Like most of my fool gaming projects,
it started so casually. Restless on leave, I threw out on Google Plus
the idle thought that I was suffering through a perverse, masochistic
urge to play a hardcore medievalist rpg like first edition Chivalry
& Sorcery or Harnmaster.
For some reason the resulting
discussion just clicked something in my head and low and somewhere in
there it morphed into “let's make a game.” I trotted out a wish
list of design goals for a dream game:
1. Low-to-no magic rpg. Magic and fantasy elements are rare and wondrous or terrifying.
2. Set roughly from 1190-1250 in a Northwestern Europe, but can support low fantasy or semi-historical fictional settings that are similar.
3. BRP-like percentile game as a baseline but with simple mechanics that are custom fit for the period.
4. Game feel inspirations: real world history, Averoigne/Jurgen weirdness and a splash of Howard Pyle-like romanticism.
5. Indirect "magic" (saintly, alchemy, sorcery/summoning, and herbal) that is well-researched and fits into the workings of the medieval mind.
6. Folklore and legends are often "real". Prester John may well live at the edge of the world in a land filled with strange wonders. The black hound may indeed hunt the moors and Woodwoses in the deep dark recesses of the forest. Faith and folklore have real weight.
7. Background, institutions and social class matter, but opportunity through social chaos/adventuring.
8. Interesting, painless chargen (career based with clear easy choices).
1. Low-to-no magic rpg. Magic and fantasy elements are rare and wondrous or terrifying.
2. Set roughly from 1190-1250 in a Northwestern Europe, but can support low fantasy or semi-historical fictional settings that are similar.
3. BRP-like percentile game as a baseline but with simple mechanics that are custom fit for the period.
4. Game feel inspirations: real world history, Averoigne/Jurgen weirdness and a splash of Howard Pyle-like romanticism.
5. Indirect "magic" (saintly, alchemy, sorcery/summoning, and herbal) that is well-researched and fits into the workings of the medieval mind.
6. Folklore and legends are often "real". Prester John may well live at the edge of the world in a land filled with strange wonders. The black hound may indeed hunt the moors and Woodwoses in the deep dark recesses of the forest. Faith and folklore have real weight.
7. Background, institutions and social class matter, but opportunity through social chaos/adventuring.
8. Interesting, painless chargen (career based with clear easy choices).
A mad writing rush of two weeks opened
up with heavy-lifting help from Evan from In Places Deep
and Mike from Sword+1 and other mensch in our DIY corner or the hobby. Forty manuscript
pages later and “Medieval Hack” (a working title) was a-born.
A good many ideas I've been long
harboring for character generation minigames were sharped and found a
home, you can guide a character through a large range of childhood
class backgrounds along a vocation path of almost 50 different
realistic vocations (with lots of strange events and related
character development along the way). Long-tinkered, beancounting-minimal domain-level
rules are finding a place too.
While we have a lot more tightening up
and thinking out to for our evolving-bottom game, the punchline is we
already had enough in place to start the real fun: hot-housing in
several play-test mini-campaigns on Google Plus hangouts.
Evan is running one such game in the
Languedouc region in the late-12th century. I'm running two
sessions a week now of a mini-campaign that ports elements of 13th
century Brittany into the strife-torn South Ulfland setting dress of
Jack Vance's Lyonesse trilogy (see here for the full campaign description).
If you are interested in the game—and
more importantly want to drop in and swing a virtual sword in one of
the playtests--drop me a line. Half the fun is building a game
organically from the bottom up with the discerning and devious minds
of our wee hobby.
As both a medivealist and a DM, this appeals to me in a lot of ways. I've played the ole Harn but found it takes too late a tack in the medieval world, Early to High being my own preference.
ReplyDeleteHave you got an assemblage of rules somewhere to peruse?
We have a playtest copy that is rough but has enough bones to play. Drop me a line off site if you are interested.
DeleteSounds like some ideas that I'd love to get in on. Damn this European time difference though :(. I'd like to see what you guys come up with. I've been thinking about something similar but more of a Renaissance/Enlightenment/Wars of Religion/Pike and Shot type feel to it.
ReplyDeleteI'm kind of a more late Middle Ages, early Renaissance guy too, but I've been fascinated with the period as of late after reading through the Giles' series of "Life in a Medieval City" and "Castle". Gearing down on a specific time period was quite liberating you can get down and dirty with specific kinds of period dress and mechanics without getting the usual muddle of trying to capture a really long and diverse time period.
DeleteI have been kicking around the idea of doing both a later (14th century "Distant Mirror") and earlier (mid to late 11th century to get El Cid-era Iberia, the Norman Conquest and First Crusades) supplement. But finish this one first is the goal.
DeleteChris, I'll be interested seeing what you come up with. I've very much digging where you're going so far.
DeleteSee your email.
DeleteThat sounds quite interesting! I tend to favor "low-fantasy" settings anyway, so a realistic grounding makes each fantastic element that much more shocking.
ReplyDeleteYes the idea is to highlight the weird and fantastic. Downshift the number and frequency of encountering the supernatural, but make it more horrifying and the like.
DeleteLow fantasy is also better suited to low level characters, since every improvement over a Zero level mook is huge, and even the most insignificant magic is startling in its power.
DeleteI'm intrigued. Even as a Hardcore Medieval Ignoramist.
ReplyDeleteSounds very interesting, except for the percentile based system (until I can learn more about it) : I often found mysel baffled by the poor skills of a "specialist" in percentile based system and char advancement (Warhammer RPG all editions/universes for example).
ReplyDeleteThis sounds cool.
ReplyDelete