This chapter goes over some of the non-item things PCs may wish to purchase in Endon, along with crime and punishment. Endon’s criminal justice system is not concerned with determining whether or not someone’s guilty, but to show the power of the State to the public in the belief this will enforce good behavior. Trials rarely last longer than a day, and typically are never held unless the prosecution is 100% certain they can score a conviction. Penalties for crimes tend to be either fines, prison terms, or forced labor in a remote colony of Endon. Capital punishment is reserved for the most heinous of crimes, usually murder and treason. Police officers, informally known as Coppers, are meager 1 Hit Die warriors although they gain access to better gear at higher Tempos. Such devices include a uniform and helmet that reduces all incoming damage by 1, the chance to dispel a hostile magical effect targeting the wearer, a whistle that can be clearly heard out to 200 feet in any condition, and an upgrade to said whistle that can also let it paralyze a target. Endon has an army, although it operates far from the city due to the city being at war with various small nations around the globe so we at least know the government doesn’t begin and end at the metropolis’ walls. Its cavalry corps is well-paid and made up of the nobility, although its Navy is so infamous and dangerous that many among the poor prefer prison to serving on a ship. Endon’s navy is also the only government institution that forbids spellcasters from joining due to old laws.

Certain spells are illegal to cast or have possession of (whether by item or spellbook) in Endon, although most are based on circumstance. Anti-magic spells can cause havoc if cast willy-nilly so they’re only justified when it comes to personal protection. Enchantment, curses, mind-reading, and scrying* are illegal without the target’s express consent, and using magic to alter currency falls under related crimes (fraud, theft, etc). Only necromancy is a spell illegal in and of itself due to laws against trapping the passage of a soul to the afterlife. Raising soulless undead is technically legal but most police have neither the knowledge nor means to tell apart the types of undead.

*At least at the beginning of the campaign.

Beyond law and order, PCs can make use of existing and innovative healthcare. Physicians both non-magical and magical are in abundance, although due to the lack of divine magic curing the more serious diseases and injuries are still in their infancy. Doctors are wont to try out unorthodox cures represented as a d10 + Tempo + other modifiers table, and the results range from magically-infused liquor to shocking the system with extreme heat or cold; many have potentially negative effects. We also have a 1d20 table of new magical diseases, such as being telekinetically flung in a random direction whenever you move fast to your body becoming magnetic. Accommodations and Transportation are standard fare (plus bicycles as equipment and hot air balloon rides), although the real interest are tables for generating the names of inns, cab drivers, and things said inns and drivers are known for.

Our section ends by briefly covering Newspapers in Endon. They run the gamut of truthfulness and quality, and penny dreadfuls are cheap short stories specializing in action and adventure. There’s a sidebar for the costs of running a newspaper business for journalistically-inclined PCs, and how the Tempo can add moving pictures and other magical enhancements to the printing press.


This is where MIR’s apolitical stance falls apart. Skerples liberally borrows quotes from 19th-century social commenters on the contemporary state of affairs, ranging from Karl Marx talking about the commodification of human life, Charles Dickens describing the maddening sights and sounds of urban life and the hypocrisies of British Old Money, and George Orwell commenting on how the lower-middle class has been fooled by the rich into thinking that society has evolved beyond the base pursuit of greed. When you combine this with the automation of the workplace via unseen servants in the Innovation chapter, the book is painting a pretty blatant condemnation of social conservatism and free-market enterprise. I personally do not mind this message, for I’m rather left-wing myself. But you ain’t fooling me!

Tangent aside, Endon is divided into four broad social classes: the Poor are made up of the homeless, criminals, beggars, scavengers, and others who are unsure where their next meal will come. Anyone can fall into this social class by running out of money. The Lower Class are those who live hand to mouth and have just enough means to live a spartan, self-sufficient lifestyle. They are the laborers of all manner of works in Endon, and they are at constant risk of falling into the Poor from a single spate of misfortune. The Middle Class are those whose occupations center around owners of small businesses, learned folk such as doctors and lawyers, novelists and artists of some popularity, and spellcasters who found a demand for their magical services. They care more for social appearances and thus are prone to gossip and portraying exaggerated fronts of patriotism, integrity, and other social mannerisms deemed proper. The Upper Class are overwhelmingly old money nobles and thus form a tight-knit social circle. Even the richest of the Middle Class cannot be considered this unless the Monarch elevates someone to this or they marry into a family. They as a society are fearful of the changes coming to Endon and are actually more libertine in social faux pas than the Middle Class, provided that said behavior is kept out of the papers.

Each social class has a listing for necessary equipment and/or property ownership along with Daily/Seasonal gold piece costs. Each one also has a series of specific benefits: the Poor can more easily disappear into the city and make a new identity, the Working Class are not punished for Moral Crimes (sodomy,* minor illegal magic, abortion, slander, etc) as the police don’t consider it worth the trouble to prosecute, the Middle Class can vote in elections if they own property worth more than 1,000 gp and can live off of investments, while the Upper Class do not need to work to live, can be elected to Parliament, and can get away with just about any crime provided it’s kept out of the papers.

*Yes, Endon is a rather socially conservative setting. Beyond this women cannot serve in the military, and they don’t start attending higher learning institutions in appreciable numbers until the city reaches Tempo 3.

Minsters of Endon discusses Endon’s government in regards to Parliament, its chief legislative body. Although ostensibly a democracy, only men of the Upper Class can run for office, and only the property-owning Middle and Upper Class are allowed to vote. Prospective candidates must run a campaign to spread awareness of their deeds and worthiness for public office (justified or no). Two political parties, the Gumperts and Bogs, are effectively rival noble families who respectively represent Good Ol’ Days Conservatism and Free-Market Military-Industrial Neoliberalism. PCs may be able to sway Parliament via use of the newspapers (cheap) or via bribing enough people (expensive, at least 40k gp).

Parliament is corrupt and ineffective. All members are highly encouraged to vote on issues down the line via party, and actual legal scholarship is viewed as being too suspicious so most members sign laws they don’t even understand. Nobody proposes the creation of new laws or different economic policies save in overwhelming need. Ministers are the executive branch and oversee Ministries dedicated to specific areas of governance.

The Monarch, King Harold II, is Endon’s head of state and is widely beloved by the public. He has a careful balance of power with Parliament, where the Monarch is capable of exerting legal influence to override Parliament but rarely does so. In return, Parliament will not move to restrict the Monarch’s powers.

King Harold II is a 5 Hit Die non-combatant with no inherent special abilities besides an amazing Morale score and sheer authority that forces anyone attacking him to make a saving throw (unsaid which one) or freeze from inaction. Following the stat block are 1d20 rewards the Monarch may bestow upon a party when they avert a magical apocalypse or perform some other amazing deed that saves Endon. Said rewards are not all useful and vary in practicality. Minorly useful ones include the Key to the City which allows them to avoid parking and zoning fees, gaining a Sinecure post that pays a lot of money for but two hours of work a week, or the Monarch using his influence to destroy an enemy socially (such as framing them for a capital offense). Others are a hidden inconvenience, like the Monarch giving a speech wildly exaggerating the party’s deeds and thus become tasked by the public to solve troubles beyond their ability.


By far the shortest chapter of the book, a Season represents a five-month passage of time during which events happen and things are rolled for (such as with Innovations). It presumes a slower-paced type of campaign, where PCs go on a major adventure or dungeon crawl, and once that’s over the Season ends and PCs are presumed to tend to their wounds and perform more mundane activities from magical research to maintaining a business. A d100 Carousing table is provided for what happens for PCs during the Off-Season, separated into smaller d10 tables representing Endon’s 8 Deadly Sins and a d20 General Events table. They range wildly in potential boons and banes, such as being able to reroll a d20 1/session during the next Season, overeating and getting “Bulk” that takes up carrying capacity, gaining a random magic weapon, and an enemy suspecting that you have died due to your slothful indolence.

Speaking of sinning, Endonian culture is obsessed with the number eight, where major aspects of reality are believed to come in eights: there are eight points on a compass, eight noble metals, eight true colors, and eight deadly sins. Hatred is added as a new sin to the classic seven: whereas wrath represents passionate “in the heat of the moment” anger, hate represents a more detached and long-running form of contempt. Various aspect of Endonian society are associated with these sins such as dining halls for gluttony or newsagents preying upon fear and prejudice for hatred. Some sins and their institutions are associated more with certain classes (“carriage-watching” envy for lower and middle classes, “ever=changing fashions” pride with the upper) while some are more or less universal (gambling for greed and sex work for lust).

Our chapter ends with some sample poetic songs of Endon, and another clipping from Boff Magazine:


Thoughts So Far: I like the rather seamless blend of both world-building and the coverage of common goods and activities of likely interest to PCs. I’m a big fan of PCs running their own newspaper, as the “trouble seeking reporter” is a great means of getting the party into the next big adventure hook. The explanations of magic and the law sound plausible on the surface while also reflecting a flawed institution. The Season sub-system sounds interesting, although it’s geared towards a certain campaign style. The social classes and their benefits wildly differ in wealth upkeep, although I can see most PCs gravitating towards the Lower Class or the Upper if they earn the favor of the Monarch. Being able to more easily evade prosecution of Moral Crimes is something of more worth to the average adventurer than being able to vote or live off of investments. Speaking of which, sodomy laws and the barring of women from various institutions posits Endon as a less enlightened realm/setting which may not be to all gaming groups’ tastes. But overall, I liked these chapters.

Join us next time as we delve into the wizardly wonders of Endon with Magical Industry!