1. Keep: The strong point and ‘last resort’ of earliest castles, normally separate from the first line of defense and often with direct communication to the field. The earlier word used was dinjon. The shell-keep (qv) came into use in Age 10, year c. 10; the square keep Age 11, year 1; hexagon keep Age 11 year 110; and the round keep Age 11, year 200.
   
   
2. “Killer” dungeon: a dungeon/adventure in which the player characters have no chance to survive. Not how I gamed.
   
   

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3. Little Old Man in Gray: A man in a gray outfit that hires characters to clean up various areas, usually places that are not located in or on the normal Prime Material Plane that is Crestar (qv). They could be located anywhere, even a parallel Crestar. Mad Rock and my version of Tomb of Horrors comes to mind.
   
   
4. Loop: A vertical narrow slot, usually splayed, to provide light or an offensive aperture through a wall for bow and crossbow fire. A narrow aperture that resembled a Y-shape, with the open part of the Y, as part of the outer wall.
   
   

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5. Machiolation: A stone projecting gallery at the top of a castle wall, supported by a row of corbelled arches, having openings in the floor through which stones and boiling oils could be dropped on attackers. The wooden version was removable and was called a hoarding.
   
   
6. Manor: The main house of a landed estate; Dtranyo Castle is a typical example from the Age 11, year 100. The name ‘Dtranyo’ comes from the strange arch on the estate; possibly an entrance to a no longer present castle. Strange events happened to the last group to investigate the arch. ( Dtranyo Castle is the manor house won by one group of players for their continued valor. They remodeled it in stone. ) [ The module I altered for this was ‘The Lone Tower/Clearmoon Castle’ by Judges Guild. This evidently came out of a book of adventures, as the last page has the map for Willchidar’s Well on the back of it. ]
   
   
7. Manor House, fortified: A towered or crenellated manor. First seen about Age 10, year c. 840.
   
   
8. Merchant Guild: A guild of powerful merchants that goes beyond territorial bounderies of any one country. To sell large amounts of any item, a retail license is necessary at 30 gp per year. The guild fee is 5 gp per transaction or 50 gp/year. This includes such things as horses, food, armor, weapons, etc.
   
   
9. Merlon: The solid portion of a crenellated wall between the two open spaces. They are usually 5 feet to 6 feet wide and about 6 feet tall. Some have arrow loops.
   
   
10. Millieu: A unique game setting embodying numerous possible variables in its creation, i.e. the ‘world’ in which the adventures take place.
    
    
11. Missle: any object flung or projected towards a target.
    
    
12. Monty Haul: A campaign, or the DM ( referee) running it, in which greatly excessive amounts of treasure and/or experience are given to the player characters for little difficulty or little effort. Example: characters kill 2 orcs, and get 1,000,000 gp. Not how I gamed.
    
    
13. Motte: A wide mound of dirt or stone, crowned by a wooden tower as a lookout. The motte must be designed for a stone tower or the motte will collapse. This earliest form of a castle is believed to have first occured in Age 7.
    
    
14. Motte-and-Bailey: A very early, but very effective, type of surface gnome castle ( c. Age 9). It was soon adopted by everyone. It consisted of a mound with a ditch and a further area defended by another ditch and palisade (qv). The many variations included up to three baileys. It could be constructed in as few as 7-20 days; it was later constructed of stone.
    
    
15. Mound: An early type of motte, date unknown.
    
    
16. Murder holes: A name given to holes in the vaulting of an entrance passage, used to harass an enemy with missile fire.
    
    

1. Natural 1: When a d20 is rolled and a ‘1’ appears. No bonuses or adjustments are included to give a final result of a 1.
   
   
2. Natural 2: When a d20 is rolled and a ‘2’ appears. No bonuses or adjustments are included to give a final result of a 2.
   
   
3. Natural 20: When a d20 is rolled and a ‘20’ appears. No bonuses or adjustments are included to give a final result of a 20.
   
   
4. n.b.: Note well.
   
   
5. NPC: A non-player character, a character directed by the referee.
   
   

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6. Obviate: To prevent or dispose of effectively; anticipate so as to render unneccesary.
   
   
7. Others: A race of beings that resemble humans. They were known to exist over 1,000 game-years ago. Several adventuring parties have encountered beings that fit the physical and magical (?) manifestations typical of them. They sometimes masquerade as low-level NPCs, when they are pressed in battle they have shown abilities that exceed 15th level of ability, along with weapons and devices of unknown types. I got the idea for this from several fantasy and science fiction stories and even a few old comic books.
   
   
8. Oubliette: A prison where prisoners can be placed that has no exit and no light, except for the trap door leading down into it.
   
   
9. Outwork: A fortification advanced beyond the castle walls to defend a vulnerable point such as a gate, bridge, or to defend a supply route, e.g. from a dock to a castle; an extended barbican.
   
   

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10. Palisade: Wooden wall or fence of heavy timbers set vertically and touching. The earliest form of static defense, usually of a village. c. Age 4.
    
    
11. Pallet: a blanket and something for a pillow. You put the blanket under you,and use any extra part of that blanket as a cover. Not very comfortable.
    
    
12. Parapet: The battlement wall protecting a rampart or roof-wall towards a field. It is divided into merlons and crenels (embrasures).
    
    
13. PC: Player character; a character whose actions are directed by a player.
    
    
14. Persona: The role or identity of the character whose actions are directed by a player. see PC above.
    
    
15. Pole arm: A hafted weapon, other than a spear or staff, with a length of 5 feet or more.
    
    
16. Portcullis: A sliding drille of iron or wood suspended in the gateway of a fortified place in such a way that it can quickly be lowered in case of attack. First used in c. Age 9. A gate was used before this time.
    
    
17. Postern: A small door or secondary gate for use when the main gate is inconvienent or when its operation is unnecessary. It could be located near the kitchen for food ingress or near the castle’s rear as an emergency exit or escape.
    
    
18. pp: Platinum piece(s), a monetary unit made of an alloy of platinum. 1 pp = 5 gp.
    
    
19. psionics: Mental abilities; such as combat, telekinesis and telepathy; possible only by very intelligent beings and some monsters. Player characters of the dwarf, halfling, and human races can have psionics.
    
    

1. quarrel: This crossbow missle was developed from the bolt and designed to reduce the chance of its glancing off of heavy armor. It had a heavy four-sided metal head, usually with a small sharp point on each corner.
   
   
2. qv or qqv: Which see; something which is also referenced.
   
   
3. Ram: A heavy beam swung from a massive covered timber framework or a smaller version carried by an assault group. Because it had little affect on thick masonry walls, it was repaced in Age 10 c. year 500 with the trebuchet (qv).
   
   
4. Rampart: In a motte-and-bailey (qv), it is a broad earth work with a palisade along its outer edge; in stone, it is the top of the curtain (qv).
   
   
5. ransom: money or goods to pay for the release of a character that has been captured by enemy forces.
   
   
6. real: Something a game will never be.
   
   
7. Referee: The person in charge of running the game, an arbitrator who has the ability to give binding decisions. But I’m not an arbitrator type of referee.
   
   
8. Reincarnation: Bringing a game character back to life by magical means into another body, not necessarily the same race but not a radically different alignment.
   
   
9. Resurrection: The revival of a game character, after its death, by magical means in the character’s original game body. Cost: about 5,000-7,000 gp. Fireball victim: up to and includung 20,000 gp.
   
   
10. Retinue: A character’s personal following, i.e henchmen, hirelings, or servants.
    
    
11. Riders of Seela: Women cavalry in groups of 7-19 riders. No one seems to know where, or when, they come from. They roam Crestar (qv). Sometimes they are at a gallop going somewhere fast, and sometimes they will stop to chat. They first appeared on the scene c. Age 10, year 700 after the Undead Hordes had ravaged these lands. Harassing them is as dangerous as harassing a Green Guild messenger.
    

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12. Royal Fifth: a percentage of something. As for adventurer treasure, it is 25 percent. More if the King sees something Really Pretty.
    
    
13. Rubble: Coarse and uncoursed material used for infilling a curtain wall. Or all that is left of a castle, broken stone.
    
    

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14. Sappers: Sappers dig approach trenches or tunnels towards a castle being beseiged, while miners dig the tunnels under the castle walls.
    
    
15. Saving throw or roll ( also SR): A die roll which is used in adverse circumstances to determine the efficacy of a spell, whether a character fell into a pit or not, whether a character escaped a dragon’s breath, etc. House rule: Some SRs are made using 4d6 rolled against a particular ability number; such as dexterity, intelligence, or wisdom. This is done if I felt a player character was doing something that challeneged that character’s abilities.
    
    
16. Scaling ladder: A ladder used to assault a castle wall.
    
    
17. Segment: The smallest unit of combat time in this game; equal to 6 game-seconds.
    
    
18. Shell-keep: Masonry building competely surrounding the summit of a motte or revetted against its lower slopes.
    
    
19. Shutter: Movable device for closing the crenel or opening in a wall to give the defenders added protection. Sometimes made of metal, more often of wood.
    
    
20. Sites, reused: A number of castles occupy previously fortified sites, occasionaly prehistoric.
    
    
Smiths: Responsible for the manufacture and repair of domestic and military iron work. Also sharpens weapons and tools.


21. sp: Silver piece(s), a monetary unit. 20 sp = 1 gp, 100 sp = 1 pp.
    
    
22. Squire: A person that becomes a page as a young child; when promoted to squire, works for a particular knight as body-servant, guards prisoners, carrier of spare weapons, etc.
    
    
23. structural points: The amount of damage a structure can take before it falls down.
    
    
24. Surprise: Both parties in an encounter must check to see if either or both are surprised, which may result in a loss of initiative (qv).
    
    

1. Tiltyard: A yard, field, or enclosed space for tilts and tournaments; and preperation and training exercises. A tilt is a combat exercise or sport between two mounted knights.
   
   
2. Time, building: Building is seasonal and usually excludes winter months. The time involved in the erection of a castle could vary from a few weeks for an earth and timber one to the same number of years for a masonry structure.
   
   
3. Tournament: Aristocratic entertainment and display. Its principle feature is the mock battle.
   
   
4. Tower: Similar to a keep, they were built into bailey walls for greater protection around Age 11, year c. 10. At first they were only put at corners, because this left the middle of the curtain wall vulnerable, wall towers were added. These wall-towers are usually D-Shaped. Thus presenting their curved wall to the attacker; Age 11, year 306. Some places presented the curved wall to the interior, found mostly on ruins, the reason is unknown.
   
   
5. Town and castle: The earliest castles, motte-and-bailey, seem to have been placed to control neighboring towns, rather than protect them ( Grog; Age 10, c. year 40). Settlements grown up in the shadow of a castle where there was no town before, e.g. Fondfield and Dwarfbas.
   
   
6. Town gates: Provision varies to whether a town was a thoroughfare on lines of communication or a cul-de-sac pathway. Some town’s gates are barbicans (qv) instead of gatehouses or simple gates.
   
   
7. Town walls: Fortified towns, with palisades, is the first ‘castle’ type. The first use of stone walls is uncertain, but was common by Age 11. Some town walls have been constructed so as to form the outer bailey of a castle and its inner bailey.
   
   
8. Trap: Any of a numerous mechanical or magical devices which may be triggered by adventurers, usually causing damage to one or more of them. Some traps only reroute a group of adventurers rather than damage them. e.g. pits, pits with spikes. poison needle taps on treasure chests, falling stone blocks, false doors, teleport rooms and chambours, identical rooms, elevator rooms, elevator rooms connected to ‘Gates’ (qv), etc.
   
   
9. Trebuchet: A great and much improved siege-engine first used in Age 10 to assault the capitol of Liciera. The basic design, many variations exist, is a long arm pivoting on an axle at the summit of a high frame. The shorter end carried enormous containers of earth and rubble weighing many tons. Lead was sometimes used as a counterweight. The longer end, called the verge, is winched down to ground level against the counterweight’s pull by a large system of winches. This end carried the projectile in either a spoon or sling, which when triggered, hurled its charge in a high trajectory. The range is adjustable by moving a calibrated counterweight on the longer arm. The standard ammunition can be arched as far as 480 yards and a minimum range of 240 yards. Firing rate is once every four rounds with a well trained crew. A ballista (qv) can cover the trebuchet’s ‘dead range’ area.
   
   
10. Trick: A device or machination which is more likely to be solved by wits rather than by force of arms.
    
    
11. Turret: A small tower. Sometimes placed on top of a larger one to provide a lookout point and also to cover the stairhead leading to the keep.
    
    
12. Turn: a unit of game time; equal to 10 game-minutes.
    
    

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13. Undead: A group of malevolent souless monsters which are not truly dead or alive. They include, but are not limited to, skeletons, vampires, ghosts, zombies, ghouls.
    
    
14. Undead Hordes: An army of undead which destroyed Licieria. Large numbers of liches were involved.
    
    

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15. Village Enclosure: Sometimes an earthen embankment provided some protection. About Age 4 timber palisades came into use.
    
    

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16. Wall construction: Where possible foundations went down to bedrock quarried flat to receive footings. A rock and mortar outer course is laid down with the interior of the wall filled with rubble (qv).
    
    
17. Wall towers: Towers placed along the curtain (qv) to give additional protection. They were square in the early Age 11; hexagonal towers were introduced about Age 11, year 200; and round towers came into usage in Age 11, year 302.
    
    
18. Water gate: gave access to river or sea and thus to communications which were difficult to cut even during a siege. Most are designed to facilitate provisioning but they could admit reinforcements or provide a means of escape.
    
    
19. Water supply: Water supply is usually inside the castle to prevent it being cut off from the castle folks or from being poisened. Many castles have a cistern system along with a well (qv).
    
    
20. Well: An essential feature and there maybe more than one. Wells are covered with a well-house usually near the kitchen. Some dug wells reach depths of 150 feet.
    
    
21. Wooden tower: The tower crowning earliest mottes was wooden and elevated on wooden stilts.
    
    

Sharn-Nak Islands, Age 10, Year 500, Outer Ocean, 1,000 game years ago.

now called Tantalow’s Island Group in Age 11.

The large island was originally divided up into 3 areas of influence, with some areas disputed or under no one’s control. The two evil areas didn’t get along. The good area was a loose confederation of small villages.

Arms and some armor, bronze. Composite bows and arrows with flint or bronze points. Spears are either 5’ or 12’ long. Phalanxes are an unknown. A few leaders have chariots, they are very expensive due to a low horse population. Most warriors have scale, leather, or studded leather armor. Chain is possible, but so expensive that only national leaders can afford it. That means there are only two sets of chain mail, in bronze. The Confederation has no chain mail.

Cloth and pottery skills are wide spread and good quality. Flax is grown for cloth, some areas have sheep and use the wool.

Most of The Confederation can read and write, few in the evil areas can do so.

Square Keeps are stone towers, castles are motte-and-bailey with only some stone work due to the expense.

Some mining goes on, but smelter fires of this era can only make small quantities of any metal.

Some places have wagons, but most folks have to hand carry their goods. Some usage of dog travois.

Some food grains are grown, deer and smaller meat animals are in the various woods in large numbers. Sheep are prized for their wool, rarely used as a meat animal due to there being too few for them to be used as a dietary staple. Three meals of mutton a month would be a large quantity.

There is an uneasy semi-truce between the areas.

Some small amount of trade between the groups, but all trade is done in the disupted areas and armed guards always attend. The road in Tantalow’s Territory leads to 2 mines. Map png has been enlarged and updated

page 2 of text

Minerals:

Tantalow’s Territory has gold (Au), tin (Sn), iron (Fe) and silver (Ag).

The Confederation area has: carbon ©, gold (Au), and iron (Fe).

Ghaska’s Territory: none

Mountains outside the above areas: Copper (Cu) and gold, (Au). There have been armed skirmishes over the copper as it is need to make bronze. Sometimes the skirmishes are between miners, sometimes between military groups.