Traveller got me to read Space Viking, so I could role-play/understand nobles better. Agent of the Imperium reinforced what I had learned. For Cthulhu, I read HPL stories and watched the movie versions.

The most I've studied for a campaign was probably for my Dark Ages Vampire game back in, what, 1999? Thank God and Prof. Paul Halsall of Fordham University for the Internet Medieval History Sourcebook.

Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;926420I do it the other way.  I read everything from Middle English to theology to comic books for fun so what I read goes into the game.  Don't think I've ever done research specifically for a game.

Basically this. Though occasionally, I do pick an item out of order from my reading list because it's relevant to a game setting:).

Of course, the reason I like RPGs is that all of my other hobbies, bar none, can turn out to be relevant;).

Quote from: AsenRG;926884Of course, the reason I like RPGs is that all of my other hobbies, bar none, can turn out to be relevant;).

That's a big part of the fun for me as well. Everything I read has the potential to end up on the table at some point.
One departure I've made specifically for RPGs is reading up on a lot of history of the Catholic church... and lives of the saints and such... which I might have otherwise avoided but I needed to know the facts before I injected them full of fucked up weirdness.

I've read a couple books on Carolongian France and several on the just post antiquity history of the Byzantium Empire (600s to early 900s).

I mostly draw on the large amounts of useless information rattling around in my head.

Quote from: PencilBoy99;926497Since someone brought this up, can any of you recommend books (RPG books or history books0 for getting the right feel for the following real world periods:
Europe/Middle Ages (1000-1300)
Europe/30 Years War
Elizabethan England
American Civil War
Some other period that you think is cool that I haven't listed.

Wikipedia.

It is at just the right level for RPG background and explains the interconnections between events/cultures, without going into too much detail. It usually has links elsewhere if you need more information.

Quote from: PencilBoy99;926497Since someone brought this up, can any of you recommend books (RPG books or history books0 for getting the right feel for the following real world periods:
Europe/Middle Ages (1000-1300)
Europe/30 Years War
Elizabethan England
American Civil War
Some other period that you think is cool that I haven't listed.

I'd recommend the "Everyday life in..." series, which is almost guaranteed to have exactly what you need;).

Sometimes.

Last time was off and on research for 6 months for a modern day post apocalyptic game.  Characters were regular guys thru-hiking the Appalacian Trail when the apoc happens.

  Researched that by re-reading A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson and used internet for official trail stuff.  Also watched everything post apoc that wasn't too cheesy that I got get on Net-flix.  BBC "Survivors"  "The Road" was probably the best movie.  It was fun research.  Was a fun game.  Played for ~6 months and it had an end point.

Quote from: PencilBoy99;926497Since someone brought this up, can any of you recommend books (RPG books or history books0 for getting the right feel for the following real world periods:
Europe/Middle Ages (1000-1300)
Europe/30 Years War
Elizabethan England
American Civil War
Some other period that you think is cool that I haven't listed.

As far as the American Civil War (ACW), to really get a handle on the cause of that war, and how it flowed, a must read is Shelby Foote's trilogy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Civil_War:_A_Narrative. It's  only about 3,000 pages of reading, but gives you the background for various ACW settings and campaigns.

Possibly the most interesting reading are the various diaries and journals of soldiers and civilians that have been published over the years. One of my favorites is "Johnny Reb and Billy Yank" by Alexander Hunter, a soldier for the south. He has lots of stories in it about training, battles, and lots of humor. Also has things about camp life, like how everyone would cough for a while when waking up in the morning after a cold night's sleep. This book could give a lot of flavor about what individual soldiers went through.

Another good "soldier's story" book is Company Aytch by Sam Watkins. A free copy is online. That book is quoted extensively on Ken Burns' Civil War series.

For a look at civilian life in the south, read Mary Chesnut's book, online here.

There are of course tons of books about the ACW, but if you were running a FRPG about that war, you'd want to read those individual diaries to get lots of "flavor" for a campaign. There is also a lot of stuff online now, so you won't have to spend as much money as I spent buying my library of ACW books!

Rusty DM