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View Full Version : Historical Dnd. Yes? No?



Xyk
2008-05-02, 08:41 PM
Has anyone ever tried running (or playing) a historical campaign for dnd? By that I mean put the characters in a specific place and time on earth. I was thinking Roman take-over-europe kind of things. (History would of course be forced to change at the player's success). There would be less monsters of course but this could be fun.

Dr Bwaa
2008-05-02, 08:47 PM
I am currently a player in a campaign set in early 1340s Europe. Magic appeared five years ago. Now the world is in danger of being overrun by demons.

It is awesome.

sonofzeal
2008-05-02, 08:51 PM
.......you know, this might just be totally awesome. See, I have a moderately nerdy girlfriend who's going for her Masters in History, and if I could get something like this off the ground, I think she'd love me forever... unless I botched it horribly. Which I probably would, seeing as how I don't know nearly enough history to pull this off. Mrrg.

Let me know how it goes!

ahammer
2008-05-02, 08:55 PM
I am currently a player in a campaign set in early 1340s Europe. Magic appeared five years ago. Now the world is in danger of being overrun by demons.

It is awesome.

sadowrun meets steampunk. sounds like fun.

I think Roman-greek would work fine. I would lower the magic and put in a lot of greek monsters ie.gorgons (no not the dnd gorgons the greek ones)
and if you spend some time puting spin on the classes(and weapons) I think it would make it more fun

sonofzeal
2008-05-02, 08:58 PM
I think Roman-greek would work fine. I would lower the magic and put in a lot of greek monsters ie.gorgons (no not the dnd gorgons the greek ones)
and if you spend some time puting spin on the classes(and weapons) I think it would make it more fun
I'd be tempted to use the d20 Modern classes for a more realistic feel. None of them would be out of place in any time period, with some tweaking to proficiencies.

EvilElitest
2008-05-02, 09:00 PM
I like to do alternate history, with Magic thrown in, like FMA
from
EE

Dr Bwaa
2008-05-02, 09:01 PM
I think Roman-greek would work fine. I would lower the magic and put in a lot of greek monsters ie.gorgons (no not the dnd gorgons the greek ones)
and if you spend some time puting spin on the classes(and weapons) I think it would make it more fun

I agree, especially with the second part. One of the best things about the campaign I described earlier is that no one is actually playing one of the core classes. On my character sheet is written " 'cleric' 5/Demon Hunter 1" where Demon Hunter is a PrC my DM and I homebrewed together after we'd figured out exactly what my character wanted to do. "cleric" is in parentheses because I don't know all the cleric spells right away; I have to learn them (like a wizard does, but cheaper and faster). Additionally, the DM has worked with each other player to make a PrC specifically for their characters, so everyone has a really good, flavorful class and everything seems to fit the time very well.

I might add that it probably helps that the DM for this campaign is firstly a very good one, and secondly has been taking several intense history classes focusing on this time period recently, which were his inspiration for the campaign in the first place.

Azerian Kelimon
2008-05-02, 09:03 PM
It sounds like an awesome idea. Just watch out for anyone trying to pull a "Hola, mi nombre es Iñigo Montoya" off. 'Ware swashbucklers!

ahammer
2008-05-02, 09:10 PM
I like to do alternate history, with Magic thrown in, like FMA
from
EE

I just think that if the world has high magic where magic can do anything with somewhat ease than I wonder why tech was devloped in the 1st place

FMA is kind of mid-low magic. not hight like I would think of for dnd most of the time

this of couse does not affect games where magic is somwhat new ie rifts/shadowrun

Xyk
2008-05-02, 09:12 PM
Prior knowledge is something I just realized can be an issue. It's pretty simple to avoid though, just by changing dates around.

Low-magic is a good idea, as is greek monsters.

I have been taking latin which deals much with roman culture. Also I expect to research thoroughly before the games begin. Those classes were in fact the inspiration.

Possible PrCs off the top of my head: Legionary, Hoplite... Actually I can't think of many. Maybe Phalanx.

I fully plan to make/change weapons and classes, because not doing so would be retarded to put it bluntly. You can't have samurai running around in rome!

EDIT: Also I would think regular languages from that time period would be appropriate. (Latin, Greek; not elven, dwarven, common.)

ahammer
2008-05-02, 09:22 PM
oracle.. fighter, rogue, claric, barbarin(would be from a place rome took over)
cant think of anything more romen right now.

(paly does not fit)

neochaos
2008-05-02, 09:23 PM
Wasn't there similar PC game? Lionheart of something, I think

ahammer
2008-05-02, 09:26 PM
Wasn't there similar PC game? Lionheart of something, I think

Titan Quest?

DementedFellow
2008-05-02, 09:35 PM
I immediately thought Dynasty Warriors.

Flickerdart
2008-05-02, 09:39 PM
If anyone is doing one in Ancient Japan, you MUST include at least one encounter with a Giant Crab.

Swordguy
2008-05-02, 09:56 PM
Second Edition D&D had extensive resources for doing precisely what you describe.

Although the Shadowrun meets RenPunk sounds like a BLAST to play.

Glawackus
2008-05-02, 11:08 PM
Strange. I thought I dropped my two cents in this thread already...

Anyhow, I'm contemplating a campaign setting for 4E in an alternate history style, although "based on true events!" might seem like a better description, as I'm kind of playing fast and loose with the Way Things Really Happened.

It's going to be based around early America, with a human empire tearing itself into two countries, the gnomes running the analogue of the Dutch East India Company, and those frou-frou Fren--eladrin looking on.

And of course, those strange native elves in the woods getting restless.


Savages! Savages! Barely even human! :smalltongue:


The way I figure, you could run it anywhere from 1773 (You're invited to a Tea Party in Boston with the Flame of Liberty!) to 1804 (The Eladrin sell the West: "Walk until you see ocean" with Lewis and Clark), and it'd gel pretty well with the whole "Points of Light" thing.

EvilElitest
2008-05-02, 11:12 PM
What can you expect, from filthy little heathens. This is what you get, when races are diverse. There skin is hellish red. There only good when dead. There vermin as i said and worst.

Savages Savages, barely even human, savages savages, drive them from out shore

There not like you and me, which means they must be evil
We must sound the drums of war

from
EE

Rutee
2008-05-02, 11:20 PM
.......you know, this might just be totally awesome. See, I have a moderately nerdy girlfriend who's going for her Masters in History, and if I could get something like this off the ground, I think she'd love me forever... unless I botched it horribly. Which I probably would, seeing as how I don't know nearly enough history to pull this off. Mrrg.

Let me know how it goes!

If she's anything like the history majors I know, you will screw it up, and she will be angry at you for failing so monumentally. Because there's too much to know about any given time period to be able to match someone who specializes in it without /heavy/ research, and you'll inevitably muck up one 'minor' major detail.

Unless she's actually laid back about lay people doing it, in which case she'll probably have fun!

Eita
2008-05-02, 11:21 PM
Has anyone ever tried running (or playing) a historical campaign for dnd? By that I mean put the characters in a specific place and time on earth. I was thinking Roman take-over-europe kind of things. (History would of course be forced to change at the player's success). There would be less monsters of course but this could be fun.

As long as you explain the classes and how they work in the setting, you're golden.

Also, a phalanx is a formation, not an individual soldier.

Dervag
2008-05-02, 11:27 PM
I just think that if the world has high magic where magic can do anything with somewhat ease than I wonder why tech was devloped in the 1st place Because while magic can do anything for someone, tech can do some things for anyone. Priests who can make food appear out of thin air are good. If you don't have such priests, or they're mad, or they keep demanding that you go fight crusades in which most of your family gets killed, a plow and a team of oxen may be better. Wizards who can blow someone up are powerful, but you can't count on them. Who knows what a wizard is really thinking? So people keep trying to make better weapons.

It's only when the magic is so ubiquitous that you can't imagine any time or place where it is not readily available to all that you won't see technology develop over time. And at that point, the technology is the magic, and vice versa.

Otherwise, there's an incentive to build technology unless powerful users of magic actively suppress it.

Also, remember that some people are natural tinkerers who will experiment with technology for the sheer love of doing so- not that it will see much use if it can't outcompete magic.

Xyk
2008-05-02, 11:29 PM
As long as you explain the classes and how they work in the setting, you're golden.

Also, a phalanx is a formation, not an individual soldier.

Maybe I should research more...But in Civilization IV Phalanx is the greek unique unit.

Eita
2008-05-02, 11:34 PM
Maybe I should research more...But in Civilization IV Phalanx is the greek unique unit.

In Civilization IV terms, it is. However, the military units in that game are not one person just standing there. They're groupings of soldiers.

However, that is fairly misleading. You see, any group of soldiers with shields and spears can enter into a phalanx.

Now then, what period of Rome do you plan to use? The Kingdom, Republic, or Empire?

Wait... Better question. Do you want the disciplined legions? Yes or no?

Jayngfet
2008-05-02, 11:37 PM
seems easy to make a setting like this, especially with low magic, just pick random figures in history and add cantrips(and orisons, not to appear biased).

quiet1mi
2008-05-02, 11:42 PM
Or you can put a cool twist....

like have it where it is low magic [warrior campaign] and have them [unknowingly] help out a poor, out of work painter with a deep hatred for a religious group but otherwise very charismatic and wants to unify his defeated and broken-spirited country... under his supervision of course:eek:

10 points to who knows what I am talking about...

Ps:this is only do able if the players do not know any history and can be a great lesson in who you blindly follow.

Dode
2008-05-02, 11:47 PM
If you're going for a historical campaign, I'd suggest learning GURPS instead of D&D. Or at least use the E6 version of D&D. If it's merely thematical, that's alright then.

Xyk
2008-05-02, 11:50 PM
I was thinking Empire. AD 10ish according to this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:RomanEmpire_Phases.png) map. Augustus is the current ruler. I don't know what you mean by disciplined legions.
"The military discipline of the legions was quite harsh. Regulations were strictly enforced, and a broad array of punishments could be inflicted upon a legionary who broke them. Many legionaries became devotees in the cult of the minor goddess Disciplina, whose virtues of frugality, severity and loyalty were central to their code of conduct and way of life." -Wikipedia.

Strict discipline looks good to me.

Eita
2008-05-02, 11:57 PM
I was thinking Empire. AD 10ish according to this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:RomanEmpire_Phases.png) map. Augustus is the current ruler. I don't know what you mean by disciplined legions.
"The military discipline of the legions was quite harsh. Regulations were strictly enforced, and a broad array of punishments could be inflicted upon a legionary who broke them. Many legionaries became devotees in the cult of the minor goddess Disciplina, whose virtues of frugality, severity and loyalty were central to their code of conduct and way of life." -Wikipedia.

Strict discipline looks good to me.

Because the Romans didn't always have the legions. In fact, they didn't until the last hundred or so years of the Republic. In 10-something BC Gaius Marius introduced the Marian Reforms which created the Roman Legions. Prior to that, the standard infantry was separated into three parts. The Hastati, Princeps, and Triari. The Hastati were the newest soldiers, the Princeps were those who had been in the army for awhile, and the Triari were the guys who'd been there forever.

Now then, for your year, you're going to have to have your players work on their backstory as they think about what PrCs they want. In that era, the only portion of the Roman military, that was actually recruited from Roman citizens were the Legionaries. They hired mercenaries to act as their archers and horsemen.

However, you can play around with Cleric-esque PrCs. For instance, say, High Priest of Jupiter. Gives him some more spell slots and in exchange his armor is knocked to chain I guess.

Something you might want to include though are Oracles and Augurs, those who are able to see the future.

Ariko
2008-05-03, 01:03 AM
Wasn't there similar PC game? Lionheart of something, I think

Darklands fits, for different age. Set in Germany's dark age, and using German mythology, as well as the realities of the time.

bosssmiley
2008-05-03, 05:01 AM
Has anyone ever tried running (or playing) a historical campaign for dnd? By that I mean put the characters in a specific place and time on earth. I was thinking Roman take-over-europe kind of things. (History would of course be forced to change at the player's success). There would be less monsters of course but this could be fun.

Yes, using the old AD&D "Historical Sourcebooks". We did a Roman-era game (the group variously loved the Falco books, "I, Claudius" and "Gladiator"), a sadly abortive Musketeers/Age of Discovery game, and even briefly tried for a 'Celtic twilight'/Slaine-style game using the Celts sourcebook.

Sadly we never did get to play the Dark Ages game using the Vikings and Charlemagne books. I had hoped to make it something like The Hammer & The Cross (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hammer_and_the_Cross) trilogy, or Bernard Cornwall's "Enemy of God" series. :smallcool:

You might want to try using the E6 variant system (advancement tops out at 6th level, adding feats thereafter) to keep mooks a threat to the PCs, or you may prefer to go the full on "Three Musketeers"/"Marvel 1602" thing and leave full class advancement in.

mustaju
2008-05-03, 06:08 AM
Or you can put a cool twist....

like have it where it is low magic [warrior campaign] and have them [unknowingly] help out a poor, out of work painter with a deep hatred for a religious group but otherwise very charismatic and wants to unify his defeated and broken-spirited country... under his supervision of course:eek:

10 points to who knows what I am talking about...

Ps:this is only do able if the players do not know any history and can be a great lesson in who you blindly follow.

Do I get 10 points for guessing Adolf Schickelgrüber?

Anyway, I have always loved the idea of historical DnD. In fact, I quite often use civilizations that are modified versions of their historical counterparts. The Khmer Empire might be an interesting example, or some of the african tribes in order to give a different approach to barbarity.
Also, it is always cool to play Phoenician civilizations.

hamishspence
2008-05-03, 06:40 AM
Might depend how much magic and monsters you permit. Historical fantasy allows everything from D&D, but ties in historical event, and works on the assumption that magic is fairly secret or restricted.

David Gemmell books have some historical era but magic and monsters (and takes some liberties with evnts in these time periods. The Macedon two parter is a bit more historical than the others. Or pseudohistory: the Rigante series, uasing historical flavour, but different geography and events.)

if you want magic and monsters to be zero or near zero, d20 Modern might fit slightly better: the D&D rulesset Can be used, but might be a bit tricky.

Theodoxus
2008-05-03, 08:23 AM
For semi-historical fluff, the Dark Ages books for World of Darkness First Edition are awesome. White Wolf's done all the hard work of coming up with how the Church reacts to 'magic' along with peasants and lords and all those 'social' aspects that are sometimes difficult to maintain versimilitude. You could even do a pretty decent Ravenloft type setting by keeping the world set up as is - Mages vs Vampires vs Lycanthropes- just change the rule set to d20.

Jayabalard
2008-05-03, 08:44 AM
while it's for a different game, GURPS Banestorm might be a useful resource for such a game. It's set in an alternate world, Yrth and is people mostly by people from our world who were pulled over by the banestorm.

A game set in that sort of world gets to keep some of that historical feel without having to worry about separating character and player knowledge so much