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Message: <blockquote data-quote="jgbrowning" data-source="post: 482433" data-attributes="member: 5724">To answer some questions...Well, just want to say thanks for all the questions!  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Buttercup:It is tentatively planned to be finished by the end of this year, then we're going to run it through an editor and through a reader who's very familiar with D20 material and hopefully you'll see the product on the shelves by spring of 2003.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Turjan: And how do you deal with the shift in costs generated by magic? There are enough low level spells that make life easier One thing we've tried to do is be consistent with the pricing the core books. I'm sure everyone's aware that the pricing of certain items is, well, nuts... to put it mildly, but the primary goal of the book is to not contradict the core books if at all possible.  We want anyone who has the core books to pick up our book and modify our information in a similar manner that they have modified the core information for their campaign.We think the strength of the book will be the fact that people can pick it up and know how they'll want to modify our information because they've already modified aspects of the core rules to suit them.  ie. we're trying to present magical medieval information in a format that is consistent with the "standard" as opposed to trying to alter that standard.As to magic and price relations, we're stressing the vastly different mind set of a magical medieval person vers a modern person.  As americans, we generally consider "faster, cheaper = better" (i dont want to get in any flames over that, but i do think it is a decent summation of a modern mindset we're all familiar with).  We're trying to show that just because something is, to us looking back, an obvious way to improve fiscal matters, doesn't necessarily mean that that "obvious" way is actually obvious to the people in question.  I don't want to take the time here, but i do in the book, to deal with a good comparison between the medieval and modern mindset, but i think everyone can agree that the same abilities (magic here) do not necessarily pose a dramatic improvement.That being said, of course magic changes everything!  The book is called a "magical" medieval society and we deal extensively with how magic changes, peasants living, city living, aristocratic living, relationships between power centers (hard to have a secret thieves guild with divination magic <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />), and most dramatically war.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Lawrence of Arabica: How are you dealing with the variations in medieval Europe, both over time and space?That is a very good question and we spent quite a bit of time thinking about what time period "suits" the default DnD setting.  We decided, based upon equipment available and price of such items as pepper and silk vrs the average wages in the core rules and other stuff that our period would roughly be 1350-1500.  Due mostly to our lack of reading latin (very well at least) french or german we've been forced to use only english language sources which, of course <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />, deal mostly with england and france.  We've got a few good sources about germany and will include information that could easily be used for a more "germanic" setting.Actually the greatest variance between germany, england, france, and the netherland/lowlands area is mostly a matter of aristocracy and feudal/early governmental aspects.  We deal with the various forms of monarchy and touch lightly upon the concept of emperors, so if you want a particular local flavor you shouldn't have any difficulty find it.  We also include city state information for a more italian feel, but that's not where the strength of the book lies.  Spain, Scandinavian peninsula, east europe etc are left out completely.  It is called "A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe." <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> in hopes that if it does well we'll cover the parts we've left out.One thing i'd like to make clear is that the book contains NO history in it! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />  Not that i dont like history, obviously i do, but knowing what king did what is absolutely useless to a DnD player.  If they want to know that for a campaign setting they'll get much better information by buying even only an introductory history book.  Our book sets up the society for the DMs and players to interact within.  We expect, and want, DMs to customize our information to suit their needs.  That's why we're being very careful to follow the core rules, even when there is good reason to make changes.edit: and the whole things going to be OGC, except our company name and my and my wife's names.. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />joe b.Expeditious Retreat Press*just made our logo two days ago  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />... its basically the old TSR wizard running like hell with his hat flying off... *  yeah, i spoke with AV so there's no issue there... gotta dot the tttt's and cross the iiii's ya know.. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

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