Living Fantasy

[evildmguy]

Greetings!

I have read a few reviews on this book but both of them were still lacking in what I was looking for in a review.

How does this book compare to Magical Medieval Society? Indeed, is there a comparison?

I already several works on things like this, such as In The Saddle, Tournaments, Fairs and Taverns, as well as MMS and some others. Do I need this? Does it bring more to the table than these other volumes?

I want to like this book but what I have read hasn't convinced me that I need this book with the other things I already have. Can anyone help me out?

Thanks!

edg

 

[evildmguy]

Anyone?

How about a review from anyone who has it? Was it useful to your game? Did you find yourself wanting to know more? Did you find yourself wanting thise for other games or even earlier games?

Was it done well?

Anything? Throw me a bone here people! I am trying to find out something about this book and I can't find anything anywhere, except for a poor review, imo, on RPG.net.

Thanks!

edg

 

[Silveras]

This is my third try at responding.. the boards crashed on both previous attempts.

I like the book, generally. It is not a "how to" for homebrewers in the same way that MMS:WE is. Living Fantasy is more like a collection of trivia that helps you flesh out your world.

I found the "Day in the life of" capsules especially helpful. 10 pages out of thr 150+, they describe the daily routines of 18 "stock types": the wealthy merchant, the serving maid, the beggar, etc.

Other areas provide food for thought, of just useful details. If you had the old 1st Edition DMG, the contents are a lot like the Appendices of that book. Lots of little tidbits ... religious hierarchy titles, architectural details, summaries of social strata with indications of differences in diet, income, the materials their houses are made from, etc.

The usefulness will vary depending on how well you agree with the author's assumptions and opinions. "Peace bonding" or "peace knotting" weapons in town is a concept that some people like; there is a short essay on why the author thinks it is a bad idea and wrong for a medieval-esque society. There is also a section of practical spells: a spell for accountants that counts up to 100,000 objects in a pile, for example, and spells that provide the effects of a refrigerator, an air conditioner, a heating system, or a complete climate-control system. Given the level of magic that is presented in the core rulebooks, these are sensible "non-dungeon" spells that someone, somewhere, probably has created.

In short, it is a great resource for brainstorming and adding details to a campaign world.

 

[evildmguy]

I like the book, generally. It is not a "how to" for homebrewers in the same way that MMS:WE is. Living Fantasy is more like a collection of trivia that helps you flesh out your world.

I found the "Day in the life of" capsules especially helpful. 10 pages out of thr 150+, they describe the daily routines of 18 "stock types": the wealthy merchant, the serving maid, the beggar, etc.

Other areas provide food for thought, of just useful details. If you had the old 1st Edition DMG, the contents are a lot like the Appendices of that book. Lots of little tidbits ... religious hierarchy titles, architectural details, summaries of social strata with indications of differences in diet, income, the materials their houses are made from, etc.

The usefulness will vary depending on how well you agree with the author's assumptions and opinions. "Peace bonding" or "peace knotting" weapons in town is a concept that some people like; there is a short essay on why the author thinks it is a bad idea and wrong for a medieval-esque society. There is also a section of practical spells: a spell for accountants that counts up to 100,000 objects in a pile, for example, and spells that provide the effects of a refrigerator, an air conditioner, a heating system, or a complete climate-control system. Given the level of magic that is presented in the core rulebooks, these are sensible "non-dungeon" spells that someone, somewhere, probably has created.

In short, it is a great resource for brainstorming and adding details to a campaign world.

Thanks for the response!

When I first saw this book and flipped through it, I thought it was MMS from Mr. Gygax. I figured they had been developing at the same time and neither said exactly the same thing but both covered the same topics.

However, after reading this, it sounds like there is more to LF than I thought. Indeed, the Day in the Life is something that I would like compiled from a gamer standpoint. (I actually had some of the books in MMS bibliography and probably would for this one as well. However, having all of the information compiled for me is a big help.)

Silveras' concluding statement has also convinced me that I need to pick LF up, or at least take another look at it, because my current campaign has been all about the details. Anything I can find to help me add to those details is something I value.

Even the other details, architecture, diet, etc. would really add in a meaningful way to my games, and so now, I am thinking I need to stop by my LGS on the way home tonight!

Anyone else want to add to this? Anyone else have any other similar recommendations?

Thanks!

edg

 

[Silveras]

Anyone else want to add to this? Anyone else have any other similar recommendations?

If Living Fantasy sounds "just right" to you, check out Gary Gygax' World Builder as well. It is also a collection of nice tidbits for various things.

Additional good books for homebrewers:
From Fantasy Flight Games, Mike Mearls' series of books ...
CityWorks, DungeonCraft, WildScape, Portals & Planes, and there is another not yet released, I think.

Long-term players may find the advice and suggestions in DungeonCraft a little stale, but newer players (less than, say, 5 years) are likely to find the advice and suggestions more to their benefit.

CityWorks has nice, smooth D20 mechanics for various city-type issues: crowds, fires, guard patrols, and more. There is also a reasonably good dice-driven map generation system.

WildScape offers some Druid and Ranger variants (including additional choices for the combat paths beyond archery or 2 weapon fighting), as well as a good, solid expansion on what each type of major environment (arctic, forests, hills, mountains, deserts, etc.) can be like. Multiple "fantasy" variants for each are discussed. Each type of environment gets its own chapter.

Portals & Planes is a little iffy. Fans of Planescape and people who already have the Manual of the Planes will find a lot of this one redundant. With the basics of the planes being in the DMG now, there is less value to this particulat book. However, there are still some good ideas to be mined.

I would recommend CityWorks and WildScape first, if you are in the market for world-building guides. GG's Living Fantasy and GG's World Builder are good "fill-in-the-details" books. If you have extra funds after that, DungeonCraft and then Portals & Planes.

 

[evildmguy]

If Living Fantasy sounds "just right" to you, check out Gary Gygax' World Builder as well. It is also a collection of nice tidbits for various things.

Additional good books for homebrewers:
From Fantasy Flight Games, Mike Mearls' series of books ...
CityWorks, DungeonCraft, WildScape, Portals & Planes, and there is another not yet released, I think.

Long-term players may find the advice and suggestions in DungeonCraft a little stale, but newer players (less than, say, 5 years) are likely to find the advice and suggestions more to their benefit.

CityWorks has nice, smooth D20 mechanics for various city-type issues: crowds, fires, guard patrols, and more. There is also a reasonably good dice-driven map generation system.

WildScape offers some Druid and Ranger variants (including additional choices for the combat paths beyond archery or 2 weapon fighting), as well as a good, solid expansion on what each type of major environment (arctic, forests, hills, mountains, deserts, etc.) can be like. Multiple "fantasy" variants for each are discussed. Each type of environment gets its own chapter.

Portals & Planes is a little iffy. Fans of Planescape and people who already have the Manual of the Planes will find a lot of this one redundant. With the basics of the planes being in the DMG now, there is less value to this particulat book. However, there are still some good ideas to be mined.

I would recommend CityWorks and WildScape first, if you are in the market for world-building guides. GG's Living Fantasy and GG's World Builder are good "fill-in-the-details" books. If you have extra funds after that, DungeonCraft and then Portals & Planes.

Thanks for the suggestions!

Unfortunately, I am not currently playing in a d20 campaign, but another Fantasy game. As such, I am looking for items that are lite on d20 rules, or any rules, and have more fluff stuff that I can use for background.

To that end, I do have several of the title in the EGG line, including World Builder, which I like a lot!

Thanks!

edg

 

[Nail]

I've not been able to find a copy of EGG's World Builder. Online sources?

 

[evildmguy]

I've not been able to find a copy of EGG's World Builder. Online sources?

I found mine at the LGS around here. They do a pretty good job of stocking most d20 books. I don't remember if they had a copy the last time I was there.

Otherwise, if the enworld store doesn't have it, you could try Troll Lord Games web page to see if you can get it there.

I hope this helped! Have a good one!

edg