Here's the thing, by medieval rpgs I mean rpgs set at least ostensibly in our own history, for example Ars Magica or Medieval Players Manual or High Medieval.  Rpgs set in the medieval period in Europe.

And the thing is, with Aquellare as an honourable exception, almost all of them are set in the early 13th Century.  AM is, so is High Medieval, so is MPM, so I think are most of them.

Why then?  Why always the early 13th?  Why not the 14th or 15th Century?  Why not earlier?  Cthulhu Dark Ages is set around the year 1000 which makes a nice change (though not the dark ages of course) but doesn't have much info in the book on it.

Other than Aquellare, otherwise it seems this is a much covered period but with many games covering the same narrow few years.  Howcome?

Wasn't Vampire the Dark Ages set earlier?

I think the high medieval is the most researched so it's easier to find info on.  Seems like it would be easier to write for less well known period, though.  Not so much danger of (unintentionally) screwing up history.  

Pete

Quote from: pspahnWasn't Vampire the Dark Ages set earlier?

I think the high medieval is the most researched so it's easier to find info on.  Seems like it would be easier to write for less well known period, though.  Not so much danger of (unintentionally) screwing up history.  

Pete

20 years earlier, it's set in 1197.  The name is a bit misleading, as it's not set in the dark ages any more than the CoC game is.

Is there any game set between the fall of the Western Roman Empire and -say- the Battle of Hastings? All I can remember is the Red Sails setting from Dragon magazine...

AD&D had a Charlemagne book. IIRC there's a French RPG set slightly before.
Most Viking supplements fit.

Pendragon qualifies, in its own peculiar way.

Harnmaster seems to be an early 12th century pastiche.

I've got these two Dragon issues that had great little mini-settings for AD&D and DnD.  One was pre-Hastings England in like five pages and another was a Dark Ages thru the Early Medieval period, but Eastern Europe (which of course I liked better).  Most of it was setting information, but found more bang for the buck in those short pieces than in say CoC: Dark Ages or the Vampire: Dark Ages.  I'll dig 'em out and let you know what issues they were.

Quote from: BalbinusWhy then?  Why always the early 13th?  Why not the 14th or 15th Century?

The cut-off might have something to do with, in Europe of course, the beginning of the rise of the musket and gunpowder in general. Sure the musket was around in the 13th century, but very, very rare to the point of having virtually no impact.

Gunpowder has gotten a really uneven treatment in RPGs, including the interations of D&D. Also there seems to be a sutble yet pervasive "gunpowder-industry-science killed magic" view of things in people at large. It is sort of a theme that runs through a lot of fiction at least. And fantasy tends to be defined by "magic" (and way too often for my liking roughly Tolkienesque elves).

I expect it's simply because that period encapsulates the most well-known features of the Middle Ages.

Does anybody remember the computer RPG Darklands? It began in 1500 in Germany and had a rather neat system, including a career-based character creating. 'Arcane' magic was done through alchemical recipes, 'divine' magic used saints instead of spells. I'd like to see an adapation of that one

Quote from: SosthenesDoes anybody remember the computer RPG Darklands? It began in 1500 in Germany and had a rather neat system, including a career-based character creating. 'Arcane' magic was done through alchemical recipes, 'divine' magic used saints instead of spells. I'd like to see an adapation of that one

Yeah, that's the shizat! In my To Do In 2007 thread that pirates campaign that's exactly the slightly-off-history mode I was talking about. Early pirate period.  Real working medicine is starting to show up, as it did in Europe at the time to challenge the old superstitions.  Slightly mystical alchemical concoctions are the magic potions. Holy men praying to their god(s) bring on miracles [sporatically]. Gunpowder is making an entrace, but the crossbow is still fierce competition for it.  Mystical creatures and arcane, though relatively weak, magic are at the fringes of society's personal knowledge. Only humans need apply!

I haven't looked that hard into 7th Sea's magic and skills yet to see how well it would fit. Which is why I had put BW on the list because it fits the above like a glove, although maybe even outright banning of the Gifted trait rather than just being careful about spell choice and leaving the only "spells" as miracles in the hands of the Faithful. But including Spirit Binding for the heretic heathen magic.

Runequest 3's Fantasy Europe is basically set in the pre-1000 period, though without much information in the game. There's some implicit setting info embedded in some of the tables, though, but it basically applies to any Iron Age cultural panoply.

Bruce Galloway's Fantasy Wargaming, although a very old-fashioned and clunky system, conveys a nice feel for the changes over the entire period in its supporting chapters, as well as breaking down things like NPC types by period and culture. (So e.g. Carolingian soldiers and Saxon warriors have separate lines from High Medieval knights.)

As for why the 13th century is so popular, I think it's because it does contain the elements that come most readily to mind when people think of the Middle Ages. Both the Norman conquest and the First Crusade are done, as well as the Great Schism, so England has been brought into the mainstream of European "feudal" culture and the primary Catholic/Orthodox/Muslim dynamic is in place. IIRC the German empire has also gone through the crisis that basically defined its character for the rest of the period--i.e., the three-way conflict between emperor, nobles, and the Pope.

Most people are simply ignorant of medieval stuff outside that period; the main exceptions are the Black Death which came after and the Vikings which came before.

I actually prefer the earlier time; in fact I wrote my college theses on the later Roman Empire and the Merovingian & Carolingian kingdoms.

As for me, I like my history going back MUCH further.  Hittitites are cool with me!  Anything too much later than the carpenter and the sea is boring to me!

Okay, not so much boring, just less facinating.