Barendd Nobeard
Explorer
Yes, it's a great book!Buttercup said:
But who wrote it?
The author's names are very difficult to find (in the print version, anyway). But, they signed my copy and showed me where their names were listed.
Magical Medieval Society
- Thread starter Kirowan
- Start date
But who wrote it?
The author's names are very difficult to find (in the print version, anyway). But, they signed my copy and showed me where their names were listed.
KnowTheToe
First Post
I have had this for a few months and just finished reading it. It really is different than anything else I have read. It is near worthless for anyone not running, designing or dreaming about running or designing their own campaign.
For those who do run the game, this is an awesome book. There is so much information crammed within its pages. It is really a nice combination of rules and content. While the content is not setting specific it still gives all you need to create a more vivid and living feel to your magaical society no matter if it is a published or homebrew setting.
For those who do run the game, this is an awesome book. There is so much information crammed within its pages. It is really a nice combination of rules and content. While the content is not setting specific it still gives all you need to create a more vivid and living feel to your magaical society no matter if it is a published or homebrew setting.
Pielorinho
Iron Fist of Pelor
Totally sweet book -- I got it for my birthday on Sunday (thanks, Spider!), and have been geeking out in it. Even my wife (an historian but not a gamer) thinks it's great.
I was a little baffled by the lack of author names on the title page -- was this intentional?
As an example of how cool it is: one of my players has been wanting to build a temple to her god, and wants to rely on the wall of stone spell for basic construction, augmented by her followers' labor. Knowing nothing about construction, I really had no idea how to handle this. So last night I read all about how to construct a church using the wall of stone spell, how the spell affects both the price and time of constructing a stone building, and so forth. Great stuff!
Daniel
I was a little baffled by the lack of author names on the title page -- was this intentional?
As an example of how cool it is: one of my players has been wanting to build a temple to her god, and wants to rely on the wall of stone spell for basic construction, augmented by her followers' labor. Knowing nothing about construction, I really had no idea how to handle this. So last night I read all about how to construct a church using the wall of stone spell, how the spell affects both the price and time of constructing a stone building, and so forth. Great stuff!
Daniel
I agree that this is an awesome book! The thing that really impresses me is that they take a very complex society and explain it in an extremely clear and concise fashion. The whole time I was reading it, my mind boggled at the amount of research that went into it. I learned an incredible amount about medieval society in a way that applies directly to gaming.
As far as rules are concerned, it works in the way that I like best: for each simulator, there are only a few (usually 2 or 3) variables, and the rest is applying a simple set of calculations on them. They explain how and where variations and exceptions can occur, and what they imply in terms of in-game reasons and story hooks.
However, I disagree with the opinion that "It is near worthless for anyone not running, designing or dreaming about running or designing their own campaign."
As a player, it provides an enormous amount of invaluable direct societal context. A character is not worth much if the player doesn't understand the culture and traditions that they come from and continue to live in. If a player understands how medieval society works, they can be far more proactive in their activities. They don't have to wait for the DM to spring things on them - they can actively follow their own goals.
What does village mean? How about lord, noble, gentry, manor, freeman, guild, steward, or any other term from medieval society? If each of those words evokes something different in the head of each person seated at your gaming table, you're not all playing the same game. MMS is the ultimate dictionary for fantasy games - it purposely shows how each element of medieval society interacts with the other elements. Most importantly, it includes magic as one of those elements!
As a DM running a campaign in an established setting, it provides excellent information or how to determine how any given nation actually works. There tends to be a lot of information in setting handbooks that is inferred or implicit. (I'm thinking specifically of the FRCS..) With MMS you can determine exactly how a nation is structured and how it functions on a regular basis from a few simple pieces of information.
It's a marvelous piece of work!
-blarg
As far as rules are concerned, it works in the way that I like best: for each simulator, there are only a few (usually 2 or 3) variables, and the rest is applying a simple set of calculations on them. They explain how and where variations and exceptions can occur, and what they imply in terms of in-game reasons and story hooks.
However, I disagree with the opinion that "It is near worthless for anyone not running, designing or dreaming about running or designing their own campaign."
As a player, it provides an enormous amount of invaluable direct societal context. A character is not worth much if the player doesn't understand the culture and traditions that they come from and continue to live in. If a player understands how medieval society works, they can be far more proactive in their activities. They don't have to wait for the DM to spring things on them - they can actively follow their own goals.
What does village mean? How about lord, noble, gentry, manor, freeman, guild, steward, or any other term from medieval society? If each of those words evokes something different in the head of each person seated at your gaming table, you're not all playing the same game. MMS is the ultimate dictionary for fantasy games - it purposely shows how each element of medieval society interacts with the other elements. Most importantly, it includes magic as one of those elements!
As a DM running a campaign in an established setting, it provides excellent information or how to determine how any given nation actually works. There tends to be a lot of information in setting handbooks that is inferred or implicit. (I'm thinking specifically of the FRCS..) With MMS you can determine exactly how a nation is structured and how it functions on a regular basis from a few simple pieces of information.
It's a marvelous piece of work!
-blarg
Tuerny said:
There are lots of different elements you can use as building tools: feudal system, aristocracy, cities, guilds, generating buildings, agrarian society, religious hierarchies, magic and its practitioners, macro- and micro-economics, resource extraction, industry, services...
You can pick and choose what applies to your campaign. I strongly recommend you research in depth the culture you're basing it on!
-blarg
EDIT: For ancient Greece or India, a lot of those elements apply. Some things are different: in Greece there was less use of iron, wood was comparatively scarce, there was a slightly less convoluted aristocracy, and religious practises were obviously different. The rest is not so radically different from medieval Europe. They had cooler catapults.
In India, there are a few more elements that are different. Religion is severely fragmented - there were literally thousands of different religious practises. Kingdoms tended to be all over the place, and there were a lot of wars. Water was very important, rivers were often sacred, forests were more like jungles. I have no idea how magic would fit into all of that. Research, research, research!
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