History, Mythology, Art and RPGs

[Galloglaich]

I could take you up on this offer. I'm writing articles for a Polish site polter.pl, and I could write a review of Codex Martialis, since I see it hasn't been reviewed yet.

Since you mentioned it, actually Codex Martialis has been reviewed about 25 times I think, I've lost count. Between the two versions of the core rules it has 11 reviews on DrivethruRpg (8 for the original version (average 4.6 out of 5), 2 for the updated version, (4.4 out of 5) and 1 for the bundle (4 out of 5), the extras (weapons and armor books have another 6 between them (5 for the melee weapon book for 4.4 out of 5) and 1 for the armor and missile weapon book (4 out of 5)). It has a couple of (positive) reviews on RPG.Net, at least one rave review from a blogger in the UK and it's also been reviewed in Korean, Italian (in Sardania), Spanish, and Hungarian that I know of... all positive. It was also reviewed by at least one guy from Poland but I think he did his in English.

But regardless, I'm always glad to get another review as well as constructive criticism or feedback, probably half the ideas in the Codex came from various people online or friends from the HEMA community, it's been kind of a group effort really.

Interested? Send me a PM if yes, I'll respond with my e-mail.

I'll just send you a pm with my email and you can email me. Write the review whenever you can, I trust you, Poles are my natural allies.

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[Galloglaich]

I'm not through the whole thing, but I want to say this thread is an absolute goldmine. And I say that as a proponent of more fantastic, wahoo RPGing over the very medieval low fantasy.

From the stuff I've read so far, I particularly like your contributions on viking elves and knights.

I sadly can't use the viking stuff for the elves in my game (doesn't fit my concept of elves), but my homebrew as a mix of viking, polynesian and a bit egyptian halflings (I told you I like wahoo).

Your stuff on knights contained little I didn't know to be honest. But I consider this a good thing, as I'm a history student and knights figured it most medieval matters I've tackled so far (not as the main matter, of course). The medieval age and knights are all to often romanticised or bungled up (don't even get me started on some views both pro and contra vikings), so it's good to see someone put in work and go directly to the sources.


As I said, my own gaming doesn't overly concern itself with historical correctness and is explicitly anachronistic (a gamingtable of history students to pick appart my DMing? I'll pass), but sometimes it's nice to give reality a nod. Knights in my games might not be medieval knights, but they need to be recognizable as knights nonetheless.

I don't think you need to be a strictly historical or even low-fantasy gamer to appreciate or get value out of historical information. The patterns of history, and 'real' mythology and so on, can inform any fantasy or even sci fi setting with a lot of rich detail and nuance, which you can chose to distort in any way you like. For example, Game of Thrones is closely mapped to a fairly loose interpretation of Medieval history, the Starks and the Lannisters are a fairly obvious corrolary for the Yorks and the Lancasters of the War of the Roses just to cite one blatant example. The author can ditch a lot of details and even general themes, but still benefit by the verisimilitude inherent in the patterns of the historical reality.

For that matter I think most of the highly regarded fantasy or sci fi authors had a pretty substantial grounding in history, at least the old ones did. Robert E Howard, Lovecraft, Tolkein, Fritz Leiber, Jack Vance, were all well grounded in history. It really gives you something to play with so you don't have to re-invent the wheel. You could think of it like flour, from which it's up to you if you want to bake bread, cake, or cookies.

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[Gold Roger]

I don't think you need to be a strictly historical or even low-fantasy gamer to appreciate or get value out of historical information. The patterns of history, and 'real' mythology and so on, can inform any fantasy or even sci fi setting with a lot of rich detail and nuance, which you can chose to distort in any way you like. For example, Game of Thrones is closely mapped to a fairly loose interpretation of Medieval history, the Starks and the Lannisters are a fairly obvious corrolary for the Yorks and the Lancasters of the War of the Roses just to cite one blatant example. The author can ditch a lot of details and even general themes, but still benefit by the verisimilitude inherent in the patterns of the historical reality.

For that matter I think most of the highly regarded fantasy or sci fi authors had a pretty substantial grounding in history, at least the old ones did. Robert E Howard, Lovecraft, Tolkein, Fritz Leiber, Jack Vance, were all well grounded in history. It really gives you something to play with so you don't have to re-invent the wheel. You could think of it like flour, from which it's up to you if you want to bake bread, cake, or cookies.

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That seems a very accurate assertion to me.

Studying history also brings an incidental (and sometimes intentional) study of myth, legend and tropes with it that I find, among other uses, very useful for my gaming habits.

I might not use the battle of hastings as a model for my gaming, but the tools medieval authors use to describe it and william the conquerer go streight into the realm of fantasy and can give a setting the right feel without any historical accuracy.

 

[Galloglaich]

Agreed, hence the title of this thread. My only caveat is that historical facts are often far more fascinating and fun than people realize, which is part of what I was trying to demonstrate with this thread. The overlap between all the really neat (and scary, and fascinating, and enthralling) things that define say, late Medieval history with what people think it was all about is really very very small.

The same can be said for mythology of course as well.

But sometimes peoples resistance to the historical can be itself rather irrational. For example, a few years ago Jake Norwood, creator of Riddle of Steel and also an historical fencer, was visiting us here, and decided to run a game set in 17th Century Poland based on the "With Fire and Sword" novels. Some of the guys who were going to play were rather typical gamers and initially balked at the idea of an historical setting, "all these names are too weird" and so on. We suggested that they think of it as just another wierd arbitrary fantasy setting: you can substitute Gandalf for John Casimir, or Drzzzt for Ivan Bohun; Arenal for Prussia or Gondor for Poland; Dithracki for Mongols and Qarth for Constantinople. All the names are equally weird. They reluctantly tried it and.... it was a blast! everyone agreeed, one of the best game sessions we ever had.

So personally I don't really care if it's a pure fantasy setting or historical, but I like a feeling of immersion, and for that, I want some kind of verisimilitude. I can get immersed in a Buggs Bunny cartoon, (or say, a Paranoia game) because it's consistant with it's own internal logic; I can get immersed in a good horror movie (or a Call of Cthulhu game) for the same reasons. But when it comes to fantasy settings, I find I am often disappointed, not because it's a fantasy setting, but because it's just too juvenile or sophomoric and I really just can't buy-into it no matter how hard I try. Like one of those really bad Sci Fi channel movies they used to have a few years ago, Mansquito or Megashark or whatever. That is how most Fantasy RPG settings strike me.

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[Galloglaich]

Interesting interview with Neal Stephenson related to HEMA and so on.

Sword Fighting with Neal Stephenson and His Mongoliad Co-Authors

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[Galloglaich]

Thought some folks here would find this interesting, as it relates to the OP. Kind of like a 'real life fighter / magic user'


Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, a fine student, black magician – and a Freyfechter? Hroarr.com

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[Galloglaich]

My nomination for best battle scene in any movie

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7bXsUyGWhw]Potop 1974, The Deluge 1974 (Swedish Withdrawal) part 2 - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Something that just popped up on my radar...The GM's Real-World Reference by Tristan Zimmerman — Kickstarter