Help me design my medieval/Renaissance, alternate earth campaign world

[Mystaros]

Several indispensible sources...

"The New Penguin Atlas of Medieval History" by Colin McEvedy. Very useful. Goes through 1483. You might also want to get a copy of the Ancient atlas, as it would give you a good idea of which ruins you would find where.

"The Epic of Aerth" by Gary Gygax. Designed for use with Dangerous Jrouneys: Mythus, this is the definitive high fantasy alternate Earth setting (okay, except maybe for the world of Ars Magica). If nothing else it will provide you a ton of ideas and comprehensive lists of resources by region.

"The Writers-Digest Character Naming Sourcebook" will help you name all those NPCs from across Europe and further...

The new Conan RPG provides an excellent sample of dividing human cultures into D&D cultural backgrounds. Heck, if you want to expand out the Hyborian Age to a "Renaissance" level, you even have a complete setting and system...

Your local Barnes & Noble or what have you should ahve several excellent atlases, including one of the Crusades, one that covers the Middle Ages and Renaissance in even more detail than the McEvedy atlases, plus several on the Templars (no campaign in alternate Europe would be complete without the Templars), and there is also an excellent encyclopedia on fortification out there, the name of which escapes me. Just go to the history section.

Also, if you don't want to go through all that work, the Lejendary Earth (or "Learth") setting for Gary Gygax's Lejendary Adventures is another alternate Earth setting, this time with more fantasy elements than Aerth or even Oerth. The two books released so far, the "Lejendary Earth Gazetteer" and "Noble Kings & Dark Lands" are enough to get a solid campaign going, with the Gaz covering the world in general and NKDL covering the continents that correspond to Europe (Varan) and Africa (Apphir) in great depth. As neither book has any game statistics, they are both chock full of setting information. Of course, I'm partial to the setting, as I'm working on the next volume ("Jewels of the East"), but it is one of the top game settings available, and next to the world of Ars MAgica, the top alternate Earth setting on the market today.

 

[Dogbrain]

All I wanted was a list of languages for the 13th-15th centuries that would be historical and realistic, while still being generic and simple enough for use with D&D.

It is better to start out with too much detail on a model and trim back than to firm up everything on too coarse a model and then have to figure out a way to engineer detail into it.

You want twenty or so? Give me a day.

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

I really like the language as an actual skill idea.

 

[Turjan]

Now, if I can just narrow Turjan's list to about twenty or so clearly distinct and decidedly individual langauges (that is, no dialects whatsoever), even if that list is not entirely historical or realistic.

Okay, okay . Let's get most of the historical baggage over board and make some serious cuts. Let's stay with the languages of the rulers .

Swedish (Sweden, Finland): Struggle for identity under Danish dominance; Union of Kalmar (with Danmark/Norway).

Danish (Denmark, Norway): the Baltic power; Norway part of Denmark and even short sovereignity over Sweden; has to give in to Hanse though..

English (England, Wales, Ireland, Scotland) - Hundred Years' War over France; Scotland sided with France; Peasants' Revolt; Nobles' Revolt; later War of the Roses

Dutch (Holland, Flanders): Flanders one of the richest European countries; Holland and Flanders fall to Burgundy; Dukes of Burgundy (French and German vassals) richest European leaders.

German (Germany, Switzerland, Austria; "lingua franca" in Central, North and East Europe; Baltic countries): Kings elected; Prague first "German" capital; town leagues: Rhine League, Swabian League, Hanse (dominated trade in North, Central, East Europe); foundation of Swiss Confederacy; Teutonic Knights rule Baltic states;

Yiddish (Central and Eastern Europe): Jewish language; Jewish merchants have family relations all over Europe.

Portuguese (Portugal): most of 15th century's greatest discoverers hail from here.

Spanish (Castilia, Navarra, Aragon): La Reconquista; most of Spain taken from the Arabs.

French (France, Burgundy, parts of Flanders): Hundred Years' War with England; Flanders lost to Burgundy; Jeanne d'Arc ; most populated country in Europe; first national state.

Italian (Italy): Venice and Genoa mightiest trade powers in the Mediterranean (Genoa held even territories in the Russian Krim); Genoa with first bank in Europe; Milan one of the powerful countries under the Visconti; southern Italy changes owners (Aragon, Anjou)

Greek (Greece, Turkey): last struggles of Konstantinopel; Empire of Trapezunt

Lithuanian (Lithuania): foundation of large Lithuanian state against Teutonic Order; most people speak Russian, though; united with Poland (under Polish rule).

Polish (Poland): rise to great power; united with Lithuania and subsequent fight against Teutonic Order

Russian (Novgorod, Moscow, Lithuania): Republic of Novgorod influential country in NW of Russia; trade with Hanse; Moscow on its way to supremacy, but still in the beginnings; fights against Tartars

Serbo-Croatian (Serbia, Hungary): Serb Empire (Serbia, Montenegro, Herzegovina, Albania, Macedonia, Northern Greece, Bulgaria); lost to Ottoman Empire (1396)

Hungarian (Hungary): though one of the more powerful and cultural influential countries, ruled by House Anjou or German kings; fights against Ottomans

Turkish (Turkey, Greece, South East Europe): the Ottomans conquer most of South East Europe; fall of the Latin Empire

Arabic (Spain, North Africa, Levante): Kingdom of Granada in Spain; Marokko independent with Algeria as vassal; Tunis (with western Libya); Mamluk Sultanate (Egypt, Eastern Libya, Palestine, Syria)

Mongolian (only language of rulers): Empire of the Golden Horde (large parts of Russia), Empire of Timur (Mesopotamia, Persia (with Arabic and Iranian languages))

Hindi (Northern India): Sultanate of Delhi; (but there are many other Indian languages)

Okay, then let's not forget:

Lingua franca (Mediterranean area): language of traders and christian slaves in islamic countries

Latin (West, North, Central, South West Europe): language of scholars

I think that's enough . Now it's time for all Norvegians, Bulgarians, Romanians, etc, to complain !

Edit: To stress it again: nearly all of the languages mentioned above are modern day varieties (with a few exceptions). I don't actually think that using genuine medieval languages will add much to the game experience (except lots of headaches ). But, in the end, it's each to its own .