I thought I'd do one more, for these purposes it's historical if it's set in our actual history or in a not totally gonzo alt history, so FVLMINATA would probably count but a game in which you play Sioux pilots of wood and steam mecha probably wouldn't (but might well make it into some other top five thread). A game portraying history as the people of the time saw it is fine, so magic is not an issue if it's magic that fits the period.
As ever, state your reasons, if you're in doubt about whether one of your choices counts as a historical game or not then include it anyway. These are about listing fun games, not genre purism.
Ok, my current top five?
Flashing Blades, an old FGU game, simple mechanics but a good duelling system, it's basically Three Musketeers the rpg, more precisely it's a blatant rip off of En Garde! from GDW but done well enough that you don't care. Tremendous fun.
Call of Cthulhu, what? It's set in the 1920s, how much more historical can you get? Oh all right then, In Harm's Way, a game which gets the feel of the source material spot on.
Aquellare, I haven't played this yet but I think it beats out Ars Magica for having an actual medieval style magic system. That said, Ars Magica does have much to recommend it. The middle ages as they saw it, and set in late 14th Century Spain which is a cool period (and makes a change from the early thirteenth century, the most popular historical period in gaming).
Gangbusters, it has Jim Holloway art and you can play a journalist, what more do you want? That said, it doesn't worry much about history (I'm not sure it even has much by way of notes on it) in which case I would go for Warlords of Alexander, a brilliant free game using the BRP engine set in the warring states following the death of Alexander the Great. I didn't write it, but I host it for the author at //www.balbinus.com.
Dark Continent, the best game about 1870s African exploration ever written. Actually, it's got a great system, tons of good advice, it's a box set and it comes with a blank map of Africa that the players fill in during play. What's not to love?
Boot Hill (TSR): (In the General Store) General Store Owner: "So, tell me why you need a case of dynamite again?". PC: "Er....mining...yep...starting a mine..." Good times...Accept.No.Substitutes.
I'm trying to limit my picks to games I either ran or played. Having said that I'll diverge from that with my recommendation of:
Swashbuckler RPG: Light on the RP, Heavy on the G. Swashbuckler has a cool system for swashing buckles...er...combat...'nuff said.
Good call with Boot Hill, a tremendous game, sadly not all my group like Westerns.
Quote from: Balbinussadly not all my group like Westerns.
Westerns are definitely a hard sell without Zombies, Aliens, Ray-guns, Starships, Large Swords, etc.
I always had a soft spot for a "straight" western. See Boot Hill, Ballots and Bullets campaign module. All you need for western fun.
Te Deum Pour Un Massacre - LOADS of great historical detail, fantastically evocative life-path character creation system, surprisingly well supported but saddled with a character creation system that doesn't really work unless you maximin like a bastard. The combat system is also scary.
Dark Continent - One of the few TRUE exploration games. It's also shameless when it comes to embracing the idea that Africa really was a shit-hole.
That's all I can think of actually.
Quote from: Mr. AnalyticalTe Deum Pour Un Massacre - LOADS of great historical detail, fantastically evocative life-path character creation system, surprisingly well supported but saddled with a character creation system that doesn't really work unless you maximin like a bastard. The combat system is also scary.
Dark Continent - One of the few TRUE exploration games. It's also shameless when it comes to embracing the idea that Africa really was a shit-hole.
That's all I can think of actually.
It was the rules that stopped Te Deum making my list, the chargen system is great and the setting is wonderful but I have the impression you're having to houserule it to hell and back which is no bad thing but stopped it getting into my top five on its own merits.
Absolutely agreed on Dark Continent, and it was a shit-hole for the explorers, most of them died and often of very nasty diseases. Hell, even for the natives it wasn't that great and still often isn't.
Dark Continent is also I think very good on portraying colonialism while neither romanticising nor trivialising the natives, who come across mostly simply as people with the misfortune to be on the receiving end who don't have sufficient technology to fight back.
- Roma Imperious: Great detail into the life and times with a fantasy twist. Constantine learns magic from the celtic druids. The discovery of magic keeps the empire from falling.
- In Harm's Way: I can't imagine someone publishing a better RPG set in the times of Nepoleon. The game is meant to play like the adventures Forster, O'Brian, Parkinson, Lambdin and Pope and does just that. Troupe Play and competitive play set this apart from the others.
- Boot Hill: The best western game of all time ,IMO. Still the only RPG I can get my brothers to play.
- FVLMINATA: in the same vein as Roma Imperious, but just not as well done.
- Shades of Earth: WWII setting where magic and powerful artifacts are real. Think Indiana Jones.
Flashing Blades is cool, eh? I've long wondered.
The only historical game that keeps my attention for long is Boot Hill. Though I don't own a copy of Ballots & Bullets. :(
I've run a Savage Worlds game using Gangbusters stuff as my setting material. That was a hoot.
Oh, I absolutely *love* Boot Hill. I've run it at GenCon SoCal for two years running and plan on running it again next year.
Some of my picks in this category will blend with other genres, they not being strictly "historical." But I'm sure that's okay. For instance, I really like Godlike, the supers game set in WWII. It plays very gritty, and quick too. I also like Adventure! because of the fantastic pulpy feel you can get with it, and you can throw evil Nazis at the players and stuff.
Quote from: BalbinusIn Harm's Way, a game which gets the feel of the source material spot on.
The only historical rpg I've played that I can think of at the moment.
Regards,
David R
Quote from: BalbinusIt was the rules that stopped Te Deum making my list, the chargen system is great and the setting is wonderful but I have the impression you're having to houserule it to hell and back which is no bad thing but stopped it getting into my top five on its own merits.
That's absolutely it. The task resolution system is largely fine if slightly unusual but the character system simply doesn't work if you don't walk into it going "I want a good fighter" and then make decisions on the basis of that with full knowledge of how your choices affect the outcome, which completely defeats the purpose of that whole "life path" character creation system.
The game really needs a new edition.
But yeah, it deserves kudos simply for being a proper historical game with no weird technology, super-powers or fantasy elements but with a real commitment to historical verisimilitude.
Godlike
GURPs WWII
GURPs Japan
Call of Cthulhu
OGL Ancients
Aquelarre: For me, this is the medieval game. AM is a fantasy game set in something like Europe, but which is not.
¡¡Piratas!! Another excellent Spanish design, whithout the lightest hint of fantasy. You could choose the system to be gritty and hard, or quite cinematic, but that was all. The book is an invaluable reference in any case.
AD&D Mighty Fortress: You thought AD&D couldn't be historical? Think again, you retarded.
That's it.
After due consideration, I don't think I've ever played what I'd regard as a historical game, though my latest HQ hack came close.
[No, wait, I played En Garde. But I can't pretend that that's in the top five. Anyway, it doesn't have a GM, so it's not a roleplaying game, apparently.]
Quote from: Imperator¡¡Piratas!!
That's a great name for a game. It's like "OMG Pirates!".
Mind you, what's with the whole Spanish thing of putting upside down exclamation points in front of things? It's very l33t, isn't it? like [!]Piratas[/!]
Quote from: Mr. AnalyticalThat's a great name for a game. It's like "OMG Pirates!".
Mind you, what's with the whole Spanish thing of putting upside down exclamation points in front of things? It's very l33t, isn't it? like [!]Piratas[/!]
I couldn't say, it's a grammar thing :D We use both exclamation points, and question points. We have more to spare ;)
Do you put them in front of the whole statement or just the word?
For example do you say [!]Madre de Dios, piratas[/!] or [Madre de Dios[/!], [!]Piratas[/!]?
Or [?]Donde estan los piratas[/?]
Boot Hill
Gangbusters
any three historical GURPS supplement (your choice)
Saying you can't have ALT-history stuff is a bit like saying you can't really have impossible science in the SF section...
So, top 5 historical games written by someone else.
1. Cthulhu (from 1920 to dark ages)
2. Desperadoes (the only good Western RPG)
3. Ars Magica (played straight and without the WhiteWolfiness)
4. Pendragon (would you like to know about my grandfather?)
5. EnGarde. (Yes, it is a fecking RPG and played around a table it's l33t)
Quote from: PelorusSaying you can't have ALT-history stuff is a bit like saying you can't really have impossible science in the SF section...
So, top 5 historical games written by someone else.
1. Cthulhu (from 1920 to dark ages)
2. Desperadoes (the only good Western RPG)
3. Ars Magica (played straight and without the WhiteWolfiness)
4. Pendragon (would you like to know about my grandfather?)
5. EnGarde. (Yes, it is a fecking RPG and played around a table it's l33t)
I only vetoed totally gonzo alt-history, not alt-history.
Did you know by the way there's a big online En Garde gaming community?
Aaaaarrrggghh!
I can't fucking believe that I forgot to include the Jewels of the Historical Gaming Crown:
- RuneQuest Vikings: It's RQ. With Vikings. Enough said.
- RuneQuest Land of Ninja: L5R can choke on my fuck when compared with the RQ glory.
1) Call of Cthulhu
2) Flashing Blades
3) Privateers and Gentlemen
4) Vampire : Dark Ages
5) Run Out the Guns !
Quote from: ImperatorRuneQuest Land of Ninja: L5R can choke on my fuck when compared with the RQ glory.
This statement was almost good enough to be sigged ! Almost !