Designers of most fantasy role-playing and strategic games would have had to invent the Middle Ages if they had not existed. Since Gary Gygax first put pen to paper, the ambiance of medieval Europe has provided the vocabulary and paradigms for these games. This phenomenon is not surprising. Such games require the gloom, grit and mystery of an age still wreathed in a mist of adventure and fear. Magic seems more feasible when standing in the courtyard of an 11th century castle at night than in the doorway of an 18th century palace. A stroll through any dungeon tends to confirm any terror imagination can beget.

However, some parts of these trips into the murk of antiquity demand at least a veneer of authenticity. Combat in these games should distinguish between a sword and a mace or between chain and plate armor. An army under a hero should bear some resemblance to the train of a medieval potentate. Designers then must draw on sources that smooth over apparent contradictions between steel and sorcery. Where have they appear to have turned? What are the fundamental wellsprings of their creativity?

Of Chansons and Orcs

Straight history is of little use for game designers. Scholarly work on the Middle Ages seems intent on making the period as prosaic as possible. For information and inspiration, designers use medieval epics, even if they are filtered through such later authors such as Sir Thomas Mallory in Morte D'Arthur. Beowulf, The Chanson of Roland, Das Niebelungenlied provide the gist for fantasy mills in two ways. Heroes and villains show not only their character but also their vocabulary and entourage. Heroes fall not so much through actual flaws but by being too good. Beowulf is too brave and Roland is too loyal. Evildoers are straightforward bad things. Roland's nemesis, Ganelon, has "stinker" stenciled across his forehead from the first stanza that mentions him. Heroes' speech is short, manly and blunt while villains spout long flowery, repetitious phrases.

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