Quote from: jahud;948839Travel: the roads typically are bad, travelling is dangerous and costly, and especially outside of river valleys the culture is dominantly local. This leads to (as was suggested above) the fragmented and unstable power structure. Due to the friction from distances and poor transporation, there is endemic scarcity of reliable information. Those in power are somewhat paranoid and for a good reason. Often, the local magnates have the means to challenge the central power. Emperors and archbishops need to be (personally or by proxy) constantly on the move: their realm of power is where they are.

Some people went on pilgrimages, quite often a long way.

Many nobles held land in Normandy and England, so they had to travel across the sea and to their holdings. They took their court with them, or as much as was feasible, while keeping some sons or other relatives in various castles to keep a presence.

The Crusades meant that people travelled to the Holy Land and back, to Iberia and back and to the Mediterranean and back. Sure, it was easier for some to travel from the South of France but Normans did take part in the Crusades. Nobles took their men at arms on Crusade with them.

Merchants went to where the big Fayres were, as they could do a lot of trade there. These big Fayres were spread across England, for example, with many on the continent.

Many members of Guilds were itinerant, as they had to find somewhere where there wasn't an established guild member in order to set up shop. They also travelled and learned from various guild Masters.

So, a lot of people did travel and travelled a long way.

Sure, peasants/serfs didn't usually travel, but Friars, Pilgrims, Merchants, Guildsmen, Soldiers and Nobles often travelled quite a lot.

I would suggest that one has to be careful against making it just a historical compendium of information one could access just by visiting the library.

It should be focused on gameable material. Magic, monsters, religious magic options.

Oh, how about ideas on how to insert interesting fictional locations that still seem semi-plausible for the setting?

Quote from: soltakss;948957So, a lot of people did travel and travelled a long way.

Sure, peasants/serfs didn't usually travel, but Friars, Pilgrims, Merchants, Guildsmen, Soldiers and Nobles often travelled quite a lot.

  Don't forget the rise of the Universities in the late 12th and 13th centuries, which were drawing students and faculty from across Europe at times. One of the University of Paris' greatest professors was a German ... and his most glorious student was an Italian.

Quote from: Piestrio;948956Religion.

I think in general modern westerners have a really hard time understanding just how important and all pervasive religion and belief were.

  Seconded. But medieval theology is my specialization, so I'm not the most objective witness.

A Player's Guide and GM's Guide to HOW to make actual play authentic medieval and HOW and WHY that is different than modern fantasy.

AKA, squeeze a college degree into a chapter or two.

Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;948933DON'T make a huge elaborate and detailed combat system.  I HATE that sort of shit.  I don't give a pile of rancid dogshit about the difference between "slashing" and "piercing" and "bludgeoning" or any other fucking damage type or other shit.  People who wore armor wore armor, they didn't go rummaging around worrying about "damage type."

Set things up in combat so that "Armor good.  More armor gooder."

Going back to Oakeshotte...whether or not such a level of detail belongs in a game is one thing, but you're dramatically glossing over the arms race between defense and offense that occurred in weapons and armor development.  Sure, generally speaking, you always wore the best armor you could afford.  Weapons were chosen, however, based on function, opponent and armor, even at the unit level.  Even the Romans made armor changes in the field to adjust to the Dacian Falx.

Quote from: CRKrueger;949064Going back to Oakeshotte...whether or not such a level of detail belongs in a game is one thing, but you're dramatically glossing over the arms race between defense and offense that occurred in weapons and armor development.  Sure, generally speaking, you always wore the best armor you could afford.  Weapons were chosen, however, based on function, opponent and armor, even at the unit level.  Even the Romans made armor changes in the field to adjust to the Dacian Falx.

But, especially in the Middle Ages in Europe, you didn't get this gamer-idea of entirely different harnesses of armor to protect against this enemy vs that enemy.

Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;949066But, especially in the Middle Ages in Europe, you didn't get this gamer-idea of entirely different harnesses of armor to protect against this enemy vs that enemy.

True, and even if I would prefer a ton of padding under chain instead of plate if I knew I was going into battle against an army outfitted with all two-handed mauls, you're never going to see that army, there's always a mix of weapon types.

Although different armor vs. weapons effects usually means more varied weapon choice by players, not multiple harnesses on pack mules.  More like carrying a mace for the skeletons or an axe to chop down doors, and sword and board for everything else.

Yeah, I'm good with that level.  A sword on your hip and a mace or axe hanging from the saddle bow.

If you're English you'd wear your 'war sword' on your belt and have a smaller sword on your saddle, if you're from the Continent you wear the smaller sword and hang the war sword on your saddle.  Obviously neither was "right" because right answers tended to survive while wrong ones didn't.

Shit like that I'd eat with a spoon.

Also, I've gone back to the 1:20 system in CHAINMAIL where "light foot" attack like "light foot" and weapon isn't a separate consideration (except in certain specialized cases.)

Because the results are just as historical and it's a fuckton less dicking around.

Pundit, since you're already working on equipment lists and accurate prices, make sure to work on rarity, especially of armor and weapons.  D&D players think of your standard one-handed arming sword as ubiquitous as a pistol was in the Hollywood Old West.  In reality, in an entire village you might find a couple of these:

Spoiler

while carrying something like this:

Spoiler

might get you arrested if you weren't a noble.

It was frickin' expensive to outfit knights with armor and weapons that made them so effective and feared, which is part of the whole point of feudalism to begin with.

BTW, swords are from Albion Armorers.

One might be curious to hear how you'll be treating places like Vinland, Ultima Thule, and White Cathay.  

Weapons verses armor doesn't have to be complex (said the Rolemaster fan)  Flexible verses Rigid, Leather verses Metal.  I've always liked the table from The Arduin Adventure which combines the weapon verses armor table and the to hit table.

Quote from: CRKrueger;949094Pundit, since you're already working on equipment lists and accurate prices, make sure to work on rarity, especially of armor and weapons.  D&D players think of your standard one-handed arming sword as ubiquitous as a pistol was in the Hollywood Old West.  In reality, in an entire village you might find a couple of these:

Spoiler

while carrying something like this:

Spoiler

might get you arrested if you weren't a noble.

It was frickin' expensive to outfit knights with armor and weapons that made them so effective and feared, which is part of the whole point of feudalism to begin with.

BTW, swords are from Albion Armorers.

And of course any half decent blacksmith can make a usable spear, knife, or axe, but swords require an expert.

Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;949104And of course any half decent blacksmith can make a usable spear, knife, or axe, but swords require an expert.

Check out the Special Editions swords on Albion, it links to a site where they sell special designs.  You might get a kick out of the Lindsay sword Discerner and the Lady Vivamus from Glory Road.

If you mention how long it takes to change armor, and your combat system doesn't have a strange time scale, it seems like changing armor during combat to match foes' equipment should hardly ever be an issue.