You Find Yourself in a Castle (plus Final Week!)
12 months ago – Tue, Sep 26, 2023 at 12:10:37 PM

No, this is the kitchen. Dungeon's one floor down, just take those stairs to the right. We're on a schedule everyone...!  

And we are so so so close to that 200K mark and that fey summer palace and map! One more week to make that happen and find out what goals are on the other side.

We've currently unlocked the form-fillable kingdom sheet, plus the sample noble families, the ancestor and naming tables, details on a dwarven feast hall, complete with a map, a design seminar ("Nobility as Campaign Foundation," more details later), a servant naming table, and 10 courtly heritages. 

But now, we've got a little preview from Chapter 3 over on the Kobold Press Blog, which breaks down a castle room by room! 

Regional Maps
12 months ago – Mon, Sep 25, 2023 at 11:44:22 AM

More maps! We showed off some architectural maps last week, and now, here are a few of the regional maps for the sample kingdoms in Campaign Builder: Castles & Crowns. You can use these directly to build your own kingdoms or just use them for inspiration.

Queen Pyreheart (plus Kingdom Sheet)
12 months ago – Fri, Sep 22, 2023 at 11:58:57 AM

No kingdom is complete without the perfect ruler. This week, we sat down with our Twitch chat and rolled up a brand-new ruler from our Campaign Builder: Castles & Crowns free preview PDF.

From just a few simple tables in the preview PDF, we rolled up a regal queen whose history is fraught with deep sacrifice for her people, and all in the name of bloodlines and magic.

You can read her full story on our blog and download the kingdom sheet with her details ready for you to use. We’ve even left space for you to fill in your own details to complete her kingdom with NPCs, surrounding cities, and all the regal details for use in your own game.

Preview of Chapter 5
12 months ago – Thu, Sep 21, 2023 at 12:06:38 PM

Chapter 5 of Campaign Builder: Castles & Crowns walks you through how to design kingdoms and rulers for your game. It breaks that down further into considerations for different peoples, including for human, dwarf, elf, and fey, for space and hell, and more. Here’s a peek at the dwarven section. Note that we had to take out the table for ease of previewing, but there’re tons of them, fields of tables. As far as the eye can see…

Dwarven Kingdoms

While dwarves can be found living in human cities and other places all over the world, dwarven kingdoms are most often located in—and beneath—hills and mountains where their doughty inhabitants carve out wondrous halls and dig deep to find gold, silver, iron, and precious gems. Dwarven kingdoms tend to be smaller than the average human kingdom, but those with extensive networks of tunnels and mines that run for many miles between clan holds have been known.

Hill and mountain dwarves are more common in temperate and cold climates, but there are dwarves dwelling in warmer areas too, such as Midgard’s Southlands, where dwarves live alongside humans in Nuria Natal and in their own kingdom of Sebbek Sobor.

The fireforge dwarves (see Tome of Heroes), believing the best metalwork is made in the fires of the earth, build their kingdoms in areas of volcanic activity, allowing them to create fine weapons and armor in their magma-powered forges. Meanwhile, the spindrift dwarves (see Tome of Heroes) eschew the earth for the ocean, spending as much of their lives as possible at sea. Spindrift dwarves are found in the Island Realm of the Alchorades (see Sample Human Kingdom) but also have their own kingdoms on islands, along coastlines, and even on floating artificial structures out at sea, constructed from dozens of ships lashed together.

Because dwarven kingdoms can be small, population density (see also Population) is typically dense to very dense with a large majority of the population dwelling near each other in communal living spaces in their clan holds.

Humans are the most likely non-dwarf race to be found living within the borders of a dwarven kingdom. Usually this is above ground in a separate farming or trading settlement, such as Glimmervale in Stoneheart Canyon (see Sample Dwarf Kingdom). Groups of rock gnomes and their cousins, the deep gnomes, sometimes also live alongside dwarves.

Government. Monarchy is often the favored system of government among dwarves—as either a king or a queen ruling the kingdom. The succession can be hereditary, or alternatively, a new monarch can be chosen upon the death of the old by a council of clan chieftains or elders. The annals of dwarven history are filled with tales of disagreements over who should be crowned. Such disputes can lead to violent conflict and even all-out war between rival claimants to the throne.

In larger kingdoms, there may be a high king or queen who is owed fealty by the lesser monarchs ruling each dwarf hold in the kingdom. This is the situation in Stoneheart Canyon (see Sample Dwarf Kingdom).

Although monarchies are common, dwarves also adopt other forms of government. In Midgard, most of the Free Cantons of the Ironcrags elect their rulers democratically while Sebbek Sobor is governed by the Conclave of Brotherhoods, a gathering of elders and guild leaders from the four major cities, who elect a first speaker from among their ranks.

Religion. Dwarven gods will often have craft, fire, home and family, strength, or war in their portfolio. Because crafting beautiful and functional objects from precious gemstones and metals is such an important part of dwarven culture, separate gods may look after mining, the forge, metalwork, and stonework. Gods of the earth and mountains and of hard work, wealth, or greed are other possibilities.

Magic. Dwarves have long been renowned for their skills in blending the physical and arcane arts to create legendary weapons, armor, and other wondrous items in their mountain strongholds, so magic plays a significant role in many dwarven kingdoms. Although few dwarves study to become wizards, followers of ring magic (see Deep Magic Volume 1), known as ring wardens, are a well-known exception. Ring magic is the dwarven art of forging metal into magical rings. Rune magic (see Deep Magic Volume 1), the carving of magical runes and the invocation of their power, is also well known in many dwarven kingdoms, particularly in northern lands.

Enemies and Allies. Dwarven kingdoms located in the mountains may be uncomfortably close to the territory of hostile orc tribes or belligerent giants. Belowground, the dwarves are likely to be competing with goblins or kobolds for the same caverns and natural resources. Heading deeper into the Underworld, a dwarven kingdom might come into conflict with derro, drow, duergar, ghouls, satarre, and other antagonistic subterranean civilizations. And if the dwarves dig too deep, as they often do, the kingdom may come under threat from aboleth and other aberrant horrors.

Dwarven kingdoms typically establish allies and trading partners among humans and other surface dwellers, as their armor, weapons, jewelry, and other crafts are in high demand. Belowground, dwarven kingdoms typically form alliances with deep gnomes, mycolid, and others. (See Monster Vault for all creatures.)

Dwarf Hold Landmarks. Every dwarf hold or dwarven city is home to one or more clans, each with its own great hall and communal living space for its members. Roll 1d10 and consult the Dwarf Hold Landmarks table for some interesting buildings and monuments that can appear in dwarf holds, or choose the most appropriate.

Rulers. Many of the suggestions and tables for titles, backstory, physical description, and personal characteristics, presented earlier in Designing a Ruler, work well for dwarven rulers. In addition, the ruler might have a particular quirk: roll a 1d20 on the Dwarven Ruler Quirks table or choose something appropriate.

Sample Dwarven Rulers

Three sample dwarven rulers are detailed here, ready to be slotted into a campaign—and even used with the sample kingdom of Stoneheart Canyon (see Sample Dwarf Kingdom).

Blessed Mother of the Silver Tankards. Her Holiness Queen Barzola Proudbrewer, Blessed Mother of the Silver Tankards (NG dwarf cleric of the brew, see Creature Codex) is the ruler of the dwarf hold of Dhargraern, the former head of its brewer’s guild, and a priestess of Ninkash, goddess of beer and merriment. Barzola was elected queen by the Chamber of Guildmasters on the death of the previous incumbent, the former head of the miner’s guild. She was a popular choice, respected by the other guildmasters for being levelheaded and willing to always look for the good in others…

(All text should not be considered final and may be altered during development.)