- quarrel: This crossbow missle was developed from the bolt and designed to reduce the chance of its glancing off of heavy armor. It had a heavy four-sided metal head, usually with a small sharp point on each corner.
- qv or qqv: Which see; something which is also referenced.
- Ram: A heavy beam swung from a massive covered timber framework or a smaller version carried by an assault group. Because it had little affect on thick masonry walls, it was repaced in Age 10 c. year 500 with the trebuchet (qv).
- Rampart: In a motte-and-bailey (qv), it is a broad earth work with a palisade along its outer edge; in stone, it is the top of the curtain (qv).
- ransom: money or goods to pay for the release of a character that has been captured by enemy forces.
- real: Something a game will never be.
- Referee: The person in charge of running the game, an arbitrator who has the ability to give binding decisions. But I’m not an arbitrator type of referee.
- Reincarnation: Bringing a game character back to life by magical means into another body, not necessarily the same race but not a radically different alignment.
- Resurrection: The revival of a game character, after its death, by magical means in the character’s original game body. Cost: about 5,000-7,000 gp. Fireball victim: up to and includung 20,000 gp.
- Retinue: A character’s personal following, i.e henchmen, hirelings, or servants.
- Riders of Seela: Women cavalry in groups of 7-19 riders. No one seems to know where, or when, they come from. They roam Crestar (qv). Sometimes they are at a gallop going somewhere fast, and sometimes they will stop to chat. They first appeared on the scene c. Age 10, year 700 after the Undead Hordes had ravaged these lands. Harassing them is as dangerous as harassing a Green Guild messenger.
- Royal Fifth: a percentage of something. As for adventurer treasure, it is 25 percent. More if the King sees something Really Pretty.
- Rubble: Coarse and uncoursed material used for infilling a curtain wall. Or all that is left of a castle, broken stone.
- Sappers: Sappers dig approach trenches or tunnels towards a castle being beseiged, while miners dig the tunnels under the castle walls.
- Saving throw or roll ( also SR): A die roll which is used in adverse circumstances to determine the efficacy of a spell, whether a character fell into a pit or not, whether a character escaped a dragon’s breath, etc. House rule: Some SRs are made using 4d6 rolled against a particular ability number; such as dexterity, intelligence, or wisdom. This is done if I felt a player character was doing something that challeneged that character’s abilities.
- Scaling ladder: A ladder used to assault a castle wall.
- Segment: The smallest unit of combat time in this game; equal to 6 game-seconds.
- Shell-keep: Masonry building competely surrounding the summit of a motte or revetted against its lower slopes.
- Shutter: Movable device for closing the crenel or opening in a wall to give the defenders added protection. Sometimes made of metal, more often of wood.
- Sites, reused: A number of castles occupy previously fortified sites, occasionaly prehistoric.
Smiths: Responsible for the manufacture and repair of domestic and military iron work. Also sharpens weapons and tools.
- sp: Silver piece(s), a monetary unit. 20 sp = 1 gp, 100 sp = 1 pp.
- Squire: A person that becomes a page as a young child; when promoted to squire, works for a particular knight as body-servant, guards prisoners, carrier of spare weapons, etc.
- structural points: The amount of damage a structure can take before it falls down.
- Surprise: Both parties in an encounter must check to see if either or both are surprised, which may result in a loss of initiative (qv).
glosssary: Q, R, and S
Posted
Author
Bill George
Categories
Crest of a Star, glossary