[Mythras] Book of Schemes Now Available

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Loz

Loz

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The long awaited 'Book of Schemes' is now available to buy.

A complete city, and inspired by the medieval city-states of the Hanseatic league, this book is not a fairy tale. It is not about heroes and heroines. It is certainly not about standing up to and overcoming evil. This book is about grey morality, personal interests and rivalry. This is Book of Schemes, a Mythras supplement to help you weave scheming and intrigue into your campaigns – and turn your players into Machiavellian masterminds.

Set in the city-state of Guelden, in the lands known as Wittringia, Book of Schemes is a self-contained guide to the city, its politics, people, factions, secrets, feuds, plots and duplicities. In these pages you will find everything needed for an exciting campaign using Guelden's streets as a backdrop. Book of Schemes also covers the cults, magic, guilds and gangs of the city, and contains a multitude of scenario ideas, and a complete introductory adventure: Chaos at the Quay.

Written by Dan True, mastermind behind the Combat Training Module series, Book of Schemes is a fascinating addition to the Mythras city book range, and is easily used with, and alongside, Mythic Constantinople, Fioracitta, and the cities found in the Book of Quests.

So prepare to walk the labyrinthine cobbles of Guelden… but watch your back. Treachery is only a footfall away.

Print Edition (Hardback, 272 pages, Colour and B/W): $44.99
PDF: $16.99

TDM Store: https://thedesignmechanism.com/book-of-schemes-print/
Lulu: https://tinyurl.com/yck4c2dh

Book of Schemes is also available from DrivethruRPG in both print and PDF: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/468943/Book-of-Schemes

Book of Schemes Cover Large.png
 
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Just came to post the link to this, just got the email. Looks interesting. Loz beat me to it!
 
This product is right up my alley, although for various reasons it might be a while before I order my copy:gooseshades:.
 
Sort of. They shapeshift into otters in the water.

I've not picked up book of schemes yet, and my last preview of it was a couple years ago. Anyone pick it up?
 
Raleel said:
Sort of. They shapeshift into otters in the water.

I've not picked up book of schemes yet, and my last preview of it was a couple years ago. Anyone pick it up?
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Yes, based on a cursory flip through it looks like a winner. Funnily enough that’s because it does the basics well. Stat blocks are present and correct and properly laid out. There should be no need to roll NPCs in a Guelden campaign. Factions have stat blocks too.

Arguably, the book is too real world to be fantastical and too fantastical to be historical. The city of Guelden is overtly based on an imperial free city of the late fifteenth century. Given the name and the fact that the city is a seaport it is presumably somewhere in Burgundy. Instead we get Wittringia which could have been given a miss.

The putative location makes the city a bit hard to drop into landlocked settings - such as Silesia in AD 1456. However, it would work well for anyone whose life’s ambition has been to play The Empire with Mythras rather than WFRP. If one squints one can see a RQIII era Western Glorantha location.

Since our home campaign is currently based in Antwerp, having passed through Amsterdam, Bristol and Rouen I can see the point of the tools. I suspect that Guelden might end up as a city in Hyborian Argos for my purposes.

Art is good, although I find the captions a bit twee (mind you one does get attached to campaign characters which I assume the exemplars in the book started out as).

Anyway, I don’t begrudge the £14 I have given The Design Mechanism. Well done to everyone involved.
 
Just a comment to SJB above :smile:
Guelden is on a river, not the sea (though it can easily be changed to a seaport). So it is must more likely to be a city on the Rhine, the Oder or any other river in Germany or northern Italy.

- Dan
 
In the words of a Mythras gamer who doesn’t post here “this is the campaign I didn’t know I was waiting to run”

Cannot wait for my hardcover so I can sit in my reading chair, drinking mead and just absorbing the content.
 
Dan True said:
Just a comment to SJB above :smile:
Guelden is on a river, not the sea (though it can easily be changed to a seaport). So it is must more likely to be a city on the Rhine, the Oder or any other river in Germany or northern Italy.

- Dan
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Welcome to the Pub Dan True Dan True !

...how well can you turn it into a city on Seine:thumbsup:?
 
Thank you.

Fairly easily. I actually used a lot of stuff from historical Troyes, especially on how the guilds are organised and how they intrigue amongt themselves.

The two biggest issues would be:

1. That everyone is named something German-sounding ;) so you'd need to Frankify a lot of the names, and perhaps some other cultural quirks.
2. No town on the seine is a mining town. So you'd have to redo the mining activity to instead center around the wool markets and spice trade with Italy.

- Dan
 
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Dan True said:
Thank you.

Fairly easily. I actually used a lot of stuff from historical Troyes, especially on how the guilds are organised and how they intrigue amongt themselves.

The two biggest issues would be:

1. That everyone is named something German-sounding ;) so you'd need to Frankify a lot of the names, and perhaps some other cultural quirks.
2. No town on the seine is a mining town. So you'd have to redo the mining activity to instead center around the wool markets and spice trade with Italy.

- Dan
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Thank you:thumbsup:!

It's still a very early project-in-development*, so who knows what I'd end up using it for... but I'm asking for the current state of the project!
Eh, I think forum regulars are used to my, ahem, quirks** by now:grin:!


*As in, "probably unlikely to happen for a couple years". I usually think one or two campaigns ahead:shade:.
**People like me are why GURPS only gives you points for the first 5 quirks! Though that "used to" might be read as "resigned", I suspect...:gooseshades:
 
AsenRG said:
Thank you:thumbsup:!

It's still a very early project-in-development*, so who knows what I'd end up using it for... but I'm asking for the current state of the project!
Eh, I think forum regulars are used to my, ahem, quirks** by now:grin:!


*As in, "probably unlikely to happen for a couple years". I usually think one or two campaigns ahead:shade:.
**People like me are why GURPS only gives you points for the first 5 quirks! Though that "used to" might be read as "resigned", I suspect...:gooseshades:
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If you do move further with this, I can recommend "Life in a Medieval City" by Frances and Joseph Gies. It in detail describes medieval Troye with a lot of detail.

- Dan
 
Dan True said:
If you do move further with this, I can recommend "Life in a Medieval City" by Frances and Joseph Gies. It in detail describes medieval Troye with a lot of detail.

- Dan
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I'm pretty sure I have that one.

More material never hurts, though:shade:.
 
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