My current favourite author is Bernard Cornwell, and in particular I'm enjoying his Saxon Stories, which chart the genesis of England as a country. It's fascinating stuff, and six books in the series shows little sign of slowing down; indeed "Death of Kings" was probably the best volume to date.
But the reason I'm posting here is that I'm inclined to think that these novels, in particular, would make for the basis of a great campaign. And, indeed, once I've filed off the serial numbers and applied a coat of fantasy paint, that's basically what I intend to do.
As I see it, the key features of the setting that make it so suitable for campaign use are as follows:
Politics and War
We generally think of England as being a single kingdom, but that's basically the end-point of this series. Instead, the land that will one day become England is made up of five (I think) distinct kingdoms. The strongest is Wessex, ruled by Alfred the Great, an extremely capable ruler, but also one who is extremely sickly (he's described as having been dying since he was born). Allied to Wessex is Cent (Kent), although it is somewhat resentful that Wessex tends to neglect the protection of its borders. Alfred also rules Cent, but there's no guarantee that that will remain true.
Wessex's other neighbour is Mercia, which has no king. Instead, various nobles covet the throne, but they dare not take it out of fear of Alfred - Mercia relies on Wessex for protection from the Danes, and that protection may be revoked if any of them take the throne.
Indeed, parts of Mercia are already in the hands of the Danish invaders, as are the remaining two kingdoms, East Anglia and Northumbria.
(The books also occasionally mention the Irish, Scots, and Welsh. In all cases, these are largely isolationist peoples who are hostile to both the English and the Danish.)
Of course, within each kingdom there are many estates, and thus many nobles, who wield power to greater or lesser degrees. And with the Danes constantly attacking and being driven back, there are always opportunities for ambitious men to establish their own holdings.
And then there's the church...
Religion and Mysticism
The books contain hints of at least three different belief systems.
The main religion practiced in England, and especially in Wessex, is Christianity (although it's not really what we might recognise). And so we have churches, and convents, and priests, and nuns, and all of the associated trappings. Alfred is devoutly Christian, but he also struggles with his moral failings. Meanwhile, the priests run the gamut from devout to corrupt, wise to foolish.
Meanwhile, the Danes have their own religion, of the gods Odin and Thor, or Valhalla and Ragnarok... you know the one. (Perhaps crucially, the main character is a follower of Thor, despite being sworn to the service of Alfred.)
Finally, there are everywhere hints of the "old gods" worshipped in England before the coming of Christianity. To be fair, these tend not to play a big part in the series, but they are present.
And all over there is mysticism. The characters all believe absolutely in the power of ritual, whether it is prayer, ritual sacrifice, fear of the spirits of the dead, angels, wise women, and all the rest of it. The books are never really clear on whether any of it has any real power, which in historical fiction is probably a good thing. To quote Futurama, "if you do it right, nobody will be certain that you've done anything at all." (Of course, in a fantasy version, you'd have Clerics and Druids and Wizards, and they'd all have real power.)
Oaths and Warlords
Uhtred, the main character, is probably the biggest badass in England. Seriously, he's the guy that Alfred turns to whenever there is a need to fight a battle, he's the guy that he turns to whenever war breaks out. And he's also a guy who gets routinely mistreated and marginalised whenever there is not a war to be fought, largely because of his religion.
But if Uhtred is a high-level character in a world of mooks, and he's being routinely mistreated, why does he persist in following Alfred? Why not strike out on his own, and become king himself? Or, failing that, why not at least pursue his own ambition, which is to reclaim his ancestral home from the uncle who usurped it?
The answer is that Uhtred has sworn oaths, first to Alfred, then to his daughter, and then to Alfred's son (and, I would presume, his grandson). And although oaths can be broken, Uhtred won't, because he is massively concerned with reputation, and a man who breaks his oaths will never be trusted by others, will never draw men to his side, and will thus never hold any power.
The Fantasy Version
Running this campaign in modern versions of D&D actually poses some significant problems, because while Uhtred is the biggest badass around, he's still distinctly human, while 3e characters are clearly superhuman by 5th level, and 4e characters start that way. Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay might be a better fit, or "Small but Vicious Dog", or even AD&D 2nd Edition. Of course, it also doesn't really help that virtually no modern RPG includes any sort of mass combat rules, which are problematic for a campaign in which the shield wall is so important.
However, leaving that aside for the moment, thing do seem to line up reasonably well:
I'm inclined to think that the best setting for a campaign would be the northernmost 'free' parts of 'Mercia' - those lands that are threatened by, but not currently held by, the enemy. This should allow the PCs the optimum freedom - they can choose to go viking, they can swear oaths to their local lord and help him in his bid to become king, they can try to set themselves up as lords (and then king?), they can work for the unification of the Five Kingdoms...
The campaign probably works best of the invading enemy are orcs* (since that's what D&D expects), but I'd be inclined to go for a more 'civilised' orc than is now the D&D standard - actually, hobgoblins would be a better fit, except that orcs provide easy access to the half-orc PC race. Likewise, the isolationist peoples to the north and west, and over the sea, should probably be recast as (wood) elves and dwarves. Gnomes can be vestiges of the "old peoples", while halflings may well live amongst the human kingdoms almost unnoticed. (And, of course, there's plenty of scope for other PC races being peoples from far-off lands.)
* This is where it is important to do a proper job of filing off the serial numbers. The invaders in the books are Danes, but in the campaign they're being recast as orcs. There's an obvious connection that can be made there, and one with racist implications. Obvious, but wrong - this isn't a copy of 8th century Britain with Scottish dwarves and Welsh elves; it's a custom-built fantasy setting intended to capture the essence of the stories.
The priests of the dominant religion would then just be Clerics (which fits very neatly, because of the origins of the Cleric class), while the followers of the "old gods" would be Druids (again, given the origin of the class, that was rather obvious). The third religion is potentially tricky... but we'll deal with it if and when it becomes an issue. (Actually, there's probably potential to make that a "warrior's cult", with no formal priesthood at all.)
And then your Wizards and Sorcerers are crazy mystics, learning their secret ways in isolation, feared and hated by the mainstream, and so not a big impact on society...
Yep, I think there's scope there for a good, solid campaign. Now, I just need a system in which to run it.
No comments:
Post a Comment