This entry is part 4 in the series Mike's Fantasy Tavern/Inn Generator
Interior-Coopers_arms_weston_on_trent

By User:Victuallers (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Part one of this series used six tables to define the physical properties of a tavern (no guest accommodations) or inn (with guest accommodations), plus – because the modifiers needed were at hand – the meals provided by the kitchens.

Part two used another six tables to determine everything that directly contributed to the ambiance of the establishment, from the personality of the owner through to the decorations on the walls. In this final part of the generator, we’ll deal with the bartender’s family and process the worksheets that bring the whole tavern or inn together, ready for use.

Part three used another five tables and subtables and one worksheet to populate the extended-family-in-residence and establish what entertainments the tavern provides to keep the punters happy.

That was supposed to be the final part (aside from a behind-the-curtain techniques discussion to be written down the track), but the examples grew uncontainably large; the versions originally intended to appear in part three topped out at over 10,000 words and weren’t finished yet. So I took the 13th hour decision to split part three into two parts – and then a 14th hour decision to split the second of those once again, when it also topped 12,000 words and was still less than half done!

We pick up the process right where we left off. Note that it is impossible to use this content without having completed the earlier parts of the process.

Worksheets

Tavern Generator (continued): Worksheets & Tables 16-20: Final Calculations Worksheets

Although the building worksheets may look complicated, the basic principles that they represent are very simple:

  • The total number of spaces on one level of a building is an abstract representation of the overall size of the building on that level.
  • Dividing the actual floor space by this total gives the area represented by “relative size 1” for this particular floor of this particular building.
  • Multiplying the relative size value of any area by the size of a single space gives an actual area for each space.
  • Upper floors (if any) can be larger or smaller than this ground floor space depending on the building design.
  • Family accommodations may be located on the ground floor or on another floor, with the latter more common but not universal.

Complexity arrives with options and alternatives and trying to accommodate at least the most common ones.

Worksheet 16: Ground Floor Calculations

While I have designed these worksheets to be as flexible as possible, they are designed to accommodate the most common layout practices, and may need adaption to service unusual designs. Take the time to understand how they normally work and you will have no trouble making such adjustments, because the actual process is quite straightforward (I nevertheless warn users of the generator that this is by far the most complex of these worksheets)!

The first column takes the relative sizes of the different areas located on the ground floor, and totals them. It is at this point that the GM must decide whether or not the building is a tavern (no guest accommodations other than the commons room) or an inn (with guest accommodations). It is also necessary to decide whether or not the family accommodations are located on the ground floor or on the first floor (both reasonably common), on a different floor, or even in an entirely separate building (rare).

The “footprint” of the ground floor – i.e. the area of the ground-floor plan, to be allocated by the GM – is then divided by the total to find out what one ground floor “unit of relative size” translates to.

If the resulting commons area is large enough to accommodate the table space determined in Table 3, it is simply part of the common room that has been set aside for the purpose. If it is not, then it is a separate area which requires a recalculation.

The second column translates the relative sizes of each of the ground floor locations into real-world dimensions. For detailed, step-by-step instructions, and a couple of tips and tricks in how to use this worksheet, refer to the examples.

1Worksheet

Instructions Base Base
x Size 2
Adjust Final
Bar        
Common Room        
Ground Floor Storeroom        
Ground Floor Family Dwelling        
Cooking Facilities        
Kitchen Space        
Recreation Spaces        
Stairwell Up?        
Stairwell Down?        
Ground Floor Accommodations        
Total 1  
Ground Floor Footprint  
Footprint/Total 1 = Size 1  
Common Room Relative Size  
Common Room x Size 1  
x 60% = Table Area Threshold  
Table Area      
Footprint Adjustment  
Adjusted Footprint      
Revised Footprint/Total 1 = Size 2  
Old Commons Size  
– Table Area
Adjusted Commons Size =
/ Size 1 /
= Adjusted Relative Size =

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The Palomino and Fox continued:

The Palomino and Fox is an atypical example of the typical two-level tavern. The tavern has built up a definite character in the course of its generation, and now comes complete with a situation that could either be a side-plot or the springboard to something more important.

What we know so far:
The “Palomino and Fox” is a Medium-Large two-story rural tavern focused on hunting, especially fox-hunting; it hosts the local fox-hunting association, and has quite a respectable clientèle. The walls of the tavern are rough-hewn stone. Tavern Size Modifier is 4, Commons Size Modifier is 3.
    It contains (with relative sizes) a bar (2), and a Large Common Room (5). Beneath the tavern is a Storage Cellar, and part of the first floor consists of the Family Dwelling (2).
    Within the common room are 6 large tables that seat 20 each, occupying a total of 72 sqr m = 325 sqr ft = 13 x five-foot sqr spaces. The tables are L-shaped and made of wood.
    That common room is decorated with stuffed & preserved animal heads. Behind the bar, several weapons are mounted, intact and ready for use. The bar serves very poor quality versions of the two most popular drinks, locally. There are no better alternatives available to patrons. People don’t go there for the alcohol.
    In addition to the hunts that operate out of the Inn, The Palomino and Fox has a darts room (0.75) containing multiple boards, a dice pit (1.5) and smaller high-stakes area (1).
    The Kitchens consist of Medium Stove, Large Ovens, Medium Grill (1.75) and a Medium-sized Food Preparation area (2.5) (sizes relative to a business of this scale). The cuisine is Good quality food, a hearty meal with bread and meat/fish 0-1 (d3:0, 1/2, 1) day old, costing 7 sp per serving.
    Guest accommodations are medium,-sized (relative room size 1.9), capable of accommodating 2-4 people, and of Common quality. They are overpriced at 5.5 sp/night, or 3.5 gp/week.

The Barman’s skills are given by d4+1, and he counts as 1 worker, so he’s competent but nothing special as an innkeeper. He is tenderhearted, but hides it beneath a gruff, angry exterior. He is bold, fanatical about his religious beliefs, and tends to think with his emotions, not his head.
    The Barman lives with his large family, a wife and 5 children, in the family residence. The children are aged 2, 4, 5, 7, and 10. All those old enough work for the family business. The barman’s father-in-law resides in one of the guest quarters and also works for the Palomino and Fox. The Barman’s sister and sister-in-law share a second guest quarters. All told (excluding the barman), family provide the equivalent of 5.25 full-time staff to the Inn.
    To function fully, the Inn has to employ a further 4.75 staff. It is reasonable to suspect that many of the staff are “strays” that he has picked up along the way, and also live on the premises.

The barman has an ongoing conflict with a local Druidic order, who have used their powers to persuade all the foxes to go elsewhere. Their motives are unclear; it could easily be that the Druids tried to warn the local community of something but weren’t taken seriously, and so have taken matters into their own hands. Or it might simply be that they have a philosophic objection to hunting for sport. Rather than try to reach some settlement with the Druids, the Barman has resorted to “cheating” to make sure that each hunt bags something they can brag about. If this deception is exposed, he will have even more trouble with the Druids, and hence is a little paranoid about strangers. Because of his cheating, the tavern has built up a reputation, publicly justifying the “overpriced” accommodations; in reality, the extra covers the cost of maintaining that reputation.
    The barman has a strong sense of responsibility (to family, staff, and communities both local and which merely use his establishment as a base for their annual activities). Because of his stiff-necked pride, he has backed himself into a corner in which that sense of responsibility has forced him into a moral compromise – something that is clearly more palatable to him than admitting his error, but the source of considerable stress and feelings of guilt, nevertheless.
    His embarrassment over his hot-headedness and guilt over his “cheating” likely make the barman more grumpy than usual. I picture him as salt-of-the-earth but marred by pride and stubbornness, qualities that now have him in over his head.

Resuming the example: Worksheet 16, Column 1:

  • Bar: Write 2, the relative size of the bar, in the first space.
  • Common Room: Write 5, the relative size of the Commons, in the second space.
  • Ground-Floor Storeroom: Write the relative size of any Ground-floor storeroom, in the third space, or zero if there isn’t one. Note that even if the dice have indicated a cellar, the GM may choose to set aside a tiny (0.25-0.5) or small (0.5-0.75) space on the ground floor for the purpose – but remember also that in most fantasy games, there is no refrigeration; cellars were used for storage because they provided relatively cool temperatures. The “Palomino and Fox” will have a small pantry space (0.75) and a linen cupboard of similar size (0.75), for a total of 1.5 spaces on this line of the worksheet. Note the details on a piece of scratch paper for future reference.
  • Ground Floor Family Dwelling: Write 2, the relative size of the Family accommodations if they are located on the ground floor, or zero if they are not, in the fourth space. In this case, I am going to place them on the ground floor, so “2” is the correct entry. Take care not to confuse this value with the “Family Size”, which refers to the total number of working staff the family provide – in this case, 5.25.)
  • Cooking Facilities: You would normally write 1.75, the relative size of the Cooking Facilities, in the sixth space, but I have decided to place the kitchens etc on the first floor, just to be a little different, so this entry is actually zero.
  • Kitchen space: As above, this would normally read 2.5, the relative size of the Food prep area, but I have relocated the kitchens so I write 0 in the seventh space.
  • Recreation Spaces: Write 3.25, the relative size of the Recreation spaces, assuming they are all on the ground floor, in the eighth space. In this case, I decide to relocate the high-stakes gambling area (1 unit of that 3.25) to the first floor, leaving 2.25 to be written into the relevant space.
  • Stairwell Up?: Count up the number of stairwells going up that you require (at least 1 if the inn/tavern has multiple stories). These can be sized 0.25 each (ladders), 0.5 each (tiny), 0.75 each (small), 1 each (normal), 1.25 each (large), or 2 each (grand staircases), or even a variety of sizes if you prefer. On your scratch paper, note your decisions and total the space devoted to stairwells up from the ground floor; write this total in the ninth space on the worksheet. In this case, I think that two stairwells is about right, each of normal size, so the entry on the worksheet is 2.
  • Stairwell Down?: If there is a cellar, decide on the number of access points down to it and their relative sizes as above (making notes), determine the total relative sizes, and write that into the tenth space on the worksheet. Don’t forget to allow for deliveries, which usually require an external stairwell that still needs to be counted. In this case, a normal sized staircase for deliveries (1) and a smaller internal staircase (0.75) to access the storeroom sounds right to me. The total is 1.75, which gets written into the space provided.
  • Ground Floor Guest Accommodations: Are there any guest rooms on the ground floor? If so, the number of such rooms, multiplied by the relative size of the guest accommodations, gets written in this space (and note the specifics on your scratch paper. The total is then recorded in the eleventh space on the worksheet. In the case of the “Palomino and Fox,” My first thought was to have no ground floor “guest accommodations” but then I remembered that table 13 and associated subtables indicated that 2 guest quarters were taken up by extended family – one for the father-in-law, and one for the sister-in-law and sister (who share). I briefly consider placing these two guest quarters on the ground floor, decide not to – and then realize that none of the other examples will provide an opportunity to demonstrate this feature of the system, so reverse my decision. So, there are 2 guest accommodations on the ground floor, and the total is 2 times 1.9 (relative size of guest accommodations) = 3.8.
  • Total 1: Add all these up and write the total on the twelfth line. Slightly different colors have been used to make this space stand out. The example total is 2 + 5 + 1.5 + 2 + 0 + 0 + 2.25 + 2 + 1.75 + 3.8 = 20.3, which I write in the appropriate space on the worksheet. If I had not relocated various items, and had added the two guest quarters, this total could have been 5.25 higher, for a total of 25.55 spaces – and each space would have been about 80% of the size it will actually be (20 divided by 25).
  • Ground Floor Footprint: To fill the next space on the worksheet, we need to decide the ground-floor dimensions of the tavern. We then determine the total area covered in square feet, and that’s what gets entered. I find it useful not to decide this, except in vague terms, until I know what the total number of spaces is, so that I can pick any room for which I have a clear scale in mind and use that as my basis. In this case, I know that I want the bar area to be fairly substantial – perhaps 60′ x 40′ – so that would make 2400 sqr ft equivalent to a relative size of 2. So 1200 sqr ft x 20.3 = 24360 sq ft. If the building is 120′ in one direction, that would be 203′ in the other – roughly. That’s not bad – there have been warehouses and temples that size. It makes life more convenient if the footprint is a multiple of 25′, so for simplicity’s sake I’m going to call it 25000 sqr ft, perhaps 125 x 200′ – slightly thicker than a 2:1 ratio. But, square feet is often not the most useful measurement – it is often even more convenient to count a building in 5′ squares. This, conveniently, is one 25th of the sqr ft measurement – in this case, 1000 5′ x 5′ spaces – so that’s what gets written in the Ground Floor Footprint location on the worksheet. (NB: this may vary with other game systems – for the Hero System, everything is built on 2-meter-wide hexes, which therefore have an area of 4 square meters, so the golden rule would be a multiple of four, not a multiple of 25).
  • Size 1: Divide the footprint (1000) by the number of spaces (20.3) to get 49.26. This is another inconvenient number, so let’s round it off to 50.
  • Common Room Relative Size: Next, we need the common room relative size of 5 from higher up the table.
  • Common Room x Size 1: Multiply the common room size by the result of Size 1: 5 x 50 = 250.
  • x 60% = table area threshold: 250 x 60% is 60 x 2.5 = 120 + 30 = 150.
  • Table Area: This was determined as part of the result from table 3, and is 72.
  • Footprint Adjustments: If the tables won’t fit in 60% of the footprint, the “effective footprint” has to be reduced by the size of the table area, and the size of one unit recalculated. However, 72 will handily fit within 150, so there is no need to do so in this case:
    • Footprint adjustment: If you needed to reduce the size of the “effective footprint” you would write the amount of adjustment here. Write a zero in this space.
    • Adjusted Footprint: If you needed to adjust the “effective footprint”, you would write the revised total here. Copy the footprint from the earlier calculation into this space (1000).
    • Revised Footprint/Total 1 = Size 2: If you need to revise the size of “a space” because the effective footprint has changed, you would repeat the division (footprint / total of relative sizes) and put the result in this space. Since in this case, there has been no change, simply copy the result from the earlier calculation of “Size 1”, 50.
  • Commons Adjustments: If there was NO need to adjust the “effective footprint”, it means that part of the common room contains the tables, and we want to know how large that actually makes the common room.
    • Old Commons Size: This was calculated a little earlier – look for Common Room x Size 1 a few lines up. 250, so copy this value into the space provided on the worksheet. If you don’t need to adjust the commons size because you’ve changed the footprint, simply put a dash in this space to remind you that you have actually processed this step.
    • – Table Area: Copy the space occupied by the tables into this row of the worksheet. Make sure that you are using the same units for both this and the above line, or the only result will be confusion. In this case, 78 spaces are being used for the tables, so copy 78 to here from a few lines previous. If you don’t need to adjust the commons size because you’ve changed the footprint, simply put a dash in this space to remind you that you have actually processed this step.
    • Adjusted Commons Size: First number minus the second number gives this value: 250 – 78 = 172. If you don’t need to adjust the commons size because you’ve changed the footprint, simply put a dash in this space to remind you that you have actually processed this step.
    • / Size 1: Copy the “Size 1” value from earlier in the worksheet into this space (50). If you don’t need to adjust the commons size because you’ve changed the footprint, simply put a dash in this space to remind you that you have actually processed this step.
    • Adjusted Relative Size: Write the results of the division in this space, rounding to no more than 2 decimal places. 172 / 50 = 3.44. So the Commons Room in this case has gone from a relative size of 5 to a relative size of 3.44, no longer counting the remainder (1.56) occupied by the tables. Write 3.44 into the space provided. If you don’t need to adjust the commons size because you’ve changed the footprint, simply copy the commons room size from the third row of the worksheet into this space.

Worksheet 16, Column 2:
The second column provides a space for you to write the results of multiplying the relative size of each area by Size 2 (which is why the value was copied in unchanged if there was no difference in “effective footprint”). This is easy in most cases: you have the number to be multiplied right next to the relevant empty space, in column 1.

  • Bar: 2 (the relative size of the bar) x 50 (Size 2) = 100.
  • Common Room: This is the Adjusted Commons Size from the third-last row of column 1, if there is a number there. If there is not, this is the result of multiplying the common room size shown to the left of the space by Size 2. In this case, the “Adjusted Commons Size” has a value, 172, so copy that into this space.
  • Ground-Floor Storeroom: 1.5 (the total relative sizes of storerooms) x 50 (Size 2) = 75. At the same time, perform the calculation of actual sizes for specific spaces on your scratch paper, noting the results:
    • Small Pantry Space: 0.75 x 50 = 37.5;
    • Linen Cupboard: 0.75 x 50 = 37.5.
    • Double-check that these add up to what is shown on the main worksheet: 37.5 + 37.5 = 75. This is obviously correct, but that might not always be the case.
  • Ground Floor Family Dwelling: 2 (relative size of the Family accommodations located on the ground floor) x 50 (Size 2) = 100.
  • Cooking Facilities: 0 (relative size of the cooking facilities located on the ground floor) x 50 (Size 2) is 0 – obviously.
  • Kitchen space: 0 (relative size of the kitchen facilities located on the ground floor) x 50 (Size 2) is 0 – equally obviously.
  • Recreation Spaces: 2.25, the relative size of the Recreation spaces on the ground floor x 50 (Size 2) = 112.5.
  • Stairwell Up?: 2 (total relative size of stairwells up) x 50 (size 2) = 100. Note that because the tavern is unusually large, so are these staircases. When this happens (or the reverse) you have three options: (1) accept the results; (2) adjust the stairwell sizes, using the extra space to “tidy up” messier results (37.5 to 40 or 50, for example), or (3) revising the relative sizes of the stairwells and starting the worksheet over from the point where you first allocated space to them. You should also bear in mind that a stairwell is usually twice the size of a staircase, PLUS an intermediate landing, so the stairwells might not be as over-the-top as you may think. Whichever option you choose, it’s important to note it in your scratch notes because it will also affect all the other floors of the building. In this case, a standard staircase (2×4) plus landing (2×4) plus second staircase (2×4) or 24 spaces, is almost exactly half the size indicated – so the staircases are either twice as wide as normal, or need to be resized. I think I’ll hedge my bets – make one staircase double-width (for guests) while saving half the leftover from reducing the other one (for staff) in size. That gives me 25 spaces to be used to tidy up other spaces like the storage rooms and entertainment areas. After making any such decisions necessary, calculate the actual sizes for the individual staircases shown in your notes:
    • One double-width stairwell (1 x 50 (size 2) = 50 spaces): 4×4 staircase up, 2×8 landing, and twin 2×4 staircases up from the landing (one on either side) plus 1 space each for large statues at the ground-floor end of the handrails = 50 spaces;
    • One normal-width staircase (24 spaces); 2×4 staircase, 2×4 landing, 2×4 staircase;
    • 26 spaces in reserve to pad out other spaces.
  • Stairwell Down?: 1.75 (total relative size of stairwells down) x 50 (Size 2) = 87.5, but it’s already clear to me from the staircases up that these are going to be about twice the size desired. I have the same three options, and this time I’m going to cut them all down and add to the 26 spaces “fudge factor” that I’ve got:
    • One stairwell 4 wide x2 deep; a 4×4 landing; another stairwell 4 wide and 2 deep; a second landing; and a third 4 x 2 stairwell, used for delivery of supplies to the cellar storeroom; total 56 spaces.
    • One staircase 2 wide by 4 deep, 2×2 landing , second staircase 2 wide by 4 deep, used for internal access to storeroom; total 20 spaces.
    • 12.5 spaces unused, reserved for “padding” other ground-floor spaces, making a total adjustment capacity of 38.5 spaces.
  • Ground Floor Guest Accommodations: 3.8 (total relative size of ground floor “guest” accommodations) x 50 (Size 2) = 190 spaces (i.e, 95 each for 2 rooms – but I would be tempted to make one slightly smaller (say, 80 spaces) and one a little larger (110 spaces) because one has a sole occupant and the other is shared between two adult, possibly even middle-aged, women).

Worksheet 16, Columns 3 and 4:
Column 3 is where you write in any adjustments to the sizes of the different areas to make them more convenient. Column 4 is space to write in the total of Columns 2 and 3, ie the total space allocated to this particular area. (Remember, all spaces are presumed to “own” any necessary corridor space).

You can do anything you like here, so long as the total adjustment is equal to the size of any “set aside” values from your earlier workings.

In the case of the Palomino and Fox, there are 38.5 spaces available. If necessary, more can be found by trimming other spaces, but that’s quite a lot to work with.

  • Bar: 100 is convenient enough, no adjustment needed, so either write a +0 or leave the first space blank. I’m going to record a running total here, which I would normally put on scrap paper; this is also +0.
  • Common Room: 172 is not quite so convenient, especially if the common room shares a dimension with the bar, as is often the case. +28 spaces makes 200, a far more acceptable number. Tally: +28.
  • Ground-Floor Storeroom: 75 is an awful lot of room for a small pantry and linen cupboard, even for an establishment of this size. I’m going to drop the Pantry to 20 spaces in size, and make the linen cupboard two 5-square areas, one for the tables and the other for the bar etc. That’s a total of 30 spaces, so there is an adjustment of -45. Tally: -17.
  • Ground Floor Family Dwelling: 100 is a convenient number. And quite a large dwelling. No adjustment need, tally remains -17.
  • Cooking Facilities: 0, no adjustment needed. Tally is -17.
  • Kitchen space: 0, no adjustment needed. Tally is -17.
  • Recreation Spaces: 112.5. Once again, this would be better as a number ending in zero, so I will apply an adjustment of 8.5 to get 120. Tally = -8.5.
  • Stairwell Up?: I had already decided to reduce the space allocated to these stairwells, saving 26 spaces. This is where that adjustment gets recorded: adjustment of -26, tally -34.5.
  • Stairwell Down?: 76 spaces used out of 87.5 allocated, so here’s another -12.5 adjustment that was decided upon earlier. Tally is now at -47 spaces.
  • Ground Floor Guest Accommodations: 190 spaces, divided into an 80-space room and a 110-space room. With 47 spaces to use up, and this being one of the last opportunities to do so, I decide to add 20 to the 80-space room and 10 to the 110-space room, leaving an unused adjustment of -17.
  • Table Area: This was listed as 78 spaces, but I will use 22 of my remaining 17 to bring it up to an even 100 spaces. Tally = +5.
  • Adjusted Footprint: There are several spaces in the worksheet that have been blacked out so that nothing can be written in them. In fact, the only remaining spaces on the worksheet are these. The total adjustment goes in this space in column three, and the final size of the footprint goes in column 4. In this case, our net adjustment (in column 3) would be +5, and the resulting footprint would be 1005 spaces. Alternatively, to reflect some space being slightly irregular because of the stairwells, I could go back and put a further adjustment of -5 into one of them (fortunately, I had simply left them blank – hint, hint) and maintain the nice neat total size of 1000 spaces. I decide to trim those 5 spaces out of the Bar, though I could just as easily have used one of the ground floor accommodations.
Observations/Notes:

It’s worth pointing out that the margins that you have for adjustment tend to be proportional to the overall size of the tavern, In this case, we have a quite large example, so I was able to be relatively lavish. I expect the other examples to pose more of a challenge!

And yes, it does strike me as rather strange that the pantry is on the ground floor while the kitchens are on the first floor. That probably bears some further thought, but it’s too late to change it now – if I can think of some plausible justification to explain it!

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The Spotted Parrot continued:

The Spotted Parrot is a most unusual inn and provides an example of how to shape the random results to fit a preconceived concept – essentially re-rolling random results until you get results that “fit”.

What is known so far:
The Spotted Parrot is a floating medium-sized tavern constructed in an unseaworthy vessel that has been “recommissioned”. [Note to self: remember to give the vessel a name!] It contains (with relative sizes) a Bar (1.5), small-medium “Common Room” (3.5), Kitchens consisting of a small stove & ovens (0.75) and a medium-sized Food Prep area (0.75). Tavern Size Modifier is 2, Commons Size Modifier is 1.
    Meals are served on the deck, which functions as the “common room”, and have a definite seafood theme. There are 12 medium tables that seat 6 people each. These tables have a simple rectangular shape (2:1 proportions), and are made of stone [why?]; these occupy a total of 38.4 five-foot sqr spaces. The cuisine is of Good quality and consists of bread and a small meal (soup, stew, or pie) with fish 0-1 (d3:0, 1/2, 1) day old, costing 6 sp per serve.
    Accommodations are small staterooms below decks, barely large enough for a couple, of good quality, but overpriced at 6 sp per night (relative room size 0.95). The family live in accommodations (1.5) in former “officer’s country” on the ship’s deck level, which is also where the kitchens are located. The Ship’s former Holds now function as cellar/storage area. For obvious reasons, the internal areas all have walls are of sawn timber.
    The size of the kitchens makes it clear that these accommodations are quite limited in capacity; and, if anything, the number of people who can be seated at the tables (up to 60 at a time) is far in excess of what can be justified given the size of the kitchens, unless those tables are used for something more than meals. The suggestion is, therefore, that a lot of the tables are used for sitting and drinking, and not for the consumption of food.
    The “common room” (deck) is decorated with leg irons, cutlasses, and other piratical/nautical memorabilia, while the space behind the bar is decorated with a large and quite good painting of a ship at sea in a storm.
    A small area (0.5) above-decks is also used for card games.
    The bar serves average quality versions of the two most popular local drinks and has 1 uncommon option of Good Quality available. Given the motif, the “two most popular” are probably rum and ale, and the third, uncommon option might be a wine or brandy.

The Barman is unmarried and has no children. His parents have one of the guest staterooms and his brother lives in another; all three also help run the Tavern. In addition, the Spotted Parrot employs 2 additional staff.
    The barman’s skills are given by d6+1, and he counts as 2 workers, so he is skilled at his profession. He is polite, greedy, cautious, impious, sensible or practical, and lawless, a felon, or an ex-felon – a combination that sounds to me a lot like Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) from the Pirates Of The Caribbean movies, maybe in retirement.

This is not be a hugely-profitable business, but one that is run for passion, for the love of the sea, and that is true of the clientèle as well.

Resuming the example: Worksheet 16, Column 1:

  • Bar: Write 1.5, the relative size of the bar, in the first space.
  • Common Room: Write 3.5, the relative size of the Commons, in the second space.
  • Ground-Floor Storeroom: Write the relative size of any Ground-floor storerooms in the third space, or zero if there aren’t any.
    • tiny pantry (0.25);
    • small linen closet (0.5);
    • total 0.75.
  • Ground Floor Family Residence: Write 1.5, the relative size of the Family accommodations if they are located on the ground floor, or zero if they are not, in the fourth space. In this case, they are effectively on the ground floor.
  • Cooking Facilities: Write 0.75, the relative size of the Cooking Facilities, in the sixth space.
  • Kitchen space: Write 0.75, the relative size of the Food prep area into the seventh space.
  • Recreation Spaces: Write 0.5, the relative size of the Recreation space, assuming they are all on the ground floor, in the eighth space. In this case, they are.
  • Stairwell Up?: Count up the number of stairwells going up that you require (at least 1 if the inn/tavern has multiple stories). These can be sized 0.25 each (ladders), 0.5 each (tiny), 0.75 each (small), 1 each (normal), 1.25 each (large), or 2 each (grand staircases), or even a variety of sizes if you prefer. On your scratch paper, note your decisions and total the space devoted to stairwells up from the ground floor; write this total in the ninth space on the worksheet. For “The Spotted Parrot,” there is 0.25 spaces for a rope ladder to the masts (now only decorative), and I think that this is also a good place to allow for those masts – three at 0.5 each, for a subtotal of 1.5. Each of these would need a rope ladder, so that’s 3 x 0.25 for them, or another 0.75; putting those together gives a total of 2.25 spaces.
  • Stairwell Down?: A tiny stairwell (0.5) leads from the deck near the kitchens to the hold used as a storeroom; a similar staircase (0.5) leads to passenger “cabins”; and the hold would have a hatch for the receipt of supplies (0.75). Total of 1.75, which gets written into the tenth space on the worksheet.
  • Ground Floor Guest Accommodations: Are there any guest rooms on the ground floor? In this case, no, so this recorded as a zero.
  • Total 1: Add all these up and write the total on the twelfth line: 1.5 + 3.5 + 1.25 + 1.5 + 0.75 + 0.75 + 0.5 + 2.25 + 1.75 + 0 = 13.75, which I write in the appropriate space on the worksheet.
  • Ground Floor Footprint: I’m note sure of the exact dimensions of ships, and expect that research would require me to get specific as to the type of ship. I’ve already decided that it is a three-masted vessel, but beyond that it is my intent to keep it fairly generic. As a result, I’ve decided to be arbitrary – the deck is 30ft across, and the length of the ship’s useful area is roughly 150′. That gives a total footprint of 4500′, or 180 5′ x 5′ squares.
  • Size 1: Divide the footprint (180) by the number of spaces (13.75) to get 13.09. This is another inconvenient number – it would be far more useful as a multiple of the number of 5′ squares across the deck (6) – so I’ll round it down to 12.
  • Common Room Relative Size: Next, we need the common room relative size of 3.5 from higher up the table.
  • Common Room x Size 1: Multiply the common room size by the result of Size 1: 3.5 x 12 = 42.
  • x 60% = table area threshold: 42 x 60% is 60 x 0.42 = 6 x 4.2 = 24 + 1.2 = 25.2.
  • Table Area: This was determined as part of the result from table 3, and is 38.4. And that won’t fit into the 25.2 space reserve calculated a moment ago.
  • Footprint Adjustments: If the tables won’t fit in 60% of the footprint, and in this case they won’t, the “effective footprint” has to be reduced by the size of the table area, and the size of one unit recalculated:
    • Footprint adjustment: You may be tempted to simply reduce the footprint by the extra space that you need (25.2 – 38.4 = -13.2) but doing so will not be exactly right, because the 25.2 reserve will also shrink. I’ll go into doing that with the next example. For now, let’s keep it simple (and as intended) and write -38.4 into this space, indicating that the entire tabled area is extra to the commons. Actually, let’s make it -40 for convenience.
    • Adjusted Footprint: Write the revised total here by subtracting the amount to be deducted from the original size – in this case, the calculation is 180 – 40 = 140.
    • Revised Footprint/Total 1 = Size 2: 140 divided by the 13.75 from Total 1 gives 10.18 squares per building unit. It’s still going to be convenient if this is a reasonable multiple of the width of the deck (6 squares), so let’s call it 10.5, so that each whole unit of space is 1.75 squares. The resulting ship will be just a little longer than we originally decided, but that’s OK by me. Heck, we could even take it back up to 12 for the convenience if we wanted to – making the ship about 18% longer. Our original length was 150 feet, adding 17% to that would get us about 177′ – call it 180 feet, if you like. Is that extra 30′ enough to make the ship improbable?

      I found a formula online (at www.eurobricks.com which states that the minimum width of a ship 114.8′ long is our width of 30′. That means that for any length greater than that, our width is inadequate, unrealistic, and unstable. If we were to double our width to 60′ (and redo everything), the formula fives an overall length for the ship of no more than 333′.

      For the record, the formula is: Minimum Beam = 1.2 x (1 + Length to the power of 0.67). So, for a vessel of length 200 ft:

      • Length to the power of 0.67 = 200^0.67 = 34.809;
      • Plus 1 = 35.809;
      • Times 1.2 = 42.97.

      The minimum stable beam (width across the widest part of the vessel at sea level) is roughly 43 feet.

      For comparison purposes, the Santa Maria was 80′ in overall length and the Nina about 50′; Captain’s Cook’s famous ship, the Endeavour, had an overall length of 105 feet. The Bounty was 180′ though, so it’s not completely out of the realm of possibility. In fact, looking over this list, which I have only just discovered (and which would have saved a lot of trouble), 180 feet of usable deck seems quite reasonable. I don’t know what that would make the overall length, but 200′ would not be a problem. 333′ is a whole different story; while there have been ten ships (according to the list) that are over 300′ long, that makes them rare enough to be noteworthy, even legendary – and this ship isn’t supposed to be that.

      The alternatives? Let the ship be unstable (too long for it’s width) or make the ship wider without making our ‘usable area’ any bigger. It doesn’t have to be by much – just be enough to make either 150 or 180′ reasonable. The minimum widths for ships of these overall lengths are (according to the formula I found) 39.65 and 40.1236′; allowing for the actual length to be greater than the “usable deck” of 150′, a width of 40′ works and is utterly plausible – but the deck remains only 30′ across, because the sides bulge outward – which means we’ll have more space for the guest rooms below deck, which is fine.

      So, 150′ x 30′ of usable deck space is completely reasonable, but the 180′ length strains credibility, and doubling the width to get around the problem just won’t work. I’m sticking with the 10.5 squares size, so that’s what gets written into the space on the worksheet as Size 2.

  • Commons Adjustments: Since we adjusted the “effective footprint” there’s now a lot of work we don’t need to do.
    • Old Commons Size: Simply put a dash in this space to remind you that you have actually processed this step.
    • – Table Area: Copy the space occupied by the tables into this row of the worksheet. Simply put a dash in this space to remind you that you have actually processed this step.
    • Adjusted Commons Size: Simply put a dash in this space to remind you that you have actually processed this step.
    • / Size 1: Simply put a dash in this space to remind you that you have actually processed this step.
    • Adjusted Relative Size: Copy the commons room size from the third row of the worksheet into this space.

Worksheet 16, Column 2:
The second column is used to show the actual area of each of the spaces in whatever units you’re using – in our case, 5′ squares.

  • Bar: 1.5 (the relative size of the bar) x 10.5 (Size 2) = 15.75.
  • Common Room: This is the Adjusted Commons Size from the third-last row of column 1, if there is a number there – in this case, there isn’t, so this is the result of multiplying 3.5 (the common room size shown to the left of the space) by 10.5 (Size 2), for a result of 36.75.
  • Ground-Floor Storeroom: 1.25 (the total relative sizes of storerooms) x 10.5 (Size 2) = 13.125. At the same time, I calculate the actual sizes for the specific spaces on my scratch paper:
    • Small Pantry Space: 0.5 x 10.5 = 5.25;
    • Linen Cupboard: 0.75 x 10.5 = 7.875.
    • Double-check that these add up to what is shown on the main worksheet: 5.25 + 7.875 = 13.125. This is correct.
  • Ground Floor Family Residence: 1.5 (relative size of the Family accommodations located on the ground floor) x 10.5 (Size 2) = 15.75.
  • Cooking Facilities: 0.75 (relative size of the cooking facilities located on the ground floor) x 10.5 (Size 2) = 7.875.
  • Kitchen space: 0.75 (relative size of the kitchen facilities located on the ground floor) x 10.5 (Size 2) = 7.875.
  • Recreation Spaces: 0.5 (relative size of the Recreation spaces on the ground floor) x 10.5 (Size 2) = 5.25.
  • Stairwell Up?: “2.25” (total relative size of stairwells up) x 10.5 (size 2) = 23.625. “The Spotted Parrot” has three masts (0.5) and three rope ladders that are purely decorative (0.25), as determined earlier. As usual, this part of the generator overestimates the space needed for such; 1 square is enough for each of the rope ladders, and 4 squares (2×2) is enough for each mast – using only 15 of these 23.625 spaces, and leaving 8.625 to be used to “top-up” other areas that have an odd size.
  • Stairwell Down?: 1.75 (total relative size of stairwells down) x 10.5 (Size 2) = 18.375. “The Spotted Parrot” has two stairwells and a cargo hold hatch. Once again, the reality is slightly smaller in most of these cases:
    • One stairwell 2 wide x 2 deep to the guest quarters, total of 4 spaces;
    • Another staircase 2 wide x 4 deep, which will continue on the next level down, descending to the hold spaces below the guest quarters, total 8 spaces;
    • Cargo hatch 3 wide x 4 long, total 12 spaces;
    • that’s 24 spaces used from 18.375 capacity, so that uses up 5.625 of the savings from “stairs up”, leaving just 3 spaces unused.
  • Ground Floor Guest Accommodations: 0 (total relative size of ground floor “guest” accommodations) x 10.5 (Size 2) = 0, obviously.

Worksheet 16, Columns 3 and 4:
Column 3 permits adjustments to the areas to make them more convenient. Column 4 records the revised total of the areas of each space.

To begin with, I note that I have a grand total of 3 spaces available for adjustments – not really a significant amount. That means that if I use any more adjustment than this, I will need to take it from somewhere else.

The two largest areas on the “ground floor” of the Spotted Parrot are the tables area (which I increased to 40 spaces from the calculated 38.4) and the Commons area at 36.75 spaces. The first can’t be reduced beyond that 38.4 without reducing the number of tables – always an option – which leaves the Commons as the “area most likely to shrink”.

It’s also worth noting that I have decided that the deck is 30 feet across (6 spaces) – so multiples and simple fractions of 6 are to be preferred.

  • Bar: 15.75 spaces – although it’s already small, I’m going to apply an adjustment of -0.75, and assume that the bar area is half the width of the deck and five spaces long. Write -0.75 into the space in column 3 and 15 into the space in column 4. As usual, I will keep a tally of the adjustments as I go for convenience, which now stands at -0.75.
  • Common Room: 36.75 spaces, so it could do with some adjustment. But because this is the main area to be sacrificed, I’m actually going to leave it unchanged and come back to it later.
  • Ground-Floor Storeroom: 13.125, consisting of a small pantry (5.25 spaces) and a linen cupboard (7.875 spaces). I’m going to chop the pantry down to 5 spaces and boost the linen cupboard to 10. That’s a net adjustment of +1.875 spaces, bringing the tally to +1.175.
  • Ground Floor Family Residence: 15.75. My first thought was to cut this down to 15, but then I remembered to check the size of the family living in this space – the Barman, alone. The other family members are living in some of the “guest” accommodations. So I’m fine to go with my first instinct. However, these were almost certainly the Captain’s Cabin – so why not go the other way, and make them 18 spaces in size? That’s an adjustment of +2.25, and brings the ongoing tally to +3.395.
  • Cooking Facilities: 7.875 is tiny, as already noted. If I assume that some of the stair space makes this an irregular room, and not a neat half-deck in width, then 8 spaces would work. That’s an adjustment of +0.125, and brings the tally up to +3.52.
  • Kitchen space: This is starting with an area the same as that occupied by the cooking facilities, 7.875; but (even though these are already tiny) I think that it’s time to repay a little of the space that I’ve been giving away, so I’m going to drop this to six. I would expect the ovens in the galley to be bigger than the rest of the kitchen, anyway. So that’s an adjustment of -1.875, and lowers the tally to +1.645.
  • Recreation Spaces: 5.25 squares – a 3×2 area makes more sense, so I’m going to apply an adjustment of +0.75 to bring the total area up to 6 squares. The tally is +2.395.
  • Stairwell Up?: There was an adjustment of -8.625 applied to these areas, most of which was then used for stairs down – we’ll get to that in a moment. For now, it’s enough to note -8.625 adjustment and a revised tally of -6.23.
  • Stairwell Down?: This had an adjustment of +5.625, leaving the tally as exactly -3. Amazing how well that worked out, I assure readers that I wasn’t planning it that way at all, just doing what seemed most appropriate at the time!
  • Ground Floor Guest Accommodations: 0, no adjustment required.
  • Table Area: Still at 40 spaces, which is just barely plausible, given the size of the kitchen (or in this case, it should probably be called the galley). I could make it 43 spaces, but I don’t see the point of doing so.
  • Common Room: Still at 36.75. Adding +3 would make it 39.75, but that’s not much more useful. Instead, I’m going to make an adjustment of -0.75 to get a neat 36 spaces, bringing the tally to -3.75. What to do with that 3.75 extra spaces? Ah, I have it:
  • Ground-Floor Storeroom: Currently showing an adjustment of +1.875, for a total of 15 spaces. But I’m going to add a new element to this: a pair of covered longboats, each 3 or 4 spaces in size – but with only 3.75 spaces between them of deck space used. So that increases the adjustment to +5.625 spaces, and the total becomes 18.75 spaces. That leaves a tally of exactly zero.
  • Adjusted Footprint: So, there is no further adjustment needed to the “footprint” of The Spotted Parrot, which remains at 140 spaces.

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The Robber’s End continued:

“The Robber’s End” has a quite distinct and colorful character and ambiance; while the name is suggestive of several different interpretations, the meaning that has emerged from the tavern generator is far more metaphoric.

What we know so far:
“The Robber’s End” is a Small Tavern located in the poorer part of town. The walls of the tavern are plastered, surfaced, or rendered brick, and it might even be a remodeled square tower from ages past.
    It contains (with relative sizes) a Bar (1), a small-medium Common Room (3.5), a ground-floor Storeroom (0.75), and Kitchens consisting of a small pit/rack (0.5) and a small Food Prep Area (0.25). The first floor contains guest quarters and a Family Dwelling (1). The second and third floors are completely given over to guest accommodations. Tavern Size Modifier is 0, Commons Size Modifier is 1.
    The common room is decorated with tapestries of battle scenes. Behind the bar, a number of weapons that are bent, broken, and mangled have been mounted, clearly souvenirs of some past military campaign or battlefield booty.
    Within the common room are 12 small tables that seat 4 each, taking up 31.2 five-foot sqr spaces. The tables are square and made of wood. The kitchen produces food of Average Quality, normally bread with a soup, stew, or broth containing a little meat 0-3 (d4-1) days old. The tavern charges 2 sp per serving.
    The common room also contains a tiny (0.5) stage which provides a venue for musical performances, probably second-rate bards and locals who entertain for tips.

The bar serves poor quality versions of the three most popular local beverages. In a more affluent region, this would probably be unacceptable, but in this part of town, anything better would be unlikely.
    The barman’s skills are given by d3. He is barely competent to run a tavern, and counts as just 1 worker. Clearly he must bring something else to the role or the tavern would have gone under a long time ago.
    That something is his character; he is friendly but a penny-pincher, fearlessly brave, and a pious man without being fanatical. He is viewed as a respectable man, and coldly logical. Not the criminal type, in other words, or the type who would turn a blind eye to criminal activities that he came across. However, he does sound like the sort of person who would start a legitimate business in an area known to be rife with crime, insist on his establishment being neutral territory, and manage to make a go of things, eventually becoming a local fixture and trusted arbiter of neighborhood disputes.
    The focus on battle-related decorations, coupled with the barman’s profile, suggests that he served with distinction in the military before creating his establishment, and is probably still someone not to be messed with. The profile suggests the name of the Tavern be interpreted as being the place where ‘robbers cease to be robbers’. Perhaps many of the staff are reformed criminals, giving it a local nickname of the “second chance”.

The Barman resides with his wife and two children, aged 5 and 7, respectively. There are no other relatives in residence. They count as 1 and 1/4 staff, but the tavern requires another 6 staff to operate properly.
    There are not many guest-rooms on each level; it is a narrow, tall building with four floors, probably sandwiched between a couple of other buildings, almost a tower in design. Accommodations are small (barely big enough for a couple), of common quality, and under-priced (3 sp/night or 4 cp/hr). Relative room size is 0.85, which is almost “tiny”, but is appropriate given the size of the inn.
    Variations on the tavern’s backstory are many; if the region was invaded years earlier, perhaps the barman was already located here, and fought off the invaders rather than seeing his establishment razed, or perhaps it was one of his ancestors who did so, making this a long-established local fixture, or perhaps he was still serving in the military and made a stand here against the invaders, later retiring here (and possibly marrying into ownership of the tavern).

Resuming the example: Worksheet 16, Column 1:

  • Bar: Write 1, the relative size of the bar, in the first space.
  • Common Room: Write 3.5, the relative size of the Commons, in the second space.
  • Ground-Floor Storeroom: Write the relative size of any Ground-floor storerooms in the third space, or zero if there aren’t any.
    • tiny pantry (0.25);
    • largish linen closet (0.75);
    • ground-floor storeroom (0.75);
    • total 1.75.
  • Ground Floor Family Residence: Write 1, the relative size of the Family accommodations if they are located on the ground floor, or zero if they are not, in the fourth space. In this case, I have already determined that the family live on the first floor, so this is a zero.
  • :Cooking Facilities Write 0.5, the relative size of the Cooking Facilities, in the sixth space.
  • Kitchen space: Write 0.25, the relative size of the Food prep area into the seventh space.
  • Recreation Spaces: Write 0.5, the relative size of the Recreation space, assuming they are all on the ground floor, in the eighth space. In this case, they are.
  • Stairwell Up?: Count up the number of stairwells going up that you require (at least 1 if the inn/tavern has multiple stories). These can be sized 0.25 each (ladders), 0.5 each (tiny), 0.75 each (small), 1 each (normal), 1.25 each (large), or 2 each (grand staircases), or even a variety of sizes if you prefer. On your scratch paper, note your decisions and total the space devoted to stairwells up from the ground floor; write this total in the ninth space on the worksheet. For “The Robbers End,” one small (and rickety) staircase is enough (0.75).
  • Stairwell Down?: There’s no official subterranean storage, but that doesn’t mean I can’t include one if I want to – perhaps one that used to be used for smuggling through the sewers, and that the Barman either doesn’t know about or doesn’t trust. A tiny stairwell (0.5) would be sufficient. This gets written into the tenth space on the worksheet.
  • Ground Floor Guest Accommodations: Are there any guest rooms on the ground floor? In this case, no, so this recorded as a zero.
  • Total 1: Add all these up and write the total on the twelfth line: 1 + 3.5 + 1.75 + 0 + 0.5 + 0.25 + 0.5 + 0.75 + 0.5 + 0 = 8.75, which I write in the appropriate space on the worksheet.
  • Ground Floor Footprint: How narrow is “narrow”? Just how small is “The Robber’s End”? My apartment is 15′ across in some parts and 20′ in others; it’s essentially a corridor with several rooms hanging off it, topologically (part of the corridor is a stair landing, and part of it is a small bedroom, and two of the three parts are on the opposite side to the other, but the principle holds). It’s also five or six times longer than it measures across. I’m going to take my lead from the area set aside for tables, whether or not that’s part of the commons room; 31.2 spaces. Ignoring the “.2”, how many configurations would give 31 spaces? Only one, because 31 is a prime number. But if there is a single space devoted to something else excluded, that lets us work with 32 – a far more flexible number. 32 x 1; 16 x 2; or 8 x 4, all would be valid choices. Since this area has to fit beside a path or corridor connecting other areas, I really want it to be 3 spaces wide. If there were two spaces used for something else, that would let us work with a total of 33 spaces, or 11 x 3 – perfect! So the width is going to be (effectively) 15′, and the length 75′ per level, maybe more. That’s a total footprint of 1125 sqr feet or 45 spaces in size – not counting the corridor down one side that connects all the different spaces. Our total areas is roughly 9, with which a 45-, 54, 63, or 72-space size would also be convenient – so I’ll start with 45 and see how things go!
  • Size 1: Divide the footprint (45) by the number of spaces (8.75) to get 5.14. As usual, this is a slightly inconvenient number – I can either round it down (making the building smaller) or round it up (making it larger). Frankly, I don’t think anything smaller would be viable, so we’ll set size 1 to six.
  • Common Room Relative Size: Next, we need the common room relative size of 3.5 from higher up the table. The observant may notice that this is exactly the same relative size as the common room of the “Spotted Parrot”, but the final area dimensions will be quite different because Size 1 is half what it was for that establishment.
  • Common Room x Size 1: Multiply the common room size by Size 1: 3.5 x 6 = 21.
  • x 60% = table area threshold: 21 x 60% is 60 x 0.21 = 6 x 2.1 = 12.6.
  • Table Area: This is 31.2, as mentioned a moment ago. And that won’t fit into the 12.6 space reserve of the Robber’s End any more than the 38-odd would fit into the 25-point-something space of the Spotted Parrot would. Once again, the “effective footprint” will need to be recalculated. Note that this is most frequently the case – and that I was expecting this result (hence my promise to go into the trick of reducing the footprint by just what you need to, in this example).
  • Footprint Adjustments: So the table area won’t fit into 60% of the commons, so the commons has to change size in order to accommodate them. But space in this venue is very limited, so we want the amount of loss to be as small as possible.
    • Footprint adjustment: Based on the numbers we have so far, you could simply reduce the footprint by the difference between the area we need and the area we have (12.6-31.2=18.6) spaces – but by changing the footprint by ANY amount, we also change that space available (the 12.6), so that reduction won’t be correct.
      There are three ways of getting around this:
      • (1) assume that the result will be near-enough, and if the tables overlap into the commons area by slightly more than that 60%, so be it;
      • (2) correct the reduction amount by estimating how much it will change – the reduction actually needed (R2) is going to be approximately = F / R x (F – R);
      • (3) adjust using the incorrect reduction, or part thereof, then determine a new shortfall – and increase the size of the building by that amount, effectively giving with one hand and taking away with the other.

      Personally, I don’t trust solution one, and I find it too easy to get confused and make a mess of things using solution 3, and that leaves only the adjustment correction calculation. For “The Robber’s End” that is: 45 x 18.6 / (45 – 18.6) = 837 / 26.4 = 31.7045 and a few more decimal places.

      Now, 45 – 31.7 won’t leave very much room for anything BUT the table area. The commons has a relative size of 3.5 and there’s a total relative size of 8.75, and 3.5 is 40% of that total – but 31.7 is way more than 40% of 45, and that 31.7 is only PART of the commons area. What that means is that our initial length of 45 is nowhere near long enough to have a table space of this magnitude taken out of it. Which is why the preferred option is always the one given in the example of “The Spotted Parrot”, plus revision of the footprint if necessary.

      Note that I expected this to be the outcome; our building size should be AT LEAST such that 31.7 is only 40% of the total. 40% times two-and-a-half is 100%, so if 31.7 is to be our 40% (or less) then the building has to be at least 2.5 x 31.7 = 79.25 spaces. There is a limited amount of margin in this estimate, because there can still be some overlap between the commons room and the table space; so what this tells me is that instead of 45 spaces, we should immediately go toward the outer limit of the proposals I listed under “Building Footprint” and make the place 72 spaces in size. Still only (effectively) 3 spaces wide, that makes it about 24 five-foot squares long, an 8:1 ratio (not counting the connecting corridor).

      So, let’s correct the footprint and start again…

  • Ground Floor Footprint: Our building is 24 five-foot squares long, or 120′ in length. It’s 20′ wide, but 5′ of that is used for a corridor that connects everything else. So the total footprint is 72 spaces, effectively.
  • Size 1: Divide the footprint (72) by the number of spaces (8.75) to get 8.228 and change. For convenience, I’ll use 8.5.
  • Common Room Relative Size: Common room relative size is still 3.5.
  • Common Room x Size 1: Multiply the common room size by Size 1: 3.5 x 8.5 = 29.75.
  • x 60% = table area threshold: 29.75 x 60% = 17.85.
  • Table Area: 31.2.
  • Footprint Adjustments: That table area still won’t fit into 17.85; the goal was never to make the building large enough that we didn’t have to adjust the effective footprint, just to make it large enough for it to be practical to do so.
    • Footprint adjustment: Having made the building big enough to do so, we can now use the simpler and more straightforward option of reducing the effective footprint by the additional space required; option one will be now close enough for our purposes. 17.85-31.2 = -13.35.
    • Adjusted Footprint: Write the revised total here by subtracting the amount to be deducted from the original size – in this case, the calculation is 72 – 13.35 = 58.65.
    • Revised Footprint/Total 1 = Size 2: 58.65 divided by the 8.75 from Total 1 gives 6.7 squares per building unit.

  • Commons Adjustments: Since we adjusted the “effective footprint” there’s now a lot of work we don’t need to do.
    • Old Commons Size: Simply put a dash in this space to remind you that you have actually processed this step.
    • – Table Area: Copy the space occupied by the tables into this row of the worksheet. Simply put a dash in this space to remind you that you have actually processed this step.
    • Adjusted Commons Size: Simply put a dash in this space to remind you that you have actually processed this step.
    • / Size 1: Simply put a dash in this space to remind you that you have actually processed this step.
    • Adjusted Relative Size: Copy the commons room size from the third row of the worksheet into this space.

Worksheet 16, Column 2:
Convert the relative size of the various areas into actual 5 foot squares:

  • Bar: 1 (the relative size of the bar) x 6.7 (Size 2) = 6.7.
  • Common Room: This is the Adjusted Commons Size from the third-last row of column 1, if there is a number there – in this case, there isn’t, so this is the result of multiplying 3.5 (the common room size shown to the left of the space) by 6.7 (Size 2), for a result of 23.45 and deducting the overlap of 17.85 to get 5.6.
  • Ground-Floor Storerooms: 1.75 (the total relative sizes of storerooms) x 6.7 (Size 2) = 11.725. At the same time, I calculate the actual sizes for the specific spaces on my scratch paper:
    • Small Pantry Space: 0.25 x 6.7 = 1.675;
    • Linen Cupboard: 0.75 x 6.7 = 5.025.
    • Food Stores: 0.75 x 6.7 = 5.025.
    • Double-check that these add up to what is shown on the main worksheet: 5.025 + 5.025 + 1.675 = 11.725, confirmed.
  • Ground Floor Family Residence: 0 (relative size of the Family accommodations located on the ground floor) x 6.7 (Size 2) = 0.
  • Cooking Facilities: 0.5 (relative size of the cooking facilities located on the ground floor) x 6.7 (Size 2) = 3.35.
  • Kitchen space: 0.25 (relative size of the kitchen facilities located on the ground floor) x 6.7 (Size 2) = 1.675.
  • Recreation Spaces: 0.5 (relative size of the Recreation spaces on the ground floor) x 6.7 (Size 2) = 3.35.
  • Stairwell Up?: 0.75 (total relative size of stairwells up) x 6.7 (size 2) = 5.025. This is one small and rickety staircase, and probably quite steep as well – one space wide by 2 deep, landing 1 space wide by two across, and one space wide by 2 up – 6 spaces in all, but that’s the sort of narrow, steep, staircase that we’re talking about.
  • Stairwell Down?: 0.5 (total relative size of stairwells down) x 6.7 (Size 2) = 3.35. The only sort of stairwell that would fit in such a small area is a spiral one (2 x 2).
  • Ground Floor Guest Accommodations: 0 (total relative size of ground floor “guest” accommodations) x 6.7 (Size 2) = 0, obviously.

Worksheet 16, Columns 3 and 4:
Tweak the sizes of the individual areas for convenience. Given the basic layout determined earlier of a 3-space wide building with a long corridor connecting it, multiples of 4 are what we would prefer for each space. However, when we calculated the areas for each space, we didn’t include the corridor, something that made life a little easier at the time but that will complicate things now, because each room is supposed to “own” the corridor run alongside it. Fixing that as we go will require decisions as to the actual proportions of each space, whereas if I hadn’t taken that shortcut earlier, those could be whatever works for the area.

This was done deliberately; like “The Spotted Parrot”, The Robber’s End is a tiny place with a total footprint (excluding the spinal corridor) of 72 spaces, which translates to a total of 96 spaces with the corridor. That makes the corridor of 24 spaces by far the biggest single feature of the Inn, and the place where I can best recover space by making the corridor part of the space. Unlike the other examples, I didn’t recover any space from stairwells – just the opposite – so any savings have to come from elsewhere. The storerooms look a little large, so I can recover a little bit from there, and the number 2 target is the corridor.

  • Bar: 6.7 spaces; adjustment of +9.3 for size, to get an area of 16 spaces, 4×4 squares, which means that the “corridor” is simply part of the open space in this area. The tally would normally be +9.3, but I’m going to front-load the tally with the “pre-savings” of the corridor: -24 +9.3 gives a tally of -14.7. This is useful to tell me how much space I have left to play with.
  • Common Room: 5.6 spaces, which I’m going to increase by 0.4 to get a 3×2 area; then add in the “corridor”, again making it part of the room, using an additional 2 spaces (the sames as the “x2”). That makes the total adjustment of the commons room +2.4 and takes the tally to -12.3.
  • Ground-Floor Storerooms: Currently 11.725 spaces, but I am quite happy to save a few here:
    • Small Pantry Space: 1.675, but I’m going to take this up to two spaces and place it inside the Kitchens (so no corridor required). Adjustment +0.325, tally -11.975.
    • Linen Cupboard: 0.75 x 6.7 = 5.025. I’m going to drop this by -1.025 to make it four spaces, including the corridor. Tally -13.
    • Food Stores: 0.75 x 6.7 = 5.025. I’m going to reduce this to 5 spaces and also locate them within the kitchen, so no corridor required. Adjustment -0.025, tally -13.025.
  • Ground Floor Family Residence: 0, no adjustment required.
  • Cooking Facilities: 3.35 spaces, initially. I’m going to increase this to 6 spaces and once again place these within the kitchen space, so no corridor required. Adjustment +.65, tally -10.375.
  • Kitchen space: 1.675 spaces initially. The decision to place the food store, pantry, and cooking facilities into the kitchens means that this area is effectively 14.675 spaces. Adjusting that by +0.325 up to 15 squares would make the kitchen space a compact, tidy 5×3 area; so an additional 5 spaces is needed for the corridor. The total adjustment is +5.325, and the tally is -5.05.
  • Recreation Spaces: 3.35 to start with; I’m going to drop that down by -0.35 to get a 3×1 space and add 1 more space for the corridor, so that’s a net adjustment of +0.65, and reduces the tally to -4.4 squares.
  • Stairwell Up?: This started as 5.025 squares, but I adjusted it to a 6 space area in a 2×3 configuration. That means that I need to use two spaces for the corridor that leads to it, with the staircase at right angles to the corridor; so that’s a total adjustment of 2.925 squares. The tally is reduced to -1.475.
  • Stairwell Down?: This was initially calculated as 3.35 squares, and then increased to a 2×2 spiral staircase. That requires an initial adjustment of +0.65, but it’s an awkward fit at the moment given our 1-wide-corridor and 3-wide-room configuration. What’s more, a basement storage area and a spiral staircase don’t really go all that well together. I had earlier floated the notion that the barman might not trust the security of the basement, having discovered it after buying the building, possibly in the process of turning it into a tavern; that could mean that it’s actually located within another room of the building. At the time, I had visions in the back of my mind of this being in the bar, and that was in the back of my mind when making the size adjustments earlier. If I follow through with that idea, having built the size up to 4 spaces, I can then save that 4 spaces completely, for a total adjustment exactly equal to the initial size of the space, -3.35 squares. This brings the tally to -4.825.
  • Ground Floor Guest Accommodations: 0, no adjustment required.
  • Table Area: Currently 31.2. I can’t pull my earlier trick of making the space part of the corridor (or vice-versa if you prefer), because it’s hard to walk through solid tables; that means that I need this to fit into a 3-wide space, and then to enlarge it to create the corridor. Nor is there any real capacity to reduce this area without reducing the number of tables, so that means an initial adjustment of +2.8 in order to make the tabled area 3×11. I then need an additional 11 spaces for the corridor that runs alongside it, giving a total adjustment of +13.8 and a total area occupied by the tables of 44 spaces. The tally comes to +8.975 squares, so I have actually made the Robber’s End a little over 224 square feet larger.
  • Adjusted Footprint: The final footprint of the Inn was 58.65 squares, but adding in the additional 8.975 that I have spread around brings the total to 67.625. Or does it? Didn’t I start by saying it was 72 spaces without the corridor, and 96 with it? This is an easy mistake to make. In fact, it doesn’t; the mistake in interpretation stems from a combination of rounding errors, and the reduction of space by the table area in order to determine how big the other spaces were. If you add up what we actually have in the building now, in the order we calculated them, you get quite a different result:
    • Bar: 16 squares, including the (hidden?) stairwell down.
    • Common Room: 8 squares, subtotal of 24.
    • Ground-Floor Storerooms: Linen Cupboard: 4 squares, subtotal of 28.
    • Kitchen space: 20 squares, including Cooking Facilities, Pantry, and Food Stores. Subtotal of 48.
    • Recreation Spaces: 4 squares, subtotal of 32.
    • Stairwell Up?: 8 squares, subtotal of 40.
    • Table Area: 44 squares, grand total of 84 squares.

That result, 84 squares, is right in the middle of the 72-and-96 numbers that were initially discussed. The 72 doesn’t count, because it didn’t include corridors, while both the 84 and 96 do. In effect, I can either make the building shorter (keeping the 84 length), or I can increase the size of any of the areas (4 squares at a time), or some compromise between the two. Where did those 12 squares come from?

They were actually corridor that was allocated to the spiral staircase, the Cooking Facilities, the Pantry, and the Food Stores. By putting them into other spaces within the Inn Layout, those corridor allocations went unused.

Getting back to the decision to be made, I decide to use all 12: I’m going to increase the common room by 4 squares, the recreation area by 4 squares, and I’m going to insert a corridor across the building somewhere in the middle, which is obviously going to be another 4 squares. This means that somewhere along it’s length, you come to a doorway beside a blank wall, the perfect place for some additional decoration. Bar, Stairs, Recreation Space, Common Room and Tabled Area should all be on the entrance side of that horizontal corridor, with the kitchen space and linen cupboard “hidden” from view. That means that if you were to walk the length of the Robber’s End, you walk down a long corridor, then cross to the other side of the building horizontally, before resuming your walk down a corridor.

This actually mimics the layout of my apartment in part, which has a stairwell off one side to a landing containing the front entrance, and an internal corridor on the opposite side of the building, accessible by crossing the living room. Visitors at the front door can’t see down the corridor as a result, sheltering the kitchen and bedrooms from view. Which is a wonderful example of symmetry, since the initial layout concept derived from the same source :)

So the final “footprint” is 96 squares, and the building is 4 squares wide by 24 long, and four stories tall.

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Castles In The Air: Prologue to part 5:

This was supposed to be the end of the story. I would present the worksheets and wrap up the examples, and leave only an article discussing the behind-the-scenes chicanery used to construct the tables for some later date. Well, the size of those worksheets combined with the size of the examples needed to show how they work have put paid to that idea – not once, but thrice. This part of the series has finalized the Ground Floor; Part 5 will detail the worksheets and tables that define the first residential level of an Inn (a tavern doesn’t have any, strictly speaking). Instead of one big worksheet, the residential levels take the form of many smaller, and (in most cases) simpler worksheets. But there was no room in the that next part for the continuing examples, or for the worksheets that define any other residential levels – so all of that will appear in Part 6…



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