Historical[Genres]
HistoricalWho says history is boring? Especially when you can bring what was past to life once more with exciting RPG scenarios starring your PCs. Historical games and fiction are based on actual historical events and set in a historical time and place. However, that doesn't mean there's no room for variation and surprise. Within the context of a game, anything could happen, starting with characters who may have never existed in actual history but whose presence helps tell a better story, or in the case of the PCs, allows your players to participate in something that was previously only relegated to history books.
A great historical RPG experience is one that balances authenticity with a compelling adventure plot. Given that lots of history fails to record all the people present at any given event, specific dialogue, and other actual minor details, the GM has a lot of leeway when balancing accurate historical events with elements created to make a particular adventure or campaign memorable.
Setting your campaign in World War 2, the Renaissance, or the 1930s can be fun and interesting. However, setting it in ancient Greece or feudal Japan, for example, probably makes it more like fantasy without all the orcs and magic (although a game set in feudal Japan with orcs and magic could be fascinating).
The big challenge with historical gaming is often the tech (or lack thereof) that the PCs have access to. For example, foci such as Infiltrates and Works the System assume some level of technology or magic. That might mean such foci must be altered (or at least, some of the abilities reimagined) in a game set in the Old West or Napoleonic France.
To prepare for that sort of game, all you need is a good history book on the time period in question. For even more flavorful ideas, look for a book that specifically details what life was like in the time period. This will go beyond battles and dates and give you a good feel for what it was like to live in ancient Egypt or in a Mayan city-state.
Of course, you can mix other genres into a historical game. A horror Old West game, for example, would be fun. Fantasy games set in Medieval Europe or the ancient Middle East are obvious choices. More interesting and innovative might be a fantasy game set in Africa a thousand years ago. And a Victorian science fiction game would simply be steampunk.
A great historical RPG experience is one that balances authenticity with a compelling adventure plot. Given that lots of history fails to record all the people present at any given event, specific dialogue, and other minor details, the GM has a lot of leeway when balancing accurate historical events with elements created to make a particular adventure or campaign memorable.
One of the draws of playing in a historical adventure is the thrill of “being there” when something important happens. Thus, in many cases, historical adventures in RPGs shouldn't be designed as campaigns, but instead serve as short-term experiences where players try something new, or at least something they don't normally do: play as figures involved in a momentous historical event.
Historical games should take cues from the closely related areas of historical fiction and historical re-enactment. The lessons of great historical fiction include the following.
The GM should anchor the characters with problems or conflicts that connect them to the chosen time period; make sure that PC backgrounds contain one relevant detail to the chosen historical setting.
The GM shouldn’t fall into the trap of assuming that history was drab just because it is often presented along with old paintings, drawings, or blurred black-and-white photographs. Dramatic events, surprising twists, and unexpected situations are just as likely in a historical adventure as in any other kind.
What’s the point of a historical adventure if there is no suspense? Sure, everyone knows what happens at the end of any given historical battle, but the stories of individuals within those fights are not known. Will they live? Will they succeed in their mission? And what are the consequences? Think of all the war movies that rely on that exact latitude to tell great stories.
Make sure you know when the campaign ends. Maybe it’s when the PCs successfully accomplish a specific task, but it might be externally timed to when a historical event takes place, whether they are attempting to offer aid, thwart it, or merely be aware of it as they attempt to do something that history hasn’t recorded.
Don’t create more than you need to. Be ready to tell the PCs what they see and who they encounter when they are introduced to a historical location or person, but don’t worry about things that they likely will never see. Yes, figure out what kind of currency is used, but making a super-accurate list of prices just isn’t necessary; the players will take your word for the cost of items and many other details. You’re evoking a historical setting with your game, not writing a book report.
Be wary about stereotypes and cultural misappropriation. History, as they say, is written by the victors. The ancient Greeks wrote that other cultures were all barbaric, and the European settlers called the natives in North America savages, but that doesn’t mean it’s true. If all you know about a time period is a movie set in that period, you’ll have a skewed version of events and culture. Be willing to go deeper than Braveheart or The Last Samurai, or maybe choose a different genre.
Preparation is important in a historical game, and most of that entails choosing a historical period—or a specific historical event—as the setting. Given that all of history can serve, you won’t lack for resources. Below are a few possibilities. Of course, the farther back you set your game, the less information on specific events is available. On the other hand, that frees you up to get creative.
Once you choose the historical period and any special events you want to include in your adventure or campaign, direct your players to an appropriate set of foci. Alternately, you can have your players play as historically significant figures, but if you do this, you may want to create their characters ahead of time. Most GMs will probably want to save historically significant individuals for use as NPCs.
The players will need some kind of grounding in what to expect in the time period you've chosen. Just like they need an idea of what magic can do in a fantasy game, they will need a general idea of what kind of technology is available, the broad strokes of what their characters might know and not know, and so on. Maybe have them read a Wikipedia entry, at the very least.
If you're interested in exploring made up scenarios based solely on the fossil record, which includes dozens of different primates living in presumably primitive conditions, maybe this is the period for you. Though your mileage may vary, short scenarios like those told in pieces of fiction such as Quest for Fire and Clan of the Cave Bear could be entertaining.
Focusing on the history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, scenarios set in classical antiquity would include some element of ancient Rome or ancient Greece. During this time, Greek and Roman influence extended across Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. Mashups with the historical setting and the mythological setting could well include this time period.
People of ancient Greece had names like Aeschylus, Agape, Alexandra, Demetria, Diokles, Uripides, Heraclius, and Olympias.
People of ancient Rome had names like Aemiliana, Agrippa, Antonina, Augustus, Blasius, Brutus, Camilla, Cassian, Domitia, and Fabian.
This period runs from around 3100 B.C. to 332 B.C.-almost thirty centuries, until it was finally conquered by Alexander the Great. Ancient Egypt was the preeminent civilization in the Mediterranean world. The great pyramids of the Old Kingdom, the many hidden graves of great pharaohs, and the military conquests of the New Kingdom, this period and region is rife with game possibilities.
People of ancient Egypt has names like Aat, Addaya, Ahmes, Baskakeren, Bek, Cleomenes, Dedelion, Djedi, Duatentopet, and Hwernef.
In Southeast Asia, Sri Vijava was a city-state on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia that created a mighty trading empire that ruled the nearby seas from around 650 to 1377. The trade empire reached into Java, Kamjua, and even China. Rivalries also abounded, but this fortunate state was also a major vector for the spread of Buddhism.
People of Sri Vijaya had names like Balaputradewa, Dapunta, Indravarman, Rudra, Dharmasetu, Dharanindra, Samaragrawira, and Sumatrabhumi.
The American Revolution, taking place between 1775 to 1783, was a revolt against monarchy and set the stage for one of the most influential countries of the world to rise. Famous battles abound, including the Battle of Lexington, the Battle of Concord, and the Battle of Bunker Hill. The fledgling country's founding fathers penned the Declaration of Independence, drafted by Thomas Jefferson. A host of other important historical events occurred during this period, making it a period worthy of a historical RPG scenario.
People in America at the time of the revolution had names like Amity, Abner, Abraham, Aphra, Barnabas, Charity, Clement, Eli, Ester, and Hepzibah.
There are numerous records of the many different dynasties that ruled China reaching back to at least 2070 B.C. and the Xia dynasty. If you'd like to create an adventure or campaign arc featuring emperors and Chinese dynasties, consider setting your game during the Han dynasty that lasted from 202 B.C. to 220 C.E.. This period is described as a golden age of Chinese history, thanks to a long period of stability and prosperity. At this time, Confucianism (a humanistic philosophy) was recognized and elevated as something all wise people attempt to follow. Math, writing, and other arts also saw rapid development.
People in ancient China had names like Ah, Ao, Bai, Buwei, Chao, Da, Fai, Guan, Ji, Kang, Lei, Lun, Qi, Wan, and Xin.
It's possible that more books and movies have been created about this war than any other in-world history. Hitler, the Nazis, the Blitzkrieg, death camps in Germany, the bombing of Pearl Harbor, breaking the Axis code created with Enigma machines, and on and on. Creating a game where PCs are soldiers in a battle, agents in the field, scientists, diplomats, or some combination of all these would make an impressive campaign or an unforgettable one-shot.
People in America at the time of the Second World War had names like Magdalene, James, Evelyn, Donald, Dorothy, Ronald, Joyce, Marilyn, Walter, Billy, and Delores.
The 1800s and early 1900s were a time of major exploration. A short campaign where PCs are part of the exploration team for any one of these historical trips of discovery would be amazing. During this period of discovery, Darwin's second voyage on the HMS Beagle happened (1831-1836); Alfred Russel Wallace explored regions of the Amazon; David Livingstone explored the interior of Africa (1849–1855); many tried to find the North Pole and Robert Peary claimed he did in 1909; the South Pole was almost reached in 1841 by James Clark Ross, but it wasn't actually reached until 1909 by Roald Amundsen.
People in Europe during the 1800s had names like Albert, Agnes, Ambrose, Bess, Cole, Eudora, Jane, Lucas, Obediah, Nellie, Raymond, Ruth, and Stanley.
The Land of the Rising Sun enjoyed a long period of economic and cultural prosperity during the historical Edo period, which occurred between 1603 and 1868. The rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and Karou- essentially feudal governors and regional feudal lords, respectively-remained under the putative control of the Emperor, but the Shogun in Edo held the most power. Partly thanks to founder Ieyasu Tokugawa's forward-thinking policies and philosophies (developed from Confucian teachings), most Nihon natives had a chance to live comfortably and enjoy popular arts and culture that, in previous eras, were enjoyed only by the wealthy and powerful.
People of the Edo Period in Japan had names like Sakai, Toda, Yamaoka, Abe, Fujiwara, Okudaira, Sugawara, Hatakeyama, Sou, Chousokeabe, Reizei, Nikaidou, Shigenoi, Higashisanjou, and Hirano.
Many fantasy RPGs are described as "medieval" fantasy, but to run a historical medieval game, minus wizards, dragons, and kindly fairy godmothers, promises to be a far more gritty experience. That said, many misconceptions exist about what life was truly like in the Middle Ages. Luckily, internet resources being what they are, a little research will produce all manner of interesting facts, and maps of castles and countries for a medieval historical game to unfold.
People of medieval Europe had names like Adam, Agnes, Alice, Nicholas, Joan, Geoffrey, Margery, Gilbert, Ralf, Cecily, Henry, Isabella, and Roger.
Gambling, train robberies, gangs of desperados, gold rush towns, and camping on the open range under the stars. All kinds of adventures are possible in the Old West for PCs who wants to wear spurs or who are wanted by the law.
People in America in the region and historical period broadly known as the “Old West” had names like John, Mary, William, Anna, James, Emma, George, Elizabeth, Charles, Margaret, Frank, Minnie, Joseph, and Ida.
The concept of artifacts is probably inappropriate for a historical setting without some kind of supernatural, fantastical, or science fiction element. That said, objects of mystery such as the Antikythera mechanism (an ancient analog computer and orrery used to predict eclipses and other astronomical positions) reveal that both the ancient world—and by extension more recent historical periods—contained fascinating and useful objects that were anachronistic for their period. Most such artifacts were likely the creations of philosophers, lone geniuses, and similar figures. Of course, historical settings set very close to the present, such as a campaign involved with spying during World War II, would likely have access to artifacts similar to those presented in the crime and
The material provided in the historical genre chapter is all completely applicable for a campaign revolving around time travel. Bouncing the characters around between World War II, the Renaissance, the 1930s and then back to ancient Greece can be fun and interesting, especially if the PCs are tracking down some kind of transtemporal problem or criminal (or attempting to loot history, like the movie Time Bandits). However, this, of course, requires a bit more prep on your part, because rather than researching just one historical setting, the GM must be prepared to allow the PCs to play in several historical periods, possibly more than one during a given play session.
For a time travel game, it's likely that PCs serve as operatives of some kind of transtemporal agency that's either pledged to protect time from saboteurs or pledged to create some sort of fork in time that wouldn't normally occur so as to improve the chances of the group's existence. Other possibilities exist, of course. A popular time traveling framing device is to serve as companions of a famous time lord whose name is an eternal mystery.
Time traveling PCs might eventually head into the future, whereupon the contents of the hard science fiction genre described in this chapter, and the science fiction setting described in the corebook also become useful for preparing for your adventures.
| Role | Character Type |
|---|---|
| Constable (or night watchman) | Explorer with combat flavor |
| Detective | Explorer with stealth and skills and knowledge flavor |
| Knight | Warrior |
| Pirate | Explorer with stealth flavor |
| Tutor | Speaker |
| Merchant | Speaker with skills and knowledge flavor |
| Smith | Speaker with some warrior abilities and skills and knowledge flavor |
| Playwright | Speaker |
| Noble | Speaker with skills and knowledge flavor |
| Explorer | Explorer |
| Priest | Speaker |
| Calculates the Incalculable | Crafts Unique Objects | Descends from Nobility | Doesn’t Do Much | Entertains | Explores* |
| Explores Dark Places | Fights Dirty | Hunts | Infiltrates | Interprets the Law | Is Idolized by Millions |
| Is Licensed to Carry | Is Sworn To The Crown* | Is Wanted by the Law* | Leads | Learns Quickly | Lives in the Wilderness |
| Looks for Trouble | Masters Weaponry | Moves Like a Cat | Murders | Needs No Weapon | Never Says Die |
| Operates Undercover | Runs Away | Sailed Beneath the Jolly Roger* | Solves Mysteries | Throws With Deadly Accuracy | Wears Spurs |
| Wields Two Weapons at Once | Works for a Living | Works the Back Alleys | Works the System | Would Rather Be Reading |
| Assassin | Guard | Secret agent | Crime boss |
| Marauder | Soldier | Detective | Occultist (with no magic) |
| Soldier, elite | Detective, master | Priest | Thug/bandit |
| General | Professor |
In many historical periods, the default equipment described as Additional Fantasy Equipment is also available. If your historical setting moves much beyond the 17th century, add in additional select items from the items described under Additional Modern Equipment.