Roleplaying Games | OSR | Medieval

The Oldest Fantasy RPG Setting I’ve Run — Sir Orfeo

13th Hussars horselines and bivouacs [Aire, France]. Photographer: H. D. Girdwood. 1915

We often read and find it writ,

Though scholars rarely talk of it,

Lay stories sung to harp & string

Can frankly be of anything.

Of all the stories that they say

We’ll hear Sir Orfeo’s today.

Sir Orfeo is a medieval retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth — where instead of the underworld you’ve got the strangeness of the fairy realm, Orfeo comes out with his wife, and the whole thing is bracketed by some courtly intrigue.

As a fourteenth century poem, it’s also the oldest fantasy setting I’ve run RPGs in. We know Chaucer owned it; we can assume he read it. And now, you can play it.

The first page of Sir Orfeo from the Auchinleck manuscript. Credit: Wikipedia

Background

It is the middle ages: we are in England in the city of Winchester that once was called Thrace. One year ago, the queen vanished from among a throng of armed men. It is said the Fairy King did take her. The self-same day King Orfeo sent himself into exile, leaving his steward in charge — to assume the crown on learning that the king had died.

Character Generation

Each six months, the steward sends a group of citizens into the wilderness to check on the king. You are one of these volunteers.

Think of the oldest surname you know. Translate this into the job it represents. This is the job of your character. For example, my surname is Smith — I would be a metalworker. Alternatively, you may choose one of the pilgrims from The Canterbury Tales.

Dramatis Personae

• Orfeo, exiled king. He wants to enjoy decadent rule alongside his wife. He waits alone as he fears the fair folk.
• Affleck, steward. She wants to honour God. She waits for her allotted time to ascend.
• The Fairy King, who answers to Oberon. It wants things to be beautiful. It waits on being invited as is only proper.
• Heurodis, stolen queen. She wants to live a quiet life. She waits, encased in frozen time.

Geography

The wilderness beyond Winchester sweeps from meadowed heath, up wooded holt, to high forest. These lists declare what is found.

HEATH.

1. the lake
2. long-broken camp
3. roll D6 on encounters
4. roll 2D6 on encounters
5. a boulder split in two
6. hidden viper

HOLT.

1. a gentle stream
2. the same stream
3. roll D6 on encounters
4. roll D6 on encounters
5. a passage down into a mine
6. landslide

FOREST.

1. a placid stream
2. a wide clearing
3. roll D6 on encounters
4. roll 2D6 on encounters
5. a grafted tree
6. spores bursting from circled mushroom

At boundaries, or landmarks split or grafted, you can step through to the land of fairy. The colours are impeccably vivid. The soil is flat. There are no birds that eyes can see.

Encounters

1. wolves
2. vipers
3. mountain lions
4. bandits
5. a solitary fair one
6. the wild hunt
7. Sir Orfeo himself
8. the wild hunt
9. a procession of silent ladies
10. bandits
11. bear
12. vipers

In each case, randomise the reaction of the encounter. The fairies in particular will express these emotions in extreme.

Writing and design by Sean F. Smith CC BY 4.0

Þe king hadde a croun on hed,

It nas of siluer no of gold red

Ac it was of a precious ston,

As briȝt as þe sonne it schon.