Experiences As a Historical RP Writer, What's the Worst Inaccuracy You've Seen?

[Jean Otus]

I love my history and my historically-set RPs, and because of that, I get really picky about my historical details. Sometimes people get things so wrong, and those wrong things are the basis of their post, and I just can't bring myself to correct them. So I'm making this thread here to gossip about what crimes against history we've seen.

I once had a partner who thought Communism and Fascism were the same thing and thought that WW2 was chiefly two communist powers fighting each other.

 

[Onmyoji]

huh, I guess I haven't seen something as drastic as you described, but wrong dates and places everywhere...

 

[Jean Otus]

huh, I guess I haven't seen something as drastic as you described, but wrong dates and places everywhere...

Yeah, that's the usual, but some people go above and beyond with their inaccuracies.

 

[Debacle]

I love historically set roleplays, but I've never been very nit-picky about accuracy. I'm more interested in the 'feel' of certain eras, so if I read something that's not accurate, it usually doesn't bother me.

One thing that can bother me is when a roleplay is set in a time period when culture was a lot more oppressive to women, but if my male character acts or thinks in a typical manner, my partner's female character gets pissed and acts like he's really out of line. It's like, hey, this is 1650. Is she really going to be woke? Doubt it.

 

[Winter_Wolf]

Well I almost assumed Augusta Kohrs was the wife of Conrad Kohrs in ~1863 when she didn't actually marry him until ~1868 IIRC...

Also--while not the "same," the USSR and Nazi Germany were very much 2 sides of the same coin both in the fundamental basis of their ideologies and in their pre-war-wartime actions.

 

[BackSet]

While I don't think this counts as historical:

Unless it's purposely changed to make it more interesting I hate it when people make stupid errors with mythology. Mythology (egypt, greece, and norse) is my passion. It just irks me so much.

 

[All For One]

Unless it's purposely changed to make it more interesting I hate it when people make stupid errors with mythology. Mythology (egypt, greece, and norse) is my passion. It just irks me so much.

But isn't a huge problem with most mythologies that we don't really know much about them? I mean, what you might view as a "stupid error" might just be somebody's different interpretation.

For example, some view Baldr as being a pacifist, yet the Gesta Danorum depicts him as more of a warlord.

 

[Morlock]

It is the same problems you see in movies and TV shows set in historical eras. People apply modern behavior and attitudes (eg Nazi's must be bad, but Soviets are good) to the period and it becomes more like a modern day RP played out in a historical period. Most people who say they want a history based RP really don't, not in any meaningful way.

 

[Yokai]

I'm currently majoring in history and I often find that historical roleplays can be quite difficult. Mainly since there's always going to be some form of discrepancies and misunderstandings.

That being said, I can understand calling out big mistakes. A year ago somebody I'd just started to roleplay with pulled out a gun in an early feudal Japan setting. I still don't understand.

 

[BackSet]

But isn't a huge problem with most mythologies that we don't really know much about them? I mean, what you might view as a "stupid error" might just be somebody's different interpretation.

For example, some view Baldr as being a pacifist, yet the Gesta Danorum depicts him as more of a warlord.

I'm fine with different interpretations. Egyptian mythology is like swiss cheese with how holy and vague it is. But greek mythology is really quite set in stone with all of the things we know about it.

 

[Cactus22]

I like to be open to artistic interpretation, but there have been some that are just ridiculous. I once did one set in medieval Europe and my partner began talking about 'zipping their boots' and 'checking their watch'. It was like they weren't even trying to keep the setting accurate.

 

[Morlock]

There is also the other extreme, too much focus on accuracy or on elements that don't require that much attention. I played a Wild West RP once, the woman I played with was in command of a tribe of female Indian warriors possible unlikely moment there in itself. Anyway, she was very knowledgeable about firearms of the period. So she told me when her warriors charge my soldiers what the rate of fire would be, re load times, accuracy at certain distances. It was intriguing to begin with but all it amount to was a mathematics game each turn with more and more of her warriors being killed or wounded with each volley. She was into describing their wounds lol.

I got bored after a few turns because I realized that there wasn't going to be any story as all her warriors would just be killed. The end.

 

[Jean Otus]

Wow, I never thought this thread would be featured in a newsletter, thanks to everyone who's posted here. I've enjoyed reading the inaccuracies we've all had to sit through.

 

[Jean Otus]

For all of you historical writers, I'm hosting an RP set in Restoration Era Japan. I hope it's error-free for you all.
Blood-Soaked Cherry Blossoms
Realistic/Modern - Kyoto Rogues' Gallery

 

[duegxybus]

"Can we RP about two friends separated when Hitler made the Berlin Wall?"

"WHEN HITLER MADE THE BERLIN WALL"

"WHEN HITLER MADE THE BERLIN WALL"

 

[Jean Otus]

"Can we RP about two friends separated when Hitler made the Berlin Wall?"

"WHEN HITLER MADE THE BERLIN WALL"

"WHEN HITLER MADE THE BERLIN WALL"

Incredible. I have no words.

 

[Chimney Swift]

As a Shakespearean, I always know when people are screwing up their Jacobean English. Misusing thy/thee/thine, thinking that "thou" is more formal than "you" (the opposite is true) , and using terminology that simply hadn't been coined yet.

Also, people calling Early Modern English "Old English", when that's a whole different beast.

 

[Jean Otus]

As a Shakespearean, I always know when people are screwing up their Jacobean English. Misusing thy/thee/thine, thinking that "thou" is more formal than "you" (the opposite is true) , and using terminology that simply hadn't been coined yet.

Also, people calling Early Modern English "Old English", when that's a whole different beast.

I'd like to see someone use real old English, that fantastic gibberish from Beowulf and all that.

 

[Snowfeather]

The rp was set in ancient Rome during the period of their peak, and I really tried hard to maintain the accuracy... Meanwhile my partner decided to wear a hoodie and I think they - at some point - mentioned a phone or a radio of some sort...

I just generally didn't feel as if they were trying to be accurate, which is sad since I was really craving a roleplay in that setting at the time, and I had really gotten into it. I even did extra research so that I wouldn't make any errors historically! I was careful with language and landscape descriptions and everything, but the effort just felt one-sided.

 

[BackSet]

"Can we RP about two friends separated when Hitler made the Berlin Wall?"

"WHEN HITLER MADE THE BERLIN WALL"

"WHEN HITLER MADE THE BERLIN WALL"

I'm sorry what?

The rp was set in ancient Rome during the period of their peak, and I really tried hard to maintain the accuracy... Meanwhile my partner decided to wear a hoodie and I think they - at some point - mentioned a phone or a radio of some sort...

I just generally didn't feel as if they were trying to be accurate, which is sad since I was really craving a roleplay in that setting at the time, and I had really gotten into it. I even did extra research so that I wouldn't make any errors historically! I was careful with language and landscape descriptions and everything, but the effort just felt one-sided.

My god.

 

[PhoenixMire]

I found someone who had created a “medieval RP” set in the late 1800’s. ... Hmm.
Also, I just really hate it when people describe medieval swords as “heavy” and “unwieldy”. It’s outright ridiculous when they include descriptions of medieval swords weighing, on average, 30-50 pounds.
... No. No.

 

[BackSet]

I found someone who had created a “medieval RP” set in the late 1800’s. ... Hmm.
Also, I just really hate it when people describe medieval swords as “heavy” and “unwieldy”. It’s outright ridiculous when they include descriptions of medieval swords weighing, on average, 30-50 pounds.
... No. No.

Why would medevial swords be heavy and unwieldy? That makes no sense. How would they fight with them?

 

[Onmyoji]

I have a suspicion that people who said that assumed all medieval swords were like claymore or zweihander which weight around 3kg or those anti-cavalry swords that were around 2 meters long. Because those are really heavy and hard to use.
But yeah, not all swords were like that.