@TheEdVerse I'm trying to build a model of Trollskull Manor for my players, and I'm struggling to find what type of building materials it would be constructed out of. What would a typical Waterdavian North Ward manor house/bar be made from? Particularly the walls. Thanks!
— Liam Beattie (@lcrbeattie) July 25, 2021
1)
North Ward is one of the most prosperous wards of the city, so the ground floor would be mortared fieldstone. There’d be a level-concrete-floor, stone-lined cellar level below that, not connected to any other buildings, and as… 2)
…Trollskull is older construction, and not of the most expensive, but is a “manor,” its second floor would also be of fieldstone. Inside these walls rise the support timbers of a box-framed truss, with any floors above the…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 25, 2021
3)
…second (including the attic), being half-timbered (what in our world is often called “Tudor:” exposed support beams with decorative white stucco between them: overcoated “wattle and daub”). The roof would be tiled… 4)
…(overlapping hump-shaped rectangular roof-tiles that overhang the walls by at least a foot and have downspouts), and the lime-ash floors throughout would be covered with flat, glazed tiles. The house would have garderobes/…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 25, 2021
5)
…jakes (internal toilets/washrooms) flushed by roof-cisterns (pullchain), down interior-wall pipes into the sewers, internal stairs, and closets between rooms for sound privacy. Bedchambers would be on upper floors, attics…6)
…would be for cisterns and old-furniture storage (and sometimes the rearing of caged pigeons as meat-birds for the household), and the servants would sleep in the kitchens, pantries (typical back door location), and entry-room…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 25, 2021
7)
…for added security. There would be heavy wooden doors for interior rooms, with exposed stout wooden frames, and the only place where there MIGHT not be doors would be a wood-framed, square arch connecting the largest… 8)
…ground-floor rooms: a dining room and a “main room” (what we might call a parlor or lounge or living room). A typical manor would have a main stair (perhaps with a landing) wide enough for furniture and a narrow servants’ or…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 25, 2021
9)
…“back” stair that might be a circular stair to save space; a big manor would have straight-run, less steep, wider stairs.
Windows would be blown glass, in small diamond frames (replacements can readily be purchased from the 10)
…relevant guild or a used-goods shop, and most houses have one or more “overwindows” in storage that can be fitted over a broken-pane window temporarily, until repairs can be made), with shutters inside AND outside that can…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 25, 2021
11)
…be fastened “back” (open), and grand houses may have balconies. Sliding wood pocket doors are an innovation for the grandest rooms that likely came along too late for Trollskull, unless it was remodelled before the PCs come… 12)
…upon it. Fine-chain-pulley hanging (from exposed ceiling-beams) oil lamps or candle-lanterns (in either case having hemispherical, frosted and perhaps tinted glass “bowl” shades to curb down-glare) are the norm in main rooms.#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 25, 2021
Thank you very much! This is great and will definitely help me be more descriptive when running this with my players. You're welcome! And I forgot to add: in manors like Trollskull, bedchambers and any room with a fireplace, to combat chill damp in winter (and sea fogs) will have heavy cloth (wool plus an embroidered surface layer) hangings/tapestries to catch and hold warmth.#Realmslore
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 25, 2021