Anachronisms in Live Roleplaying

By James Tweedie

 An anachronism is a thing from another time which does not belong in the present, or in the setting of a story (or a live role-playing game). A wind-up gramophone record player on the sound desk at a nightclub is an anachronism, as is a mobile phone in a Victorian period drama on TV. The question for Live Role-Players is how many, if any, anachronisms should be tolerated? Some obviously ruin the atmosphere of an event, but ironically others are necessary.

Whilst nowadays we are used to 'lavish' and 'sumptuous' period dramas in the cinema and on film, it is only relatively recently (in the 19^th century) that period costume came to be used in the theatre. Shakespeare's histories, from Richard III to Julius Caesar, were originally performed by actors in the fashions of the day. It's also worth noting that many of Shakespeare's tragedies and comedies were contemporary pieces, and so there's no particular reason why they have to be staged in late 16th – early 17th-century costume.

Anachronisms can also be found in the other arts. The renaissance painter Caravaggio portrayed his biblical subjects in the clothes of his time. Derek Jarman's 1986 biopic of the artist plays on this by including 20^th century objects and sounds in some of its scenes. Alex Cox's 1987 film Walker, based on historical events but a metaphor for the civil war then waging in Nicaragua, is also full of intentional anachronisms.

More commonly, anachronisms stem from a desire not to let the facts get in the way of a good story, or just out of laziness when it comes to research. Many Western films set during or just after the American Civil War show characters carrying Colt 'Peacemakers' – not produced until 1873 – and Winchester model 1892 rifles (not even Winchester '73s!). But who cares? It doesn't get in the way of the story. Only pedant would worry about such things.

While a great film,  El Cid (1961) plays fast and loose with both history and fashion: costumes, scenery, weapons and armour are all in a generic high medieval style, when the real Cid lived in the 11^th century and was a contemporary of William the Conqueror. The Moors wield curved scimitars, which in reality they didn't adopt until hundreds of years later – but then audiences would have complained that straight swords were 'unrealistic'. El Cid is shown dying in the successful defence of Valencia from the Moorish king Yusuf ibn Tashfin (who is himself killed), when in fact the two never fought: El Cid passed away a year before Yusuf successfully besieged and captured the city.

Closer to home for most LRPers perhaps, our idea of the legend of King Arthur is largely shaped by Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, first published in 1485. Malory's version is anachronistic: Arthur and his late classical/early dark-age Celtic Briton followers are portrayed as medieval knights in shining plate armour, jousting with lances on horseback.

LRP is not re-enactment, which is concerned with maximising historical reality. LRP is more about free-form storytelling. However, although most LRP games are set in fictional fantasy worlds, these settings draw a lot of inspiration from history. Many games are set in real-world historical periods or close allegories of them.

The worst kind of most anachronism is obvious modern items in a medieval or other historical or fantasy game. Watches, trainers and hiking boots, beer cans and the like all spoil the suspension of disbelief necessary for immersion in the game world. They're an obvious no-no and shouldn't be tolerated by organisers or players.

Language is a more complicated problem. How should your character speak? Can you stop yourself from using modern phrases like 'OK'? Again, historical accuracy is nigh-on impossible. Modern Greeks may be able to claim to speak the language of Homer, but ancient Romans spoke Latin, a dead language. The contemporary peoples of the British isles spoke a family of languages from which modern Welsh, Irish and Scots Gaelic are descended, but which were probably very different. Elizabethan English is easy to understand, but the Medieval form is much more difficult and Old English is a completely different language. A common fudge is to pepper your sentences with archaic words, or to talk in Ye Olde Mocke Byblycalle Speecheth. But since you'll never sound like the real thing, why bother?

Is swearing OK? Apart from the question of whether you're at a 'family friendly' event, you might want to consider whether dark-age barbarians turned the air blue in the same terms you use at the dinner table. An attempt at using real Old Norse words at a Dumnonni Chronicles event a few years ago rapidly degenerated into a Viking swearing dictionary, but at least we could claim authenticity!

Comfort and human necessities mean a few anachronisms are unavoidable. You probably don't want to spend hours boiling dried beans or unrolled oats over a wood fire for your dinner, or wipe your arse with a manky rag on a stick. Quite a few LRPers have reproductions of historical tents for in-character camping, but they say you have to be quite brave and hardy to sleep out in them in bad weather.

However, the area where anachronism is really necessary is in social structure. The hobby is just as popular among women as men, and it wouldn't be much fun for the ladies if their character and role-playing choices were limited by a historically-accurate portrayal of women's rights and prevailing attitudes. Similarly, a faithful recreation of the class system might add great depth to the setting, but it might also turn a lot of people off. Feudal serfs were their aristocratic masters' property as much as ancient and dark-age slaves were.

Apologies if this sounds like an essay in the bleedin' obvious, but it bears thinking about. If you crave realism and authenticity, how far are you prepared to go? At what point do the returns start to diminish and the inconveniences mount up? The answer always lies with you and the games you play.