Free Stuff I like: Magical Medieval City Guide

Here is a quick look at something free that I like.

A Magical Medieval City Guide is a FREE PDF over on SJG's e23.

It's 40 pages of city-making goodness.

It does assume a bit of a magical economy, and so it fits most smoothly into a D&D-ish "I pop down to the magic store for some potions and a Continual Light spell" kind of game. But it's not so thoroughly so that it's useless for a less-freely-purchasable magic economy.

But in general, it's an excellent look at a European-style city with magic as an assumed reality. It gives you:

- a good explanation of guilds (and why "the mage down the street undercuts my prices" wouldn't be an issue)

- a good explanation of city rents to the lord, and the whole big city vs. peasants/serfs are tied to the land tension.

- how trade and pricing works

- city politics

- and lots of other little bits along those lines.

It's 40 pages, it's free, and it's easy to read and easy to reference. If you want to put together a city that feels pretty solid, this is a great reference point.