Medieval Authentic Roleplaying

An RPG World Lit Only By Fire
As anyone who regularly reads this blog knows, I am enthusiastic about the OSR (Old School Renaissance) style play and games. The first generation OSR saw publication of the retro-clone rule sets, the big three being OSRIC (for Advanced 1e), Labyrinth Lord (for B/X) and Swords & Wizardry (for ODD), and the play aids. modules and settings published using these and the open license. In keeping with the old school spirit, the OSR hobby supports and encourages a do-it-yourself approach. The resulting creative content inspired by interest in the old school RPGs and the ease with which self publishing can be done today has resulted in an explosion of high quality OSR products. Recent contributions include games that offer a fresh take on role-playing adventure games written with the old school style of rules and game-play in mind. One of those is Dragon & Lion by RPGPundit.
Medieval Authentic in Lion & Dragon refers to an emphasis on role-playing in a fictional feudal society based on a real setting, that of England during the middle ages. Chivalry, knighthood, feudal obligation and a powerful monotheistic church are central themes around which play revolves. The monotheistic church structure parallels that of the medieval Roman Christian Church, but the author changes the name and deity for some reason. 
Lion & Dragon is not the first RPG to attempt at producing a game with a more authentic medieval feel; Chivalry & Sorcery sets this goal for itself starting around 1977. Fantasy Wargaming edited by Bruce Galloway and published by Patrick Stephens Limited in 1981 presents a detailed game system for role-play that draws heavily on wargaming and medieval history including medieval concepts of magic.

Dark Albion, also by RPGPundit, can be used as a setting for Lion & Dragon or with another OSR style game system. Like Lion & Dragon, Dark Albion draws heavily upon historic England for inspiration. Set in a fictional version of the War of the Roses, Dark Albion adds fantastical elements such as sorcery, clerical miracles and supernatural monsters to a setting ripe with the division and conflict of the civil war fought between the houses of York and Lancaster.
Lion & Dragon and Dark Albion are inspired by real events of England's past, but take considerable liberties with the history. The most glaring to me is the substitution of the worship of the Sun for the Roman Christian Church. Role-playing in a setting that resembles history, but clearly isn't avoids some of the potential issues to be encountered with a campaign set during an historic period. For starters, the fantasy version of history can differ in whatever areas the author/referee would like to change. If the bigotry of the period is problematic, change history by eliminating that fact. Any inconsistencies your in-game setting has with historic fact can be explained away by saying, "It's very much like the way it was, but different in some ways." How well this works probably depends on the willingness of your audience to suspend disbelief. In my experience, this only works well for periods of history that I personally have very little knowledge about. If it is documented and known and yet ignored, I am looking for an exit from the game. So my advice is don't change history, rather find an unexplained event or even better, some as yet untold story for the players to discover and possibly reveal.

This image of an under inspiring cover belies the quality of what lies within HarnMaster Gold. As a medieval authentic role-playing experience, HarnMaster in all its editions has few peers. Logic and real world experience inspires both the setting of Harn and the rule system designed for use with it. Harn/HarnMaster has an authenticity about its setting that is both detailed and extensive. Harn is a low magic world in the sense that magic users are rare and spell effects are often subtle. The existence of fantastic beings, dimensional travel and gods which take an active part in the world all suggest Harn and HarnMaster are quite magical, however. There are times when this approach, a magical world where characters command very little of the magic, is greatly appealing to me. Such a setting seems authentic to me in much the same way our own world contains many wondrous mysteries, despite our scientific discoveries.
The wonder of a setting is often strongest when players cannot command powerful world shaping magics, yet experience places of mystery and power. This basis is seen in the work of many of the classic fantasy authors whose protagonists are often folks like us who have been thrown into mysterious and alien settings. We as readers discover these mysteries alongside the protagonist. Reading is passive entertainment, but through the magic of role-playing we can become active participants in our entertainment, and yet our characters need not have the power to alter "reality" in order to play a significant role in our fictional events.
Authentic role-play, whether medieval, modern or otherwise in setting is more about being focused on the plausible, tangible and believable than the outrageously powerful. It is subtle and grounded in a world which we recognize, one that in many ways is much like our own, yet differs in a significant way. Medieval authentic differs primarily in societal ways, a feudal society being much different from our own, so different in facts as to be challenging enough to role-play convincingly. Adding in a bit of magic and a dash of the supernatural and we are probably pushing the limits of verisimilitude. I think this is one reason why so many games by-pass the medieval authentic and settle for a game set in a modern society, but one where people wear medieval fashions. There are just so many balls the juggler can keep in motion at once.