Favourite Mediaeval Setting?

[Lord Liaden]

Deleted for posting in the wrong thread. 🙃

Edited January 30 by Lord Liaden

[assault]

1 hour ago, Lord Liaden said:

None of that is as cool as 300 Spartan armor. Shields and speedos.

 

According to ancient Greek pottery, speedos weren't a thing. Shield and helmet. That's what you need.

[Ninja-Bear]

7 hours ago, Christopher R Taylor said:

It depends on what you want your armor to do.  Its just easier and more clear in a game to have armor just give defenses, but it really does matter what you're defending against.  Plate armor doesn't protect as well as cloth armor against some attacks.  Chain is better than leather except against certain sorts of threats.  The kind of metal might work better against some attacks and not against others.  Light and hard might be great, until its hit by something that shatters it.  Flexible is better than rigid in some circumstances, but in others its worse.

 

So there's really no such thing as the best armor against everything.  But modeling that would require a computer to do all the calculations and your warrior would have a golf bag of different things to use and wear, playing the rock/paper/scissors game.

Maybe not so much a computer model but when D&D was 2D6 there was a matrix that you would look at depending on weapon attacking what armor. It could give you a small bonus or penalty.

 

@Old Man, depends on what ax compared to what armor. The mace is useful against all armor and it’s easier to use. You don’t have to worry about an edge alignment.

Edited January 30 by Ninja-Bear

[Old Man]

11 hours ago, Ninja-Bear said:

 

 

@Old Man, depends on what ax compared to what armor. The mace is useful against all armor and it’s easier to use. You don’t have to worry about an edge alignment.

 

You're not wrong, but I found axes to work well enough against any type of armor.  Plus I could use it to hook shields and limbs, and possibly even throw it depending on the axe type.

 

Furthermore, don't overlook the non-combat utility of the axe.  It's hard to build fortifications, breach a door, or cut firewood with a mace.

[Lord Liaden]

But if you're looking to tenderize meat -- whether in steaks or "on the hoof" -- a mace is definitely a better choice.

[Ninja-Bear]

15 hours ago, Old Man said:

 

You're not wrong, but I found axes to work well enough against any type of armor.  Plus I could use it to hook shields and limbs, and possibly even throw it depending on the axe type.

 

Furthermore, don't overlook the non-combat utility of the axe.  It's hard to build fortifications, breach a door, or cut firewood with a mace.

Interesting that you mentioned about cutting wood with an axe. Matt Eastman has a video going over which ones would work and which ones wouldn’t. Who knew that some axes are designed specifically for war?

 

one thing that 8 really like about Matt Eastman (his site is called Schola  Gladitoria ) is that he’s big on context, context, context.

Edited January 31 by Ninja-Bear

[Old Man]

3 hours ago, Ninja-Bear said:

Interesting that you mentioned about cutting wood with an axe. Matt Eastman has a video going over which ones would work and which ones wouldn’t. Who knew that some axes are designed specifically for war?

 

one thing that 8 really like about Matt Eastman (his site is called Schola  Gladitoria ) is that he’s big on context, context, context.

 

Eastman's another good one though he seems mostly sword-focused.  I haven't come across any of his axe videos.

 

Certainly some axes are better at woodcutting than others, but I'd rather woodcut with almost any axe than almost any sword or mace.

[Barwickian]

Those interested in a medieval England campaign set during the reigns of Kings Richard and John might be interested to know I'm working on a setting book for Chivalry & Sorcery entitled Sherwood. As well as C&S rules it will have an inbuilt system based on Colin Speirs' rules-light Essence Core and stats for HârnMaster. We've no plans to include Hero stats in the book, but as an old Hero fan I'd like to do a free PDF appendix with Hero stats (note that 'like' is not the same as 'definitely will'). Either way, setting information will far outweigh rules information.

You can see much of the raw research for the project on my World Anvil site, Fabula Mundi.

The baseline setting is built as far as possible on detailed historical and archaeological research. The setting covers everywhere from York and Skipton to the north and Lichfield and Grantham in the south, including the whole of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, and parts of Lincolnshire (including Lincoln), Staffordshire and Leicestershire. The area is chosen such that the published map will print on A0 paper (c. 33 inches by 48 inches) at a scale of 2 miles to the inch.

The setting is being written with three primary modes in mind:

Historical - the baseline for the setting. As much historical and archaeological detail as I can squeeze in and make interesting. I'm knowingly allowing only three anachronisms, which I'll explain below.
Medieval Fantasy - the historical setting with the prodigies and wonders written about by chroniclers of the day: devils, revenants, sorcerers (low and high magic), saints' miracles, werewolves, and things 'neither of heaven nor of hell' (the fey, but of the medieval variety not the early modern variety).
Romance - modern ideas overlaid on the historical setting, such as the modern versions of Robin Hood, Saxon rebels versus Norman masters, powers of light and darkness, pagan survivals and so on. Think Ivanhoe, any Robin Hood film or book, and Graham Staplehurst's Robin Hood (ICE), or the Robin of Sherwood TV show that inspired it.

 

Within that there's guidance for several themes: the nobles campaign, the urban/merchant campaign, the outlaw campaign, the agent campaign (PCs working as troubleshooters for the crown, church or a great noble), and a little guidance on specialised campaigns (the monastic and the village life campaigns). 

Known anachronisms: The Trip to Jerusalem pub in Nottingham claims to date from 1189 and to have been a meeting place for crusaders heading out on Richard's Crusade. The first recorded pub on the site was in the 17th century, when it was known as The Pilgrim. Nottingham's two other pubs that claim to be medieval, The Bell and the Salutation. are in buildings dendro-dated to the 1440s. The Salutation claims to date from 1240, but its first recorded mention is in 1414, when it was known as The Archangel Gabriel Salutes the Virgin Mary. And that is a pub name I definitely want in the setting. Since I'll be including the Sal, it seems churlish to exclude the Trip and the Bell.

The attached map is a reduced-scale work in progress. It's built in QGIS. I haven't included the villages in this version as they clutter too much at this resolution. I've a lot more information than I can put on to the printed map, so things like feudal holdings, parish boundaries, rural deaneries and peculiars and so on, will likely be done as individual maps in relevant chapters. I plan to release the map alongside the book as a layered PDF, allowing people to turn the various details on and off.

Edited February 19 by Barwickian

[Doc Democracy]

2 hours ago, Barwickian said:

but as an old Hero fan I'd like to do a free PDF appendix with Hero stats (note that 'like' is not the same as 'definitely will').

 

A lot of the grunt work you could delegate out on the boards.  Am sure you would find plenty of folk happy to generate stat blocks or proof text etc.  All for the kudos of being involved.  🙂

[Barwickian]

24 minutes ago, Doc Democracy said:

 

A lot of the grunt work you could delegate out on the boards.  Am sure you would find plenty of folk happy to generate stat blocks or proof text etc.  All for the kudos of being involved.  🙂

Yes, and I'd be very happy for any assistance - a number of people here know Hero far better than I.

One of the things I'd like to do is establish working patterns for sorcery and miracles/prayers for the medieval fantasy theme: distinguishing low magic (which tends to emphasise talismans and raw power words) and high magic (which is a more systemic, intellectual system such as the astral image magic of the grimoire Picatrix and its Arabic original).

Buit the priority is on getting the setting finished, maps done and in all in the publisher's hands before I start thinking of extras.

[Doc Democracy]

23 minutes ago, Barwickian said:

Yes, and I'd be very happy for any assistance - a number of people here know Hero far better than I.

One of the things I'd like to do is establish working patterns for sorcery and miracles/prayers for the medieval fantasy theme: distinguishing low magic (which tends to emphasise talismans and raw power words) and high magic (which is a more systemic, intellectual system such as the astral image magic of the grimoire Picatrix and its Arabic original).

Buit the priority is on getting the setting finished, maps done and in all in the publisher's hands before I start thinking of extras.

 

Let me volunteer upfront.  I draft/proof for a living, though not in a professional capacity.

 

My approach to HERO is less traditional than most so I am either just the right person to be talking about adaptation or exactly the wrong one!

28 minutes ago, Barwickian said:

Yes, and I'd be very happy for any assistance - a number of people here know Hero far better than I.

One of the things I'd like to do is establish working patterns for sorcery and miracles/prayers for the medieval fantasy theme: distinguishing low magic (which tends to emphasise talismans and raw power words) and high magic (which is a more systemic, intellectual system such as the astral image magic of the grimoire Picatrix and its Arabic original).

Buit the priority is on getting the setting finished, maps done and in all in the publisher's hands before I start thinking of extras.

 

It will follow the system in C&S, Colin's new edition?  Would give me a reason to read it properly.

[Barwickian]

53 minutes ago, Doc Democracy said:

My approach to HERO is less traditional than most so I am either just the right person to be talking about adaptation or exactly the wrong one!

 

It will follow the system in C&S, Colin's new edition?  Would give me a reason to read it properly.

Less traditional works for me.

While I don't want to vary too much from the C&S model in the book, something of a change of emphasis is required. C&S magic (or magick if you prefer) is still quite high fantasy. Looking at works like Picatrix and the the Sworn Book of Honorious, many of the charms and rituals focus on commanding or dominating others, or on glamours/illusions. There aren't really any combat spells, or charms you can cast quickly within combat.

C&S has the command and illusion spells needed, but some of the flashier spells, including the combat ones, should be flagged to the GM as potentially genre-breaking.

With Col's Essence rules (which originated as an attempt to show you could capture the C&S atmosphere with greatly simplified rules), the field is much more open as there are only a few sample spells in the core rules, which are 10 pages long and free. Still, the emphasis will be as above.

That's a bit vague, I know. It's a section where I know what I want to achieve but haven't done the legwork yet. 

[GDShore]

Regarding Robin, I later got a good copy of the azzises a Robin Hood appears in such for about 200 years (late 11th century to early 13th) with one twenty year exception falling across the period when John Lackland was in charge of England, there are two schools on why. 1. - that John was determined to create a kigdom where a naked maiden could cross it carrying a bag of gold in each hand safely (supposedly John was interested in the maid) 2. - he was jealous of the competion only he could steal in England, at any rate he pursued an anti-bandit policy throughout England that was exttemely effective. (almost 100%)

[Christopher R Taylor]

Apparently there was no sheriff of Nottingham at the time of Richard and King John as Nottingham was not yet given a charter (Henry IV did that).  There was a High Sherriff of Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, and the Royal Forests.  So that's an anachronism if you technically wanted to include that bit.