| Historical Settings | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Sep 30 2008, 04:19 PM (588 Views) | |
| kismetrose | Sep 30 2008, 04:19 PM Post #1 |
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It looks like I'm going to be doing a game set in 1920's Chicago (starting in 1925) sometime in the future. I have been hoping not to give myself any more work than necessary, since my free time has been fairly small. I have some experience running games set in the past, specifically my Vampire the Dark Ages game set in...I believe it was 1328 or somewhere about there. I did read what setting info they had in the books and I did some research of my own, as well. I went out of my way to pick music that I thought would invoke older times. I'm not sure how successful I was in conveying the time period, though. I would like to know what other folks do when they run historical games. What sorts of details do you focus on? |
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| Fixxxer | Sep 30 2008, 10:48 PM Post #2 |
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I've run a few historical games. What's been the biggest help to me, surprisingly, has been GURPS books. I don't use the GURPS system for running the game, but the historical information is surprisingly accurate and is geared towards how it would interact in a roleplaying game. GURPS Rome was especially helpful to me, but I've seen a "roaring '20s" GURPS book before, and I used to own a 1920s/1930s pulp fiction GURPS book, so I imagine they shouldn't be too expensive or difficult to find, if you're interested. |
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| kismetrose | Sep 30 2008, 10:52 PM Post #3 |
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You know, I hadn't thought to look for GURPS. I'll have to check that out. Since I don't use the system, I don't tend to look at the books for GURPS. |
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| kismetrose | Oct 2 2008, 11:03 AM Post #4 |
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I've discovered that Call of Cthulhu materials are going to be useful to me in more than one regard. First, some of the books have information on the 1920s, since that is one era that the setting supports. So far, the Investigator's Companions (1 and 2) have been great resources. The core rulebook by Chaosium also has a bit on the 20s. But secondly, since I'm going to be running a World of Darkness game, the monstrous horror of Cthulhu may yet be appropriate. I'm definitely going to start off as light as I can, going for a sense of faerie tale magic and mystery, but when I want to go dark, I'll have plenty of inspiration. The way that the Old Ones are described reminds me of the Keepers of Changeling and the ambience is compelling. The Cliffhangers sourcebook for GURPS, specifically the 2nd edition, has some information on the later half of the 20's. Since I'll be starting in 1925, it should have some good meat for me. What I'm trying to do is focus on those details that will mean the most to me and to the game. I don't want to get caught up focusing on things that won't matter. I've had to stop myself during my tour of buildings that were extant in Chicago 1925 (I found some great web sites that'll show buildings by the year of completion). I was taking too long, when what I really want to know is about major structures that may be of interest. I also want to get a feel for what the city looked like, how tall the buildings were. And it's not like I have tons of time, especially since I've been sick this week.
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| Freston | Oct 2 2008, 11:30 AM Post #5 |
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That sounds so cool. I don't think we ever gamed with a historical setting in mind. We try to recreate some feel of the dark ages, but you mean actual historical events. Chicago at the time of the prohibition? Gangsters chasing off police officers and stuff like that? It would be difficult to recreate the actual historical city and events. But in Vampire that is more common than in DnD from what I understand. |
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| kismetrose | Oct 2 2008, 01:21 PM Post #6 |
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I pretty much accept that no game I run will be anywhere near historically accurate. What I want to do is use details to give an impression of the period and how it was different from ours. No cell phones, no internet. Telephones in cities but not always in the countryside. The city was a much smaller place even though it was growing. Al Capone's influence spread wide in boozing, gambling, and whoring. I also don't mind using historical events, so long as they interest me. I keep an eye on the major events to get an idea of what people would be talking about, what they would be concerned about. It can be fun to show history from a different point of view. I think my players really enjoyed seeing the Trojan War through the eyes of characters who were intimately involved with some of its greatest figures. For them, the war meant knowing that old friends had come to take their lady home by force. For them, the death of Patroclus was a personal loss, since they'd broken bread with him and known him a good, young man. The whole thing was a mess they could try to influence, but it was an event so grand that it was largely out of their control. It was tragedy all around. But I digress. I want to know what things cost and how much people were usually paid. The Cthulhu books have been great, there. They've also given me an idea of the kinds of jobs PCs might have. I'm going to look up some of the 20's films on Netflix, since they seem to have quite a few, and I've found a place that has 20's music. These are more for flavor than anything else, but they do get the wheels turning. |
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| Freston | Oct 2 2008, 01:42 PM Post #7 |
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My first response was this: Wow, using gaming as a way to visit history, that is so great! There's a lot of interesting events in history, often more pregnant with intrigue, double play, war and violence than what I can think of myself. But secondly I thought: How do the characters interact with the period? Will they be able to make a difference in the world, of the background is based in a perceived reality? Would they kill Hitler and rise to power in bankrupt Germany? My players would :rolleyes: and they probably would even find a way to give the first production Porsche to the DM's grandfather In other words, would they metagame? |
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| Fixxxer | Oct 2 2008, 04:10 PM Post #8 |
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In a historical setting, most players will, yes. I even had a player once that looked up a bunch of relevant information on the internet specifically so he could metagame himself into a good position upon the death of Julius Caesar. His plan was to impose himself upon young Octavius, then convince Marc Antony and Marcus Lepidus to murder him, then take his place in the second triumvirate. Afterwords, he would produce Octavius' adoption decree (forged to include his name instead) as proof of his right to become Augustus, the first emperor of Rome. This is where my respect for the GURPS books came from. The historical books take into account the idea that knowledgeable players might try to use their knowledge to twist events for themselves. They give pretty good ideas for changing some of the big events in history to prevent this from being a problem. I used one of the suggested ideas from the GURPS Rome book, and though I had no idea of the player's intentions at the time, it ruined his ass attempt before he had a chance to try it. Unbeknownst to anyone, during his seven years in Gaul, Julius Caesar took for one of his personal slaves an old man captured outside of a little village. This man was a druid, and had real power, which he taught to Caesar in exchange for his life. When Marcus Brutus and the Libratores tried to stab Caesar, their blades shattered on an invisible magical barrier. With an upturned eyebrow, Julius Caesar raised his open hand and flames shot out to envelop the traitorous assassins. Julius Caesar didn't suffer himself to be assassinated. The look on my players' faces was priceless. |
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| kismetrose | Oct 2 2008, 10:39 PM Post #9 |
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Well, I tend to think of it as using gaming to visit a setting that has more to do with myth than fact. I take inspiration from history but I could never hope to truly emulate it, and I don't have it in me to try. One of the things I really enjoyed about re-creating Troy was that I could interpret the whole mythological underpining using World of Darkness character types and the WoD mythology. (Thus, Helena and Paris were favored of Aphrodite, who was really an extremely powerful vampire looking to possess the most beautiful woman of the time. That ancient vampire had an equally ancient and powerful enemy who took Meneleus' side.) And I could make all kinds of people real, I could introduce them right up close and personal. The PCs met and deeply befriended Helena, Castor and Pollux, Odysseus, Patroclus, and so on. So the PCs stood to lose something, whichever way the war went. The thing is, it's not like my players didn't have knowledge of how the Trojan war went. They were very good about not metagaming, however, and acting as their characters would. When the Trojan horse showed up, the characters rejoiced that the conflict might finally be over - even though the players knew what it really meant. They also understood that some things were simply going to happen. Hector, for example, was going to die, no matter how much they liked him. It was very much in keeping with the ideas of destiny and legacy that were a part of the Greek heroic age. But this was also a very short-run game (I believe it lasted two sessions).
Generally, my players are pretty good about not metagaming. First of all, they know that they have to work within the confines of what their characters could logically know, given the period's constraints. If their Trojan warriors start talking about computers, I'm going to call shenanigans. They also know that in my games, they are never the biggest fish on the block. There are people and forces at work that are larger than they are, so good luck getting to Hitler without being stopped. I give my players hints as to those events that are open to their influence, and those events can be quite large. I also give them hints about those events that simply will be. Over the years, I think they've learned to read me, as I have learned to read them. |
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