I'm enthused by the noise being made about The Riddle Of Steel, and looking forward to getting a copy when I can.

In the mean time I'm thinking about the design of story elements and keeping it all real, and so I'm catching up on some reading that I'd been meaning to do, and re-reading some things with a very different mind.

What would you read as a guide to the characters you want to create or the stories and events you wish to play with TROS? And why?

Here's my current reading list:

John Keeghan The Face of Battle (Sections on Agincourt, Waterloo, and the Somme dealing with motivations, expectations, and conduct of combatants).

Thomas H. Ohlgren (Editor) Medieval Outlaws : Ten Tales in Modern English (After the riddle of gold thread this came to mind, an entertaining treatment of what outlaws were, including the idea of outlaw heroes. A lot of insight into how the structures of society and politics reflected themselves in individual lives.)

Barbara W. Tuchman A Distant Mirror : The Calamitous 14th Century (Addressing a huge range of concerns and the interlocking of war and trade and religion, states and of individuals. Fascinating reading.)

Sydney Anglo The Martial Arts of Renaissance Europe (Everything from civilian to soldier, legal and criminal, technical and social concerns, so much stuff in here by a noted leading writer.)

Christian Henry Tobler Secrets of German Medieval Swordsmanship: Sigmund Ringeck's Commentaries on Liechtenauer (I'm waiting on my copy but we're using it as a basis for training. It's highly recommended but expensive.)

All of these are available through amazon if you're looking for more detailed revies.

Julian Kelsey.

Hey,

I just found and read a kids' classic called The Trumpeter of Krakow, by Eric P. Kelly. It was apparently first published in 1928.

It's fantastic. Not only is it a pretty good story, but it's chock-full of Polish and other eastern European history, and it provides a detailed view of life in the 1460s. It has sabers and cossacks and alchemy and all sorts of other things.

This book was especially well-timed for me because I've just begun my extended TROS game, set in Zaporovya and involving lots of Sarmat and Zhibaran intrigue. If anyone is setting a game in this part of Weyrth, then I highly recommend it.

Best,
Ron

My last trip to the library produced these two great books:

There was a King in Ireland... collected and trans. by Myles Dillon

Heroes of Serbia by Nada Curcija-Prodanovic

The first is more folk tales and myth type stories, but great for getting a feel for the Irish stories and heroes, while the second is has more basis in reality. It's also interesting to note particular phrases and modes of speech that come up and really define where someone has come from.

Chris

Yeah, the Trumpeter of Krakow is a good one. I uber-highly reccomend the "Trylogia" by Henryk Sienkiewicz, a Polish author from the turn of the century. All of my "slavic" countries are imbued with a great deal of "homage" to this incredible author and his books. Reading them is indespensible for someone that wants to run a good Zaporozhyan/Sarmatovian campaign. Here are a few of his best-known (and easiest to find in English):

The "Trylogia:"
With Fire and Sword
The Deluge (Jake's Favorite book maybe of all time)
Fire on the Steppe

Others:
Quo Vadis? (Which, I might add, won the Nobel prize for literature in 1904)
The Teutonic Knights

I read them in Polish, but the best translations that I've seen of all of the above are by a guy named (I forget his first name) Kuniczak. They are alltogether some of the best books I've ever read. Most public libraries or University libraries will have them if you don't want to buy them. Also note that the first 2 books of the Trylogia don't need to be read in order (though it is probably better that way). They're big and meaty--not light reading, but definitely worth the time.

Going through some old boxes of books and stuff, and I found this:

Artesia by Mark Smylie, graphic novel by Sirius publishing(the guys who do Cerebus and Poison Elves...)

I cannot, cannot, stress how highly I recommend this for RoS reading(especially once the Flower comes out...). It also covers mythology, religion, and scary old world magic as well. I'd also recommend it for folks looking at religion in Hero Wars as well.

Chris