The Castle Guide (DMGR-2)
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Complete system for design and construction of castles¸ new Battlesystem ruiles (...) quick resolution system for massive military campaigns and an assortment of generic castles.
A wealth of information designed to allow any DM to create a campaign world based on feudal Europe. Sections address life in a feudal culture¸ new Battlesystem rules for the resolution of sieges¸ a quick resolution system for massive military campaigns¸ and an assortment of generic castles to spark your imagination.
Imagine a world of knights in shining armor¸ mighty castles¸ and high chivalry. In this book¸ you'll find a wealth of information desgined to allow any DM to create a campaign world based on feudal Europe. Sections address life in a feudal culture¸ new Battlesystem rules for the resolution of sieges¸ a quick resolution system for massive military campaigns¸ and an assortment of generic castles to spark your imagination. The Castle Guide is a must for any player or DM who's ever wanted to fight for a seat at the round table. Product History DMGR2: The Castle Guide (1990)¸ by Grant Boucher¸ Troy Christensen¸ Arthur Collins¸ and Nigel Findley¸ was the second book in the Dungeon Master's Guide Rules Supplements for AD&D 2e. It was released in May 1990. Continuing with the DMGRs. TSR's brand-new "DMGR" series had begun just two months previous with DMGR1: Campaign Sourcebook and Catacomb Guide (1990). Like its predecessor¸ The Castle Guide was a premium leatherette book intended primarily for GM use. However¸ it took a very different tack from the previous volume¸ acting as a general sourcebook for the setting of the medieval world¸ whereas DMGR1 had been all about how to run games. About the Medieval World. The Castle Guide was innovative at TSR in part because it took a much more realistic look at medieval history than most previous works from the company - which all tended to focus on fantasy realms that were at best pseudo-Medieval. There'd been a few adventures which trended in this direction¸ including the Celtic-flavored C4: "To Find a King" (1984) and C5: "The Bane of Llywelyn" (1985) and the Briton N2: "The Forest Oracle" (1984)¸ but there wasn't anything that made the full leap to a properly historical setting. Meanwhile¸ more historical settings were starting to appear in the rest of the industry¸ with the medievalist Chivalry & Sorcery (1977) being the first step. RuneQuest's Fantasy Earth (1985)¸ King Arthur Pendragon's Arthurian England (1985)¸ and Ars Magica's Mythic Europe (1987) all had moved C&S's medieval ideas over to an actual Earthly setting. Though The Castle Guide was TSR's first experiment with an historical setting¸ they'd publish many more historical books in the future as their "HR" series (1992-1994). In fact¸ HR2: Charlemagne's Knights (1992) and HR7: The Crusades (1994) are particularly good complements to this book because they detail knights of the same time period in other locales. About Castles. Though this book is called The Castle Guide ¸ there's slightly less detail on castles than you'd expect. The first part of the book covers feudalism¸ knights¸ and tournaments¸ while the last part covers warfare. Castle content can be found in between¸ with history¸ construction notes¸ and more. There are some nice crunchy bits on castle costs and random events - terrain that TSR had also covered in a different form in the D&D Companion Set (1984) several years earlier. The most innovative castle-focused element in The Castle Guide is probably its look at specific castles for various D&D classes - a neat integration of the pseudo-medieval FRP milieu with an actual medieval setting. The most disappointing element is probably the fact that there are only floorplans for a few castles. There had been a few books prior to 1990 with piles of castle maps - including Judges Guild's Castle Book I (1978) and Castle Book II (1981); The Palladium Book of Weapons & Castles (1982) and The Palladium Book of European Castles (1985); and Castles of Hârn (1987). However¸ The Castle Guide did not join those ranks. Battlesystem Returns. Throughout the late 80s and early 90s¸ TSR tried hard to make their Battlesystem (1985) work as an alternative to GW's Warhammer. By 1990¸ when The Castle Guide was released¸ Battlesystem had recen