Tales for Gamers ran a Kickstarter campaign for Medieval, Tales from Europe (aka Medieval) back in 2022 and with an estimated delivery of December 2023. It was attempt two to fund the game, dropping the target dramatically, and it worked as 159 backers raised twice the asking total.
Better late than never, today the Medieval quickstart is out and free on DriveThruRPG. I see in the crowdfunding platform’s updates that backers are getting their PDFs today, too. The physical books are due out in 2025.
The Italian publisher set themselves a hard 5e module to write because they promised;
… a new kind of realistic historical setting, based on the Middle Ages and developed to be played with the 5th Edition rules.
D&D’s rules are written for high fantasy, magic, monsters and cinematic combat. It’s not a world where some lucky farmer with a muck-covered fork can stab your shoulder, only for the wound to fester and kill you.
Tales for Gamers says;
More than a game module, Medieval represents a sophisticated time frame capable of taking the players into any era of this very long period; a tool for creating and playing multiple adventures with unlimited historical backgrounds. It is an engine capable of supporting any medieval-type setting thanks to its rules that are easily applicable to any of the centuries of the Middle Ages, leaving room for deep customization by players.
The quickstart offers an introduction to the setting, the short adventure (for four) called The Relic of Lindisfarne and accessories. The download, which is nearly 60 pages long, finishes with a preview of the full system.
Not afraid to make sweeping changes, Tales for Gamers has added historical customisations with new classes such as the Arcanist, Artist, Explorer, Fighter, Merchant, Noble, Peasant, Scholar, Scoundrel, Surgeon and Votary. There are new backgrounds to suit the age and rules that recognise our heroes are vulnerable folk.
As you might conclude, the game has a much higher difficulty level for players, and while most classes are skilled in combat, the characters will want to avoid it. There’s no magic.
Perhaps in contrast to the sombre mood and survival challenge, the cover of the quickstart shows a young scamp with a smile on their face tearing through the back streets of a European city.
The quickstart credits Andrea Oneglia, Davide Santonicola, and Giovanni Laudante with additional names for the historical research, as well as Daniele Nicotra and Ludvico Tellatin for art. This is no ashcan, the quickstart is well laid out and illustrated.
We might see the full game on DriveThruRPG once backers have their copes, and so that might be February 2025 if there are no more delays.
Quick Links
- Download: Medieval quickstart.
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