D&D 5E What’s So Great About Medieval Europe?

[Reynard]

Star Trek isn't medieval.

 

[Morrus]

View attachment 121483

Exactly. Star Trek is American.

 

[Ace]

The farther from the native culture of a player or DM, the effort in required and a lot of requirements makes getting players and the DM up to to speed difficult, often enough that its simply not worth the effort.

Ren Faire Medieval Europe is relatable and part of the native culture of gamers all around the world and as such its tropes are easy to understand with little buy in required.

Now try something like Tekumel, interesting setting, decent books too (I liked Man of Gold) but a hybrid Aztec/Islamic culture is so far outside the experience of most gamers that for most its unplayable without so much effort that the effort/fun ratio breaks.

 

[Fenris-77]

I agree with much of what has been posted. I know that fantasy based (to varying degrees) on medieval Europe was a huge part of my childhood. I am a voracious reader and I pretty much cleaned out the fantasy section of my local public library. D&D is a chance to take a lot of what I love about some of those books and insert myself into it. It's a pretty hard hitting melange of nostagia, escapism, and storytelling for me. I don't get the same rush from Aztec settings, or Arabian settings, as cool as both of those are. Part of the reason is that I know far less about them and don't have that enormously deep well of imagery to fill in the blanks the same way I do with more traditional NE fantasy themes. All the fantasy books I have every read add to my enjoyment of TTRPG play because they help form a hazy backdrop that the main action plays out against.

I enjoy Space Opera, Cyberpunk, Mythos, and Noir themed games for similar reasons.

 

[Krachek]

Honestly what I see in my games is a patchwork of
medieval, renaissance, Roman, Greek, Egyptian, American western, modern era, and sometime sci-fi.

 

[Minigiant]

Nothing

European culture spread more and had more outreach when D&D was invented.

In D&D was invented not, it would have a Samurai class and you could be Cao Cao or Lu Bu.

 

[Reynard]

The farther from the native culture of a player or DM, the effort in required and a lot of requirements makes getting players and the DM up to to speed difficult, often enough that its simply not worth the effort.

Ren Faire Medieval Europe is relatable and part of the native culture of gamers all around the world and as such its tropes are easy to understand with little buy in required.

Now try something like Tekumel, interesting setting, decent books too (I liked Man of Gold) but a hybrid Aztec/Islamic culture is so far outside the experience of most gamers that for most its unplayable without so much effort that the effort/fun ratio breaks.

And let's not underestimate the danger of unintentional racism and offensive stereotyping. There's nothing quite so cringe inducing as a table full of modern white middle class Americans pretending to be medieval Japanese warriors and priests. (Just an example of course, but one of the most common to see at a con.)

 

[MGibster]

What is so interesting about the (very much pseudo) medieval tableaux that keeps the community stuck at that well?

It's kind of like the Old West in that a lot of people have at least a passing familiarity with the setting and can go into most games and be able to figure things out rather quickly. If I'm playing a game and you tell me we're sitting the court of the satrap there's a good chance I won't know what that is. But if I'm in the court of a count, well, hell, I know what a count is. I can't help but think the influence of fantasy fiction played a large part in that as well.

 

[MGibster]

Star Trek isn't medieval.

Sir, I most protest. I am not a merry man!

 

[Waller]

And let's not underestimate the danger of unintentional racism and offensive stereotyping. There's nothing quite so cringe inducing as a table full of modern white middle class Americans pretending to be medieval Japanese warriors and priests. (Just an example of course, but one of the most common to see at a con.)

There's definitey cases where that is cringeworthy, but the Japanese give as good as they get. They're a rich modern industrial nation with massive media influence and there's no real privilege differential between the Japanese and Americans, any more than there is between the rich European coutries and Americans (which is why that's OK, too). Now, if it was African, or Australian Aborigine, or Native American culture, or lots of others, there's a real noticeable problem.