D&D General D&D is now Steampunk (poll)

[Micah Sweet]

Yep. I commented on this on another thread yesterday. And the easiest way to get the players to adopt such a historical mindset is simply to have that stuff to be real in the game, backed by the rules.

Agreed. Based on the sorts of things people believed in my research it would be difficult to keep it "balanced", but that's a low priority for me anyway.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Yep. I commented on this on another thread yesterday. And the easiest way to get the players to adopt such a historical mindset is simply to have that stuff to be real in the game, backed by the rules.

Medieval religion is a difficult buy in for many players, even (especially) religious ones, since what they believed was very different to the modern versions.

I feel it’s easier to do Bronze Age, Roman and maybe vikings, because religion.

What you really need are a bunch of hardcore historians - which you sometimes get in universities.

 

[OB1]

The most popular settings in 5e I would put as renaissance rather than medieval. But not yet industrial. I think most of the OPs reasoning ties to Renaissance just as well.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Medieval religion is a difficult buy in for many players, even (especially) religious ones, since what they believed was very different to the modern versions.

I feel it’s easier to do Bronze Age, Roman and maybe vikings, because religion.

What you really need are a bunch of hardcore historians - which you sometimes get in universities.

I spend a lot of time studying history, from all time periods and as many points of view as I can practically access, but I admit I use it in gaming more often to inform my fantasy rather than the other way around. Mostly I think because I don't want to write my own game system and then find players who love history as much as I do to play it with me (no one I currently game with). You've got to draw a line.

 

[Charlaquin]

I'd recommend reading Three Hearts if you're interested in the sources of D&D, mostly because it's one of the two main inspirations for alignment, along with Michael Moorcock.

Moorcock I am a bit more familiar with, and not a fan. That’s the thing with D&D’s inspirations, I’m not super motivated to look into them because I do know a bit about the general sort of sword and sorcery genre and what I know of it I don’t really like. The vibes are kinda cool because they remind me of later dark fantasy works that I’m sure they inspired and I do quite like. But the original works themselves tend not to be my cup of tea.

There's a lot of D&D to be found in The Hobbit, Three Hearts and Three Lions, Stormbringer, the 20-page Dying Earth story "Mazirian the Magician", and some of the early Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser tales like "The Jewels in the Forest" and "Thieves' House".

I love the hobbit of course, and I am more interested in Dying Earth than some of the other early D&D inspirations, mostly because the magic system seems pretty neat. I’ve heard good things about the Gray Mouser, and rogues have long been my favorite class. So there’s some of this material I’m at least curious about.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I spend a lot of time studying history, from all time periods and as many points of view as I can practically access, but I admit I use it in gaming more often to inform my fantasy rather than the other way around. Mostly I think because I don't want to write my own game system and then find players who love history as much as I do to play it with me (no one I currently game with). You've got to draw a line.

I have seen a medieval total rules conversion for 5e, but that supposed the supernatural was not real.

I think any historical campaign requires a lot of work and a lot of player buy in

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Moorcock I am a bit more familiar with, and not a fan. That’s the thing with D&D’s inspirations, I’m not super motivated to look into them because I do know a bit about the general sort of sword and sorcery genre and what I know of it I don’t really like. The vibes are kinda cool because they remind me of later dark fantasy works that I’m sure they inspired and I do quite like. But the original works themselves tend not to be my cup of tea

Not all Moorcock is grimdark as Elric (and even he is allowed a win occasionally). You might try Hawkmoon, Jerry Cornelius or Quest for Tanlorn.

 

[Charlaquin]

I've always felt the biggest thing you would need to emphasize for a more historical game is just how strongly people believe in the supernatural, including religion. It is absolutely real to most folk in any pre-modern period in a way a lot of people nowadays would likely have a hard time comprehending.

Well, I think the reality of it is pretty comprehensible to anyone who is or has been religious, if they can suspend disbelief enough to imagine feeling as they do in their own faith about a different religion. I think what’s harder to grasp for modern folks is the grounded practicality of premodern polytheistic belief systems. One may have absolute faith in the teachings of a modern religion but still compartmentalize somewhat between their spirituality and their everyday life, whereas historically those things were inseparable. You participated in the cult of the gods that were relevant to your daily life, because those practices were discovered to work through generations of trial and error, and the fact that your bloodline survived long enough to produce you was indisputable proof that those traditions worked.