Engineering is the design of buildings and of large, uncommon machinery — mills, siege engines, the pumps and props and headgear of a mine. The engineer does not build; the actual construction tests the appropriate craft skills, chiefly Masonry and Woodworking but often also Ceramics, Glassworking, Lockcraft, Metalcraft and Mineralogy. What the engineer supplies is the thing being built, and whether it will stand up.
A plain stone wall needs only a Masonry test. A keep with stone walls in it needs a design first. Designer and builders need not be the same people, but both must be actively involved in the project.
Time. Producing a design takes a number of days according to the work. The GM may vary the final figure by up to ±20%.
| Edifice | Days | Edifice | Days |
|---|---|---|---|
| Castle, large | 125 | Manor house, small | 9 |
| Castle, medium | 70 | Mill, large | 2 |
| Castle, small | 40 | Mill, small | 1 |
| Cottage, small | — | Mine | 20 |
| Cottage, large | 4 | Siege engine, large | 4 |
| Keep, large | 60 | Siege engine, small | 2 |
| Keep, medium | 25 | Stockade tower | 6 |
| Keep, small | 15 | Townhouse, exclusive | 9 |
| Manor house, large | 12 | Townhouse, modest | 6 |
A small cottage or hovel needs no design roll at all.
The Design Roll is an Engineering Success Value test. Certain works require a Secondary Modifier besides:
| Construction | Secondary Modifier |
|---|---|
| Mill | Milling |
| Mine | Mineralogy |
| Siege engine | Weaponcraft |
Result. The design’s Success Value carries forward into the Construction Roll made by whoever actually builds the thing.
| SV | The design |
|---|---|
| ≤ 2 | Flawed — a −1 SV penalty to the Construction Roll. |
| 3–4 | Sound. No modifier to the Construction Roll. |
| 5+ | Inspired. For each Value Diamond, roll one d10 against a Target Number equal to the designer’s Mathematics Index. Each success gives +1 SV to the Construction Roll, to a maximum of +2 SV; each success beyond the second reduces the design time by 10%. |
The Mathematics gate is the point of the rule: a brilliant intuition for structure is worth a great deal, but the part of it that can be transmitted to a builder has to be calculated first.