Nights of Dungeons & Dragons and tabletop gaming began pretty much as soon as the roof went on Shannan Drakkon's castle.
It may have taken two years to build, but his dream home has become reality in the suburbs of Burnie in northern Tasmania.
"I've loved fantasy and sci-fi all of my life; anything that gives you an escape from the mundane nature of everyday living.
"I knew this wouldn't really be the dream castle if I didn't include a room dedicated to fantasy role-play and games."
A castle needs the right hill
Mr Drakkon had travelled the coast of NSW looking for the right kind of riverside or hilltop location on which to build a modern take on a medieval castle.
Almost as an afterthought he visited Tasmania, and first day off the boat he found it — a vacant hill within Burnie's residential area with 360-degree views of the town, the sea to the north and mountains to the south.
"This was my dream. Now I can die happy," he said, standing on a second-floor battlement and sipping from a coffee cup bearing his own dragon sigil.
"My brother got married in a castle in Ireland early the 2000s. I'd always wanted to stay in one, so it ticked that box.
"Next box to tick was owning a castle, so I built one."
With the working title Dragon's Roost — the name Drakkon is ancient Greek for dragon — the castle that had Burnie talking during its two-year build is finished.
It has turrets, battlements for balconies and a bailey (courtyard) entrance.
The main keep or living space features exposed grey-block walls, Gothic lighting and a wooden mezzanine.
"The large, rough-face grey blocks came from Melbourne. I wanted an ancient feel, the grey-stone aesthetic of medieval European castles," Mr Drakkon said.
"I really wanted to include a secret dungeon but I had to cut costs. It was the first thing to go."
In lieu of a dungeon, Mr Drakkon's dedicated gaming room sits at the base of one of the towers, creating a shadowy corner that might be used for role playing but "more probably storage".
Welcome to nerd-vana
It has a specially built gaming table as its centrepiece, built through a Kickstarter project in the United States.
It was designed with internal layers so that an unfinished game could be moved to a lower level while another game was begun on the table top.
"It has power and USB ports built into it and I have interchangeable motifs so that you can decorate the table to suit the theme of the evening," Mr Drakkon said.
"As it turns out, Burnie has a lot of nerds. There are gaming clubs, one of which, Realm of Gaming, I have become a member of.
"I will be looking to play every week, at least. Games can be for an hour or two, or all night, or if it's big enough, across a whole weekend."
All around the room on benchtops and in cabinets are hundreds of fantasy and sci-fi figurines and playing pieces, hand-painted by Mr Drakkon.
There are Star Wars tech pieces, fantasy warriors, swords and sorcerers.
Defensible and brilliant for a cuppa
Upstairs, most of the external walls are topped with crenellations, the classic defensive stepped pattern traditionally used by archers and other defenders of a castle.
"I have no intentions of getting under siege," Mr Drakkon says and laughs at the thought.
"But I am definitely prepared for an inevitable impending apocalypse. If we're not already in one.
"In the traditional sense, the battlements were there to support the defenders of the castle or keep.
"In times of peace, it's certainly a brilliant place to have a cuppa, watching the sunrise; the views are just extraordinary."
In months and years to come, Mr Drakkon wants to plant a lot of fruit trees, create a Zen garden in the bailey and develop a landscape that assists local wildlife on this last-stand hill in suburbia.
Some parties are also planned, and any party that isn't themed could be deemed a missed opportunity.
Given that Dragon's Roost is now an ever-present and impressive sight for many in the upper Burnie suburbs, speculation about what's happening up on the hill will likely continue for some time.
"Everybody keeps asking about a moat, and although they are attempting to joke, I am semi-keen on putting a water feature in," Mr Drakkon says.
"A pond. With a little walk-over bridge."
