Minecraft Build Project: Castle Ravenlot - Part 6

 For this update, I focused primarily on finishing up the chapel at the end of the castle. Obviously I haven't finished the wall height, as I am doing the floorplan first, apart from that landing.

 This was time consuming, but easy once I got one side one, thanks to the symmetry.

After that, I decided to add a ceiling to the hall leading to it. The height was restricted to being this low due to the positioning of a nearby staircase.

Minecraft Build Project: Castle Ravenloft - Part 5

I concluded that the best way to do that stair section was to remove the curve entirely and extend the landing out into the stairway.

 Building the landing itself was straightforward, but it dit take some time as I hadn't built anything with that kind of elevation yet.

 After setting up the landing, I opted to work on the chapel section of the castle. It's likely to be the widest room on the ground floor, and I haven't actually finished laying it out.

Due to the nature of Minecraft blocks, the stair section actually resulted in determining the ceiling for the hall leading to the chapel.

Minecraft Build Project: Castle Ravenloft - Part 4

For my next update, I opted to take a break from working on the castle proper in favour of a few secondary buildings. This one is designed to house a carriage.

 This section is something of a overlook, though it doesn't really have as much impact without the elevation in the actual setting.

Basic mockup of the walls of that section.

 Setting up the grand staircase. So far, my approach to use two blocks in Minecraft for five feet in the D&D map is working well.

And now here's a challenge. I have to set up stairs to go up four blocks, and turn 90° smoothly. I'll figure something out.

Minecraft Build Project: Castle Ravenloft - Part 3

For this update, I opted to start with the floor of the Grand Entry, followed by the Hall of Faith leading up to the Chapel. I'll get to the Chapel itself later.

Next up was the Guest Hall. The alcove was a little difficult due to Minecraft blocks not curving. Other than that, this section was fairly easy.

 When I first set up the Dining Hall, I laid out the floor too early, not realizing how it lined up, but this was easily corrected.

After handling the Archer's Post on this side, along with the Turret Post, I realized I'll have to redo it on the other side so they line up.

Minecraft Build Project: Castle Ravenloft - Part 2

After successfully testing the height of the exterior walls, I put myself to work building the footprint of the castle walls. AGAIN.

I have some slight confusion until I realized the Roll20 map of the castle was slightly asymmetrical on the back end. After realizing this, I set up my build to match.

Once I finished the wall footprint, I started on the ground floor of the inner keep. This may be a challenge due to the difference in how walls work between D&D maps and Minecraft. That being said, I have previously built maps based on randomly generated maps from donjon, in which walls work very much like in Minecraft, making it easier. I also realized after the fact that I over-calculated the height of section K19, making it three times as high as it should have been. I'll have to fix that later.

Minecraft Build Project: Castle Ravenloft - Part 1

 I recently decided to try my hand at building the infamous Castle Ravenloft from Dungeons & Dragons, partially because I'm currently running the 5th Edition Ravenloft adventure Curse of Strahd on Roll20, and because it's been a long time since I've built anything particularly fancy in Minecraft.

 Using the top-down maps exclusive to Roll20 and the standard isometric maps for reference, I determined that the best scale would be four Minecraft blocks for every square in the D&D map. For reference, a block in Minecraft is one metre wide while a square in a most D&D maps is five feet. This conversion isn't exact, but it's close enough for my purposes.

 I opted to start with a footprint, going from the main gate outwards, trying to maintain symmetry. This required constant reference to the Roll20 map and careful calculation, but I eventually got the base for the outer walls done.

Unfortunately, I realized that the superflat preset I used went too far underground, severely limiting my upward building space. I couldn't even get the castle walls to their full height, so I had to start over.

The new map is only around 50 blocks deep, giving ample room to build both up, and down.