Topographia Germaniae

The Topographia Germaniae is a 17th century survey of German lands including engravings of a number of towns and other settlements along with descriptive texts. This is like the holy grail for me, a great period piece to build the world around.

Prague

Now I wonder if there are any English translations floating around. I am running the sources I have found so far through Google's half useless gibberish translator, but at least the engravings provide fertile grounds upon which to build this setting.

Some Excellent Military History Resources

Sorry for another fluff post, but here's a great resource for military history concerning this time period.

There is a great article on the evolution of cavalry towards adopting pistols over lances. Which reminds me that I need to work lances into my weapon system even though they had fallen out of favor. A long multimedia presentation of siege tactics and their evolution through the 16th and 17th centuries is an excellent feature. Tactics and formations nuts can go hog wild over schematics and animations of 17th century troop formations. Finally, an in-depth presentation of the Battle of Breitenfeld showcases a pivotal battle of the 30 Years War and the evolution of field artillery tactics.

More weapons posts coming up soon.

Farm, Forge, and Steam

I've been doing many posts on rules building lately, but that can get rather dry especially from the spectator's point of view. So let's go back to world building.

Saints of Bohemia

Something I came across, these patron saints of Bohemia will probably come in handy while developing the EMP campaign. I plan on having the game world open in this area in the times leading up to the Defenestration of Prague and eventual rebellion.

Placed here so I don't lose it!

St. Wenceslaus

(Also Vaclav, Vaceslav.)

Duke, martyr, and patron of Bohemia, born probably 903; died at Alt-Bunzlau, 28 September, 935.

His parents were Duke Wratislaw, a Christian, and Dragomir, a heathen. He received a good Christian education from his grandmother (St. Ludmilla) and at Budweis. After the death of Wratislaw, Dragomir, acting as regent, opposed Christianity, and Wenceslaus, being urged by the people, took the reins of government. He placed his duchy under the protection of Germany, introduced German priests, and favoured the Latin rite instead of the old Slavic, which had gone into disuse in many places for want of priests. Wenceslaus had taken the vow of virginity and was known for his virtues. The Emperor Otto I conferred on him the regal dignity and title. For religious and national motives, and at the instigation of Dragomir, Wenceslaus was murdered by his brother Boleslaw. The body, hacked to pieces, was buried at the place of murder, but three years later Boleslaw, having repented of his deed, ordered its translation to the Church of St. Vitus in Prague. The gathering of his relics is noted in the calendars on 27 June, their translation on 4 March; his feast is celebrated on 28 September.

Mershman, F. (1912). St. Wenceslaus. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved November 18, 2010 from New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15587b.htm

St. John Nepomucene

In his early childhood, John Nepomucene was cured of a disease through the prayers of his good parents. In thanksgiving, they consecrated him to the service of God. After he was ordained, he was sent to a parish  in the city of Prague. He became a great preacher, and thousands of those who listened to him changed their way of life. Father John was invited to the court of Wenceslaus IV. He settled arguments and did many kind deeds for the needy people of the city. He also became the queen's confessor. When the king was cruel to the queen, Father John  taught her to bear her cross patiently. One day, about 1393, the king asked him to tell what the queen had said in confession. When Father John  refused, he was thrown into prison. A second time, he was asked to reveal the queen's confession. "If you do not tell me," said the king, "you shall die. But if you obey my commands, riches and honor will be yours." Again Father John  refused. He was tortured. The king ordered to be thrown into the river. Where he drowned, a strange brightness appeared upon the water. He is known as the "martyr of the confessional." He is patron of Czechoslovakia, where he is invoked against floods and against slander. His feast day is May 16.

 http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=690

Historical Resources - Fief: A Look at Medieval Society from Its Lower Rungs

Fief: A Look at Medieval Society from Its Lower Rungs by Lisa J. Steele provides an excellent overview of historical Norman manorial society in the Middle Ages. The material covers England and northern France, and mentions Norman Sicily as well, from roughly the 10th to 14th centuries. The author touches upon nearly every subject from defining the Three Orders to agriculture and architecture through governance, society, the parish, and even warfare.

Where Ms. Steele hits her material with appreciable breadth, she doesn't penetrate too deeply into any one subject. The introduction states the book is a "primer on medieval life for fantasy gamers, SCA enthusiasts, and others interested in knowing what made society tick in the days of crusading knights and the Black Plague." That accurately describes the content of the book. For those who have never shown an interest in looking at the actual historical framework that D&D assumes, this is an amazing introduction to the material. For those looking for deep analysis, usable figures, and concrete game material, this book would require further research and work.

For example, there are price lists for common items, fines and fees for transgressions of manorial laws, and even upkeep fees for knights attending tournaments. However, the numbers are mostly presented as is, without explanation as to why prices can widely vary (up to a factor of 10) between certain years. It is certainly good fodder to work with, but nothing that can be used as is.

Personally, the material provides good reinforcement for what I already know. The time period and location depicted are outside of the scope of my Early Modern Period campaign. Yet, manorialism was still strong in the Holy Roman Empire at the time my campaign is set. So the material is still pertinent.

World Building Resources: Grain Into Gold

I just finished reading Board Enterprise's Grain into Gold: A Fantasy World Economy. It is a well thought out explanation of agricultural industry for a pseudo-realistic Middle Ages setting. The author, John Josten, uses a sound methodology; he bases his calculations on the "gold standard" of wheat. Seeing as how wheat is a fundamental food for survival and nearly all rural industry (of the time) goes towards its production, this makes for a very realistic and logical economic construction. From there, an entire rural economy is crafted with considerations for transportation to market towns and beyond.

Overall, this pdf provides insight into how each product is created and what would influence its price. The author presents a fast and simple methodology for incorporating a wealth of variables into a working economic model. For example, take growing wheat. A farmer starts off with a certain acreage of crop, then accounts for a certain % yield and then a required % that has to be set as seed for the next year. Then, the wheat has to be milled with a certain efficiency, minus the cut a miller takes. Then consider taxes and fees, and you have a logical yield and price for wheat that a farmer would see.

Yet, the wheat doesn't stop there. The miller has a portion of flour and, hopefully, the farmer has some excess. So how does that move through a pseudo-historical economy? Well, the miller prices his flour in order to secure a certain profit or daily wage. From there, the flour can be made into a wide array of food products, with each craftsman boosting the price according to the profit or wage they want to make and the complexity of their trade. So there are price points for wheat and its derivatives at nearly every point of production, whether you would want to buy wheat from a farmer, flour from a miller, bread from a baker, pastry from a chef, or a meal at a tavern. Of course, taxes and transportation sit over all of these price points, simulating common sense demands for moving goods to markets and beyond.

So iterate on that basic idea for other products and you get the cost of meat, cloth, beer, and even metals and precious gems. The finished product of this system creates an enormously helpful baseline of prices all relative to grain. With a spreadsheet, all of these prices can be instantly flexible according to how a harvest runs in a year, or based off of different products, or tweaked according to varying effects of each factor or refining step.

At the end of the book, a table of prices is presented along with standard yields of different crops and food animals. This supplement is valuable for introducing a methodology to establish a credible economy, rather than just using the fiat and arbitrary numbers that most games incorporate into their item lists. This will be a great resource when I get to the economic sections of this Early Modern Campaign.

Early Modern Period: Introduction and Required Reading

I've decided to develop a historical fantasy campaign set in the early 17th century. Not like I have any plans to run this thing any time soon, but researching and building are fun in itself. The Early Modern Period (EMP) campaign will be a blend of historical realism and D&D fantasy. My "source books" will be scholarly, consisting of research into the time period. The creative side will be implementing the fantasy elements into a (hopefully) coherent and fun setting.

For reference, my primary sources are the Seventeenth-Cen​tury Europe, Second Edition: State, Conflict and Social Order in Europe 1598-1700 (Palgrave History of Europe) by Thomas Munck, The Thirty Years War: Europe's Tragedy by Peter H. Wilson, and Pike and Shot Tactics: 1590-1660 by Keith Roberts. I'm sure that body of work will expand over time. There are also plenty of other resources sprinkled throughout the net, but the authoritative research will only be in published scholarly works.

I plan on using Labyrinth Lord (LL) with the Advanced Edition Characters (AEC), so essentially 1st edition rules. I'll get started with world building and rule building by going through the LL books section by section and develop the rules and setting holistically. That should provide a strong framework going forward.

Feel free to leave any comments or ask any questions!