Fantasy settings in Low Medieval Age

[t209]

Many people created many fantasy that are inspired Lord of the Rings. Unfortunately, they were based on High Medieval Settings (Castle and Knights) instead of Lord of the Rings's Low Medieval Settings (Anglo Saxon and Viking era). So I just wanted to know if there are any fantasy settings (Tabletop games or D&D Campaign) that sets in low medieval age when people smack each other in chainmail armor instead of knights.

[satorian]

If you're willing to do a little work, GURPS does whatever you want.

[Avilan the Grey]

Not sure if I can help, but I just want to point out that the knights could be there... IRL it was not a sharp transition; 1066 didn't give everybody large castles and full plate armor afterall. The Normans showed the rest of Europe what heavy cavalry can do, but at that point the knights were also armored in chainmail and were little more than glorified barbarians on horseback. With lances.

[Psyren]

This probably belongs in Other Systems (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=60) - Gaming (Other) is more for non-tabletop games (which has generally come to mean videogames.)

Anyway, I think Iron Kingdoms is low magic but I don't know much about it.

[Avilan the Grey]

Speaking of computer games:

Skyrim is actually mostly this. Skyrim itself (the country) definitely is this, and the "Romans" are as well (they fit right in, histrory vise). The Dwemer ruins and technology is a combination of Steampunk and Magepunk though, but they are all precursors anyway.

[factotum]

LOTR is actually both Low and High mediaeval--think of the difference between Gondor and Rohan; the latter is the Viking/Old English style, while the former is massive castles and knights.

[Closet_Skeleton]

Anyway, I think Iron Kingdoms is low magic but I don't know much about it.

:smallconfused:

You must really know nothing about it.

Iron Kingdoms is a spin off for the Warmachine miniatures game. Its ridiculously high magic (any game with an undead based faction is high magic no matter what else is in there), its just that its magic is shifted to the magi-tek side of things. Warmachine/Iron Kingdoms has elements inspired by WW1 and the Napoleonic Wars.


With lances.

According to wikipedia 'lance' refereed only to javelins until the 17th century, where knights were just members of social clubs and had no military role.


LOTR is actually both Low and High mediaeval--think of the difference between Gondor and Rohan; the latter is the Viking/Old English style, while the former is massive castles and knights.

Fantasy in general is a confusing mess of periods. Fighting Hoplites allied with Vikings with my rapier and crossbow isn't usual in D&D.

[Kudaku]

I'm guessing Psyren might have meant Iron Heroes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Heroes) instead of Iron Kingdoms. Iron Heroes is a 3.5 book that details how to run a "low fantasy" campaign without utterly screwing the classes that require the things you'd normally find in High Fantasy to function.

[toasty]

Fantasy in general is a confusing mess of periods. Fighting Hoplites allied with Vikings with my rapier and crossbow isn't usual in D&D.

This is one of the fun things about DnD and 40k. They do their best to incorporate ALL awesome things. Even when it really doesn't make sense.

But yeah, if you wanna be a hoplite, then you're gonna be a hoplite.

[Avilan the Grey]

[QUOTE=Closet_Skeleton;14841420According to wikipedia 'lance' refereed only to javelins until the 17th century, where knights were just members of social clubs and had no military role.[/QUOTE]

Not according to the Wikipedia article I read? A Javelin is a throwing weapon. A lance is a long spear you hold.

[Psyren]

I'm guessing Psyren might have meant Iron Heroes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Heroes) instead of Iron Kingdoms. Iron Heroes is a 3.5 book that details how to run a "low fantasy" campaign without utterly screwing the classes that require the things you'd normally find in High Fantasy to function.

That seems like what I remember, yes.

[Malistrae]

There is a scenario in All Flesh Must Be Eaten (I believe Dead at 1000) which is set in XI century Europe and has some fantasy elements (evil sorcerers and cults) and zombies.

[Erloas]

I'm kind of at a loss as to what exactly you are looking for. Because castles have been around for a long time, though the general size and construction of them changes through the centuries. The same with knights, a knight was more of social class then anything specific, there were a lot of knights that wouldn't have been able to afford a horse even in the later periods and they were around much earlier then plate armor. Plate armor didn't really start to show up until the mid 14th century and it was a long time before it became even close to common on the battlefield (and it was never common for the bulk of the fighting men). The time that plate armor had much of an impact was actually very short.

There is also the fact that Angelo-Saxon and Viking, were more of regions rather then time periods. The Byzantine Empire (part of the Roman Empire) was around before and after both of those groups, just in a different area.

But for the most part socially the rankings and power didn't change that much relative to the time. Armor and weapons progressed fairly evenly for most of the time too so there was no huge gap between what armor someone wore and if they could be killed.

It seems most of what you are actually asking for is Low Fantasy versus High Fantasy which has little tieback to real history.
If you wanted to limit things to a more historically contemporary set of items that is easy enough to do. The fighting, at least in as abstract ways as it ends up in RPGs, doesn't really change all that much. Magic doesn't exist in either time period and has to be adjusted accordingly, but then again you are on the Fantasy side of things rather then real time periods.

[Eldan]

I'm kind of at a loss as to what exactly you are looking for. Because castles have been around for a long time, though the general size and construction of them changes through the centuries. The same with knights, a knight was more of social class then anything specific, there were a lot of knights that wouldn't have been able to afford a horse even in the later periods and they were around much earlier then plate armor.

Heck, the members of the ordo equester are commonly referred to as "knights" in English, so knights would have been around long before the dark ages.

[Avilan the Grey]

There is also the fact that Angelo-Saxon and Viking, were more of regions rather then time periods. The Byzantine Empire (part of the Roman Empire) was around before and after both of those groups, just in a different area.

This is exactly my point about Skyrim, it is basically exactly set in the setting the OP looked for, as I understand it. The landscape and dominant culture is a mix between Anglo-Saxian and Norse / Gothic* with the settings equivalent of the Roman Empire mixing things up. Which, as I (and you above) pointed out is very much historically correct.

*Gothic as in the actual Visigoth and Ostragoth cultures, not Gothic like the medieval architecture or the modern subculture. Duh.

[Trixie]

If you want low magic, realistic fantasy game set in Medieval Europe with alchemy and some magical creatures being main deviation from reality you can't beat Darklands (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darklands_%28video_game%29). Betrayal at Krondor was also good, sadly, both games dated rather badly...