Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe

[CMonkey]

This supplement is getting a lot of press lately and I was wondering what people thought of it? It it relevant to Birthright? More or less than a Greyhawk / FR like campaign?

Anyone have a copy?

CM.

[Birthright-L]

hile I do have issues with some of the reasoning in the product, the overall

verdict is that it`s a very helpfull tool. Especially if you are not

interested in buying and/or reading huge tomes on medieval demographics,

economy and construction it is a compact and easily understandable guide to

most issues related to the urban environment as a RPG setting.



I think it is highly applicable to a birthright campaign, but can quite easily

be used in more high magic campaigns as well. An important factor here is that

BR has magic more powerfull than most high-magic campaigns. If you are willing

to disregard some of the table involved in the book it is quite believable as

a `realistic` medieval setting goes.



Strikingly enough the book`s weakest point is the effects of magic on society

and the city. Personally I would have prefered more discussion with a bit of

depth in this area, but it might be difficult as the level and influence of

magic can vary so tremendously in a campaign. If you are looking for a

solution to the fables `magical economy and production` question, this is not

the book with answers for you.



My biggest concern is that it parhaps protrays a urban environment development

more typical of later periods than the medieval age as we think of it

historically. This might be a moot point though, as most campaigns I`ve seen

are highly evolved both economically and socially. This goes for the BR

setting as well, and makes the book perhaps more applicable than a truly

medieval sourcebook would.



If you are short on money I would recommend the .pdf download. There is also a

free excerpt available from RPGnow.com, but you have to be registered. The

address is:

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

Give that a quick read and you can see for yourself what qualtiy the material

is.



To finish of I`d like to say that my review might be slightly biased. I

infinitely prefer these kind of books instead of the usual mix of prestige

classes and feats thrown together an called `a must for the serious gamer`.



Cheers,

Even



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> CMonkey wrote:

> This supplement is getting a lot of press lately and I was wondering what

people thought of it? It it relevant to Birthright? More or less than a

Greyhawk / FR like campaign?

>

>Anyone have a copy?

>

>CM.

>

>

>

>

>

>