Polyphemos
2014-04-19, 07:51 AM
I see few people doing rennaisance settings, possibly because they will have to consider gunpowder rules.
To encourage discussion, I would like to discuss my campaign world, which is set in 17th century Central Europe. I hope that anyone considering using this setting will find some of my ideas useful and perhaps contribute to a discussion of what could happen in such a world.
I speak fluent German, Danish and Swedish, and I must say that historical sources in these languages tend to be of much better quality than English sources on the matter. Naturally so, for these were events that affected those countries, while English histories tend to focus on the English Civil War.
I am looking for someone who speaks Czech to help me study Bohemian history for the campaign. If you speak the language and have an interest in the era, please send me a private message.
I would of course be happy to return the favor and translate to my abilities.
I have also collected a vast amount of materials relating to this period: Comicbooks, films, roleplaying adventures, rulebooks, house rules, histories and biographical information. I have built parts of my world on archeological and other historical sources.
My players are in a setting based on historical fact in a low-fantasy version of the 30YW. No other races than human are in place at the moment, and few fantasy elements are in play, although a werewolf or a witch here and there might be real, while others are the product of the imagination of accusing peasants, looking for a scapegoat. Some holy men seem to be drawing on actual divine favor and a looming necromancer might pop up sometime in the future, releasing hordes of undead and upsetting the political landscape. How, for instance, can it be, that some countries seem to have avoided Ottoman conquest?
The 30YW reduced the population of Central Europe with about a third. In some regions, as much as 2/3 of the people died. Continuous war and pillaging combined with starvation and plauge wiped out entire villages and cities. It marked the end of the middle ages and the start of modernity. Concepts like the nation-state and diplomacy gained new meaning. As a result, more fantastical elements like arcane spells and monster-slaying may be giving way to rationality and centrally organized states.
So what is there to be found in this world? Well, war! Pretty much every nation on the map is at war with each other: Habsburg Spain in Savoy, the Flanders (the 80 years war) and various other places, a series of wars of succession in Venice and northern Italy, the Nordic countries, Denmark and Sweden in wars with each other, with the holy roman empire (HRE) and with Poland. And of course, at the heart of things, the HRE and the Catholic League at war with the Protestant Union. Additionally, France is backing any enemy of the Habsburg Austrians and Spanish families and England is about to have a religious civil war. People from any country not currently at war seek their fortunes abroad as sellswords.
We start out in 1631 after the battle of Breitenfeld. Sweden has gained momentum in the war against the Catholics and is pushing the forces of the Protestant Union into Southern Germany and Bohemia. The players are mercenaries in the service of the empire, and are currently defending Bohemia against the army of Saxony.
I plan to have the historical events unfolding roughly as historical fact up until the point of the battle of Lützen, in which the Swedish king Gustav Adolph, will be killed on the battlefield. I may let things proceed to 1634, where the imperial general Wallenstein is assassinated in a plot by his fellow catholic generals, who fear his increasing power and influence.
From there, the players will be free to leave Germany and seek their fortunes elsewhere. If they stay, the war will enter a phase in which France starts to actively intervene against the HRE. Or, if they have any scores to settle, they may go and do so. Alternatively, a new thread could emerge as the warring parties seek divine or infernal favor to win the war.
At the moment, the players are serving general Heinrich Holk. He's based on historical fact - a one-eyed, self-serving mercenary, who joined the catholic side in Wallenstein's service after he had fought valiantly in the service of the protestant king of Denmark. He follows the money and his only allegiance is to himself. That aside, he is a great admirer of Wallenstein and strongly loyal to him in the intrigues that play out internally in the imperial army and the Catholic League.
Holk is retreating into Bohemia after the battle of Breitenfeld, to take up winter quarters. The players are about to inform him, that a massive army of Saxony is approaching the border town of Eger, pushing into Bohemia and heading for Pilsen.
The army of Saxony is led by the young general Christian von Braunschweig. He is a staunch protestant and a grizzled veteran. In the service of Chr. IV of Denmark, he lost his left arm in battle and now carries a metal prosthetic. After sacking the catholic bishopry of Paderborn, he melted the golden shrine holding the cathedral's relic of St. Levorius into coins, which he stamped with anti-catholic slogans to serve as propaganda tokens and loot for his soldiers. On the way to Pilsen, he plans to stop in the city of Plan and do the same here. The city has both a holy relic and a mint.
The players are going on a quest to intercept his attempt at defiling this sacred relic and his advancement into Bohemia. After this, they will be retreating to the army of the HRE, which is setting up south of the enemy to meet them in battle and block the road to Pilsen.
To encourage discussion, I would like to discuss my campaign world, which is set in 17th century Central Europe. I hope that anyone considering using this setting will find some of my ideas useful and perhaps contribute to a discussion of what could happen in such a world.
I speak fluent German, Danish and Swedish, and I must say that historical sources in these languages tend to be of much better quality than English sources on the matter. Naturally so, for these were events that affected those countries, while English histories tend to focus on the English Civil War.
I am looking for someone who speaks Czech to help me study Bohemian history for the campaign. If you speak the language and have an interest in the era, please send me a private message.
I would of course be happy to return the favor and translate to my abilities.
I have also collected a vast amount of materials relating to this period: Comicbooks, films, roleplaying adventures, rulebooks, house rules, histories and biographical information. I have built parts of my world on archeological and other historical sources.
My players are in a setting based on historical fact in a low-fantasy version of the 30YW. No other races than human are in place at the moment, and few fantasy elements are in play, although a werewolf or a witch here and there might be real, while others are the product of the imagination of accusing peasants, looking for a scapegoat. Some holy men seem to be drawing on actual divine favor and a looming necromancer might pop up sometime in the future, releasing hordes of undead and upsetting the political landscape. How, for instance, can it be, that some countries seem to have avoided Ottoman conquest?
The 30YW reduced the population of Central Europe with about a third. In some regions, as much as 2/3 of the people died. Continuous war and pillaging combined with starvation and plauge wiped out entire villages and cities. It marked the end of the middle ages and the start of modernity. Concepts like the nation-state and diplomacy gained new meaning. As a result, more fantastical elements like arcane spells and monster-slaying may be giving way to rationality and centrally organized states.
So what is there to be found in this world? Well, war! Pretty much every nation on the map is at war with each other: Habsburg Spain in Savoy, the Flanders (the 80 years war) and various other places, a series of wars of succession in Venice and northern Italy, the Nordic countries, Denmark and Sweden in wars with each other, with the holy roman empire (HRE) and with Poland. And of course, at the heart of things, the HRE and the Catholic League at war with the Protestant Union. Additionally, France is backing any enemy of the Habsburg Austrians and Spanish families and England is about to have a religious civil war. People from any country not currently at war seek their fortunes abroad as sellswords.
We start out in 1631 after the battle of Breitenfeld. Sweden has gained momentum in the war against the Catholics and is pushing the forces of the Protestant Union into Southern Germany and Bohemia. The players are mercenaries in the service of the empire, and are currently defending Bohemia against the army of Saxony.
I plan to have the historical events unfolding roughly as historical fact up until the point of the battle of Lützen, in which the Swedish king Gustav Adolph, will be killed on the battlefield. I may let things proceed to 1634, where the imperial general Wallenstein is assassinated in a plot by his fellow catholic generals, who fear his increasing power and influence.
From there, the players will be free to leave Germany and seek their fortunes elsewhere. If they stay, the war will enter a phase in which France starts to actively intervene against the HRE. Or, if they have any scores to settle, they may go and do so. Alternatively, a new thread could emerge as the warring parties seek divine or infernal favor to win the war.
At the moment, the players are serving general Heinrich Holk. He's based on historical fact - a one-eyed, self-serving mercenary, who joined the catholic side in Wallenstein's service after he had fought valiantly in the service of the protestant king of Denmark. He follows the money and his only allegiance is to himself. That aside, he is a great admirer of Wallenstein and strongly loyal to him in the intrigues that play out internally in the imperial army and the Catholic League.
Holk is retreating into Bohemia after the battle of Breitenfeld, to take up winter quarters. The players are about to inform him, that a massive army of Saxony is approaching the border town of Eger, pushing into Bohemia and heading for Pilsen.
The army of Saxony is led by the young general Christian von Braunschweig. He is a staunch protestant and a grizzled veteran. In the service of Chr. IV of Denmark, he lost his left arm in battle and now carries a metal prosthetic. After sacking the catholic bishopry of Paderborn, he melted the golden shrine holding the cathedral's relic of St. Levorius into coins, which he stamped with anti-catholic slogans to serve as propaganda tokens and loot for his soldiers. On the way to Pilsen, he plans to stop in the city of Plan and do the same here. The city has both a holy relic and a mint.
The players are going on a quest to intercept his attempt at defiling this sacred relic and his advancement into Bohemia. After this, they will be retreating to the army of the HRE, which is setting up south of the enemy to meet them in battle and block the road to Pilsen.