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A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe Third Edition

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This third edition of A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe adds an entirely new chapter about how to make realistic place names. A total of 18 new pages of material are contained in the 3rd edition. The below quote was said about the 1st Edition of A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe.

"If you're a DM and running a D&D game, you should have this book. Period." Monte Cook, author of the 3E Dungeon Master's Guide, and owner of Monte Cook games.

This 208-page supplement is for GMs and players who wish to add a touch of realism to their game. It's for the people who'd like to flesh out the background of their gaming world, but don't have the time to dig through scholarly books. A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe provides you flexibility and advice in creating your own world. It contains a massive amount of game-usable information about the medieval period and focuses on how D20 magic could change a traditional medieval setting. Generation systems for kingdoms, cities, manors, aristocratic wealth and landholding; a thorough construction system; and an economic simulator allow GMs to recreate the high middle ages feel with ease.

A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe solves age-old dilemmas like: How much does it cost for my PCs to repair the formerly-orc-infested abandoned keep they want to use as a home base? What would happen, politically, were the PCs to set up their keep? How big is my city of 15,000 people? How many buildings are in my city? What do all the NPCs do? How do I start my PCs on the road to becoming kings? Just how much does a king earn a year anyway? What about just a regular noble? How big is a kingdom of 5,000,000 people? How many cultivated acres does it take to feed them? How should I map towns, cities, and smaller communities within my kingdom? What type of government should I use for my kingdom? How does magical religion really work? Just what do those NPCs do with all their time?

The questions plaguing DMs and world-builders for the past twenty-five years have now been answered!

...and now with the 3rd edition, you'll get advice on how to name places in a realistic manner, with a comprehensive list of place names culled from UK topographical history, allowing you to systemically name your world as you see fit!

Here's what other reviewers have said about the 1st Edition....

"It's not a setting in and of itself, but a meta-setting you utilize for depth and richness on your own setting." Joe G Kushner at EN World.

"This is one product I'd recommend that every GM who is serious about world creation have on his or her bookshelf." Glenn Dean at D20 Magazine Rack

A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe puts the wealth and depth of European demographics in your hands. It allows you to create your world the way you’ve always wanted it to be!

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Reviews (4)
Discussions (14)
Customer avatar
Ed D October 09, 2022 3:10 am UTC
PURCHASER
What are the Core Books they refer to in this book. In several instances they say something like "according to core rulebook 2." What core rulebook are they referencing? It doesn't appear to be the D&D DMG or PHB.
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Customer avatar
Joseph B October 09, 2022 6:24 am UTC
PUBLISHER
Core rulebook 2 is the one for gamemasters in your list.
Customer avatar
Todd R May 16, 2022 4:09 pm UTC
PURCHASER
How much was changed between the 1st and 3rd Edition?
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Customer avatar
Joseph B May 16, 2022 5:23 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
The third edition contains two additional chapters:

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/146866/A-Magical-Medieval-Society-On-Place-Names?
and
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/55265/A-Magical-Medieval-Society-Western-European-Warfare?
Customer avatar
Jonathan F May 04, 2022 10:16 am UTC
PURCHASER
How married to 3e D&D is this? I'm wondering if it can be used for other systems well enough. If so, this is big on my list of things to get.
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Customer avatar
Joseph B May 04, 2022 10:18 am UTC
PUBLISHER
In my opinion it is not much so. A lot of the content is system agnostic.
Customer avatar
Peter V January 01, 2022 9:58 pm UTC
Hey, I was going to leave a (positive) review but it seems like I can't on here...?
Customer avatar
Lorenzo C November 17, 2021 9:40 am UTC
PURCHASER
I bought the PDF version (albeit at a discount) and now wish I got both PDF and print instead.
Is there any way to get a discount for the print version if we own the PDF?
Thank you
Customer avatar
Erik B October 12, 2021 9:45 am UTC
Any errata on this book? For example in Table VIII.7 I find in the upper right corner a percentage value instead of a standard number, when every other number in the table are just that: ordinary numbers. So, I imagine there's more of these typos. An errata is essential!
Customer avatar
Jim B April 09, 2021 4:17 am UTC
PURCHASER
A useful tool for me with PDF books as to bookmark a page and highlight certain areas. I cannot do that with the PDF of A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe Third Edition. I wish there is a way to do that.
Customer avatar
Alastair C November 01, 2020 2:22 pm UTC
PURCHASER
In the kingdom generator, is the value 1 acre of land for ever 2 people correct? I feel like it should be closer to 5-6 acres of land, such that on average every household had an oxgang.
Reply
Customer avatar
Ian M November 10, 2020 4:05 am UTC
First.. this is one of my favorite books ever published and I've been using it for about 10 years.
To answer your question, 3-4 acres/person is a FAR more accurate number IMO.
1 acre/2 people = 4 bu of grain/person/year yikes
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Customer avatar
Alastair C January 29, 2021 12:50 am UTC
PURCHASER
Oh yes, it and its siblings are excellent tools for realistic worldbuilding. I was just plugging in numbers for the real world and realized it seemed off. Thanks for the rapid response.
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Customer avatar
Ed D October 09, 2022 2:59 am UTC
PURCHASER
I'm working on the same problem. If my barony has 400 sq mi, how many people can live there?

There are 640 acres per sq mile. If the max cultivated land is 50%, how many acres are cultivated? One acre is fallow for every two planted acres. So we have 170,000 planted acres in grains and beans.

An acre produces about 600 pounds of grains (10 bushels). Half is required for feed and seed. That gets us to a net production of 51,000,000 lbs.

If each person requires about 600 lbs of food a year in various grains, then my barony may support 85,000 people. But how many people (adults) are needed to do the farming?

Based on my reading, a farmer could handle 20 producing acres with 10 fallow acres. We can assume this is a successful farmer and so represents 2 adults and say 1.5 additional children (the farmers have 3 children but half of their adult life is a childless home because the kids are grown). So for every 20 planted acres, we have to feed 3.5 people with 600...See more
Customer avatar
Emil H April 30, 2020 3:28 pm UTC
One of the punishments mentioned in the book is bondage for a period measured in months. What does bondage mean here? Trying to google "medieval punishments bondage" yields only BDSM.
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Customer avatar
Joseph B April 30, 2020 4:14 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
Bondage means forced labor in some manner. Typically in construction (roads, castles, etc.) but sometimes as rowers on galleys.
Reply
Customer avatar
Emil H April 30, 2020 5:09 pm UTC
That's what I thought, but I wanted to be sure. Thanks for the quick reply.
Customer avatar
Giulio T October 26, 2019 7:26 am UTC
Is this edition reviewed the economy?
I was looking for something realistic, not an armor priced 1500gp, that the whole kingdom of France would struggle to pay in 1400 AD.
Reply
Customer avatar
Emil H April 30, 2020 3:32 pm UTC
Chapter 5 is called "Economic Simulator" and has a system for varying the price and availability based on different modifiers, but the base price is still the same as in the Player's Handbook.
Reply
Customer avatar
Ed D October 09, 2022 3:00 am UTC
PURCHASER
I'm working on the same problem. If my barony has 400 sq mi, how many people can live there?

There are 640 acres per sq mile. If the max cultivated land is 50%, how many acres are cultivated? One acre is fallow for every two planted acres. So we have 170,000 planted acres in grains and beans.

An acre produces about 600 pounds of grains (10 bushels). Half is required for feed and seed. That gets us to a net production of 51,000,000 lbs.

If each person requires about 600 lbs of food a year in various grains, then my barony may support 85,000 people. But how many people (adults) are needed to do the farming?

Based on my reading, a farmer could handle 20 producing acres with 10 fallow acres. We can assume this is a successful farmer and so represents 2 adults and say 1.5 additional children (the farmers have 3 children but half of their adult life is a childless home because the kids are grown). So for every 20 planted acres, we have to feed 3.5 people with 600...See more
Reply
Customer avatar
Giulio T January 05, 2023 9:58 am UTC
I would guess a farmer to have more around 4/6 childs, on average.
From what I know a child could start helping in the fields as soon as 6 years old and be productive around 16 years old.
Keep in mind that girls would help in the fields but, also, would have other chores, like keeping care of the household clotheries, cooking, etc.
All in all, I think, an average farming family, to have 3 people in the fields full time, would require a 6 members.
Customer avatar
James R May 24, 2019 7:40 pm UTC
PURCHASER
is an update for this coming anytime soon?
Reply
Customer avatar
Joseph B May 24, 2019 7:51 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
James, currently there are no plans for a Fourth edition.
Customer avatar
Andrew S May 13, 2019 6:33 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Are there any plans to make this available as a hardback?
Reply
Customer avatar
Joseph B May 13, 2019 6:47 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
Andrew, I hadn't thought about it, but I suppose I could look into how hardbacks work - I haven't done any hardbacks here at Drivethru.
Customer avatar
Pierre P November 28, 2017 4:03 am UTC
Is there an upgrade option for someone who purchased the second edition?
Reply
Customer avatar
Joseph B November 28, 2017 5:47 am UTC
PUBLISHER
You can purchase A Magical Medieval Society: On Place Names to gain all the new material added to the second edition.
Reply
Customer avatar
Nic O June 02, 2018 7:18 pm UTC
Hi Joseph!

I’ve read the book and love it! I have a questions though, that I’d be very grateful if you answered!

Namely, how many manors might exist in a single settlement?

Say I’ve a small town of 5000 people with 4 big noble houses, and 15 minor nobles (mostly knights) does each have their own manor?

Is 19 manors within a small town historically accurate? What if a noble has more than one manor?

Furthermore, if I have a big city with dozens of noble houses, are there any manors at all? Or do all manors exist outside of cities?

Thanks in advance!
Reply
Customer avatar
Joseph B June 02, 2018 7:59 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
Generally speaking, there should only be one "manor house" in each settlement - for the lord who has ownership over the settlement. If a settlement has multiple owners, there could be multiple manor houses, but it really sounds more like you're just talking about "houses owned by nobles who don't have any feudal rights to the settlement the houses are in." For those, you can put in as many as your campaign demands.

From page 23: For magical medieval people, the word “manor” has many different meanings. The manor is the entirety of a lord’s estate, a large plot of land containing many communities, or the great house in the community set aside for the lord, his visitors, and his agents. This generation system chooses to define the manor as the community, its fields, and the nearby industry for purposes of generating income.

Reply
Customer avatar
Nic O June 02, 2018 11:20 pm UTC
Thank you for the fast reply!!

So, using this system how would you stat the other nobles living in a settlement that aren’t at the top of the social pyramid?
Reply
Customer avatar
Joseph B June 02, 2018 11:25 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
I'd put them at the top of other pyramids, based upon the production of the lands they own, regardless where they're currently residing. How you want to work them into the social aspects of the situation would be based upon your campaign needs.
Reply
Customer avatar
Nic O June 03, 2018 12:52 am UTC
Alright.

What is the likelyhood that a city also has a manor?
Reply
Customer avatar
Joseph B June 03, 2018 12:59 am UTC
PUBLISHER
In my fantasy worlds the larger cities are all chartered, meaning they not directly under the control of a lord. But many nobles do have residences in the larger cities, particular centers of government.
Reply
Customer avatar
Malcolm W May 15, 2020 3:55 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Wait — On Place Names has the new 3rd Ed. warfare content in it too?
Reply
Customer avatar
Joseph B May 15, 2020 5:07 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
Malcolm, On Place Names and On Warfare are in the third edition.
Customer avatar
Beth B September 02, 2016 1:52 am UTC
What has been added from the first two editions?
Reply
Customer avatar
Joseph B September 02, 2016 2:23 am UTC
PUBLISHER
On the Naming of Places is now Chapter 10.
Reply
Customer avatar
Joseph B September 07, 2016 2:55 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
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Platinum seller
Pages
208
Publisher Stock #
XRP1010
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