Questions tagged [historical-settings]
For questions about games where the world's background information is drawn primarily from real-world events or interpretations of them, and the specific settings of those games.
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Looking For Historically Accurate Ordinary Items Database For Dungeon-Stocking [closed]
I swear I had found in the comments of one of Matthew Colville's videos a link to an enormous database of accurate lists of ordinary items that list REAL items that could be found in any room, no ...
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Best practices in portraying racism and its effects in a game [closed]
This question and its fantastic answers help answer NPC interactions with PCs. However, the question doesn't really touch on a immersion level involving NPCs. I don't anticipate my players playing a ...
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Has anyone tried adapting "Rivers of London" as a RPG setting? [closed]
I am a big fan of the series of books and graphic novels by Ben Aaronovitch, collectively named after the first book in series, Rivers of London (sometimes also called the Peter Grant series after the ...
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Does the New World of Darkness have a Dark Ages book?
Other than the Dark Era books, is there a source book for Chronicles of Darkness for running games set in the Dark Ages? The Dark Era books have good thematic information but are a bit light on ...
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How much to charge for fictional substances in Victorian England? [closed]
I'm working on a little steampunk setting, which incorporates a lot of the elements of Victorian England. One of the similarities is the economy, in that prices and wages in this world are fairly ...
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How deep information should players have in a political negotiation-focused edu-larp?
I am considering an educational larp, perhaps even suitable for a lesson of one and half an hour in length at gymnasium (roughly: high school) level or at yläkoulu (roughly: middle school) level, ...
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How Can I Re-Skin the Hacker in A Medieval Game of Leverage?
I'm designing a Leverage one-shot using Robin Hood's Merry Men, and I've got pretty much everything figured out but the Hacker. I'm trying to define exactly what a Hacker can do in a medieval setting, ...
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How do Caern Powers work?
Yet another Werewolf: Wildwest question.
On page 194 of the WW:WW core book, there is a lovely table of Caern Types and associated powers. Examples of some powers are Rage points, Will points, ...
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How viable is a Molotov Cocktail in a fantasy game? [closed]
A player in my game wishes to create a Molotov Cocktail - arguably, some alcohol in a bottle, with a piece of oiled cloth as fuse. Is that viable in a fantasy game, assuming technology of say the ...
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Running a Norse campaign [closed]
I am about to start running a Norse themed Pathfinder campaign set around 800 AD, most likely in Norway. I am looking for ways to make the characters feel as though they are part of the culture of the ...
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Looking for local colour for a Cyberpunk set in Brazil
I have a plot line and with the addition of player characters' background I think I have a solid game planned. However, so far the plot could happen in any odd city in the world. I was thinking of ...
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RPG with background in ancient Europe (-1000 to 1000) close to reality [closed]
I want to run a game which as both an historical and geographical background matching our own reality.
Description of lore should be quite accurate, but can have a pinch of myth, legend and magic as ...
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How to have a realistic set of languages without making adventuring prohibitively difficult?
"Do you speak Common?" "Of course I do! Everyone speaks Common..."
My group is starting a somewhat experimental campaign. We're using a setting that is neither canon (e.g. described in a book) nor ...
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Which technologies/commodities were available during the 30s in the USA? [closed]
I'm going to GM Trail of Cthulhu and would like to know if there is any site that aggregates this kind of information. I've already found this site http://www.paper-dragon.com/1939/; any other ...
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How much detail should I include in medieval maps for players?
I am running a campaign in the Eberron (DnD) setting, but really, this question could apply to anyone running a game in a medieval setting.
I wanted to know what level of detail/accuracy to include ...
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Is there a (semi-canon) concordance between the peoples of the Forgotten Realms and their "real-world" equivalents?
I think there's no official stance on this, but I wonder if there's an accepted, semi-canon list of the peoples of the Forgotten Realms and their real world counterparts (that most likely inspired the ...
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What do I need to change about Call of Cthulhu to set it in the 60s?
I am in the process of planning a CoC game (or Trail of... I've not picked up a copy but it looks interesting) set a long time after the events of the Whisperer in the Darkness. To do so, I wanted to ...
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How do I make players more comfortable in an unusual historical setting?
I run a lot of games/write systems set in specific historical/cultural contexts, because I like rpgs as a way to explore them and think they provide a great sense of place. However, I tend not to ...
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How do I ensure separation between historical events and the game world while still feeling historical?
I am running a pulp WW2 campaign where the players are deep inside Germany in 1940 uncovering secret projects, getting involved in the occult and discovering ancient powers that the Third Reich are ...
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What's a good method for making cultures differ?
I recently read through a great question on getting players to play in line with their characters' cultures, and it got me thinking:
What do you do to make the cultures in your setting differ?
Let's ...
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Any advice for writing a historically accurate adventure?
I have some players who are requesting that I write some historical adventures. However, I am having a bit of a hard time keeping things historically accurate while still allowing there to be things ...
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Resources for a '30s Pulp Campaign set in the Caribbean [closed]
I am considering putting together a pulp campaign set in the '30s. It's sort of "Indiana Jones" in terms of world (i.e. with a chance of low-key paranormal, horror, and superscience elements, but ...
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Can (ocean-going) sailing ships navigate The River
In 7th Sea, the primary continent of Théah is split by a large river called simply "The River." My PCs have a sailing ship, but now need to navigate the River... Can they do so with their existing ...
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Replicating Modern Technology using Magic-Punk [closed]
This is generally a system-agnostic question, as I'm trying to build a feel for my world, and I can add to it whatever rules I need to later.
The world is a 1930s setting, very pulp/noir/steampunk-...
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What Do I Need to Know to Run a Mountaineering Adventure on Nanga Parbat in 1970?
The PCs in my game are going to climb Nanga Parbat to chase down some ancient evil put there by Merkl's 1934 expedition.
What was the political situation in Pakistan in 1970?
How did mountaineering ...
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Depictions of 19th c Vienna for a chronicle [closed]
I would like to create a Vampire: the Requiem chronicle set in 19th century Vienna. Are there any good films or books depicting Vienna in this period that I could use to create appropriate scenery and ...
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What games are based around single historical events? [closed]
I recently came across the game Montsegur 1244, which I think looks rather interesting, and it made me wonder whether there are any other games that centre around a single historical event in that way....
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How late in history can I set a campaign based in the US without cars and telephones being widespread? [closed]
I'm deciding on my next campaign offering, and I'm dealing with this dilemma: although I prefer, and am best at, running games set in the near-present, one of my players has a mild antipathy toward ...
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Where Can I Find Good Ship Plans? [closed]
I need a variety of ship plans - not surface deck plans, and not side views, but actual interior arrangements of various sorts of vessels - orlop deck, cable locker, that sort of thing. They are ...
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Good resources for travel times? [closed]
What are some good resources, on or off-line, for determining clear travel times for:
different methods of travel (eg: foot, horse, vehicles by period and type, etc)
different terrain types (eg:...
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