Castle Staffing

Hey Veeky Forums

I'm working on a settlement that my PCs will be using as an indefinite home while they complete local contracts.

I want it to be as fleshed out as possible, and one main thing I'm getting hung up on is this: as a ruler of a major estate, how many different positions does one employ? Sure there's a commander, admirals, guard captain, a court steward, court mages, and all, but what am I missing?

Mostly looking for positions that would actually merit the PCs interaction, so I don't need "guy in charge of cleaning chamberpots".

I can answer questions if more specific details are required.

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Shall we break up a castle room by room and look into which kind of people you would need to staff each area?

That would be very helpful though I'm ill-experienced with what rooms those might be aside from some kind of grand hall where the rulers are seated. Mind pitching them?

Well, starting with the primary keep, you would typically have "great" or central hall, which typically acted as a dinning room, receiving room, courtroom. Adjacent, or sometimes above/below, that you would have a handful of bedchambers or solars branching off in wings of apartments. Some would be reserved for a single person, others would be communal quarters for lesser nobles or persons of importance. The kitchen would typically be a part of the keep, separated from the main hall by one or two walls. Connected to the kitchen would be the pantries, winery, buttery (for storing beers), and either a thick/thinly walled or subterranean larder for perishables. Chapels and oratories were often connected to the main keep, or were at most a short walk across the courtyard. Depending on the time and place, these rooms would be more lavishly decorated than even the main hall. If the nobles are so inclined they might have a dovecote or two attached to the keep for messenger pigeons. (Or a griffincote, if it's that kind of fantasy) Beneath all of this would you have cellars for long term storage, with the larger castles having vaulted undercrofts. Even further below that could be a network of sewers and dungeons, if that's your thing. If there's room or money, you might even have rooms dedicated to specific functions, such as studies, libraries, gymnasiums, greenhouses and indoor gardens, galleries, or even workshops.

Where do you want to start?

Let's start at the great hall and work from there.

That makes me think of the steward, a handful of guards, perhaps an advisor or two?

Thanks, by the way. Even this breakdown alone has given me better insight as to what I need to start mapping out.

That would depend on the size of the realm. Is it for a single hold, or does this castle house the king of a larger nation with a dozen or more noble houses and territories?

What you want is the PENDRAGON rpg. Specifically the Book of the Entourage (for the various positions) and the Books of the Estate/Warlord (especially the latter, for what levels of staff a given castle and noble estate needs).

If nothing else, give Entourage a skim as it is all about this kind of thing.

Single hold, just one major noble family with a handful of lesser nobles that work in the local area as bankers, commerce leaders, military officers.

I'll give that a look and see if I can find the pdfs, thank you.

Then his "advisors" would likely only number in the dozens at most, and would be composed of his brothers, cousins, nephews, maybe an odd foreigner or two (usually from the regions religious capital or a rival/neighboring hold), an exceptional commoner or freeman. Their advisory role would secondary to their primary positions, like you listed: head of finances, various trades/industries, war.

These people could/would have their immediate families, which could also number in the dozens. So, how many people would you need to clean, set, and maintain a room that could house up to two hundred people or more at any time? Six to eight workers, with one or two managers. Keep in mind, this same staff could also keep the rest of the castle in shape.

Let's toss in the odd entertainers, maybe three to four. Depending on their mental condition, they could also serve along side the primary staff as custodians.

Excellent, this is all great information

So, next we can move to religious services (this is for a 5e game) so the obvious ones that stand out to me are an archbishop (for the clerics) and a knight veteran (for the paladins). The structure I was looking at was a private detail of guards for the castle that are drawn from this religious order, a paladin or two overseeing a division of fighters, scouts, etc.

I would need to see how your religious order(s) are structured, but typically a hold of the size you're describing would not have a resident "archbishop" and if it does, they would not generally reside on the same property as the ruling family. (Honestly, the presence of such a prominent ranking religious authority would be a great source of drama for such a King or Duke.) At most it would be a Bishop or well respected minister. With a second in command, usually only a level or two below them, up to half a decade less experienced. Beneath that would be six to twelve junior priests, nuns, monks, two to six altar boys or girls.

Unless the prominent religious order is trying to stir up trouble/enforce its authority a "head paladin" would typically not be a constant presence. If they are, it would generally be a male relative of the head of house, a cousin, nephew, or uncle, given over to the holy capital as a child in exchange for an education and training. This person (along with the head cleric) would likely be one of the dozen or so "advisors" mentioned earlier. Any officers, stewards, squires, altar boys, would also likely be the lesser/younger numbers of the family.

On the topic of the guard/military, these will vary greatly depending on which military traditions you're trying to emulate.

The guard force and military itself I'm going to be modeling after my own experience in service for simplicity's sake. Your advice on the religious heads helps a lot and I've made notes of all of those points to make my changes with.

Kitchenstaff seems fairly straightforward, along with perhaps a group of servants. Other than those, I can't think of any other positions specific to the castle.

Anything similar to the archbishop, in the sense of someone who doesn't reside in the keep but makes semi-frequent appearances there for whatever reason? Royal hunters, stablemasters, stuff like that?

Also keep in mind I'm casually tossing out manageable numbers. The exact amount of subordinates is going to vary greatly depending are a wide range of variables including which religious order we're discussing/using for inspiration, the exact size and density of the realm, and even the individual whims those in charge.

The numbers you're using seem reasonable for my intended uses, especially given that I'll be fleshing out the rest of the realm in similar detail and need to keep a register of all of it.

What that guy said

Archbishop is a national level position, a large kingdom would only have a handful (England has 2). A regular bishop is possible depending on the importance of the settlement, if it has a city or major town attached then it would make sense for it to have a cathedral which is likely in or next to the castle complex. As this is D&D and you want them to be the head of an areas entire clergy we can simplify things a bit and assume there is a bishop. A bishop, to say nothing of an archbishop, is a major political player and wealthy lord in their own right with estates and maybe castles so that relationship is going to be very important and interesting. Allowing them a significant armed retinue inside the castle is a big deal and potential loss of influence for the owner. You want your garrison to be loyal to you and not some other lord, even if he wears a dress,

For in-house services, the castle would have it's own chaplain who by virtue of his relationship with the lord is a very important person even if his formal rank in the religious heirarchy is middling.

I likely used the wrong terminology when describing those positions, what both of you have mentioned sound pretty in-line with my goal.

People like a stable master, librarian, etc would very much reside within the keep, in one of the communal apartment wings. Hunting parties would generally be composed of the kings close friends and family and a few trusted protectors.

Perhaps the king keeps a small number of spies, one or two, that keep him informed on the happenings of neighboring areas?

That sounds great.

I don't know what else might be missing, any suggestions? An armorer or quartermaster? Treasurers?

Historically the heads of department would likely be nobles and knights, and thus reside either in good apartments or in the keep with the other ponces. The horsemaster (marshal) is an incredibly important person because knights need horses.

In D&D it gets a bit more loose, because you'd expect the Huntmaster to be a ranger type even if historically it would be a knight who oversaw the huntsmen and hounds. It's still a position of honour though so they get to live with the other important people.

Seriously though, Pendragon is everything you want and more.

Quartermasters would typically be middle ("non-commissioned") officers responsible for keeping order and stock of the guard. They would work with the senior stewards, to ensure that enough resources are diverted to their men to keep them fit and ready to defend the castle.

Considering this is fantasy, it might be pertinent to have a royal wizard, a couple of machinists, and their supporting staff on hand as well. (Apprentices, numbering six total at most.)

Unless the kingdom has a population numbering in the tens to hundreds of thousands each public/royal function/office would be staffed by a single head (usually royal blooded) their second in command (also usually royal blooded) and up to two dozen supporting secretaries, craftsman, laborers etc (the more important of which would reside in the castle apartments, the lesser within the neighboring grounds, villages, town, etc)

Also, while I don't have it, let me see if I can dig up one of those "build your own kingdom" CYOA thingys. Basically just a big empty template for you to drop a character portrait for each and any position. That might help.

Yes, please.

I think this is one of the less "magical realmy" ones.

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I'm a little unfamiliar with some of these terms like vizier and heir apparent, but I'm guessing quick googling will clear those up for me.

Thank you.

Aye, google/dictionary should clear up most of these.

It would also appear that the template I gave you still have an entire section for a "harem"

Sorry about that.

It's fine haha I cropped out what I didn't need, spaceships, harems, etc.

>so I don't need "guy in charge of cleaning chamberpots"

Look up "groom of the stool" if you want to learn how wrong you are. Why exclude one of the most important courtiers?

I know they exist and will be present but they aren't NPCs I intend to put a lot of work into, compared to the ones doscussed ITT anyway.

>admirals

Just how big a moat are you envisioning, that it can be filled with such a fleet that you won't just have an admiral commanding it, but a number of them?

The settlement is intended to be on a major trade coast. So I don't know, but I expected two or three.

Here's my advice - don't bother. Fill a few positions, master of the kitchen, stable boy, a servant actually for the party themselves, a captain of the guard, etc that your party are actually likely to run into more than occasionally. Then abstract the rest.

How? By giving them a character that represents the whole staff. A master of the house or a majordomo or seneschal. They're someone who, in real life, dealt with the day to day administration of what could be dozens or hundreds of minor staff and attendants and servants so the lord of the castle didn't have to. Why not use that for the game, too?

You can use this person to only introduce characters as they're needed. If scullery maid #15636 would be important to the plot for whatever reason, he's the one who presents them to the PCs and you need only give her any details at that time. He acts as a mouthpiece, allowing the input of any arbitrary area of the staff to reach the players through a familiar voice they trust rather than having to produce a huge list of staff just in case.

That's a good idea, and advice I'll likely be following when this is all said and done. This thread was mostly to help expand my awareness of exactly what and how many of certain departments and functions are all within a castle.

An heir apparent is pretty much what it sounds like - the guy who is apparent to be the heir. This is usually the lord's oldest son in most settings and systems of inheritance, but if it's absolute primogeniture for instance it would be the lord's oldest child.

This is different from an heir presumptive, which is the current heir but who may be supplanted if an heir with a better claim comes along. For instance (assuming for the sake of example women can inherit but only after men), if the lord has a daughter but no son, the daughter would be an heir presumptive. As it currently stands she's the heir, but if the lord goes on to have a son, then he'd have a stronger claim and be the heir apparent.

In my setting, almost everyone is an heir presumptive because of a specific law stating that fire mages ALWAYS are first in line of order of succession, because the country worships the goddess of fire. So even if you're the oldest natural born son, if you later have a sibling who has the goddess' own gift, you'll get supplanted. Only fire mages are ever heirs apparent for this reason.