PGD is soon to launch a Kickstarter campaign for an updated and expanded version of Orbis Mundi: An Annotated Guide to Aspects of the Medieval World which was originally launched in 2006 and is currently a Popular Silver Pick on RPGNow and DriveThruRPG.
Orbis Mundi 2 expands on and adds to the material covered and will consist of two separate Books - A Guide to real Medieval Life, which is largely complete and runs to ~450 pages, and The Marketplace, which is still being written, but is expected to run to at least ~96 pages of annotated Price Lists and some generic rules for all types of equipment likely to be found in a historical-ish Medieval world ... OM1 was 112 pages, of which ~60 comprised the annotated price lists.
Book 1 is especially aimed at GMs and Players who have become aware that the version of 'medieval' or 'feudal' western societies presented in virtually all Fantasy RPGs is based more on Hollywood movies and outdated information from the equivalent of glossy coffee-table 'text' books than on what it was actually like and who would like to at least know what the reality was ... even if they may not want to include all of it in their campaigns.
There are main Chapters in the first Book are --
City & Country which covers all aspects of the organisation and structure or Town and Rural life except the Feudal System and Law & Order, which are covered in Kingdoms & Crowns which also includes material on Finance, Money and Coinage.
Examples of content include -- the sorts of people and places you'd actually find in a Medieval Town (no General Stores, very little or no 'off the shelf' items, especially those things most adventurers will want to purchase, such as armour and weapons) or Village (no Stores of any sort and a limited range of craftsmen with limited skills; actual medieval currency systems, so no 1/10th lb [and what 'pound'? Troy? Tower? London? Parisis? Roman?] coins of any sort, and only Gold & Silver coins ... no Copper, no Tin, no Bronze, no Platinum and no use of Gems or Jewellery as currency.
De Civitate Dei covers the organisation and basic doctrine as well as relationships between the main religions of the period -- Catholic and Orthodox Christianity, Islam, Judaism and Paganism as well as the major Heresies that erupted during or persisted into the period covered by the book.
The sorts of things covered include the doctrines & doctrinal differences and points of conflict between the religions -- for example, Christians, by and large, believed that Islam was a Satanic creation until the Crusades brought wider contact with Islamic societies in the late 11th century. Heretics weren't burnt at the stake by the thousands ... or even dozens ... and were generally treated fairly lightly ... at least by most of the Church instrumentalities [Drang Nach Osten and the Teutonic Order were exceptions with regard to Pagans and the like]. The Canonical Hours and the organisation of a Church Year and Monastic or Clerical Day.
De Re Militari covers all things military. Organisation, equipment (Armour and Weapons), Logistics & Finance, the Crusades, Castles & Sieges.
Weapons and Armour types used in this period, before the increasing dominance of gunpowder weapons, are much more limited in type than in virtually any RPG. Virtually none of the massive variety of Polearms so beloved of FRPG designers existed since the armour commonly available wasn't of the sort that created a need for them ... and full Plate Armour, Field or Jousting Plate [made necessary by man-portable gunpowder weapons] doesn't exist, the most expensive armour available in partial Plate and that is rare. The most common armour worn at the end of the period is still Mail [never, ever, 'Chain' Mail] or Coats of Plates [aka Brigandines or, in Muscovy, Lamellar]. Also dealt with are the myths about the all powerful dominance of the Longbow vs the Crossbow ... there wasn't much tactical difference between them during the period [since Arbalests, Crossbows with metal rather than composite/wood bowstaves, were still uncommon even at the end of the period] ... and that even Plate Armour wasn't certain protection against the right arrows
Ars Mechanica -- Covers technology and crafts (as defined by the people of the period themselves, which means some odd inclusions ... such as Trade & Commerce) and related matters. Architecture & Building, Cooking & Food, Trade & Commerce, Metalworking Trades & Mining, Cloth Trades & Tailoring.
Want to know how scarce and expensive any sort of metal was? Especially Iron and Steel? Which explains why certain types of technologies weren't adopted? Like Plate Armour? Why clothing was a major expense? That corridors were almost nonexistent ... rooms commonly opened onto other rooms ... and what the most common building materials and types of construction were? How food was prepared - including some sample recipes? It's all here.
Ars Scholastica -- Covers the educational structures and beliefs of the period. Primary Education (Reading & Writing), University Education and the Seven Liberal Arts, Alchemy, Medicine & Surgery.
Did you know that reading was taught before, and by different people, before writing and that the most common book of instruction was the Bible? That most nominally 'literate' people could barely puzzle their way through the text they were taught from let alone a different one? That virtually everyone, even the most literate, read out loud, often following the text with their finger? That there were two branches of Alchemy - the esoteric, mystical one that was all about magic and philosophy and the more practical one that was more like modern chemistry? That there wasn't necessarily any separation between Physicians and Surgeons, despite what many texts claim?
Daily Life -- Covers those things not already dealt with. Attitudes & Behaviour, Hygiene, Leisure Pursuits, Names, Calendars & Chronology, Measures & Measurement, Heraldry.
What did Medieval people think? Often what we are told, especially by older or more generalist texts, is not actually supportable ... or needs to be taken with a large grain of salt. Here you can find out some hints as to what they actually may have thought about a variety of topics. You'll also find that the Hollywood image of inherently filthy peasants and gross manners amongst even the 'better sort' is ... almost completely wrong. And you'll get some idea of the games, sports and other pastimes medieval people enjoyed.
OM2 covers the period roughly from AD 1000 to AD 1400 - from the earliest appearance of proto-Knights and 'classic' feudalism through to the first appearance of crude gunpowder weapons, but before the latter come to increasingly dominate the battlefield and, responding to criticism of the earlier book that it didn't cover anything outside of Anglo-French culture, government and society, there is an increased amount of material that looks at the different practises in other parts of Europe and the Mediterranean ... or, at least, as much as is possible using available English language sources.
The Marketplace will cover a wide variety of goods and services that will be of potential interest to Players, and of interest to GMs, as they were in the medieval world ... with notes on what they were, exactly, how they were used, and other pertinent game or real world information.
So, for example, how often were Markets [or Fairs] held, what was sold [or could be bought] there? What hours did Markets [and Shops] operate during? What did it cost to participate - to bring in goods for sale? To rent a Stall - on both a casual or more permanent basis? What was the likely availability of goods - given that all but the most common were only produced on a 'special order' basis [unless you bought them second hand]? And much more ...
It is expected that the Kickstarter will be launched in the first week of October.
Phil McGregor,
PGD (Phalanx Games Design)
Orbis Mundi 2 expands on and adds to the material covered and will consist of two separate Books - A Guide to real Medieval Life, which is largely complete and runs to ~450 pages, and The Marketplace, which is still being written, but is expected to run to at least ~96 pages of annotated Price Lists and some generic rules for all types of equipment likely to be found in a historical-ish Medieval world ... OM1 was 112 pages, of which ~60 comprised the annotated price lists.
Book 1 is especially aimed at GMs and Players who have become aware that the version of 'medieval' or 'feudal' western societies presented in virtually all Fantasy RPGs is based more on Hollywood movies and outdated information from the equivalent of glossy coffee-table 'text' books than on what it was actually like and who would like to at least know what the reality was ... even if they may not want to include all of it in their campaigns.
There are main Chapters in the first Book are --
City & Country which covers all aspects of the organisation and structure or Town and Rural life except the Feudal System and Law & Order, which are covered in Kingdoms & Crowns which also includes material on Finance, Money and Coinage.
Examples of content include -- the sorts of people and places you'd actually find in a Medieval Town (no General Stores, very little or no 'off the shelf' items, especially those things most adventurers will want to purchase, such as armour and weapons) or Village (no Stores of any sort and a limited range of craftsmen with limited skills; actual medieval currency systems, so no 1/10th lb [and what 'pound'? Troy? Tower? London? Parisis? Roman?] coins of any sort, and only Gold & Silver coins ... no Copper, no Tin, no Bronze, no Platinum and no use of Gems or Jewellery as currency.
De Civitate Dei covers the organisation and basic doctrine as well as relationships between the main religions of the period -- Catholic and Orthodox Christianity, Islam, Judaism and Paganism as well as the major Heresies that erupted during or persisted into the period covered by the book.
The sorts of things covered include the doctrines & doctrinal differences and points of conflict between the religions -- for example, Christians, by and large, believed that Islam was a Satanic creation until the Crusades brought wider contact with Islamic societies in the late 11th century. Heretics weren't burnt at the stake by the thousands ... or even dozens ... and were generally treated fairly lightly ... at least by most of the Church instrumentalities [Drang Nach Osten and the Teutonic Order were exceptions with regard to Pagans and the like]. The Canonical Hours and the organisation of a Church Year and Monastic or Clerical Day.
De Re Militari covers all things military. Organisation, equipment (Armour and Weapons), Logistics & Finance, the Crusades, Castles & Sieges.
Weapons and Armour types used in this period, before the increasing dominance of gunpowder weapons, are much more limited in type than in virtually any RPG. Virtually none of the massive variety of Polearms so beloved of FRPG designers existed since the armour commonly available wasn't of the sort that created a need for them ... and full Plate Armour, Field or Jousting Plate [made necessary by man-portable gunpowder weapons] doesn't exist, the most expensive armour available in partial Plate and that is rare. The most common armour worn at the end of the period is still Mail [never, ever, 'Chain' Mail] or Coats of Plates [aka Brigandines or, in Muscovy, Lamellar]. Also dealt with are the myths about the all powerful dominance of the Longbow vs the Crossbow ... there wasn't much tactical difference between them during the period [since Arbalests, Crossbows with metal rather than composite/wood bowstaves, were still uncommon even at the end of the period] ... and that even Plate Armour wasn't certain protection against the right arrows
Ars Mechanica -- Covers technology and crafts (as defined by the people of the period themselves, which means some odd inclusions ... such as Trade & Commerce) and related matters. Architecture & Building, Cooking & Food, Trade & Commerce, Metalworking Trades & Mining, Cloth Trades & Tailoring.
Want to know how scarce and expensive any sort of metal was? Especially Iron and Steel? Which explains why certain types of technologies weren't adopted? Like Plate Armour? Why clothing was a major expense? That corridors were almost nonexistent ... rooms commonly opened onto other rooms ... and what the most common building materials and types of construction were? How food was prepared - including some sample recipes? It's all here.
Ars Scholastica -- Covers the educational structures and beliefs of the period. Primary Education (Reading & Writing), University Education and the Seven Liberal Arts, Alchemy, Medicine & Surgery.
Did you know that reading was taught before, and by different people, before writing and that the most common book of instruction was the Bible? That most nominally 'literate' people could barely puzzle their way through the text they were taught from let alone a different one? That virtually everyone, even the most literate, read out loud, often following the text with their finger? That there were two branches of Alchemy - the esoteric, mystical one that was all about magic and philosophy and the more practical one that was more like modern chemistry? That there wasn't necessarily any separation between Physicians and Surgeons, despite what many texts claim?
Daily Life -- Covers those things not already dealt with. Attitudes & Behaviour, Hygiene, Leisure Pursuits, Names, Calendars & Chronology, Measures & Measurement, Heraldry.
What did Medieval people think? Often what we are told, especially by older or more generalist texts, is not actually supportable ... or needs to be taken with a large grain of salt. Here you can find out some hints as to what they actually may have thought about a variety of topics. You'll also find that the Hollywood image of inherently filthy peasants and gross manners amongst even the 'better sort' is ... almost completely wrong. And you'll get some idea of the games, sports and other pastimes medieval people enjoyed.
OM2 covers the period roughly from AD 1000 to AD 1400 - from the earliest appearance of proto-Knights and 'classic' feudalism through to the first appearance of crude gunpowder weapons, but before the latter come to increasingly dominate the battlefield and, responding to criticism of the earlier book that it didn't cover anything outside of Anglo-French culture, government and society, there is an increased amount of material that looks at the different practises in other parts of Europe and the Mediterranean ... or, at least, as much as is possible using available English language sources.
The Marketplace will cover a wide variety of goods and services that will be of potential interest to Players, and of interest to GMs, as they were in the medieval world ... with notes on what they were, exactly, how they were used, and other pertinent game or real world information.
So, for example, how often were Markets [or Fairs] held, what was sold [or could be bought] there? What hours did Markets [and Shops] operate during? What did it cost to participate - to bring in goods for sale? To rent a Stall - on both a casual or more permanent basis? What was the likely availability of goods - given that all but the most common were only produced on a 'special order' basis [unless you bought them second hand]? And much more ...
It is expected that the Kickstarter will be launched in the first week of October.
Phil McGregor,
PGD (Phalanx Games Design)
