What's the "Perfect" medieval setting?

[Khairn]

The perfect Medieval setting for a fantasy game?

There are 2, and I call them Mythic Europe (Ars Magica) and Harn (Harnmaster). All the elements that I look for can be found found there.

-human centric
-feudal / stratified society
-small nations/city states
-the arcane arts are both rare and wonderous
-a dominant faith for the majority of the people, and wild "pagan" beliefs for those who live on the barbaric edge of civilization
- an age of almost continual strife (of varying degree's) between nations, cities, merchants, races and faiths.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Thanks for the tip, Whiz. Any personal opinions?

I'd identify what about the medieval world you really want to model. I don't imagine you want all your player characters to be commoners tied to the land, which is statistically the most likely scenario. Once you decide how far you want to get away from nitty-gritty reality, I'd do what I always do: Start jotting down specific D&Disms you want present (and ones you specifically do not). Then look at the lists and see what sort of world naturally gels from there.

Oh, and I'd use A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe as my guidebook if I were making a "realistic" D&D world.

I did the above when creating the Barony of Midwood, deciding how realistic I wanted it to be (magic present but still lots of commoners tied to the land and a very low-powered start, despite the adjacent presence of clear otherworldly elements like a dragon and kobolds). Then I listed what elements I "needed" for adventurers and built a low level hamlet trying to incorporate all those elements (a weaponsmith, the obligatory tavern/inn, mentors for the likely player class choices, etc.) and went from there.

If you're looking for something a little more magical than purely medieval, the Sword & Sorcery book Excalibur has a lot of great ideas for chivalric D&D games, but it might be more magical than medieval.

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

In WotC race terms, this would call for:

Humans
Yuan Ti
Elan
Aasimar, tieflings, and possibly genesai

Mutation could be handled by prestige classes like the green star adept and dragon disciple, and classes like the favored soul and possibly monk. Lycanthrope and vampire templates also seem appropriate to number 4.

As for races: I am tired of elves, dwarves, halflings, etc., and moreso by all the other more recent stuff such as half-dragons and psionic races. Now, I would like a world with only humans, as the main race. Then, there would be two or three other secretive races mixed among them, that would be indistinguishable from humns at first sight. Let's say:
1) As in some R. Howard's stories: a few members of a most ancient ophidian race (snake people) who disguise themselves as humans through the use of magic.
2) Humans who have been touched by the supernatural at birth. They have special traits, but also are watched over by supernatural entities, etc.
3) Humans born from members of a cult/cabal/conspiracy who strives to create a different (and of course "better") humanity through alchemy and fantasy genetic engineering.
4) Humans who, at some point in their lives, begin to mutate into something else, such as beastmen or half-dragons, whatever, hafter having been touched by some totem power.

 

[Tonguez]

I don't imagine you want all your player characters to be commoners tied to the land, which is statistically the most likely scenario. .

Actually the most likely scenario for adventurers is for them to be Younger nobles or Freemen. Possibly a Mercenary company

Pendragon might be a good model to look at

 

[Sejs]

What's the "Perfect" medieval setting?

You all die of the plague, make new characters.

Done? Great! *roll* They all die of the plague, too.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Actually the most likely scenario for adventurers is for them to be Younger nobles or Freemen. Possibly a Mercenary company

Right, all of which are less historical medieval and more action-adventure medieval, and thus more playable for most folks. (There are people who enjoy playing commoners who eat mud and whose beloved weapon is a pointy rock, after all.)

 

[RFisher]

For me it would probably be akin to equal parts Mythic Earth for Ars Magica, The Old World from Warhammer FRP, & Galloway's Fantasy Wargaming.

I've also heard good things about Columbia's Lionheart (IIRC) & Gurps Middle Ages. Oh, & there's Pendragon.

(A friend of mine once swore that Gurps China was the perfect medieval fantasy world.)

Hârn was OK, but it never really grabbed me.

At least that was what I used to want in a medieval setting. These days I probably have a stronger pull towards something along the lines of the Hyborean Age, Nehwon, & the Dying Earth.

 

[countgray]

Harn

I vote for Harn too!

http://www.columbiagames.com/cgi-bin/query/cfg/allharnitems.cfg

http://homepages.peakpeak.com/~fedifensor/games/harn.htm

Harn is a wonderful setting, full of rich medieval details, it is sooo well done. I really treasured each one of the sourcebooks that I bought for Harn. It just felt so real. And so well researched! They really had a lock on presenting a medieval setting that was fun to game in and brought the medieval period to vibrant life.

 

[Wombat]

I would start with this book.

Oh heck, if you're going to go for that, you might as well go whole hog:

http://www.atlas-games.com/arm5/index.php

(edit)

But Harn is also very good. I like it a lot, especially the maps (but not the religions -- those, sadly, feel simplistic).

 

[grodog]

I've been designing an entire system, and I want to create a medieval campaign for it. The problem is that I have created so many medieval campaigns that I'm out of ideas. What do you think? What would you like in the "perfect medieval setting"?

Like Nyeshet said, there's a pretty wide spectrum of possibilities you can play with. Are you a fan of Ars Magica?---it's my favorite rpg, and I've found it to be a great vehicle for the blending of history with fantasy, and a useful inspiration for WFRP games, too. By scaling up and down the historical timeline, and shifting from region-to-region, nation-to-nation, you can completely alter the tenor of a campaign.