Of course you can. A backer very kindly asked if I could answer twenty quick questions about the setting in a Jeff Rients blog style. This is the article in question: http://jrients.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/twenty-quick-questions-for-your.html

And here are my answers: 1. What is the deal with my cleric’s religion? A Game Master should feel free to use whatever gods, deities, devils, demons or superior-beings he feels is appropriate to his campaign ideas. There is devoutness in The Midderlands, but it is generally untargeted and vague. There is no real monotheism, but more an intangible collective. There is a perception of there being bright, light and airy heavens above them, and dark, cold, deathly green hell below them. There is a suggested table of theme gods in the book.

1. Where can we go to buy standard equipment? In any large town. Even the smaller towns can have quite a bit of it. The setting prefers the idea of barter rather than using coinage. Coinage is still perfectly valid, but a barrow of turnips or painting the outside of a house has a value to the commonfolk.

2. Where can we go to get platemail custom fitted for this monster I just befriended? One of the cities or capitals on the Havenland map.

3. Who is the mightiest wizard in the land? Dabblers in the arcane arts of casting spells and summoning are generally mistrusted and even persecuted in some of the region’s backwater areas. Witchfinders wander the lands. The current caster of any note, who is possibly quite mad, is Eelian Smythe, “The Bird Man”.

4. Who is the greatest warrior in the land? It’s difficult to say, the Lords and Ladies tend to be battle-hardened and noted warriors. Also, their bodyguards.

5. Who is the richest person in the land? Queen Elspeth IV. Based on Queen Elizabeth I, they call her ‘The Mad Queen’.

6. Where can we go to get some magical healing? Many of the churches throughout the setting are happy to fill their coffers with coin and finery in exchange for healing.

7. Where can we go to get cures for the following conditions: poison, disease, curse, level drain, lycanthropy, polymorph, alignment change, death, undeath? If you want specialist treatment, then other than isolated clergyfolk, cities or capitals are the places to go.

8. Is there a magic guild my MU belongs to or that I can join in order to get more spells? Any that are, are pretend to be sage or other kinds of scholarly guilds, as gatherings of magic-users sows seeds of discontent amongst the unwashed masses.

9. Where can I find an alchemist, sage, or other expert NPC? Again, head to the larger towns, cities, or capitals.

10. Where can I hire mercenaries? Relatively easy to pick up, but if you want them in numbers, you need to head to the cities and capitals.

11. Is there any place on the map where swords are illegal, magic is outlawed or any other notable hassles from Johnny Law? The ruling Lords and Ladies after look the towns, and it is their own guard/militia forces that keep order. Most are flexible on weapons. No-one really trusts an arcane caster. Act like a barbarian, and you will be treated like a barbarian. Murmurings and uprisings are quashed with disproportionate power.

12. Which way to the nearest tavern? Just check out the Midderlands and havenland maps. There is an adventure in the first book which starts in The Punched Muckulus Tavern in Burnton. Also, The Rat Dog Inn will feature in the second book.

13. What monsters are terrorizing the countryside sufficiently that if I kill them I will become famous? Six-headed Sewer Gripes, Oorgthrax and Slitherings from book 1 are fearsome.

14. Are there any wars brewing I could go fight? The new book plants seeds of a serpentfolk menace from across the seas.

15. How about gladiatorial arenas complete with hard-won glory and fabulous cash prizes? Book 2 features one in Nowthcastle. The town is renowned for its gladiatorial coliseum in which bloodsports are actively encouraged. The most famous current gladiator is the Mukdhim warrior, Abrim Al Cadaber bin Hakklamukh, or The Eastern Tiger.

16. Are there any secret societies with sinister agendas I could join and/or fight? The Silver Hand are the main one. Also, there are lots of black-clad warriors without any heraldry making the populace uneasy and blocking trades routes and such. The Guild of Ironworkers. The Thirteen Barbels.

17. What is there to eat around here? Just checkout the Oddities section of book 1. There are notes on the flora and fauna. Bognock Gooseberry, Alderwych Rhubarb, and Midderland Carp, etc.

18. Any legendary lost treasures I could be looking for? Gloomium Blade. The setting has a green-hued theme that pervades and corrupts the closer you get to its gloomium core. Deep in the Middergloom, near the centre of the world is a spinning core of ethereal, arcane metal known as ‘gloomium’. To look upon it is to invite madness, as it is colossally huge, intensely bright green, and infinitely denser than iron. A Gloomium Blade is ‘as rare as rockin’ oss shit’ as they say in Walshale. So rare in fact that no one living has even seen one. Forged from the spinning core of the world, a gloomium blade is a thing of awe. Ethereal, dense, and so intensely green it hurts the eyes.

19. Where is the nearest dragon or other monster with Type H treasure? The biggest creatures are going to appear in book 2, with one I have been looking at only the other day, Ancient Tentacled Horror of the Gloomium Core. These beasts lie deep in the earth. There are also dragons.

Last updated: March 15, 2018 04:19

Yes, this is occurs when the shipping weight jumps past 2kgs (4.4lbs). The service we normally use is not supported for packages over 2kgs, and we have to use a different carrier because of the weight. Sorry about that.

Last updated: March 15, 2018 04:18

For anyone that pledged at a pledge level including digital rewards during the Kickstarter, digital rewards will be shipped (via DriveThruRPG and RPGNow) as follows:

October 2018: Artifact 1 (NEW): The Midderlands Expanded (PDF) Artifact 2 (NEW): Die-Drop Card only (PDF/JPG) Artifact 3 (NEW): A2 Folded Havenland Map/Mood Art (PDF/JPG)

Already shipped to your Kickstarter surveyed email address: Artifact 4 (OLD): The Midderlands Setting & Bestiary (PDF) Artifact 5 (OLD): The Midderlands A2 Folded Poster Map (PDF/JPG)

If you were a Leechfield pledger and have not received your Artifacts 4 and 5, let me know.

Last updated: March 15, 2018 04:24

No, pre-orders are for physical products only, and also a benefit of backing the Kickstarter. If you want to get your hands on a digital copy, you can purchase that separately here: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/221994/The-Midderlands–OSR-Bestiary-and-Setting

Last updated: March 15, 2018 04:41

All physical rewards will be shipped in October 2018 (if not before).

This includes the first book (which is currently in reserved stock), and is done to keep the packaging and shipping costs as low as possible for backers and those who preordered. There is no option to ship that out ahead of the release of Book 2.

Last updated: March 15, 2018 04:47

I intend to lock down the surveys on 15th May 2018. I will also activate the charges to credit cards at this time.

PayPal charges will be taken after survey completion as per your usual PayPal funding arrangements

Last updated: April 10, 2018 04:27