Probably a long shot but any desire for a discussion about Aquelarre, or any gritty low-fantasy RPGs in a ‘realistic’ medieval setting? I backed the Kickstarter for an English translation ages ago, but nobody seems to be talking about it. Between it being kinda niche outside of Spain and delays due to the head of the project dying unexpectedly it’s hard to find people who know about the game.
This is a shame because I think it’s a really cool setting: Spain during the 14th and 15th centuries where legends, folklore, demons and angels are all real and exist alongside real historical events and people. It looks like a lot of people compare it to old-school Call of Cthulhu (party of misfits investigating sanity-destroying evil and probably dying), but from what I’ve read I think it’s more versatile than that: I’m running my game as an Iberian-themed Witcher setting, where the players are wandering monster/demon hunters who solve supernatural problems for money.
So, anyone wanna talk about how Satan walks among us?
It is a really good game, but your table need to know a fair deal about spanish medieval times, and that is really hard. I mean, I live in Spain, and I need at least one historian player in the group for it to work.
Matthew Sanders
I love Aquelarre (tough I use an aberration version of BRP to play). The bestiaries are top notch too (second edition art is... Spanish-manga aberration, we don't like to talk much about it). Also I think its a bit too deadly for a Witcher like game, the party should have a pair of characters pre-rolled because even the lesser beings can fuck you up.
Parker Kelly
We're all fans of medieval history to some extent, and I'm doing my best as GM to read around the setting and communicate information to everybody. Being a big fan of Crusader Kings 2 seems to help too. What seems to help a lot is comparing and contextualizing with English medieval history and using that as a guide.
Colton Ramirez
The game has an unique style, really charming. The supernatural shit is directly taken from folklore, so it can be really wacky (we´re talking blood-drinking, one-legged head with long hair and big teeth kind of creatures), but well displayed can get you that shiver from the best of CoC. The "sanity system" it´s an spectrum between two factors, rational and irrational. A rational person is someone who believes in the world as they see it, and as the work of God (the "white" magic, prayers and rituals by priests use rational value), while an irrational person believes is very superstitious, believing in a world beyond the normal one, with faes, demons, magic and such (proper magic uses the irrational value)
Justin Anderson
Yeah I love the bestiary, everything is either trying to abduct women or eat you, it captures the weirdness you see in folklore quite well I think.
From what I read it’s definitely too deadly for straight Witcher, so I’m focusing on rewarding preparation and research on the part of the players, and I’ve given them a few things they can do to give them the edge in fights, as well as weakening some of the monsters if I need.
I'm planning fights with monsters to be small scale and climactic, where the players have ideally studied it and formulated a plan of engagement and are well prepared. Plus giving them time to recuperate afterwards.
Joseph Torres
Well, I must confess that I use to play with casual-ish groups, so it can be hard to correct the huge amount of false tropes and misguidings that the average spaniard has about the medieval times.
Sebastian Phillips
I think some of my favourite monsters are the witch-vampire who sucks the blood of children with a weird mosquito proboscis, and the ghoul that makes women abort with its scream, that’s fucking crazy. Plus loads of the fey are variations of "two feet tall hairy gremlin who sings songs and seduces your daughters".
In terms of the rationality/irrationality, the party is a travelling dissident priest (high rationality), an alchemist hobo woodsman (high irrationality), and an old disinherited knight (50/50), so it’ll be interesting to see how the players deal with that.
Zachary Foster
I think my players know just enough about general medieval history that they are very accepting of the setting, the main thing with us is keeping in mind how this is not a generic D&D setting where every town has a weaponsmith etc.
My understanding so far is that the feudal system is very 'tall', with loads of minor nobility who don't actually own much, and relations between the church and state seem like a big deal.
Xavier Foster
You get the right idea then, monsters can fuck you up in most ways than one in Aquelarre, let the players know it. I Really like the Third edition bestiary because it gives you little adventure seeds involving each beast, quite cool to add flavour. Another good game is Ablaneda for the taste, its based in a kind of very low cost monster hunters called the Patrolmen of the Gallows or something like that in English, they are basically a mix of Discworld and GoT nitghtwatch used as chaff for monsters in a Not-Asturias/cantabria Dukedome.
Jaxon Rogers
>Ablaneda Thanks for your faith in me! I'll see how it goes, we had our first session last night and the players seemed to have a good time talking to peasants and investigating an abduction in a small village.
I'll check out Ablaneda and see if I can get any inspiration, that sounds a lot like the kind of game we are aiming for.
Adrian Powell
Turbocasual here, never heard of this before and never been to Spain, but it seems super cool. Is the English version actually available yet, or is that still ongoing?
Ayden Nguyen
So, how would you guys communicate 'historical realism' in a medieval setting? (Spain or otherwise).
My game is set in 1360, which is around ten years after the Black Death, and in the middle or a pretty terrible civil war, so the after-effects of the plague and the ravages of war are probably going to be hanging over the setting. Ruined, depopulated and abandoned villages, roaming armies and poverty are a big deal
The players are travellers so they are often going to be viewed with suspicion and distrust in some places, carrying arms and armour openly is a serious statement, and travelling around is an undertaking in itself.
Chase Jones
The full release has been heavily delayed due to complications, the project lead dying for one. It’s meant to be available from this summer though. I’m running this based on a draft translation manuscript they released to backers a while ago, which is a bit of a headfuck but not impossible.
Connor Jackson
Ah, okay- that's pretty sad about the project lead. I'll wait it out in that case, but I'm looking forward to giving it a shot!
Since I'd have time to kill, any particular resources pertaining to medieval Spain I should read up on?
Camden Reyes
I mostly read wikipedia articles that were relevant to the time period and location my game is set in:
Good luck and have fun! Prepping a campaign in a 'real' medieval time and place is great so far, especially incorporating crazy historical events.
Liam Morris
I thought it was out of print even in Spain. Is it possible to order Aquelarre from the publisher?
Caleb Perry
This looks sick as hell. Wish there was an English translation.
Jacob Hernandez
No, its not oop. Check the publisher, www.nosolorol.com for this and other spanish rpgs (and spanish translations of foreign games, too): Link to akelarre: nosolorol.com/es/3-aquelarre Link to catalogue: nosolorol.com/catalogo
Brayden Cook
Check the link in the OP, full English translation is due this summer (probably)
Isaiah King
Will they release some of the sups? Shame the old ones will never be released, they where some of the best.
Jordan Perez
Not sure, I think a couple of them were stretch goals, but since the project lead died that's probably all up in the air.
