Inspired Reading for your OSR game

One of the most enjoyable aspects of developing Demesnes & Domination was researching the late medieval era which is described as 1300-1500 or so. This was important to move the expectations of the game away from the wild-west feel of how Gygax made AD&D feel. Why? Well, if you're going to include a castle in your game it should have purpose and a castle only has purpose as a symbol of power in setting that has some structure of the power dynamics of middle ages otherwise it has no other roll in a game besides saying "I have a stronghold!" The following list is composed of  two sections: one is resources written for an rpg enthusiast audience and the other is non-hobbyist books but are interesting and engaging reads about the late middle ages for the general reader. 

Part 1: Medieval RPG Resources

1) Medieval Demographics Made easy by S. John Ross is a fantastic (and free!) pdf about understanding settlements in the middle ages. city Adventures are oftentimes the most difficult to plan and set up, but this document really helped me understand what to actually expect in a settlement and how to make it feel alive for my players. There is also a website where the content of this pdf was turned into a generator!

2) Fief and Town by Lisa J. Steel are two pdfs I purchased and have used as a primary source of information within the mode of thinking of a referee. Town is a fantastic elaboration on the concepts introduced in Medieval Demographics made Easy and gives plenty of context with famous cities in Western Europe in the middle ages. Fief is extremely good as well, elaborating on the feudal system and the role of a landowner (and their stronghold) within a Western European society. seriously, these books are incredible resources as a general starting place for any hobbyist looking to understand the middle ages but don't know where to start!

3) Codex Guide to the Medieval Baltic: Volume 1 by Codex Integrum is a fantastic source book of North Central Europe around 1450. Its illuminating in how it breaks down cultural, economic, religious, martial, and the mundane within the context of the cultural melting pot of the time. I've purchased this twice, so i can have it on my self and on my phone and I don't regret it. This book is meant to provide support for the publisher's own Codex Integrum game system which look likes a d20 variant with far too much complexity built into this combat to emulate historical fencing using feats and such. While I'm not impressed by their game system per say, the writers know what they are talking about when it comes to the context of the late medieval world around the Baltic region. There is a Volume 2 that really gets into religion and the occult that is also very interesting but isn't available in print so i haven't spent as much time with it as i wish.

Part 2: Medieval Resources for the General Reader

1) The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England by Ian Mortimer is a fun and easy read that really gets into the weeds of the humdrum of 14th century England and does a good job at explaining the mindset of the medieval commoner. There is endlessly good bits of information that I have found invaluable to running my own campaigns. This writer has a fun whimsy that feels very British, not just for his topic  but also the terminology and focus on Chaucer and his world. if you ever wanted to understand the impact of the black death or the western schism but without the burden of heavy reading, this book is a good starting point.

2) A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century by Barbara W Tuchman is a good companion to The Time traveler's guide to medieval England. This book is a large volume that focuses on France during the 14th century and i feel is more cleverly written. This book is very dense but entirely entertaining. In my opinion, this book is best enjoyed as a audio book with the narration by Wanda McCaddon who adds a lot of personality, humor, and charm to an already enjoyable (if dense) work.

3) The Medieval Underworld by Andrew McCall is a great starting place to learn about such charming topics as Bandits, Crime, lepers, darker side of the Church and Nobility, Sin, and more. Fantastic fodder for any role playing game! Each topic is broken down into its own chapter with examples from history to help ground the perspective of these topics. Good Stuff

4) Communities of Violence: Persecution of Minorities in the Middle Ages by David Nirenberg is if anything, an important book that anyone should read about the vicious circle of punishment, hate and oppression. This book focuses on communities of Jews, Muslims, and any who didn't neatly fit within the Western European Catholic-oriented society.This book illuminates the context of these communities and how they were oppressed in minor and major ways and the laws of society that allowed it to continue. if anything, the prevalent bigotry of the western world that still looms today has roots in the topics covered in this book. So why mention this bleak academic book? Because 1) It's important to combat bigotry in society and ourselves so to understand that, we need to look at the society that allows it to perpetuate so we do our best to do better 2) Oppression is dynamic and multifaceted so to create societal obstacles for players to overcome in a game, it should be given context and its best to learn that context from history to prevent us from falling into tired and uninformed tropes.

5) The Verge: Reformation, Renaissance, and Forty Years that Shook the World by Patrick Wyman is an interest look into western Europe at the end of the 1400s on the cusp of the early modern era. The topics here cover the rise of exploration and its terrible legacy, the rise of capitalism, and the centralization of the modern state from the decentralized medieval society. This book feels like an extension of the author's podcast of which i am a huge fan of.

Part 3: Other Resources

1) Martial Culture in Medieval Towns blog is an academic blog following the research into the culture of central Europe during the 1400s, with a main focus on Switzerland and the grander region that encompass the Holy Roman Empire. Some of the authors on this research blog have a book coming out this autumn which i am very much looking forward to.

2) Tides of History podcast by Patrick Wyman as I mentioned earlier. this podcast has focused on different eras of history, which the earlier portion focusing on the late medieval world. Each episode is about an hour long and focuses on interesting topics such as The Italian Wars, the Hussite wars, Mercenaries, and fun episodes written from the prospective in the Day-and-the-life of a medieval individual. It is a fantastic starting point for anyone who wanted a bite-sized understanding of major late medieval topics like The War of the Roses or the hundred Years War.

Design Notes: The Swashbuckler

In Demesnes & Domination, I included a fighter variant called the Swashbuckler which I originally designed and released as a basic fantasy class years ago. In fact, this is the class that got me into thinking about tinkering with game rules or looking under the hood to understand game mechanics more and leading me to dive deep into game design. I've always been interested in the idea of a specialized fighter that fights unarmored and is nimble, mostly due to my own background in fencing. I originally included it in my first release; Fantastic Wizardry; but I have since updated it based on more play testing and for streamlining the mechanics a bit more so it can be more generic for any Basic-adjacent games that float around in OSR circles. I'm highlight it here because I crammed the class into the book in a little more than half of page 133, getting smushed in right after the jester class. due to page count and lay out, I wasn't able to include the illustration I made for the class so I'm going to reproduce the class here! Enjoy!

The Swashbuckler

Swashbucklers are fighters who are extremely talented in the ways of weapon combat. They are individuals who have studied the lethal geometry and tempo of combat to outwit any opponent that comes their way. Swashbucklers seek having their abilities challenged, finding thrill and purpose in dueling while dancing the fine line between life and death. Swashbucklers don’t see a need to be slowed down by armor, for their quick reflexes and instincts are better protection than the finest armor.

 

Class Requirement: Swashbucklers must have a minimum Dexterity of 9 and a Charisma score of 9.

Prime Requisite and Class Progression: A Swashbuckler’s prime requisite is Dexterity and have the same saves and attack progression as a Fighter.

Weapon and Armor Limitations: Swashbucklers cannot use any armor except for a shield, otherwise they lose their class abilities while armored.

Class Abilities
Alertness: Swashbucklers are only surprised on a 1-on-a-d6 roll when they have a weapon drawn.

Duelist: The Swashbuckler adds their unmodified attack bonus in addition to their Dexterity modifier to their armor class. Swashbucklers lose this ability if they wear any armor heavier than a shield or if they aren’t armed. Weapons with an enhancement bonus stacks with this as well. In addition, Swashbucklers reduce any -4 penalty from performing combat maneuvers to -2 as long as they aren’t wearing armor.

Nimble: Swashbucklers aren’t hindered by difficult terrain and are able to move their full speed on any surfaces the referee deems difficult as long as they aren’t wearing armor heavier than a shield.

Tumble: When making a saving throw that deals half damage on a success, the Swashbuckler instead takes no damage at all on a success. If falling from a substantial height, the swashbuckler can make a 1 on a d6 roll to only take 1/2 damage. The success range is modified by the swashbuckler’s positive dexterity modifier, if any.

Demesnes & Domination Released!

 

After years of writing and playtesting, I have finally completed Demesnes & Domination! This started as an expansion of my prior house-rules zine Fantastic Wizardry which I put out right before I started grad school in 2017. Years later with covid and many gaming sessions played I have honed in on high level game play that is inspired by the source material but more inclined to simple implementation using familiar mechanics. I originally conceived the book to be four separate books by theme, but I ultimately complied them into one bound book to have it function as a Companions Rules of sorts to a player's preferred OSR game system. This is why I have the book broken down into different sections by theme. So consider this book (maybe even a Core book) a first in a string of releases under the title of Essential Fantasy Companion.

This blog was originally created to be an idea board of gaming mechanics and themes to help me develop this book but i ultimately kept most of the work off of this blog due to streamlining the process of editing and re-evaluating game mechanics. I am planning using this blog more for upcoming rules I'm currently testing in my own game sessions so please stay tuned!

Coming up, I am working on Seafaring and Water exploration and adventure which I don't even mention in Demesnes & Domination but was cut because It will be larger in content than a two to four page spread. This has already proven to me a fun project just due to researching what naval travel, shipping, and warfare looking like in the late middle ages which i feel like is a lesser known facet of the era. Most RPGs with boats tend to lean more into a commonly assumed stereotype of Pirates and Galleons but that is informed from a 1700s perspective while I'm focusing specifically on the late-medieval era. 

On the back burner, I have Horror-themed content Ive developed for a Ravenloft game a couple years ago that I have been reflecting on and expanding as well. So stay tuned for that content to trickle onto this blog as well

Anyways! Demesnes & Domination was designed and laid out for print so It is available on DrivethruRPG as being available in Paperback and hardcover which each provide a free pdf copy. For those that prefer just a pdf that is also available to buy. Im currently getting Demesnes & Domination ready for global distribution through Lulu so stay posted for that as well!

You can get your copy of Demesnes & Domination here!