A Magical Society: Ecology and Culture available now

[jgbrowning]

Magical Society: Ecology and Culture is now available in PDF form from RPGnow.com.

[ad copy]---------------------------------------------------------------
He killed the God of War. He ascended into his divinity. No one told him that was the easy part. Look into the inner workings of gods and how they build worlds. From a divine perch, map your world and experience tectonics, magical geography, predation, ecological conflict, and cultural development. Following in the foodsteps of A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe (Gen Con ENnies 2003 Best Setting Supplement), A Magical Society: Ecology and Culture provides real-world phenomena for a fantasy game.

Build Your World. Better.

A Magical Society: Ecology and Culture is a 160-page guide to world building. Three files come with purchase: a screen version with art and background, a print version with art and no background, and the complete cover. The printed book will be available at FLGS in April, and we are currently accepting pre-orders at our website. If you pre-order from our website you receive a coupon for $5 off of the PDF version of MS:EC

"Wow! It's been a while since I was wowed by a book"~Crothian: EN World Staff Reviewer

-------------------------------------------------------------[/ad copy]

And for GM's day, A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe is on sale for only $5. If you haven't picked it up, nows the time to do so.

Enjoy!

Joseph Browning and Suzi Yee
Expeditious Retreat Press

 

[annadobritt]

Bought, downloaded and already printed out.

Just need to decide which binder to put it in. One just for this pdf or one of the 3" binders.

 

[Knightfall]

Can't wait for the print version.

 

[allenw]

I followed the link on enworld and took a look at the "final cover" illustration (http://www.exp.citymax.com/page/page/847275.htm).
Friendly advice: I certainly hope you have time to change the "final" cover, because just based on the back cover blurb, I wouldn't pay for the product. I'm not the kind of guy that corrects people's e-mail or bulletin board grammar or spelling, but a commercial product is another matter. Not only is the text awkwardly and oddly phrased (your "ad copy" above is much better), it has two or three typoes (or just plain errors) that leapt out at me:

"Upon reaching his divinity, he encountered contest he could not resolve with his sword." I assume you mean "contests."

"Told from the prospective of creating and mapping a new world," should be "perspective".

I also wasn't sure about "Peer into the inner workings of the multiverse, the body magic, and how gods build their worlds." Do you mean "body of magic," or is "body magic" a poetical synonym for "multiverse"?

It may indeed be a fine product; if so, you need to be more careful with how you present it.

 

[jgbrowning]

"Upon reaching his divinity, he encountered contest he could not resolve with his sword." I assume you mean "contests."

First: thanks for taking the time to respond. We appreciate it. The one above is diliberately chosen to try and get a heroic feel. It's appropriate with the tone of the book.

"Told from the prospective of creating and mapping a new world," should be "perspective".

This one however, is a mistake. Our eyes, and everyone else's apparantly, didn't catch it. Unfortuntatly we've already started printing so there's no turning back. At least it wasn't the title....

I also wasn't sure about "Peer into the inner workings of the multiverse, the body magic, and how gods build their worlds." Do you mean "body of magic," or is "body magic" a poetical synonym for "multiverse"?

Throughout the work the "body magic" is used to describe the parallel existance of an all-pervasive semi-conscious entity.

It may indeed be a fine product; if so, you need to be more careful with how you present it.

I hope you'll reconsider your purchasing decision. It's a great book.

joe b.

 

[allenw]

Originally Posted by allenw
"Upon reaching his divinity, he encountered contest he could not resolve with his sword." I assume you mean "contests."

First: thanks for taking the time to respond. We appreciate it. The one above is diliberately chosen to try and get a heroic feel. It's appropriate with the tone of the book.

But it's not grammatical, and it doesn't seem to me like a deliberate "barbarianism." "He encountered a contest" would be fine, as would "he encountered contests," but "he encountered contest" isn't.

I hope you'll reconsider your purchasing decision. It's a great book.

joe b.

I bought the print version of your earlier "A Magical Medieval Society" as a Christmas present for my wife. It looks like it's got some interesting stuff, but I wasn't thrilled with the layout or proofreading, and I haven't read it all; my wife hasn't started it yet. "Ecology and Culture" also sounds interesting, but *if* it's written in the same style as the back cover blurb (as opposed to your "ad copy"), I doubt I could slog my way through it, even without any typos. Sorry; it's not really in Eye of Argon territory, but there is a certain resemblance.

Thanks for your reply, though.

edited to add:
I wanted to be fair, so now I've downloaded the free sample (the "Guide to Mapping" chapter), and it looks fine; the maintext is matter-of-fact, and even the in-character "interlude" is far more readable than the back cover blurb. I may consider buying it at some point. Not everyone's going to be willing to jump through RPG Now's hoops to download that sample, however; I fear that back cover may cost you some sales.

 

[kigmatzomat]

The (encountered contest) is diliberately chosen to try and get a heroic feel. It's appropriate with the tone of the book.

I'm with allen; if I'd picked this up in the store and hadn't seen MMS:WE I'd chuck this back on the shelf without even opening it. I love MMS:WE and will buy this in hardcopy, but only on the basis of your past products.

Here's why I wouldn't give it much of a chance, and I say this because I love you guys and don't want to see people get the "bleh" look when they see your products:

On a purely aesthetical level I dislike the cover art. Not a big deal and it wouldn't stop me from buying a supplement but it's a bias I should fess up to. I'm sure your artist has a great personality.

As a consumer I'm confused by the art. It has no readily apparent relationship to the title. What does a worried floating guy dictating to his scribe in front of a weird background have to do with culture or ecology?

The rear cover helps explain that worried-floating-guy is Kieran but that makes you look like you were trying to be clever or that Kieran is an iconic character I should have recognized.

Then the implication of the rear cover text. In the first few sentences it comes across as a story or graphic novel rather than a rules supplement.

Finally the erroneous grammar, typos, and the somewhat self-important phrase "body magic" gives the impression it is a first effort at best.

The short form is that the first impression quality is low to negative. I hope you have enough demand to do a second printing and bring back the more abstract cover of MMS:WE and re-write the back cover text.

(FYI: in the free supplement p.11 last sentence, second paragraph "Of your planet is exactly like Earth" should be "or your planet...")

 

[jgbrowning]

I'm not quite sure how to respond. I know there are typos (we've tried our best to prevent them) and I know that some people won't like our writing style. I also know that such errors put off some people to greater or lesser degree, but the majority of individuals I've interacted with have been pleased overall with our work.

To be more particular about these comments, I think the cover art is some of the best cover art seen in a long time and it is tied into the theme of the book to a greater extent than many other covers. I'm not sure how it is misleading considering the back of the book as well as the first pages of text explain what is illustrated. The cover is supposed to catch the eye and make people pick up the book, and I think it admirably does so thanks to Ravindra Rana's work.

I also don't think that comparing MMS:WE to material "reputed to be the worst science fiction story ever written" is a fair nor reasonable comment, even when it is credited as not as bad.

So I think I'm going to bow out of this discussion and view things as simply a matter of preference. For those of you interested in the book, Crothian's 5 of 5 review of A Magical Society: Ecology and Culture explores the product more thoroughly.

I'll gladly entertain any other comments or questions.

joe b.

 

[allenw]

I also don't think that comparing MMS:WE to material "reputed to be the worst science fiction story ever written" is a fair nor reasonable comment, even when it is credited as not as bad.
joe b.

Note that I never compared MMS:WE to the Eye of Argon; my apologies if you got that impression. I just said I wasn't thrilled with its layout and proofreading. It's actual content looks good, what I've read of it.
The Eye of Argon comparison was to the MS: EC back cover blurb, which at the time was the only part of that product I'd read. After I'd had a chance to examine the sample chapter, I said that it wasn't bad at all. But that cover blurb.... sorry, but between the typos, the grammar, and the style, I still think the Argon comparison is reasonable, and I see I'm not the only one who has problems with it.
I sincerely do wish you success; if not, I wouldn't have brought up the subject. Please, consider a different blurb for any future versions.

 

[jgbrowning]

Note that I never compared MMS:WE to the Eye of Argon; my apologies if you got that impression. I just said I wasn't thrilled with its layout and proofreading. It's actual content looks good, what I've read of it.

My apologies as well for misunderstanding your post.

joe b.