Cultural Templates: CoC Dark Ages Homebrew Campaign World

[Zenith Comics Presents...]

Hey there,

So I am using CoC Dark Ages for a fantasy campaign I am running, set in my own world. I wanted to make cultural templates for the characters, along the lines of; people from this realm tend to have these skills, etc...

Has this been done already that I can adapt? Any and all links/info would be super appreciated. 

Cheers!

[DreadDomain]

There are quite a few examples across the BRP line.

• BRP BGB described cultures, including demeanors and clothing, lists cultural weapons and adds two more skills characters can add skill points to during character creation. Stormbringer 5 does it that way. You can get BRP for $22 on drivethrurpg. Basic Roleplaying - Chaosium | Basic Roleplaying | DriveThruRPG.com
• Magic World and RuneQuest 3 have 4 broad cultures, Primitive, Nomad, Barbarian and Civilised, for RQ and, Band, Tribes, Chiefdom and States for MW. Each are assigned cultural weapons and several cultural skills into which skill points can be distributed during character creation. The RQ3 Genertela Box Set went further by then describing cultures like Loskalmi, Orlanthi, Kingdom of War, etc... Note that the Magic World PDF sells for $3 on Drivethru Magic World - Chaosium | Basic Roleplaying | DriveThruRPG.com
• RuneQuest: Roleplaying into Glorantha describes half a dozen cultures (Sartarites, Esrolians, Lunar Tash, Praxian Nomads, etc...) in the core book. They are a lot more focused and specific than what I described above and cover similar grounds (demeanors, cultural weapons, cultural skills, etc...) only move evocatively. A notable difference is that you get specific bonus in your cultural skills (Farm +10%, Broadsword +15%) instead of distributing skill points to them. You can get RQG for $28. RuneQuest - Roleplaying in Glorantha - PDF - Chaosium Inc.
• The Mythras core book uses a high level, more generic approach, similar to MW and RQ3.  Each cultures will have cultural skills, cultural combat styles and cultural passions into which skill points can be distributed. Settings books like Mythic Britain, Mythic Constantinople, Fioracitta and Lyonesse have specific cultures to replace the generic Primitive, Nomadic, Barbarian and Civilized cultures. You can get Mythras for $7. Mythras - Design Mechanism | Mythras | DriveThruRPG.com

All of them would work but of course, if your interest is only is worked examples, it might be steep to pay $20-30 for it. In that case, Magic World or Mythras would be better options. 

The DIY approach would be to describe each of your cultures like this:

Typical description, appearance and clothing: Players could take inspiration for the Personal Description of their characters

Typical religion, ideology and beliefs: Players could take inspiration for the Ideology/Beliefs of their characters

Typical personality and demeanor: Players could take inspiration for the Traits of their characters

Typical occupations: List occupations for characters of that culture to choose from

Languages: List primary and secondary languages

Cultural Weapons: List weapons for characters of that culture to choose from

Cultural Armors: List armors for characters of that culture to choose from

Cultural Skills: A list of 8 skills where players could distribute a number of points equal to their INT characteristic. Alternatively, list skills with a fixed bonus (Climb +10%, Swim +5%, etc)

Cultural Characteristics: Some cultures might be taller (SIZ +10), more educated (EDU +10), more sociable (APP +10) or more.. well you get the idea.

 

[Zenith Comics Presents...]

Outstanding mate!

I have BGB and Magic World, so I'll take a look. 🙂

Your DIY template is awesome, but I'll probably take a look at Mythic Britain as that skews towards the kind of campaign I am running!

Again thanks 🙂