| The American Civil War | The French Revolution | - | Other Ideas | Bibliography |
| 1st Edition AD&D | - | Dragon magazine | - | Dragon #143 |
People, places, and events:
The DM is constantly
being challenged to come up with new and
exciting entries in all three of these categories.
When the DM's imagination begins to run dry,
centuries full of possibilities are as readily available
as the nearest historical reference, whether it
be a history text, an encyclopedia, or a historical
novel. All you need to do is take what you know
about a particular person or event in history and
employ it to create believable and exciting characters
and settings in your campaign. NPCs come
alive as fantasy recreations of historical figures,
and background information provided for adventurers
becomes more logical if based on detail
gathered from historical research.
Using history doesn't mean being a slave to it.
Historical settings can be used as jumping-off places
which you can tailor and embellish as you see
fit. After all, this is fantasy role-playing we?re talking
about, not historical simulation.
The most obvious period of historical
interest to AD&D® game players is, of
course, the Middle Ages, since that is the
era upon which most campaigns are
based. Study of that time can provide
many interesting details to broaden a roleplaying
game. The Crusades, the Black
Death, and the Hundred Years War are a
few examples of events which can provide
ideas for campaigns.
But you are not limited to the people and
events of Medieval Europe when creating
your game world. Many historical situations
such as revolution and civil war can
be treated as generic concepts. The
causes, characters, emotions, and effects
of such conflicts can easily be integrated
by a historical-minded DM into any time
frame.
For example, perhaps you know a lot
about the American Civil War. At first
glance, it might not seem an appropriate
setting for a D&D® or AD&D game event,
but a closer look reveals an infinite number
of possibilities. Instead of bringing
your characters to 19th-century Virginia,
you can bring much of that setting to your
campaign world. Suppose you have a
kingdom in which the seeds of civil disorder
have been sown. By extracting the
useful information from what you've
learned about the American Civil War,
such as the political, social, and economic
divisions within the society, you can flesh
out your campaign background with interesting
and realistic details. Take your
favorite politicians and generals and create
NPCs inspired by some of their more
outstanding characteristics.
And what about running a revolution?
Might not a kingdom in your campaign be
ripe for an overthrow of its present government?
The French Revolution provides
an excellent historical example of a revolt
of peasantry against the ruling class.
This article takes these two historical
events ? the American Civil War and the
French Revolution ? and shows how they
can be tailored to fit into an AD&D campaign.
If these two particular events don?t
interest you, consult the list at the end of
this article for other ideas on how to use
history to enrich your role-playing or to
simply draw upon the historical people,
places, and events in which you are most
interested.
The American Civil War
A civil war occurs when one part of a
country decides to do battle with the rest
of the nation. That part of the country
may be struggling with another for control
of the whole or (as in the case of the
American Civil War) that part may want to
secede and become a nation of its own.
There may be natural or evolved differences
between the inhabitants of the original
state and the rebellious part which
make peaceful coexistence between them
difficult or impossible. Differences in
species are examples of natural differences;
differences in ways of making a
living or religious beliefs are examples of
evolved differences.
The causes of war are generally complex
and interconnected, and the American
Civil War was no exception. The areas of
difference which led the North and South
into armed conflict included: nationalistic
sentiments vs. localism and states? rights;
emancipation vs. slavery; the needs of an
industrial economy vs. those of an agrarian
economy; and an urban, diverse culture
vs. a rural, conservative culture.
These differences could appear between
two areas of your campaign world as well.
For example, suppose you have a kingdom
which is largely mountainous to the north
and has heavily forested plains to the south.
Most of the population to the north is made
up of dwarves, with scattered settlements
of humans, hobbits, and gnomes. The
major northern occupations are mining and
craftsmanship, with many good-size towns
and population centers there. The southern
part of the kingdom, on the other hand, is
mostly settled by elves who live in small
bands in the forests.
Now, let's say that valuable ore is discovered
underground in the southern part of
the kingdom. The dwarves want to see
this ore mined so that the kingdom will
prosper. But this would mean cutting
down large sections of forest, something
the elves are dead set against. The elves
decide to secede, to make a separate kingdom
out of their part of the present kingdom,
so that their forests can be protected.
The dwarves refuse to let this potential
wealth slip from their hands. Both sides
realize that only by force can they achieve
their conflicting aims.
Thus the stage is set for civil war. You
can see that this example has taken some
liberties with history. I?ve used what I
know about a civil war which actually
occurred to create a fantasy situation for
civil war in my campaign world. Whatever
the grounds for dissension, the rifts
between the two sections will grow until
the one feeling the most threatened either
tries to secede or attacks the other.
In the case of the American Civil War,
hindsight reveals some specific events that
led to the outbreak of war, such as the
words and actions of extremists on both
sides, the election of Abraham Lincoln in
1860, and finally the firing on Fort Sumter.
Continuing with our example, the DM
could arrange such dramatic events to
raise the tension in our fantasy kingdom.
Suppose a community of dwarves in the
foothills between the two territories chops
down all the trees in its vicinity, an act
that also involves the "accidental" death of
an elf. Then a king comes to power whose
sympathies tend toward the dwarves. In
desperation, the scattered communities of
elves band together, preparing to fight to
keep their trees -- and the war begins.
| Ulysses Stoneblaster
Military Leader of the Dwarves of the North AC 1; MV 6"; Lord 10; hp 54; #AT
1; Dmg
Stoneblaster is a veteran of many
Rolwynn Leafsong
|
It is beyond the scope of this article to
go into all the leaders and battles of the
Civil War in depth. There is a great deal of
documentation on this subject, however,
and you can study it and use what you can
in your campaign. Have fun and be creative.
The boxed section herein describes
two possible leaders of our fantasy civil
war, each obviously modeled after actual
historical figures.
In 1865, the South more or less accepted
its defeat, and the American Civil War was
over. In your fantasy setting, things could
turn out differently. A provisional government
might try to rule the south from
hiding, with elven commando raids making
the activities of the dwarven victors
difficult or impossible in that area.
In the disarmed and vanquished South,
desperate economic conditions prevailed
as a natural consequence of war and
because of Reconstructionist policies. The
process of picking up the pieces in a wartorn
land is difficult indeed and presents
many possibilities for good role-playing.
Evil elves could arise to dominate sections
of our previously good-controlled south;
barbarians, perhaps having been hired as
mercenaries by one side or the other,
might refuse to put down their arms and
end the fight; widespread looting and
raiding could occur; and so on.
And what's to stop the now well-trained
and well-armed victors from looking for
new territory to conquer? Many observers
were surprised that the victorious Union
Army was so quickly and thoroughly
disbanded after the American Civil War.
Perhaps your victor will be more empireconscious.
Once again, the lessons of history
are there to guide you, but don?t be
afraid to ask yourself: ?What if??
The French Revolution
A revolution, as opposed to a civil war,
occurs when one faction within a kingdom
tries to overthrow the present ruling body
with the aim of taking control of that
kingdom itself. The causes of revolution
are many but often involve a struggle
against injustice and inequalities, and a
yearning for freedom or a better way of
life. Revolutions don?t start overnight.
They build up over time, with their causes
gradually working into a vicious circle that
leads more certainly to conflict the longer
the circle builds. For example: The testing
of old, oppressive laws leads to harsher
enforcement of those laws, which produces
victims (now martyrs for the cause),
which leads to increased sympathy for the
cause, which leads to paranoia on the part
of those in control and even harsher methods
of enforcement, which all eventually
leads to armed conflict.
You could study either the American or
the Russian Revolution and come up with
entirely different sets of circumstances
and personalities to incorporate into your
campaign. But for a revolution which
struggles against the bonds of feudalism,
the French Revolution of 1789 is a good
place to start.
The beginning of the end for the French
kings arose in the form of absolute monarchy,
which superseded many of the tenets
of feudalism. In feudalism, the ruler owed
as much to his subjects and vassals as they
to him. Under the absolutism of Louis XIV,
the monarch was the God King and owed
nothing to anyone.
Then the democratic philosophies came
along, asking questions like ?Why should a
few men be allowed to rule a great multitude?
? and ?Why should the mass of mankind
lead lives full of labor and sorrow??
The answers to these questions called for
doing away with the old ways. Philosophers
and statesmen spoke out and wrote
books to poke holes in the theories of the
so-called ?natural order? which held the
system of absolute monarchy in place.
This questioning of royalty, the church,
and the aristocracy spread among more
and more people until the whole archaic
system was struck down.
This would provide a good role-playing
opportunity for any characters in your
campaign. Have them promote a questioning
attitude which will be noticed by both
the ruling class and the common folk. If
the powers that be harass the PCs, take
full advantage of this for ?the martyr
syndrome.? In any event, more and more
people may take heed of the characters?
words, and more followers to the cause
can be gathered.
But it takes more than questions and
speeches to start a revolution. In 18thcentury
France, as in most other revolutionary
situations, a combination of factors
coincided to produce rebellion. There was
a political crisis (the near-bankruptcy of
the state) occurring simultaneously with
an economic crisis (poor agricultural output
in relation to population). This combination
produced a poverty-stricken
populace that took to the streets hungry
and poorly clothed, and a government that
was unwilling and unable to help them. In
the face of such a situation, coupled with
inept leadership on the part of the government,
revolution became almost an inevitable
response.
Using history as a guide, here are the
personality profiles of some of the major
participants in a fantasy-world revolution
(you can choose the races and statistics as
appropriate to your campaign):
The King: Although he feels a sense of
responsibility toward his people, the weakwilled
and awkward king is unable to stick
to a decision and is easily swayed by
advice, both good and bad.
The Queen: Gracious and regal in manner,
the queen?s policy of favoritism makes
her highly popular with some factions and
equally unpopular with others. The people
despise her for her extravagant spending
on frivolous luxuries and gambling, and
they blame her for the kingdom?s sorry
economic state and for their own poverty.
Leader of the Nobles: A good man of
aristocratic background, this leader is very
well educated and cultured. A bit of a
philosopher, he tries hard to convince the
king that it would be better to acquiesce to
some of the demands of the nobles than to
face the wrath of the people.
Leader of the People: An uneducated
peasant, either male or female, this person
has a simple, direct manner of speaking
that can incite the emotions of huge
crowds. With nothing to lose but lives of
misery, the people are encouraged by him
to overthrow all in authority and set up a
new regime controlled by the commoners.
The French Revolution went through
many stages as it attempted to reconcile
the conflicting needs of the citizenry, both
upper and lower classes, with the needs of
the state. While the nobles merely wanted
to make the king more accountable to
them, the leaders of the common man
envisioned a new political structure altogether,
one more democratic in nature.
Thus you have a revolution which moved
from an attempt at constitutional monarchy
(as opposed to the absolute monarchy
of previous kings), to the Jacobin Reign of
Terror (mob rule), to the Empire of Napoleon.
Again, it is beyond the scope of this
article to give a complete history of the
events of the French Revolution, but there
are many good books on the subject which
provide the historical-minded DM with
ideas for running such a revolution in his
campaign.
Other ideas
These are just two examples of how
history provides ideas for fantasy campaigns.
Many more possibilities suggest
themselves as well. For example, if you
want to develop a situation ripe for a
military coup, study the events which
occurred in Grenada, Haiti, and Central
and South America in this decade alone.
For an example of an emperor with world-conquering
ambitions, look up ALEXANDER THE GREAT
or Napoleon Bonaparte. For a
strong and effective queen model, check
out Elizabeth I of England or Catherine the
Great of Russia. The possibilities are as
endless as the pages of history.
Bibliography
Beals, Carleton. The Nature of Revolution.
New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Co.,
1970.
Bradford, Ned, ed. Battles and Leaders
of the Civil War. New York: Appleton-
Century-Crofts, Inc., 1956.
Ferrero, Guglielmo. The Two French
Revolutions. New York: Basic Books, Inc.,
1968.
Griffin, Bulkey S., ed. Offbeat History.
The World Publishing Co., 1967.
Leckie, Robert. The Wars of America.
New York: Harper & Row, 1968.
Loomis, Stanley. Paris in the Terror. New
York: J. B. Lippincott Co., 1964.
Lowell, Edward J. The Eve of the French
Revolution. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin &
co., 1892.
Morison, Samuel Eliot. The Oxford History
of the American People. New York:
Oxford University Press, 1965.
Smith, Gene. Lee and Grant. New York:
McGraw Hill, 1984.
Williams, T. Harry. The History of American
Wars. New York: Alfred A. Knopf,
1981.
MARCH 1989