OK, you've piqued my interest. What aspects of the feudalism are you working into your campaign? Would the characters be vassals working a small patch of land for a regional lord?
I predominantly use feudalism in my campaigns. In my current campaign I've turned Divine Right on its head a bit. My kings attained their power by entering pacts with the devil lords of the Nine Hells. No Devil himself sits upon a throne, they prefer to leave the drudgery of mortal governance to mortal drudges. Theses infernal contracts for lordship are often written to be inheritable among the lower nobility, while the higher titles come under more scrutiny by Asmodeus and his ilk so they tend to be more meritocratic. Kings take time and effort raising their children to be worthy leaders in the eyes of their Overlords.
The current Pact Lord my player characters have been pressed into the service of is entering the final year of his pact. King Theodore, a mere human, has ruled for over two hundred years and is due to die on his eldest son's twenty seventh birthday as per the terms and conditions. The plan is for his eldest to take the throne, but his youngest has sights set on it. The eldest Theodore Drachen II, knows this and is has set about raising loyal knighthoods from the commoners and landless nobility. For while Theodore II was unwavering in his studies and training for ruler ship his younger brother Jared was living it up as only his position could afford and has amassed a cult of personality among the vassals.
So the stage is set for a battle between an enlightened ruler, and a prince of pleasure. Law vs Chaos.My players are still meeting the NPCs and are at current pretty thoroughly indoctrinated but also in a weird twist of fate in lust with the second son.
There's always a certain amount of tyranny in feudalism, so always make sure to play up your lordship's redeeming qualities. My characters current Commanding Officer is drow, and she isn't above putting crossbow bolts through her own soldiers, but they love her any way cause she's pretty, she promotes on merit, and there's this one song about a noble lady and a gardener that always makes her cry. Doesn't hurt that the field medic writes romantic poems about her in the margins of his medical journals.
OK, you've piqued my interest. What aspects of the feudalism are you working into your campaign? Would the characters be vassals working a small patch of land for a regional lord?
Probably not. Adventurers are kind of their own class, above laborers but below lords, and they could get higher up with leveling. I got the idea from our Lord and savior Matthew Coville.
So are we playing with serfdom here? Lords being lords, peasants being as good as property, while your adventures hail from small a class of "freemen" which may include merchants, city folk, and land owners.
This give rises to questions for which there really aren't wrong answers. Are the freemen upstarts or a time honored tradition? Can Peasants become freemen through hard work or politicking? Is the divide a racial one? What about military? Do the freemen lead and the peasants serve or do the lords lead, freemen serve, and peasants are barred from having so much as an overly sharp pitchfork? Loopholes?
There is a section of the DM Guide that deals with these kinds of rewards. Which it and I recommend giving out as quest rewards (as opposed to level awards). Such as Writs of Patronage, Titles, lands, privileges and so forth. I'd give you the page numbers but I've lent my books to a player turned DM.
I recommend putting down a few rules for how your society works and explaining them to your players to get a feel for how they're gonna react to the environment. You could propose that your society affords the peasants little to no rights save for a few loopholes. Then your players could go all Robin Hood, or... think to themselves "I'm going to exploit the piss out this system."
Of course the separation between classes could just be a matter means instead of law. Peasants are peasants because they don't have the resources to be anything else while your middle class adventures have earned or stumbled upon the means to get some sturdy armor, sharp weapons and snacks for the road.
I would also say to "remind" your players that the peasants that are working the land are trash, compared to you. Classicism is a very real thing in those ages. For the most part, if your players are compassionate to peasants, they need a reason to want to care for them. Some of my games are close enough to feudalism, and they are pretty fun.
I would also say to "remind" your players that the peasants that are working the land are trash, compared to you. Classicism is a very real thing in those ages. For the most part, if your players are compassionate to peasants, they need a reason to want to care for them. Some of my games are close enough to feudalism, and they are pretty fun.
Yeah, I was worried about how the players would treat the classes with modern beliefs. It's similar to how characters act super enlightened towards various social justice issues, without any explanation as to how all of them basically got modern beliefs. I could see someone with a backstory about, say, being a farmer pre-adventuring, would be sympathetic towards peasants, but why is your noble-background fighter realizing the evils of what's going on?
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For god's sake. Find a hobby or something. Sheesh. Please stop using this font.
I run into that rarely but it tends to be pretty easy (at least with my group) to just stop and say "This how this society works, your character's never seen a different let alone a better way." Last time this came up I'd flogged a player character who knowingly endangered her comrades and a rather tenuous peace between to kingdoms. The whole party wanted to fight back saying it was "cruel and unusual" punishment. To which I replied "You're in the middle ages, this is THE usual punishment."
Though the pit fall in getting it drilled into the parties head that they are above the peasantry is when you want them to come to the aid of the peasant for plot purposes and they say unto the poor beaten beggar "Nah, got better things to do." Unless you want that. Starting off with a bunch of aloof noble asses and through the course of adventure bringing them around to the common plight of their fellow man is an interesting story arc.
Feudalism is a relatively broad term and in a fantasy setting you can explore that to the fullest.
I think the basic question to ask at start is: how dark and gritty do you want your setting to be? Feudalism can be interpreted as oaths and obligations. In the dark and gritty spectrum that is serfdom, oppression and a generally miserable life (by our standards at least) for a vast majority of the population. In the other end you have freemen working the land paying taxes (of some kind) and having sworn an oath to take up arms (bowmen, infantry etc) when their lord demands it.
Both options, and any in between, can of course span a continent, like it did in medieval Europe.
Furthermore, in both versions you can, if you want, use cities as the polar opposite, if that creates more opportunities for a fun campaign. In the former setting they can be havens of freedom from oppression and a place to carve out your own future, as a rich town with its ample taxes can be protected by the crown and religious orders. In the later setting you could have cities more akin to the situation for many laborers post industrial revolution.
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In my game, I am thinking of having a feudal system. Have any of you had success writing one into your world? Tell me about it!
OK, you've piqued my interest. What aspects of the feudalism are you working into your campaign? Would the characters be vassals working a small patch of land for a regional lord?
"Not all those who wander are lost"
I predominantly use feudalism in my campaigns. In my current campaign I've turned Divine Right on its head a bit. My kings attained their power by entering pacts with the devil lords of the Nine Hells. No Devil himself sits upon a throne, they prefer to leave the drudgery of mortal governance to mortal drudges. Theses infernal contracts for lordship are often written to be inheritable among the lower nobility, while the higher titles come under more scrutiny by Asmodeus and his ilk so they tend to be more meritocratic. Kings take time and effort raising their children to be worthy leaders in the eyes of their Overlords.
The current Pact Lord my player characters have been pressed into the service of is entering the final year of his pact. King Theodore, a mere human, has ruled for over two hundred years and is due to die on his eldest son's twenty seventh birthday as per the terms and conditions. The plan is for his eldest to take the throne, but his youngest has sights set on it. The eldest Theodore Drachen II, knows this and is has set about raising loyal knighthoods from the commoners and landless nobility. For while Theodore II was unwavering in his studies and training for ruler ship his younger brother Jared was living it up as only his position could afford and has amassed a cult of personality among the vassals.
So the stage is set for a battle between an enlightened ruler, and a prince of pleasure. Law vs Chaos.My players are still meeting the NPCs and are at current pretty thoroughly indoctrinated but also in a weird twist of fate in lust with the second son.
There's always a certain amount of tyranny in feudalism, so always make sure to play up your lordship's redeeming qualities. My characters current Commanding Officer is drow, and she isn't above putting crossbow bolts through her own soldiers, but they love her any way cause she's pretty, she promotes on merit, and there's this one song about a noble lady and a gardener that always makes her cry. Doesn't hurt that the field medic writes romantic poems about her in the margins of his medical journals.
So are we playing with serfdom here? Lords being lords, peasants being as good as property, while your adventures hail from small a class of "freemen" which may include merchants, city folk, and land owners.
This give rises to questions for which there really aren't wrong answers. Are the freemen upstarts or a time honored tradition? Can Peasants become freemen through hard work or politicking? Is the divide a racial one? What about military? Do the freemen lead and the peasants serve or do the lords lead, freemen serve, and peasants are barred from having so much as an overly sharp pitchfork? Loopholes?
There is a section of the DM Guide that deals with these kinds of rewards. Which it and I recommend giving out as quest rewards (as opposed to level awards). Such as Writs of Patronage, Titles, lands, privileges and so forth. I'd give you the page numbers but I've lent my books to a player turned DM.
I recommend putting down a few rules for how your society works and explaining them to your players to get a feel for how they're gonna react to the environment. You could propose that your society affords the peasants little to no rights save for a few loopholes. Then your players could go all Robin Hood, or... think to themselves "I'm going to exploit the piss out this system."
Of course the separation between classes could just be a matter means instead of law. Peasants are peasants because they don't have the resources to be anything else while your middle class adventures have earned or stumbled upon the means to get some sturdy armor, sharp weapons and snacks for the road.
I would also say to "remind" your players that the peasants that are working the land are trash, compared to you. Classicism is a very real thing in those ages. For the most part, if your players are compassionate to peasants, they need a reason to want to care for them. Some of my games are close enough to feudalism, and they are pretty fun.
Yeah, I was worried about how the players would treat the classes with modern beliefs. It's similar to how characters act super enlightened towards various social justice issues, without any explanation as to how all of them basically got modern beliefs. I could see someone with a backstory about, say, being a farmer pre-adventuring, would be sympathetic towards peasants, but why is your noble-background fighter realizing the evils of what's going on?
I run into that rarely but it tends to be pretty easy (at least with my group) to just stop and say "This how this society works, your character's never seen a different let alone a better way." Last time this came up I'd flogged a player character who knowingly endangered her comrades and a rather tenuous peace between to kingdoms. The whole party wanted to fight back saying it was "cruel and unusual" punishment. To which I replied "You're in the middle ages, this is THE usual punishment."
Though the pit fall in getting it drilled into the parties head that they are above the peasantry is when you want them to come to the aid of the peasant for plot purposes and they say unto the poor beaten beggar "Nah, got better things to do." Unless you want that. Starting off with a bunch of aloof noble asses and through the course of adventure bringing them around to the common plight of their fellow man is an interesting story arc.
Feudalism is a relatively broad term and in a fantasy setting you can explore that to the fullest.
I think the basic question to ask at start is: how dark and gritty do you want your setting to be? Feudalism can be interpreted as oaths and obligations. In the dark and gritty spectrum that is serfdom, oppression and a generally miserable life (by our standards at least) for a vast majority of the population. In the other end you have freemen working the land paying taxes (of some kind) and having sworn an oath to take up arms (bowmen, infantry etc) when their lord demands it.
Both options, and any in between, can of course span a continent, like it did in medieval Europe.
Furthermore, in both versions you can, if you want, use cities as the polar opposite, if that creates more opportunities for a fun campaign. In the former setting they can be havens of freedom from oppression and a place to carve out your own future, as a rich town with its ample taxes can be protected by the crown and religious orders. In the later setting you could have cities more akin to the situation for many laborers post industrial revolution.