I am about to take the plunge with Baptism of Fire. As part of experiencing a new game, I love to immerse myself in inspirational reading.

What are some good examples of fiction or non-fiction that can help convey the Baptism of Fire tone, setting, history, etc.? Books are preferred, but I am open to movies or documentaries as well.

Thank you in advance for serving as my personal librarian!
Matt

To be clear, I'm not totally ignorant on the history or folklore; I'm just curious what's inspired others

My local library was a bit dry, which is crazy given the large Polish population around here. One book on Slavic myths, and no history books

It's gonna be a tough one. Comparatively little gets written about early Eastern Europe in English, and the stuff that comes out of that region and gets translated to English tends to be more interested in the late medieval and early modern periods. So must of the stuff I could recommend is going to either be "right period, wrong region" or "right region, wrong period". I'll give it a shot though.

For academic reading, I've got pretty much nothing. It's not a field I've put much reading into. I would recommend the works of Montague Sommers, though. Summers was an early 20th century Catholic priest who wrote several books on Witchcraft, Vampirism, Lycanthropy, etc. They're fun reads, and they usually include at least a few chapters on Eastern Europe.

For fiction, I imagine the obvious recommendation is the Witcher books. I've got some issues with Sapkowski's writing, but they are good inspiration material, albeit the setting is much more late medieval. If you want something that fits the time period better but is the wrong region, maybe Bernard Cornwell's Last Kingdom series. I haven't gotten around to them myself, but Cornwell's a pretty reliable writer, so they're probably solid. Poul Anderson's Three Hearts and Three Lions and The Broken Sword are I think good recommended reading for any kind of historically based fantasy gaming, but Daughter of Kings might be worthwhile too. I also like Gene Wolfe's The Wizard Knight, which is in much the same vein.

Don't know if you're a video gamer, but there's actually a lot of possibilities there. For whatever reason there's been a bit of a boom in Slav-developed games, and games set in Eastern Europe, in recent years. There's a million of these, so I'll just list a few in no particular order:

-Thea: The Awakening (2015)
-1428: Shadows over Silesia (2022)
-Beast: False Prophet (2023)
-Hellish Quart (2021)
-The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings (2011) and Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt (2016)
-Mount & Blade: Warband (2010) and Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord (2022)
-Yaga (2021)
-Black Book (2021)
-Kingdom Come: Deliverance (2018)
-Konung III: Ties of the Dynasty (2010)

Again, most of these are the wrong time period, but they might still be useful for inspiration.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for the detailed response. You really hit the nail on the head with the issue in trying to find works in English.

I had totally forgotten about Summers, so I'll have to dust that off.

Thanks again!

Greetings!

Matty, some of these resources may be interesting for you. I hope that you find them helpful. Surprisingly, for example, many of the books discussing Mongolian History, Russian History, or Germanic History also include substantial material and details discussing Polish politics, religion, culture, and military forces.

Bibliography
Russian, Slavic and Baltic Resources (30 Books)

Russian Fairy Tales
(The Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library); 1976; Aleksandr Afanas'ev
Russian Fairy Tales
(The Planet); 2012; Aleksandr Afanas'ev
Russian Folk Belief
Ivanits, Linda J.
Myths and Folk-tales of the Russians, Western Slavs, and Magyars
Curtin, Jeremiah
Creatures of Slavic Myth (The Slavic Way) (Volume 4)
Kushnir, Dmitriy
Encyclopedia of Russian and Slavic Myth and Legend
Dixon-Kennedy, Mike
Slavic Folklore: A Handbook (Greenwood Folklore Handbooks)
Kononenko, Natalie
New Researches on the Religion and Mythology of the Pagan Slavs
Lajove, Patrice
Medieval Russia, 980-1584, Second Edition (Cambridge Medieval Textbooks)
Martin, Janet
A History of Russia to 1855-Volume 1
Riasanovsky, Nicholas
The Crisis of Medieval Russia 1200-1304 (Longman History of Russia)
Fennel, John
Medieval Russia-A Sourcebook, 900-1700
Dmytryshyn, Basil
The Chronicle of Novgorod, 1016-1471
Forbes, Nevill
The Russian Primary Chronicle: Laurentian Text
Cross, Samuel Hazzard
The Icon and the Axe: An Interpretive History of Russian Culture (Vintage)
James H. Billington
Reinterpreting Russian History: Readings 860-1860s
Kaiser, Daniel H.
Medieval Russia's Epics, Chronicles, and Tales
Zenkovsky, Serge A.
The "Domostroi": Rules for Russian Households in the Time of Ivan the Terrible
Pouncy, Carolyn Johnston
The Time of Troubles: A Historical Study of the Internal Crisis and Social Struggle in Sixteenth-and Seventeenth-Century Muscovy
S.F. Platonov
Russia and the Golden Horde: The Mongol Impact on Medieval Russian History
Halperin, Charles
Mother Russia: The Feminine Myth in Russian Culture (Midland Book)
Hubbs, Joanna
World of the Ancient Slavs
Vana, Zdenek
The Emergence of Rus 750-1200
Franklin, Simon
Formation of Muscovy 1304-1613, The (Longman History of Russia)
Crummey, Robert O.
Russia in World History (New Oxford World History)
Engel, Barbara Alpern
Medieval Russia: The History and Legacy of the Groups that Developed the Russian State in the Middle Ages
Charles River Editors
Ivan the Terrible: A Captivating Guide to the First Tsar of Russia and His Impact on Russian History
History, Captivating
Russian History: A Captivating Guide to the History of Russia, Including Events Such as the Mongol Invasion, the Napoleonic Invasion, Reforms of Peter the Great, the Fall of the Soviet Union, and More
History, Captivating
The Northern Crusades: Second Edition
Christiansen, Eric
A History of the Baltic States (Palgrave Essential Histories series)
Kasekamp, A.

Germanic, Medieval and Norse Resources (17 Books)

The Sagas of Icelanders: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
Robert Kellogg
Njal's Saga (Penguin Classics)
Anonymous
The Vinland Sagas (Penguin Classics)
Keneva Kunz
Egil's Saga (Penguin Classics)
Anonymous
The Prose Edda: Norse Mythology (Penguin Classics)
Sturluson, Snorri
Encyclopedia of Norse and Germanic Folklore, Mythology and Magic
Lecouteux, Claude
A History of the Franks (Penguin Classics)
Gregory of Tours
The Invasion of Europe by the Barbarians
Bury, J.B.
Germania: Newly Revised Edition on The Origin and Situation of the Germanic People
Tacitus
The Gothic History of Jordanes in English Version;
Jordanes, 6th cent
The Story of the Goths, from the Earliest Times to the End of the Gothic Dominion in Spain
Bradley, Henry
Barbarian Rites: The Spiritual World of the Vikings and the Germanic Tribes
Hasenfratz, Ph.D., Hans-Peter
The Early Germans
Todd, Malcolm
The Middle Ages: Everyday Life in Medieval Europe
Singman, Jeffrey L.
Viking Age: Everyday Life During the Extraordinary Era of the Norsemen
Wolf, Kirsten
The Dark Ages 476-918 A.D.
Oman, Charles
Ibn Fadlan and the Land of Darkness: Arab Travelers in the Far North (Penguin Classics)
Ibn Fadlan

General History Resources and Gaming Books (3 Books)

Military History Book (Dk General History)
Dorling Kindersley
Weapon: A Visual History of Arms and Armor
Ford, Roger
GURPS Russia
Ross, S. John

The Steppes, Central Asia and Far Asia (7 Books)

Central Asia in World History (New Oxford World History)
Golden, Peter B.
Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World
Jack Weatherford
Genghis Khan: The Man Who Conquered the World
Mclynn, Frank
Genghis Khan: His Conquests, His Empire, His Legacy
Mclynn, Frank
The Secret History of the Mongol Queens: How the Daughters of Genghis Khan Rescued His Empire
Weatherford, Jack
Warriors Of The Steppe: A Military History of Central Asia, 500 B.C. To 1700 A.D.
Hildinger, Erik
The Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia
Grousset, Rene





Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

Shark, you are a soldier and a scholar!

There are definitely some gems in there I wasn't already aware of, so I've got some reading ahead of me.

Thanks!
Matt

For anyone else just starting on this journey, here are a few places to start:

Piast Poland - Paweł Jasienica
(Historical overview published by The American Institute of Polish Culture)

The Widow Queen and The Last Crown -
Elzbieta Cherezinska
(Historical fiction duology following Świętosława, daughter of Mieszko I)

Polish Folklore and Myth - Joanne Asala
(A well-regarded collection, definitely of higher quality than other books that seem like Kindle dumps if Google translate results)

Later medieval, but very much focused on the clash between Germanic and Slavic culture, Christianity and paganism, etc would be The Teutonic Knights by Henrik Sienkowicz. Great historical fiction equivalent to Ivanhoe except set in Poland and written by a Polish nationalist. This is later and western European, but it also makes me rethink entirely what a really medieval game could and probably should be about. https://x.com/rawbloodenjoyer/status/1784325203855655183