Construction Rules for Classic D&D

We are well into the second month in the great blank-slate world of Nowhere, and Domain Game players are busy taming—or being tamed by—this brave new world. While cyclopean ruins, mysterious golden barges, vast metal domes, white-furred apes, and other oddities have beguiled the expeditions from Elsewhere, they are making a go at the more prosaic job of settling into their new dominions.

Everywhere is the sound of hammers, saws, and the rest of the general din of construction. Ziggurats, longhouses, towers, stockades, mud huts are slowly and surely being raised in this howling wilderness.

And as goes the flurry activity so go the gnomes behind the scenes working to ensure the smooth flow of the natural laws of the new world—that is the in-game mechanics for the larger rules supplement project.

For the rest of you we give you this today: construction rules for your classical D&D game. For the full version including road construction, underground excavation, and all the lovely modifiers that give you that fine crunch you can find it here as part of the revised rules guidelines (including some other rules for would-be overlords).

Construction

To build a structure:

1. the type of structure(s) to be built
2. The number of ten-foot square cubes to be built of that structure
3. Number of workers assigned
4. Where the materials are to come from etc.

Example: Margrave von Schadenfreude wants to have 50 followers start working on five small one-story wooden cottages that are 10 feet by 30 feet (3 cubes).

Since the Margrave's project is in a wilderness area, he will direct another group of his followers to harvest the needed materials directly. Thatch from the grasslands will be used and timber cut from the adjacent light woods.

Total labor time for the project is 480 worker/days (15 cubes x 32, the base-rate for an average wooden structure). Since he has 50 workers on the project it will take them 9.6 days (480 divided by 50) to complete building the cottages–barring any delays.

Baseline Cost and Time

All work based on 10'x10' “cubes”. All prices applicable if structure is in a borderlands or civilized hex. Substitute gp equivalent amount of materials for wilderness area.

Any building over two cubes must have at least one semi-skilled worker for eight cubes. Any building over 24 cubes, must have an engineer or architect assigned for every 48 cubes.

Material	Price per Cube	Construction Time
Primitive	10 gp	25 worker/days
Mudbrick	20 gp	30 worker/days
Wooden	30 gp	32 worker/days
Brick	110 gp	90 worker/days
Stone	140 gp	160 worker/days

Quality level

Building is assumed to come with basic furnishings, roofing, and flooring appropriate to the quality level. Additional or unusual furnishings must be purchased separately.

Cheap	75% price/time
Average	100% price/time
Comfortable	150% price/time
Semi-Fortified	200% price/time
Luxurious	250% price/time
Fortified	300% price/time

Vertical building

Second-story building is free. Add 25% to the cost for each additional story.

Misc. Structures

	Amount	Cost	Construction Time
Wood fence	10' length, 6” wide	20 gp	5 worker/days
Wooden palisade	10' length, 2' wide	80 gp	25 worker/days
Ditch	10' length, 10' wide	60 gp	20 worker/days
Abatis	10' length, 3' wide	40 gp	10 worker/days
Earthworks	10' length, 5' wide	60 gp	15 worker/days
Stone curtain wall	10' length, 5' thick	250 gp	100 worker/days
Reinforced door	1 panel	40	2 worker/days
Portcullis	1 panel	600	15 worker/days
Secret door	1 panel	400	20 worker/days