Topic: The Crusades

[peacekeeper_b]

Lastly I want to reiterate that the idea of good vs evil is based upon what view and side you are one. The religion of Jove decalres sorcerous magic to be in general evil, therefore its practitioners are evil and so on.

Thats how it normally goes in the world when there is no real distinction between good and evil. There are no good or evil deeds or people but just different sides. Civilian-massacring, pillaging mob can be seen as the good guys. Even if you extort money by threats and still massacre your victims after getting that money you can still be seen as good.

But, I have to beg to differ. Good and evil really exist. If you murder and steal you are evil. Its not just a matter of opinion. It seems to me that many of the good vs evil campaigns are just us vs them.

Oh I agree. Evil is very real. But in the mind set of a 11th century knight when the Pope, who is the voice of god, tells you it is not evil to kill saracens, then you dont think it is evil to kill saracens. The same goes in reverse as well. Both sides of the crusades commited horrid deeds. Both sides had its evil.

And to be fair, I never used the good vs evil comparison. I referred to "the evil magicians" as a point of view of the Jovian Crusaders. I even referred to many of hte crusaders as outlaws, exiles, mercenaries and adventurers. Not people I normally equate with heroes. Lets look at the initial premise of RPG games. The goal was to explore a dungeon, kill monsters and loot its treasure. Which in essence is breaking into someone's home, murdering them and stealing their belongings. But its ok, because they are monsters.

[Nortti]

Historically killing jews and looting their money and property was often more important to crusaders than conquering the holy land. Pope and catholic church actually tried to prevent this and protect jewish population. Often it did not work because it was impossible to find out who the murderers were. This is often conveniently forgotten when crusaders are depicted.

It is true that RPGs are often about attacking monsters and taking their possessions. Reading history it is not difficult to see who the crusaders saw as monsters.

Another question is if we should try to reach historical accuracy. RPGs are about using your imagination so of course you just create a campaign you think would be entertaining and interesting.

[peacekeeper_b]

Historically killing jews and looting their money and property was often more important to crusaders than conquering the holy land. Pope and catholic church actually tried to prevent this and protect jewish population. Often it did not work because it was impossible to find out who the murderers were. This is often conveniently forgotten when crusaders are depicted.

It is true that RPGs are often about attacking monsters and taking their possessions. Reading history it is not difficult to see who the crusaders saw as monsters.

Another question is if we should try to reach historical accuracy. RPGs are about using your imagination so of course you just create a campaign you think would be entertaining and interesting.

Exactly. A campaign based on events similar to the Crusades but that are not the historical crusades.

You should watcht eh Terry Jones Crusades Documentary, he covers that sort of stuff very well.