Kane0
2013-06-17, 08:15 PM
Hello Playground!
I have a problem. I am not good at designing dungeons. That aside, I have been challenged to create a fort for an upcoming campaign where everyone gets to pretty much detail their backstory as real parts of the world.
Here are the background details so far:
- The game is 3.5 core + some material from completes, DM approved.
- My character is a scout (starting at level 4) hailing from a Tribe of barbarians dubbed the Striped Dragons.
- The campaign is set in the bronze age. Most weapons will be wood, stone and bone with a few bronze ceremonial pieces.
- The tribe is primarily humans with a few halflings. Elves are nowhere to be seen and Gnomes/Dwarves live mostly underground in places far from this region. Half orcs are present but are mostly wanderers, exiles and outcasts.
- The tribe has a 6th level ranger, 6th level barbarian, 6th level scout and 5th level druid. There is also a 2nd level sorcerer and a bunch of 1st level PCs/NPCs adding up to roughly 70 people. No monks, paladins or wizards but there is a level 1 bard and a level 1 cleric.
- The tribe is a semi-settled community. Living in scrubland with a few plains, most of the tribe moves to the plains during summer and bunkers down around their wooden fort in the bush through winter.
- Most members of the tribe are competent hunter/gatherers and the majority of PC classes are scouts, barbarians, rangers and druids.
- A neighboring tribe (yet unnamed) are unfriendly but not hostile to the Striped Dragons, sometimes engaging in trade but more or less the two go their separate ways.
- Neighboring farmland (the original home of my character when he was really young) raises good crops of Stoutroot (essentially potato + tobacco) but the plant can be found all over the region. The peasants are also unfriendly but not hostile, as the Tribes are the lesser of two evils (see below). Trade occurs but relations are strained.
- One tribe of Gnolls and one tribe of Goblinoids (undecided variety) form the rest of the borders of the Striped Dragon's territory. They frequently attempt to raid and plunder each other, the farmland and the two tribes. They are aggressive and nasty.
Carrying on, the tribe has a wooden defensive structure by the side of a small lake in the scrubland. It is currently not that great, and thats where i need some help. So far I have:
- A three level wooden building. There is two stories and an underground portion.
- Two watch towers are built into the fort, each housing a pair of archers with greatbows (or composite longbows).
- The fort is roughly 100' by 100' and has mostly 5' thick wooden walls. The underground portion has hewn stone for the outer walls.
- The fort is built in a small hill
- The fort has a small ditch with stakes in it and partially flooded with water from the nearby mini-lake.
- The fort is surrounded by the tribe's camp, mostly leather tents.
- There are four ballistae (really more like large bows mounted sideways on secure tripods) on the hill surrounding the fort, made by the druids shape wood spells.
- The fort is rigged with a couple traps, primarily snares and poisoned stakes.
Given the limited selection of stuff I have to work with, can anyone suggest some neat things I can add to the Tribe and/or Fort to make them a bit more survivable?
Additions as suggested so far:
-Clearing out surrounding bushland to prevent fire damage
-Getting some of the water from the lake to flow into the Fort
-Using a bit more leather to reduce vulnerability to fire attacks
-Treating the wood to be fire resistant
-Holes to prevent charging (also makes decent cover for people hiding with slings and whatnot with the removal of trees.)
-start growing thorny brambles for cover and to impede movement
Plans for when we can expand and improve:
- Moving from wood to stone
- Expanding the underground level
- More blind turns, and more long corridors for ranged attacks
- A few halfling-specific areas, to take advantage of their small size and make it really awkward for everyone else.
- Traps containing druid spells like warp wood, entangle, etc
- Better relations with the non-monstrous neighbors in order to build some sort of alliance, or at least a means of early warning
- Make a second and third ring around the fort and enlarge the hill. Alternatively hide more and more of the fort under the wooden part to avoid suspicion.
Edit: Damnit, this should have gone into the 3/3.5/d20 section.
I have a problem. I am not good at designing dungeons. That aside, I have been challenged to create a fort for an upcoming campaign where everyone gets to pretty much detail their backstory as real parts of the world.
Here are the background details so far:
- The game is 3.5 core + some material from completes, DM approved.
- My character is a scout (starting at level 4) hailing from a Tribe of barbarians dubbed the Striped Dragons.
- The campaign is set in the bronze age. Most weapons will be wood, stone and bone with a few bronze ceremonial pieces.
- The tribe is primarily humans with a few halflings. Elves are nowhere to be seen and Gnomes/Dwarves live mostly underground in places far from this region. Half orcs are present but are mostly wanderers, exiles and outcasts.
- The tribe has a 6th level ranger, 6th level barbarian, 6th level scout and 5th level druid. There is also a 2nd level sorcerer and a bunch of 1st level PCs/NPCs adding up to roughly 70 people. No monks, paladins or wizards but there is a level 1 bard and a level 1 cleric.
- The tribe is a semi-settled community. Living in scrubland with a few plains, most of the tribe moves to the plains during summer and bunkers down around their wooden fort in the bush through winter.
- Most members of the tribe are competent hunter/gatherers and the majority of PC classes are scouts, barbarians, rangers and druids.
- A neighboring tribe (yet unnamed) are unfriendly but not hostile to the Striped Dragons, sometimes engaging in trade but more or less the two go their separate ways.
- Neighboring farmland (the original home of my character when he was really young) raises good crops of Stoutroot (essentially potato + tobacco) but the plant can be found all over the region. The peasants are also unfriendly but not hostile, as the Tribes are the lesser of two evils (see below). Trade occurs but relations are strained.
- One tribe of Gnolls and one tribe of Goblinoids (undecided variety) form the rest of the borders of the Striped Dragon's territory. They frequently attempt to raid and plunder each other, the farmland and the two tribes. They are aggressive and nasty.
Carrying on, the tribe has a wooden defensive structure by the side of a small lake in the scrubland. It is currently not that great, and thats where i need some help. So far I have:
- A three level wooden building. There is two stories and an underground portion.
- Two watch towers are built into the fort, each housing a pair of archers with greatbows (or composite longbows).
- The fort is roughly 100' by 100' and has mostly 5' thick wooden walls. The underground portion has hewn stone for the outer walls.
- The fort is built in a small hill
- The fort has a small ditch with stakes in it and partially flooded with water from the nearby mini-lake.
- The fort is surrounded by the tribe's camp, mostly leather tents.
- There are four ballistae (really more like large bows mounted sideways on secure tripods) on the hill surrounding the fort, made by the druids shape wood spells.
- The fort is rigged with a couple traps, primarily snares and poisoned stakes.
Given the limited selection of stuff I have to work with, can anyone suggest some neat things I can add to the Tribe and/or Fort to make them a bit more survivable?
Additions as suggested so far:
-Clearing out surrounding bushland to prevent fire damage
-Getting some of the water from the lake to flow into the Fort
-Using a bit more leather to reduce vulnerability to fire attacks
-Treating the wood to be fire resistant
-Holes to prevent charging (also makes decent cover for people hiding with slings and whatnot with the removal of trees.)
-start growing thorny brambles for cover and to impede movement
Plans for when we can expand and improve:
- Moving from wood to stone
- Expanding the underground level
- More blind turns, and more long corridors for ranged attacks
- A few halfling-specific areas, to take advantage of their small size and make it really awkward for everyone else.
- Traps containing druid spells like warp wood, entangle, etc
- Better relations with the non-monstrous neighbors in order to build some sort of alliance, or at least a means of early warning
- Make a second and third ring around the fort and enlarge the hill. Alternatively hide more and more of the fort under the wooden part to avoid suspicion.
Edit: Damnit, this should have gone into the 3/3.5/d20 section.