Role-playing games set in the early modern period (ca. 1500-1800)

 

This is a list of 68 role-playing games published since 1975 that are set in, or draw heavy inspiration from, the period between AD 1500 and 1800. Most are in English, although there are a number of French games and one Spanish example.

I began this list a few years ago and posted it to Google+ prior to that platform's demise; since then,  I've periodically returned to update it and add games as they came to my attention. Many of these games I have not seen in print, but only learned about through online research. The website Le guide du rôliste galactique (https://www.legrog.org/) has been very useful for finding details about many of these, as has Wikipedia. As the list has grown considerably since I first shared it on Google+, it may be worth sharing again. Below is a summary of the list; the full Google spreadsheet (with additional columns of data) can be found here.

The concept of an "early modern period" referring to the period ca. 1500-1800 is commonplace in scholarly circles but is generally eschewed by publishers of popular histories and may be unfamiliar to many. It's admittedly something of a Eurocentric notion but nevertheless a useful one even outside of a European context, insofar as a key defining characteristic of this early "modernity" was the beginnings of forms of European colonialism and imperialism that have so shaped the world over the past half-millennium. As is the case with all such periodizations, historians will continue to argue about its coherence, its beginning, and its end, but the basic formulation is pretty clear. In general terms, the early modern period is understood to mark a rupture from the medieval era that preceded it due to a number of key developments within Europe: the cultural and political consequences of the rapid spread of the new (to Europe) technology of the printing press; the emergence of black powder weapons; the religious schism within western Christianity with the Protestant Reformation; and the advent of overseas expansion to coastal Africa, the Indian subcontinent, the Americas, and southeast Asia.

In the context of role-playing games, the early modern period can effectively by summed up by two tropes: musketeers and pirates. The classic literary exemplars of these tropes can be found, respectively, in Dumas' Three Musketeers and Stevenson's Treasure Island. Other minor themes emerge as well, as can be seen by perusing the list: witch-hunting, political revolution, and empire. 

If the earliest games in the list were designed to reflect real-world history, many others involve the importing of selective aspects of the early modern period into fantasy settings, or the elaboration of an alternative history that allows for the incorporation of fantastical elements. My criteria for inclusion were broad: if, for example, a game set in a fantasy world involved pirates with tricorn hats, black powder weapons, and examples of Hollywood "pirate talk" (i.e., the West Country accent popularized by actor Robert Newton in the mid-20th century), I added it, even if the setting wasn't even remotely connected to Earth history. 

I have no doubt that I've missed many games. I would be glad to learn of them! I am surprised not to have come across any RPGs set in sixteenth-century Japan, for example. But perhaps I have not been looking hard enough. 

En Garde!Game Designers' Workshop1975
BuccaneerAdversary Games1979
Skull & CrossbonesFantasy Games Unlimited1980
Pirates and PlunderYaquinto Publications1981
Taste My Steel!Phantasy Network1982
Privateers & GentlemenFantasy Games Unlimited1983
Flashing BladesFantasy Games Unlimited1984
MaelstromPuffin Books1984
High SeasFantasy Games Unlimited1985
Warhammer Fantasy RoleplayGames Workshop1986
GURPS SwashbucklersSteve Jackson Games1988
Aux armes, citoyens!Cubic 61988
SwashbucklerJolly Roger Games1988
Lace & SteelThe Australian Game Group1989
Pirates (campaign supplement for Rolemaster and Fantasy HeroIron Crown Enterprises1990
Capitaine VaudouCasus Belli / Jeux Descartes1991
GURPS Scarlet PimpernelSteve Jackson Games1991
A Mighty Fortress (AD&D 2e Sourcebook)TSR1992
At Rapier's Point (genre book for Rolemaster)Iron Crown Enterprises1993
Extraordinary Adventures of Baron MunchausenHogshead Publishing1998
Furry PiratesAtlas Games1999
7th SeaAEG1999
Ravenloft Campaign Setting (D&D 3e)Arthaus/Sword&Sorcery [White Wolf]2001
Juego de rol del Capitán AlatristeDevir Iberia2002
50 Fathoms (Savage Worlds)Pinnacle Entertainment Group2003
Pavillion noirBlack Book Éditions2004
1632Battlefield Press2004
Mousquetaires de l'ombrePhénix Édition2004
Northern Crown: New World AdventuresAtlas Games2005
Te Deum pour un massacreÉditions du Matagot2005
d20 Past (d20 Modern supplement)Wizards of the Coast2005
Witch HunterParadigm Concepts2007
Savage Worlds of Solomon KanePinnacle Entertainment Group2007
Pirates of the Spanish Main (Savage Worlds)Pinnacle Entertainment Group2007
Pirates (Runequest supplement)Mongoose Publishing2007
Colonial GothicRogue Games2007
Poison'd: A Pirate RPGLumpley Games2007
Khaos 1795Les 12 Singes2008
Beat to QuartersNeil Gow2009
Lamentations of the Flame PrincessLotFP2010
Clockwork & ChivalryCubicle 72010
All for One: Régime DiaboliqueCubicle 72010
Backswords & BucklersTied to a Kite Games2011
Renaissance DeluxeCakebread & Walton2012
Honor + IntrigueBasic Action Games2012
Terra Incognita - Voyages aux pays de nulle partLes XII Singes/Respell2012
Sabres & WitcheryBeyond Belief Games2013
TenebraeLes XII Singes2013
Solomon Kane 4e éditionOlivier Legrand2013
Pirates & DragonsCakebread & Walton2014
Blood Tide: Black Sails and Dark Rituals (BRP)Chaosium2014
Les lames du cardinalSans-Détour Éditions2014
XVII, au fil de l'âmeJdR Éditions2015
Leaves of ChiaroscuroBennett-Burks Design2016
Mordiou!Chibi2016
Buccaneer: Through Hell and High WaterYellow Piece Games / Fabled Environments2017
FreebootersNight Owl Workshop2017
LexOccultumRiotminds2018
Miseries & Misfortunes, 2nd editionLuke Crane2019
Rapscallion: Ashcan EditionMagpie Games2019
Sea of Thieves Roleplaying GameMongoose Publishing2019
Forts & Frontiers - Feast of the Dead quickstartCampaign Games2019
17th Century MinimalistGames Omnivorous2020
Flames of Freedom Grim and Perilous RPGAndrews McNeel2021
The Dee SanctionJust Crunch Games2021
Nations & CannonsFlagbearer Games2021
Gran Meccanismo: Clockpunk Roleplaying in Da Vinci's FlorenceOsprey Publishing2022
Iron Kingdoms: The Nightmare EmpirePrivateer Presscoming in 2023

One thing the list suggests is the perennial interest in the period and its tropes. In 47 years, 68 games have been published, an average of 1.4 games per year. Pirates, it seems, have always been popular, even before the success of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. 

Above all, the early modern period is the locus par excellence for swashbuckling adventure. Folks try to shoehorn it into their medieval fantasy games, but it doesn't really fit, does it?

Comments

Gordon Cooper said…
Thank you for compiling this list! It's very helpful!

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