Christianity crash course for gaming purposes?

[Shipyard Locked]

Let's say I wanted to run games set in European history. Let's say IRL I'm culturally Catholic but my lifetime exposure to the lore of Christianity has been light and patchy. Let's say I'm agnostic, neither believing nor disrespecting Christianity, just wanting to roleplay it correctly at the table.

I sadly don't have time to get a degree on this or catch up on a lifetime of osmotic learning. What are some fast, easy ways to study up on the most relevant behaviors and lore points of medieval Christianity for gaming purposes? What quick books, RPG supplements, sites and videos will help me better pretend to be a sincere priest, pious peasant, or learned white magician?

 

[TristramEvans]

Medieval Christianity in Practive ed. by Miri Rubin is a really good sweeping overviewof the church's organization, practices, and how those practically affected daily life for those living in th Middle Ages, can't recommend it enough

Amazon product

 

[Ronnie Sanford]

The answer depends somewhat on the setting location as I am told the Medieval period differed from local to local.

That said if Medieval Spain / Iberia works for your setting then Aquelarra is exactly the book you want. It goes in-depth into how Catholics, Jews and Muslims viewed the world around them.

See https://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/16/16573.phtml

And

Review of Aquelarre - RPGnet RPG Game Index

Note the English translation of Aquelarra is available from Chaosium.

 

[MoonHunter]

The big broad stripe of this is.... it is a dominant focus of most people's lives. Their life revolves around prayer and church (fitting in those things you need to do to live in between). So while modern gamers tend to gloss over it, an average medieval person focused a good portion of their life to being "good", working with the church, and trying to go to "heaven". Sure many were wayward, but they knew they were. They would always opt for the "beg for forgiveness" option of Christianity. I will go see if I can find some smaller easier books.

Pendragon (most editions) and ArsMagica (most editions) give you nice overview of the medieval worldview, including religion.

 

[Kardinal Tabbe]

See (or even better, read) The Name of The Rose. The book is chock full of information about important questions in medieval christianity.

Personally, my view of medieval christianity changed when I learned that a lot of the contemporary religious sources consider allegations of witchcraft and magic to be ignorant superstition. As they pointed out: only people from the barbaric dark past believed such nonsense

 

[Teotwawki]

A millennia into Christianity, it decided to play 11th Century Schizoid Religion and became the Latin Catholic West and Byzantine Orthodox East.

See (or even better, read) The Name of The Rose. The book is chock full of information about important questions in medieval christianity.

Excellent advice. Much as I adore the film, for deeper religious context and stunning background, the novel provides an astonishing amount of historical and theological information.

The rpg Nephilim provides an amazingly balanced presentation of real world religion through the years, especially of sects considered heretical by believers.

 

[Mankcam]

Simon Phipp ( our forum member soltakss) did a reasonably serious Medieval England setting book for the BRP system called Merrie England, which portrays medieval spirituality/magic quite well, not only Christainity, but Muslim etc.

Perhaps it's worth hunting down any of the Merrie England books, they were written for different versions of the BRP system:

• Merrie England: Age of Eleanor - for BRP MRQ2, so reasonably compatible with Mythras
• Merrie England: Age of Chivalry - for BRP BGB, very good, I read this one the most
• Merrie England: Robyn Hode - for BRP Revolution D100, updated/expanded

There is a reasonable ammount of similar content in the books, although the focus is a bit different for each.
I quite like Age of Chivalry, but haven't really given Robyn Hode a good read. It also looks quite good, but I haven't made the jump to Revolution D100 (preferring BGB or Mythras for my BRP games)

I remember that all editions had a whole chapter devoted to religion, although the mindset was often immersed in other chapters as well. Whilst the book(s) didn't profess to be academic standard Theology, it was really good all the same; a reasonable attempt to portray the medieval setting and mindset for the purpose of tabletop roleplaying.

(I think Merrie England: Robyn Hode may be the only one currently available)

DriveThruRPG

www.drivethrurpg.com

 

[opaopajr]

I referenced this website to a question about Christianity & Tarot (and other divination) elsewhere. It seems pretty useful from repeat cursory glances. It covers a very wide range of topics, regions, and early faith eras.

Early Church History website

Early Church History—Life in Ancient Rome & The Early Christians - EARLY CHURCH HISTORY

Welcome To Early Church History If you’re interested in and searching for information about early church history, you’ve landed in the right place. All the articles, videos and images here are intended to inform, fascinate and broaden your understanding of how the the small band of early...

earlychurchhistory.org

Perhaps it will help you! It seems very approachable in overview.

(Otherwise, I'd have to dig out some real old catechism books from my grade school youth... aaand that won't necessarily make anyone's life easier. Especially for my back digging through ancient storage. )

 

[Armchair Gamer]

A millennia into Christianity, it decided to play 11th Century Schizoid Religion and became the Latin Catholic West and Byzantine Orthodox East.

Although the schism was not unprecedented--see the Photian Schism of the 9th century--nor was it considered unresolvable. There were several councils that attempted union; the major things that solidified it were the sack of Constantinople when the Crusaders went rogue and got involved in Imperial politics during the Fourth Crusade, and most especially the fall of Constantinople in 1453.

I literally have a degree in this subject, so I can address a lot of issues, but I'm so deep into it that I'm not sure where to point someone for an introduction. I own the Merrie England: Age of Chivalry and Robyn Hode books mentioned above, but i haven't read the former closely, and the latter alienated me with a gratuitous and anachronistic focus on the Inquisition.

For some starting points, G.K. Chesterton's books on St. Francis of Assisi and St. Thomas Aquinas are accessible looks at two figures who shaped the High Medieval religious landscape. C.S. Lewis' The Discarded Image is an excellent guide to how educated medievals saw the cosmos as a whole, but it's not specifically religious. The Aquinas Catechism is an introductory theology work straight out of the 13th century by the greatest mind of the Church.

 

[Nobby-W]

Possibly some of the movies/TV series set in and about the medieval church - Cadfael, The Name of the Rose, A Man for All Seasons etc.

 

[SJB]

Guys, let’s have some mercy on Shipyard Locked here. As Umberto Eco himself said books are not made to be believed - and that’s certainly the case with The Name of the Rose. Also, probably best not to dive down the well of early-mid twentieth century Christian apologetics.

The most commonly set introductory book is Malcolm Barber, The Two Cities [i.e. the City of God and the earthly realm] first published in 1992 and still going strong through various editions.

For a fairly recent tour d’horizon there is John Arnold, The Oxford Handbook of Medieval Christianity (2014).

 

[CRKrueger]

A lot of great sources have been named. In addition to the scholarly books like Tristram pointed to, I really have to vote for Cadfael and Name of the Rose. They really give you a day to day. I have the old Merrie England and that was good. Another novel would be Pillars of the Earth. Again, great day to day involvement with the church as a great cathedral gets built over generations.

Aquelarre is a very good resource as it tries to give you specifically what you ask for - a window into the medieval mind. I don’t think you go to the Site much anymore, but there were some good discussions about this back in the day. The medieval stuff in Pundit’s books is pretty good even though his religion is a Christianity-like.

If you want the real stuff, read St. Thomas Aquinas or St. Francis of Assisi, who pretty much ARE medieval Catholicism. Or read the summaries and Cliff Notes. Also interesting to look at are the various heresies, like Arianism and Catharism.

Armchair Gamer is the one to ask, as he’s a Catholic Theologian himself.

Edit: I see he’s also a ninja.

 

[CRKrueger]

Guys, let’s have some mercy on Shipyard Locked here. As Umberto Eco himself said books are not made to be believed - and that’s certainly the case with The Name of the Rose. Also, probably best not to dive down the well of early-mid twentieth century Christian apologetics.

The most commonly set introductory book is Malcolm Barber, The Two Cities [i.e. the City of God and the earthly realm] first published in 1992 and still going strong through various editions.

For a fairly recent tour d’horizon there is John Arnold, The Oxford Handbook of Medieval Christianity (2014).

Barber’s also one to check out if you’re interested in the Templars or the Crusades.

 

[CRKrueger]

One book series that shows Christianity from the view of a pagan is the Saxon Chronicles by Bernard Cornwell. It was made into a TV series as The Last Kingdom.

 

[Shipyard Locked]

I don’t think you go to the Site much anymore, but there were some good discussions about this back in the day.

I still read it from time to time, I just don't post. Can you recall a thread name or should I just type 'Christianity'?

The medieval stuff in Pundit’s books is pretty good even though his religion is a Christianity-like.

I have a few of those RPGPundit books. They are useful, but I often find topics where I feel I need to take an additional step back because they still assume pre-existing big-picture knowledge I don't have yet.

 

[Armchair Gamer]

Also, probably best not to dive down the well of early-mid twentieth century Christian apologetics.

The Chesterton books have a pro-Catholic and apologetic tone, but were written for an audience much like Shipyard Locked--vague familiarity with medieval Christianity, but lacking the specifics or a real awareness of what it looked like to those who lived it. While Lewis may be famous as an apologist, The Discarded Image comes from his lectures as a teacher of medieval and Renaissance literature, the subject he spent 30 years teaching at Oxford and Cambridge.

But thanks for the recommendations on Barber and the Oxford Handbook; I may have to look into them myself.

 

[SJB]

The Chesterton books have a pro-Catholic and apologetic tone, but were written for an audience much like Shipyard Locked--vague familiarity with medieval Christianity, but lacking the specifics or a real awareness of what it looked like to those who lived it. While Lewis may be famous as an apologist, The Discarded Image comes from his lectures as a teacher of medieval and Renaissance literature, the subject he spent 30 years teaching at Oxford and Cambridge.

I rely on this chap for the twentieth century stuff, hope he’s good:

Professor Simon Green | All Souls College

www.asc.ox.ac.uk

Shipyard Locked should avoid him or he will be doing that feared university course!

 

[AsenRG]

Armchair Gamer is the one to ask, as he’s a Catholic Theologian himself.

Edit: I see he’s also a ninja.

So Armchair Gamer is a Deus Vult character?

 

[Armchair Gamer]

So Armchair Gamer is a Deus Vult character?

I looked at Deus Vult (assuming we're speaking of the Mongoose BRP game), but got the impression from the previews that it had too much modern cynicism for my tastes.

 

[Haiku Elvis]

Dungeon, Fire and Sword: The Knights Templar in the Crusades by John J Robinson.
Crusades so of course Christianity plays a big part but focuses more on the political side, how rivalries between kings and religious factions (Catholic Vs Byzantine especially) affected the political landscape.
Not so big on the views of the common man side of things. Bloody fascinating though.

 

[olivier legrand]

A really great movie about medieval Christianity and its attitude toward knowledge & learning:

THE NAME OF THE ROSE

 

[AsenRG]

I looked at Deus Vult (assuming we're speaking of the Mongoose BRP game), but got the impression from the previews that it had too much modern cynicism for my tastes.

Well...I don't remember the text that well*, but I can tell you that the characters are Catholic theologians and basically, ninja. Now re-read your own description in the post I had quoted...


*If the text has less of more modern cynicism than my tastes is irrelevant to me. My group tends to want me to summarize it for them, so if I present it with heaps of modern cynicism, it's going to be there, and if I stress a period approach, it would be there.

 

[A Fiery Flying Roll]

While it's a much later period than you're looking at, the Catholic Encylopedia is really good for church history, heresies etc.

 

[Voros]

The Chesterton books have a pro-Catholic and apologetic tone, but were written for an audience much like Shipyard Locked--vague familiarity with medieval Christianity, but lacking the specifics or a real awareness of what it looked like to those who lived it. While Lewis may be famous as an apologist, The Discarded Image comes from his lectures as a teacher of medieval and Renaissance literature, the subject he spent 30 years teaching at Oxford and Cambridge.

But thanks for the recommendations on Barber and the Oxford Handbook; I may have to look into them myself.

I haven't read the specific Chesterton you recommend but I'm familiar with his essays and some of his fiction and he is a first class writer so for pure pleasure and accessibility of the prose I'd think that would be a good place to start.

Filmwise I'd recommend Tarkovsky's Andrei Rublev, the Czech film Marketa Lazarova and Rosselini's The Flowers of St. Francis.

I'm no historian but they certainly feel authentic in their evocation of the era (defined widely, not exactly sure what qualifies as medieval in the proper sense).

The first two are of course set more in Eastern Europe and deal directly with the conflict of paganism and Christianity. While they are intense, violent and rather grimly poetic, Rosselini's film is appropriately gentle although also a bit more ribald than one may expect.

 

[Lofgeornost]

Medieval Christianity in Practive ed. by Miri Rubin is a really good sweeping overviewof the church's organization, practices, and how those practically affected daily life for those living in th Middle Ages, can't recommend it enough

Amazon product

It is a very fine collection of primary-source material, but perhaps easier to understand once you have the background.

Medieval Christianity is such a large field that many surveys of it nowadays tend to be multi-authored. Two that occur to me are R.N. Swanson, ed., Routledge History of Medieval Christianity (2015) and Daniel Bornstein, ed., Medieval Christianity-A People's History of Christianity (Fortress, 2010). The latter focuses more exclusively on lived religion than the former. Kevin Madigan wrote a single-author survey not long ago: Medieval Christianity: A New History (Yale, 2015).

Although I'm a big fan of Eco's Name of the Rose, both the book and film, I'd not suggest either as an introduction to Medieval Christianity. The book does include a lot of material taken from 14th-century politics and ecclesiastical life, but it's mixed in with a very hefty dollop of postmodern literary theory, and pastiches of everything from Sherlock Holmes to Zadig. If I had to pick one thing that the book is about, it would be 'intertextuality.' The movie jettisons most of this complexity, of course, but in favor of a Gothic view of the Middle Ages. Eco himself wrote some harsh words about the film, which I looked for to quote in this message. Unfortunately, I no longer have the book in which they appeared.

 

[AsenRG]

It is a very fine collection of primary-source material, but perhaps easier to understand once you have the background.

Medieval Christianity is such a large field that many surveys of it nowadays tend to be multi-authored. Two that occur to me are R.N. Swanson, ed., Routledge History of Medieval Christianity (2015) and Daniel Bornstein, ed., Medieval Christianity-A People's History of Christianity (Fortress, 2010). The latter focuses more exclusively on lived religion than the former. Kevin Madigan wrote a single-author survey not long ago: Medieval Christianity: A New History (Yale, 2015).

Although I'm a big fan of Eco's Name of the Rose, both the book and film, I'd not suggest either as an introduction to Medieval Christianity. The book does include a lot of material taken from 14th-century politics and ecclesiastical life, but it's mixed in with a very hefty dollop of postmodern literary theory, and pastiches of everything from Sherlock Holmes to Zadig. If I had to pick one thing that the book is about, it would be 'intertextuality.' The movie jettisons most of this complexity, of course, but in favor of a Gothic view of the Middle Ages. Eco himself wrote some harsh words about the film, which I looked for to quote in this message. Unfortunately, I no longer have the book in which they appeared.

To be fair to the movie, The Name of the Rose is extremely hard to transfer to film as would be most any work by the same author. A lot of the important parts are not in the dialogue, but in the narrator's words, I seem to remember.


Also, guys, a whole lot of the things you're recommending seem to be about Church thought in the Middle Ages. But the fact is that for gaming purposes, it's the folk Christianity that would be far more relevant, IMO...and the two probably had a wide gap, as usual.

 

[Shipyard Locked]

Also, guys, a whole lot of the things you're recommending seem to be about Church thought in the Middle Ages. But the fact is that for gaming purposes, it's the folk Christianity that would be far more relevant, IMO...and the two probably had a wide gap, as usual.

True, a lot of this material appears to be most useful for channeling the sincere priest and learned white magician I mentioned in my first post. However, we don't want to skimp on the tools for portraying the pious peasant, the demi-devoted merchant, and the not-very-bookish noble.

 

[Lofgeornost]

To be fair to the movie, The Name of the Rose is extremely hard to transfer to film as would be most any work by the same author. A lot of the important parts are not in the dialogue, but in the narrator's words, I seem to remember.

That's true, though the film does include narration as well as dialogue. I'll have to see if I can find that Eco quote somewhere...

Also, guys, a whole lot of the things you're recommending seem to be about Church thought in the Middle Ages. But the fact is that for gaming purposes, it's the folk Christianity that would be far more relevant, IMO...and the two probably had a wide gap, as usual.

Well, that was one reason I mentioned Bornstein's Medieval Christianity: A People's History. It's focused more on the experience of being Christian than on theology. Of course, for gaming purposes one might well want some knowledge of more than folk religion. The church as an institution, church courts, etc. could come up in the course of play, and clergy and members of religious orders are almost guaranteed to do so.

 

[Armchair Gamer]

True, a lot of this material appears to be most useful for channeling the sincere priest and learned white magician I mentioned in my first post. However, we don't want to skimp on the tools for portraying the pious peasant, the demi-devoted merchant, and the not-very-bookish noble.

Understandable, and my focus has always been on the official teaching and high theology of the Church, so I'm not so strong on the folk side. But the Aquinas Catechism I mentioned was the Angelic Doctor preaching to a popular Church audience, so that gives you a sense of how the Church was trying to reach them. For a sense of how the stories were received by a popular audience, look for the mystery or morality plays, the most famous being Everyman.

 

[Teotwawki]

I literally have a degree in this subject, so I can address a lot of issues,

While my degrees are not related to the Schism, I was born in staunch Orthodoxy whose foundational identity begins with a loss on a 14th century battlefield of black birds, and then lived my second decade in a deeply Catholic country whose national identity at the time was tied to their long-serving Pope while being crushed by the Soviet. All the while never adhering to either religion despite education in both.

Although their medieval counterparts are vastly different than their practices in the modern days, the past is never really past, especially in places with buildings older than the United States and events that happened in the 1380s or 1560s hold more importance than something that occurred last Tuesday.

Since this isn't about graduate course education, for background material regarding an rpg set in the time period, there are worse starting places than the source bibliography of a well written wikipedia article.

 

[Yeti Spaghetti]

As someone who teaches history, I would just get any college-level western civilization textbook (assuming they're still around) and read the chapters starting with Rome and ending in the middle ages. That should be about half the book. As a western "civ" text, it will give you just enough European Christian history, but also insights into cultural matters and practices.

 

[Baulderstone]

Also, guys, a whole lot of the things you're recommending seem to be about Church thought in the Middle Ages. But the fact is that for gaming purposes, it's the folk Christianity that would be far more relevant, IMO...and the two probably had a wide gap, as usual.

Religious plays are good for that. I vaguely recall one that I read where Pontius Pilate has the Shroud of Turin taken brought to him from Jesus' Tomb, and it gives him the superpowers so he needs take over Rome, but Jesus comes back to defeat him. I can't remember the details, but it was basically Marvel's The New Testament.

 

[ORtrail]

Wait, so this won't be about the converting of an ancient being by the early church?

Catholicism of Cthulhu....

 

[BedrockBrendan]

Let's say I wanted to run games set in European history. Let's say IRL I'm culturally Catholic but my lifetime exposure to the lore of Christianity has been light and patchy. Let's say I'm agnostic, neither believing nor disrespecting Christianity, just wanting to roleplay it correctly at the table.

I sadly don't have time to get a degree on this or catch up on a lifetime of osmotic learning. What are some fast, easy ways to study up on the most relevant behaviors and lore points of medieval Christianity for gaming purposes? What quick books, RPG supplements, sites and videos will help me better pretend to be a sincere priest, pious peasant, or learned white magician?

If you want quick channels like Religion For Breakfast are pretty digestible. There is also a ton of theological content for Catholicism on youtube.

I think Yeti S.'s suggestion of a good western civilization book is a solid first place to start.

A text book on medieval philosophy might also be handy. I think I still have mine somewhere and that really helped me. There is also a ton of free material online if you look up Thomas Aquinas, Augustine or Dante (Dante could be especially helpful if you are looking for lore).

In terms of going deeper it has been a while since I read up on the middle ages (but I did take a number of college courses on it). I would try to find stuff on the early church, the great schism and the reformation. My first thing I go to when I want to bone up on a topic is something like Oxford Handbooks of. I see there is an Oxford Handbook of Medieval Christianity. I haven't read that but that is potentially something to look into.

Also best advice I can give on this kind of question: look up college courses syllabi for Medieval history and Medieval Christianity. That is a great way to find a potential pool of books and articles. Another good resource is Jstor. With a free account you can look at several scholarly articles at a time. If you go to Jstor and search Medieval Christianity you may find something

It also might be helpful to develop some familiarity with the bible if you don't have that. I wouldn't' recommend sitting down and reading start to finish, but picking a handful of key books from it and reading those might be useful). You can also do a little reading on the US Bishop's daily readings on the United States Congress of Catholic Bishops website.

For magic I found books like the Compendium Maleficarum by Francesco Maria Guazzo useful for material I have been working on (more modern than medieval but a useful resource. The Devil Within by Brian Levack is a good book on demonic possession (and Levack also wrote the text book for my medieval European witch craze course, but I can't recall the title at this time)

 

[Toadmaster]

Far from a religious expert, but I devour history.

Just be aware Christianity and "The church" varies quite a bit by region and specific time period. It was not a homogeneous organization. The Scandinavian region had a much softer adoption than other parts of Europe with many of its kings declaring their nations Christian by the late 900s, but being prudent enough not to try and force fierce Viking warriors to change their beliefs overnight so it wasn't until the 1100-1200 that the people in these areas broadly recognized that they were Christian and you find a lot of pagan culture blending into the local Christianity.
The Baltic regions were fairly laid back on the Christian vs pagan relations until the 1100-1200s when a series of crusades were launched by their less tolerant Christian neighbors (mostly modern day Prussia and Sweden).
The Eastern Roman Empire was an entirely separate entity than the Western Roman Empire and this division carried into the present day with the Eastern Orthodox standing as a separate branch.
Christianity in England took a different path than Germany and France, ultimately founding its own variant under the Church of England in the 1500s.
Of course you also have the Protestant Reformation beginning in the 1500s which led to further splits and is heavily based on region with Protestantism being far stronger in Northern Europe than Southern Europe.

These differences can be interesting or result in many distracting rabbit holes to pursue depending on what part you want religion to play in you game. Just a back drop or more central feature.

 

[joetheok]

True, a lot of this material appears to be most useful for channeling the sincere priest and learned white magician I mentioned in my first post. However, we don't want to skimp on the tools for portraying the pious peasant, the demi-devoted merchant, and the not-very-bookish noble.

Perhaps the material in the roleplaying game Chivalry and Sorcery could offer some useful concepts. It offers a fair summary, and also some mechanisms. The current edition is the fifth, I think, but there is good material in the third or fourth editions if you don't want to get spendy on a hardbound volume as a reference.

 

[Shipyard Locked]

Wait, so this won't be about the converting of an ancient being by the early church?

Catholicism of Cthulhu....

You know, sometimes... sometimes I imagine it would be nice to have one, just one modern nerd thing that doesn't have any FUCKING Cthulhu in it. At all.

 

[Vargold]

You know, sometimes... sometimes I imagine it would be nice to have one, just one modern nerd thing that doesn't have any FUCKING Cthulhu in it. At all.

PREACH

 

[soltakss]

I sadly don't have time to get a degree on this or catch up on a lifetime of osmotic learning. What are some fast, easy ways to study up on the most relevant behaviors and lore points of medieval Christianity for gaming purposes? What quick books, RPG supplements, sites and videos will help me better pretend to be a sincere priest, pious peasant, or learned white magician?

Look at Wikipedia, as it gives overviews at the right level for RPGs.

Basically, you have to remember that the Church was independent of Royalty and the State, something that kings tried to stop. That is why you get many foreigners as Abbots, Abbesses, and Bishops, all across Europe, the Church moved people around to get the best people in the right places. Also, Kings and Queens often appointed their favourites into those positions, causing trouble between the Church and State.

Abbots and Abbesses had the same rank as Bishops and controlled their own Abbeys with little real interference. There were a lot of cases where Abbots and Abbesses behaved differently to how the Church or State wanted them to.

Church Law and State Law were different. Many offenses, committed by the Clergy and by normal people, were tried using Church Law, and this caused some tensions.

Monasteries, Nunneries, Priories and Abbeys were incredibly rich, as people used to donate land to them upon death, to reduce their time in Purgatory. The image of the fat friar or bishop from Robin Hood was there for a very good reason. Many of the high-ups were related to Royalty or the Nobility, and they often had not lost their expensive tastes. Each Order had its own Rule, which set out how its members should behave.

Priests of the time were not required to be celibate. Some had wives, others had concubines. King John raised a lot of money by kidnapping these women and basically holding them to ransom.

There were a lot of heresies and movements that were not exactly heresies but came very close. The Crusades sometimes targeted heretical Christians, for example in the South of France, or when the Franks took over Constantinople. Many common people followed Folk Magic Traditions that were descended from ancient pagan traditions. In the Baltic States, paganism was alive and well.

The Schism split the Church into Catholic and Orthodox, making each a heresy of the other, although in the East there were other Churches. Things changed over the years. The teachings of Martin Luther and John Calvin brought about Protestantism, which was a heresy that rocked the Church. You could have places that followed a Protestant Church Law and nearby places that had a Catholic Church Law.

Simon Phipp ( our forum member @

soltakss) did a reasonably serious Medieval England setting book for the BRP system called Merrie England, which portrays medieval spirituality/magic quite well, not only Christainity, but Muslim etc.

Thanks for the mention.

The Merrie England series looks at the time of Henry II, Richard, John and the start of Henry III, so only covers a slice of the Medieval period.

 

[AsenRG]

PREACH

IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH OF CHTHULHU

(Actually, I feel much the same way. But the joke was too good to miss, and when it comes to playing Devil's advocate, it ain't my first rodeo).