Resources for Historical Campaigns

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I'm going to suggest The Penguin Atlas of History volume one and two as an indispensable guide to history with maps and very small type.
 
Many public libraries in the U.S. can also get books from academic libraries via interlibrary loan, and may offer access to some useful databases, as well.

Some universities will also give limited borrowing privileges to residents, even if they never attended the university.

Also, people in Texas can check with their local libraries about getting a TexShare card, which lets you get free cards at hundreds of different libraries (public and academic) in Texas. I don't know if other states have similar programs or not.

Yes, they do. Here in Massachusetts, ANY resident can get a library card for the University of Massachusetts, as well as for the Boston Public Library, which I've mentioned uptopic has the largest collection in the Western Hemisphere. Beyond that, the public library networks I've mentioned give me access to dozens and dozens of online resources and databases: including Newspapers.com, a database with 1200 titles of 17th and 18th century newspapers, Ancestry.com's gigantic collection, and JSTOR.
 
It occurred to me yesterday evening that I'd left out some books about witchcraft in Venice. I've never read, or even seen, them, but they are the sort of thing that might be worth getting from a library:
  • Ruth Martin, Witchcraft and the Inquisition in Venice, 1550-1650 (Blackwell, 1989).
  • Jonathan Seitz, Witchcraft and Inquisition in Early Modern Venice (Cambridge University Press, 2011).
As for more general histories of Venice, there are many, including popular-level ones like John Julius Norwich's Venice (also titled A History of Venice in some reprints), which was originally published in 2 volumes by Allen Lane in 1977-81, and Peter Akroyd's Venice: Pure City (Doubleday, 2009), but some with a bit more scholarly heft include:
  • Frederic Lane, Venice: A Maritime Republic (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1973). Lane was the dean of English-language historians of Venice in his day. This is a large-scale history of the city, with an emphasis on maritime matters, so only portions of it would cover the relevant period. Obviously, it's an older book, but still worth reading, I think.
  • Thomas Madden, Venice: A New History (Viking, 2012). I've never even dipped into this book, but Madden is an expert on Medieval Venetian history and the Fourth Crusade. Again, this covers the sweep of Venice's existence, so only some parts would be fit with your chosen period.
  • Joanne M. Ferraro, Venice: History of the Floating City (Cambridge, 2012). This isn't a chronological history of the city, but a picture of its society and civilization, focusing mainly on the period 1400-1700. Ferraro is a social historian who specializes in the 16th century--she wrote an interesting monograph, Marriage Wars in Late Renaissance Venice--so she knows her stuff. The book is well-illustrated and includes a number of boxed sections on particular topics, like Venetian gondolas, or 'A Venetian Spice Rack,' and there is a lengthy chronological chart of events at the beginning and a helpful glossary of terms at the back.
  • Eric Dursteller, ed., A Companion to Venetian History, 1400-1797 (Brill, 2013). This offers c. 26 chapters on topics like "The Venetian Economy" and "Family and Society" by experts, and runs to nearly 1,000 pages. It's accordingly pricey, but might be worth requesting from a library.
 
It occurred to me yesterday evening that I'd left out some books about witchcraft in Venice. I've never read, or even seen, them, but they are the sort of thing that might be worth getting from a library:
  • Ruth Martin, Witchcraft and the Inquisition in Venice, 1550-1650 (Blackwell, 1989).
  • Jonathan Seitz, Witchcraft and Inquisition in Early Modern Venice (Cambridge University Press, 2011).
As for more general histories of Venice, there are many, including popular-level ones like John Julius Norwich's Venice (also titled A History of Venice in some reprints), which was originally published in 2 volumes by Allen Lane in 1977-81, and Peter Akroyd's Venice: Pure City (Doubleday, 2009), but some with a bit more scholarly heft include:
  • Frederic Lane, Venice: A Maritime Republic (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1973). Lane was the dean of English-language historians of Venice in his day. This is a large-scale history of the city, with an emphasis on maritime matters, so only portions of it would cover the relevant period. Obviously, it's an older book, but still worth reading, I think.
  • Thomas Madden, Venice: A New History (Viking, 2012). I've never even dipped into this book, but Madden is an expert on Medieval Venetian history and the Fourth Crusade. Again, this covers the sweep of Venice's existence, so only some parts would be fit with your chosen period.
  • Joanne M. Ferraro, Venice: History of the Floating City (Cambridge, 2012). This isn't a chronological history of the city, but a picture of its society and civilization, focusing mainly on the period 1400-1700. Ferraro is a social historian who specializes in the 16th century--she wrote an interesting monograph, Marriage Wars in Late Renaissance Venice--so she knows her stuff. The book is well-illustrated and includes a number of boxed sections on particular topics, like Venetian gondolas, or 'A Venetian Spice Rack,' and there is a lengthy chronological chart of events at the beginning and a helpful glossary of terms at the back.
  • Eric Dursteller, ed., A Companion to Venetian History, 1400-1797 (Brill, 2013). This offers c. 26 chapters on topics like "The Venetian Economy" and "Family and Society" by experts, and runs to nearly 1,000 pages. It's accordingly pricey, but might be worth requesting from a library.

Great stuff! Medieval Venice is just as interesting as Renaissance, so Venice: A New History looks useful. I appreciate your digging on this subject. I went to Venice when I was a child and it's always seemed so fantastical to me. The books on witchcraft look great too. I'm looking for a good and editable map of Venice. Luckily, the city doesn't seem to have changed too much, with the exception of the bridge and whatnot.
 
Great stuff! Medieval Venice is just as interesting as Renaissance, so Venice: A New History looks useful. I appreciate your digging on this subject. I went to Venice when I was a child and it's always seemed so fantastical to me. The books on witchcraft look great too. I'm looking for a good and editable map of Venice. Luckily, the city doesn't seem to have changed too much, with the exception of the bridge and whatnot.
You may be familiar with it already, but the website Historic Cities hosted by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has images of period maps and plans of various cities. The page for Venice is http://historic-cities.huji.ac.il/italy/venice/venice.html ; it offers 10 different ones in all, 5 of them from 1493 to 1615. Unfortunately, I don't think any of them are editable, as such.

As to the occult in Venice, here's what an inquisitor there had to say in 1580:
The Venetian tribunal of the Holy Office [i.e. the Venetian Inquisition] has been continually employed upon various matters related to heresy. The commonest of these, or those which have taken up the most time, are the superstitious use of incantations…

It is true that the incantations were generally accompanied by activities which made them matters for the Inquisition, i.e. the adoration of demons, the recitation of prayers, the burning for magical purposes of styrax gum, incense, sulfur, asafoetida, and other substances which give off sweet or foul odors. But the incantations did not arise from any inclination towards heresy. Rather, they were directed towards two ends, love and gain, which wield great power over empty-headed people. Sometimes, indeed, love was directed towards gain, for it seemed that incantations might be placed under the threshold of a door to instill love into creditors and make them refrain from exacting debts. These incantations produced truly diabolical results, as with those who, being at first unable to consummate their marriages, freed themselves from impotence by urinating in the immediate surroundings of a tomb or the door of a church. It also happened that a whore (who was subsequently accused of similar acts) long kept a young gentleman prisoner in durance vile, as in those romances one reads about the imprisonment of knights, and on the orders of Rome measures had to be taken to prevent the marriage, by instructing the parish priests to take no part in it. In my time something similar happened to another rich young noble, who was brought by these spells to such a pass that he could not wait even a day to join himself in wedlock at Padua to a low-born woman almost broken by age, of extreme ugliness and dire poverty. His affliction came to light because, being overcome with anxiety and distress, he pestered the bishop all day about the matter.

Let me pass over many other superstitions, such as the practice of showing, in vessels full of liquid, how thefts were committed, or of revealing in the stones of rings things still to come, and making the sybils appear within them…
 
You may be familiar with it already, but the website Historic Cities hosted by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has images of period maps and plans of various cities. The page for Venice is http://historic-cities.huji.ac.il/italy/venice/venice.html ; it offers 10 different ones in all, 5 of them from 1493 to 1615. Unfortunately, I don't think any of them are editable, as such.

As to the occult in Venice, here's what an inquisitor there had to say in 1580:

Oh dang, I did not know of that site. Consider it used! As for the editable map, I meant more that I can just make notes over it with paint or something, so that works!
 
A couple of other books that occur to me for Renaissance Venice:
  • Venice, cità excelentissima: Selections from the Renaissance Diaries of Marin Sanudo, ed. Patricia H. Labalme and Laura Sanguineti White, trans. Linda L. Carroll (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008). Marino Sanudo (or Sanuto), who died in 1536, composed an enormous diary from which he intended to create a history of Venice in his own time. This gives selections from it, arranged topically instead of chronologically. It could be very useful for 'local color,' or incidents to spark adventures or encounters. Unfortunately, it is already o.o.p. and pretty expensive, but a good library might have it.
  • Guido Ruggiero, Binding Passions: Tales of Magic, Marriage, and Power at the End of the Renaissance (Oxford University Press, 1993). A good example of 'microhistory,' a genre which Italian historians helped create and shape. The idea is to look closely at the details of particular instances or events involving everyday people, with an eye not just to what they show about lived experience of the past but also for the light they throw on larger structures, forces, or transformations. From a gaming perspective, they are good sources for understanding the contours of everyday life and a source of unusual occurrences or practices to include. They're also usually fun to read. The five examples in this book all come from Venice, or its environs, at the end of the 1500s.
 
  • Guido Ruggiero, Binding Passions: Tales of Magic, Marriage, and Power at the End of the Renaissance (Oxford University Press, 1993). A good example of 'microhistory,' a genre which Italian historians helped create and shape. The idea is to look closely at the details of particular instances or events involving everyday people, with an eye not just to what they show about lived experience of the past but also for the light they throw on larger structures, forces, or transformations. From a gaming perspective, they are good sources for understanding the contours of everyday life and a source of unusual occurrences or practices to include. They're also usually fun to read. The five examples in this book all come from Venice, or its environs, at the end of the 1500s.
I think that was one of the assigned books in my Renaissance Venice course in college. I think that book, the maritime history one, and The War of the Fists. Man been a long time since I thought about that course.
 
A couple of other books that occur to me for Renaissance Venice:
  • Venice, cità excelentissima: Selections from the Renaissance Diaries of Marin Sanudo, ed. Patricia H. Labalme and Laura Sanguineti White, trans. Linda L. Carroll (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008). Marino Sanudo (or Sanuto), who died in 1536, composed an enormous diary from which he intended to create a history of Venice in his own time. This gives selections from it, arranged topically instead of chronologically. It could be very useful for 'local color,' or incidents to spark adventures or encounters. Unfortunately, it is already o.o.p. and pretty expensive, but a good library might have it.
  • Guido Ruggiero, Binding Passions: Tales of Magic, Marriage, and Power at the End of the Renaissance (Oxford University Press, 1993). A good example of 'microhistory,' a genre which Italian historians helped create and shape. The idea is to look closely at the details of particular instances or events involving everyday people, with an eye not just to what they show about lived experience of the past but also for the light they throw on larger structures, forces, or transformations. From a gaming perspective, they are good sources for understanding the contours of everyday life and a source of unusual occurrences or practices to include. They're also usually fun to read. The five examples in this book all come from Venice, or its environs, at the end of the 1500s.

I like the idea of microhistories, seem very digestible. I have access to my university library, so I may be able to find some of these titles when campus opens back up!
 
I think that was one of the assigned books in my Renaissance Venice course in college. I think that book, the maritime history one, and The War of the Fists. Man been a long time since I thought about that course.

I wish I had taken your Renaissance Venice course.

Me too! Or on any Renaissance Italian city, for that matter. I took a number of courses on the era, but none focused on a particular town. I should have mentioned Robert C. Davis's War of the Fists (Oxford University Press, 1994), since it's one of the best-known Venetian microhistories. You can also pick it up used pretty cheaply and many libraries hold it. Here's the beginning of the blurb:
The War of the Fists is a study of seventeenth-century worker culture in the city of Venice, focusing on the mock battles, or battagliole, which the town's two popular factions waged on public bridges. These "little battles" were partly festive battle, partly sport, and partly thinly veiled plebeian mayhem: they could involve as many as a thousand fighters on each side and attracted crowds of thirty thousand or more.
Another book that might be worth a look is Edward Muir's Mad Blood Stirring: Vendetta and Factions in Friuli during the Renaissance (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998). It doesn't deal with Venice itself, but with a neighboring community. Still, what's a Renaissance Italian game without some vendettas? Muir's book is available in a 'Reader's edition' which cuts out much of the detailed scholarly material to focus on the main lines of the events he describes (an uprising and riot) and his analysis of it.

In part because it soon became a center for printing, Venice is richly depicted in 16th-century woodcuts and etchings, which is great for visualizing the scene, showing to players, etc. Here are some examples, all from the British Museum's website.

Venetian women in a gondola, by Robert Broissard (c. 1581)

Gondola Image.png

Dress of a Venetian nobleman, noblewoman, and merchant, again by Broissard (c. 1581)

Venetian Costume Boissard 1581.png
 
Oh dang, I did not know of that site. Consider it used! As for the editable map, I meant more that I can just make notes over it with paint or something, so that works!

Another map that's definitely worth a look is one from c. 1500 by Jacopo de' Barbarini. It's a woodcut made of 6 different blocks; the pages printed from them join together for a view of the city:

Venice Barbari 1500.jpg

That doesn't look like much, but in fact each block is quite detailed. This is an image from just one of them:

Venice Barbari Section.jpg

You can find the map at the British Museum website here. You can look at the whole thing, at separate blocks, zoom in, etc.
 
Those are
Another map that's definitely worth a look is one from c. 1500 by Jacopo de' Barbarini. It's a woodcut made of 6 different blocks; the pages printed from them join together for a view of the city:

View attachment 33542

That doesn't look like much, but in fact each block is quite detailed. This is an image from just one of them:

View attachment 33543

You can find the map at the British Museum website here. You can look at the whole thing, at separate blocks, zoom in, etc.
Those are fantastic maps! I'm going to start a new thread specifically on Venice. I've been taking some notes.
 
Me too! Or on any Renaissance Italian city, for that matter. I took a number of courses on the era, but none focused on a particular town. I should have mentioned Robert C. Davis's War of the Fists (Oxford University Press, 1994), since it's one of the best-known Venetian microhistories. You can also pick it up used pretty cheaply and many libraries hold it. Here's the beginning of the blurb:
Mr. Davis was the professor of the class.
 
Mr. Davis was the professor of the class.
So this was at Ohio State? He also wrote an interesting study Shipbuilders of the Venetian Arsenal: Workers and Workplace in the Preindustrial City (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991), but like War of the Fists it focuses on the 17th century, which I guess is a lot later than Klibbix! Klibbix! is interested in for a setting.
 
So this was at Ohio State? He also wrote an interesting study Shipbuilders of the Venetian Arsenal: Workers and Workplace in the Preindustrial City (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991), but like War of the Fists it focuses on the 17th century, which I guess is a lot later than Klibbix! Klibbix! is interested in for a setting.

Yeah, a little later than I want. My proposed starting year is 1454, but it does look pretty interesting given how important ship building was to Venice.
 
Yeah, a little later than I want. My proposed starting year is 1454, but it does look pretty interesting given how important ship building was to Venice.
Frederic Lane's Venetian Ships and Shipbuilders of the Renaissance (Johns Hopkins University Press) might be more useful. It was originally published in 1934, but they thought it was worth re-issuing in 1992 in paperback. I think it concentrates more on the earlier period.
 
Frederic Lane's Venetian Ships and Shipbuilders of the Renaissance (Johns Hopkins University Press) might be more useful. It was originally published in 1934, but they thought it was worth re-issuing in 1992 in paperback. I think it concentrates more on the earlier period.

Perfect!
 
Not really an external resource, but in this thread I outline my plans for a campaign set in Italy (mainly Rome) in 1559, and Lofgeornost Lofgeornost has made some very interesting and informative posts with many resources.
 
I'm working on a Napoleonic side project and these Osprey books have been handy.
View attachment 33606

Osprey's really showing up a lot on my radar recently!

Not really an external resource, but in this thread I outline my plans for a campaign set in Italy (mainly Rome) in 1559, and Lofgeornost Lofgeornost has made some very interesting and informative posts with many resources.

Indeed, this is one of the threads here that inspired me. I've been enjoying it and it made me pick up LoftFP.
 
Osprey's really showing up a lot on my radar recently!



Indeed, this is one of the threads here that inspired me. I've been enjoying it and it made me pick up LoftFP.
Well then, glad to have been an inspiration!

One thing I could definitely use for that campaign, and I suspect might be useful to Klibbix! Klibbix! , would be maps. I can sort of get by on maps with rough political borders and google maps, but it's difficult to know how accurate the road network is to old roads (in Italy sometimes remarkably close) as well as to remember to eyeball in the extent of say the Pontine marshes, now drained. Plus the cities were smaller and some settlements didn't even exist back then. Does anyone know of any good resources, either online or in books, with good, gamable maps of renaissance/early modern Italy?
 
Osprey's really showing up a lot on my radar recently!



Indeed, this is one of the threads here that inspired me. I've been enjoying it and it made me pick up LoftFP.
There are a bunch of them on a variety of topics. I snag them used when I can.
 
What's the project?
I mostly use this website for looking up uniforms, but I've got some Osprey books on my wishlist.
I'm re-skinning a game to be set following the 5th Dragoon Guards in the Iberian Peninsula. Basically, "On the Road to Salamanca." My focus is to have players get into the trials & tribulations of the soldiers between the battle phases of the game. Based loosely on the Richard Sharpe series, but with the British Cavalry.
 
I'm re-skinning a game to be set following the 5th Dragoon Guards in the Iberian Peninsula. Basically, "On the Road to Salamanca." My focus is to have players get into the trials & tribulations of the soldiers between the battle phases of the game. Based loosely on the Richard Sharpe series, but with the British Cavalry.
Sounds great. I'm reading Sharpe's Eagle right now and really enjoying it. There's a lot of adventure potential in the Peninsular War.
 
Sharpe's Eagle is my favorite and it was the first Sharpe book written (but like 8th in chronological order).

My players have been leery about playing in a historical military game because they have no military experience or knowledge of the time. So I'm trying to build in as much support as I can with out making it sound like a history lecture.
 
Sharpe's Eagle is my favorite and it was the first Sharpe book written (but like 8th in chronological order).

My players have been leery about playing in a historical military game because they have no military experience or knowledge of the time. So I'm trying to build in as much support as I can with out making it sound like a history lecture.
This is the biggest thing that's kept me from running a historical game. My interest in whatever period I'd want to run is just so much higher than my players' interest so I feel like I'd be lecturing to a captive audience.
 
This is the biggest thing that's kept me from running a historical game. My interest in whatever period I'd want to run is just so much higher than my players' interest so I feel like I'd be lecturing to a captive audience.
Exactly. So I'm trying to provide some context in the character playbooks, the regimental playbook, the Trials & Tribulations (of soldier life) and then a bit more in the actual battles. Like the Sharpe's TV series, I'm only focusing on fleshing out 5 to 10 reoccurring NPCs, instead of portraying 50+ of the 100s. So it's actually more like roleplaying a Historical drama TV show than the actual time period. LOL I'm using the PbtA, Brindlewood Bay and the Between as my model, both of which are based on TV series.
 
Exactly. So I'm trying to provide some context in the character playbooks, the regimental playbook, the Trials & Tribulations (of soldier life) and then a bit more in the actual battles. Like the Sharpe's TV series, I'm only focusing on fleshing out 5 to 10 reoccurring NPCs, instead of portraying 50+ of the 100s. So it's actually more like roleplaying a Historical drama TV show than the actual time period. LOL I'm using the PbtA, Brindlewood Bay and the Between as my model, both of which are based on TV series.

This sounds very interesting, especially your use of Brindlewood Bay. I may have missed it, but are there supernatural aspects to your game?
 
This sounds very interesting, especially your use of Brindlewood Bay. I may have missed it, but are there supernatural aspects to your game?
None. LOL But I'm using the investigation piece as "problem solving," so the players accumulate hints/clues to put together for their theorize roll. So some of the trials and tribulations are:

Some based on Camp Life
  • To keep a wife (How to join the camp followers when the regiment is already at maximum)
  • The Return of Sergeant Cooper (vile NCO based on Sharpe's Hakeswill)
  • Past meet Present (the scoundrel's past catches up to him)
  • Rum storage
  • Spring cleaning
  • Sword Drills
  • Horse fodder
Some based on actions that lead up to the Battle phase
  • Canons on the move
  • Lost patrol
  • Resupply escort
  • River Crossing
  • Capture the Eagle
  • Secure the bridge
And so the three battles I have so far are
1. Siege of Badajoz March 16th-April 6th, 1812 (While visiting an uncle in an infantry regiment)
2. Battle of Villagarcia/Llerena April 11, 1812
3. Battle of Salamanca July 22, 1812

Each Battle has 3 separate phases:
a. Prelude/Start
b. Darkest Hour
c. Butcher’s Bill
 
None. LOL But I'm using the investigation piece as "problem solving," so the players accumulate hints/clues to put together for their theorize roll. So some of the trials and tribulations are:

Some based on Camp Life
  • To keep a wife (How to join the camp followers when the regiment is already at maximum)
  • The Return of Sergeant Cooper (vile NCO based on Sharpe's Hakeswill)
  • Past meet Present (the scoundrel's past catches up to him)
  • Rum storage
  • Spring cleaning
  • Sword Drills
  • Horse fodder
Some based on actions that lead up to the Battle phase
  • Canons on the move
  • Lost patrol
  • Resupply escort
  • River Crossing
  • Capture the Eagle
  • Secure the bridge
And so the three battles I have so far are
1. Siege of Badajoz March 16th-April 6th, 1812 (While visiting an uncle in an infantry regiment)
2. Battle of Villagarcia/Llerena April 11, 1812
3. Battle of Salamanca July 22, 1812

Each Battle has 3 separate phases:
a. Prelude/Start
b. Darkest Hour
c. Butcher’s Bill

Very cool! Thanks for illuminating me
 
I am not going to be using Mythras but Mythic Constantinople is very appealing. A while back I was planning a campaign set in medieval Bulgaria and a book focused on Constantinople would fit right into that. Thank you!
Well, let's just say that there would be major differences:grin:!
Out of curiosity, did you run it? That's exactly the first time I'm hearing of anyone but myself considering such a campaign:shade:.
 
Well, let's just say that there would be major differences:grin:!
Out of curiosity, did you run it? That's exactly the first time I'm hearing of anyone but myself considering such a campaign:shade:.

I did not, I was prepping for it though. I found a hexographer map of Bulgaria here, and mucked about with it. Much like the Venice thing I'm working on, I tried an alternate history/geography approach and ended up with this. I generated the names through Donjon because I'm always a little leery using real place names.

VARGARIA.png

But I wasn't really happy with it. I tried again to prep for something in the region, namely an alternate history Wallachia, a map I've posted here before.
VARGANIA(gif).gif

Again, while I'd run a game in this I still wasn't really that happy with it.
 
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