PDA

View Full Version : Pike And Shot



Sparky McDibben
2021-08-03, 10:48 PM
Hey y'all!

Does anyone have any good "pike-and-shot" era campaign settings? This would be the late 1400's to the early 1600's in Europe. I'm toying with a 5e setting in that era, and I'm curious to know what all's out there from other TTRPGs.

Thanks!

Pauly
2021-08-04, 02:13 AM
Hey y'all!

Does anyone have any good "pike-and-shot" era campaign settings? This would be the late 1400's to the early 1600's in Europe. I'm toying with a 5e setting in that era, and I'm curious to know what all's out there from other TTRPGs.

Thanks!

If you are interested in what happens on the battlefield, the best English language setting is the ECW, with the Bishop’s war starting in 1639. You get England, Ireland and Scotland as distinct settings, plus all the good duplicitous nature of a Civil War.

Technology wasn’t moving too quickly so there isn’t a huge amount of difference between 1610 and 1640.

If you’re looking for a smaller scale setting I highly recommend ‘The Steel Bonnets’ by George Macdonald Fraser. The Anglo-Scottish border had a long history of raids, counter raids, rustling, border hopping, clans, feuds, shifting allegiances, minima government oversight and general shenanigans. It has the advantages/disadvantages of being a not so well known period of history.

Eldan
2021-08-04, 02:58 AM
How realistic and how much magic? Warhammer Fantasy, at least the Empire, is set in roughly that era. Some editions of the RPG are quite a bit more toned down than the tabletop wargame, too.

Corvus
2021-08-04, 03:06 AM
2nd Ed D&D had a campaign sourcebook called Mighty Fortress that was set in the 1550-1650 period, so towards the end of your range.

hamishspence
2021-08-04, 04:43 AM
Pike formations were, I think, beginning to become the norm in the Forgotten Realms during the invasion of Maztica. I think Cordell's Golden Legion is portrayed as including pike formations, and the look of the characters is certainly "pike and shot era" with the appropriate helmets and breastplates.

Not so much the "shot" bit - Realms guns don't seem to have progressed much beyond arquebus and cannon.

Zombimode
2021-08-04, 06:26 AM
There is Helvéczia, an OSR game set in pseudo historic Switzerland* of the late 17th century. It captures the athmosphere of Grimms Märchen*, Simplicissimus, Wilhelm Tell etc.
The artwork are mostly real historic pieces although from a much wider timeframe - which works in the games favor: I can see this game working for any pseudo historic game set anywhere between the late 15th century and the late 17th century in europe.

The base mechanics are OSR, that is some kind of super-simple D&D (that I don't really care about - when I wont to play D&D, I want the full 3.5 experience, thank you very much), but specific additions work really well. A standout to me is the Sin & Virtue system combined with Playing Cards with the Devil.


* while the world at large seems to conform to the real world, the names of places, people and organisation as well as the overall geology are all made-up.
You wont find neither the cities of Zürich, Bern or Zug, nor the Kantons Schwyz or Uri. But all the names sound like they would fit right in. And with some knowledge you can draw similarities to actual places and people.
Personally I would prefer to have the actual historic Switzerland instead of Fantasy Swiss but I can also see why the author has taken this direction.

Catullus64
2021-08-04, 09:12 AM
For my money, the Second Edition of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay is the way to go.

If all the sturm und drang of the broader Warhammer setting isn't for you, this game pulls the camera close to the ground, right in the blood and spit and mud of the Old World. No grand fantasy heroes to be played in this game; you'll roll up Apprentice Shoemakers and Charcoal-Burners with which you'll embark on your adventures.

On a mechanical level, it should come across fairly familiar to anyone who has played latter-era Call of Cthulhu, or indeed many of the other Warhammer RPGs like Dark Heresy or Rogue Trader.

If you want more details, a few threads have been made in the past discussing the relative merits of the game, the most recent by yours truly:

https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?630673-Warhammer-Fantasy-RP&p=25025453#post25025453

Jophiel
2021-08-04, 01:15 PM
I have a "real world" 5e game set in 1640 and used a few other TTRPGs for inspiration, ideas of mechanics and other stuff: Witch Hunter (https://alligatoralleyentertainment.com/witchhunterrpg/), All for One: Regime Diabolique (https://www.tripleacegames.com/brands/all-for-one-regime-diabolique/) and Renaissance (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/97426/Renaissance--D100-black-powder-SRD). That last one is a free download. I haven't played any of these systems independently so I can't speak for that but they all aided me in my own world building with NPCs, clothing/armor/weapon types, society, cities & historical events (less valuable if you're making your own world from scratch but can still spark ideas), religion and other stuff.

farothel
2021-08-04, 02:40 PM
7th Sea has elements of that era. And indeed, Warhammer fantasy RPG is set in what is essentially this era. Just scrap the magic if you don't want it and you should be fine.