Using real world things in your games...

[Croesus]

I did that once after either reading something about Richard the Lion-Hearted & Saladin. Or, maybe it was something on the history channel that I saw. But, Saladin had so admired Richard's fighting style & leadership that when Richard's horse was shot out from under him, Saladin had one of his men bring another horse to Richard. I thought it was a cool story.

Another good story of Saladin:

Saladin was besieging castle Kerak. The siege coincided with the celebration of a high profile wedding between Humphrey IV and the king of Jerusalem's half-sister Isabella, with numerous high-ranking Frankish guest (Saladin's main goal may have been to capture and ransom these nobles). The story is that Lady Stephanie, lady of the castle, chivalrously sent food from the wedding banquet to Saladin, who responded by inquiring where the newlyweds would be retiring for the night. He then directed his siege engines to target a different part of the castle.

Maybe it never happened, but I'd like to believe it did.

 

[AeroDm]

Whenever I stumble across stuff like old botany texts or similar I try and save as many as possible. The "feel" of botany art is perfect for D&D and always perks up the creepy necromancer's laboratory.

 

[Mark CMG]

Don't forget that in the DMing Advice thread we have catalogued the old "(monday) history in your games" threads and the "1000 non-RPG websites for RPG ideas" -

http://www.enworld.org/forum/genera...-dming-advice-links-fixed-july-20-2008-a.html

1000 non-RPG websites for RPG ideas™

(monday) history in your game "barbarous folk/Genghis Khan/National Geogrphic/More Genghis, and the Mongols influence till 1300"

(monday) history in your game "Greek/Internet ancient history sourcebook/law"

(monday) history in your game "islamic cultures/medieval sourcebook on islam/coins form islamic countries/(added math and map links)"

(monday) history in your game "everyday jobs, guilds (again, because it ties in) and a bit on Tolkein"

(monday) history in your game "animals- and a bit on naming"

(monday) history in your game "a few tidbits about astronomy back in the day/ancient astronomy all over the world/astronomical observation broken down by place and time/japanese astronomy in Kinki"

(monday) history in your game "today: average stuff. household goods, church things/womens fashions, circa william the conqueror"

(monday) history in your game "the bard-ish life/European Medieval and Renaissance music/gregorian chant"

(monday) history in your game "regional differences/medieval Serbia/medieval Ireland"

(monday) history in your game "scotland - Historic find"

(monday) history in your game "letters and journal entries from explorers and culture clashes today"

(monday) history in your game "baths and sewers/environmental timeline/sewage/bedrooms, bathing and indoor plumbing"

(monday) history in your game "architecture/castle terminology/architecture gallery"

(monday) history in your game "mythology, heroes and legends/irish legends and myths/german changelings/german heroes"

(monday) history in your game "boats in different priods/institute of nautical archeology"

(monday) history in your game "religious stuff/unusual religious practices"

(monday) history in your game "demons/devils and demons in illuminated manuscripts/7 deadly sins/Names of 72 demons"

(monday) history in your game "free time/tower of london/dice, and cheating at dice, circa 1550"

(monday) history in your game "making of a manuscript book/printed book/medieval manuscript manual/view from workshoppers"

(monday) history in your game "pirate nest/castle floorplans/encyclopedia mythica"

(monday) history in your game "mummies baby/ice mummies, desert, egyptian, bog/egyptian mummies (silly games)"

(monday) history in your game "travel/a fransciscan heads east/marco polo/ibn battuta on ibn battuta"

(monday) history in your game "dinner at the inn, or the castle, or on the road"

(monday) history in your game "guilds, trading..."

(monday) history in your game "torture, martyrs and witches-with other dinner conversation"

(monday) history in your game "archers run amok in this game"

(monday) history in your game "this week: horses!"

(monday) history in your game "here is a rambling sidelong glance at alchemy"

(monday) history in your game "smiths, and stuff from the smith"

(monday) history in your game "india"

(monday) history in your game "wonders/armouries/archery"

(monday) history in your game "anasazi reservoir/japanese polearms/chinese polearms/the staff-sling"

(monday) history in your game "the paston letters/daily life in china"

(monday) history in your game "code of chivalry/samurai creed/bayeux tapestry, and the battle of hastings/the scots in panama!"

(monday) history in your game "town of Gurna/korean"

(monday) history in your game "medieval toilets/norman poop/mounted knight vocabulary"

(monday) history in your game "tinker gnomes, longitude and OLD machines/artifact/mead and sex/medieval women"

(monday) history in your game "medieval musical instruments/sword and buckler instructions/The Mysterious Fate of the Great Library of Alexandria/salamina"

(monday) history in your game "journal of western martial arts/history of the quarterstaff/non-oriental monk info)"

(monday) history in your game "vikings"

(monday) history in your game "roman empire/hun info/knighthood, chivalry"

(monday) history in your game "intrigue with romulus/dangerous driving"

(monday) history in your game "earliest writing?/siege stuff/food in 1518/healthcare"

(monday) history in your game "cannibalistic ancestors?/following the sun/great wall/moses"

(monday) history in your game "nine oldest swords/more on the slavegirl/slavery of the time/hadrian's wall"

(monday) history in your game "reciept found for slave girl/need a pilgimage?/maya and drought"

 

[nedjer]

Forgive me double posting from the purple place - someone there on a similar topic:

Recently started putting together a bunch of authentic 'media' on C14th Scotland. The beginnings are on the blog and in the blog forum. Maps, background info, characters, timelines, original documents, images being brought together to 'prime' a medieval setting. Might be just what you're looking for . . . in a few months time.

We're playing it with Treasure, but any straightforward system would do. The time and place are down to the crazy events, terrain, torn loyalties, etc . . . Started with some 'heroic' stuff, which could be mistaken as an angle on Scottish Independence initially. However, the whole period is largely characterised by a shortage of 'white knights' all round.