Deal of the Day - A Magical Society: Silk Road

The whole "A Magical Society" series of releases from Expeditious Retreat Press is a goldmine for GMs of all sorts. I have a complete collection, some of them in print, and all in PDF. They are essential reading for planning and running a campaign that lives and breathes.

Today's Deal of the Day is A Magical Society: Silk Road for $12 in PDF until tomorrow morning (usually $30). Commerce, trade routes, and more.

A Magical Society: Silk Road is a 160 page supplement detailing great overland trade routes. Borrowing extensively from the caravans of Central Asia,

A Magical Society: Silk Road covers a variety of topics: what factors engender great overland trade routes, what elements accompany the existence of silk roads, and how do caravans function on the road (with consideration to terrain). Due to general unfamiliarity with Central Asia, an entire chapter is dedicated to the historic Silk Road with maps detailing the major trade destinations. And last but not least, there is a trade system with over 1,000 trade goods, giving ultimate tools for economic simulation.

The Tavern uses affiliate links

youtube.com/@TenkarsTavern?sub_confirmation=1

Support The Tavern: tenkarstavern.com/p/support

tenkars-tavern.games/DTRPG

Deal of the Day - A Magical Society: Beast Builder

The complete "A Magical Society" series is top-notch, even if it is well over a decade old. Today's Deal of the Day is A Magical Society: Beast Builder. Normally A Magical Society: Beast Builder is 30 bucks in PDF, but until tomorrow morning at 11 AM Eastern it is marked down to $12.

A Monster Builder like nothing ever seen before…

A Magical Society: Beast Builder is 224 pages packed with information that helps you make your own monsters. In the tradition of A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe and A Magical Society: Ecology and Culture, A Magical Society: Beast Builder gives you the tools you need to make your own campaign specific monsters to challenge and excite your players while adding to the depth and realism of your campaign world.

Chapter One: Monster Concepts and Functions— Monster concepts and functions drive what a monster is and even more importantly, what it does. This chapter discusses common concepts such as creature hierarchies (juvenile, adult, elder etc.), additive abilities (like the vrock’s dance of ruin), mythological inspiration and other monster building aspects.

It gives advice on creating a good concept based upon the function of a creature. Every monster has a concept and a type (such as giant, vermin, etc.), but more than that every monster has a function; the part of the monster that answers the question “What does it do?” I outline the 20 most common functions such as grappler, caster, disabler, energy attacker and PC killer, and how such functions play out in the game. Under each function, you’ll also find a list of the creatures from the SRD as well as creatures from Monster Geographica: Underground that possess that function.

Chapter Two: Monsters and their Environment— Every monster has a place in your world and every place has its monsters. This chapter is simply stuffed with useful information about environment, ecology, biology, and behavior that will help you completely customize every creature to suit your needs. We all know that statistics alone don’t make a great monster. The best monsters are ones with a rich place within your world and this chapter will help you give your new creation a fitting background.

Chapter Three: Monster Statistics— Although a great background is a must for a great monster, statistical accuracy is just as important. This 19 page chapter discusses every bit of the monster stat block and gives you the information you need to insure your great fluff isn’t let down by poor crunch.

Chapter Four: Type and Subtype— Continuing the statistical break-down of creatures, type and subtype is analyzed in chapter four. I give advice about determining subtype (just what is an aberration anyway?) as well as breakdown on ability scores based upon the SRD monsters. You’ll find that although the rules say one thing, the execution often shows another when it comes to ability scores.

Chapter Five: Templates— Worthy of their own chapter, templates are great additions to any GMs bag of tricks. This chapter gives you information on the main 14 template (such as archetypal, greater, half, and planar-aligned) themes as well as seven main ways of acquiring a template. It finishes with a template-only version of chapters four and seven, giving you all existing information so you’ll have more options when designing your own templates.

Chapter Six: Bits and Pieces— Bits and pieces is a short chapter filled with campaign oriented monster parts. In a magical world filled with hostile monsters, holistic magic plays its role and the remains of fallen foes can often be used against those who lived. This chapter helps think of monsters from yet another perspective.

Chapter Seven: Special Attacks, Special Qualities, and Conditions— This huge chapter provides you with 600 special abilities taken from all the creatures in the SRD and all the creatures in Monster Geographica: Underground. Each of these abilities has been broken down to component parts to demonstrate useful guidelines when using them with any CR creature. For example the balor’s death throes SA/SQ is now tied to a creature’s HD, instead of being a straight 100 points of damage. Every SA/SQ has its source monsters (the monsters that possess that ability) listed as well. Once you jump into this chapter there’s no turning back; there’s simply so many cool things you could do when making your monsters you may not want to move onto the next chapter.

Appendix I: D20 Mechanic Table— A single table showing the d20 mechanic. You’ll be surprised how useful this is when deciding monster hit percentages and saving throw percentages. It’s much easier than just doing it in your head.

Appendix II: Editing Checklist— Every monster should face the checklist! A short outline-format editing checklist that covers the most common dangers/errors of d20 monster creation.

Appendix III: Random(ish) Monster Generator— And last but not least, a random(ish) monster generator is provided for when inspiration has simply gone dry. Don’t expect the most sensible results, but anything can happen! This is particularly useful if you want to make creatures for the hordes of chaos.

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. The Tavern DOES NOT do "Paid For" Articles and discloses personal connections to products and creators written about when applicable.

DTRPG, Amazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern.  You can catch the daily Tavern Chat cast on Anchor, YouTube,  or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar

Bundle of Holding - A Magical Society

A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe was one of the first PDF purchases I made back in the day, and I was very happy with it. It presented a historical view of Western society, without feeling like a textbook. Over the years I've failed to follow up on later releases, but the A Magical Society Bundle should allow me to catch up instantly ;)

The Magical Society Bundle is 19.95, and includes the following titles:

• Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe 3E
• A Magical Society: Ecology and Culture
• A Magical Society: Silk Road
• A Magical Society: Beast Builder
• The Undead Leviathan
• The Slaver Fungus
• A Magical Medieval Society: On Place Names

Adventurer! This new bundle, A Magical Society, presents historical sourcebooks and "Aggressive Ecologies" from Expeditious Retreat Press. These system-neutral tabletop roleplaying game supplements, full of ready-to-run systems, generators, gameable nuts-and-bolts details about the High Middle Ages, let you create terrain, cultures, kingdoms, landholdings, economies, and trade routes that help make every fantasy campaign setting more authentic and believable.

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. The Tavern DOES NOT do "Paid For" Articles and discloses personal connections to products and creators written about when applicable.

DTRPG, Amazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern.  You can catch the daily Tavern Chat cast on Anchor, YouTube,  or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar  

Deal of the Day - A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe Third Edition

I have an earlier edition of A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe and it is one of the finest resources a DM/GM could ever ask for in their fantasy RPG campaign.

I haven't looked at the 3rd edition yet, but until tomorrow morning, August 10th at 11 am eastern, A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe Third Edition is on sale in PDF, marked down from 30 bucks in PDF (at that price, grab the print version for 35) down to 12 bucks in PDF. I can only assume the 3rd edition is better than the earlier edition I own, and I'd give the earlier edition 5 out of 5 stars.

Don't forget to subscribe to the Tenkar's Tavern Youtube Channel to ensure you don't miss an episode. https://www.youtube.com/c/TenkarsTavern

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. DTRPG, Amazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern.  You can catch the daily Tavern Chat cast on Anchor, YouTube,  or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar