Real World History in (or influencing) your Game?

[CharlesRyan]

Are you someone that has plucked a bit of history from the real world and worked it into your gaming experience?

My campaign is set in crusades-era Europe--1198 to be precise. A mythological 1198, with plenty of supernatural/magical elements, but more or less historically intact.

I'm not too slavish about the history, though I draw heavily from it. I could compare it to a movie like Kingdom of Heaven (set at pretty much the same time as my campaign): Most of the characters and events are based on real people and events, but the writer wasn't too bothered about putting two characters in the same room who really lived 20 years apart. In the end, the history is a tool for adding depth, veracity, and drama to the story (and inspiration for the GM)--but it's the story that matters, and the historical borrowings have no authority to overrule.

I've run across some GMs and players who were uncomfortable with any real history in their games. (I had a GM who loved Ars Magica but would never run it in its native setting.) I've never understood that.

 

[Chaoszero]

I have a sort of prequil homebrew setting set 2,000 years before the current timeline where I've based the political setup and personalities from Three Kingdoms China while maintaining a western Europe Sword and Sorcery setting. It ended up playing like the War of the Roses... with demons.

Also in the current timeline there is a war breaking out based loosely on a combination of the American Civil War and the Scottish Wars of Independance.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

As Urbis is strongly inspired by 19th century Europe, the historic parallels are many and blatant. I even explicitly mention many of them in the Designer's Notes at the bottom of the pages.

I also use period illustrations as artwork.