Building Scarlet Moon Hall

Scarlet Moon Hall is one of the “haunted keeps” located in the Dessarin Valley and an important location early in the 5th edition D&D adventure Princes of the Apocalypse. The gallery that follows shows how I built the keep for my game using primarily Dwarven Forge City Builder terrain and D&D Dungeon Tiles. Below the gallery is a parts list for those interested.

Click the individual photos to read design and build notes for each floor.

Parts List

The following is a list of parts to build Scarlet Moon Hall similar to the way I have. In some cases it varies slightly from what I actually used as I ran out of pieces here and there and made due with what I had. I have linked to sets on the Dwarven Forge site that contain the pieces in question, but note that many pieces appear in multiple sets.

1st Floor (The Downward Path)

• 3 Solid Stone Floors
• 1 Stone Foor With Stairwell Hole
• 3 Solid Stone Walls
• 4 Arrowslits Walls
• 1 Stone Wall With Door
• 4 Stone Corner Posts
• 2 Stone Double Posts
• 2 Wood Double Posts
• Ruined Stone Walls and Ruined Stone Corners
• 2 pieces of foam board or similar as supports (~5 10/16″ and 3 10/16″ in length)

Here, and throughout the tower, one could opt to use only stone double posts, only wooden ones, or a combination of both. I chose to use both on the exterior walls for aesthetic and cost reasons.

Wall type and placement can also be varied. I chose to alternate solid stone walls with arrowslits, both horizontally and vertically.

2nd Floor (The Downward Path)

• 4 Ruined Stone Floors 4×4 or 4 Ruined Wooden Floors 4×4
• 4 Solid Stone Walls
• 4 Arrowslits Walls
• 4 Stone Corner Posts
• 2 Stone Double Posts
• 2 Wood Double Posts

3rd Floor (Upper Entry Chamber)

• 2 Solid Wood Floors 4×4
• 2 Ruined Stone Floors 4×4 or 2 Ruined Wooden Floors 4×4
• 4 Solid Stone Walls and/or Stone Magnetic Walls and/or Stone Walls With LED Torch
• 3 Arrowslits Walls
• 1 Stone Wall With Door
• 4 Stone Corner Posts
• 2 Stone Double Posts
• 3 Wood Double Posts (one for the interior)
• 1 Steep Stairs

If you use the ruined wood floors, the exterior will match the other wood floors (the outsides of the floor pieces are brown).

In addition to solid stone walls, one has the choice of magnetic walls and walls with LED torches to spruce up this build.

4th Floor (Cultist Barracks)

• 3 Solid Wood Floors 4×4
• 1 Wood Floor With Stairwell Hole 4×4
• 4 Solid Stone Walls and/or Stone Magnetic Walls and/or Stone Walls With LED Torch
• 3 Arrowslits Walls
• Magnetic Accessories (e.g. Crossed Swords and Tapestry)
• 4 Stone Corner Posts
• 2 Stone Double Posts
• 4 Wood Double Posts (two for the interior)
• 1 Steep Stairs

Here and elsewhere, it is possible to substitute a double posts with two corner posts. However, the double posts serve to hold adjacent floor pieces together, giving your build stability.

5th Floor (Elizar’s Chamber)

• 3 Solid Wood Floors 4×4
• 1 Wood Floor With Stairwell Hole 4×4
• 3 Solid Stone Walls and/or Stone Magnetic Walls and/or Stone Walls With LED Torch
• 3 Arrowslits Walls
• 2 Stone Center Window Walls
• 2 Closed Shutters
• 2 Open Shutters
• 4 Stone Corner Posts
• 2 Stone Double Posts
• 4 Wood Double Posts (two for the interior)
• 1 Magnetic Alchemist Shelf
• 1 Table, Chair, Bookcase, and Ladder

In my build, I used two more stone center window walls for the North wall (instead of a solid wall and arrowslit wall) simply due to running out of wall pieces.

Attic

• 3 Solid Wood Floors 4×4
• 1 Wood Floor With Trapdoor 4×4
• 8 Solid Tudor Walls (or 8 Solid Stone Walls if you prefer)
• 4 Wood Corner Posts (or 4 Stone Corner Posts)
• 6 Wood Double Posts (two for the interior); or 2 Stone Double Posts and 4 Wood Double Posts (two for the interior)
• 1 Ladder

I chose to make the walls of the attic Tudor style as I thought it helped offset the attic a bit from the stone walls of the structure.

Roof Support

• 3 Solid Wood Floors 4×4
• 1 Wood Floor With Stairwell Hole 4×4
• 4 Stone Corner Posts

Alternately, one could use a combination of any type of wood floors, as it simply supports the roof.

Roof

• 4 Slate 2″ x 4″ Roofs
• 4 Slate 4″ x 4″ Roofs
• Assassin’s Perch
• Thick cardboard

Using the 2″ x 4″ roof pieces creates a roof that isn’t as deep as the rest of the keep. One could alternately use a total of eight 4″ x 4″ roof pieces.

Scaffold

The pieces for the scaffold came from a variety of D&D Dungeon Tiles sets, but the most useful are found in DU6 Harrowing Halls and DU7 Desert of Athas.

Tents

These are great papercraft tents designed by Dave Graffam Models. Assembly required.