why not europe?

[Wombat]

I've played a lot of Ars Magica in the last ten years or so. I have also run Castle Falkenstein and a couple homebrews set in not-quite-Europes (thus avoiding the infringement...). I think I can say at that point that I am familiar with running semi-historical games, at least in non-D20 systems.

I like running games in The Real World (tm). It gives the characters a sense of being grounded. If people are going to spout off during the game about particular information that will give them an advantage, I just require them to pick up an appropriate skill; sending out info between sessions is fine as that does not disrupt the game. And if we run across historical inconsistencies, we chalk it up to "This Is Not Quite The Same Place".

Personal takes, but I find gaming of our Earth a helluvalotta fun

 

[tetsujin28]

The hardest part is to do away with the religions. Both Christianity and Islam doesnt fit well with D&D, as they condemn magic and leave no room for polytheism without PCs being labeled as heretics or christians. But if you take away Christianity from medieval Europe, not much is left in the social workings of the continent; so much was based around the pope and his bishops and everything.

I can't speak for Islam, but being a Late Antiquity nut, I can certainly inform you that this hasn't always been true for Christianity. If you want to read a fascinating book, pick up Ancient Christian Magic. Coptic Texts of Ritual Power, edited by Marvin Meyer and Richard Smith. The texts range from the 1st to the 12th centuries AD, and reveal just how synchretistic Christianity was during its origins. Highly recommended.

 

[tetsujin28]

There was the Arthurian Pantheon with statblocs of all the major characters in the 1e Dieties and Demigods

And there's all of the Pendragon line (plug plug) to use as source material.

IIRC, those 1e Arthurian write-ups were really poor.

 

[med stud]

I can't speak for Islam, but being a Late Antiquity nut, I can certainly inform you that this hasn't always been true for Christianity. If you want to read a fascinating book, pick up Ancient Christian Magic. Coptic Texts of Ritual Power, edited by Marvin Meyer and Richard Smith. The texts range from the 1st to the 12th centuries AD, and reveal just how synchretistic Christianity was during its origins. Highly recommended.

Thanks for the advice! I hop I can get a copy over here, though

 

[Drawmack]

product identity

It's not PI it's IP as in intelectual property and I only claim rights to it as it pertains to role-playing.

shows up 39,700,000 times in a Google search, making you quite the multimillionaire...

You typed Europe into goggle, that'll be $1.00

... if you can be bothered emailing 39,700,000 people. I figure, if you get an efficient process down, it'll only take you about 40 years to get through 'em all.

Anyone who helps me collect my $1.00 per imprint will be allowed to keep $0.25 on every dollar they collect.

Better work in alphabetical order. My surname is Richards. I'll get your money to you around 2025.

I'll be working off of the Drawmackonian alphabet which miraculously starts with the letters RICHARDS putting you as the first person on the list. I'll take my money now.

 

[Krieg]

The third edition of Runequest featured "fantasy europe" instead of Glorantha (which is a big part of what killed the game...but I digress).

Columbia Games (the makers of Harn) sells Lionheart which is an excellent representation of 12th century England.

The aforementioned Pendragon is also a very good source for "chivalric" roleplaying.

 

[johnsemlak]

Thanks for the advice! I hop I can get a copy over here, though

Ancient Christian Magic

That definitely looks like a cool title. I've added it to my wish list.

 

[Gez]

Oh, we've tried. We played Ars Magica (several saga) and Vampire: Dark Ages.

There's one big drawback, though. Real world is insanely complex. "Canon consistency" is hard enough in the Realms, but when the lore of the world is disseminated in thousands of history books rather than in one plain, simple setting book, it's even worse.

You'll come to a point where either you won't bother documenting to avoid mistakes anymore. And when a player will correct you ("now, that battle was in 1515, not in 1313"), you'll reply "oh, stfu, it's not Europe, it's a parrallel world!".

 

[Tiefling]

Ancient Christian Magic

That definitely looks like a cool title. I've added it to my wish list.

Heh. Look at the last customer review on that.

 

[Tonguez]

The hardest part is to do away with the religions. Both Christianity and Islam doesnt fit well with D&D, as they condemn magic and leave no room for polytheism without PCs being labeled as heretics or christians. But if you take away Christianity from medieval Europe, not much is left in the social workings of the continent; so much was based around the pope and his bishops and everything.

Actually IMHO one of the best parts of playing in Medieval Euorpe is exactly because one can be part of the Inquisition rooting out heretics and releasing their souls from eternal damnation by sword and fire
(I once did a short lived Homebrew setting based on Solomon Kane in which Cromwells Puritans had occupied Northern France, the Grand Inquisitor had been elected Pope and now dominated all of Southern Europe going on a rampage against various heresies, the Islamic Ottoman Empire threatened Vienna, Paganism (and Vampires) dominated Eastern Europe, leaving the Prussians etc to the Protestants)

Quite frankly the number of large sects and heresies that arose during the Medieval period along with the reverence of Saints and the Holy Mother (who was more popular than Jesus for a while) would rival any Polytheistic system.

Throw in Islam, Judaism, Zorostarianism(sp), Paganism,Wicca and the various other sects and minor orders that existed well - its DnD Polytheism with gritty sociopolitical intrigue