City Builder 10 - Governmental Places

By Michael J. VBy Michael J. VBy Michael J. VBy Michael J. VBy Michael J. Varhola, Jim Clunie,arhola, Jim Clunie,arhola, Jim Clunie,arhola, Jim Clunie,arhola, Jim Clunie,

and the Skirmisher Game Development Groupand the Skirmisher Game Development Groupand the Skirmisher Game Development Groupand the Skirmisher Game Development Groupand the Skirmisher Game Development Group

City Builder VCity Builder VCity Builder VCity Builder VCity Builder Volume 10:olume 10:olume 10:olume 10:olume 10:City Builder VCity Builder VCity Builder VCity Builder VCity Builder Volume 10:olume 10:olume 10:olume 10:olume 10:City Builder VCity Builder VCity Builder VCity Builder VCity Builder Volume 10:olume 10:olume 10:olume 10:olume 10:





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by Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824-1904). Back, After the Au-dience, by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836-1912).

VVVVViewing This Bookiewing This Bookiewing This Bookiewing This Bookiewing This BookThis book has been designed to be asuser-friendly as possible from both theperspectives of printing out for use inhard copy and viewing on a comput-er screen. It has been laid out like atraditional print book with the ideathat each even-numbered page com-plements the odd-numbered page thatit should face (e.g., the illustration ofthe audience in session on page 7 isset up to face and illustrate the AudienceChamber entry on page 6).

With the above in mind, the optimalway to view and enjoy this book wouldbe to print it out and organize it in abinder so that the pages are arrangedas described above. This is by nomeans necessary, however, for usingand fully benefiting from City BuilderVolume 10: Governmental Places andits contents.

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TTTTTable of Contentsable of Contentsable of Contentsable of Contentsable of Contents

IntroductionIntroductionIntroductionIntroductionIntroduction 44444About This Series..............................................................................................................................................4Using This Book................................................................................................................................................5

AAAAAudience Chamberudience Chamberudience Chamberudience Chamberudience Chamber 66666

BarracksBarracksBarracksBarracksBarracks 88888

CourthouseCourthouseCourthouseCourthouseCourthouse 1010101010

GuardhouseGuardhouseGuardhouseGuardhouseGuardhouse 1212121212

Harbor and Habormaster’s OfficeHarbor and Habormaster’s OfficeHarbor and Habormaster’s OfficeHarbor and Habormaster’s OfficeHarbor and Habormaster’s Office 1414141414

JailJailJailJailJail 1616161616

Manor HouseManor HouseManor HouseManor HouseManor House 1818181818

PPPPPalacealacealacealacealace 2020202020

PrisonPrisonPrisonPrisonPrison 2424242424

WWWWWorkhouseorkhouseorkhouseorkhouseorkhouse 2626262626

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IntroductionIntroductionIntroductionIntroductionIntroduction

IIIIIn addition to the quintessential marketplaces, inns,taverns, and other commercial places so familiarto characters, there are many sorts of public areas,

buildings, and structures representing the governmentof the city or region that they might need to visit in thecourse of their urban adventures.

Communities of any size might have governmentalplaces of some sort and these are usually imposing,purpose-built structures — often characterized by mag-nificent features like columns, domes, and ceremonialstaircases — designed to project the grandeur and ethosof the state or community that has constructed them.Many have an iconography worked into their architec-ture and embellishments that exemplify the culture —or great deeds from its history — that they represent.

In small communities like villages, governmentalplaces might include council halls, manors, or, if theyexist in societies with strong central governments, de-partmental offices or police commanderies. Governmen-tal places are likely to be less imposing in such set-tings, and might essentially be large versions of therural structures described under “Buildings” in CityBuilder Volume 1: Communities. In less organized re-gions yet, single appointees or influential business folk,such as the proprietors of taverns or general stores,may fulfill many governmental functions by default andtheir premises might take the place of a clerk’s officeor even a courthouse (e.g., the Jersey Lilly Saloon madefamous by Judge Roy Bean).

Larger communities, especially capital cities andmetropolises, might have neighborhoods or entire wardswhere governmental places are located near each oth-er (e.g., the agorae of ancient Greek city states, whichwere used as civic centers and central locations forgovernment buildings, temples, trade, and political,religious, and social gatherings of all sorts). In additionto buildings, such precincts also often include featureslike fountains, monuments to local heroes, official mark-ers (e.g., declaring the spot as the center of the state inquestion), and clocks (e.g., the clepsydrae water clocksof many ancient Greek cities).

Visits to governmental places can be as challengingin their own ways as any other sorts of expeditions.Such ventures can give characters the chance to role-play and use skills that might not turn up in the courseof normal adventurers — such as diplomacy, or knowl-edge of subjects like royalty and aristocracy — and GMsthe opportunity to insert appropriate adventure hooks.

Governmental places that characters might have tovisit in the course of their adventures could includeaudience chambers, city garrison barracks, courthous-es, guardhouses, harbormasters’ offices, local jails, of-ficial manors, palaces, prisons, and workhouses, all ofwhich are described in this volume.

Other sorts of governmental and civic places thatmight be typical in an ancient, medieval, or fantasycommunity — and which player characters might visitbefore, during, or after their adventures — include fo-rums, a common feature in democratic or republicanstates, which are used as gathering places for activi-ties like speeches, debates, official proclamations, andvoting; legislatures, used as meeting places for coun-cils of elders, senates, oligarchies, or other bodies ofelected or appointed governing officials that have au-thority over the communities in question; mints, usedfor the storage of precious metals and the creation ofofficial coinage; schools that might include everythingfrom military academies to universities; storehousesmaintained by governments to offset shortages duringtimes of famine or other hardship; and military struc-tures that might include keeps, castles, grand halls,chambers for confidential meetings, offices, temporaryquarters for visiting commanders, stables, armories, andparade grounds.

Most communities will not have all of these elements,and game masters should pick and choose among themas needed, based on the government and culture of aparticular city’s inhabitants. Forums for debate wouldbe common in a democratic society, for example, butpalaces might not be. Places designed for the free ex-pression of ideas would be much less common in adictatorship, however, but prisons would be much moreprevalent.

Depending on the needs and ethos of the communi-ty or nation using them, any of the listed structuresmight exist in conjunction with a temple, a fortifica-tion, or one another. For example, in a society like an-cient Athens, the municipal mint might be situated nextto the temple of the city’s patron deity on the acropolis.In a state where policing of the population is a con-stant concern, a jail, courthouse, and archive of crimi-nal records might all be grouped together in a specialjudicial complex.

In addition to anything else they might contain, gov-ernmental places almost always include libraries of reg-ulations and other pertinent books, and archives for

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the storage of official records specific to their areas ofresponsibility (e.g., laws, decrees, lawsuits, birth cer-tificates, titles to land, criminal records).

Security is usually significant at governmental plac-es, many of which are built like fortresses. This is gen-erally not a coincidence, as in many societies majorpublic buildings are designed to serve as strongpointsduring times of civil or political unrest. Defensive ele-ments are likely to include thick stone walls, a lack ofwindows on ground floors, bars on the windows ofupper floors, and solid metal doors that can be bothlocked and barred. Such places also usually have full-time complements of guards assigned to them, or evenpermanent garrisons of troops who live at the site.

About This SeriesAbout This SeriesAbout This SeriesAbout This SeriesAbout This SeriesThis is the tenth volume in a series of 11 booksdesigned not just to provide Game Masterswith concrete information about how tocreate places essential to their ownrole-playing campaigns, but also toinspire them to develop ones that arebelievable, colorful, and exciting fortheir players’ characters to visit.

City Builder Volume 10: Govern-mental Places examines venues as-sociated with and controlled by theruling powers of a community orstate. Characters might decide to visitsuch places for any number of rea-sons, but might also find themselvessummoned or unwillingly taken tosome of them. Specific places of thissort described in this book includeAudience Chambers, Barracks,Courthouses, Guardhouses, Harborsand Harbormasters’ Offices, Jails,Manors, Palaces, Prisons, and Work-houses.

While it is a universal resource notkeyed to a particular system of rules,City Builder Volume 10: Governmen-tal Places has also been written soas to be fully compatible with thevarious Skirmisher Publishing LLCd20 publications, including Expertsv.3.5, Tests of Skill, and Warriors.

Using This BookUsing This BookUsing This BookUsing This BookUsing This BookEach section in this book contains a description of theplace to which it is devoted. This description includessuch things as the kinds of communities in which theplace might be found, the kinds of leaders, proprietors,and staff associated with it, and the sorts of goods, ser-vices, or other things that characters might visit theplace to obtain.

Following the description are two or more adven-ture hooks that are designed to describe interactionsbeyond the normal operations of the place that mightconcern player characters and turn any particular oneinto a venue for adventure.

AAAAAudience Chamberudience Chamberudience Chamberudience Chamberudience Chamber

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AAAAAudience chambers are places designed to hold formal meetings between heads of states, ruling nobles, major religious figures like high priests,

or other important personages and those they have in-vited to meet with them. Such an invitation is some-times in response to a request for a meeting from theother party; sometimes to proclaim to the attendees anhonor that the state wishes to bestow on them in per-son or a service demanded of them (seldom phrasedas a request in such overbearing surroundings); andsometimes a standing custom, especially in the formof public sessions to settle disputes or receive pleas forassistance. Anytime player characters receive a com-mission from a noble or approach a similar personagewith some petition, it is likely that their official interac-tions will take place in some sort of audience chamber.

The main figure associated with an audience cham-ber is usually a secular or religious aristocrat of signif-icant stature, likely with the rank or earl or greater,although such a personage might be of any rank if he isalso the head of an independent or quasi-independentstate. There are places essentially conforming to thecharacteristics of audience chambers, of course, usedby officials of much lower rank or prestige. (For moreinformation about aristocratic ranks, see Chapter 5:Society in Gary Gygax’s Nation Builder.)

Staff associated with audience chambers typicallyincludes guards, advisors to the noble, various lords-and-ladies-in-waiting, and a wide variety of servants(including those tasked with briefing visitors on theproper way to behave while in the audience chamber).Such personnel are usually of the highest perceivedloyalty and, in the case of major nobles like kings, mighteven all be at least minor aristocrats themselves.

Etiquette, dress code, and other forms of proprietyare extremely important to the functionaries of audi-ence chambers, and those who fail to fulfill such pre-requisites will likely simply be refused an audiencewith the noble in question. In a society where a certaincolor or type of apparel is reserved for members of theruling house, for example, a commoner will not be al-lowed to present himself before a ruler while accou-tered in such an item (and might be subject to othercensures as well). Membership in a certain race, so-cial class, or vocation might also be a prerequisite or adiscriminator for entry into an audience chamber (e.g.,an Elven king might by tradition only grant audiencesto other Elves, while a Dwarven noble might be prohib-

ited by an equally ancient code from granting audienc-es to Orcs or Goblinoids, leaving such interactions asare necessary to underlings in less august settings).

Audience chambers are usually impressive andsumptuous in appearance and variously intended toimpress or intimidate visitors and to project throughtheir design, furnishings, décor, and iconography theethos and importance of the state in question. Suchplaces are also designed so as to subtly or overtly, asappropriate, give their owners a psychological advan-tage over those with whom they are meeting. One ofthe simplest and most common examples of this is theplacement of an impressive chair or throne upon a daisbefore which supplicants are required to prostrate them-selves. Regardless of their configuration or appearance,audience chambers are only rarely self-standing build-ings, and are usually integrated into larger structuresor complexes, such as palaces (q.v.) or temples (q.v.).

In addition to the audience chamber proper, otherfeatures of such places typically include one or morewaiting rooms, where petitioners can await their turnsto meet with the luminary with whom the place is as-sociated, and which might include wardrobes for thosewho have been granted audiences but are improperlyattired; guard rooms where security personnel can re-main ready to intercede against attempts on the per-son of their lieges; and perhaps even secret areas fromwhich visitors can be observed and into which the per-son associated with the place can be spirited in case ofdanger.

Security — especially with regard to the person forwhom the place exists — is of paramount importanceat audience chambers, and the most stringent mea-sures available will be employed, likely with no regardfor cost. Magical wards, to include protective and per-haps even illusory effects, will almost definitely be em-ployed if they are available in the milieu in question.

Adventure HookAdventure HookAdventure HookAdventure HookAdventure Hook* The player characters stumble by chance acrossthreads of a plot to destroy the audience chamber wherea council of the greatest nobles of the region holds court,using a device that summons a ravenous devouringforce from another dimension. The plotters intend tostrike at a time when the majority of the group is ex-pected to convene, such as a seasonal opening of thecouncil’s deliberations or a royal address.

BarBarBarBarBarracksracksracksracksracks

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BBBBBarracks are facilities used to house military andparamilitary troops of various sorts, includingsoldiers, marines, and city guardsmen (this term

is also often used to refer to the individual buildingsused to quarter personnel). Some of the earliest exam-ples of barracks were those built by the Roman armiesfor their legionaries and little has changed in either theform or function of such places in the last two millennia.

Barracks might be found in communities of almostany size — including villages, towns, cities, or special-ized complexes such as monasteries — or in separatemilitary bases of various sorts, depending on the needsof the military organizations they serve. Presence of abarracks might even encourage civilian settlement andthe establishment of an adjacent hamlet geared towardproviding services to it and the personnel assigned toit.

Exactly where barracks can be found is a function ofthe needs and ethos of the state that establishes them.The national army of a state that tries to maintain strictcontrol over its population, for example, might main-tain garrisons in barracks of varying sizes located incommunities of town size or larger throughout the coun-try. A military force more concerned about foreign in-vasion, however, is more likely to locate barracks infortified military bases along its threatened frontiers.Communities of any size where barracks are locatedare often referred to as “garrison towns.”

Barracks complexes are especially characteristic ofhighly organized states or communities with standingmilitary forces. Besides Humans, such places are main-tained by the most structured demihuman and human-oid peoples, especially Dwarves and Goblinoids.

It is possible in some military establishments — es-pecially guard, militia, or reserve units — that barracksare only used at certain times, such as periodic train-ing or when alerted, and that they are otherwise unoc-cupied. It is also possible that military personnel abovea certain rank be allowed to maintain private residenc-es and only dwell in barracks for short periods or intimes of crisis.

Barracks are almost always very plain and utilitari-an and constructed of materials that are both cheapand readily available locally. The form of individualbarracks buildings can range in configuration and sizefrom small wooden huts designed to hold the mem-bers of a single squad (e.g., eight to 12 men) to largestone buildings that house hundreds of troops in large

open bays, rooms, or a combination of the two (e.g.,open bays for common soldiers, shared rooms for non-commissioned officers, and small individual rooms forofficers). In military organizations in which both menand women serve, barracks will usually be segregatedalong gender lines. In some military organizations, bar-racks — as well as units and perhaps even militaryspecialties themselves — may also be segregated byrace as well.

In addition to sleeping quarters, barracks will usual-ly also include features like “day rooms” where mili-tary personnel can engage in recreational activitiesduring their off-duty hours, guard rooms, offices for unitofficers and administrators, arsenals, and storage rooms.Other features that might be part of, adjacent to, or inthe same complexes as barracks include dining facili-ties (often called mess halls, refectories, or canteens),training areas, gymnasiums, bathhouses, stables, andworkshops related to the weapons, armor, and otherequipment used by the military personnel housed inthe barracks. (See also “Military Bases” in City BuilderVolume 1: Communities.)

Security is important at barracks, and individualbuildings will either be sturdy enough to serve as strong-points or, if relatively flimsy, located in secure walledcompounds or stockades. Security is also usually im-portant from the point of view of maintaining disci-pline and regulations will likely prohibit visits by peo-ple other than those assigned to the barracks — espe-cially civilians — or limit them to certain areas or timesof the day. Measures are likely to include locking downthe facility at night, posting guards at entrances to boththe complex and individual buildings, and armed pa-trols. Magical measures may also be used if spellcast-ing personnel are associated with a military unit inquestion.

Adventure HookAdventure HookAdventure HookAdventure HookAdventure Hook* The presence of barracks in a particular communitymakes it likely that military personnel affiliated with itwill be frequently encountered in the surrounding area,especially places like taverns, gymnasiums, and thelike. The results of meetings between adventurers andsuch troops could vary widely based on such things asthe role of the military organization in the area in ques-tion and the demeanor and appearance of the playercharacters.

CourthouseCourthouseCourthouseCourthouseCourthouse

1010101010

CCCCCourthouses are places that house local courts oflaw and, under some governmental systems,also serve as the main administrative offices for

the local government. Activities performed at such plac-es might include trials of criminal cases, hearings forcivil lawsuits, filing of official paperwork with the au-thorities, performance of activities like secular marriag-es, and research into local laws and past rulings.

Most communities of town size or larger containcourthouses, which are generally responsible for ad-ministering legal procedures for both the communityin question and the surrounding country, to includedependent towns, villages, and hamlets. Very large cit-ies might have multiple courthouses, such as one forcriminal and one for civil cases, or one for cases of allsorts with annexes for activities like applying for li-censes and filing other sorts of paperwork. In the caseof municipalities that are also independent city-states,courthouses might serve as the high courts of the landas well and — depending on how the nation is consti-tuted — as the seats of branches of national govern-ments. In the case of larger nations with strong centralgovernments, courthouses might contain facilities af-filiated with the national government, or be run by itsagents rather than by local authorities.

Courthouses can vary widely in size and appear-ance depending on the affluence and ethos of the com-munities where they are located, and might range fromrelatively modest buildings with just a few rooms inprovincial towns to immense edifices in major metro-politan areas. The appearance of such places will saya lot about the beliefs the local community and whatits government wishes to project about the law (e.g., inWestern society up through the 20th century, courthous-es were often designed to look like classical temples).

Personnel typically affiliated with courthouses in-clude judges, some of whom might have various areasof specialization; magistrates, who handle things likeminor judicial matters and preliminary hearings; clerks,who process paperwork, perform background research,assist judges, and oversee archives, libraries, and oth-er sections of courthouses; advocates employed by thegovernment, including both prosecutors and publicdefenders; and guards who see to the security of theplace.

Features of courthouses are likely to include court-rooms, judges’ chambers, clerks’ offices, records ar-chives, law libraries, offices for clerks and other court-

house staff, guardrooms for security personnel, andshort-term holding cells for people accused of crimes.Various other sorts of buildings might also be built nearcourthouses, such as jails (q.v.) or guardhouses (q.v.),and all such structures might be organized into largejudicial complexes (which may or may not also bewalled).

Security is usually stringent at courthouses — wheredangerous criminals, dissatisfied litigants, angry mobs,and the like all present constant sources of danger —and can be increased dramatically when a particularlycontroversial case, or one that concerns organized crim-inals or members of other armed groups, is being heard.Measures might include the presence of armed guards;multiple security checkpoints where people entering acourthouse are searched to a lesser or greater extent;and heavy, locking interior and exterior portals. In so-cieties where weapon ownership is widespread, secu-rity measures at local courthouses are likely to be es-pecially strict. To the extent that magical means existin the milieu to subdue or constrain troublemakers, theywill likely be employed at courthouses.

Adventure HooksAdventure HooksAdventure HooksAdventure HooksAdventure Hooks* Adventurers visiting a foreign city might inadvertent-ly violate local ordinances that do not exist in theirhome communities and find themselves hauled intothe local courthouse as a result. Penalties for suchcrimes might also seem bizarre or inappropriate tostrangers — and might even be more severe for themin especially xenophobic or conservative areas.

* Player characters might sometimes find it useful toseek work as bounty hunters. Notices of rewards forreturn of criminals who have failed to appear for trial,or have skipped out on similar obligations to the courts,might be posted at the local courthouse.

* Player characters might find it expedient at somepoint to undertake some action in court (e.g., filing alawsuit, assisting a defense counsel), and preparingfor and then participating in such an event could makefor an interesting variant adventure. Preparations asso-ciated with such a venture might include finding andinterviewing witnesses, doing research at local librar-ies or governmental offices, and meeting with judges,other court officials, and opposing lawyers.

GuardhouseGuardhouseGuardhouseGuardhouseGuardhouse

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EEEEEstablished at critical spots throughout cities,guardhouses are used as secure strongpoints bywatchmen, guardsmen, and other sorts of mili-

tary or paramilitary troops. Such places are variouslyknown as watch-houses, substations, constabularies,and commanderies — playing a somewhat similar roleto modern police stations — and the troops or militiaassigned to them are generally responsible for patrol-ling and maintaining the security of a specific sectionof a community. Many towns have separate facilitiesfor the guard — armed soldiers who defend the gates,walls, civic buildings, and officials — and the watch,who patrol the streets to discourage burglary and affray.

Guardhouses can take a great variety of forms, fromtemporary wooden structures erected in marketplac-es, to sturdy stone towers, to small walled forts. In anyevent, most such places are not overly large, and aregenerally sufficient to hold just one or two dozen watch-men (i.e., one or two patrols’ worth). One thing theyalmost always have in common is sturdy constructionand features like reinforced doors and barred windowsthat can provide a modicum of security to their occu-pants. A guardhouse might also be integrated into acommunity’s defenseworks, or established, with a sep-arate entrance, within a larger public structure.

Areas within a guardhouse typically include an ar-senal where — depending on the force’s usual equip-ment — armor and both lethal and non-lethal weaponsare kept in between patrols and in case additional per-sonnel need to be equipped on short notice; a smalloffice for the officer-in-charge; possibly a holding cellor interview room where malefactors can be kept tem-porarily; and perhaps a public area or vestibule wherepeople can come to lodge complaints, seek help, payfines, or purchase permits for various activities.

Most guardhouses also include bunkrooms whereguard or watch personnel can sleep and day roomswhere they can relax in between their patrols or otherduties. Such places are almost never permanent homesfor the troops who use them, however, watchmen gen-erally returning to their private homes and guardsmento their barracks when their tours of duty at a guard-house is completed. Guard tours generally range fromone day to a week but possibly as long as a month,with the watchmen or guardsmen typically patrollingor standing guard for a specific amount of time fol-lowed by a rest period in the guardhouse (e.g., six hourson and six hours off).

Certain city guard units recruit from the old respect-ed families and gentry of their communities — in whichevent, while equipped with the finest of uniforms andtrappings, their duties are likely to be more ceremonialthan martial — but the social position of working lawenforcers tends to be low, ranging from that of hiredmuscle tasked with the dirty work of the merchant classto mercenaries or even slave soldiers. The watch orguard might be further divided between uniformedpatrolmen and investigative agents, or might includespecial units or divisions such as mounted troops, an-imal-handlers, or water patrols on any rivers or canalsthat pass through the city. Some states might even havea separate secret police echelon with wide-ranging co-ercive powers to suppress particularly heinous or trea-sonous acts, or a patrol force tasked with enforcingmoral, religious, or political strictures rather than pre-venting actual criminality.

Command responsibility for each guardhouse re-flects the lower to mid-rank structure of the force as-signed to maintain public order and security as a whole,and thus might fall either to a career soldier from theordinary ranks or to an officer of a higher social stra-tum who obtained his commission by means other thanmilitary experience, such as collegial training, socialposition, or purchase.

Adventure HooksAdventure HooksAdventure HooksAdventure HooksAdventure Hooks* Characters with a criminal or unscrupulous bentmight be tempted to break into or infiltrate a guard-house to obtain any number of useful things, includingweapons, uniforms, passes, and the like.

* In some cities, the most dangerous leaders of thecriminal class are those who take advantage of theirposition as officers of the watch to protect lawbreakersfor pay, extort those who refuse to pay, or deliver theirrivals to the city’s justice. Characters who make anenemy of such a corrupt watch officer must thereafterfear both underworld thugs and the forces of the law.

* Characters assigned to a guardhouse might find itexpedient to secretly keep a guest in them for a specif-ic period of time (e.g., a visiting brother for a week, alover until she can find lodgings elsewhere). Such anattempt could involve all sorts of stealth and subter-fuge, to include sneaking, bluff, and disguise.

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Harbor and HarborHarbor and HarborHarbor and HarborHarbor and HarborHarbor and Harbormaster’s Officemaster’s Officemaster’s Officemaster’s Officemaster’s Office

NNNNNatural, manmade, and augmented harbors ofall sorts, which provide places for ships to berthor drop anchor where they are sheltered from

bad weather, are both the lifeblood and raison d’etre ofmany coastal communities. Presence of a harbor canmake an appropriately situated community strategicallycritical as both a center of trade and a military strong-point. Historic examples of communities with thesecharacteristics include Alexandria, Egypt; Halifax, NovaScotia; and St. George, Bermuda. Adventurers oftentake an interest in things or people on board ships ber-thed in the local harbor — particularly vessels fromdubious foreign lands, or those rumored to be equippedand crewed more for privateering than ordinary com-merce — or seek passage on seagoing vessels to prom-ising locales in other lands.

In civilized societies with complex economic sys-tems, traffic in and out of harbors and activities withinthem are regulated and monitored by government offi-cials called harbormasters. Harbormasters themselvesare often experienced sailors or lighthouse keepers, andmany also have military or administrative backgrounds.

Responsibilities of a harbormaster and the staff as-signed to his office might include giving vessels per-mission to enter or leave the harbor district and assign-ing them places to berth; maintaining harbor facilities;patrolling and performing various police functions inthe harbor district; inspecting the cargoes of incomingships and assessing and levying appropriate taxes, tar-iffs, and other fees on them; confiscating cargoes con-sidered contraband by the local government; identify-ing plague ships and turning them back, quarantiningtheir crews and passengers, or otherwise dealing withthem; inspecting and monitoring the seaworthiness ofvessels; attempting to predict weather and publicizinginformation pertaining to it through various means (e.g.,flying signal flags); helping to successfully guide shipsinto the harbor by providing pilots, who are ferried outin launches to incoming vessels; and rescuing the crewsand passengers of nearby ships in distress.

Infrastructure maintained by a harbormaster’s officegenerally includes breakwaters, jetties, wharves, piers,seawalls, and particularly lighthouses, uninterruptedoperation of which ensures safe navigation and arrivalwith their profitable goods of vessels from numerousforeign ports. Other facilities associated with the area,but possibly under the control of other offices, busi-nesses, or individuals, might include shipyards, boat-

houses, and drydocks. All such places and structuresare subject to the full force of the elements and mustbe maintained with the same consistency and regular-ity accorded to ships. A harbormaster’s office mightalso have one or more vessels under its control for theconduct of its official business, such as tugs, pilot andpatrol launches, maintenance tenders to work on wa-terside structures, and cargo lighters to offload largefreighters for which the docks are inadequate.

A harbor’s first line of defense is frequently the reefsand other natural obstacles guarding its approaches.In such cases, the precise locations and characteris-tics of such features are generally highly classified in-formation, kept secret by the organization of pilots per-mitted by the harbor’s rulers to guide friendly shippinginto the port. Additional security at harbors is as likelyto be geared toward controlling the passage of vesselsas of individuals. Typical measures of the former sortinclude barriers like chains, or other obstacles, that canbe deployed to keep ships from entering a harbor orprevent them from leaving it. Those of the latter sortwill likely be similar to those employed at any govern-ment-controlled facilities, and include secure entranc-es to sensitive areas like lighthouses, checkpoints, pa-trols, and a requirement for passes or appropriate iden-tification.

Adventure HooksAdventure HooksAdventure HooksAdventure HooksAdventure Hooks* Adventurers of unscrupulous ethics (or opposed tothe local rulers) hoping to smuggle goods or passen-gers into a particular port or coast — whether for pur-poses of evading taxation, importing contraband, orinfiltrating criminals, rebels, spies, or other sorts ofpeople that the authorities prefer to exclude from theterritory — may have to deal with the officials affiliatedwith the local harbor district. Sailing skill, ability tohide or disguise cargo, guile, and possibly even forcemight all come into play during such an undertaking.

* Harbors are prime strategic targets for foreign spiesand saboteurs, who might carry out operations to com-promise the defenses of a vital port as a prelude to asudden invasion. Player characters who happen to passthe naval docks or watchtowers at an unusual hourcould stumble upon such activities or otherwise be-come aware of them. How they decide to respond tosuch revelations is, of course, up to them.

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JailJailJailJailJail

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JJJJJails are facilities used to temporarily incarceratemiscreants, prisoners awaiting trial, and those con-victed of misdemeanor offenses for which short

terms of confinement are appropriate. Such places havebeen depicted in many books, television shows, andother media, including the films Rio Bravo, Assault onPrecinct 13, and Ghosts of Mars.

Unlike prisons (q.v.), which are designed for the long-term internment of convicted criminals, troublemak-ers are usually confined to a jail for relatively shortperiods of time (e.g., overnight after being rounded upfor being drunk and disorderly, a month for participat-ing in a riot that got out of hand and resulted in signif-icant injury and destruction of property). Most inmatesare released once the disturbance in which they werearrested has subsided or after they have been held asuitable — if sometimes arbitrary — period of time,paid a fine, or received some punishment (e.g., 10 lash-es in the public square). And, while prisons for theprotracted incarceration of offenders tend to be rare inancient, medieval, and other pre-industrialized societ-ies, jails are usually relatively commonplace.

Adventurers, with the lack of respect for communi-ty ordinances many of them frequently display, are es-pecially likely to end up in local jails from time to time.Most communities have no interest in bearing the bur-den of such characters for protracted periods of time,however, and, if they are non-natives, will generallyseek to punish or fine them as quickly as possible — orsimply eject them from the local jurisdiction — ratherthan attempt to reform them or hold them indefinitely.

Communities of almost any size from village on upare likely to have some sort of local jails and these willtypically be of a size commensurate with their popula-tions. A good rule of thumb in a traditional game mi-lieu is probably that a particular community is capableof jailing, in one or more jails, one prisoner for every200-or-so people in the population as a whole. Suchplaces tend to deal with many different problems andmight at any given time hold those charged with a widediversity of offenses.

Depending on specific local needs, jails can assumea great variety of forms. The smallest and simplest in atraditional game milieu will likely be combined with asmall guardhouse or office used by whatever passesfor local law enforcement and contain one or two cells,each large enough to hold one to four prisoners. Fea-tures of larger facilities of this sort might include doz-

ens or even hundreds of cells; holding areas designedto hold larger numbers of prisoners temporarily; sec-tions where especially dangerous criminals or those atrisk of attack can be kept isolated from more run-of-the-mill inmates; walled yards used as holding or rec-reational areas; guard towers; interrogation rooms; ar-eas where various sorts of punishment can be metedout and perhaps demonstrated to witnesses or the pub-lic at large (e.g., floggings, hangings, confinement instocks or pillories); and less elaborate equivalents ofmeasures employed in prisons, such as light industryor other activities intended to keep inmates busy andto expend some of their energy.

Many jails — especially large ones set in areas likecities — are part of complexes that might include, de-pending on the organization and ethos of the commu-nity in question, courthouses (q.v.), guardhouses (q.v.),police barracks (q.v.), or workhouses (q.v.).

Means of confinement at most jails will be limited totraditional measures like walls, cells, reinforced doors,locks, bars, and perhaps manacles. These might beaugmented by other measures if experience or localconditions call for them, of course. Magical means ofpacifying or confining criminals, to the extent that theyare available in the campaign setting in question, arenot likely to be common at jails, but this rule mightalso have exceptions based on local conditions, theabilities of the jailers, and the capabilities of typicalprisoners. Conversely, security might be very light atsome facilities, especially those where inmates areexpected to serve short sentences as the price for be-ing allowed to return to normal society.

Depending on their length of incarceration, detain-ees might also be expected to give up their personalclothing and wear some sort of uniform. Jailers mightconfiscate certain items of clothing, such as shoelacesand holy symbols, even from prisoners held for shortperiods, where they could potentially be used as weap-ons, a means of escape, or suicide implements.

Guards at most jails, depending on the way locallaw enforcement is organized, will likely be membersof the municipal watch or guard. Especially large ur-ban jails might have one or more dedicated jailershelped by as many watchmen or guardsmen as areeither available or deemed necessary. In any event, ajail will usually have on duty at any time one guard forevery three or more inmates the facility can accommo-date.


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Adventure HooksAdventure HooksAdventure HooksAdventure HooksAdventure Hooks* During the course of any particular misadventure,player characters might find themselves temporarilyincarcerated in a local jail. While there, they mightmeet members of the local underworld and have inter-actions with them that are friendly, hostile, or merelyneutral. These interactions might have effects that gobeyond the walls of the jail, however, and — depend-ing on their nature — leadto offers of employmentfollowing their release,attempts on their lives,or anything else the GMdeems appropriate.

* Jails are often the scene of wretched and violentdeaths and, as a result, the spirits that haunt particularcells or entire cell-blocks are often particularly fear-some in nature, whether as a result of their evil naturein life or the anguish and perceived injustice of theirends. Player characters who have some competenceor reputation in the field might be called upon to exor-cise ghosts at a jail. Or, characters who are locked upthere might be confined in a haunted cell, perhaps asa punishment for insolence or troublemaking, or be-cause the jailers have some other particular reasonto dislike them.

ManorManorManorManorManor

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MMMMManors are large, usually-fortified dwellingsthat have traditionally served as the basisand central features of estates and are typi-

cally the homes of wealthy families, often feudal lordsor land-owning planters (depending on the economicsystem of the milieu in question). This term is also some-times applied to relatively small country houses be-longing to well-born families, grand stately homes, andminor castles designed more for show than for defense.Other sorts of dwellings conforming to the essentialcharacteristics of this description include those vari-ously referred to as châteaux, manoirs, maison-fortes,villas, haciendas, mansions, and halls.

The central feature of a manor is, in fact, its greathall, which originally served as a multi-purpose audi-ence chamber (q.v.) and venue for the day-to-day activ-ities of the lord and his retinue, and the earliest ver-sions of such places often consisted of little else. Otherfeatures are likely to include smaller living and enter-taining areas such as parlors, libraries, and galleries;private chambers or apartments for the owners of theplace; womens’ quarters, if appropriate in the culturein question; smaller, much more modest living areasfor servants; kitchens designed to feed numerous in-habitants; and storage rooms and pantries. Many man-ors — especially those in rural areas — will also have anumber of outbuildings associated with them. Thesemight include stables (q.v.), blacksmithies (q.v.) or oth-er sorts of workshops, dovecotes, storage buildings, andchapels.

Manors are most commonly located in rural areas,either as self-standing structures or as the central com-ponents of self-contained complexes. Others might belocated in thorps, hamlets, or even villages which, insuch cases, probably grew up around the manors. Amanor might, in fact, be the center of a small commu-nity conforming to the characteristics of a plantation orcommune (see City Builder Volume 1: Communitiesfor more information). In Bronze Age or tribal settings,buildings much like manors, with their surroundingtowns, may form the capitals of entire states. Manorsare almost always economically self-sustaining, andmight actually be essentially self-sufficient. Nobles mayalso maintain homes of a similar size and descriptionwithin towns or cities.

Manors will often be surrounded by affiliated tractsof land, which are typically used for agriculture or or-chards. Depending on local resources, some of a par-

ticular manor’s territory might also be used for activi-ties like logging or quarrying. Such places could alsohave some sort of related industry associated with them,such as viticulture, brewing, distillery, oil pressing,cheese-making, or milling.

Owners of manors are almost always members of aparticular society’s upper class, and include nobles,high-ranking government or religious officials, non-he-reditary aristocrats like baronets, knights, and squires,and mayors, judges, and major guild masters. (For moreinformation about aristocratic and other ranks, seeChapter 5: Society in Gary Gygax’s Nation Builder.).Such places might also be owned by various sorts ofnouveau riche characters, of course, including success-ful merchants or lucky adventurers. In any event, thesize and significance of a particular manor will de-pend on the affluence of its owner; while a countrysquire may have a comfortable, five-bedroom mansewith a few associated gardens and orchards, a princemight have a sprawling mansion surrounded by hun-dreds of acres of parks, finely manicured gardens, andrich farmland.

Staff for places of this sort will usually include stew-ards, butlers, gardeners, coachmen, cooks, and maids.Those in especially dangerous areas might have a res-ident contingent of guards, soldiers, or armed retain-ers. Large manors might also be home to various sortsof artisans or tradesmen, especially blacksmiths, farri-ers, carpenters, and millers.

Security at manors — which are sometimes locatedin wild, dangerous, or at least isolated areas — is usu-ally significant and they are often partially fortified.Typical measures might include heavy, reinforced ex-terior doors that are kept locked at night; light curtainwalls, perhaps augmented with towers and gatehouses,around courtyards or the entire complex; and an ab-sence of windows on ground floors, or only ones thatare barred or too small to fit through. Surrounding pal-isades, ditches, or even moats are also sometimespresent or might be added in times of unrest or if theoccupants expect attack. Manors are also frequentlyoccupied by people with arms, armor, and experiencein battle, and they might form such a place’s most for-midable line of defense. While such places are not asmilitarily strong as castles and might not be able toserve as strategic strongpoints against invading armies,they are usually more than adequate to withstand thedepredations of bandits or marauding humanoids.

Adventure HooksAdventure HooksAdventure HooksAdventure HooksAdventure Hooks* Adventurers might regularly encounter manors in thecourse of their adventures, and such places could bethe homes of either enemies or allies. They might alsoserve as venues for exploration or investigation, espe-cially if found ruined, abandoned, or occupied by mon-sters, brigands, or other creatures. Characters may, ofcourse, ultimately seek to acquire their own manors,which ideally suit many of theneeds of more experiencedadventurers.

* The relative isolation of a country manor allows thosewho contemplate violence against its occupants, andwho have suitable resources, to gather armed bandsand make an open assault on the place with little fearof immediate interference or discovery by the forces oflaw and order. Characters visiting a manor could findthemselves in the position of helping to defend theplace — with some assistance from the retainers andprepared defenses of the manor — against a large-scale

attack by brigands or pirates. Thoseadventurers so inclined, naturally,

might also attack such a placefor any number of reasons.


PPPPPalacealacealacealacealace

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PPPPPalaces are the large and usually extravaganthomes of heads of state, high-ranking public andreligious figures, and sometimes other wealthy

or powerful individuals. In states where — in fact orethos — individuals do not generally own such struc-tures, the term “palace” might nonetheless be appliedto various sorts of public structures (e.g., a Palace ofJustice). Likewise, in states that have radically shiftedin their governmental forms, places originally construct-ed as palaces for kings, emperors, and other noblesmight see continued usage as legislatures, museums,and the like.

While the term “palace” is used somewhat broadlyhere, it bears mentioning that in some cultures it hashad a very narrow usage (e.g., in England the term isapplied only to the official residences of royalty andcertain bishops, while in France it refers only to urbanstructures, the term “chateau” being used for similarplaces located in rural settings).

Famous examples of great palaces include the Pal-ace of Knossos in Crete, the Forbidden City in China,the Chateau de Versailles, the Louvre, and the Palaceof the Popes in France, the Apostolic Palace in VaticanCity, and, of course, the great Palatine Hill palaces ofimperial Rome (from which the very word “palace” isderived). Palaces and their day-to-day activities havealso been described in numerous works of literature,never more effectively perhaps than in the “Judge Dee”mystery novels of Robert van Gulik.

Official palaces are especially characteristic of stateswith centralized governments, particularly monarchiesand empires, and have been built by such societiesthroughout the world. Far from simply being the homesof ruling heads-of-state, such places quite often alsocontain the offices and perhaps even the residences ofadvisors, clerks, bureaucrats, and other officials. Theyare thus frequently also the de facto capitols and polit-ical — and possibly religious — nerve centers of thestates in which they are located and emblematic oftheir regime of governance. Official palaces, as opposedto those that are merely lavish private residences, areusually constructed and maintained from public trea-suries.

Palaces might be found in communities of almostany size. In the cases of those located in conjunctionwith thorps, hamlets, or even villages, such smallercommunities have likely been established solely for thepurposes of providing support for the palace. In some

cultures, such as that of Minoan Crete or ancient Egypt,the basic form of community was, in fact, a fortifiedpalace complex surrounded by farms, workshops, tem-ples, barracks, and all other necessary structures andfacilities.

Palaces are almost always constructed of the bestmaterials available. Likewise, they are also usually fur-nished lavishly, often with features and amenities thatgo far beyond what is available to people in the societyas a whole, including an array of subsidiary uses de-scribed elsewhere in this volume or the City Builderseries overall (e.g., audience chambers, libraries, mu-seums, chapels, bathhouses). As visible symbols of themajesty and strength of the ruling dynasty, their publicfacades, too, are lavish in scale and materials, withfeatures designed for the rulers to display themselvesand address large gatherings of citizens in suitablepomp and style, such as public squares, grand stair-ways, and large balconies.

Because palaces are often critical to the functioningof their states — or at the least the residences of peoplethat likely have many enemies — security at them isusually extremely rigorous. Measures likely includededicated guard forces, often composed of elite troops,and the best physical safeguards available (e.g., rein-forced doors, barred windows, excellent locks, sur-rounding walls).

Adventure HooksAdventure HooksAdventure HooksAdventure HooksAdventure Hooks* In the course of their adventures, a group of playercharacters discover a sprawling, lavish palace, com-plete with decorative gardens and all sorts of other ex-otic diversions. Mysteriously, it appears to have beencompletely abandoned by its original inhabitants — andto possibly be plagued with any number of hazards, orhaunted by weird and sinister usurpers.

* For whatever reasons, to include espionage, theft, orassassination, one or more player characters might needto infiltrate a palace complex, evade the various secu-rity measures, and find their way both in and out of themazelike place to accomplish their mission.

* A suspicious figure has been seen lurking about apalace complex and has eluded any attempts at ques-tion or capture, leading to a resourceful player charac-ter being approached to investigate.

PPPPPrisonrisonrisonrisonrison

MMMMMost organized societies have prisons of somesort, secure places where they can incar-cerate their most dangerous, antisocial, or

undesirable members and prevent them from havingcontact with the free populace. A broad variety of ex-amples from history (e.g., Alcatraz, Devil’s Island, So-viet gulags, the dungeons of Venice), literature (e.g.,Philip Jose Farmer’s World of Tiers series, AlexanderDumas’ The Count of Monte Cristo), television shows(e.g., The Prisoner, Prison Break) and movies (e.g., TheLast Castle, Fortress, Escape from New York) are avail-able as models for game masters interested in includ-ing such institutions in their campaign settings. Pris-oner-of-war camps, concentration camps, penal colo-nies, gladiator training centers, and some boardingschools all fall, more-or-less, into this broad category ofinstitution.

In ancient, medieval, and other pre-industrializedsocieties, prisons tend to be rarer, smaller, and muchless widespread than in the modern world. Legal sys-tems in such societies often regard imprisonment onlyas a preparation for trial or an extra-legal solution tokeep troublemakers out of circulation, rather than as alegitimate means of punishment or reform. In any event,a society’s attitudes toward law and chaos tend to havea much greater impact on the numbers and sorts orprisons and inmates it has than do any beliefs it hasabout good and evil.

Depending on the prevalence of the crimes it is in-tended to suppress and the resources of its owner, aprison might house anywhere from a handful of pris-oners to several hundred or more. Prisoners might beincarcerated for any number of reasons, and often ev-eryone held in a particular prison will be there for sim-ilar classes of crimes (e.g., criminals, heretics, politi-cal dissidents, prisoners of war, overthrown aristocrats).Particularly ugly situations, possibly for both prisonersand their captors, can arise when groups confined forone sort of infraction are mixed with those incarcerat-ed for another (e.g., political prisoners mixed in withhardened criminals).

Prisons can be of almost any size and, historically,have ranged from a single secure room at one end ofthe spectrum to entire islands and even a small conti-nent — Australia — at the other. In a fantasy milieu, ofcourse, the possibilities are even greater, and penalfacilities might even be extended into extra-dimensionalspace or other planes of existence more conducive to

handling the most dangerous and unmanageable pris-oners (e.g., Dante’s Inferno describes what is, in es-sence, a prison for the souls of those condemned fortheir iniquity).

Prisons can also assume a wide variety of forms,from towers to walled building complexes to labyrin-thine underground networks. At a glance, many pris-ons appear to be fortresses of a sort, and share withthem characteristics like high walls, tall towers, andsturdy gates. Unlike fortresses, however, which aredesigned to keep people out, prisons are primarily de-signed to keep them in, to protect guards from prison-ers and prisoners from each other, and to keep theirinmates within a particular confined area and cut offfrom normal society as a whole.

While walls, cells, bars, and shackles are the mostwell-known means of confinement in real-world pris-ons, they are not the only devices that have been em-ployed historically and are by no means the only onesthat could be employed in the context of a fantasy cam-paign setting. Bodies of water, dense jungles, impass-able mountains, and trackless arid wastelands can allserve to confine people just as well. Indeed, in somecases, especially isolated areas, such as islands, mightbe used as “open prisons” with no walls at all. And ina fantasy milieu, the possibilities are endless, and couldinclude such things as labyrinths with neither entrancenor exit into which prisoners are magically teleported,death runes inscribed directly on their bodies that areactivated if they leave a specific area, or magical re-duction of their size or abilities.

In addition to actual means of incarceration, prison-ers might also be identified — and thus impeded intheir activities should they escape — by specific typesof clothing, tattoos, or ritual mutilations like branding.

Real-world prisons are generally guarded by Hu-mans, often with the assistance of animals like dogs.In a fantasy world, of course, guards might be of someother race altogether, whether humanoid or not. Oneway or another, a prison will generally have a ratio ofat least one guard to every three comparable prisoners— although the presence of nonhuman creatures ormagic could change both these proportions and thedefinition of “a guard” considerably (e.g., guards whoare spellcasters and can employ magical means to sup-press trouble). And it is certainly possible for a prisonto have no guards at all, particularly if there is little orno fear of prisoners escaping and no one much cares

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what they do anyway.Guards are generally equipped both for nonlethal

control of prisoners and for rapid access to deadly forcewhen required, and have any required gear to main-tain an advantage of movement over the prisoners (e.g.,mounts if a prison is in open country, boats if it is sur-rounded by water).

Many prisons also have some sort of industry asso-ciated with them, used either to occupy the prisoners,to punish them, or as a means of using them to supportthemselves or earn a profit. Such industries are likelyto be very labor intensive, low-skilled, and at least some-what hazardous, and typically include mining, quarry-ing, logging, farming, road-building, and simple man-ufacturing.

Adventure HooksAdventure HooksAdventure HooksAdventure HooksAdventure Hooks* For whatever reasons, one or more player charactersend up incarcerated in a prison and — if they wish toresume urgent business in the world at large or avoidthe oblivion and hazards of prison — must endeavor toescape. Such an attempt may be with or without thepossible assistance of characters on the outside.

* A player character party is approached in some waywith an offer of great reward — or possibly dire conse-quences if they refuse — to rescue a prominent prison-er from an especially secure prison. Rewards of suc-cess for the rescuers could be great, but the consequenc-es of failure could be equally profound and includedeath or their own imprisonment.

PPPPPrisonrisonrisonrisonrison

WWWWWorkhouses are places where people who areunable to support themselves can go to live

and work, and many of the indigent inmatesof such places include the mentally or physically in-firm, widows, orphans, abandoned wives, and the aged.Debtor’s prisons largely conform to the characteristicsof workhouses — differing from them mainly in thatthey tend to be somewhat more severe and in that thoseowing money can be sentenced to terms in them untiltheir debts have been repaid — as do orphanages andhomeless shelters. These sorts of institutions are un-flatteringly described in many stories, including GeorgeOrwell’s Down and Out in Paris and London and manynovels by Charles Dickens (e.g., Oliver Twist, LittleDorritt) and, for the most part, were regarded with dreadby those relegated to them.

Historically, institutions of this sort have existed inmany societies around the world, but the most famousare those that began to evolve in England in the 17thcentury and persisted as an institution until 1930. Suchplaces had their official origin in the Elizabethan PoorLaw of 1601, which both stated that “materials shouldbe bought to provide work for the unemployed able-bodied” and proposed construction of housing for the“impotent poor,” including the elderly and chronicallysick. Various forms of non-residential relief for the poorhad existed in England and elsewhere on an as-need-ed basis long before this, however, and workhouseswere founded as a way to provide such assistance moreconsistently and economically.

Workhouses of some sort might exist in any commu-nity of village size or larger, but are much more likelyto be found in sprawling urban areas, with more infor-mal means of charity being practiced in smaller com-munities. Such places might be run directly by a mu-nicipal government, be contracted out by it to a thirdparty, or be run by another sort of agency altogether(e.g., a local temple). Destitute people are generallyallowed to enter at will and leave with a period of ap-propriate notice (e.g., a half day).

Conditions can vary widely at workhouses but —despite grudging bourgeois condemnations of some as“pauper palaces” that coddle the poor — usually rangebetween grim and execrable and are reminiscent ofactual prisons. And, while such places are not consid-ered to be venues for punishment as such, they areusually operated with the ideas that they should be asunpleasant as possible to discourage their usage by

anyone but the absolutely desperate; that their inmatesdeserve to be embarrassed and degraded; and that any-one who can should leave them as soon as they areable. Workhouses are usually cold in the winter andsweltering in the summer and their residents are gen-erally treated harshly, given the minimum of care need-ed to keep them alive, and subjected to all sorts of phys-ical or emotional abuse by other inmates and the staffalike. Partly as a consequence, residents of such plac-es often suffer from various physical or mental mala-dies (e.g., sickliness, injuries, malnutrition, depression).

Whatever the conditions at a particular workhouse,they are likely an indicator of the dominant society’sattitudes toward the poor (e.g., in a culture where areligion-based work ethic is prevalent, poverty is likelyto be perceived as a moral taint that its victims havecourted through bad acts, immorality, laziness, incom-petence, a lack of faith, or substance abuse). Able-bod-ied poor might not be admitted to workhouses in somesocieties — for fear that this might destroy their desirefor honest labor — but might be provided with the op-portunity to work or do odd jobs for food or a pittance.

Most workhouses are governed by a severe series ofpetty and exacting rules covering every aspect of life,including diet, dress, and redress of grievances, andwill likely include systems of punishments and rewardsdesigned to promote order, discipline, and conform-ance. Penalties for infractions of house rules might in-clude expulsion, corporal punishment, unfavorable jobassignments, incarceration, or reduction in rations.Relations between workhouse inmates and staff are, inconsequence, often very bad. And, despite the stiflingregulations, workhouses are nonetheless often very row-dy.

Workhouse residents are generally required to giveup their own clothing and wear distinctive uniforms.Men, women, and children are usually segregated, evenin cases where this splits up parents and children oraged couples who have been together for decades. Par-ents are often considered to have forfeited rights to theirchildren by entering a workhouse.

Food at workhouses tends to be poor, monotonous,and un-nutritious and, like every other aspect of suchplaces, intended to discourage anyone but the abso-lutely destitute. A typical breakfast or lunchtime mealmight consist of a hunk of bread and bowl of gruel orthin soup, with the same for dinner augmented with abit of cheese. Inmates might also be required to dine in


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WWWWWorkhouseorkhouseorkhouseorkhouseorkhouse

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silence and may not be provided with utensils.Work assigned to workhouse residents tends to be

monotonous and degrading and designed primarily tokeep them busy (e.g., crushing stones into gravel, pick-ing oakum). Time-consuming rituals are also likely tobe typical (e.g., converting sleeping areas into workareas in the morning, converting them back into sleep-ing areas at night, cleaning the entire workhouse fromtop to bottom every day).

Children often receive some sort of education atworkhouses — perhaps in conjunction with labor orapprenticeship programs — but this is often mediocreor administered by other inmates.

Staff of workhouses are usually poorly remuneratedand equally poorly qualified, with many of them beingdrunks, bullies, or incompetents just a step up in thesocial order from the people for whom they are respon-sible. In the context of a game set in a typical ancient,medieval, or fantasy milieu, the sorts of charactersdrawn to administer such institutions will likely includecashiered military non-commissioned officers, formercity guardsmen, and all sorts of humanoids, especiallyOrcs, Goblins, and Hobgoblins (although humanoidsocieties overall are not likely to themselves supportworkhouses). Cooks, physicians, chaplains, teachers,and the like — to the extent that they are present atworkhouses — are also usually second-rate, inadequate,or illiterate. Many such administrators and staff mem-bers are even inclined to steal their institutions’ limit-ed assets (e.g., food, operating funds, blankets) to thedetriment of the residents. There might be notable ex-ceptions to these rules, however.

Physically, workhouses are similar in appearance toprisons, barracks, and other institutional structures andmight otherwise be located either in purpose-built orrecycled buildings. Inmates might be housed in any-thing from rooms of four or more, to open bays holding

dozens of people, and be provided with bunks, ham-mocks, or pallets for sleeping.

Security at workhouses might include the presenceof guards, surrounding walls, barred windows, maindoors that are locked during hours of darkness, andperhaps even measures like confining inmates to theirrooms at night.

Despite their grim conditions, in societies whereworkhouses exist they will likely still provide betterrelief for the destitute than anything else available andmight save their residents from death by starvation,exposure, or other conditions of the outside world. Anddepending on the philosophies and ethos of the societ-ies where they exist, such places might also be some-what better than those that have been the norm in ourculture.

Adventure HooksAdventure HooksAdventure HooksAdventure HooksAdventure Hooks* Adventurers who end up on the skids might find itnecessary — or convenient — to temporarily repair toa workhouse until they can line up some new opportu-nities for themselves. It is certainly possible that dur-ing the course of such a sojourn they might decide toinvestigate or address especially heinous conditions atthe institution (e.g., regular murder of inmates by staff).

* Characters who work to improve the conditions oflife for the poor require great personal compassion andfaith. Their efforts, however, are not always appreciat-ed by those who hold power over the venues wherethey work, such as landlords, aristocrats, rebel lead-ers, crime bosses, officers of the city watch, or officialsof state-run workhouses. Such figures, suspicious ofthe influence that charity workers exert over their charg-es and the ideas that they may impart to the local peo-ple, might arrange for such a person to be harassed oreven attacked or kidnapped, leading the player char-acters to investigate.

* Player characters who have committed some rela-tively minor offense against civic ordinances (e.g., dam-aging public property), might be sentenced to commu-nity service in a local workhouse, where they arecharged with performing various chores, serving meals,cleaning the place, and the like. Besides taking play-ers out of their comfort zone, this could lead to furtherencounters and even adventures.

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CCCCCity Builder Vity Builder Vity Builder Vity Builder Vity Builder Volume olume olume olume olume 1010101010: : : : : GoverGoverGoverGoverGovernmentalnmentalnmentalnmentalnmental Places Places Places Places Places is the is the is the is the is the tentententententh th th th th in a series in a series in a series in a series in a series of of of of of some some some some some 1111111111complementary books designed to help guide Game Masters complementary books designed to help guide Game Masters complementary books designed to help guide Game Masters complementary books designed to help guide Game Masters complementary books designed to help guide Game Masters creatcreatcreatcreatcreateeeee exciting exciting exciting exciting excitingand compelling urban areas and and compelling urban areas and and compelling urban areas and and compelling urban areas and and compelling urban areas and places places places places places within them for their campaigns. It is within them for their campaigns. It is within them for their campaigns. It is within them for their campaigns. It is within them for their campaigns. It is aaaaa

universal universal universal universal universal game game game game game resource that is resource that is resource that is resource that is resource that is not specific not specific not specific not specific not specific to anyto anyto anyto anyto any particular particular particular particular particular system system system system system and isand isand isand isand isintended intended intended intended intended to be compatible to be compatible to be compatible to be compatible to be compatible with the needs of almost any ancient, Dark Ages,with the needs of almost any ancient, Dark Ages,with the needs of almost any ancient, Dark Ages,with the needs of almost any ancient, Dark Ages,with the needs of almost any ancient, Dark Ages,Middle Ages, Renaissance, or fantasy milieu.Middle Ages, Renaissance, or fantasy milieu.Middle Ages, Renaissance, or fantasy milieu.Middle Ages, Renaissance, or fantasy milieu.Middle Ages, Renaissance, or fantasy milieu. Its contents include:Its contents include:Its contents include:Its contents include:Its contents include:

* An Introduction that describes* An Introduction that describes* An Introduction that describes* An Introduction that describes* An Introduction that describesthe series and how to use thethe series and how to use thethe series and how to use thethe series and how to use thethe series and how to use thematerial in this volume;material in this volume;material in this volume;material in this volume;material in this volume;

* Sections devoted * Sections devoted * Sections devoted * Sections devoted * Sections devoted to Ato Ato Ato Ato AudienceudienceudienceudienceudienceChambers, Barracks, Courthouses,Chambers, Barracks, Courthouses,Chambers, Barracks, Courthouses,Chambers, Barracks, Courthouses,Chambers, Barracks, Courthouses,Guardhouses, Harbors andGuardhouses, Harbors andGuardhouses, Harbors andGuardhouses, Harbors andGuardhouses, Harbors andHarbormasters’ Offices, Jails,Harbormasters’ Offices, Jails,Harbormasters’ Offices, Jails,Harbormasters’ Offices, Jails,Harbormasters’ Offices, Jails,Manors, PManors, PManors, PManors, PManors, Palaces, Palaces, Palaces, Palaces, Palaces, Prisons,risons,risons,risons,risons,and Wand Wand Wand Wand Workhouses; and,orkhouses; and,orkhouses; and,orkhouses; and,orkhouses; and,

* One to three Adventure Hooks * One to three Adventure Hooks * One to three Adventure Hooks * One to three Adventure Hooks * One to three Adventure Hookstying in with each describedtying in with each describedtying in with each describedtying in with each describedtying in with each describedsort of place.sort of place.sort of place.sort of place.sort of place.

CCCCCity Builder Vity Builder Vity Builder Vity Builder Vity Builder Volume olume olume olume olume 1010101010: : : : : GoverGoverGoverGoverGovernmentalnmentalnmentalnmentalnmental Places Places Places Places Places is the is the is the is the is the tentententententh th th th th in a series in a series in a series in a series in a series of of of of of some some some some some 1111111111complementary books designed to help guide Game Masters complementary books designed to help guide Game Masters complementary books designed to help guide Game Masters complementary books designed to help guide Game Masters complementary books designed to help guide Game Masters creatcreatcreatcreatcreateeeee exciting exciting exciting exciting excitingand compelling urban areas and and compelling urban areas and and compelling urban areas and and compelling urban areas and and compelling urban areas and places places places places places within them for their campaigns. It is within them for their campaigns. It is within them for their campaigns. It is within them for their campaigns. It is within them for their campaigns. It is aaaaa

universal universal universal universal universal game game game game game resource that is resource that is resource that is resource that is resource that is not specific not specific not specific not specific not specific to anyto anyto anyto anyto any particular particular particular particular particular system system system system system and isand isand isand isand isintended intended intended intended intended to be compatible to be compatible to be compatible to be compatible to be compatible with the needs of almost any ancient, Dark Ages,with the needs of almost any ancient, Dark Ages,with the needs of almost any ancient, Dark Ages,with the needs of almost any ancient, Dark Ages,with the needs of almost any ancient, Dark Ages,Middle Ages, Renaissance, or fantasy milieu.Middle Ages, Renaissance, or fantasy milieu.Middle Ages, Renaissance, or fantasy milieu.Middle Ages, Renaissance, or fantasy milieu.Middle Ages, Renaissance, or fantasy milieu. Its contents include:Its contents include:Its contents include:Its contents include:Its contents include:

* An Introduction that describes* An Introduction that describes* An Introduction that describes* An Introduction that describes* An Introduction that describesthe series and how to use thethe series and how to use thethe series and how to use thethe series and how to use thethe series and how to use thematerial in this volume;material in this volume;material in this volume;material in this volume;material in this volume;

* Sections devoted * Sections devoted * Sections devoted * Sections devoted * Sections devoted to Ato Ato Ato Ato AudienceudienceudienceudienceudienceChambers, Barracks, Courthouses,Chambers, Barracks, Courthouses,Chambers, Barracks, Courthouses,Chambers, Barracks, Courthouses,Chambers, Barracks, Courthouses,Guardhouses, Harbors andGuardhouses, Harbors andGuardhouses, Harbors andGuardhouses, Harbors andGuardhouses, Harbors andHarbormasters’ Offices, Jails,Harbormasters’ Offices, Jails,Harbormasters’ Offices, Jails,Harbormasters’ Offices, Jails,Harbormasters’ Offices, Jails,Manors, PManors, PManors, PManors, PManors, Palaces, Palaces, Palaces, Palaces, Palaces, Prisons,risons,risons,risons,risons,and Wand Wand Wand Wand Workhouses; and,orkhouses; and,orkhouses; and,orkhouses; and,orkhouses; and,

* One to three Adventure Hooks * One to three Adventure Hooks * One to three Adventure Hooks * One to three Adventure Hooks * One to three Adventure Hookstying in with each describedtying in with each describedtying in with each describedtying in with each describedtying in with each describedsort of place.sort of place.sort of place.sort of place.sort of place.

City Builder 10 - Governmental Places

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