Friday, September 3, 2010

Wall Sizes

Occasionally you hear a complaint that old-school maps of the earliest Gygaxian persuasion (like, here) are unrealistic because the walls don't have any width to them. But to my amateur eye, looking at some historical castle maps, it seems like interior castle walls tend to be about 2-3 feet thick or so. So a simple line between grid spaces could be taken as symbolizing a wall of this nature, right? And if you were modeling actual ruined-castle style structures, it would in fact be more realistic to have your dungeon set up in this style, right? And also it would be thick enough stone to make the AD&D gimmick of tapping on walls for hollow spaces not work, correct?


  1. I'm one of those people who has a problem with a line representing a wall. Particularly underground, where a thin wall would contribute to structural instability and cave ins or roofs collapsing.

    Not so much of an issue for above ground structures, since a mall might only be 1/2' to 1' thick, particularly if made from wood.

  2. As far as I understand from my experience in knocking down buildings hollow parts in any wall (or indeed thickened bits like buttresses) make a different sound - regardless of the thickness. The thicker the wall, the easier it is to hear the abnormality.

    Perhaps the thin walls would require one to be keen eared?

  3. I tend to assume that thin, straight walls represent wooden or masonry walls added after the excavation of a larger area.

    That map you link to, though, seems unrealistic to me without some special circumstance. Of course, I’m often OK with unrealistic.

  4. This question is totally unrelated to the post. I write it here because I couldn't find any other way to get in touch with you.

    I am interested in the rationalization behind your dropping the cleric class in your house rules. (If you have written about this already, I apologize. I couldn't find the post.)

    I can understand why you exlude the cleric class on a "conceptual" basis. I'm not too fond of it myself. But how do you handle the fact that it deprives a party of some of the core elements of the game, primarily as clerical spells, healing and the ability to turn undead? Do you make these "abilities" available in some other way, such as potions and magical items? Or does it simply not "break" the game in any significant way?

    I would be very grateful for your response.

    Kind regards


  5. Hey Ronson, send an email to me [Delta] at my domain [] -- I'll send a quick reply and not clog up this particular thread.