Knights & Knaves

For the Love of History & Fiction
The root of the RPG hobby can be found in a little booklet of rules for medieval wargames titled Chainmail. Therefore the first role-playing games, even before the term existed were set in a quasi-medieval setting. Being a history student and fan of stories involving knights and monarchs, I often wonder about how much authentic medieval content I can, or should, incorporate into the FRP games I referee. Over the years I have been drawn to many role-playing systems aimed at folks who share a desire for more medieval history in their games than is found in standard fantasy.

One of the first RPG systems to be written with such an eye to adding more medieval themed content to the game was Chivalry & Sorcery designed by Edward Simbalist and Wilf Backhaus in 1977. I acquired the second edition of this game around 1982 and immediately became enamored with it. The idea of playing in a setting that more accurately reflected what I had learned about medieval feudal society than did the more popular FRP games, those featuring modern American values and social norms along with swords and plate armor, was irresistible.

Quite recently I received by post the 5th edition Chivalry & Sorcery core rules published by Britannia Games this year. The current edition uses modern dice mechanics and is a more appealing (and playable) version of the classic in many ways. What it retains is the focus on role-playing in a feudal setting that closely reflects what we know about society during that period of history.With an emphasis on developing a believable character in terms of the fictional feudal society and then on playing your character in a manner consistent with those feudal values, customs and beliefs, C&S presents the gamer with a challenge that also offers something unique in terms of a role-play experience. C&S carries its basis in history through to inclusion of religious and magic systems meant to resemble how medieval folks thought about these subjects. Playing a magus in C&S will feel very different from playing a D&D magic user.

Among the other games I have discovered which aim towards producing a more authentic medieval feel is a cleverly written tome that purports to be the work of a medieval monk who gives it the appropriate Latin title, Chronica Feudalis. Authored from the point-of-view of a fictional cloistered monk writing down the rules to a game he and his brother monks of the abbey are playing in secret, Chronica Feudalis is both an entertaining read and a unique gaming experience. There is no magic, just superstition, and understandably the text assumes everyone will want to play a knight. After all, Knights lead exciting lives! Knights ride about having heroic adventures, righting wrongs and rescuing damsels and princes being held for ransom. Knights are glorious!

The Harnmaster game system and the setting which inspires it, the world called Harn, offers some of the most detailed and flavorful medieval authentic experiences of any of the many game related products I have encountered. Much like C&S, the Harn family of products have been a favorite since I first made discovery of them. For Harn this discovery came about in the mid 1980s. The Harn setting, brain-child of N. Robin Crossby, combines a gritty, realistic early feudal society of upper class invader/rulers with a dark-age style peasantry and some fantastic elements including dwarves and elves who supposedly came from Middle-earth to Harn. The setting material is presented without system references and can easily be used with any rules. The maps are among the most detailed and beautiful I have seen and cover an extensive range of geographies and many cities, towns and castles - all leave me with the impression they could be based on “authentic” medieval relics. Harnmaster, now in its 3rd edition, is written to compliment the setting. The combat rules in Harnmaster produce the most realistic feel for sword-play of any game I have encountered and if having your character die from an infected wound several days after the battle isn’t something you want to deal with, then perhaps Harnmaster may not be to your liking.

Lion & Dragon bills itself as “Medieval Authentic OSR Roleplaying”, and I think it mostly delivers on this boast, as much as any mechanical aspects of a game system can. A large part of the ”authentic” aspect of playing in a setting and delivering a medieval ”feel” must be accomplished by the players who are willing, and able, to conform to the perceived conventions and medieval standards of behavior through the carefully chosen actions of their characters (otherwise it’s just a costume Renaissance Faire). Player characters in any medieval authentic setting need to be firmly embedded into that setting’s societal hierarchy. They need to be “born” into a specific feudal social class, be linked to various ”families” and organizations through obligations and perhaps titles, and most critically, the characters need to be played in a manner that treats these background aspects of breeding and position as important and binding.
It is no secret that Gary Gygax, co-author of both Chainmail: Rules For Medieval Miniatures and Dungeons & Dragons: Rules for Fantastic Medieval Wargames Campaigns Playable with Paper and Pencil and Miniature Figures, was a student of history and an avid historical wargamer as well as a fan of fantastic fiction. His ground-breaking role-playing game combines his love of both. Over the years since its introduction in 1974, the original fantasy role-playing game has changed popular culture in terms of making its fantasy tropes vastly more commonly recognized today than they were at the time of its release. Much of the genius of Mr. Gygax and company is that they understood what is most fun about playing as fighting men, magic users and clerics - for most of us it’s the heroic adventures and not the feudal entanglements that restricted people’s lives during the historic middle ages. As much as I love playing at knights and knaves, I have found precious few other gamers willing to devote much time to role-playing in an authentic medieval milieu.