Is it possible to have an exciting and long-lasting campaign in a historical setting?

[Turanil]

From what I have read here and there, a majority of gamers think that playing in a historical setting is boring, or at least much less exciting than a true fantasy world.

I don't know myself what to think. Long ago (AD&D 2e) I did run several adventures in a pseudo-historical setting, where the party was essentially a group of vikings in their drakkar, during the 9th century Europe, and having adventures along the way. For example, they once found a settlement of dwarves, but those were of the evil kind and feared by humans. In fact, this was great, but low magic and we hardly got past 9th level. But today, if I were to do it again, I fear that realism would really restrict myself and induce a boring campaign. However, I guess that cleverly done it could be cool nonetheless.

-- So what do you think about it?
-- Why historical or pseudo-historical campaigns are boring?
-- Or does it provide cool opportunities on the contrary?
-- Tell us of your experiences in such a type of setting?
-- What supernatural stuff could be added that wouldn't break the suspension of disbelief for play in a pseudo-mythical Europe of the Dark Ages?

 

[Crothian]

Of course it is possible, a good DM and players can have fun with anything......

 

[Infernal Teddy]

k it sounds brilliant. I really must dig up those old HR books TSR did, and think this one over...

 

[Black Omega]

It's very possible. I've run a game set in China for a while, basically a homage to the old kung fu movies. That's about as close as I've gotten to any sort of historical compaign. I like the idea, but don't have the time.

 

[Pielorinho]

I'm not sure that I've ever played in an historical game close to actual history, but I have played in a Mage game set in the 1920s that was a lot of fun; and I ran a Castle Falkenstein game that I had a lot of fun with.

And I'm getting ready to start running an Ars Magica game set in the 1690s Caribbean, during the golden age of pirates; I'll let you konw how it turns out.

Daniel

 

[howandwhy99]

I think the real world history setting is the best possible setting for rpgs. It allows for a near constant learning of actual events. And for the opportunity to change those events to explore 'what if'; history. Sort of like the 'math games' you might have played in middle school or on the computer. But RPGs (instead of being boring) can actually bring our world to life.

Personally I do not see the need to take away magic and supernatural effects. These are staples of fantasy rpgs. And if you want, you could even include a 'second world' literary diminsion to include even more learning opportunities. Tie in real world algebra, geometry, calculus, and other mathematical schools into one type of magickal law, if the players desire. Ancient locations like the pyramids or sherwood forest can be explored. Real villians with both evil and gray moralities could be fought against. The content available to the DM is massive.

 

[Akrasia]

-- So what do you think about it?

I think it could be geat fun -- very interesting, with plenty of role-playing opportunities.

One question would be how close you want to stay to the actual history of the period, and how far are you willing to introduce fantasy elements.

One possibility is to introduce an 'alternative history' campaign -- i.e. a campaign setting that resembles a particular historical period, but where certain things are different (e.g. magic exists and affects society).

Another possibility would be to assume that 'secret magic', hidden creatures, etc., have always existed, but they just avoided (and continue to avoid) attracting the attention of most humans. Something like the assumption in the 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' series. Indeed, the BtVS model would work quite well -- just think in terms of applying it to an earlier era.

The game Ars Magica is definitely worth looking at for ideas for a historical campaign.

 

[TerraDave]

Boring, who says?

And its good to keep in mind that the great majority of stories and games with "fantastic" elements are set on Earth...this even includes Middle Earth!

Of course, thats also a good example of how much liberty one can take...but in any case it is no stretch to use real life myth, legend, history, and geography in a campaign. I have done so for years, it has worked well (check my sig for my Earth like campaign world). This is not the same as a historical simulation, which I haven't done, and which would probably appeal to a narrower audience (though the fact that all those GURPS sourcebooks where released indicates that there may be an audience).

But it really is not such a ground breaking thing to have an Earth based campaing, just look at CoC, the World of Darkness, most Supers games, the various Mythic Vistas from Green Ronin (to give a D20 example)...

 

[The Shaman]

I enjoy historical games better than just about any other genre.

"Historical" in this context may also include an element of fantasy, but in a setting that is mostly historical - our 'Darkest Africa' game included witch doctors and mummies and giant snakes and such, for example, but in most respects the campaign-world was mundane.

A couple of thoughts on historical gaming: First, the 'adventuring career' may offer some interesting challenges to the GM - for example, if you're running a WWII campaign, the character's adventuring career may run from a few months to several years, but long-term character development (over a decade or more) is pretty much off the table unless you transition into another campaign.

For example, our Modern miltiary game will cover a period from 1956 to 1961, the five-year enlistment of the characters. What happens after? I have a couple of ideas on where we could go using the same characters that will potentially carry the adventurers through the 1960s and 1970s, if the players don't get bored before we reach the planned end of the campaign.

Another example was our M&M pulp heroes game: we started in the late twenties, and I had campaign notes that would carry us through to the 1950s using the same characters.

Second, depending on when you set your historical campaign, technology can change considerably during the life of the game - consider the difference in aircraft models and availability between 1920 and 1930, 1930 and 1940, or 1940 and 1950, or the difference in firearms between 1860 and 1870 or 1870 and 1880. New technologies appear and will need to be integrated into the game in order to maintain verisimilitude.

Another approach is to simply set the game outside the normal span of history - the Zorro stories set in 'Old California' basically ignore actual dates, creating an 'ahistorical' California for the tales, one that uses the trappings of history without concern for historical events.

 

[Bobitron]

I LOVE historical games. 'Nuff said.