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Prodigal
 
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| We ran an a one year campaign set in and around the 1745 Jacobite rebellion, each event was based in the periphery of whatever was happening on that date in 1745/6.No magic at all-though we did introduce a few highland urban myths/stories (Seanie Bean and his cannibal family for example) and we gave the players a lot of lattitiude-Charles Edward Stuart was kidnapped by two players and sold to the Gov't the day before the army entered Carlisle, so the Jacobite players replaced him with a double for the remainder of the campaign. Which explains why noble Bonnie Prince Charlie started screwing up once th army entered England. It was a lot of fun and people who played or crewed seem to remember it fondly.
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Heroic Knight
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Power behind the throne stuff is fun, but I wouldn't want to do it all the time.
The abbess idea and husband-away-in-war idea sound very cool. I'm also happy with the idea of playing warrior parts - the issue for me is whether the event organiser would also be happy with that. If someone advertises a historical event, I don't know what limitations they'll impose. I think I've just ended up with The Fear after chatting with a girl re-enactor one time who said that her club didn't let women take the field "because it's not historically accurate. But we have fun - we sew and do basket weaving". Shudder.
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Prodigal
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| Lots of groups let women take the field, but they have to dress as men/boys, so it's not all basket weaving (besides, sometimes you get to crumble bread crumbs to thicken sauces)
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I do talk a good fight
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Yeah, the re-enactment group I belong to, the British Plate Armour Society (more info at http://www.britishplate.org.uk/) allows female knights & other combatants. Here's one of 'em: http://www.britishplate.org.uk/photo_pages/photos10.html.
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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Wag
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Yes, Abbess is a good female role to play. Most of the northern female saints seem to be daughters of wealthy nobles farmed off to the church because they refused to get married. They were also generally the sort of women who became abbess because they bullied the churchmen around and saints because the pope was scared of them  Strong female roles are difficult to portray but not impossible in an historic setting. There are exceptions to the rule and, to be honest, I am not sure that the 'rule' is really as much of a rule as modern thinkers consider it to be. There are examples in historic literature (if not actual history) of women who take over thier husband's property and land when he dies with no heir. Gall saga had the concept of bonus character points for female players playing women to make up for the 'opression' they would encounter IC. Though, to be honest, I saw little of it in that game - most of the female characters were as respected as the men and got as involved in the plot. But then most of them were either skilled profesionals (herbalists, for example) or married to someone important and often acting as their proxy.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Whispering God is your friend... trust the Whispering God... Ruins of Empire 1st - 3rd Feb, 2008, Gladstone scout centre, Chester
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Heroic Knight
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I seem to have caused a huge tangent into the issue of women characters in historical games - sorry about that guys. Mostly I was just trying to point it out as one possible reason for players being wary of historical-style games, and point out that there are *some* re-enactment systems if not LRPs where that concern would be justified.
Another possible reason would be fear of not knowing enough about the relevant historical setting.
Another might be fear of kit fascism ie thinking 'would I be frowned on for kit that's in a shade they didn't have the dye for?' or 'will it be OK to wear army boots instead of period footwear?'
All of these issues have a fairly simple solution - organisers need to make it clear to players what style of event it is, what differences there are from the actual historical setting, what character types are appropriate, and what expectations are like for background knowledge, costume etc.
Then there's an entirely separate list of reasons why organisers are wary of running historical-style events...
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Heroic Knight
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Another question on historical games. How would people feel about playing actual historical characters?
The Great Larp Conspiracy
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Prodigal
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| >Another possible reason would be fear of not knowing enough about the relevant historical setting. I've always thought that arguement was somewhat illogical. If you use a made up setting, players will need to learn the details of the setting from scratch. If you use an historical setting, players willl at least start with a basic knowledge on which to learn about the setting from. For example, if a game is set in europe in some historical period, even if you know nothing about the period, you will likely some some basic idea what cultures/nations exist, what the major religion is, etc. In a fictional world (e.g. maelstrom) everyone had to learn this. The added benefit is once you've learnt it for one historical game, it's useful for others.
------ PD: St. Legion the blessed, ' "If you're a loyal eidolon, where were you when we killed the first-born?" RW: Ketta Sheng "Girls are evil. They break your heart, and then your spear, and then they get killed" EOS: Hasib Suran: "Yes, older brother, it's your choice. I only advise you." TNN: Druid Coran: "Do not heckle me, witch!"
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