PRAGA MATER VRBIVM

I don't often play RPGs in historical settings, because I go a bit overboard with research. It's far too easy to spend all one's time chasing after minutia instead of actually gaming. But for a long time I've wanted to run a horror/magic game set in Prague during the time of Rudolf II. I always assumed it would be Call of Cthulhu, but then LotFP came along...

So, then: Rudolfine Prague, c. 1601AD. As much as the social chaos brought about by the Thirty Years War (beginning, indeed, with the Defenestration of Prague) makes for an interesting backdrop for a game, I am much more drawn to the relatively peaceful and tolerant times in the city under Rudolf II, and the sheer number of scholars, magicians, alchemists, and charlatans who flocked to the city in those days. This makes a good setting for small cabals of wizards all pursuing their own ends, and possibly being invited into, or running afoul of, Rudolf's court.

As this is a historical setting, I will have to make decisions about the game-world veracity of many of the city's legends. I like the idea that Zlatá ulička is full of alchemists, and a single halberdier patrols the street at night lest they try to escape, but I'm not sure whether or not Rabbi Löw should be the cabalist of legend or the more prosaic (if no less influential!) orthodox Talmudic scholar of history. I tend not to have famous people showing up in games, so this last point is probably moot. But I am rather influenced by literature, so the golem is as likely to be a great automaton of clay (stats per Labyrinth Lord) as it is a strange psycho-spiritual presence (as in Gustav Meyrink's Der Golem).

There has been plenty of ink/electrons spilt about Rudolfine Prague and the Emperor's obsessions with art and magic, so in lieu of writing my own summary, I direct the interested reader here:

http://www.cafeboheme.cz/?p=1321

http://www.habsburger.net/en/chapter/robot-prague-and-elixir-rudolf-ii

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/rupr/hd_rupr.htm

If you read Czech (or are willing to put up with an online translator): http://21stoleti.cz/2004/12/17/alchymiste-a-magove-na-dvore-rudolfa-ii/

If you read German: http://www.zeit.de/2012/04/Kaiser-Rudolf/komplettansicht

Rather than writing out pages of rules and setting notes, I just started playing, and have been working out game-setting information as I go. I will be sharing anything I deem useful to others who might want to try gaming in Rudolfine Prague. When I get enough, I'll collect it all in one place, but for now this is very much a work in progress.

Now, I obviously intend to use my House Rules for Early Modern Magic (which I am still revising/expanding) for this campaign I'm playing, but any other game rules I share for the setting will refer solely to the hardcover LotFP Rules & Magic book as it constitutes a baseline to which all LotFP players may refer (and because I think there's a special level of hell reserved for people who expect you to use their house rules).

For starters, I present Background (Ethnic Origin & Social Class) and Religion tables for PCs and NPCs (heavily influenced by World of the Lost), as well as notes on Language and Money.  Later posts (in the works) will cover names, residences & living expenses, random encounters, and random locations.

Figure 1. A quick trip to the British Library

or

why I don't do much historical gaming

Nota bene : the following tables are my attempt at digesting actual historical facts and figures -- where I could even find them -- down to simple and gameable tables. The ethnic mix of a city of c.60,000 inhabitants cannot be adequately described by a roll of 1d20, and I assume no one will be bothering to roll these details for an NPC unless there is some need or desire to make them interesting. Rudolf II was more interested in alchemy than a census, so demographic details are incredibly vague.

Unlike World of the Lost, these tables are intended for natives and/or residents of the city, not new arrivals.

Background

Table 1: Ethnicity

1d20   Origin     social class*
-----  ---------  -------------
1-4    Jewish     1d20+1
5-9    Czech      1d20
10-12  German     1d12
13     Silesian   1d20
14     Polish     1d20
15     Italian    1d10
16     Dutch      1d8+1
17     Spanish    1d8
18     French     1d12
19     English    1d12
20     Other      1d12/1d20

* mercenaries and soldiers (i.e. most fighters) roll 1d20 for social class regardless of origin; Jewish and Dutch soldiers apply a +1 modifier to this roll.

Notes:
Depending on which source you believe, Jews made up anywhere from 15-25% of the population of Rudolfine Prague. Many Jews fled to Prague after being expelled from Moravia, Germany, Spain, and Austria in the 1520s-40s. If you want a specific national origin for a Jewish character, roll again (1d20 or 1d12+8) on the table with 1-9 being Czech.

Most burghers are Czech, with a significant and influential German minority. The Italians and Dutch had particularly important enclaves, and there were also important groups of French, English and even Scots. Spaniards are most likely connected to the emperor's court, as Rudolf II grew up in Spain. As to the Others, there are small numbers of Hungarians, Serbians, Croatians, Dalmatians, and others residing within the city, but its cosmopolitan nature attracted scholars, artists, magicians, charlatans, &c &c from all over.


Table 2: Social Class

die*  Social Class
------------------------
1     noble**
2-3   gentry
4-6   professional
7-9   merchant
10-13 tradesman
14+   peasant/urban poor

* for PCs and general named NPCs, use the die granted by their origin. For a random bystander in the street, roll 1d30. If an NPC from the upper classes is needed, roll a d12, d10, etc as required.
** The first Jewish noble in Prague, Jacob Bassevi, was only given his title in 1622 by Ferdinand II; in Italy, Josef da Fano may or may not have been made the Marchese di Vellimpendi before this. Most Jewish noble families were not given their honours until after the Thirty Years War. In the 17th century, the Dutch nobility were in decline, and made up a very small fraction of their population. If a 1 is rolled on the social class die for a Dutch character, the referee may choose allow a 1-in-6 chance to be a noble instead of a member of the gentry.

N.B. Social class rolled for PCs has no bearing on their starting wealth. Indeed, it is more fun to explain why your baroness only has 30sp to her name, or your peasant farmer is sitting on a fortune of 180sp.


Table 3: Religion for Gentiles

                Cath*  Prot**
Czech & German
 Noble/Gentry   1-17   18-20
 Prof./Merch.   1-14   15-20
 trade/poor     1-4     5-20
Silesian        1-14   15-20
Polish
 Noble/Gentry   1-4     5-20
 Other          1-17   18-20
Italian         1-20
Dutch           1-2     3-20    
Spanish         1-20
French          1-18   19-20
English         1-2     3-20
*A Catholic priest (0-level human) has a 1-in-20 chance of being a Jesuit, or a 1-in-10 chance if he is a Cleric.

**Specific Protestant Sects by origin (alternate names in parentheses)

Czech (1d10): 1-4 Unitas Fratrum (Bohemian Brethren, Moravian Brethren), 5-7 Lutheranism, 8-9 Calvinism, 10 Utraquist (Calixtines)

German (1d12): 1-10 Lutheran, 11 Calvinism, 12 Zwinglianism

Silesian (1d10): 1-4 Lutheran, 5-8 Calvinism, 9-10 Socinianism (Anti-Trinitarianism)

Polish (1d10): 1-4 Calvinism, 5-7 Zwinglianism, 8-9 Socinianism (Anti-Trinitarianism), 10 Unitas Fratrum (Bohemian Brethren, Moravian Brethren)

Dutch (1d10): 1-4 Orthodox Calvinism, 5-7 Remonstrant Calvinism, 8-9 Anabaptist, 10 Lutheran

French: Huguenot

English (1d10): 1-9 Church of England, 10 Puritanism ; or see England Upturn'd

Language

Rudolfine Prague is a major centre of printing, with books being produced in Latin, Italian, Dalmatian, Czech, Polish, German, Hungarian, Spanish, and Hebrew.

Czech is the language of the lower classes, with German being the language of culture and high society. The Jews were mostly Czech speakers, as evidenced by the prevalence of Czech glosses in Hebrew books. Latin is, of course, the language of scholarship.

Additions & Modification to the Language rules (LotFP Rules and Magic, p.37)

I love the LotFP language rules, if only because they remind me of D6 Star Wars. For the setting I have proposed above, mostly I need to say a few words about what constitutes a "cultural group" of languages based on a character's origin. The rules state that "Spanish, French, Swedish, English, and German would be part of the same 'cultural group' to use a real-world example". A character will know another language in this group if they roll their Languages skill + Int modifier or less on 1d6, and there are penalties for languages outside of it. Even if one isn't using these rules, the notes below should help make sense of deciding which languages N/PCs ought to know.

So, for the list of origins above, there are two broad cultural groups, each with a -1 penalty to languages contained in the other.
group 1: German, Italian, Dutch, Spanish, French, English
group 2: Czech, Polish, Silesian

For simplicity, a Silesian character's native language will be (1d8): 1-2 German, 3-4 Czech, 5-6 Polish, 7-8 Silesian*. These four languages count as an additional cultural group for Silesians, who roll for other languages according to the cultural group of their native tongue.

*The answer to 'What languages were in use in early modern Silesia?' turns out to be much more complicated and sensitive a topic than you'd expect. I'm going with Silesian being its own language rather than a Polish dialect, but note that the only written languages in the region were Polish, German, Czech, and of course Latin.

Hebrew counts as exotic (-2) to characters of gentile origin (but see below), and counts as a cultural group language for all Jews.

Magic-users and clerics may automatically know either Latin or Hebrew depending on their religious background. Latin, Greek, and Hebrew can all be considered to be in the same cultural group for university or seminarian scholars (i.e., no penalties on the Language roll). A Specialist with points in Architecture would also be entitled to have learnt Latin without a roll (how else would one study Vitruvius?).

Cunning folk will usually have their spellbooks in a vernacular language, and may possess Latin grimoires which they cannot read to display their occult knowledge to the punters. A rural priest may not have much (or any) Latin, repeating the mass by rote.

Czechs and lower-class Germans (tradesmen/peasant/urban poor) who are native Praguers or long-time residents count the other language as part of their cultural group. Professional- and Merchant-class Czechs get a +1 bonus to know German, the Czech gentry and nobility get a +2. The upper class Germans were famously ignorant of the Czech language, so they receive no bonus, and the referee may simply opt not to roll for them regardless of Intelligence.

A party of N/PCs should probably all have one language in common, so the referee may need to grant one to the members of any given group for free. This should be either the native language spoken by the majority of the group, or (more likely) German.

Money

Rather than completely reworking the price lists, I advise keeping the standard 1GP=50SP=500CP from the LotFP rulebook. For flavour, the gold piece can be called a zlatý (lit. 'gold', German Gulden), the silver piece can be called a groš (or bílý (white) groš, German Groschen), and the copper piece can be called a krejcar (Kreuzer).

In reality, 1 groš = 3 krejcary*, and a zlatý was worth 60. There was also a malý groš (malý = 'small'), worth half a groš. Another coin, the gold tolar, was worth 1 zlatý + 10 krejcarů (70 krejarů); by 1621 it was worth 90, and had risen in value to 600 krejcarů by the end of the Thirty Years' War. Add into that foreign money and older coins found in treasure hoards, and you'd never be able to compute XP again, so unless you are obsessed with numismatics, game practicality should win out over historical simulation.

* I tried writing 'krejcars', but I just can't do it, so you're getting proper Czech plurals. Numbers of things in Czech are weird for those unfamiliar with Slavic languages; 2, 3, and 4 use one form (genitive singular), 5 to infinity another (genitive plural). So:
1 zlatý, 2-4 zlaté, 5+ zlatých
1 (bílý) groš, 2-4 (bílé) groše, 5+ (bílých) grošů 
1 krejcar, 2-4 krejcary, 5+ krejcarů
1 tolar, 2-4 tolaru, 5+ tolarů

"Drink me"

or, potions and their labels.

This came about as the conflation of two ideas that had been knocking around in my head about fantasy RPG treasure.

NPCs can and should use any magic items in their possession just like PCs do. But PCs often acquire items of whose function they are ignorant, at least for a time. Why then, should NPCs be any different?

Potions are a common and useful treasure, and part of the fun of them has always been figuring them out -- usually by seeing who in the party is brave or desperate enough to drink one without knowledge of its effects. All well and good as a sort of trope, but why is it that no one ever thinks to put a damn label on the bottle?

The following tables can be used whenever potions are found as treasure or carried by encountered NPCs, to determine (separately) whether a potion is labelled and whether or not its owner knows the true contents of the vial. They are written with Lamentations of the Flame Princess rules in mind, but should be easily adaptable to any fantasy game, OSR or otherwise. The base assumptions are that potions of the same type do not necessarily have similar the same colour, taste, etc., and that it is not possible to determine the effects of a given potion from just a small sip. It also assumes that it is possible to have alchemists or wizards examine a potion to determine its nature (for a fee), and that these sorts of persons will naturally be found in larger settlements.  As always, the circumstances of your campaign will take precedence.

The first set of tables deal with the possibility that a potion is labelled. The second set is used to determine how a label is written, and the third determines whether the label is accurate. There is a subsection to determine if an NPC possessing a labelled potion knows what it is, including a chance that they are actually mistaken. There is a separate section at the end to determine if an NPC knows the nature of an unlabelled potion, or one whose label they cannot read.

That the tables are written as though a single NPC is encountered. If an NPC party is encountered, use the modifiers for the single best character in the group -- assuming that they get on well enough to not sabotage their companions. If you're in a hurry to flesh out an encounter, it might be best to ignore the labelling until afterwards, in which case just skip to the end and roll everything on the Unlabelled/Unknown chart.

Step I: Is the potion labelled?

There is a base 1 in 6 chance of there being a label on any given potion bottle. This roll is modified by the following conditions:
+1 if 2 or 3 potions carried/found together
+2 if 4+ potions carried/found together
+1 if property of alchemist, magic-user, or elf (alive or otherwise)
+1 if the encounter is in a city (any size), or town with a resident alchemist

If a potion bottle is unlabelled and in possession of an NPC, skip directly to Unlabelled/UnknownPotions to determine their knowledge of the contents.

Step II: Can you read the label?

If multiple potions are found together, the labelling scheme is very likely to be the same for all of them (roll of 1-5 on a d6). Roll 1d10 on the following table to determine how the potion(s) are labelled. Exact languages will depend on your campaign, of course.

d10 label is written in:
--- --------------------
 1  common language*
 2  ancient language**
3-5 scholarly language**
 6  exotic or monstrous language***
 7  meaningless writing†
 8  incomprehensible mark(ings)††
 9  alchemical symbol(s)†††
 0  a single arcane sigil§

* location dependent; if the potion is found in the ruins of the Lost City of the Zorg, then this would be Zorgese, the same result as rolling a 2. If it is in the possession of a 1st level fighter you meet in the tavern of Adventureville, it's in Common.

** magic-users, elves, and alchemists make a language roll at +3, all others have normal chances. Scholarly languages are often ancient (e.g. Latin in the Middle Ages) but may also be modern languages (e.g. German in 19th century Europe), or even monstrous tongues (Draconic et al.).

*** either a modern language spoken by an uncommon or distant PC race, or the tongue of some monstrous species, local or otherwise.

† writing that offers no clue to contents ('Drink me', 'property of Xarrtog', '8975-A', etc.; roll 1d10-4 for these if you need to know the language of the unhelpful writing, treating results of less than 1 as 1.)

†† only intended for the writer's benefit. Indecipherable by normal means.

††† magic-users and elves make a language roll at +1, alchemists at +5, others at -2

§ magic-users and elves make a language roll at -1, all at others -3

N.B. Language rolls are as described on page 37 of the LotFP Rules & Magic Book. In brief, the check succeeds on a roll of (1 + INT modifier) or lower on 1d6. Rolling to read a potion label will not necessarily imply that a character has full knowledge of the language in question, rather that their familiarity with the tenets of alchemy and magic is such as to provide exposure to ancient and esoteric terminology. LotFP uses the same attribute modifiers as Labyrinth Lord and B/X.

Step III: True or False?

Assuming the label can be read, it will be necessary to determine whether or not it tells the truth. A roll of 5 or less indicates a true label, with the die type determined by the following circumstances:

roll-
1d6  if found in treasure
1d8  if carried by NPC
1d10 if carried by a real arsehole of an NPC

roll label is:
---- ---------
1-5  true
6+   false

If an NPC has a falsely-labelled potion, roll 1d8 or 1d10 (die type as above) on the following table if they are able to read it:

roll result
---- ------
1-5  NPC is ignorant of actual contents: thinks it is as marked
6-7  re-used bottle; NPC knows actual contents
8+   deliberately false label; NPC did it on purpose

Circumstances will dictate whether or not an NPC imparts this information to the PC(s), though rolls of 8+ will almost certainly result in the NPC lying.

Unlabelled/Unknown Potions

An NPC possessing a potion with no label or a label they cannot read will still have a chance of knowing what the potion is. A roll of 6+ indicates that they do know what a given potion is (check for each separately). The die type is determined by their general location at the time of the encounter.

If the NPC is -
In a dungeon: 1d6
In the wilderness: 1d10
In civilisation/home: 1d12

Magic-Users and elves add their INT bonus
Alchemists add double their INT bonus (or only half the penalty)
Characters 5th level or above (of any class) add an additional +1

roll result
---- ------
1-5  unknown
6+   known

The location assumes that potions will be found in dungeons, lairs, etc., and typically must be taken back to civilisation in order to determine their true nature. The closer an NPC is to civilisation, the more likely it will be that they will have managed to identify a potion or pay someone else to do it. If the NPC's reason for being somewhere is more definite than 'random encounter', roll the most logical die type. E.g. an assassin who has tracked the PCs from the city and decides to strike at them whilst they are exploring a dungeon would have a d12 for the civilised area they had been in until just recently.

rumours

An updated version of this post can be found as a page on this site.

The old Traveller Book (& little black books) has a nifty d66 table for generating rumours, which is great for GMs but a bit wanting for solitaire play. For one thing, knowing the truth or falsity of a rumour as it was generated ruins any possible suspense, and leaves the solo player having to decide if their character is desperate/foolhardy/bored enough to check it out (especially if you roll 'information leading to trap').

Using the old Traveller rumours as a starting point, I've created the following tables, which determine the type of rumour, it's magnitude, and its level of truth separately. There's still a bit of interpretation to be done by the player/GM, but when combined with another random idea generator (Mythic, Rory's Story cubes, bibliomancy) it should lead to a more satisfying and less certain gaming session.

Whilst I wrote up these tables with Traveller in mind, they are general enough that, mutatis mutandis, they should be adequate for most RPGs, solo or with a GM.

Using the tables

Table 1 determines the general category of rumour, and tables 2-6 specify it further. Table 7 determines the magnitude of the rumour; there are four separate columns, one of which must be selected before rolling. Finally, table 8 determines how true or false the rumour actually is.

To generate a rumour, first roll on table 1 followed by the indicated table 2-6 to determine the general topic of the rumour. Combine this result with a random idea generator to come up with the actual rumour as stated to your character. Some random ideas or rumour types will suggest other rolls on tables 2-6 to come up with something specific. Use whatever combination works to make a good story.

Depending on the rumour you have produced, roll on one of the columns on table 7 to determine the magnitude of the rumour. The Quality column can be used to decide if the rumour is about something good or bad, assuming your random generator result doesn't lean one one way or the other. The Major & Minor columns can similarly be used to determine a positive or negative DM to any concomitant skill checks and the like; these bonuses correspond well to the Major/Minor columns. The plus/minus column is useful to determine DMs & severity if the rumour suggested by the is obviously good or bad. Record all these results, and you're done.

Table 8 should only ever be consulted once your character(s) have followed up on the rumour.

Example: Margaret, captain of the free trader Norland and solitaire adventurer extraordinaire, overhears a rumour in a startown bar. On table 1, her player rolls a 6, Miscellaneous. Rolling on table 6 comes up with 5, business tip. Since she's looking for speculative cargo to trade offworld, her player rolls on the cargo tables in the main rule book and gets Advanced Machine Parts. Margaret is on a high tech world, so advanced machine parts are available locally. Since she is looking for cargo, this rumour will concern another market for them. The tip could relate either to the purchase price here or the selling price at destination. There's an equal likelihood of either, so a die is thrown to decide: selling price. A business tip is likely to be positive, so her player decides to roll on the plus/minus column of table 7 to determine the bonus DM. A roll of 8 results in a +3 DM for sales. Margaret has heard the following rumour: "I hear that factories on Delaford VII are in desperate need of advanced machine parts. I know a guy who made a killing selling 50t of them there." Margaret's player records the rumour, and notes the +3 sale DM. If she takes a cargo of advanced machine parts to Delaford VII to sell, a roll on the truth table will be called for. A roll of 10 (mostly true) would result in a +2 sale DM. A roll of 6 (mostly false) would mean there's no bonus DM at all, whereas a roll of 4 (completely false) might call for a roll on the plus/minus column to determine a DM penalty for sales. A roll of 2 might indicate that importing machine parts to this planet is a capital offence. It's possible that Margaret could use Investigation or some other skill to determine whether or not the rumour was true, but a business tip like this won't necessarily last long enough for her to find out before it's gone.

Table 1
d6 rumour type
1  clue*
2  background (table 2)
3  fact (table 3)
4  library data (table 4)
5  location data (table 5)
6  miscellaneous (table 6)

* If nothing is currently being investigated, treat as 2, background. Base throw of 8+ to detect the clue; use table 7 to increase/decrease the difficulty. )

Table 2 - Background
d6 backgound of...
1  individual
2  group
3  family
4  government
5  organization
6  world

Table 3 - Fact
d6 about...
1  animal
2  vegetable
3  mineral
4  technology
5  culture
6  environment

Table 4 - Library Data
d6 topic
1  event
2  place
3  phenomenon
4  object
5  literature
6  history

Table 5 - Location Data
d6 location
1  specific location
2  vicinity
3  city
4  region
5  planet
6  system

Table 6 - Miscellaneous
d6 result
1  recommendation to action
2  terminology
3  warning
4  information
5  business tip
6  potential patron

Table 7 - Magnitude
2d6 quality     major minor plus/minus
2   certain death -5    -2      ±0
3   ruin          -4    -2      ±1
4   disaster      -3    -1      ±1
5   difficulty    -2    -1      ±2
6   annoyance     -1     0      ±2
7   neutral        0     0      ±2
8   aid           +1     0      ±3
9   benefit       +2    +1      ±3
10  gain          +3    +1      ±4
11  good fortune  +4    +2      ±4
12  miracle       +5    +2      ±5

Table 7 notes: If major/minor is uncertain, roll 1d6: 1-2 major, 3-6 minor. If the rumour could be either good or bad, use quality and the corresponding major/minor. If the quality is obviously good or bad, use the plus/minus column to determine the degree of goodness/badness.

Table 8 - Truth
2d6 result
 2  deliberately false - trap
 3  completely false
 4  completely false
 5  deliberately false - annoyance
 6  mostly false
 7  mostly false
 8  partly true
 9  mostly true
10  mostly true
11  completely true
12  completely true

Table 8 notes: Library data: DM +1d6 if unfamiliar source, +5 if known and trusted source
If the classic Traveller reaction table is being used, DM +1 if reaction roll was 10+, -1 if reaction 6-7, -2 if below 6.