Historical RPGS

[abhorsen950]

Well i thourght INQ might arrive for christmas and ive had a good snoop around the house and its not looking promising.

Which in a way is a relief (how ever bizzare that sounds).
So im looking at RPG's rather than Miniature Wargames to avoid high cost of miniatures.

And im a massive fan of History so anybody know any Historical Rpg's?


Steve

[flooglestreet]

The GURPS system has several historical RPGs. Savage Tales has a couple as well. Many fantasy RPGs can be converted to ancient, medieval or Renaissance settings. A good hunt throughDrivethru RPGs might help. http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/index.php and the gurps offerings can be found at http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/ Steve Jackson carries other games as well, check out warehouse 23 and e23 while you are at his site.

If you want to limit the number of miniatures you have on the table, consider narrative adventure games as well. Rattrap makes a fine line of NA games including the Gloire series which covers the 17th century. Among the War Parties takes Gloire to the French and Indian wars.

[abhorsen950]

Thanks for getting back to me on this one.
Ill have a look at the links now.


Cheers guys
Steve

[Tom Reed]

If you can find it, Sky Galleons of Mars is really neat.

[Grekwood]

i've played Runequest in a historical based setting.

Played a really good game set in dark ages britian around the time of hastings.... no monsters or magic just humans   

[abhorsen950]

Cheers guys
Looks like Medieval and Ancient are they key settings.

What would be a story to use though?

Steve

[Cory]

Medieval can be a double edged sword - as the most familiar to players it is the period that requires the least explanation, but as it is closest to fantasy it is the period where I find players trying the hardest to incorporate fantasy aspects.

One campaign I have used in the past focuses on the sack of Constantinople in the 4th crusade. The polygot nature of the city and the sacking army allow for a diverse collection of characters, the chaotic situation allows me to ratchet up and down the presence of a police authority as necessary for the game, and the nature of the city makes hidden chambers and secret undergound complexes easily plausible.

The PCs were given a secret mission to recover an artifact, a few clues and contacts, and warned of competiton. From there the campaign wrote itself.

[P_Clapham]

Runequest is indeed fun using a historical / semi-historical setting.  I'm planning on running a Mythological Greece game next semester, using either Runequest or Basic Roleplaying System (pretty much the same thing).  On the Chaosium website there are a few books and monographs for Historical Roleplaying.  In addition to Dark Ages Cthulhu, there's a Roman one as well.

i've played Runequest in a historical based setting.

Played a really good game set in dark ages britian around the time of hastings.... no monsters or magic just humans   

[abhorsen950]

Cheers guys ive finally racked my brains to come up with an idea using DnD 3e in the DM Guide theres rules for muskets and rifles etc therefore we could play some squad based historical narrative wargames.

cheers guys

Steve

[Tom Reed]

I was about to suggest Pendragon. My friends and I have always had a good time playing in the King Arthur setting.

[abhorsen950]

Thanks im thinking maybe Use Runequest or DnD 3e to play some Ancient up to Napoleonic type games.

thanks again

Steve

[cdm]

The Rolemaster system (by Iron Crown) had several supplements aside from their core fantasy and sci fi rules.

Those I recall were:
Robin Hood
Vikings
Mythic Greece
Mythic Egypt
Pirates
Outlaws (cowboys)

and there was a specific pirate set called Run Out The Guns

[abhorsen950]

Interesting ill take a look.


Steve

[P_Clapham]

If you've got you heart set on a D&D style system, how about D20 modern.  The classes are based on the six attributes, with very low level "prestige" classes available.  Typically around 4th level or so.  There's even a supplement on doing games set in the past.  The game never took off, so cheap copies should be easy to find.

Another D20 option could be either the Deadlands or Starwars systems.  If you take out the magic / force powers, there's still a good number of 'historical' classes and prestige classes.  I don't know what's going on with the prices on the Saga edition, since Wotc dropped the license.  I would guess you could find it at a discount.

Thanks im thinking maybe Use Runequest or DnD 3e to play some Ancient up to Napoleonic type games.

thanks again

Steve

[Will Bailie]

I liked the ICE Rolemaster/Hero system historical supplements mentioned by cdm.  Nice potted histories and good ideas for campaigns in those settings, including ideas for fantasy/historical crossovers (I've always wanted to try some of the crossover ideas from the Pirates book in particular).

The GURPS supplements are generally good as well, but seem to have a bit more DIY elements.

I know that you are already keen on Call of Cthulhu - strip out the mythos, and it is a ready to play historical RPG!  If you go with the original 1920s/1930s version, you have Prohibition, gangsters, African or South Seas exploration, gunrunning to the Chinese or Spanish civil wars, and so on, wherever your imagination takes you.

W