"The Riddle of Steel" Resource Thread

[Tywin Lannister]

I think it's time for a resource thread. A thread where we can pool links which can be helpful when it comes to our beloved RPG. Please add a link and a description.

http://www.die-ritterschmiede.de/Historical_Knight_Helmet_Helme/hauptteil_historical_knight_helmet_helme.html

- This site, although in German, has some beautiful pictures of various medieval helmets. Nice to show the players when their characters meet uh.. dudes in helmets :p

http://www.westeros.org/

- A site detailing the various Houses and factions of Westeros, the world of "A Song of Ice and Fire", a setting perfectly suited to our game. The site is inspiring for a Seneschal creating his/her own nobility, heraldry etc.

Allright this is just a slow start. Hope other pool interesting links too.

[Irmo]

- This site, although in German, has some beautiful pictures of various medieval helmets. Nice to show the players when their characters meet uh.. dudes in helmets :p

I'm a bit wary about that site, they make nice photos, but some of their data seems fishy. Their "one and a half" handed swords are all just about 105cm long when a German longsword was about 120cm. And I can't help but think that the helmet they use in their "Lily armor" doesn't fit with the use or large pieces of plate in the armor, period-wise.

[Tywin Lannister]

A few more.

The Art of War:
http://www.chinapage.com/sunzi-e.html

Medieval England:
http://www.britannia.com/history/h60.html

[StahlMeister]

I'm a bit wary about that site, they make nice photos, but some of their data seems fishy. Their "one and a half" handed swords are all just about 105cm long when a German longsword was about 120cm. And I can't help but think that the helmet they use in their "Lily armor" doesn't fit with the use or large pieces of plate in the armor, period-wise.

Well, I think they were just a little bit longer than 120 cm. But there surely also existed a shorter version

[haunted]

Most of my resources tend to focus on story development--I use them to spark plot ideas. I'm not sure if this is the type of stuff you're looking for or not.

Religion
The Encyclopedia Mythica
A resource for a variety of ancienct religions and myths. I'm not an expert on mythology, so I'm not sure how accurate this stuff is, but there is a lot of great reading and adventure ideas.

Sacred Text Archive
A great resource for stealing ideas for the religions of Weyrth.

New Advent - Info about the Catholic Church
A great resource for ideas for the Imperial Church.

Names
Kate Monk's Onomastikon (Dictionary of names)
Great when you need original names.

Adventure Ideas
Discoverers Web
"...all kinds of information found on the web about voyages of discovery and exploration..." Another great resource for story ideas,

Decameron Web
"stories from people escaping Florence at the time of the Plague"

Best of History Web Sites
A resource of resources. Plenty of great links to history sites here.

Plots and Structure
The Nine Act Structure and two plot paradigm
I have found that adventures following this structure turn out to be the most entertaining--especially with TROS's SAs.

The Big List of RPG Plots
None of the ideas are earth shattering, but they have sparked some good adventure ideas.

Enjoy!
Rick

[Tywin Lannister]

Great post, Haunted, loved the Onomastikon (what a name :p)

[Prince of Thieves]

Here's something a link to The Cave.

Where you can link to a fantasy name generator, NPC generator and village generator. NPC-gen is perhaps angled more toward high-fantasy but can be basic enough to adapt to RoS. The Village-gen is pretty cool but sometimes goes down. :(

Hope someone has fun with it.

[Irmo]

The De Re Militari Society for medieval military history:
http://www.deremilitari.org/

List of real-world stats of actual museum rapiers, war swords and two handed swords:
http://www.palus.demon.co.uk/Sword_Stats.html

Björn Hellqvist's word pages, with the Oakeshott typology and a virtual museum, as well as a 'real' dragonslayer weapon.
http://bjorn.foxtail.nu/swords.htm

Database of ancient ships discovered, some with reconstructions:
http://www2.rgzm.de/Navis/home/frames.htm
(a bit ancient for most of Weyrth, but still useable for some of the more primitive realms or other settings)

Official Homepage of the Teutonic Order, with a history of the Order:
http://www.deutscher-orden.at/

[Salamander]

And here are a few pictures of weapons for you to get a good idea of what these beauties looked like...

Albion Armorers; They also have a few cutting videos.[/color]
http://www.albionarmorers.com/
http://www.albionarmorers.com/videos.htm

Arms & Armour; I have my first commissioned piece coming from these guys.[/color]
http://www.armor.com/2000/catalog/catalog.html

Christian Fletcher; a lot of fantasy stuff, but it is beautiful stuff.[/color]
http://www.christianfletcher.com/

LUTEL; I liked their product enough to buy my very first sword from them.[/color]
http://www.lutel.cz/index2e.htm

Manning Imperial; perhaps the best weaponsmith in Orz?[/color]
http://www.manningimperial.com/

Pheonix Metal Creations; I want this guy to make me my schiavona![/color]
http://www.phoenixmetalcreations.com/

Raven Armouries[/color]
http://www.raven-armoury.co.uk/home.html

And for miniatures I stumbled across this site...
The Foundry[/color]
http://www.wargamesfoundry.com/main.asp[/url]