Zornhau Forums

-To complement the threads for Fiction and for films/tv series.

Looking for history books which, (rather than simply adding to our personal knowledge and ideas of the past), inspire us to 'play an rpg right now', to imagine a campaign or to ponder 'how would that have worked under rule-system-x'.

My first suggestion is Ernle Bradford's The Great Siege: Malta 1565.
An engaging tale of grim determination, courage, religious fanaticism, and brutality.

La Valette surely deserves to be inducted into the Hall of Historic Bastards.

Are you looking for historical fiction, or history texts? I've read a great deal of history texts, but not a great many of them are exceptionally inspiring. I will say, Mike Loades' Swords and Swordsmen is an excellent work.

I've been worming my way through the Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, by William L Shirer lately as well, both as a palate cleanser and as research for something that the third member of the GH team has in the works. I will say it is an extremely compelling rendition of the subject matter, as it gets into a lot of details and nuances that one might have otherwise missed.

I have something of a Norse obsession, so basically anything I read on that subject tends to fill me with a desire to go play a viking game. Vikings makes for a good 'Bastards playtest setting as well, as you have a built in limit for how many things you need to remember at once (no plate, no firearms, fewer proficiencies, etc) and some built in conflicts and drives to play with.

I also recommend checking out The Prince, by Machiavelli. This is literally more historical text than history book, but it paints a fascinating look at the politics and dynamics of the era. I've wound up reading it a couple times at this point, including once right when we began writing up the ideas for 'Bastards.

If you're considering historical fiction, basically anything by Bernard Cornwell is good. I particularly enjoyed his Saxon books, though Sharpe is obviously good as well.

If you want a totally different era, I can recommend Mary Renault's bronze age books, starting with The King Must Die. It is an interesting look at sort of "the historical reality behind the myths," played out as a fiction. Quite good.

The Prince is great, I have to read it again as it have been great many years since I last read it.

Latest history book I have read is "Itämeren merirosvot" (Pirates of the Baltic Sea). Unfortunately I don't think it is translated but according to that Baltic Sea was infested with pirates and privateers for centuries. One especially interesting thing was that state of Sweden got their money for wars using privateers

Agamemnon wrote:Are you looking for historical fiction, or history texts? I've read a great deal of history texts, but not a great many of them are exceptionally inspiring. I will say, Mike Loades' Swords and Swordsmen is an excellent work.

I'm looking for history texts. I tend to read a lot more non-fiction than fiction. As you say, they tend provide knowledge rather than rpg gaming inspiration. But then I've read a lot in support of tabletop wargames.

Swords and Swordsmen looks interesting. Maybe it's time for me to dip my toe into the waters of sword geekdom.

The last history book I read was Najemey's Italy in the Age of the Renaissance. Lots of useful background/setting info but nothing to make you think "that'd be a great starting point for a campaign" or "They'd make a fun NPC".

Next up will be Hopkirks', The Great Game : On Secret Service in High Asia which might prove more fruitful for rpg purposes.

Agamemnon wrote:I've been worming my way through the Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, by William L Shirer lately as well, both as a palate cleanser and as research for something that the third member of the GH team has in the works.

If you fancy a prequel... try Clark's Iron Kingdom : The Rise and Downfall of Prussia, 1600-1947.

Marras wrote: Latest history book I have read is "Itämeren merirosvot" (Pirates of the Baltic Sea). Unfortunately I don't think it is translated but according to that Baltic Sea was infested with pirates and privateers for centuries. One especially interesting thing was that state of Sweden got their money for wars using privateers

Unfortunately my Finnish goes no further than mitä kuuluu and kiitos. Baltic pirates hadn't occured to me before, but where's there's trade, there's bound to be piracy. Medieval Sweden remains a mystery to me. My reading begins with with (what we call) the Great Northern War [ the first time it was proved that marching on Moscow is a bad idea.]

Arrow Odd wrote: Unfortunately my Finnish goes no further than mitä kuuluu and kiitos. Baltic pirates hadn't occured to me before, but where's there's trade, there's bound to be piracy. Medieval Sweden remains a mystery to me. My reading begins with with (what we call) the Great Northern War [ the first time it was proved that marching on Moscow is a bad idea.]

That doesn't help much with the book but it is much more than most can say

About Swedes, those raids were done up to 16th century if not later. But yes, Baltic Sea was a great trading route with lots of Hansa ships.

I read this one as a translation but I'll add Pirate Hunter by Richard Zacks. It's a story of captain Kid.

Marras wrote:I read this one as a translation but I'll add Pirate Hunter by Richard Zacks. It's a story of captain Kid.

Really, just about any book about pirates or pirate hunters winds up being good adventure fodder.

Pirates, man.

True I was a bit worried that I was promoting too much pirate related materia.

Marras wrote:True I was a bit worried that I was promoting too much pirate related materia.

You can never have too many pirates. Have you seen the banner on my blog?

Yes, it's a jolly roger