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Two questions for the community:

1) Anyone worked on a historical setting? European, no magic, just history. (Pop history to be fair)

Using it as a springboard for homeschool history lessons.

2) What recommendations would you have for knowledge skills in such a setting?

Currently I have

Travel (Geography)
Folk (Wilderness, Rural)
Society (Urban, Nobility)
Lore
Martial (Warfare, Tactics)

Open to suggestions.

Theology? This might not be the best name, but this is a very important one, central to life in the middle ages at least.

In my mind I had rolled this together with Lore. Forgot to put this in the original. Lore (Religion,History) is wat I was thinking.

The stuff in parentheses was mentioned as an indicator of where I was thinking. Folk knowledge may not be the best name, for instance.

I'm working on a Late Dark Ages in England & France setting. I think I want to separate Christianity and Pagan Knowledge skills for this. In those times, people didn't openly study/know both.

For Knowledge skills, I'm thinking:

-Geography

-Comportment (getting along in various cultures, settings, & courtly graces)

-Theology (Christianity)

-Paganism (Odinism, Druidism, Mithraism)

-History (names, dates, places, etc....)

I'm not sure about a military history skill, yet.

Education: Would whatever is considered high-learning and the sciences appropriate for the setting.

Geography: Self-explanatory.

Culture: Would cover both cultural norms, societies, and political climates.

Lore: History, legends, stories, religion and theology.

Underworld: Understand criminal figures, groups, and history.

Warfare: Covers military history, tactics and strategies, and knowledge of fighting styles, weapons, etc.

Remember, knowledge in this game covers what you know and understand, and how to research more information.

Craft: (you name it)

Add "mercantile" and "military" to society

I'm not sure if I understood right. You want something to play with your friends or want something more pedagogical, to learn-teach about History?

34 minutes ago, Bellyon said:

I'm not sure if I understood right. You want something to play with your friends or want something more pedagogical, to learn-teach about History?

16 minutes ago, Forgottenlore said:

Could be bizarre to respond... but u made a tricky mistake reading my post

Short answer: you are correct. And my post aren't ignoring your idea at the same time.

Long answer: you can have a game and learn true and important things with, and this don't need to be in the classroom. And you also can learn and have fun at the same time. And if you want to have a game to learn about, probaby it could work for a classroom as well.

So, yes, you can game a game that do both. My question was about if this game would be played just by the guy and hus group or if he want to everyone can play.

There is a small difference in the design aspect, cause a small group of friends of should be happy with some things or aspects cause, you know, they are friends, maybe they don't care about some things, they know each other, etc. But a game that can be played by anyone should have some things done with another mentallity, thinking that anyone could play, even who you don't know, etc.

What level of society do you want to focus on? The knowledge of the Nobility is very different to that of the masses. More than 4 or 5 Knowledge Skills will be excessive. If it’s a game of nobles, or a game for peasants, or a game that covers both is an important detail to work out.

I'd use:

• Folk Lore: What common people know and knowledge about them.
• Faerie Lore: Knowledge about the Faeries
• Education: Knowledge of the classical sciences (Chemistry, engineering, and basic physics).
• Theology: Knowledge about what the divine texts contain and teach
• Religion: Knowledge of the practices and rituals

6 hours ago, Richardbuxton said:

What level of society do you want to focus on? The knowledge of the Nobility is very different to that of the masses. More than 4 or 5 Knowledge Skills will be excessive. If it’s a game of nobles, or a game for peasants, or a game that covers both is an important detail to work out.

By the nature of the game, we will be mixing with both upper and lower class to a degree.

As a teaching tool, this setting is going to be used as a clumsy "Where in time is Carmen Sandiego"-type game. With included disclaimers on how the PC's roles are non historical. The current setting is medieval Europe, but it will change. The skills will remain the same(ish) but the setting will change.

So if it’s a more education based endeavour then why not something like this:

History

Geography

Linguistics

Religion

Society

Sciences

1 minute ago, Richardbuxton said:

So if it’s a more education based endeavour then why not something like this:

History

Geography

Linguistics

Religion

Society

Sciences

And now it seems obvious.

Thank you much, kind forum user. ☺

I doing Dark Albion which has fantasy elements but the knowledge skills should work: university (a university education collected into one much of what you’re looking for in the various branches of education—the ideal was educating broadly, not specialization), lore (for regional folklore and folk history—one knowledge skill that is tied to your home region for content), craft (I use only one craft knowledge skill, but I have several guild careers that would determine, along with background, what this actually included), and Court (because navigating the noble and royal courts was a different kind of education).

On 3/5/2018 at 8:37 PM, HouseBrax said:

Currently I have

Travel (Geography)
Folk (Wilderness, Rural)
Society (Urban, Nobility)
Lore
Martial (Warfare, Tactics)

Open to suggestions.

I'm pretty close to your list as I started using Star Wars RPG for fantasy before Genesys was released, so I stayed pretty close to the Star Wars Knowledge skill list. My skills are:

• Knowledge (Intellect)
  • Burghal : urban (of the city, town, or castle)
  • Education : as in SWRPG, but can only be purchased based on Career or after narrative events
  • Lore : as in SWRPG, without modification
  • Outlands : foreign or unexplored lands (not wilderness, use Survival for that)
  • Pastoral : rural (of the village/hamlet/farm, not the word's religious context)
  • Underworld : criminal underworld (not afterlife)
  • Warfare : as in SWRPG, without modification
• Other Skills
  • Courtesy (Cunning): a social skill related to the mannerisms and procedures expected at a noble's court
  • Siegecraft (Intellect/Agility/Brawn): the design, construction, and operation of siege machines

"Burghal" is evocative (at least for me) of either specifically Anglo-Saxon or generally other Germanic fantasy, so another word may be appropriate for an "urban" knowledge skill based on your own setting. I don't think Folk is necessary: just roll Survival with Intellect. My "Outlands" is pretty close to your "Geography" but I treat it relative to the character (i.e. knowledge about lands which are foreign to your own character). For specifically navigating the world, I would use either Navigation or Survival, depending on the context.