Advice/Help A historical medieval roleplay?

[Historical Storyteller]

I want to create a story set in the medieval ages. A real story, one where the customs of the day are represented faithfully, where political power is decentralized by the tenant-in-chief and his vassals, and one where the people then and the people now believe in an Almighty God that created them and will judge them for their sins. If you feel the same way, and want to make such a story, I think this is the right place for you. We can set up just about any story here, so as long as people here will join you. Make a proposal and we'll all throw in ideas as we go along. The purpose of this thread is to create a place where we can discuss a historical medieval story, develop the idea of one and hopefully make a roleplay out of it.

 

[Historical Storyteller]

Come on now, don't be shy. If I wait too long I'll have to go take a nap.

You know what? Taking a nap sounds nice. I'll be back in 20-30 minutes.

 

[Historical Storyteller]

It seems like I've confused most of the people here as I wasn't clear on what I wanted. I'll give several examples.

1. If we want to create a 1x1 roleplay, we can be two knights, traveling across the land righting wrongs and wooing peasant girls along the way. The story will be heavy on action, there will be constant combat and plenty of dialogue as we will be talking our heads off. We will focus primarily on the characters themselves, we'll only get a general idea of the setting and off we go to many a grand adventure!

2. If we want to create a group roleplay, we can be a bunch of peasants living in a village or perhaps a court of servants following their lord in times of peace and most definitely in wartime. There are less interactions, we will focus on the setting itself and we will discuss the message we want the story to deliver. Much research will be dedicated to the setting, as we want to be faithful in representing that era, and there will be frequent time-skips to keep the story going, as we will be skipping most of the chores (the dishwashing, cleaning manure from stables, shining your lord's boots) and will head straight into action.

3. I don't know how to manage a dice roleplay. There must be someone else to do it for us. But if we want to make a dice roleplay anyway, we can be a group of adventurers searching for gold and glory in a foreign land. If we should speak in English or in French or in German or Spanish, it will all be translated into subtitles, and if there are any terms we do not understand, we'll add footnotes with full explanations on the subject. Choose your actions carefully, for you are always in danger, you never know when your next mistake could be your last. But fear not, with God on your side and with loyal companions ready to support you, it seems as if you can do anything.

4. If we want to create a quest roleplay, we can become a nobleman with a claim to the throne. The king (or queen) dies and many pretenders to the throne arise and you are one of them. The kingdom is thrown into chaos. In here we'll be diving into alternate history, we can ask the question, "What if?" We'll step into the shoes of the people who were there and be able to decide the fate of the kingdom and have an impact on the world at large.

These are some examples that come to mind. If you have any of your own, share it with us. And if you want to add ideas, as to what we can do, where can the story take place, who will be there . . . I'd like to hear it.

 

[Crayons]

I think the main difficulty you will have is finding players who know about the historical time period you want to set it in or who are willing to do the research. The reason why fantasy medieval is popular is because we all have a general idea of what that involves and there's no right or wrong answer on most things. What sources will you use to get accuracy for the customs of the day for example? And what version of Christianity are you planning to use for your god-fearing people? Also, and not being facetious here, if your story is filled with accurate medieval combat and accurate medieval medicine, how will you make sure the characters don't keel over dead after five minutes?

 

[Random_Potato]

Oh! This seems like a good excuse to brush up on some medieval history!

There would be a lot of questions we have to answer before we do some plotting though. How far or early into the middle ages? What country are we in? Etc.

It would also be really interesting to look into problems they had at the time that are simply just non-existant nowadays. The "court of servants" idea would be cool too. ^^

 

[Historical Storyteller]

I think the main difficulty you will have is finding players who know about the historical time period you want to set it in or who are willing to do the research. The reason why fantasy medieval is popular is because we all have a general idea of what that involves and there's no right or wrong answer on most things. What sources will you use to get accuracy for the customs of the day for example? And what version of Christianity are you planning to use for your god-fearing people? Also, and not being facetious here, if your story is filled with accurate medieval combat and accurate medieval medicine, how will you make sure the characters don't keel over dead after five minutes?

That's why I've come here with the intent of finding players who at least have some idea of the setting, so that we may overcome whatever difficulties we have together. This isn't something we can solve in a single day, but we can find solutions each day we try. This project will always be a work in progress.

As for what source we'll use to accurately depict the customs of the day, I think this one will suffice for now. This one will be our guide until we can find a better one. This won't answer all questions, so we'll have to look for other sources.

Manners, Customs, and Dress During the Middle Ages, and During the Renaissance Period, by Paul Lacroix

In general, we'll try to use the earliest possible custom. If we can't do that, we'll have to use the next earliest custom, and so on. We might not find the exact custom, so we'll just have to use the one closest to it. The purpose of this is, we have to make our characters feel as much at home as possible, and so try to use the customs at least most likely to be familiar to them.

Roman Catholicism. I'm not familiar with this one, so I'm in the same position as most of you. I'm going to have to figure it out as we go along. But basically, all us laymen answer to a priest, who answers to a bishop and who all ultimately answer to the Pope, who in turn answers to Jesus. Correct me if I'm wrong.

In combat, there is no guarantee of survival. It is said, that when you are in the battlefield, you have one foot in the grave. But I do have a basic grasp of martial arts and proficiency in melee weapons. I'll use that. I'll also use whatever proper military tactics that are available. And when selecting new equipment, I'll use a source which I can always give to people. And as for medicine, I'm bad at that personally, but from what I heard from Helena Schrader, medieval people weren't that bad at using medicine.

How were battle wounds treated during the Middle Ages?

Answer by Helena Schrader, PhD History, University of Hamburg

www.quora.com

You can ask for an example of it if it'll help.

Oh! This seems like a good excuse to brush up on some medieval history!

There would be a lot of questions we have to answer before we do some plotting though. How far or early into the middle ages? What country are we in? Etc.

It would also be really interesting to look into problems they had at the time that are simply just non-existant nowadays. The "court of servants" idea would be cool too. ^^

I was hoping you guys would decide. But if you ask me personally, we could always start in medieval England. Question now is, where in medieval England? Make a suggestion and I'll look into it.

The problems of the medieval age can be compared to the problems of third-world countries. People there don't have machines, they answer to an authority figure that controls much of their life, they are poor and are quite religious. They aren't educated but they aren't dumb either, they can live off the land well enough, and if they invest their money wisely over the generations, they can always buy more property and become prominent landowners. And if you're a serf, well, you can always buy your freedom.

 

[Historical Storyteller]

To anyone who has his own book to share, anything that may be of help at all, show it to us.

I personally have a copy of The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England by Ian Mortimer but it ain't in the public domain.

The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century: Mortimer, Ian: 9781439112908: Amazon.com: Books

The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century [Mortimer, Ian] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century

www.amazon.com

But I can show you Life in Medieval England as it is available in the Internet Archive.

Life in Medieval England : J.J. Bagley : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

J.J. Bagley Life in Medieval England B.T. Batsford Ltd. 1960 Acrobat 7 Pdf 30.9 Mb. Scanned by artmisa using Canon DR2580C + flatbed option

archive.org

As to what time period we can choose, I say we start at 1050-1320, as I have a copy of The Two Cities: Medieval Europe 1050-1320 by Malcolm Barber. But since I only have a personal copy of it, you'll have to follow my exact instructions of the time. I'm hoping you folks would come up with a proposal of your own, something better than what I have. That's why I'm asking so earnestly because I ask myself, "Is this it? Is this the best I got? There's got to be something better than this!" If there isn't, well, at least now I know, and I finally know where to start.

Amazon.com: The Two Cities: Medieval Europe 1050–1320: 9780415174152: Barber, Malcolm: Books

Amazon.com: The Two Cities: Medieval Europe 1050–1320: 9780415174152: Barber, Malcolm: Books

www.amazon.com

EDIT: I'm pleased to report that I've found many books all around the internet on just about any subject on the medieval ages. I'm sure with these I'll be able to piece together a story that I can work with. I can't promise I'll make a roleplay, but there is tremendous progress made. So, if you wish to ask any question, ask for a source, or wish for me to create a scenario we can all work with, I'm your guy. I do need time to wrap my head around all this new information though. For the next few days, I'll be busy skimming the pages at least.