D&D General d&d is anti-medieval

[Orius]

D&D isn't medieval, it's a Ren Faire on crack.

Add in Westerns and pulp influences, mythology, cheesy monster movies and cheap plastic toys, and there you go!

The strongest medieval influence probably come from Chainmail being the base Gary built the combat rules on.

 

[Helldritch]

I think that you're all forgetting the Arthurian legends. Lancelot du Lac was a knight errant (and the best example of what a knight/paladin should be until he fell). The adventures of the Green Knight followed by his nemesis of a beast (whatever its name, too long). What about Galahad? They were all "questing" just like our adventurers are doing. Even in the old medieval times, there were mercernary for hire, bounty hunters (their task was usually to bring the head of their querry). Remove magic and the dark ages/medieval and early renaissance was a bit more outlandish than you give it credit for. Nobles were ready to hire mercenaries (adventurers?) so as to not risk their own men. You need your loyal men in case of a rebellion or an outside invasion. Becauise of this, losing a man that is loyal to you is way worst than losing a man for hire. Even in the late renaissance there were men for hire. Think about Pirates, Bucaneers and Privateers. Instead of the landlock bandits/mercernaries, they were doing the same thing but they were called different names because they were on boats/vessels. Countries (and nobles) were giving these men a litteral immunity for whatever they were doing while under their employment.

Even the romans were using auxiliairies (read here mercenaries) in their armies. Some men were professional slave hunters and they were often hired to find criminals too. Its not because the "cowboys" are the closest known exemple of what our adventurers are doing that there was no examples of the same behavioral patterns in previous erra. And we should mention that there are mercenary companies/units/squads in our time too (and, unfortunately, assassins for hire).

I would tend to agree that in previous editions, the players were more less "immune" to what the lawful leaders could throw at them (especialy at a higher level). That is no longer the case with bounded accuracy. Also do not forget the assumption that the players are supposed to be heroes (or anti-heroes, I know that there are variations). We must not view the petty baron with our modern eyes. We must see him through the eyes of medieval times. Rank is fairly imbeded in the minds of that time. The players should respect him unless he's a total jerk. Even then, they should simply walk away and not work for the jerk again. On the other hand, the petty baron isn't stupid, if that band of adventurer/mercernary could do what his men could not, he will show a healthy respect. And if your heroes are out of control, isn't it time for brave bands of adventurers to do the job of removing this evil treath from the kingdom?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Most of those Arthurian legends actually date from the early renaissance, not medieval. They where basically heroic fantasy set in the (fictional) past when they where written.

 

[Helldritch]

Exactly, they were a romanticized view of the medieval era. Most of D&D and fantasy fiction is derived from these writings. You can't get more Fantastic Medieval than that.

 

[gyor]

FR is mostly renaissance, occasionally pushing into Victorian Steam punk, but with diverse cultural overlays. So Mulhorand would be an ancient Egyptian cultural and overlay of renaissance technology and even magisteam punk tech, because they still have access to trade and tech from the rest of the realms.

 

[Helldritch]

Early renaissance yes, depending on where you are in the FR. If you don't use firearms then it is late medieval. The steam punk aspect would be the Lanthaneese and Alrhuaa (where flying ship and firearms can be seen relatively often (if you allow firearms). But I like the Magisteam connotation. Fits the Realm quite nicely. Greyhawk on the other hand, is fully fantastic medieval, that is why it is my favourite setting.

 

[gyor]

Early renaissance yes, depending on where you are in the FR. If you don't use firearms then it is late medieval. The steam punk aspect would be the Lanthaneese and Alrhuaa (where flying ship and firearms can be seen relatively often (if you allow firearms). But I like the Magisteam connotation. Fits the Realm quite nicely. Greyhawk on the other hand, is fully fantastic medieval, that is why it is my favourite setting.

There is some Lantanese/Gondite tech in the Swordcoast cities like Waterdeep and Baldur's Gate, like Waterdeep has Trolley's.

And Mulhorand has literal steam tech.

 

[Fenris-77]

D&D is a fictionalized version of a romantic renaissance account of a middle ages that never was, with a ton of other cultural influences layered on. Did anyone really think it was an accurate medieval simulator? It pretty obviously isn't, nor do I expect it to be one, nor do I think any design weight was attached to accurate simulation. As I said above, this all seems pretty Captain Obvious to me.

 

[Oofta]

D&D is a fictionalized version of a romantic renaissance account of a middle ages that never was, with a ton of other cultural influences layered on. Did anyone really think it was an accurate medieval simulator? It pretty obviously isn't, nor do I expect it to be one, nor do I think any design weight was attached to accurate simulation. As I said above, this all seems pretty Captain Obvious to me.

This just in ... breaking news ... Star Wars is also not an accurate depiction of interstellar travel, habitable planets or space combat ... tune in at 11 for more information ... repeat ... breaking news ...

 

[gyor]

I forgot to add Mulhorand literally came up with Steam Punk technology, they use a rock enchanted to always remain hot to produce steam to power machines that help irrigation of their farms, something that they under utilized because Horus Ra hated change. This is why Thoth made a better Pharoh.

And of course Zakhara has clockwork mages, but folks keep forgetting that and only think of Lantan when it comes to tech.