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Narmoth
2009-05-25, 12:37 PM
Hi, I wonder, are there any rpg systems that is easily implementable to real world historic periods, like high medieval.
That is: no magic, no demihumans and so on

Zeta Kai
2009-05-25, 12:43 PM
If you're willing to put in some effort, there's always GURPS (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gurps). You can do literally anything with it, if you can sort through & assemble your rule-set from all the possible options. Good luck.

There's also FUDGE (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fudge_(role-playing_game_system)), which is (unsurprisingly) simpler & more free-form.

shadzar
2009-05-25, 12:54 PM
D&D, just leaving out those parts you don't want.

Don't include magic items/spells/etc, and remove the demihumans and monster races and leave it down to a true human-centric game.

As long as it is even on both sides of the combat/etc then it will be fair to the game.

Tsotha-lanti
2009-05-25, 12:59 PM
The Riddle of Steel cannot be beat in this respect. It's no longer in print, but easy enough to acquire.

Realistic combat (in the sense that it's lethal, and in the sense that it does the best job at modeling actual hand-to-hand combat I have ever seen, anywhere; approved by ARMA), simple and fast-to-learn system, focus on drama and plot over numbers and slaying and looting monsters.

It's an all-around superb game, and including the fantasy elements or the intentionally unbalanced magic is completely optional (in fact, the default fantasy setting is basically a more late-medieval version of Howard's Hyborian Age, with less monsters and sorcerers).

AFAIK the game is originally based on a Polish (?) historical RPG.


For the late 20th/early 21st, you can't really beat Twilight 2013, which is to squad-level small-arms, artillery, and vehicle combat what TROS is to hand-to-hand.

Comet
2009-05-25, 01:01 PM
D&D still has its gamistic elements and such, so it's not a very workable system for presenting our mundane litlle world, I think.

Of the systems I know, World of Darkness and Call of Cthulhu work. GURPS, too, altough thats too complicated for me. FUDGE I havent tried, but I've heard good things about it.

There are lots of other systems that could work, but I can't come up with any names at the moment. Oh well, theyre out there for sure.

sonofzeal
2009-05-25, 01:02 PM
Surprisingly enough, d20 Modern actually does a good job of this, despite the names. The base set of classes work very well for any real-world setting, there's no demihumans, and magic rules are pretty firmly in the "optional" section. You might want to port over D&D equipment/proficiencies, and you should try and get a nonmagical system for upgrading gear, but those are pretty easy fixes.

Tsotha-lanti
2009-05-25, 01:07 PM
Call of Cthulhu uses a seriously bastardized and completely inferior version of BRP (perfectly suited for a horror game where you should never roll dice); if you want to go with BRP, just get RuneQuest (the old edition or the new Mongoose edition, which has free SRDs of the main 3 books available free on their side).

elliott20
2009-05-25, 09:21 PM
d20 only works until say, level 5 or so before the limits of reality start breaking down. Riddle of Steel is in fact, quite a bit better.

I would also like to suggest Burning Wheel too.

potatocubed
2009-05-26, 01:29 AM
I second Burning Wheel. It's got magic and demihumans but you can cut them without even trying. It's also got plausibly savage combat, wherein a single decent hit will end your character, and a handy way of resolving non-combat disputes that's very good for 'courtly intrigue' games.