Looking for a setting...

[Darklone]

Another vote for Kalamar. Map and history are different, but as "realistic" as it could be.

 

[Yair]

Thanks for all the great replies! Harn and Ars Magica sound like they might work, although Ars Magica might be too "high magic" for my purposes. I'll have to check them out further.

Just to ward off any wrong impression - Ars Magica can certainly be high magic, and may indeed by more high magic than you want (especially with everyone playing wizards and all), but much of the setting is very low-magic. For example, one of the recent supplements is City & Guild. Consider its blurb, and how that translates to the kind of games its intended to support:

City & Guild

In the thirteenth century towns and cities are growing all over Mythic Europe. Covenants that were once in remote forests find themselves within sight of city walls, and regions that were once cut off from the world are now visited by traders from distant parts. For many covenants, cities are a great opportunity; craftsmen and merchants can provide anything that the covenant needs, and buy its surplus. Some covenants are even established within towns, or as small towns.

This supplement for Ars Magica Fifth Edition provides background on the facts of life in the towns of medieval Europe, and rules for craftsmen and traders. Clever magi could become the greatest merchant princes of Europe, or gain renown as suppliers of the most valuable tapestries. Less clever magi could find themselves manipulated by existing merchant princes, or tricked into buying shoddy goods. With an emphasis on stories rather than accountancy, this book opens a new stage for your Ars Magica saga.

A saga placed in a city and centered around trade and city politics would hardly be high-magic, and these kind of "adventures" are certainly part of the milieu of the game.

Also note the emphasis on history. History really does matter for the line (though its careful not to limit your games to historically accurate ones - a wise design choice).

 

[dungeon blaster]

How's the melee combat system for Ars Magica? Any good? Or is it totally secondary to the magic combat system?

I took a brief look around the web for Harn material, but it is all quite fragmented. Not sure what is official and what isn't. Also looks kind of expensive.

 

[GrumpyOldMan]

How's the melee combat system for Ars Magica? Any good? Or is it totally secondary to the magic combat system?

I took a brief look around the web for Harn material, but it is all quite fragmented. Not sure what is official and what isn't. Also looks kind of expensive.

I’ll let others with more knowledge answer the Ars Magica question. I’ve only ever played a mage, but the combat system works okay.

Hârn comes in two prices: expensive, and free.

There are probably three websites that you need to look at. I should have said this in my original reply, sorry. The reason that there are three sites is complicated.

Since its creation (probably over 25 years ago) Hârn has been produced by Columbia Games Inc. (CGI) The world was created, and mapped, by N Robin Crossby, a man as important to Hârniacs as EGG is to DnD’ers. All of the material was edited by Tom Dalgleish, head of CGI. For 20 years the two worked together. NRC did NOT write all of the Hârnstuff, several other writers were used, and NRC and Tom Dalgleish agreed what was accepted. The two men fell out, rather messily, and as a consequence there are now two companies producing Hârn material. CGI continue to produce 3-4 releases per year, using many of the same ‘staff’ writers that they always did, except NRC is no longer one of them. Check out www.columbiagames.com for their stuff. Yes, it’s expensive.

NRC formed his own company Kelestia productions. He uses some of the original ‘staff’ writers too. Check out www.kelestia.com for his stuff, which is pdf only. Yes, it’s expensive too.

Hârnfans have likened the current situation to ‘mom & dad getting divorced,’ most (like me) refuse to pick sides. I don’t know who is in the right! Both sides seem to have a case. However, while CGI are expanding on material on the island of Hârn, Kelestia are concentrating on the neighbouring continent, Lythia. So there has, so far, been no clash between official materials. It seems unlikey that there will be.

The other link I posted, www.lythia.com is the biggest fan site. All of the material available there is free! Non of that material is official, but I MOST of it is written by the SAME PEOPLE who write for CGI or Kelestia. These ‘staff’ writers are producing material faster than either company are releasing it.

A few years ago one item (Naniom Bridge) which was produced by a couple of French guys, was almost immediately contradicted by an official release. There was an outcry by the fans. Since then there have been no official contradictions of any of the free unofficial material. In fact CGI have allowed the re-use of some official artwork in some of the free material.

A good example of this is Selvos. Selvos castle is $10.99 for 20 pages of material. The author of this article has made two separate expansions, to the town and the surrounding countryside available free at Lythia.com, I can’t remember the page count but I’m pretty sure that the free stuff at least triples, and probably quadruples the background information. Looked at this way, $10.99 for 60+ pages is not so bad IMO

 

[Khairn]

Grumpy's "Readers Digest" version of the battle between Columbia Games and Kelestia is about as good as you will be able to find anywhere.

But despite the conflict between the creators of Harn, it remains one of the very best low magic, medieval themed settings ever published. The maps (even the original from the 1980's) is stunning and the detail and richness of the world is a GM's dream. At least this GM anyway. Another great point is that all the material is system neutral.

If the location for your game needs to be in medieval Europe, period. Then go with Ars Magica and their Mythic Earth. It really is a great setting and a fun game. Plus the 4th Edition is available free!

But if you're needs are for only a strong medieval flavored setting, then you can't go wrong with Harn!

 

[robertsconley]

...that mixes fantasy with real medieval history. Or at least patterns itself after the real world.

Something with a conan-esque flavor, but real world locations?

Does this exist?

Harn for that real medievel flavor.

http://www.columbiagames.com

Although it doesn't fullfil the conan-esque part unless you count the fact that Lythia (the continent Harn is part of) has areas that have the culture and terrain of Conan style books.

It is expensive but nearly uniform high quality.

Rob Conley

 

[frog8986]

I haven't ever played it but, I think D20 past could easily be turned in to what you are looking for

 

[Azgulor]

My recommendations:

Conan RPG
The Hyboria setting may be a forgotten age, but since Howard drew from real-world nations and cultures, you can definitely blend swords-n-sorcery with medieval culture and detail. Your best bet would be to set a game in one of the feudal nations (Aquilonia, Nemedia, etc.). You've also got other cultures so you can replicate many of the Middle Ages cultural conflicts. Recommended source material would include the Conan RPG, and either the Road of Kings supplement and/or the Aquilonia sourcebook. The latter details a medieval-style feudal kingdom. I found it to be an excellent d20 treatment on a medieval culture.

Relics & Rituals: Excalibur.
Loosely defined setting in the book, but it could easily be tweaked to use Earth locations. Kind of a parallel universe style of campaign. Not specificly a medieval treatment, per se, but it has good advice on how to modify standard D&D to better fit the Arthurian tone.

Kingdoms of Kalamar
A D&D setting with a sharp eye toward internal consistency and "realism". Although a different world than Earth, it is comprised of medieval cultures. The core setting book contains almost no rules crunch, so its easily adaptable to whatever rules system you like. I use the Conan RPG (combined with Thieves' World and Game of Thrones elements) as my swords-n-sorcery rules set in the Kalamar setting.

Harn
Another setting that can be divorced from the house system, Harn has detailed medieval cultures. I mine it for additional medieval info and inspiration. Harn is low-magic. I was looking for more of a swords-n-sorcery style feel which I didn't think would gel with Harn as well, so I went with Kalamar. Harn's regional and cultural sourcebooks are top-notch, though.

These recommendations are from books that I own and use. I've heard good things about Green Ronin's Medieval handbook and RPGObjects Legends of Excalibur.

But whatever you do, if you're going to run a d20 medieval game, do yourself a favor and get Western Europe: A Magical Medieval Society. Great stuff.

Azgulor

 

[robertsconley]

If you want to go more for the Conanesque side you may want to try http://www.amazon.com/Wilderlands-H..._bbs_sr_1/002-3006082-3687251?ie=UTF8&s=books

In my own personal campaign (The Majestic Wilderlands) I use a lot of background rules from Harn and Ars Magica. The strength of the Wilderlands is that there is a lot of low level details that allow on the fly exploration without you having to come up with everything on the fly. Also while there is a overall background it is deliberately left vague beyond a certain level so that you can customize it or jettison it.

My own campaign started from the original Judges Guild product was even sketchier.

http://home.earthlink.net/~wilderlands.

The product out of the box has that conan style sword and sorcery feel that many 70s era D&D product had.

 

[Nightfall]

Hârn is my world of choice, so I’m more than a little biased, though certainly no more than Nightfall.

Dunno Grumpy, I'm pretty darn biased at times. But at least I can admit it!