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A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe Third Edition
Publisher: Expeditious Retreat Press
by Ed D. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 10/08/2022 22:07:32

This is an outstanding book. It contained much more than I expected. I am worldbuilding a campaign setting with a human centered kingdom and this answers questions I haven't yet tackled.

Thanks a bunch.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe Third Edition
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Medieval Manager
Publisher: Past Adventures
by Ed D. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 07/10/2022 20:58:01

The only thing I don't like about this publication is it isn't sold in hardcover.

I find this an absolute treasure of facts and descriptions of how a feudal system would work, typical of the technological era of most of our D&D games (I'm sure this works with other 'systems', but I am only familiar with D&D). Most DMs will not need to, or wish to, explore the very interesting issues discussed within the 61 pages of information, but for the price of a PDF you are selling yourself short. Even if you don't need this information to run your game, it is interesting.

If your table is interested in a deeper experience, where interacting with peasants (& nobles, craftsmen from the Guild, or anything in-between) is common, this material will help you see the world from their point of view as they struggle to grow enough food or hravest enough timber or maintain a heard of livestock so they can get by.

The author elected to break down most of the economic descriptions of the worth of a major commodity into the numbers of acres of land it takes to support the people that pursue that function. If the GM knows how many square miles the kingdom includes, then a reasonable estimate of the population can be extracted from there. Likewise, the number of farms, the number of nobles, the number of herds and many other things can be easily extracted from the summary tables included in the book. This makes the utilization of the information very easy once you see how everything connects.

In my own review of the material I have found that the "prices" in the book are very reasonable and comparable to the D&D published materials. 5e states a pound of wheat (as a trade good) is worth 1 cp. This book lists a bushel of wheat as worth 6 sp. A bushel is about 60 pounds of wheat, so the prices agree. A laborer for the Lord is paid 4 gp for a month of labor, when they are not paid in other means. A poor lifestyle in 5e is 2 sp per day. When you account for the number of holidays maintained by the church, 4 gp per month and 2 sp per day agree quite well.

I'm very glad to have stumbled on this at Drive Thru RPG and I heartily recommend it for anyone doing their own worldbuilding. It isn't a 5e setting, but it gives you a very good understanding of the economics that would suppoort your own, although you'd have to add in your own expectation of how magic would change things, which I believe is something like how heavy machinery changes ours.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Medieval Manager
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