To my joy, as I was sitting down to finally start writing the 2024 posts, the last to Midkemia Press publications I was missing surfaced on eBay for not ridiculous prices. I now present them to you! This is the first, Towns of the Outlands (1981).

Longtime followers will know how much I love the Midkemia approach to cities, as laid out in Cities as a mechanical system, then presented as bespoke locations in Carse and Tulan of the Isles (all of which were later reprinted by Chaosium). Those are large cities. The idea here is to create a number of small settlements players can encounter on the road. We have a desert oasis, a smuggler’s cove, a hill fort, a trading village, a mining camp and, my favorite, a roadhouse on a forest path.

Each consists of a detailed map with keyed building and point of interest descriptions. There is also a general history. The stated intent is to create places that feel established and lived in, and I think the authors succeed nicely. This is particularly true of the roadhouse, which is the smallest settlement in the book, basically the inn, a granary, a couple farms and a small chapel hugging a well-trafficked road. But it feels well-worn. There are only a handful of people loitering about (or residing permanently at the road house as staff) and there is a strong sense of their daily lives in the brief descriptions.

Like the places it depicts, a workhorse sourcebook. I’d definitely use it.