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Message: <blockquote data-quote="blargney" data-source="post: 1036877" data-attributes="member: 2689">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</blockquote>

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