A Bit of History

This month starts a new year and a new series of columns for A Bit of History. There are a lot of different topics that can be covered in a column addressing the intersection of role-playing and history.

In the past year and a half I have barely scratched the surface of this, and over the next year this column will delve deeper into the role of history in gaming and the use of history in your game. So far, in addition to covering specific historical periods, several columns have been dedicated to how-to tips. Largely I have focused on real world history and its uses for what I call history-plus style games. With the New Year, and with A Bit of History's second anniversary coming in a few months, let's switch the focus slightly and look at the role of history and gaming from a different angle. In short, let's make a history. In fact, let's make three.

In this column and the next several columns we are going to build a history for a campaign, piece by piece, using our knowledge of real world history as a guide. This is the sort of things that historians like to do in their spare time—and sometimes in their professional publications—an activity called speculative history. The three campaigns will be put together with reader response, so please post your suggestions and ideas in the comment thread for the appropriate issue, and I will moderate a discussion of what needs to go in the next column.

We are going to be making three histories, the history of one nation in a fantasy campaign, an alternate history, and a futurist history for a sci-fi campaign.

First up will be the fantasy history that will focus on the Queendom of Monrovia. This should take about three months of columns, after this one of course. This will bring us to May, which will feature a double sized anniversary issue that kicks off our look at an alternate history as well as a round up of historical rpg's. The alternate history will cover an additional three months, ending in August. September will see the kids going back to school, as well as four months of future history, ending in December with another double-sized issue of a gift guide and the conclusion of our Year of Building History.

Monrovia! Monrovia! Bump-da-da-bump-bump, bump-da-da-bump-bump Monrovia! Monrovia!

We will start the history of Monrovia by building it in reverse and looking at the current state of the queendom before contemplating how it got that way. Monrovia is a stable constitutional monarchy setting on the frontier of the known world. Its climate is mild and temperate, with large areas of forest mixed with farmland. To the west and north is unsettled territory, with a low mountain range to the west blocking further expansion. To the east and south are neighboring nations of comparable size, and beyond them is a large expansionistic empire. The central region of the nation is composed of three large lakes that feed a system of southward flowing rivers.

The population of Monrovia is largely human, with several small non-human minorities. Technologically, the queendom is a bit behind the more advanced lands to the southeast, but is comparable to Europe's high middle ages. The politics of the nation are stable, with a limited franchise and strict rules of succession for the monarchy. The monarch is always a female, hence the title of queendom, and succession generally flows from mother to eldest daughter. A polytheistic religion dominates the nation's spirituality, but is kept strictly separate from official politics.

The queendom's economy is prosperous, with plenty of arable land and large stands of timber for exploitation. Other natural resources include coal mining in the western mountains, fur trapping in the forests, and fishing in the large lakes that dominate the central portion of the queendom. In general, poverty is low and the traditions of serfdom have been abolished, though old ways still linger along the borders and in outlying areas to the north and west.

Next month we will begin to answer the questions of how this situation came to be, who are the Monrovians, and what is their history. Until then, I hope you offer up your own bits of history for us to piece together the puzzle that is and was Monrovia.

Two shameless plugs this month, and hopefully some every month from here on out.

First, the most recent issue of Pyramid Magazine, published by Steve Jackson Games, issue 3/26 Underwater Adventures features one of my articles, "The Wreck of the Savoy". Slavers, shipwrecks, ghosts, and a maniacal magic enhanced hammerhead shark fill the pages.

Released later this month from Frog God Games is the adventure The Vengeance of the Long Serpent the first in the Northlands Saga of Viking age inspired adventures available in both Pathfinder Role-Playing Game and Swords and Wizardry editions. Set sail on the Long Serpent into the Far North on a voyage of fortune and horror as your heroes face off against the elements, dire sharks, and a fanatical dark god-worshipping cult.