Sell me on "Magical Medieval Society" WE

[Zerakon]

Well, that's the kind of info I'd look for, I guess. What types of mechanics does it include, though?

I don't have the book so I can't say, but I have read the 2 free chapters (on cities) that are available for free on rpgnow. I found out that it wasn't the kind of thing for me, but it wasn't bad.

http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=1678&

 

[ForceUser]

You only need four books to run a great D&D game - the PHB, DMG, MM, and MMS:WE.

MMS:WE is the best 3rd-party D&D resource ever produced in the history of the game. It distills medieval culture into a format useable and understandable by gamers. No DM should be without it.

If you value Monte Cook's opinion, read his review. Here's a snippet:

Man, I like this book. If you're a DM and running a D&D game, you should have this book. Period.

 

[Desdichado]

MMS:WE is the best 3rd-party D&D resource ever produced in the history of the game. It distills medieval culture into a format useable and understandable by gamers. No DM should be without it.

That still doesn't really tell me much about why I should want it. For that matter, it doesn't tell me why D&D should have any resemblance to medieval Europe in the first place, especially since the source material didn't particularly care to make any such direct correspondence. Robert E. Howard, Tolkien, Fritz Leiber, Jack Vance -- not really very much Medieval about any of them.

 

[ForceUser]

That still doesn't really tell me much about why I should want it. For that matter, it doesn't tell me why D&D should have any resemblance to medieval Europe in the first place, especially since the source material didn't particularly care to make any such direct correspondence. Robert E. Howard, Tolkien, Fritz Leiber, Jack Vance -- not really very much Medieval about any of them.

Gaze upon my edited post and follow the link, ye doubter. Monte Cook can explain it more succinctly than I.

 

[Desdichado]

FU, actually what you added in the edit is the best material I've seen for why to pick this up. Monte essentially says that this is a campaign setting that tries to make D&D as close to medieval western Europe as possible. Coming at this from the point of view that this is a campaign setting does make it more palatable. The last thing I need is a warmed over gaming supplement pretending to be a serious history book.

 

[ForceUser]

FU, actually what you added in the edit is the best material I've seen for why to pick this up. Monte essentially says that this is a campaign setting that tries to make D&D as close to medieval western Europe as possible. Coming at this from the point of view that this is a campaign setting does make it more palatable. The last thing I need is a warmed over gaming supplement pretending to be a serious history book.

It is a book intended to help the DM run a game with a more authentically medieval feel. That's all. Like I said, Monte says it best.

 

[d4]

well, let's see...

Chapter Two: Generating Manors has a fairly detailed system for determining the size and income derived from a manorial holding. possibility of a mine on the property and the amount of money (in gp) that would bring in. random tables to determine any special maintenance that may be required during a year. talk about harvests and income (again, listed in gp).

Chapter Four: Generating Towns and Cities. a rather detailed system for generating communities of various sizes. the incidence of various building types and the chances of them being found in different neighborhoods of a city. a system of "influence points" for nobles, guilds, churches, and other major players in a community to get a better grasp of the town's social dynamics.

(some of these tables get very detailed. the random townsfolk "professions" table is a d10,000 roll. )

on to Chapter Five: Economic Simulator with rules and tables for merchants. buying and selling expensive items and what effect that has on the economy. buying and selling in bulk to make a profit.

Chapter Eight: Generating Kingdoms and Aristocracy. using the area and population of a land to determine the number and sizes of communities, manors, major landholders, etc. how to set up a believable feudal power structure.

Appendix 2: Generating Magical Resources. how many / what types of magic items can a lord expect to receive from his vassals as tribute? (if not in tribute, what would they buy with the coin they do receive?)

Appendix 3: Magical Medieval King Template. for those who believe in the "divine right of kings." kings receive magical powers because they are chosen by the gods to rule their lands.

Appendix 4: Building System. how to take D&D magic into account when building structures. seems to compare favorably to the Stronghold Builder's Guidebook.

i'll be honest -- given your extensive knowledge of the medieval period, about 1/2 to 2/3 of this book is going to be a rehash for you. however, to a gamer who doesn't have that kind of background, this book is very useful. he doesn't need to read and collate information from seven or eight different medieval history texts; he just needs to read this one book. and it's got gaming stats right next to the historical notes.

 

[Desdichado]

i'll be honest -- given your extensive knowledge of the medieval period, about 1/2 to 2/3 of this book is going to be a rehash for you.

Held up by my hobbies, eh? I guess that's what I get for having a history professor as a father...

 

[johnsemlak]

Gaze upon my edited post and follow the link, ye doubter. Monte Cook can explain it more succinctly than I.

Actually, Monte's review was quite sparse as well. Basically, he says 'the book is good. Buy it'.

 

[fusangite]

The Magical Medieval Society is a book designed to make your D&D campaign feel medieval. The fact is that the D&D rules make it very hard for medieval social, religious and political structures to exist; this book helps you to maintain those structures and relationships without massively changing the rules. For instance, the medieval king template makes medieval monarchies more sustainable; kings are immune to scrying and, thus, political stability is increased as they have some immunity to remote assassination and thought reading; similarly, their legendary ability to cure scrofula is modeled.

Many of us want to run medieval societies but we find that the high-magic nature of D&D rules thwarts us at every turn. This book helps to create a healthy accommodation between D&D rules and medieval society without proposing radical alterations to either.