Spotlight on Design 20 – Stadiums

Not all Stronghold maps are about bashing the enemy with a mace or scrounging a meager living toiling the soil. Sometimes the peasants just want to have fun, and what better way than to take in a joust or game? Of course, to have that, you’ve got to provide your people with a stadium!


Lord Fletcher, in The King’s Joust, has made a stadium for a joust complete with markers and flags at either end of the course. Note the clever use of moat on either side of the stands – this is a great way to ensure that the players take the route you’ve designed.


Lurking Horror (aka littlegloomy) has made a two-sided stadium in Secret of the Cross. The spectators are free to come and go via the stairs, but the combatants are kept in place by the use of heightened land.


In Medieval Sports Day by Xetas the spectators are kept firmly in place. Staircases are at either end of the stand, but you’ll notice they’re blocked off by the wall at the end. Xetas has also deleted the lowest level of stairs… making for a captive audience!


Hanarky has created a beautiful stadium in Dreamcastle. The wooden walls are topped with stone crenellations, and the horses have their stables close at hand. With the many towers surrounding the stadium, it appears that it could withstand an enemy attack as well!


Sulis used palistone walls for the stands in his Secrets of Sylvandell Ch 5. He has added some interesting touches to the arena, such as the stone walkways dividing the stands and the use of stone and iron as decoration in the corner.


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~Kester