The Book of Strongholds & Dynasties

The first in the new ‘Classic Play’ series from Mongoose Publishing, The Book of Strongholds and Dynasties covers one field of central importance to any d20 game in unprecedented depth and detail. This series will form a collection of definitive works on subjects relevant to any gaming group.

The Book of Strongholds and Dynasties is not just another book about castles. All too often, the word ‘stronghold’ means only one thing, namely the typical stone keep on top of a hill, complete with crenellations and arrow slits in its walls. It is an enduring image from fantasy literature and cinema. As such, it is rarely explored in depth.

Here you will find not only the lore of castles, but dozens of other strongholds and other buildings, enough to build all the major features of a city. Everything from the humblest farmhouse to the mightiest palace is covered between these covers.

Having harvested the resources or had them delivered to you by professional builders’ guilds characters can build anything from a log cabin of wood to a towering fortress in crystal. Rules found herein cover the transformation of an ordinary manor house into a fortified tower or the skull of a dead god into a homely retreat.

The Book of Strongholds and Dynasties unveils the Open Governmental System, a set of game mechanics that allows players to establish themselves as kings, princes, potentates, dictators, generals, theocrats and governors. After they have made their fortune as an adventurer, they can now try their hand as a monarch or as a politician. As a despot, governing with force, a plutocrat using your wealth to buy your way to power or a High King uniting the tribal warlords of a battle-ravaged country with nothing but your powers of leadership they must learn to wield new kinds of power.

An expanded and updated version of the Open Mass Combat System version II, completes this tome of architectural lore. After all, what use are rules for building strongholds without some rules to smash them down with!