German-themed game resources

[XCorvis]

I'm kicking around an idea for a German-themed campaign. Does anyone have any good resources for something like that? I'm thinking of Medieval type stuff, and historical resources. Has anyone else already run a similar game?

Thanks!

 

[Keefe the Thief]

Perhaps it would be a good idea to define what you mean by "German-themed" first? Anyway, it would perhaps be better to talk about "Holy Roman Empire"-themed, if you want anything resembling medieval. Germany as a concept during that time is, uh, problematic. Simply start with the article on Wikipedia here - it´s decent enough, and you´ll be using it for gaming not for historical science, so you´ll be ok.
It´s not my time period as a historian, however, so i cannot help you with English links about the subject.

 

[XCorvis]

I did see that article, but it's mostly names and dates. I was looking for cultural information, maybe 15th-17th century? (Yes, that's not Medieval, I changed my mind a bit.) But I'm really just getting started, so anything that others have found useful would be of interest.

This Wikipedia article (List of German expressions in English) has a bunch of terms I can drop in to help establish the setting, but I'd like to be able to go beyond that and describe some of the cultural elements, like architecture and politics.

 

[Derren]

As Keefe said, there isn't a general "German" flavor during that time as Germany did not exist till the 19th century. Before that it was the Holy Roman Empire. A collection of many small kingdoms. So you have to decide if you want to concentrate on one of those kingdoms or want to use the concept of many small countries into your campaign. I made the experience that most foreigners thing of Bavaria when they talk about Germany although the modern impression of the historic Germany probably uses things from many different kingdoms which makes it hard to research it.

I suggest you pick a event in the HREs history which matches your campaign world most and analyze that instead looking for general information.

You might also want to get some information about Warhammer (the fantasy game, not 40K) as the Empire in that game was inspired by renaissance Germany. You could also try to read some german literature from that time (Stay away from Faust part 2, that will drive you insane).

 

[WhatGravitas]

I did see that article, but it's mostly names and dates. I was looking for cultural information, maybe 15th-17th century? (Yes, that's not Medieval, I changed my mind a bit.) But I'm really just getting started, so anything that others have found useful would be of interest.

Ah, the problem is: The notion of Germany as a political nation is very new (end of 19th century) - previously there was a very messy heap of smaller duchies, principalities, and other stuff. Only in 1871, it was "unified" under the lead of Prussia as a single "Germany"

I guess for the time before, you'll be most interested in:

For a feel of personalities and events:
Johannes Gutenberg
Martin Luther
The Thirty Years' War
Brothers Grimm
Unification of Germany

Some defining states:
Prussia
Austria

Other stuff:
Revolutions of 1848
House of Hohenzollern

I guess Wikipedia is your best friend. This stuff kept us occupied for almost 1-1/2 years in school (full 2 years, if you add Weimar Republic, WWII, and Rise of Nazism), so I cannot really think of any resources without getting into a heap of German books - because our history is messy, really.

Cheers, LT.

 

[Turjan]

As Keefe said, there isn't a general "German" flavor during that time as Germany did not exist till the 19th century.

Just a nitpick: Since 1512, it has officially been named "The Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation", which means that the concept of a German nation was obviously alive during the time in question, and actually already a long time before that.

I agree with trying to stick with some local tradition. There's not so much to read about German cultural information, except if you go for the time of the 30 Years' War: Then I'd recommend reading the Simplicius Simplicissimus, which captures the thinking of the time quite well.

 

[WhatGravitas]

Just a nitpick: Since 1512, it has officially been named "The Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation", which means that the concept of a German nation was obviously alive during the time in question, and actually already a long time before that.

Ehh... but that was different. The very concept of nations is quite new (see here). And in Germany, the national movements started around the beginning of the 19th century... and it was a movement of intellectuals. Previously, it was more of a moniker to imply a loose connection between the many states. As I'e said... German history is a bit messy.

Cheers, LT.

 

[Derren]

Yes the name "Germany" did exist for a long time, but the idea of Germany as a unified country? Only as vision in the mind of power hungry monarchs of one of the HRE Kingdoms.

I just found this web site. I don't know how accurate it (and especially the links) are but it looks good enough to give you a quick overview over the history of Germany.
http://www.germanculture.com.ua/library/links/history.htm
(You just have to pick out links about medival Germany from all the nazi history stuff)

 

[Turjan]

Ehh... but that was different. The very concept of nations is quite new (see here). And in Germany, the national movements started around the beginning of the 19th century... and it was a movement of intellectuals. Previously, it was more of a moniker to imply a loose connection between the many states. As I'e said... German history is a bit messy.

I know about the concept of "nation". However, the term was used, and the notion that the idea of a cultural entity called "Germany" did not exist during that time is simply wrong. The notion of Germany and a German kingdom has been established perhaps in the 10th century, but definitely from the 11th century on. This can also be seen from the point that Bohemia, which was a part of the HRE during nearly all of its existence, was never seen as a part of Germany and didn't get its circle during the reforms of 1500 and 1512. Even if there were many mostly independent states on the territory, this is all that matters as a cultural background. For roleplaying purposes, the situation is ideal. That's probably why we have games like Ars Magica or WFRP .

 

[XCorvis]

Ah, the problem is: The notion of Germany as a political nation is very new (end of 19th century) - previously there was a very messy heap of smaller duchies, principalities, and other stuff. Only in 1871, it was "unified" under the lead of Prussia as a single "Germany".

I begin to see the problem.

Since several posters seem to be German (or at least IN Germany), maybe you can recommend specific interesting regions to focus on? My goal is to have my players think "Oh, we're in some kind of fantasy Germany instead of fantasy England or France". I'm building a new campaign world and I'm not going for historical accuracy, so I'll fit the interesting bits together and hopefully get something I like.

Thanks for the help so far, everyone.