force available, very high morale workers will put in long hours in bad conditions with only a minimum of grumbling and fuss. They can be counted on to take corrective action the moment a problem (or potential problem) is spotted. Their work will be of the highest caliber and they will do everything they can to further the interests of the project.
Examples of those in this category include the fanatic followers of a popular religious or military leader and the henchmen of player characters.
==Determine the Final Production Modifier==
Now that all of the major factors that will go into determining the ease with which the castle can be built have been defined, it's time to calculate the total Production Modifier for the castle. To do this. simply multiply all of the PMs that have been generated so far together. It is recommended that you round off your figure to two decimal places when you have completed the calculation.
==Castle on the Moors==
In order to illustrate the design process, we will pause at this point and present you with an example of castle construction. Those of you who are familiar with the first book in this series, The Campaign Sourcebook and Catacomb Guide, will remember the Castle on the Moors from that text. For those of you who are not familiar with it, we have reprinted the map and a brief description of the structure at the end of this chapter.
The Castle on the Moors was built in temperate climate (Production Modifier of 1.25) on an area composed primarily of rolling hills (PM 1.00). The region around the castle was dominated by marshes and swamp lands (PM 2.00) and the available resources were somewhat distant, but of good quality (PM 1.50).
In determining the composition of the work force, we decide that the local culture is an agricultural one (PM 1.00). The local folk who will be called upon to build the castle are typical humans. However, because the king has commanded that this castle be built, he has sent along a team of experts to supervise. The DM considers the matter, and decides that their influence will increase the worker skill from "poor" to "average", giving the project a PM of 1.00. Because the local people have been bothered by invaders from the swamps before, they support the construction of the castle and are considered to be of high morale (PM 0.75).
Putting the numbers all together, we find that we have the following modifiers:
Temperate Climate 	1.25
Rolling Hills 	1.00
Swamp 	2.00
Distant/Good Resources	1.50
Agricultural Society 	1.00
Average Workers 	1.00
High Morale 	0.75
In order to determine the total production modifier, we multiply all these numbers together (and round to two decimal places) giving us a PM of 2.81. As you can see, the location chosen for the construction is hardly ideal, despite the worker's enthusiasm for the job.