1600's

[tedcahill2]

What sort of considerations would I need to make if I wanted to run a setting with technology that is roughly that of 1600's?

[noob]

There is a whole lot of technology in 1600 and it is hard to just guess how it looks just with a bunch of sentences.
One thing to consider is that there was not yet telegraphs,semaphores and other fast communication technologies and so that information is not something flowing instantly.

[Altair_the_Vexed]

If you're prepared to read a whole book- an entertaining one, but still a whole book - then I can recommend Ian Mortimer's Time Traveller Guide to Restoration Britain.

You've got gun powder, cannons, pistols, muskets - you've got the resulting demise of armour (those bullets go right through plate, so why bother?) - you've got no medicine worth talking about in a modern sense, but very keen "doctors" who will happily dose you with nasty pills and potions, or cut bits off you - you've got emerging political changes, revolution, throwing off of monarchy and the beginnings of democracy - you've got the beginnings of banking, cricket, witch trials...

This is the time of pirates on the Spanish Main, of the first permanent American colonies, of the Inquisition, of the rise of colonial powers, of the Great Fire of London, of crazy wigs and make up, of even CRAZIER wigs and make up on the women... It's the time of horrifying mass slavery, of the Shoguns and the closing off of Japan, of Civil War in England, Ireland and Scotland, of spice trade and the fast sailing ships that needs...

Just go browse around here for a few hours, you'll get the gist.

[tedcahill2]

If you're prepared to read a whole book- an entertaining one, but still a whole book - then I can recommend Ian Mortimer's Time Traveller Guide to Restoration Britain.

You've got gun powder, cannons, pistols, muskets - you've got the resulting demise of armour (those bullets go right through plate, so why bother?) - you've got no medicine worth talking about in a modern sense, but very keen "doctors" who will happily dose you with nasty pills and potions, or cut bits off you - you've got emerging political changes, revolution, throwing off of monarchy and the beginnings of democracy - you've got the beginnings of banking, cricket, witch trials...

This is the time of pirates on the Spanish Main, of the first permanent American colonies, of the Inquisition, of the rise of colonial powers, of the Great Fire of London, of crazy wigs and make up, of even CRAZIER wigs and make up on the women... It's the time of horrifying mass slavery, of the Shoguns and the closing off of Japan, of Civil War in England, Ireland and Scotland, of spice trade and the fast sailing ships that needs...

Just go browse around here for a few hours, you'll get the gist.

Thank you for summarizing all of the wicked cool stuff, in a historical sense, that I think makes it so great for an ROG setting.

[Knaight]

You've also got all sorts of stuff going on in China and south east Asia in particular, where a whole bunch of cultures that had been relatively isolated (though still not that highly isolated) and a bunch of colonial powers started getting brought together for trade and conflict in a really big way. It's a particularly potent example of a broader trend of the world shrinking and formerly far flung cultures suddenly getting a lot less far flung.

[tedcahill2]

So I think one of my most basic issues is what to do about all the different fantasy races and monsters.

For example: does the tribal society of goblins, kobolds and orcs have a place in a setting based on 1600s Europe? Are their pockets of tribal cultures still around, or have most of them been relegated to less advanced places like Africa?

How would I handle them? Have they evolved into a more advanced species? Are they now part of the populous? Or do they remain savages?

Since slavery was pretty big around this period warforged would make ideal slaves.

[Murk]

So I think one of my most basic issues is what to do about all the different fantasy races and monsters.

For example: does the tribal society of goblins, kobolds and orcs have a place in a setting based on 1600s Europe? Are their pockets of tribal cultures still around, or have most of them been relegated to less advanced places like Africa?

How would I handle them? Have they evolved into a more advanced species? Are they now part of the populous? Or do they remain savages?

Since slavery was pretty big around this period warforged would make ideal slaves.

I think it doesn't really matter what race you put where.
More importantly, though, is that you have to be cautious with linking fantasy elements to real world regions and cultures. Describing the green monsters that are always evil as "savages" is okay - but taking a real culture (or a fake culture that is almost the same) and then saying "these guys are evil and savage" is probably not okay. The same goes for sniveling, cowardly cobolds. Heck, even phrasings like "less advanced" might be stepping on people's toes.
It is not necessarily bad to step on toes, but you do need to cautious with it, I think.

Having said that, sure, plenty of tribal people around in the 1600's. It mostly depends where in the world you want to be.
Which, I think, is an important question to ask yourself anyway. 1600's South East Asia was a very different place from 1600's Horn of Africa, which was a very different place from 1600's Pacific Ocean. So where do you want this to take place?

[noob]

Well by reading your first post there was no way to discover it was going to be fantasy and not a real life from the 1600 looking setting.
So is there is going to be magic or will there be only racism?
And what is a monster? Is it the human murdering goblins because he believes them to be evil?

[Zombimode]

This is the time of pirates on the Spanish Main, of the first permanent American colonies, of the Inquisition, of the rise of colonial powers, of the Great Fire of London, of crazy wigs and make up, of even CRAZIER wigs and make up on the women... It's the time of horrifying mass slavery, of the Shoguns and the closing off of Japan, of Civil War in England, Ireland and Scotland, of spice trade and the fast sailing ships that needs...

and as a very minor Addition to this exhaustive list is the Solving of the European Question for which the German Question is a subset of, shaping the future of central europe, redesinging the face of warfare: the Thrity friggin' Years War