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APPEARANCE
High Medieval is a hard-cover, 255-page book with an outstanding cover illustration depicting, in classic medieval style, a group of nobles and servants moving across a landscape outfitted for the hunt. The interior text is large, widely spaced, and crisply printed in black on a bright white background. It is easier on the eyes than most of my recent game purchases. The layout includes a border consisting of a gray-scale line drawing in which skeletons, goblins, warriors and various other things are intertwined into a Hieronymus Bosh-esque collage. It resembles the border that appears on the interior pages of Burning Wheel, if you have seen that.
The interior illustrations are sufficient, and the average quality is professional though not exemplary. A few are very nice. Several are poor. The editing is generally good (particularly in the long essays on subjects relevant to the setting). The exception is the chapter on creatures and monsters, which clearly was never subjected to even the most indifferent editorial oversight (e.g., there are many ‘tab’ errors where text is near illustrations, and most creatures have a place in their entry where their weight should appear; none is accompanied by a number). This is bothersome and unprofessional, but does not significantly impact the use of the book and is restricted to only one chapter. Overall, this is an attractive, functional book.
SETTING
High Medieval is set in Europe and the near east in 1250 AD. While the setting contains elements of fantasy (including magic, fantasy races and monsters), these are ornaments hung on an essentially historical framework. If you are unfamiliar with medieval history, this period is characterized by the following things: Europe is Christian and the church is arguably the most important glue that defines the continent as a single cultural entity. Nevertheless, tensions exist: Christianity is divided into Catholicism, the Orthodox Church in Byzantium, and heterodox churches (e.g., the Celtic Catholic church in Ireland). Moreover, heretics and Wiccan witches present an internal threat and the great Islamic nations to the east and south are an enduring challenge.
France is the strongest and most coherent nation in Europe; it is also the most Chivalrous and led by the most famous king in Christendom (Louis IX). Britain is a fractured and weakly-led land, the Holy Roman empire is a chaotic mix of principalities, and the Italian city states strive with each other with a manic intensity no outsider can understand. Non-human races are of two kinds: Those who have accepted Christianity and attempted to partially integrate with the human world (e.g., gnomes and what passes for hobbits), and those who reject religion and human society and live far from humanity in jealously guarded enclaves (e.g., elves). All are rare, isolated to just a few places, and clearly intended to be mysterious and somewhat suspect to most humans. Elves in particular are supposed to posses great and mysterious powers and to be unpredictable, probably hostile, neighbors.
The text covering recent history and culture, nations and the church is outstanding. One can find more thorough treatments of these subjects in perhaps one or two other games (e.g., Ars Magica and the relevant GURPS setting books), but spread over a large number of relatively dense supplements. Here, the reading is light, evocative, more or less accurate and easily sufficient for setting the tone of an historically-based roleplaying game. The designers of High Medieval hit all the right notes here.
CORE SYSTEM
High Medieval uses a version of the OMNI system, which is derived from the relatively successful and well-liked Talislanta. Briefly, event resolution is performed by rolling 1d20, adding a score in a relevant attribute (usually a whole number between -5 and 5) and a score in relevant skill (usually a whole number between 1 and 20), subtracting penalties that reflect the difficulty of the task (for example, the attribute and skill levels of a foe in a contested action), and comparing the result to a table of sliding success, which varies from abject failure, to partial success, to full success to critical success. The mechanic is broadly similar to that used in many other well-engineered modern games and is very much like Unisystem (at least the version I’ve seen in ‘Buffy’). A quick run through the probabilities involved in task resolution indicates that this incarnation of the OMNI system promotes extreme events, particularly when contestants are miss-matched or a character is taking a serious risk. For example, any protracted combat is sure to involve multiple ‘fumbles’ and ‘criticals’.
The sections describing skills and mechanics for common adventure events provide guidance as to how difficulty modifiers should be set and levels of success interpreted, but this system really calls for player and game master judgment and inventiveness. If you are comfortable making snap decisions and flexible enough to accept some variance in the calls game masters make, you will very much like this system. If you prefer games that spell out modifiers and detailed outcomes for all types of actions, you will be disappointed. The game design decision on this issue strikes me as highly appropriate for the overall goal: Morrigan has produced a single-volume book of normal length that provides everything you need to roleplay in medieval Europe. That recipe simply precludes providing several pages of guidance on every circumstance imaginable.
CHARACTERS
Characters are defined by seven ‘normal’ Attributes (Strength, Constitution, Intelligence, Willpower, Perception, Dexterity and Charisma) and six special Attributes (Nobility, Piety, Magic, Renown, Hit Points and Speed). Normal attributes are determined randomly and vary from -5 o 5 (0 is average for humans); special attributes depend on background, possibly modified by a primary attribute, and normally equal 0 or higher. I believe Speed should have been treated as a ‘normal’ attribute, and have decided to run my own games with that ‘tweek’.
Character definition and advancement is class-based, and after determining attributes one selects a beginning class from among Outsider, Commoner, Freeman, Lesser Noble and Greater Noble. This choice dictates one’s starting levels at special attributes, how much money and other possessions you start play with, what sorts of skills you can best advance at, how many ‘skill points’ you have to purchase levels in those skills, what kinds of ‘talents’ you may choose (more on these below), and occasionally other special benefits.
Skills are defined by levels that are cardinal numbers and are purchased with skill points. To first order, you simply divide the skill points you receive during character creation or advancement among the skills you wish to know. The only significant complication is that each background or class has preferred skills, which are purchased on a 1:1 basis, whereas non-preferred skills are purchased on a 2:1 basis.
Finally, characters have talents, which are a mix of many things: some resemble feats from 3rd edition D&D; others are essentially unusual skills (e.g., witchcraft); others provide a means of shaping your character’s social networks, wealth and influence. Thus, one player might use his talents to inherit land, improve his rank within the nobility and gain royal favors; another might use them to become sufficiently pious to perform miracles; another might use them to gain kewl powerz in combat.
As with the core task resolution system, character generation in High Medieval is a streamlined composite of concepts found in several other well-designed games. The treatment of character occupations is most like a cross between the class and level based play of Dungeons and Dragons (and its many, many offspring) and the career system of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying. The result is exceedingly simple to execute and provides all the ease of play and minimal book-keeping of class-based games, but retains the flexibility and versimilitude of more ‘career-focused’ character systems. It is an excellent compromise among the various competing demands one encounters in character generation. It is easy to think of ways in which the system should be expanded or detailed, but it serves its purpose well (remember, we are doing one full game in one normal sized book!). One clear omission is that there should have been a Clergy starting class to cover characters who want to begin play. This is another simple house rule that I implemented immediately.
Mundane characters (soldiers, thieves, merchants, etc.) can start play as relatively completely formed archetypes. Characters with unusual powers or abilities (e.g., magic users or priests) must increase in level before they can come into their own. Thus, if you wish to play a sorcerer, you have two choices: Either convince your game master to let you design a character that begins play with two or three levels of previous experience, or accept that you must play a bookish scholar or powerless apprentice for several sessions before you gain enough experience to learn real magic.
EXPERIENCE AND ADVANCEMENT
Character advancement is by levels, either in the small set of classes described above (outcast, lesser noble, etc.), or in a larger number of classes that correspond to actual jobs (‘Monk’, ‘Knight’; referred to as ‘callings’). Classes principally serve to organize a character’s list of preferred skills and talents, and most resemble ‘Warhammer’s career paths. Characters may move freely back and forth between various kinds of classes when advancing, contingent on meeting certain pre-requisites for some classes. One may not volunteer to join a simple, socially-based class that you did not start in (i.e., a born outcast may not simply choose to become a noble). Level advancement provides additional skill points that can be used to gain new skills or advance old ones. The experience system is designed to advance characters once per one or two adventures, so the idea is many frequent ‘level ups’, each of which is somewhat less significant than a level in D&D. The one significant omission is that little is done with the Renown attribute. This should be important to players (like ‘Glory’ in Pendragon), but is neglected here.
COMBAT
Combat is resolved using rules closely tied to the core mechanics described above. Damage varies with the level of success at one’s attack roll and does not require a separate roll (in fact, very few rolls are required to sort out a round of combat, making the system fast and cinematic even for large skirmishes). Armor reduces damage. Damage done to combatants reduces their hit points. When hit points fall below 0, characters must make saving throws to avoid death, disfigurement, permanent injury and various other things. Critical hits force a saving throw to avoid disabling injury. Provisions are made for tactical movement, multiple actions and active defenses (e.g., parries), but the core combat system does not include a long laundry list of special actions (disarming attacks, hacking the head off a spear, etc.). Nevertheless, the discussion of combat and description of weapons makes it clear that one is supposed to permit such actions and simply adjudicate their relevant modifiers on the fly. These special actions are grouped together as ‘stunts’, and the game master is provided with many qualitative descriptions and guidance as to how they should be handled. However, if you are the sort of person who develops ulcers when trying to pick between a -5 and -6 action modifier, you will be unhappy: In the end, it is up to you. This game contains all the core elements of well-designed combat systems from previous games, no clearly broken rules, and some guidelines as to how the system can be expanded to resolve special circumstances, with judicious game-master oversight.
MAGIC
The magic system has mechanics that are tied directly to the core task resolution system; i.e., you have a relevant attribute, a relevant skill, you add their values to a D20 roll, subtract a modifier that reflects the difficulty of the spell, and compare the total to the sliding scale of success. This sounds (and is) very simple: there are only 12 skills (‘Illusion’, ‘Summoning’, etc.) and it is perfectly clear how effects of spells cast with these skills relate to the difficulty level of the spell. Most of the text of the chapter on magic is devoted to describing the various magical skills function and are learned (i.e., much as other skills) and, most importantly, the several magical traditions one can follow to become a magic user. These include Alchemy, Demonology, Sorcery and Witchcraft, plus the miraculous prayers of pious Christians, which function as a form of magic called ‘Occult’. Several of these traditions also can create permanent enchantments, which all function in about the same way. Each magical tradition is described briefly but succinctly and with interesting tidbits of historical reference, and then there is a list of ca. a dozen spells belonging to that tradition. Interesting, the premise of the system is that all spell casting must be tied to a specific, well-defined and previously learned spell (or prayer in the case of occult magic), but players are encouraged to mostly create their own spell book. In some systems this would be a cop out (‘congratulations, you get to make it all up yourself!’), but this version actually works. The key is that each spell must be an expression of a particular skill, those skills have well-defined mechanics, and there is a good amount of guidance and example provided to help you along your way. One could easily read the magic chapter, and then sit down and write a half dozen spells in an hour total. The game master is intended to control access to spells (i.e., the characters are ‘discovering’ them in tomes, etc;, not cooking them up in a kitchen), presumably by consulting with the players, and the players are encouraged to use the spell-writing process as a way to shape their character, his or her powers, and, indirectly, the way magic works in the campaign.
RELIGION
Religion is a key component of the setting, and some characters will choose to follow deeply religious careers (e.g., Monk). Some of these may learn to perform occult magic (i.e., miracles). An extensive chapter discusses the various sides of the church (power structure, corruption, etc.) to provide guidance for these characters and or those who interact with churchy NPCs.
BEASTIARY
The chapter on creatures, monsters and non-human races is decidedly mixed. The text for most entries is well written, interesting and evocative. Some of the art is good; some very poor. The formatting contains obvious mistakes and omissions (though none are important). The choice of creatures is adequate but skips some I expected to see (old fashioned, fantasy dragon? Standard giant? Both are easily extrapolated from creatures that are here, but I would have thought these would be starting points of any monster chapter). The one serious bone I have to pick with the designers concerns their entries for elves. The text, and background material in the rest of the game, suggests I should be looking for scary, amoral immortals with incomprehensible magic. What I get in the stat block is a vanilla mook that any farm hand could push over with his pitchfork. This is an incomprehensible omission, and has to be remedied by anyone who wants to include serious kick-ass fae as part of their setting.
CHROME
There are a few additional sections of rules and technical details that don’t drive the game but are included as elaborations, such as encumbrance, disease, equipment, etc. The Encumbrance rules are dorky; I suggest ignoring or replacing them with a house rule. The discussion of and rules for disease is very good. Gear (armor, weapons, etc.) is generally setting appropriate, diverse and reasonably statted (An exception is the falchion. Truth: A common one-handed hacking sword used throughout western Europe and good for going after foes in mail; Game: a giant two-handed arab scimitar sort of like something Sinbad the Sailor). This is another part of the game I believe can benefit from an optional house rule or two, such as weapon-specific modifiers for hacking through armor (like the armor penetration stat from D20 Conan, or the armor-busting modifiers in Pendragon). However, the game already includes weapon-specific modifiers for other things, and more of the same kind are a natural and easy addition.
COMPARISONS WITH OTHER MEDIEVAL GAMES:
Ars Magica is a far richer game and, after 5 editions, has no formatting errors or ‘holes’ in the rulebook. But, it is highly specific to its mage-focused metastory, and is a truly ‘big’ game. If you want a flexible, single-book, easily learned and played game for this setting, High Medieval is actually a better choice. Pendragon is also a richer, better game, but is also focused strongly on only one element of medieval roleplaying (chivalric knightly adventure). High Medieval is the better choice for a broad and flexible campaign in this setting.
Chivalry and Sorcery was originally created with design goals similar to those that motivated High Medieval, but ended up in a very different place. The current edition provides surprisingly little guidance regarding setting and is very complex and ‘dense’. I am one of the few admirers of C&S, but High Medieval is the better solution for most groups. Harnmaster also aims to simulate a medieval setting, and is a well-designed game. It does not support setting-specific religion and magic in the same way High Medieval does, and is principally intended for its own fictional setting (Harn).
Avalanche press and Green Ronin have produced a series of D20 supplements that are usable for pseudo-historical medieval roleplaying. These have the same level of accessibility and ease of play as High Medieval, but I believe the classes (esp. mages and priests) are not a good match a medieval setting. If you are already invested in third-edition D&D, these may be good options for you. If not, I suggest trying High Medieval before moving in this direction.
GURPS Middle Ages is perhaps the biggest competition for High Medieval’s target market because it is similarly flexible and suitable for a medieval campaign, the writing is quite good, and the rules are tight. If you are already a committed GURPS player and have some of the relevant supporting books, this might be a better option. However, I believe nearly 10 GURPS books are really needed to play a Medieval campaign the way I’ld like, and that is a huge investment in money and time. If you are approaching such a campaign fresh and looking for a ‘light’, flexible rule set and introduction to the period, High Medieval is the smarter place to start. Settings I know less about but suggest you investigate before purchasing include: Fantasy Imperium (famous for its old-school completism… and rules bloat), Cthulhu Dark Ages (call of Cthulhu in chainmail), Mythic Russia (well-liked; probably better made; far more specific setting confined to…Russia).
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