Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Turanil" data-source="post: 2011214" data-attributes="member: 9646">MEDIEVAL PLAYER MANUAL REVIEWThe Medieval Player Manual is a d20 supplement by Green Ronin Publishing (Mythic Vista line). It is a soft-cover book of 126 pages, entirely black and white except for cover, and with nice layout and illustrations. The text is well written, so it's really pleasant to read. The backcover states: "The Medieval Player's Manual gives you everything you need to have exciting adventures in the age of Christianity and crusade. This is not Hollywood medievalism, but the real thing. The Medieval Player's Manual has been exhaustively researched to provide rules that reflect the actual beliefs of the period."I long wanted to run a D&D campaign that would have a strong European medieval feel. So, when I learned about this gaming supplement, I was especially pleased. The Medieval Player's Manual was primarily designed to play D&D in a near historical setting of 12th century England. However, my opinion (and my intent as far as I am concerned) is that you may use it in any setting that you want to get a truly medieval ambiance, not just common fantasy. After all, all of this heroic fantasy stuff about knights, paladins, dragons, clerics, etc., descends from European medieval legends and history. Nevertheless, if you believe in reading this, that "historical setting" means a low or no magic world (and that you may forget about this product altogether), be reassured that priests and magicians still cast spells in this game. The book mainly deals with the three following aspects of the Middle Ages: Christian religion, arcane magic, and the 12th century England's culture and society. 1) Religion: I will begin with this part, since it is the one I like the most. As I said earlier, I prefer a fantasy game that clearly evokes the Middle Ages. With that in mind, a cleric of a mish-mash pantheon's deity (like found in most commercial or homebrew settings), who goes to the church in full-plate armor, simply cannot satisfy me. Although I tend to be an atheist in real life, I want a monotheistic religion with a Christian feel in a medieval game. As such, the Medieval Player's Manual does a great job of bringing the Christian religion to life in a d20 gaming context. To begin with, the religion and its dogma, and the Church and its organization, are presented in a clear and simple way that is more than enough to portray it in a role-playing game. Then, there is excellent rules to simulate theological and philosophical disputations (i.e.: contests) between scholars, priests, etc.  With them, you can add a new dimension to your adventures, so clerics for example, may have something else to do than just bash monsters, turn undead, and cure wounds. This rule could be easily extended to any type of intellectuals, so in a "normal fantasy" game, wizards could also use it in discussions about arcane subjects. Lastly, the classes and feats. There is 3 new core classes: the Priest (a non-combatant type of cleric), the Canonist (a non-spellcasting churchman), and the Saint (also a non-spellcaster but who gets many miraculous powers called "Charisms"). Then, there is 5 religious prestige classes: the Crusader, Templar, Hermit, Mystic, and Prelate. Note that all these classes aren't intended to replace the cleric and paladin, but complement them. As such, the cleric becomes a crusading war-priest, while parish priests should rather be of the new classes. On the overall these classes look good, although to be really interesting, the GM must see to have a game with church intrigue, religious problems, etc.  In a straight classical dungeon bashing, there is very little use for them. Otherwise, the book presents more than 30 new divine feats called "Charisms". These feats are in spirit similar to Exalted Feats, but tend to be more powerful, and of course relate to the Christian faith. Hence my opinion is that if you always wanted to portray a Christian-like religion in your campaign setting, this book is the right answer.2) Arcane Magic: The Medieval Player's Manual presents three types of arcane magic, and three new character classes to play medieval types of wizards. That is, there is mages (Natural Magicians) who rely on alchemy, astrology, etc.; others (Cunning Men) who know tricks and folks charms of all sorts; and lastly, those (Theurges) who summon spirits to do their bindings. All of this is excellent to bring medieval flavor to the game, which was probably the initial intent (rather than trying to invent a better or different system of magic). Yet, the Natural Magician seems really weak (at least compared to a wizard) if one intends to use it as a PC. At first sight it could appear that a Natural Magician may prepare hundreds of spells in advance. However, if you respect the Frequency of Charm Crafting table, he will go adventuring with hardly more than two dozens of spells at his disposal. At low levels this could be seen as an advantage, but after the 3rd it will quickly be in his disfavor. The Cunning Man and the Theurge appear much more playable. Then, the Alchemy and Astrology feats are really interesting, and I also much like the Folks Charms (which are in fact lesser magical item creation feats). One may argue that they could unbalance the game, since they cost no money, just XP; but in my opinion loosing XP is a much dire cost than spending money in the game. 3) 12th Century England's Culture and Society: The book gives some historical account of the 12th century England's society and history, as well as stats of a few archetypal characters of this age. If you intend to run a campaign in such a historical setting however, you will probably need to make your own researches and design. This reminds me of the Dragon Magazine issue 274: it presented a nice Legends of Sherwood mini-campaign setting extraordinarily appropriate for play with the Medieval Player's Manual. If you can get it, you really have everything needed to get started without delay. By the way, download the Netbook of Witches - Liber Mysterium on the Internet (since the witches it deals with were heavily inspired by medieval witches), and you would have a great game before you. But I digress. The last thing I want to point about this part of the Medieval Player's Manual, is that it also present rules about books and literacy which are really innovative, plus two other new classes: the Scholar and the Artist. They fit very well in a medieval ambiance, but you will have to go for a more intellectual type of campaign if you intend to use them as PCs. Even in this case, I would propose a special class: the Savant, consisting of a Scholar who gets the Natural Magician’s magic, so it becomes playable. But well, I digress again, so lets jump to the conclusion.My conclusion: If you plan  to run a high powered, high fantasy setting like FR or Ebberon, this book is probably useless (except for a couple of rules). However, if you intend to run a European Medieval historical campaign, this book is a MUST. Really. Then, if you plan to add more European Medieval flavor to a heroic fantasy game (as I do), this book is worth the money and a good useful addition.</blockquote>

Verification