From: haslock@rust.zso.dec.com (Nigel Haslock)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: FRP negative stereotypes
Date: 13 Oct 92 23:32:10 GMT
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation - DECwest Engineering


The idea of period folk engaging in a walk through of a campaign episode is
appealing. The idea that such a wlak through could be a FRP gaming session
is also appealing. However, a quick reality check suggests that the result
would be even more fantastic than current gaming sessions.

1. Old abandoned castles are rarer than hens teeth. All the books I have seen
   suggests that stone castles started to be built in the 12th century. This
   may be because of Anglo centrism. Ireland had fortified dwellings
   considerably earlier but these were stone walls around a clump of wooden
   buildings. Continental Europe may have gon to stone castles earlier
   without my noticing.

   Given the cost of stone work, the chances of someone abandoning one are
   slim.

2. Building traps into a castle was not done until late period if at all. The
   main gate usually included murder holes and portcullises. A drawbridge
   might be a see-saw device with the down end dropping into a pit. This
   was not done very often as water from a wet moat would seep into the pit
   and tend to rot the timbers of the bridge as well as weakening the
   foundations of the gate house.

   The donjon would be built with defence in mind, limiting access to the 
   doors. Building booby traps inside a communal home seems silly.

3. The thought that the owners would abandon their treasures inside their
   castle seems equally alien. Apart from which there is the very skewed
   idea of what constitutes valuable treasure. Jewellery is reasonable in
   any age but this is most likely to move with the owner. A treasure trove
   of gold goins is out of the question (in Western Europe) until very late
   as silver was the standard metal for minting coins. A trove of arms and
   armor is a little more likely but again the value of the objects make
   them unlikely to have been carried off.

4. Secret rooms and secret passages are also highly improbable in Viking
   times, with one exception. The irish had a habit of creating what are
   now called souterrains. These were undergrounds rooms with very tight
   entrance passages. Clearly the entrances and exits were well concealed.
   Souterrains seem to have been used both as storage cellars and as redoubts.
   The annals list families being wiped out through suffocation. The sagas
   include reports of digging out caves to get treasures. There are no caves
   in Ireland, only souterrains and burial mounds. 

5. Dating the hoards actually found in Ireland reveals a fairly logical 
   pattern. Hoards are found in or near the viking settlements and date to
   times when the settlement lost a major battle. It would seem that the
   settlers would bury their valuables some distance from home and the
   go and recover tham if they survived the fighting. It appears that
   anything left in the home was invaribly recovered. The native Irish
   idea of wealth was cattle or portable goods (like clothing), because they
   were nomads for half the year. They had no coins even though value was
   linked to weights of silver. Thus native Irish hoards are also rare.
   Church goods were a different matter, which is why the 'monastries' were
   target for raids.

6. AD&D players who enjoy magic free campaigns are non-existant, in my
   experience.

In Conclusion, I agree with William. FRP gaming has no place at SCA events.
Nevertheless, it might be useful to identify the game/dungeon masters and
try to talk them into becoming market place story tellers. Fairy stories
are period and tend to be more fantastic than most gaming sessions.

Direct folks imagination in the direction of a better recreation.

	Fiacha
	Aquaterra, AnTir
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca