DragonTurtle
First Post
Physical description: The review version of this product that I received is a 145 page onscreen PDF. If purchased from a retailer such as RPGnow.com it also comes with a printable version that I assume has less background detail. For the purpose of this review I will be only evaluating the onscreen version. Unfortunately this version has a textured brown background that makes reading difficult at times as it can distract from the text. The book does have nice bookmarks that detail each chapter and appendices. The cover is somewhat simplistic, but functional, and the art within is mostly medieval woodcuts.
The PDF has a nice introduction that tells what the book is and isn’t. It isn’t a campaign setting, it isn’t a history textbook, instead it is information on medieval life and what that life may look like if a percentage of the population is spell casters.
Chapter 1: On those that toil: Most of the population in a medieval world is rural and focuses on agriculture. What does rural life look like, what is the economy of such a lifestyle. This chapter focuses on the Manorial lifestyle and gives you a number of NPC roles that will be replacing my lackluster and inaccurate representations of village hierarchy. This chapter touches upon peasant views of magic and what role it would play. It focuses on low-level magic which seems to fit in with the rural life style.
Chapter 2: Generating Manors: Want to give the PCs a manor, or as a PC did you inherit one and want to know how much it is worth? This chapter goes into detail on a manor and its sources of income. It even comes with enough tables so that a manor can be randomly generated.
Chapter 3: On the Magical Medieval City: So rural life has been covered, what about city life for those that long for the thrill of an urban campaign? This chapter tells why cities exist. What is the benefit for the lord, and of the people who live there? What kind power struggles exist when the middleclass grow in power? Again magic and the role of adventurers are touched upon.
Chapter 4: Generating Towns and Cities: This definitely expands on the information in the DMG. There are a number of tables for generating your town or city, and even for figuring out random professions of NPCs. One thing that strikes me as odd, is the non standard dice rolls, such as d10,000 and d1000. I would prefer that they stick to d100. Nice worksheets at the end of this chapter let you track your city in progress.
Chapter 5: Economic Simulator: Does every one of your stores, be it in a thorp or a metropolis, have an inventory that reads right out of the PHB? This chapter touches upon supply and demand. It is an interesting concept, somewhat arbitrary but an improvement upon the standard.
Chapter 6: On Those Who Pray: What does medieval society look like without the Roman Catholic Church? This book touches upon the subject of clerics, druids, churches and the politics of these churches in a medieval themed world.
Chapter 7: On Those Who Rule: This chapter starts you thinking about the upper hierarchy of your world, the aristocracy. One interesting note is the idea that gods play a role in who is chosen to be king. Not every campaign is going to want to include actual divine right to rule, and I would like to have seen additional options. However the template included in appendix III is cool and really kicks your world’s king up a few notches.
Chapter 8: Generating Kingdoms and Aristocracy: This chapter walks you through creating your nobility based on populations, charts, tables and worksheets
Appendix I: Demographics: Hope you haven’t had your fill yet on charts, as this appendix is full of them. Which to me is a good thing. It is a time saver to be able to roll a few dice reference a few tables and have details of your world that add to the verisimilitude.
Appendix II: Generating Magical Resources: How much magic is in the King’s coffers, Can he equip his elite guard with magical arms and armor? This appendix answers these questions.
Appendix III: Magical Medieval King Template: Think that the gods would put a king on the throne and that would be it? This template lets you buff up your king so that he is more resistant to magic and damage and a true example of divine might.
Appendix IV: Building System: PCs want to build a castle, this appendix makes sure that you aren’t caught with your breeches down.
Appendix V: A Magical Medieval Miscellany: A number of examples dealing with topics that come up through out the rest of the book. It also gathers up all the plot hooks and puts them in one place.
Glossary: How many feet in an acre, yup got that right here. Difference between a granger and a Hayward? It is all in this handy glossary.
Bibliography, Quiz (spelling counts), and OGL are also packed in there.
For the Player: This book definitely appears to be written for a DM. However any PC that is interested in the background of their character, or being noble born should look into reading some of the sections in this book. It should also be a required handbook for any landowning PCs.
For the DM: Even if you choose not to model your campaign world exactly as laid out in this PDF, there is plenty of information here that will influence the way you set up your campaign. The resources within will answer some of the headaches that come up when PCs want to build or take over a castle, dungeon, tower, city, etc…
New mechanics: This book is not a book of crunch, and that is its strongest selling point. It does have a number of charts and table s for random generating towns, manors and people in your world. It also has the mentioned template for a Magical Medieval King.
Overview: Wow, I am tempted to give this book 5 stars. However as extensive as it is I still have some questions that are left unanswered when it comes to dealing with the fantasy side of D&D. I also feel that some assumptions were made without giving some side options. Like I mentioned, I like the King Template but what if the king is not chosen by divine intervention. How do I deal with a Sorcerer King instead? However even with these fault it would get a 4.5 rounded up, except for the fact that the art is minimal and the background distracting. In conclusion the book is a very solid 4, and should be perused by anyone interested in the topic.
The PDF has a nice introduction that tells what the book is and isn’t. It isn’t a campaign setting, it isn’t a history textbook, instead it is information on medieval life and what that life may look like if a percentage of the population is spell casters.
Chapter 1: On those that toil: Most of the population in a medieval world is rural and focuses on agriculture. What does rural life look like, what is the economy of such a lifestyle. This chapter focuses on the Manorial lifestyle and gives you a number of NPC roles that will be replacing my lackluster and inaccurate representations of village hierarchy. This chapter touches upon peasant views of magic and what role it would play. It focuses on low-level magic which seems to fit in with the rural life style.
Chapter 2: Generating Manors: Want to give the PCs a manor, or as a PC did you inherit one and want to know how much it is worth? This chapter goes into detail on a manor and its sources of income. It even comes with enough tables so that a manor can be randomly generated.
Chapter 3: On the Magical Medieval City: So rural life has been covered, what about city life for those that long for the thrill of an urban campaign? This chapter tells why cities exist. What is the benefit for the lord, and of the people who live there? What kind power struggles exist when the middleclass grow in power? Again magic and the role of adventurers are touched upon.
Chapter 4: Generating Towns and Cities: This definitely expands on the information in the DMG. There are a number of tables for generating your town or city, and even for figuring out random professions of NPCs. One thing that strikes me as odd, is the non standard dice rolls, such as d10,000 and d1000. I would prefer that they stick to d100. Nice worksheets at the end of this chapter let you track your city in progress.
Chapter 5: Economic Simulator: Does every one of your stores, be it in a thorp or a metropolis, have an inventory that reads right out of the PHB? This chapter touches upon supply and demand. It is an interesting concept, somewhat arbitrary but an improvement upon the standard.
Chapter 6: On Those Who Pray: What does medieval society look like without the Roman Catholic Church? This book touches upon the subject of clerics, druids, churches and the politics of these churches in a medieval themed world.
Chapter 7: On Those Who Rule: This chapter starts you thinking about the upper hierarchy of your world, the aristocracy. One interesting note is the idea that gods play a role in who is chosen to be king. Not every campaign is going to want to include actual divine right to rule, and I would like to have seen additional options. However the template included in appendix III is cool and really kicks your world’s king up a few notches.
Chapter 8: Generating Kingdoms and Aristocracy: This chapter walks you through creating your nobility based on populations, charts, tables and worksheets
Appendix I: Demographics: Hope you haven’t had your fill yet on charts, as this appendix is full of them. Which to me is a good thing. It is a time saver to be able to roll a few dice reference a few tables and have details of your world that add to the verisimilitude.
Appendix II: Generating Magical Resources: How much magic is in the King’s coffers, Can he equip his elite guard with magical arms and armor? This appendix answers these questions.
Appendix III: Magical Medieval King Template: Think that the gods would put a king on the throne and that would be it? This template lets you buff up your king so that he is more resistant to magic and damage and a true example of divine might.
Appendix IV: Building System: PCs want to build a castle, this appendix makes sure that you aren’t caught with your breeches down.
Appendix V: A Magical Medieval Miscellany: A number of examples dealing with topics that come up through out the rest of the book. It also gathers up all the plot hooks and puts them in one place.
Glossary: How many feet in an acre, yup got that right here. Difference between a granger and a Hayward? It is all in this handy glossary.
Bibliography, Quiz (spelling counts), and OGL are also packed in there.
For the Player: This book definitely appears to be written for a DM. However any PC that is interested in the background of their character, or being noble born should look into reading some of the sections in this book. It should also be a required handbook for any landowning PCs.
For the DM: Even if you choose not to model your campaign world exactly as laid out in this PDF, there is plenty of information here that will influence the way you set up your campaign. The resources within will answer some of the headaches that come up when PCs want to build or take over a castle, dungeon, tower, city, etc…
New mechanics: This book is not a book of crunch, and that is its strongest selling point. It does have a number of charts and table s for random generating towns, manors and people in your world. It also has the mentioned template for a Magical Medieval King.
Overview: Wow, I am tempted to give this book 5 stars. However as extensive as it is I still have some questions that are left unanswered when it comes to dealing with the fantasy side of D&D. I also feel that some assumptions were made without giving some side options. Like I mentioned, I like the King Template but what if the king is not chosen by divine intervention. How do I deal with a Sorcerer King instead? However even with these fault it would get a 4.5 rounded up, except for the fact that the art is minimal and the background distracting. In conclusion the book is a very solid 4, and should be perused by anyone interested in the topic.
