Historical OD&D Campaign

[tkdco2]

These are some random thoughts on running a "historical" campaign. The default setting in Western Europe in the Middle Ages. Only the three core books will be considered for this piece, although the supplements may be added as well.


Player Characters

Races: All PCs would be human in this setting. Demihumans should be NPCs or monsters. If the DM allows demihuman PCs, such characters would stand out and experience a great amount of bigotry and fear in human lands.

Classes: Most PCs would be fighting men. Magic-users are allowed, but they would be rare, and they would be mistrusted by most people. They may be persecuted by the Church, although some may be employed by nobles as alchemists or seers. Clerics are allowed, but most priests are not clerics. Clerics in Europe would be Christian or Jewish (Muslim clerics may be common in Spain) and would be of Lawful alignment. Chaotic clerics serve the forces of evil. Neutral clerics do not exist in this setting. Thieves may be allowed if using the Greyhawk supplement.


The Setting

The World: While Medieval Europe is the assumed setting, it will be influenced by myths and legends. There are portals to and from other worlds such as Faerie and the realms of the dead. Demihumans and monsters come from these places. Traveling to these worlds may be possible but are either quite accidental or extremely difficult, the latter method involving an epic quest.

History: If historical accuracy is desired, all major events will take place as did in real life. Minor details and events may be changed at the DM's option. The PCs can take part in historical events but will cannot change history. DMs may wish to keep the scale of the campaign on a local level. Historical figures can make an appearance, but inventing fictional nobles and knights should not be a problem. Historical sourcebooks can be used to add detail.

Geography: The campaign can take place in real cities and towns, but fictional ones may easily be used. Even a fictional region or realm (such as Averoigne or Ruritania) can be added without any problem.

Monsters: Most antagonists in the campaign are humans and animals. D&D monsters are quite rare in this setting. Some may be cursed with lycanthrope or vampirism, or come from other worlds. Their numbers in the campaign will be limited. Maybe a small group of goblins may appear in a village to torment the locals, but the setting will not have hordes of orcs serving a Dark Lord. Dragons exist, but they are very few in number, and their lairs are hidden and extremely difficult to reach.

Magic Items: These would be almost nonexistent, and may not appear in the campaign at the DM's option. There are no generic magic items; even a sword +1 should have a special purpose or a certain quality to make it distinctive. Magic items are never sold; they are either found, won, or (very rarely) inherited. Most magic items, especially weapons, have some history attached to them. Cursed magic items in particular often have a long, bloody history.

[stevemitchell]

In addition to Clark Ashton Smith's Averoigne tales, C. L. Moore's Jirel of Joiry stories could provide guidelines for creating a mostly historical medieval setting with some fantasy elements added.

[tkdco2]

Thanks for the recommendation. I have a couple of sourcebooks that are useful: The Robin Hood supplement put out by ICE a long time ago, and the Vikings sourcebook by TSR. Lots of other sourcebooks are available.

Another option would be to make this a parallel world, where you can have a little leeway in changing details.

[Stormcrow]

I strongly recommend using Fantasy Wargaming for this endeavor. You don't need to use the playing rules, but add the Social Class ability and follow the instructions on my site for determining the social background and occupation of the character. Occupation won't have a direct equivalence in D&D, but you can use them to determine how society relates to them, what sort of equipment they can start with, and maybe even guide their choices in spells. Also consider incorporating the System of Correspondencies and how to enchant magic items.

[tkdco2]

Thanks, Stormcrow. Checking it out now.

[bestialwarlust]

There is also this

www.drivethrurpg.com/product/152423/Dark-Albion-The-Rose-War

[idrahil]

This might sound silly but I would suggest going to Youtube and looking up some Lets Plays of a game called Darklands which is a CRPG set in Medieval Germany. There is no magic, but alchemy and prayers to the Saints are the replacements. It has such groovy ideas for things like witches, mythical creatures, etc. I've wanted to try and replicate the experience of playing that computer game at the table for a while now. Maybe after I'm done with school.

[Deleted]

Good luck. I tried this about 35 years ago and it was a monumental failure. People don't want the Middle Ages, they want Hollywood.

[tkdco2]

bestialwarlust: That sounds like an interesting game. I'll look at it too.

idrahil: Not a silly idea at all. I vaguely remember something like that. I actually prefer campaigns with little to no magic these days.

@gronanofsimmerya: I know the feeling. I've tried to run historical campaigns as well. It would be good for a one-shot campaign, though, which is what my group plays if we play rpgs at all nowadays. The nice thing about being stuck in the DM's chair is that I get to run whatever I feel like running.

[tkdco2]

Alternate histories are a nice variant. Aside from historical details, you can also slightly change the political boundaries, culture, religion and even the land masses. Slightly is the key word, of course.

[Porphyre]

Oct 23, 2015 20:30:07 GMT -6 tkdco2 said:

Alternate histories are a nice variant. Aside from historical details, you can also slightly change the political boundaries, culture, religion and even the land masses. Slightly is the key word, of course.

True. 
Actually, it depends how much historical accuracy you really want to put in your game, but, if you think about it, lot of D&D settings are just barely disguised real-world counterparts. If your game are not too heavy on big world-shattering events, nothing prevents using real historical times and places. 

 

[tkdco2]

Very true. I've looked for maps of Fanstasy Europe, where the names of the kingdoms are different. Maybe change a few details as well, like Mithraism replacing Christianity in Europe.

[Porphyre]

tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/IstanbulNotConstantinople

[archersix]

One of my favorite fantasy series is the Dragon and the George books by Gordon Dickson. The stories take place in England during the time of the Black Prince. There are wizards, gnomes, fairies of many types, silkies,ogres, and a whole slew of other mythical beings. The wizards co-exist with the Church ( sometimes being confused with black magic using sorcerers & witches). I think something like this would be great fun to run a game in.
As a side note, I don't see why you'd have to keep your players away from historical happenings. You'd just have to be on your toes enough to account for the changes.

[tkdco2]

The characters are allowed to take part in historical events; they just won't be able to change them, except perhaps the most minor details.

[sepulchre]

I have run one for a few years. Travel and adventure locales, attrition and exposure, language barriers, value of coin and marketable treasure, and religion are significant hurdles in the game and rather than deter have only enhanced immersion.

[tkdco2]

Cool! I have run parallel-world settings before, which allow me to mix & match different elements, like European fencing with Asian unarmed fighting styles. I even came up with a religion for the setting. Money was based on the pound/shilling/penny system.

The campaign didn't last very long, but I may resurrect it on a smaller scale.

[Porphyre]

Presentely, I'm running a play-by-post game taking place at the end of the "viking" age. Characters are a low level (circa level 3) party of Icelandic settlers travelling to the newly discovered lands of Markland and Vinland.

The setting is Scandinavia and Greenland, the year 1000. Historical events are mentioned as background (the dath of Olaf Triggavasson, the rise of christianity), but doesn't have much impact on the game which is mainly wilderness exploration and sea adventures.

I have been introducing some "historical" elements for verisimilitude and a little historical accuracy (mostly weapons and armor limitations and silver-based economy, and a few foot-notes) but so far, nobody felt the "cramped" by historicity and the game has been a fairly "regular" D&D one : the party has encountered walrus-shapeshifting dvergar, sea trolls and their sea-hag mother (yes, I used Beowulf as inspiration). 

I have also planned encounters with  skraelingar, a random wilderness encounetr table with canadian wildlife , a few aptgangar (using ghoul statistics) and a Draug (wraith).

[Punkrabbitt]

I was brainstorming Paleo-D&D last night, hunter-gatherer adventures in 300,000 B.C. There would be two races, humans and neanderthals (who have +1 strength and intelligence, but -1 dexterity and charisma) and three classes (hunters, gatherers, and shamans.) The shamanic connection to the spirit world would be very important (charisma based, so humans have an advantage here.) The whole player group would have to decide on human or neanderthal group, possibly with one memver of the other race like in Clan Of The Cave Bear.

Anyways, just ideas for (pre) historical OD&D.

[tkdco2]

I like 17th-18th century Europe, although my friends aren't very interested in that era.

[mindcontrolsquid]

I do remember once toying with the idea of creating a campaign taking place in a thinly-disguised version of 10th or 11th Century Iceland, but I never got too far with it. I think it was mostly because I liked the way Icelandic language and folk songs sounded, and because I could introduce all kinds of quasi-Scandinavian cultural elements like jarls and the holmgang. I also quite liked the idea of doing a New World-set game set with 17th-Century technology and such, but I also didn't get too far into developing that one.

[kesher]

Huh--never heard of a holmgang before--that's pretty cool.

[delverinthedark]

Seeing this thread reminded me of how James Raggi seems to be experimenting with properly historical settings in some of his adventures for Lamentations of the Flame Princess. That seems to work for him inasmuch as the assumed structure of Lamentations establishes the "Weird," where most adventure lies, as something outside of the normal. The historical details thus merely become the background that allows for the intrusion of the Weird, which obeys its own laws rather than history's. That's a very specific style of play and design, though, so his experiments probably don't have a wide degree of applicability outside themselves.

Mr. Mornard is, I believe, right (as he usually is, no doubt!) when he says that people want Hollywood. I don't think that necessarily precludes a setting inspired, say, by the chivalric romances of Chretien de Troyes. Such a setting seems to me to simply require a shift in thinking about what is fantastical in the campaign and how it occurs; it would perhaps be less located in things such as enchantments and Troit Boars (though those would probably show up!) and more in nature of the inner prodigies of the men and women that make up the setting; say, their inhuman capacity for valor or covetousness or what have you that makes them higher, ideal instances of good or evil.

I can't help but think of Greg Stafford's Pendragon while writing this reply out. I wonder if there are any ideas from that game that could stand grafting onto the core of D&d. Perhaps using the system of virtues and vices he lays out rather than any sort of alignment?

[tkdco2]

I've been interested in running a game set in the Age of Enlightenment around the time of the French Revolution. My inspirations are a couple of television series: Nicolas le Floch, based on the novels, and Anno 1790. There will be some swashbuckling action, but much of the setting will include politics and detective work.

Here are a couple of videos:

Nicolas le Floch



Anno 1790

[stevemitchell]

No one has mentioned this, so I will: the Cthulhu Dark Ages book from Chaosium would be a fine place to go for setting information and scenario ideas for an (early) medieval campaign.

[xerxez]

I love it tcdko!

I'm with Stormcrow on making use of Fantasy Wargaming.

I would dearly love to be a part of such a game but as gronan stated most want the usual.

[Stormcrow]

Another good source for medieval England: GURPS Middle Ages I. As with most GURPS worldbooks, most of the content is suitable for any game system, or easily convertible.

[tkdco2]

As most of my players in my current (rarely gaming) group are Asian, I would probably get more enthusiasm using Bushido of GURPS: Chine (or Japan).

[cooper]

Oct 26, 2015 12:57:13 GMT -6 tkdco2 said:

I like 17th-18th century Europe, although my friends aren't very interested in that era.

You definitely want to use Miseries and Misfortunes by Luke Crane. It's B/X d&d set in 17th century France and it's free.

[Punkrabbitt]

GURPS: China was/is an amazing sourcebook. I am very sorry for the loss of my copy...