- Keep: The strong point and ‘last resort’ of earliest castles, normally separate from the first line of defense and often with direct communication to the field. The earlier word used was dinjon. The shell-keep (qv) came into use in Age 10, year c. 10; the square keep Age 11, year 1; hexagon keep Age 11 year 110; and the round keep Age 11, year 200.
- “Killer” dungeon: a dungeon/adventure in which the player characters have no chance to survive. Not how I gamed.
- Little Old Man in Gray: A man in a gray outfit that hires characters to clean up various areas, usually places that are not located in or on the normal Prime Material Plane that is Crestar (qv). They could be located anywhere, even a parallel Crestar. Mad Rock and my version of Tomb of Horrors comes to mind.
- Loop: A vertical narrow slot, usually splayed, to provide light or an offensive aperture through a wall for bow and crossbow fire. A narrow aperture that resembled a Y-shape, with the open part of the Y, as part of the outer wall.
- Machiolation: A stone projecting gallery at the top of a castle wall, supported by a row of corbelled arches, having openings in the floor through which stones and boiling oils could be dropped on attackers. The wooden version was removable and was called a hoarding.
- Manor: The main house of a landed estate; Dtranyo Castle is a typical example from the Age 11, year 100. The name ‘Dtranyo’ comes from the strange arch on the estate; possibly an entrance to a no longer present castle. Strange events happened to the last group to investigate the arch. ( Dtranyo Castle is the manor house won by one group of players for their continued valor. They remodeled it in stone. ) [ The module I altered for this was ‘The Lone Tower/Clearmoon Castle’ by Judges Guild. This evidently came out of a book of adventures, as the last page has the map for Willchidar’s Well on the back of it. ]
- Manor House, fortified: A towered or crenellated manor. First seen about Age 10, year c. 840.
- Merchant Guild: A guild of powerful merchants that goes beyond territorial bounderies of any one country. To sell large amounts of any item, a retail license is necessary at 30 gp per year. The guild fee is 5 gp per transaction or 50 gp/year. This includes such things as horses, food, armor, weapons, etc.
- Merlon: The solid portion of a crenellated wall between the two open spaces. They are usually 5 feet to 6 feet wide and about 6 feet tall. Some have arrow loops.
- Millieu: A unique game setting embodying numerous possible variables in its creation, i.e. the ‘world’ in which the adventures take place.
- Missle: any object flung or projected towards a target.
- Monty Haul: A campaign, or the DM ( referee) running it, in which greatly excessive amounts of treasure and/or experience are given to the player characters for little difficulty or little effort. Example: characters kill 2 orcs, and get 1,000,000 gp. Not how I gamed.
- Motte: A wide mound of dirt or stone, crowned by a wooden tower as a lookout. The motte must be designed for a stone tower or the motte will collapse. This earliest form of a castle is believed to have first occured in Age 7.
- Motte-and-Bailey: A very early, but very effective, type of surface gnome castle ( c. Age 9). It was soon adopted by everyone. It consisted of a mound with a ditch and a further area defended by another ditch and palisade (qv). The many variations included up to three baileys. It could be constructed in as few as 7-20 days; it was later constructed of stone.
- Mound: An early type of motte, date unknown.
- Murder holes: A name given to holes in the vaulting of an entrance passage, used to harass an enemy with missile fire.
glossary: K, L, and M
Posted
Author
Bill George
Categories
Crest of a Star, glossary