Offline
As others have said, HoH is definitely not a historical verion of Greece - it's Greek Myth through and through. And great fun.
Offline
Ave!
Grasp. Historical, gritty settings are very... demanding. GM invests much more work. Now I cannot do this because of yelling newborn.
Btw I'm writing setting, quasi-historical one, for Savage Worlds under the name Dwa Miecze (Two Swords), with regard to Battle of Grunwald (1410 one of the biggest battles in Middleages between Poland and Teutonic Order). It's a hard work, even without huge impact on historical truth...
Offline
For a historical setting I would not use the BoL mechanics. For a Mythic Hellas it fits like a glove, though
Offline
For a historical setting I would not use the BoL mechanics
That's right. Historical setting demands more detailed angine to give whole richness of armour, weapons etc. Fast rules are better for furious games - BoL, SW.
Offline
Engine... Hallo! Is any edition here?
Offline
Not true at all. A simple system can achieve that. What it requires is a more deadly system where the characters do not cut against the opposition like cheese, and were a solid blow against your neck cannot be shrugged like it was just a wind breeze that made you sneeze. this has no relationship at all about the detailed-ness of the rules system.
Detailed systems are not necessarily better to capture a historical setting. UIn fact I tend to think they are abysmal at doing so.
Offline
Why did I write so? Historical stuff has it's own characterstic and properties, diversity is unbelievable. To reflect it you need more complex engine. When you want to go along historical way you need more than 2d6 or d10 rules. I see that in this way. BRP is coll to mirror this differences between armours, weapons. Historical prerfection requires such an approach. Eventually one can play without this historical luggage and details. IMO gritty settings doesn't equal S&S style. Ultimately decision belongs to whole playing team.
Offline
For the record, BRP does an awfully lowsy work at recreating reality. 99.99% of the authors of RPGs have no freakin' idea of real life combat of any kind, and it shows. A lot. BRP, D&D Rolemaster... all have some very bad assumptions in their core mechanics. The least detail you introduce the less likely your system fails too badly.
In any case a game with dice will never emulate real world manoeuvres very well, so the more detail you introduce the worse your system is likely to be.
Xavi
Offline
... historical settings and everyday life are alike in many ways. In real life (today and 500 years ago) one cut with a knife results in death or serious gash. So rules should be more complex.
Offline
no freakin' idea of real life combat of any kind, and it shows
It's impossible to reflect whole complexity of life in a several numbers. Life cannot be transferred into maths. Engines are only trying to step as close as it is possible. ARMA society made a few rules od fighting on paper. I don't remember the name of this system...
In any case a game with dice will never emulate real world manoeuvres very well, so the more detail you introduce the worse your system is likely to be.
Golden Mean - balance between reality and complexity. Who is closer? BRP, GURPS, others? I live this question without answer.