Historical mideval setting

[pestigor]

Thanks for all the good info folks! I'll be looking!

[Phantasm]

Originally Posted by Polydamas

GURPS Saduria is a thinly disguised central Europe circa 1500, like Game of Thrones (well, that is more 15th century Britain), Warhammer Fantasy, some LARP settings, etc.

"Medieval" to me screams 800-1300 AD; 1500 AD is getting well into the Renaissance era, when things are becoming much more centralized. The Holy Roman Empire was very decentralized; the name is a triple oxymoron, as it was neither Holy, nor Roman, nor really an Empire. It was a confederation of small kingdoms, baronies, counties, duchies, principalities, and city-states with a common overall culture and language (and even then I suspect the languages and dialects varied a lot internally), sharing a figurehead Emperor (which I believe was not entirely hereditary). Plenty of wars of succession between various members, which IMO makes it great for historical adventuring and court intrigues. Just sadly my local public library doesn't have much on it beyond a few Time-Life series books that cover the major points but don't give much more than that because they had to cover everything else in limited space. No books on the HRE as a whole by itself. :(

[pestigor]

Thanks, I didn't think of the HRE (probably my anglophile upbringing). That might be where I focus some research.

[The Colonel]

Seriously, the HRE is crying out for a good splatbook - although the sheer complexity of the place would probably mean that you could beat a dog to death with it. Someone should also buy the rights to the cRPG Darklands and remake it without ruining it.

The Codex Guide to the Medieval Baltic by J.H. Chandler is pretty good for the c.15 Hanse though if that helps. And the Hanse has plenty of scope for RPG fun.

[JoelSammallahti]

I recommend Crusades and Locations: St. George's Cathedral. I'm pretty sure between those two and Wikipedia, you're pretty much covered.

[Phantasm]

Originally Posted by JoelSammallahti

I recommend Crusades and Locations: St. George's Cathedral. I'm pretty sure between those two and Wikipedia, you're pretty much covered.

I completely forgot about Crusades. Constantinople covers a lot of the time period, though admittedly closer to the Middle East (the center of civilization back then) than the Europe commonly thought of for "medieval" gaming. (And most peoples' idea of "pseudo-medieval fantasy" is closer to "Renaissance but lacking guns", with its full suits of plate armor, rapiers, and three-masted sailing ships.

[safisher]

Locations: Worminghall describes a medieval town and university. Even if you don;t have magic, it's a nicely detailed survey of a medieval town. It would take only a few little tweaks to make it fit into any generic medieval setting.

[DanHoward]

Yeah, Worminghall is good. Definitely worth adding to the list.

[hal]

Originally Posted by DanHoward

Yeah, Worminghall is good. Definitely worth adding to the list.

You guys! I had resisted buying anything largely with the promise 'Wait until I'm employed again".

So, I picked it up despite my resolution, and spotted this...


And see ye not you bonnie road
That winds about the ferny brae?
That is the road to fair Elphame,
Where thou and I this night
maun gae.

So, I had to listen to the song from YouTube (the gaelic version of course), and listened to it whilest I read the material. *sigh*

[pestigor]

While I'm trying to put together a historical campaign (within reasonable limits) I'm really grateful for the input everyone's been sending.