Beyond RPGs - Readings Outside the Box
Beyond RPGs - Readings Outside the Box
November 2, 2004
By: Travis J. Lee |
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Hi, I'm GamingReport.com reviewer Travis J. Lee. You might remember me from such
reviews as Warlord Core Rules and Adventure I. But now I'm moving up in the
world. Our gracious Gaming Report overlords, have granted me the right to write
(ooh, alliteration) articles. Seeing as how I spend a lot of time on my soap box
anyway, I happily accepted. "Glory, or insanity awaits!"
Now to name a few others, we've already got people writing the Industry, others writing general GMing information, and of course Maddies's wonderful column on acting like a human being. So I must chart a different course, one near and dear to my heart. Simply put, there's a whole world of game building tools outside our local shops and I'd like to introduce you to them.
For my first trick, I'll start off with a classic. Does anyone remember when Game
Master Guides stressed "the Game Master's Library"? You know, the core
selection of research material including a thesaurus, atlas, western civilization
book, etc. I remember. Especially when I'm looking at racks of gaming books screaming
that all I need to learn can be found inside.
So I think I'll start by giving a broad selection of nonfiction books, both specific titles and general types. All chock full of game or character building information. To keep it reasonably controlled, I'll stick largely to the Medieval/D&D; interest set. Then after I've wetted the palate I'll explain why real world reading is worth the effort.
The Daily Grind
Here's one of the first places where World Books misstep. There's no real sense of daily life. Or there is, but it’s cobbled together from bits filtered through other RPGs. This is also one of the easiest places for gamers to dig in. Numerous "Dailly Life" books and series’ are available for writers. Here's a few of my favorites.
"Daily Life in the Middle Ages" (Paul B. Newman) is the perfect
introductory guide. Everything a person would need to know; from smoking meat
to building a castle, and then absolutely everything in between. Seriously, if
you need to know it, it's probably in there. Along with basic how-tos, there's
plenty of contextual data explaining why things worked the way they did. At the
very least, you'll learn that the 'dark ages' weren't nearly as dark as everyone
thinks they were.
For those who found the D20 version of the Bible 'Testament' to be far too small,
there's "Harper's Encyclopedia of Bible Life" (Madeleine S. and
J. Lane Miller). One of the best 'daily life' reads I've ever read; it covers
both Old and New Testament life in simple but involved detail. It's fairly inexpensive
too, considering it’s a huge hard-back book.
For those wanting to jump way ahead, there’s "What Jane Austen Ate and
Charles Dickens Knew". This is a great guide for anyone suddenly confronted
with Victorian England. You'll learn what people of all classes would know; noble
titles and forms of address, how the social classes socialized (country house
visits are great fodder for Gothic Horror) and how to romance a lady. An added
bonus, unlike the average costume drama, the authors remember that Victorian England
had actual poor people. Take the wrong turn in London and you'd be lost in a black
maze of degradation that made New York City Slums look like Club Med. Here's where
you'll discover how criminals and the insane were treated (badly), and what it
meant to not have the sort of money that Merchant Ivory productions are made of.
Real Estate
To have a daily life, you've got to have somewhere to live. While the above texts
help a lot with this, they might just leave you wanting more structural detail.
In that case, I've got two words for you. David. Macaulay. His books, such as
"Castle" and "Mosque" are a classic of gamer
bibliographies. Each takes a real site, and then explains in detail how the particular
building or complex was made and what it was used for.
On Politics
The best you'll find here are two books written during the Renaissance. Like your
politics cutthroat? Nicolo Machiavelli wrote the book on iron fisted rule, literally.
His book, "The Prince", didn't go over well with moralists of
the time, I'd call that an advertisement. It’s now considering a be all and end
all treatise on how government really works. Machiavelli’s short but packed tome
explains how to hold everything from your own lands to conquered republics. He
also explains the best form of armies (read, your troops and no mercs.) and gives
such Hall-Mark moment quotes as "it is better to be feared than loved." Here's
where you'll learn how to create anything from stern monarchs to realistic tyrants
outside the blank slate "conquer the world" mode.
From brutality to civility, we move to "On the Manner of Negotiating with
Princes". This guide for Diplomats and those who use them is a good book
to follow Machiavelli. Its advice for the powerful, but written by someone who
understood that not every political deal need involve treachery or open warfare.
Matters of Faith
Almost no fantasy role playing game covers religion in relevant detail. A rather bizarre attitude considering that most powerful countries and daily livers hold their gods and priests in high esteem.
Here's where I trot out one of my favorites, the Complete Idiot's Guides. These
include books on Understanding Catholicism and the Crusades,
Islam, and Wicca and Paganism.
The last is good for anyone who thinks these modern reincarnations of ancient
beliefs start and stop with "Buffy: the Vampire Slayer". Will
you get heavy detail on D&D; style polytheistic worlds? Not exactly. But what you
will get is an understanding how faith affects believer’s lives, and how religious
practice can look and work.
Most religions have good basic guides to how the work, and there's also plenty of books out there on religion in general.
Getting Dirty in the Dark
Here's another one of my favorites; the Whodunit Series. Written for mystery writers,
there's plenty of ammo for Rogue players or GMs who want to get nasty. In particular;
"Deadly Doses" (Poisons) and "Malicious Intent"
(How Criminals think) may provide some good ideas for criminal dealings.
For those who really love their medieval criminals, there's "The Elizabethan
Underworld" (Gamini Salgado). This is the real deal on how crime used
to go down. Contrary to general gamer believe, crime was not organized into monolithic
'Guilds' and there was a much larger variety of crimes to commit. It’s fascinating
just to read, much less use to give added flavor to a world. You'll get so see
a whole society beyond the generic 'Guild' setting that every medieval game setting
seems to be saddled with.
Alright, them's the basics. I'll come back at a later date with real world Monster Manuals and such. Right now though, I think I'll talk about why reading any of these books is worth your time. Or, better yet, I'll start off with why I wrote this article.
I'm a big reader, both of fiction and nonfiction. I'm the type to pick up J-Random
history text off the library shelves for fun. Last I checked, role playing was
supposed to encourage this sort of curiosity. Some companies still do. GURPS
in particular gives you just enough to go with, then a huge bibliography to play
in. D20 books like "Magical Medieval Society" put history in
a magical context.
But the fact remains that most companies seem more interested in money than intellectual interest. The shelves are lined with books which teach nothing but RPG number crunching and made up 'facts' for players to regurgitate at each other. As an example, if your 'real history' comes from a White Wolf book you run the risk of looking extremely stupid in front of someone in the know. Many companies just seem interested in producing a form of pseudo-real world knowledge to sell more books.
That's the first thing you'll get from nonfiction books, real knowledge. Think about it. Don't you want to be able to discuss world religions with random strangers rather than prating at them about hit points and difficulty numbers? Trust me, no one outside your gaming group cares about that stuff.
Along with gaining knowledge comes broader thought and world experience. That's something most gaming books just can't handle. Many times I've tried to engage a hard-line gamer in a discussion of art or philosophy, and gotten weird numbers in return. What a sad state of affairs for a hobby that's supposed to help produce well-rounded, curious, educated people. Of course what you want to know is how learning this will affect game play. Simple. Ever notice how many D20 books seem to recycle each other's topics? Ten different books on war. Twenty on Dragons. And who knows how many on the Drow. Then there’s the fact that they’re over-priced. I don’t know what happened, but all of a sudden $25 dollar books cost $40. Not so much with my reading list. Read this books, and pick up were their bibliographies leave off, and I can near guarantee a new, vibrant way of looking at RPGs. Because real life always comes with a billion and one extra angles that gaming just can’t cover. And you won’t have to sell your first born children in the bargain. Most of mine can be had through Amazon, used, dirt cheap.
Okay, that's enough ranting and lecturing for the day. I hope you've found some useful tidbits, and that you'll come back for the next installment. Have fun, and learn something real.
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