John Harper; I’ve been thinking about honor, insults, face and high society after Sean Nittner posted that clip from the blades rollplay.
Would you have any hints, books, resources, suggestions, ect, on how to bring these elements into the fiction? Where did you learn how the social elements of upper class society function?
/sub
One book recommendation I’d give on this is ‘That Damn’d Thing Called Honour: Duelling in Ireland, 1570-1860’ by James Kelly
Downton Abbey is a surprisingly good show, about the decline of English aristocracy in the 20th century, told through the eyes of nobles and servants. While it’s not the right century for a vaguely late 1800s industrial fantasy England, it gives a very good idea of how the home, parties, travel, etc would be done for the wealthy and their servants. It also gives an interesting look at the nature of noble scandals, and how guarded conversation might be. This show has deeply influenced how I describe the homes and behaviors of the wealthy when my players have been on the prowl. It’s just a TV show, but it’s helps!
Comme Il Faut, a sourcebook for the Castle Falkenstein RPG, is an excellent source for life in the upper classes in a Victorian/Edwardian era. Can’t recommend it highly enough.
That Damn’d thing called honour looks like a right pain in the ass to get as an ebook. I’ll see if I can locate a copy.
Here’s an article I was pointed to that seemed quite interesting.
philpapers.org – Honor for Intro
I wrote my bachelor paper on dueling, I can see if I can still find the darned thing…Might have some English sources in there.
Edit: Here are some sources:
– Baldick, R., The Duel, Chapman & Hall Ltd., London, 1965, 212p
– Billacois, F.,The Duel: its rise and fall in early modern France, Yale University Press, London, 1990, 252p
– Kierman, I., The duel in European history: Honour and Reign of the Aristocracy, Oxford Univsersity Press,Oxford, 1988, 348p