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Renaissance setting

Started by d20DM, March 29, 2025, 03:26:17 PM

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d20DM

Working on a setting much like Red wall meets GoT, and have been toying with what classes I should allow and all. I am looking at using L&D for the most part, with parts from BoF for some areas. Is there any OSR/-like books that have classes in them that maybe would be more akin to the time? I have looked for some but always seem to find 5E books. Any and all info much appreciated.

d20DM

Been toying with a couple different books and ideas and have come up with this list so far. More then likely names will be changed and a couple may be cut or merged into another. As always any suggestions or feedback is much appreciated.

Adventurer: (Covers general exploration and risk-taking)
Alchemist: (Focuses on chemical and potentially magical concoctions)
Archer: (Specializes in ranged combat with bows)
Armiger: (A noble or knightly warrior)
Artisan: (Skilled in crafting and building)
Bard: (Master of music, lore, and social influence)
Beast Hunter: (Specializes in tracking and hunting dangerous creatures)
Courtier: (Skilled in social maneuvering and diplomacy)
Gunner: (Specializes in gunpowder weapons)
Herbalist: (Skilled in using plants for medicinal and other purposes)
Holy Man/Priest: (Covers religious figures)
Holy Warrior: (A warrior with a religious focus)
Magus: (A magic user, potentially tied to natural philosophy or occult knowledge)
Master Trapper: (Specializes in setting and using traps)
Merchant: (Skilled in trade and commerce)
Physician: (Skilled in healing and medicine)
Sapper: (Specializes in siege warfare and engineering)
Scholar: (Master of knowledge and lore)
Scoundrel: (Covers general roguish characters)
Swordsman/Great-swordsman: (Masters of bladed weapons, covering general and specialized swordsmanship)
Thief: (Specializes in stealth and larceny)
Witch Hunter: (Specializes in identifying and combating supernatural threats)
Woodsman/Wood Witch: (Covers survival skills and knowledge of the wilderness, including nature based magical abilities)

ForgottenF

This is going to seem like a pedantic question, but it has to be asked: What do you mean by "Renaissance"?
The Renaissance covers three or four centuries (depending on who you ask) and straddles the line between the Late Medieval and Early Modern periods. I don't want to get too deep in the weeds here; suffice it to say there's a difference between saying "I want my game to feel like it's 1390" and "I want my game to feel like it's 1620".

Given you're citing Game of Thrones as an influence, I'd assume you mean the middle part of the range. GoT is famously inspired by the Wars of the Roses, generally considered to be kind of the last medieval war in English history, but the show is definitely pulling visual inspiration from both earlier and later history as well. (Incidentally, you can find several interesting discussions of how GoT relates to real history here.) Redwall is even more vague about its time period. I haven't read the books in some years, but I remember influences pulled from everywhere between the 9th and 19th centuries.

Assuming you do mean that middle period of the Renaissance, say 1400-1550, the good news is that basically any OSR game will put you in good stead there. Lion & Dragon certainly should, since it was intended to be the rule set for Pundit's War of the Roses setting.

It really does depend on what you want to do with the campaign setting. If you intend to do the kind of things that D&D normally does, adventurers out in the wilderness doing dungeons, killing monsters and stuff like that, you could probably just use the standard OSR classes. The big differences between the early/high middle ages and the late middle ages/renaissance/early modern period are mostly sociological and technological. For that kind of campaign, they're really only going to show up in roleplay and equipment.

Gunpowder is an obvious element here, but I'd say the next most impactful is armor. Mail armor largely stops being used in this period in Europe, so medium armor is better represented by brigandine or by incomplete plate armor (half-plate, 3/4 plate, etc.). Light armor could be a padded jack or buff coat, possibly supplemented with a helmet and jack chains for an intermediary between light and medium armor. You could look at Helvecza or at the alternate rules in Lamentations of the Flame Princess for examples of applying firearms and early modern armor under OSR rules.

Most of the standard D&D weapons continue to apply in the Renaissance, though some drop out of use like javelins and slings. Battleaxes decline in popularity, replaced by poleaxes and halberds, but I don't think they disappear. Same with shields. There's a general trend in the late middle ages towards two-handed weapons for infantry combat as armor gets better. Swords undergo a design revolution in the 15th and 16th centuries, with the traditional arming sword gradually phasing out, replaced originally by various kinds of "side sword", and then splitting in the early modern period between the rapier and the broadsword/backsword. Meanwhile, the Messer and falchion of the middle ages get combined with the Polish sabre coming in from eastern Europe around the time, and develop into the Dusack. A lot of this stuff is pure flavor, but just changing the names of your equipment can help to sell a setting.

If you want to tie the period weapons and ways of fighting into the classes, I'd probably do it as a series of specialties that a fighter can take, instead of a bunch of independent classes. Instead of swordsman, I'd maybe go for a Landsknecht specialization, which uses the pike, halberd/bill/glaive and greatsword. You could also do a Reiter or Pistolier specialization, and maybe a Sharpshooter to cover both mercenary crossbowmen and arquebusiers. Your Armiger class could be a specialty for lance and sword, and so on. You're getting into the early part of the Age of Exploration there, too, so a seafarer or pirate specialization wouldn't go amiss

If you're planning on more political or urban campaigns, then maybe you do want more civilian classes. You might look at Ghastly Affair's "Everyman" class as an example of a way to do a single class that can cover a lot of occupations, or The Hero's Journey's "Yeoman" class for a generalized "civilian". If you want some examples of Renaissance/Early Modern occupations, I'd say look at the professions in Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying. IIRC the old Mongoose Conan game had a "Scholar" class you might look at, but it's been a while.

Looking at the list you have there, the one that jumps out at me is the Witch-Hunter. It's not exactly out of period. Witch hunts in Europe really get started towards the end of the 15th century, but they're much more characteristic of the post-reformation period. There might be a conflict there with having the "Wood Witch" class, which evokes more of the medieval idea of a "cunning woman" or folk magician, which though generally disapproved of, was largely tolerated. 
Playing: Mongoose Traveller 2e
Running: On Hiatus
Planning: Too many things, and I should probably commit to one.

I

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay is the one that I think of.
I know how the illegals feel. I'm an alcoholic & they keep setting up these random DUI checkpoints. You have no idea what a chilling effect this has had on the alcoholic community. I know people who are too terrified to even drink & drive anymore. I am literally shaking... mostly in my hands...