Buildings on my Mind...

I have officially returned from my combination NTRPG Con/Business Trip only to find my domicile worse for the wear due to a series of storms, golf ball-sized hail, and a couple of tornados. Lucky for me the damage was just to my roof and a large spot of ceiling where the water made it's way in.

Not fun, but could definitely have been worse. Now when I double check what I expect to be a HUGE roof-specific deductible, I may feel differently, but for now my stuff...and more importantly my pets, are fine and I like to think I'm occasionally capable of seeing the big picture.

Of course, as these things do, thinking so much about my home weighs heavily when I'm trying to shift mental gears and think about what to post today. Thinking over the myriad of D&D characters I've played over the...decades (yep, I'm old) and one.....one kind of had a home, and I really don't recall any of my player's PCs ever having an "official" residence. Not one single murderhobo dwelling among the lot.....

....and I highly suspect that is closer to the norm for most D&D players.

A big reason, or I think a big part of the reason is simply that the vast majority of PCs don't get to the generalized double-digit levels required of them to build a "stronghold", not that I'm necessarily referring to a "stronghold" in the first place. Aside from that I'm guessing that people who want to play murderhobos want to do murderhobo stuff, and setting up a house is not on the typical KTATTS list.

Now I have seen parties of PCs band together to get a..... "clubhouse" of sorts to work out of, but definitely not a home.

Hmmm......now that I think about it, my one PC that was working on his home/library technically already owned a farmstead. I'm pretty sure I've already told the story about how my PC "bought the farm" at first level (was on my blog, not here), allowing the party successfully complete a four-hour tournament in something like 10 minutes.

Anyway, this one PC was working on building a library even though he wasn't high enough level to have a "stronghold", but I figured it'd take quite a few level's worth of adventuring to get enough resources to finish the thing. Once my PCs get a couple of levels in I like to imagine how, in a perfect game, their adventuring career (or life) would end. This guy was going to use his vast intellect to become basically a doctor....non-magical healer. His goal was to build a community and to build something since he was quite the destructive force as a magical murderhobo.

If I'm a bit off-base, which is not uncommon for me, and you have a need for building a "stronghold", I highly recommend a particular OOP sourcebook: Lord Flataroy's Guide to Fortifications. I loved using this book to plan out OSR building.....not sure I'd spend the $75 or so it's going for now, but if you keep your eyes out for a copy you might luck out....and no...Half Price Books doesn't have any listed.

Hopefully I'm also off-base that PCs building homesteads is more common than I think.....