Burgs & Bailiffs The Grimdark Crew or all those Burgers & Bailiffs that put their words on paper: Paolo Greco, Mike Monaco, Shorty Monster, Steve Sigety, Jeremy Whalen, Rich Wilson Additional Censorship & Grammatical Orthodoxy: Tim Snider Humble Digital Typesetter: Paolo Greco Laid out on Dæmonic Automatic Machines with LATEX January 2013 Whence Burgs & Bailiffs? Burgs & Bailiffs was conceived as a joke. My friend Michela and I were faffing around the interwebs when she joked how: Life in the Middle Ages was some kind of extremely hard-core RPG that went on for 24 hours a day What happened next is entirely my fault. It all started with a mocked cover, which is very close to what ended up being the cover. Then people asked \is this a real thing?" and, since I'm not able to answer \no" to such a question, it became a real thing with the help of a few good souls that contributed. Without Shorty Monster, Steve Sigety, Jeremy Whalen, Rich Wilson, Tim Snider and Mike Monaco (which could not stop sending me articles) B&B would be much smaller or worse than it it now. Thanks guys. Really. So, here it is, in all its non-peer-reviewed, no concerns for academic accuracy glory. Half of the articles don't even have sources. No pretences, it's just for fun and games. Just some material that we hope will help you grim up your games, mix gravel in PCs' food, stab them in the face and pierce them with arrows, bloodlet and mutilate them, besiege their city, arrest, torture, hang and quarter them. Because we all know they deserve it. Have fun and grim onward! PS: send feedback, typos, rebuttals and complains to [email protected]. PPS: There are going to be more volumes if enough contributors will deliver articles. Paolo Greco 2 Contents Medieval Tournaments: The Real M^el´ees by Rich Wilson 4 Settling Disputes: Ordeals & Trials by Mike Monaco 9 Bowmen, Class & War by Shorty Monster 14 Food Surplus: Cities & Armies by Paolo Greco 16 Medieval Cooking or: What is in that Meat Pie? by Steve Sigety 19 Recipes: Pottage by Steve Sigety and Paolo Greco 21 Pestilence & Putrescence by Jeremy Whalen 22 Leeches, Clysters, and a Hole in the Head: Old School Medicine for Grimmer Games by Mike Monaco 24 The Night Watch by Mike Monaco 29 Further Reading 33 3 Medieval Tournaments: The Real M^el´ees by Rich Wilson The classic image of medieval tournaments is skirmishes with knights attempting to capture of noble knights jousting at the tilt for glory individual opponents. The fighting could then and possibly the favour of a fair lady. Whilst go on to potentially last all day, and the winner this romantic image might bear some resem- would be the side who held the field at the end blance to the chivalric contests of the late me- or who had captured the most opponents. dieval and renaissance period (14th − 16th cen- turies), the original tournaments of the middle If the tournament was being fought `aplaisance, ages (12th − 14th centuries) were an altogether it was considered more of a training excersise; more brutal and ruthless affair. But what makes blunted weapons would be used and the con- a tournament a good scenario for a medieval fan- sequences for being captured were only a few tasy RPG? bruises and dented pride. On the other hand, if it was being fought `aoutrance, the stakes were Dungeons have always been a staple scenario, significantly raised; real weapons were used, because they provide an interesting bounded meaning there was a genuine chance of serious sandbox for the referee to run. They offer the injury or death, and the victor would have the players the adventure and chance of advance- right to claim a ransom and spoils from their ment and riches that they want, but only if they defeated opponents. It was this more risky form are willing to risk their characters' lives. In a lot of the tournament that became most popular of ways, this early form of the tournament can and was where the great knights of the period, offer the same opportunities and more. like William Marshal, could win their fame and The main event in these early tournaments was fortune as well as honing the skills and tactics known as the m^el´ee (this is where the word we that they would need in wars and crusades. In all know originated). These events had more fact, these tournaments became so popular that in common with an all-out battle than the later a number of kings and popes became concerned formalised sporting tournaments, and there were that they were disrupting public order and dis- very few, if any, rules. They usually consisted of tracting the nobility from their duties. This lead a group of knights and soldiers who would ei- to various attempts to ban tournaments over the ther be split into two sides or fight individually years, however these attempts all met with little in a free-for-all fashion. The combat would then success. take place over a set area with the combatants trying to unhorse (if mounted) and capture their Although there were no formalised rules as such opponents. in these early tournaments, there were a num- ber of unwritten, accepted conventions and cus- The tournament would often begin with the toms. Weapons that were explicitly designed to combatants meeting on an open field and charg- deal a blow that could pierce a mail hauberk ing at each other with levelled lances, as per the or shield and deliver a coup de gr^ace, such as norm in battles of the time, before quickly turn- the crossbow, thrusting sword, or dagger, were ing to try and single out another opponent. Af- not allowed. Attacking a knight who was unpre- ter the first ordered charge, the tourney would pared or not in a position to defend himself was usually degenerate into a number of running not tolerated. There were also certain specific 4 Medieval Tournaments:The Real M^el´ees 5 areas in the tournament ground known as recets and war cries. The local magnates would also where no one would attempt to attack anyone be expected to host parties and feasts for the else. This is where knights could go to rearm visiting nobles and combatants. or rest during the fighting and where defeated knights would go to make arrangements with So, as an RPG scenario, the m^el´ee offers the their captors for their ransoms and spoils. Once player characters the chance to win their fame a captured knight had agreed to terms with their and fortune if they are prepared to take the risk. captor, they were then free to reenter the m^el´ee It also gives them the chance to mix with the if they wanted to. local nobility and power brokers directly. From the referee's point of view, all of these opportuni- Tournaments were usually announced a fort- ties arise in a relatively structured event in a spe- night beforehand by messengers carrying word of cific locale; a type of bounded sandbox. the arranged time and place around the country. Outside of the m^el´ee itself there would often be In the following sections there are some sugges- preliminary jousts between the younger knights tions for preparing and running a m^el´ee, as well as a warm up before the main event. as a random knight generator. These rules are As well there would be a review or regars, where presented with Adventure Fantasy Game (AFG) the competing knights would parade in front of in mind, but could easily be converted to your each other and have a chance to call out taunts fantasy RPG of choice. The big questions when prepping a tournament Who's hosting the tournament? The King, Where is the tournament ground? What's a local Lord, a wealthy merchant. ? the terrain like? What are the major features, e.g. towns, rivers, or woods? Where are the Why is it being held? The King wants to recets? distract attention from the simmering conflict in the borderlands, the Lord wants to curry favour What's the competition like? The easiest with his disaffected people, the merchant is a so- way to define this is to set the average level of cial climber trying to ingratiate himself with the the other combatants in the tournament. This nobility . ? average level doesn't have to be comparable to What type of tournament is it? A` plai- the level of the player characters. sance or `aoutrance? A fight between two sides For example, if you want the players to feel like or an individual free for all? Is it being fought they're in over their heads, you could set the mounted or on foot? average level significantly higher. How big is the tournament? How many peo- On the other hand, if your players decide to ple are fighting in the m^el´ee? Are any of the big crash a small tournament being held by a mi- movers and shakers, political or otherwise, in the nor local knight, the average level of the other region attending? combatants might be much lower. You can use Who can enter the tournament? Is it open the random knight generator presented in the to anyone or just knights? Maybe there's a fee following pages to draw up a list of the other to enter? combatants. Running a tournament The regars The tournament begins with the players know who the main favourites are.