It might be that. I have studied the medieval history of Barcelona quite consistently through the rantings of one of my grandparents (it was his longlife hobby) so the guilds did not give me much, really. However, I have to say kudos about the drafting of the guilds and the like, since it is well done What happens is that I do not feel that the added economics system contributes to my usefulness from a SG POV as more boxed inserts with story seeds for the city could have. Some of the inserts are amazing (I am using the charters with vis in a session soon enough for sure!) but there were others that I found lacking. A chapter on urban covenants disguissed as merchant houses or businesses would have done, with the associated problems of grogs forming a guild and the stores that the crime networks can spawn, for example. In a sense it is a little bit too.... mundane for my liking That is not bad, but it is too centered in trade for me to find it a really good source of story material.
I guess I expected some elaboration on the "Urban Covenant" and "road" hooks in Covenants/ArM5. Not finding it there, .... well, it entertained me for 2 days but I guess I am not using it much. I hope others do use it, though!
Xavier, I think that it is safe to say that you're troupe's approach is an outlier from the norm presented in the RAW. And it is great that you don't like the book or that you "put it down with distaste", but I kind of missed a bone fide remark on your generel dislike of crunch as the backdrop for your dislike of the book.
Huh. I'm in an on-line game with just two magi, and no companions (although one of them is moderately mercantily interested). And I found a number of plot ideas in the book usable in my game, few of which have anything to do with the covenant's mundane trade.
We have, I think, no interest in the Labor Point system presented, because that isn't a part of the game that interests us (although in previous games it would have been welcome, as I've had multiple players over the years interested in running a trader of some sort). And when my table-top game restarts I doubt we will have interest in using it there either.
However, I found the book interesting and valuable.
I am so looking forward to the local Fairy King offering a charter to a new town in competition with the local lord.
Axctually, so far Timothy and most of the other authors read me both here and in the berserklist. They are quite aware to the fact that I find the rules-crunching as the main weakness of ArM5. or they should be aware of it by now! . It is too centered in getting new mechanics into the system and too low in providing some basic information. C&G is an example of that. I find that a whole labor system and specific stats for illnesses were uncalled for, while some more information that I find relevant is missing.
Obviously the books has some really good parts, but I found the overall result to fall out of my areas of interest. I will be using small details of the book, but I am likely to photocopy the 4-5 pages I am likely to ever need and store the book safely for consultation in 15 years time. Old ArM books always make me smile, at least, so it might improve with time. I am loving the seasons adventures of ArM2 (3?) after 12 years or so without reading them
There is Calebais as a starting adventure. IMO it is one of the 3 best adventures for any RPG I have ever read. the other 2 being the ghoul of saint lazare ones published for ArM4. I much prefer story seeds than adventures, since I tend to find that they match myuch better for any setting I have. in this sense I give full kudos to the ArM authors. A series of adventures also exist if yoyu plan to work some of the AM studff into your sagas, for example, while a set adventure is more difficult to work into the specifics of a given saga.
What happens is that I do not feel that the added economics system contributes to my usefulness from a SG POV as more boxed inserts with story seeds for the city could have. Some of the inserts are amazing (I am using the charters with vis in a session soon enough for sure!) but there were others that I found lacking. A chapter on urban covenants disguissed as merchant houses or businesses would have done, with the associated problems of grogs forming a guild and the stores that the crime networks can spawn, for example. In a sense it is a little bit too.... mundane for my liking 
. It is too centered in getting new mechanics into the system and too low in providing some basic information. C&G is an example of that. I find that a whole labor system and specific stats for illnesses were uncalled for, while some more information that I find relevant is missing.
