[d20/OGL] History or pseudohistory done right?

[Aus_Snow]

I'm familiar with some of the good historical settings / sourcebooks - or books that closely resemble such things - that are available for D&D/d20/OGL/True20 etc. (for example: Nyambe; Northern Crown; Testament, Legends of the Samurai. . .)

What are the best ones for each time/place, in your opinions?

Also, which historical eras and/or areas are in the most need of being covered, for this system (d20 or the like), or perhaps of being "done right" for it?

 

[jdrakeh]

I'm familiar with some of the good historical settings / sourcebooks - or books that closely resemble such things - that are available for D&D/d20/OGL/True20 etc. (for example: Nyambe; Northern Crown; Testament, Legends of the Samurai. . .)

What are the best ones for each time/place, in your opinions?

Also, which historical eras and/or areas are in the most need of being covered, for this system (d20 or the like), or perhaps of being "done right" for it?

Well, I started work on a freebie campaign tonight (see my .sig) based loosely on early Iron Age Germanic tribes and later folklore concerning the Burgundian downfall. It's definitely pseudo history and I have no idea if it's good but, so far as I know, it's the only d20 setting out there that deals with the time period in question as anything other than pure fantasy (e.g., Rune).

[Edit: To answer the other part of your question, despite some iffy organization and cut/paste errors, I really like Legends of the Samuarai. It makes d20 Rokugan and Oriental Adventures both look bad by comparison. Also, Northern Crown is currently rocking my world.]

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I'm a big fan of Nyambe and Northern Crown- they're extremely well done. I can't name one better in their respective niches.

OK- in all honesty, I can't name another product in their niches- but their quality may have scared off would-be competition.

I also liked AEG's Swashbuckling Adventures quasi-European setting, and both Deadlands' and Sidewinder's American West settings.

If you're just looking for good material to use, I have another idea for you- look at non-D20 sources.

Despite my having no love of GURPS, I can't think of any company that does historical supplements better than they do. Usually, they're, well researched, written & edited- just ignore the mechanics.

Just like I frequently reccomend that people buy RIFTS but only for the setting and not the mechanics, I wholeheartedly reccomend GURPS' historical supplements.

Godlike, the WW2 supers game, also does a good job of detailing the setting. Unfortunately, it, too, is not D20.

 

[Pbartender]

Green Ronin's Skull & Bones... For the Golden Age of Piracy.

 

[Wombat]

Green Ronin's Mythic Vistas line, from what I've seen, is probably the best of the type of games you are looking for. Their Medieval Player's Manual gets a truly medieval feel out of the D20 rules, just as Skull & Bones and Testament do for the Golden Age of Piracy and the Ancient Near East. Mindshadows looks interesting, but I don't think I could get any of my players to get involved.

AEG's Swashbuckling Adventures is not as good as their old core game, 7th Sea, but neither of them are what you would call "historically accurate[/I]. 7th Sea is fantastic for catching that whole Zorro-Errol Flynn-Three Musketeers feel, but the base world is so embarassingly bad that I could never use it as is.

And, as pointed out before, picking up a few GURPS book for historical eras is always good for background information, though I avoid the system. Russia, Swashbucklers, and most of the other historcial supplements I have read from them really do a great job of capturing the feel of the era, but still give great ideas for how to game in them.

 

[Desdichado]

Well, IMO few of those you list are "historical" settings anymore than Greyhawk is a "historical" setting based on Medieval Europe. :shrug: So I guess I'm not 100% sure I understand the question; are you simply saying what are some settings that are based on a slight twist and are not simply traditional D&D style vanilla fantasy, or are you in fact asking something more specific?

 

[Huw]

Well, IMO few of those you list are "historical" settings anymore than Greyhawk is a "historical" setting based on Medieval Europe. :shrug: So I guess I'm not 100% sure I understand the question; are you simply saying what are some settings that are based on a slight twist and are not simply traditional D&D style vanilla fantasy, or are you in fact asking something more specific?

This mystified me as well. Nyambe is beautifully designed but is no way historical. Anyway, I'm trying to read between the lines here, so I suggest Hollow World, TSR's old D&D setting based on (or rather, within) Mystara. Each of the Hollow World's kingdoms closely follows an ancient Real World civilisation - there's Egypt, India and Mexico in there for example.

 

[jaerdaph]

Adamant Entertainment's Skull & Bones and Thrilling Tales (for 1930s Pulp) are well done and their newer Imperial Age line (Victorian roleplaying) looks promising.

I also think that Rob Toth's Damnation Decade, a pseudo 1970s sourcebook for d20 Modern from Green Ronin, doesn't get enough pimpage.

 

[diaglo]

besides some the ones mentioned already.

try also some of the stuff from XRP: A Magical Society: Western Europe and A Magical Society: Ecology and Culture and A Magical Society: Silk Road

 

[Pbartender]

Green Ronin's Skull & Bones... For the Golden Age of Piracy.

Allow me to elaborate...

The concept behind Skull & Bones is a campaign setting based in the real world during the Golden Age of Piracy in and around the Caribbean Islands and the Spanish Main. The primary difference being the assumption that voodoo magic, spirits and other supernatural creatures and legends from the time period truly did exist.

Accurate historical blurbs about interesting Real World people and places are included as side bars. Additional rules for sailing, gunpowder weapons and local currency are not only well-done, but also accurate (a musket, for example, noramally takes 6 full rounds to reload). Plus, new mechanics such as parrying, "rolling the bones", "afflictions" and reputation lend a cinematic swashbuckling feel to the action.

All in all, games played using Skull & Bones have an overall feel of recent pirate movies such as Pirates of the Caribbean or Cutthroat Island, where everything that should be historically accurate is and anything that shouldn't be obviously isn't.