In the world of The Darkest Age: Resurrected, where both the dead and the living haunt your steps, a secure shelter is the greatest of boons. Whether you earn your way in an enclave or pay for the privilege in a guarded City State, a place to lie down is a grave concern. Brave survivors that you are, sometimes you find yourselves needing a more remote shelter or a place to call your own. In The Darkest Age, these places are called Strongholds.

These shelters can be as simple as a high cave with a rope for access or a Keep you have wrested from an undead horde. What you manage to stumble across or build for yourself will vary depending on your environs and your GM’s generosity, of course. They can be pricey, to be sure, but each type of Stronghold will afford its own advantages and strengths. With some axes and some hired men, you can build a stockade to buy you some peace for the night, or a sack of silver might help you build some doors for the tower you have found. Each structure will have a different defensive value to you, with a stonework defense able to stave off 70 or more points of damage from attackers and a wooden fence at least able to take 20 points of damage before the ghouls can grab you. Each type of Stronghold also has a defense rating to mitigate damage because while the axe can be a terror to the wooden stockade, the longsword will avail you nothing against a castle wall! A roll on the Quirks table will tell you if your stronghold has its own well or if it happens to be haunted.

Scrimp and save, ye wanderers, that you may have your own secure walls to rest within!

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