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Wag
 
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But that's easily circumvented. Release all the historical information that people are expected to know to the players in advance. Then anyone crowing about their superior historical knowledge can be rightfully pointed at and laughed at.
PD - Brother Farael of the Ordo Dictum Dominus
EOS - Some Raggard Scum, previously Some Arimin Scum
6P - System creator (now retired), Andrei Treune of Clan Suner (for the moment)
RL - Will Robinson
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Prodigal
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| >In a made up setting there is usually a small, well-defined set of background information about the setting and often vast holes in the background information which there wasn't time/space to cover.  For example, someone came up to my priest in maelstrom and asked for a divorce. Despite being a fidelian teacher priest, no information from PD told me what the teacher church policy of divorce is (or if such a thing exists). I had to make IC excuses about 'I need to reflect on the details' then go and queue in GOD to find out a basic fact of my culture and church. Had it been a historical 17th century setting, this wouldn't have been needed.
------ <insert really amusing sig here>
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Heroic Knight
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chalicier (7/8/2006)
But that's easily circumvented.
Sure - I think most if not all of these issues are.
Nath - I'm not saying there are no problems with made-up settings and no advantages to historical settings, simply trying to stay on topic for the thread and think of reasons why there might be less supply of / demand for historical games than for fantasy ones.
My point is that not knowing how much research to put into the historical setting is something that could be a cause of concern for some players, and that (depending on the individual system and event organiser) it could be a legitimate cause for concern - not something to just brush aside as if anyone who might think that it's a potential problem is being illogical or mentally subnormal... (in fact, generally I think that's a piss poor way of handling concerns players might have)
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Prodigal
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| I agree it's a concern people might have. When I ran modern vampire I got some player backgrounds that showed a very shaky grasp on history (e.g. someone claimed they fought alongside the french resistance from 1937). However, I still think it's an illogical arguement. Even someone with a very mininal grasp of history will start better off than everyone will when it comes to learning about a made up setting. Either way, setting material still needs to be provided for the game. I was not suggesting dismissing a player concern such as this as illogical (as you seem to have assumed) is the way forward. I was just pointing out it is.
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Heroic Knight
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Nath (7/9/2006)
However, I still think it's an illogical arguement. Even someone with a very mininal grasp of history will start better off than everyone will when it comes to learning about a made up setting. Either way, setting material still needs to be provided for the game.
Made up setting - everyone starts off bad. Jim, Bob and Dave know nothing about the setting, then they read the event information together and all know the same amount.
Historical setting - Jim starts off bad because he doesn't know anything about the period being used as the setting. Jim's friends Bob and Dave both know loads about that period. Jim is worried that everyone else at the game will know as much as Bob and Dave. Jim knows he will never have time to learn the amount Bob and Dave know in the short run up to the event. Jim is scared that if he goes along, he will look stupid next to Bob, Dave and the rest of the players. Jim is also scared that if he makes a mistake, other players who know more will have a go at him.
Why do you think Jim is being illogical?
Even if he is being illogical, can't you empathise with what Jim feels about the situation?
I was not suggesting dismissing a player concern such as this as illogical (as you seem to have assumed) is the way forward. I was just pointing out it is.
Sorry, but I made that assumption because you detailed why you think it's an illogical concern without doing anything to suggest any way an organiser could handle similar player concerns. Even if people are illogical - so what? That's human nature - it *is* going to happen. The important thing is deciding appropriate ways to handle it that will get more players involved and improve the game for everyone.
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Prodigal
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| That's not been my experience of quasi-historical larps (gall saga, nwo, the court in the act freeform, etc.). I don't recall anyone having a go at a player during an event due to lack of game world knowledge, just as no one has a go at someone in maelstrom because they think 'gnoll' is a race rather than a culture (that one happens a lot). Those concerns could equally be shared by anyone playing a complex enough made up setting for first time - in fact, if the setting smalll enough to easily learn, I'd suspect it of being too short and shallow, ergo having such concerns is a sign of a well developed and fleshed out setting. In my experience people are happy to either just react IC ('I don't know what you mean by pulse' if you check for somone's pulse before the human pulse has even been discovered) and don't mind discrete OC questions (I once had to check whether or not we had papal infalabilty yet in gall saga, since the logic of a deep theological discussion we were having would be affected by it)
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Heroic Knight
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Nath (7/10/2006)
That's not been my experience of quasi-historical larps (gall saga, nwo, the court in the act freeform, etc.). I don't recall anyone having a go at a player during an event due to lack of game world knowledge
You're missing my point entirely - the issue isn't whether this *actually* happens - the issue is whether it's something that might worry potential players, thus putting them off. And if so, what can be done to allay their concerns so that they decide to attend.
Those concerns could equally be sharedby anyone playing a complex enoughmade up settingforfirst time
This I agree with, though - yes it's a concern that could apply equally to complex/long-running fantasy games.
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I do talk a good fight
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There's another huge issue with historical games that doesn't apply to fantasy ones, which is that of which person's version of history becomes canon? What happens when the organizer and a player drop out of character to argue over whether that particular shade of red was available to Dark Ages Britons, or how the Knights of Rhodes were organized politically at the beginning of the 16th century?
http://www.hyboriantales.com
PD: Ghostdance ("The most irritating curse I've ever encountered" -- NPC played by H.)
Riftworld: Rossar Kuug ("Clearly mad, because he thinks he's a Com-Trow Skirmisher" - Aela)
Hyborian Tales: Crew, cook, dogsbody, general labourer, toilet cleaner ("Dangerously overoptimistic ref" -- Tom Nowell)
Otherwise usually crew ("Quite spry & fit, & willing to wear a big costume & run around a lot" -- various event organisers)
"My other oversized foam weapon is THE LORD" -- Questionable Content
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