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Ok, I admit, it's really hard for me to look at the Dailou stuff and NOT want to put it in a game https://twitter.com/UrbanFoxxxx/status/1329782477624406031
Functionally, they're watchtowers for protection against bandits, and in some cases their multi-family living quarters, and some part of my brain immediately gloms on them as super practical for a D&D type world as an alternative to a local keep.
Concrete allows for amazing things, and the idea of defensible multi-functional space as a village centerpiece makes a lot of sense in a world with random monster tables.
Hell, it even makes "wizard towers" more interesting if you fold them into the culture a bit. If your town is lucky enough to have a wizard, this is probably where they live, and it's a good job to have, but it's still *part* of the town (rather than a random anomaly)
Once you open up this general idea, it in turn allows it to split into tons of variations based on local cultures, resources and whatnot. because the key thing here is the idea that it's locally owned & maintained.
Contrast that with the keep, which is the domain of the ruler. The protection the keep offers comes at that price, and can be withheld. The tower is the town's.
The politics of this also get fascinating real quick, because the tower is a fortification, but not a MAJOR fortification. It can be retreated into when there's trouble, but it's not designed for real war.
And that's probably a cultural sticking point, because places that are feeling uppity probably have a habit of building "towers" that are a lot closer to actual fortification.
Which means ARCHITECTURE AS A FORM OF SEDITION
Which means ARCHITECTURE AS A FORM OF SEDITION
And if you cannot get fun play out of a conspiracy of seditious architects in a politically contentious and monster-haunted world, then I only ask you try harder.
But Wait, there's more.
If this kind of watchtower is a pretty common fixture - then every abandoned town of note has a built in dungeon which:
1) Has reasons to have defenses
2) Has reasons why things were stashed in it
If this kind of watchtower is a pretty common fixture - then every abandoned town of note has a built in dungeon which:
1) Has reasons to have defenses
2) Has reasons why things were stashed in it
And, like, OF COURSE abandoned ones become lairs for monsters and bandits and will need cleaning out from time to time. They're often left standing because it takes work to destroy one, and doing so is to effectively declare the town dead. better to seal it up and hope.
And when a town falls to lawlessness and bandits take over, OF COURSE they'll rule from the tower. The army could trivially displace them, but the army is corrupt/has other concerns, so this is the sort of job for a doughty crew of door busters, right?
The other thing this will do is help make your traps make more sense, if you assume there's a living-breathing town around this place, and that actual people need to negotiate them.
That is to say, Gygaxian logic for trap bypassing is all well and good, but can it hold a candle to traps designed according to the logic of your uncle on facebook?
Now, also assume there are ways to seal these towers up. When everyone is inside, yes, but also for the winter and such. Needs to have some way to bypass that lock, but it can't be easy. For an abandoned tower, the knowledge of the unsealing procedure can be pretty valuable.
Also not, this has all been a pretty low-magic take on the model. Depending on setting, the addition of magic to these places is a whole other avenue of fun and weirdness.
So, stepping back a bit, this also leads to the great worldbuilding question of "Ok, given monsters, how does this town deal?" because when a CR 4 nasty barrels through town, people are going to have a bette plan than "die in its path, I guess?"
To that end, the central, elevated location that can be secured makes a lot of sense. If nothing else, the ability to shoot arrows from behind 90% cover without exposing oneself to counterattack can deal with a surprising number of situations.
But it's not the only solution. Bunkers to hide in probably have some appeal, but honestly, this is D&D - the line between "bunker" and "Lair" is razor thin.
"Rangers patrolling the perimeter at the request of the old wizard so the people can live in peace, unaware of what a trash fire the world is" can work, sure, but it's kind of been done.
The very idea of monsters as arbitrary vectors of risk is a really fascinating thing to think about as you build communities. it justifies adventurers, sure, but you need to assume society has ways to function without them.
The funny thing being that it makes dungeon towns actually make much MORE sense. Of *course* you build underground, where it's easy to secure things. Whether that thinking is current or ancient, it can justify infinite dungeons.
So, when you make a town, think about what kind to monsters are on the wandering monster charts, and ask how the *town* deals with them.
Community funded multipurpose dwelling towers start making a lot of sense!
Community funded multipurpose dwelling towers start making a lot of sense!
It seems reasonable to assume that in most D&D worlds, the first things built are the fortifications against monsters. to do otherwise invites trouble.
