Medieval Setting Campaign [3.5]

[Domigorgon]

I'm working on a campaign set in a sort of Alternate History Where Magic Exists. The year is 1191 of Our Lord, and the time of the Third Crusade.

I'm keeping it low-magic, level capped at 6th.

We're talking middle/southern Europe and Asia Minor.

My question is: what to include, what to exclude - regarding anything from rulebooks to classes. (i.e. the Knight is appropriate, but the Monk is just too exotic)

Oh, and elves, dwarves, monstrous races, etc., they do exist, but are very rarely seen in the 'civilized' areas and steer clear of the human folk (unless they choose to become player characters, of course).

The entire setting assumes that this is actually historically correct, but has been covered up in recent times by secret societies.

I've actually already DM'd this campaign through 20 sessions, but I'm now thinking of releasing it in PDF form, and I want to iron out the creases, so to speak.

[LansXero]

Try to refluff some classes with a mid-eastern flavor perhaps? monk with scimitars seem very assasin/turkish imho.

[Domigorgon]

I was waiting for somebody to mention Prince of Persia or Assassin's Creed fluff, but so soon? :P

[J.Gellert]

Considering that's pretty much what vanilla D&D is about, I don't think you absolutely have to change anything :smalltongue:

That said, it does get wacky outside of Core, but there's so many books that... what to list first? The obvious ones are Tome of Magic, Tome of Battle, Psionics, and probably Frostburn.

You would normally make sure to use monsters related to the folklore of the Slavs, the Greeks, the Turks, and the Persians, but since you're going for low-magic you may not even need to do that.

So, anyway, I am looking at the "old D&D" Crusades sourcebook. It distinquishes between "Historical", "Legendary", and "Fantasy" versions.

Historical: Fighters, Clerics, Rogues available, Paladin with DM permission.
Legendary: Fighters, Paladins, Rangers, Clerics, Rogues are available, Bards and Wizards with DM permission.
Fantasy: Everything but the Druid is available, but Psionic classes require DM permission.

But remember that back then classes were more tied to their fluff... so you wouldn't have, for example, Urban Druids, or Desert Druids, even though in 3,5 you might.

Then it goes on to suggest various kits (think... Prestige Classes) appropriate, by culture/religion.
Western Cavaliers
Byzantine Professional Soldier (calls it Myrmidon, but meh)
Peasant Hero (western commoner who joins the crusade)
Pirate (gotta have many of those)
Desert Rider (and remember that horse archers are very appropriate to both Byzantines and Muslims)
Assassin (this one is obvious)
Mamluk... and so on.

In any case, the major power at that time and region is Byzantium which encompasses both eastern and western "styles", so conceivably you could have everything (Western knights? Check. Turkish horse-archers? Check. Scandinavian axe-bearing berserkers? Check.) Constantinople is the kitchen sink of medieval people.

[Yora]

In what way do you want magic to exist? Is it limited to a small number of witches that hide in swamps to not be burnt at the stake, or do christian and muslim priests all get the ability to cast spells?

[Domigorgon]

Clerics have spells, but not every priest does. Spellcasters are rared and considered favored of God.

Arcane spellcasters are, naturally, burned at the stake. Except for those operating in secret cabals, as they try their best to hide their magic practices from the public.

Assuming all spellcasting classes are rarely encountered, would the 'no druids' rule be necessary? I mean, shapechangers fit into the Middle Ages myths more than spellcasting clerics of the Church do.

[Yora]

While it's said that the spread of christianity in Europe had been finished in 1000, the crusade against the pagan Prussians started more than 200 years later. I'm not an expert on slavic pagan religion, but I think druids would fit in perfectly with the societies of the Baltic Sea. Denmark, the German coast, and southern Sweden would probably be very much under the control of the church, but the areas that are now Poland, Lithunia, Latvia, Estonia and Finland should still have very active pagan priests at the time you've chosen.

[J.Gellert]

Clerics have spells, but not every priest does. Spellcasters are rared and considered favored of God.

Arcane spellcasters are, naturally, burned at the stake. Except for those operating in secret cabals, as they try their best to hide their magic practices from the public.

Assuming all spellcasting classes are rarely encountered, would the 'no druids' rule be necessary? I mean, shapechangers fit into the Middle Ages myths more than spellcasting clerics of the Church do.

Depends. Is the druid a priest of the celtic gods? Then it's out of place both by location and time. Is the druid just a spellcaster who can change his shape? Then it's alright.

Also, they didn't really burn people at the stake in Byzantium or the East :smalltongue: The larger number of educated people and the limited control that the church could extert over individual priests made heresy pretty common, in fact.

So wizards can be just wise people, or even priests who are not favored, but manage to use magic... in other ways. They can also be Muslim scholars; the Arab world has a very rich tradition of mage folklore, what with Genies and all... Magic can be treated as a science, and wizards can be alchemists, inventors, doctors, and so on.

Historically, that is not the time when you'd have to hide from the Inquisition - it was a pretty new institution, I think, and it would most definitely hold no power outside of Catholic nations.

[Yora]

The era of witch hunts began about 300 years later than the date you've set. What would people get into trouble would probably have been heresy, but there was no particular fear of witches at that time.
(And even when whitch hunts became common, they were not sanctioned by the church. In fact, claiming that magic exist was considered heretical and a crime in itself. Since the church claimed magic does not exist, it couldn't punish people for practicing it. Claiming to practice it would be something else.)

The words mage and magic are actually arabic in origin.

[Black_Zawisza]

Has magic always been part of the world? If not, when and how did it enter the picture?

[Ossian]

It would be interesting to have a wizard pass himself for a cleric. Get into a soft, woolly white robe and sandals, clean shave, work on your most pious look, yes, those lovely Bambi eyes, you got that right, and, yes, wear a cross. You can strap a mace if you want (you don't have to wear armour, say steel gives you a rash).

The say the Lord grants your prayers for "death from above, 6 times a day" :)
You can even summon Angels if you want (oh, well, not exactly the Metatron...)