Sword & Sorcery + Napoleonic Age...

[kesher]

...could this peanut butter mix with this chocolate?

I don't know. This speculation is a result of me reading a giant biography of Napoleon while also reading The Marvel Comics Guide to the Conan Universe.

In all seriousness, could it work? What might be some good references?

[Deleted]

What are you looking for, exactly? *Powderpunk* is a long-established genre, from Ellen Kusher's Riverside series, to Temeraire, and Powder Mage.

[Finarvyn]

Well, first of all I'd say that OD&D or one of the clones are universal enough to handle pretty much any era -- just come up with basic damage for guns and you've got Napoleonics. I would think that you just have to decide what makes this world different and then come up with some basics. For example, Fighting Men, Clerics, and Thieves would all fit in well, so you'd have to decide what to do with Magic Users. Do you want all humans, or maybe a mix of humans and other creatures? If a "weird west" type game can flow well, why not "weird Napoleonic"?

I know that there was MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH rules set for AD&D (2E?) that Brought the basic D&D-style mechanics together with a 1800's gothic setting, so this may give you some help as well.

[tkdco2]

For inspiration, look at Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, which is set during the Napoleonic era and has some scenes where magic is used in battle. The novel has been made into a TV series.

Here's the Wikipedia entry. There are spoilers here.

Another good resource would be Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe series, which has been made into a series of TV movies starring Sean Bean. Lots of swashbuckling derring-do in that series.

[tetramorph]

Hmm. "Howl's Moving Castle"? But with Napoleonic armies? And barbarian hoards along the edges of steam-magic civilization?

[stevemitchell]

Also, see Hammer's CAPTAIN KRONOS: VAMPIRE HUNTER (or just KRONOS for the UK title). This has an Austrian veteran confronting some non-standard vampires not long after the Napoleonic Wars have ended. Robert E. Howard's Solomon Kane stories (wrong century, but right feel) are also good examples of Gothic adventures in remote parts of Europe. And in a mostly-historical Napoleonic setting, it would be easy to add a "secret magic' campaign with the Vehm, or the Illuminati, or the crazed students of the Necronomicon.

[tkdco2]

Here's a follow-up on my previous post. Here's a pdf file of Jonathan Strange's character sheet. It was made for Warhammer Historical Battles, not Chainmail, but you can extrapolate and see what spells the character cast. He also has Animate Dead, as he used that spell when Wellington needed more troops.

If you allow other supernatural stuff, maybe Highlander-style immortals would fit in. Duncan MacLeod fought in Waterloo and met Darius after the battle. Note: One notable goof in the series was that the battlefield was covered with snow, while the actual battle was fought in the summer. What actually happened was that they were filming the scene in the autumn, and a snowstorm hit the day before filming.

Horatio Hornblower is another hero of the era, if you're going to include naval scenarios.

From the sublime to the ridiculous, perhaps a druid was resposible for this incident.

[cooper]

Luke Crane came up with a moldvay retro clone set in revolutionary France. If you haven't read it, you should check it out. The PDF is free. Just scroll to the bottom of the page.

[desertscrb]

See also Flintloque (skirmish) and Slaughterloo (mass battle), miniatures wargames set in a world with musket-bearing elf, dwarf, orc, troll, and undead legions all battling Napoleonic-style.

[tkdco2]

The Miniatures Page has a whole section on Napoleonic Gaming. While the games are mostly wargames instead of rpgs, you may find some ideas for your campaign.

[kesher]

Wow--so many ideas and resources! You are all amazing...

tkdco2: I had it in my head that that novel was set in Victorian times, so that's on my shortlist!

stevemitchell: I had TOTALLY forgotten about Captain Kronos! I loved that film back in high school! Also on the shortlist...

I don't really have an agenda as such for this idea. I was just looking at a map of Howard's Hyboria and suddenly had a desire to set up in the Napoleonic era, keeping the same countries, etc., and then wondering if S&S intensity could be carried over.

[lige]

The Aubrey and Maturin novels by Patrick O'Brien are also very inspirational.

[hengest]

One way to handle it is to go for a Girl Genius-style period of "perpetual war" (or warishness, low-grade, to avoid killing the entire population) and have the Napoleonic tech there, among the nobles and relatively moneyed classes, while the "folk" exist in a parallel culture centuries behind in tech but not yet divorced from magic.

Peacekeeping / occupation forces with firearms, insurgents / freedom fighters (draft dodgers?) using magic and brute strength to monkey wrench whoever's business.

If you went this way, you'd just have to decide how the tech and magic would interact when they met.

[thorswulf]

Chasseurs Draconic? The elite Iron Guard of golems? Well the possibilities are fun to ponder. Flintloque goes the way of seperating the nations by various species. I think the Girl genius approach of Jaegermonsters and altered species works a little better.