Anyone have any experience with the Renaissance Deluxe RPG? My understanding from reading about it is that it is BRP or BRP-derived and is supposed to support play in the Renaissance era. [Apparently one can also use fantasy stuff in the book as well, but I have no interest in that part of it.] I'd like to know if anyone has an assessment as to how well done the support material is: for example, can I play in the Siglo de Oro, Medici Italy, Elizabethan England, and so on, or will I need to conduct a lot of research on my own to make this feasible? Are there any sample adventures or plot seeds included? And is it any good?

Yeah, I've got it. Though I haven't run it yet. It 'powers' one of my favorite new Cthulhian settings, Dark Streets, which I hope to run within the next year - and which has been reviewed by Pundit.

It's based off the OpenQuest SRD, and includes some aspects of Legend/Mongoose RuneQuest II (if you're familiar with those systems). BRP-derived, definitely.

I really can't speak to the authenticity of the material. There is a free version of Renaissance that will likely holds most of the details for you. There'll be some features missing that'll be present in the Deluxe version (like the sanity system), but it's probably enough to give you an impression.

I've only skimmed through it, with an eye towards ideas for moving my LotFP game into BRP/D100 when we resume.
For me it has most of what I'd want to in terms of equipment and occupations and rules for witches... but that's about it.
It seems pretty solidly aimed at a fantasy version of that era (which is what I'd wanted it for) and kinda slim on framing the actual historical goings-on.
For your purpose I'd say it's lacking in comparison to something like the average GURPS sourcebook... is there a GURPS Renaissance? I know there's a GURPS book about Florence in that era.

Quote from: Simlasa;837130I've only skimmed through it, with an eye towards ideas for moving my LotFP game into BRP/D100 when we resume.
For me it has most of what I'd want to in terms of equipment and occupations and rules for witches... but that's about it.
It seems pretty solidly aimed at a fantasy version of that era (which is what I'd wanted it for) and kinda slim on framing the actual historical goings-on.
For your purpose I'd say it's lacking in comparison to something like the average GURPS sourcebook.

Thank you--that is exactly what I was trying to determine. I have no interest in fantastical versions of historic settings so I think I will give this a pass. Say, is there a "GURPS Renaissance" book?

http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/hotspots/renaissanceflorence

There's also GURPS Swashbucklers, for a somewhat later period but probably reasonably useful. Of course if you really want 17th century then Bob's your uncle. But there are good sources in other systems such as Flashing Blades.

$8 for a 38-page PDF seems rather pricey to me but maybe I'm cheap.

I have GURPS Swashbucklers and Flashing Blades. Swashbucklers is good but doesn't offer much depth as it's more geared for 3 Musketeers and "pirates!!!!" than anything else. Still a good book.  

Probably just go with Flashing Blades and some history books.

My understanding is that Renaissance is meant to be semi-setting-agnostic, in that you're supposed to be able to use it for any setting with a broadly Renaissance/black powder level of technology, so it's probably no surprise that the core book doesn't cover much setting stuff. Not currently aware of any "straight" historical games using it, though it's probably only a matter of time.

Quote from: Simlasa;837130I've only skimmed through it, with an eye towards ideas for moving my LotFP game into BRP/D100 when we resume.
For me it has most of what I'd want to in terms of equipment and occupations and rules for witches... but that's about it.
It seems pretty solidly aimed at a fantasy version of that era (which is what I'd wanted it for) and kinda slim on framing the actual historical goings-on.
For your purpose I'd say it's lacking in comparison to something like the average GURPS sourcebook... is there a GURPS Renaissance? I know there's a GURPS book about Florence in that era.

The Renaissance Rules are more of a period ruleset than a setting book, which is why it is light on background.

Whilst it is fantasy, it is also very solid on mechanics. The fantasy stuff can just be left out or ignored.

For setting background, have a look at Chivalry & Sorcery.

Quote from: soltakss;837183The Renaissance Rules are more of a period ruleset than a setting book, which is why it is light on background.

Well, yeah... a period ruleset without the period. I do think it would make a good foundation for a purely historical game... but it would require tracking down additional resources to flesh out the setting/history... as well as ignoring big chunks of the rules... while the OP was hoping it might serve his purposes more cohesively.

Quote from: soltakss;837183For setting background, have a look at Chivalry & Sorcery.

Don't you mean Clockwork & Chivalry?

Could anyone offer a brief summary of what these rules offer purely as rules? I mean compared to other BRP-based stuff.

Renaissance is a setting agnostic set of d100 rules based on the MRQ/OpenQuest fork of BRP. It has a clean lean set of skills, a simple combat system and handles black powder weapons well.
There is support for optional magic, witchcraft in this case, and some creatures for a game with such beasties.
It has very good rules for Factions and this can be used to model political allegiances, religious groups, secret societies or Universities.
It is setting-less. So you can run Elizabeth, Medici, Colonial America easily.
There are some settings books:
Clockwork and Chivalry, which is the English Civil Wars, plus magic and clockpunk. Removing the magic and clockpunk is a work of moments, I have played it as a straight ECW game and it's excellent since all the political and religous factions are mapped out in the setting book.
There are some good (non fantasy) adventures set in the French-Indian Wars in Colonial America.
Dark Streets is a mid 18th Century Georgian England setting around a proto police force and the blind detective Henry Fielding.
My friend has run several Elizabethan scenarios with it, as have I, both straight, albeit my Kit Marlowe may have raised eyebrows..
It play straight, fast, but like all BRPs, deadly.. but that's fixable.

[There are also a Cthulthu version (d'oh) and a Fantasy Pirates and Dragons setting but you said you didn't want that]

Whenever I think modern black powder from 1450-1815 I think Renaissance, and frankly that actually is 1450-1870

There's "clockpunk" now?

Can we please stop adding "punk" as a suffix to everything? It means absolutely nothing.

Quote from: Matt;837234There's "clockpunk" now?

Can we please stop adding "punk" as a suffix to everything? It means absolutely nothing.

I'm guessing you aren't aware that people who are swimming against the mainstream gamer trend of adding the "punk" suffix to everything are now known as gamepunks?

Quote from: Bren;837279I'm guessing you aren't aware that people who are swimming against the mainstream gamer trend of adding the "punk" suffix to everything are now known as gamepunks?

I don't even know what the mainstream is here in my little arroyo. 😿