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Message: <blockquote data-quote="shilsen" data-source="post: 4006781" data-attributes="member: 198">I'll focus on rules issues here. Capping play at a very low level would be one of the paramount elements, in my estimation. As soon as you have characters with regular access to much of the magic in the PHB, there is no rational justification (IMNSHO, of course) for a society which resembles a medieval/dark ages period. The presence of fireball, for example, completely changes the paradigm of military forces in such a setting. Similarly, the existence of a large number of the MM monsters would substantialy change the world in ways that a medieval/dark ages society could not really be justified. And, of course, once PCs (and presumably some NPCs) have a few levels under their belts, you essentially have superheroes in medieval clothing walking around, which makes any attempt at a medieval/dark ages setting a thin veneer at best. To use a literary example, Spenser's The Faerie Queene has exactly this issue. It may be purportedly set in a medieval/dark ages setting, but the existence of the knights, dragons, wizards, Gloriana and her fairy court, and other such elements makes it only a weak gesture at an authentically medieval world.I would absolutely not do so. I actually think that D&D is incredibly weak at attempting to fit into a semi-historical milieu and in order to do so, would need to have so much removed from it that it would almost be unrecognizable. I also tend to be very aware of all the factors that come together to create any historical moment. So, in this case, creating an accurate approximation of Western Europe (though you didn't mention it, I'm quite sure you mean W. Europe) in the dark ages without having the existence of the Christian Church, the Black Death, the fall of Rome, etc. actually exist in the setting would seriously strain my credulity. In my opinion, D&D doesn't do accurate historical gaming well. In fact, I don't think it does fantasy that well either, though it does so better than historical gaming. What it does do well is mythic gaming (which is akin to superhero gaming). As far as setting is concerned, I much prefer settings like Eberron, which draw upon our history but modify it drastically, taking into account the influence of magic and other elements of the D&D world which didn't exist in ours.</blockquote>

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