Game of thrones fans

This thread could probably be put somewhere else as I'm gonna be asking a role playing "style" question, but I put it here because it directly relates to the Game of thrones universe. I'm a huge fan of the Game of thrones books, as well as the show. My question is how do most Barbarians style themselves? I realize that they are from the northern wastes, so for my barbarian character that I am conceptualizing, I picture him as being more of a Northman from say house stark, or Umber, rather than your typical scantily clad, fur armored Conan the barbarian. The only thing is that the Northmen from GOT are a bit more sophisticated than your typical "barbarian". So how "cultured" are the barbarians at Knight realms? Are there any that are more like the noble starks, and less like the savage Dothraki??

We have had players play both ends of this spectrum in the past. Honestly they both can work and both can make sense, through either simple diversity or through concept of different tribes.

Thank you James. That will help alot when planning costume creation and backround.
-Jeremiah

As someone on the "scantily clad" side of things, my argument goes as such. It's cold up in the north, so summer's in Travance are crazy hot compared to what she's used to, so she dresses for that. Once winter hits, there will be more layers and cover, but for summer, might as well show a little skin.

And the cultured thing depends on your history a bit. What's his family like? Danae's a cleric, so she's pretty civilized - until battle that is, and that's where the bloodlust and a bit more "savage" nature starts to come out for her. She's also part of a huge family(she's the youngest of 11) so she's very motherly and protective of her friends. But, that's just how I made her. You do what you find best!

I agree with Sister Danae. If you are from Holy crap it's coldland, odds are you aren't wearing long furs in the middle of summer. I always try the visualize what your culture is like and go from there. As the wife of a Barbarian, during the winter I take some of my costuming from my husband. Though Honestly in winter the clad in furs motif is the way to roll. But do what you feel your character would wear. When it all boils down to it you have to be happy with what you decide.

As James said, the types of barbarians can vary. Just remember that Game of Thrones isn't Knight Realms and vice versa. Draw your inspiration from wherever you like & dress appropriately for the character & weather.

I play my barbarian (aella's brother in law) as a relatively cultured man with a very different sort of culture. He's a viking/nordic type of barbarian, unlettered but educated in practical matters like survival and killing things that would eat him, which is also a sort of survival. He wears heavy leather armor and furs, and sometimes various tunics and longer pants since he's used to colder weather (and wearing armor over bare flesh is chafe-inducing)

He creates war poetry and kennings but also wears savage relics of his slain foes. He's generally considered to be honorable, reliable, and utterly brutal when forced to fight.

So yeah, you can play up the honor and stuff as a barbarian if you like. That's how I do it. He's less feral and more from a rough, military-heavy culture that lives and dies on trust.

I'm glad this topic was brought up. I have been considering re-rolling as a Barbarian for my Witch Hunter. I think it would really fit the character in terms him being gritty and the weariness/disdain of magic. Growing up in the harsh North may have hardened him yet he is still civilized. Would this work?

Yeah, it would. Kind of like the Starks of Winterfell

Honestly if you want a great reference to how some of the classic players like Matt White who used to play Lord Fogram, a barbarian actually who became a noble, created their sorts of barbarian culture, the movie "The 13th Warrior" is a great reference. They aren't cheesy barbarians nor are they nobles who happen to have been raised in the north like the Starks are. It is also a great reference for scholars or those who like to roleplay learning a new language.

The 13th warrior is very much how grim comes off at times. I in fact include music from it on my getting into character CD for him

Getting into character cd?

Some people make playlists of music that really connects to their character to listen to. Gets them into their character's state of mind or simply is part of their prep before the game. My playlist is a bit too long for that because it spans my character's time here and has a song for different situations she's been through in Travance and the people who've shaped her into who she is today.

If you want to be a super nerd about things, you can go back to historical sources. I base a lot of how I play my character and what kind of clothes I wear and gear I carry out of history, as the sources and images you can dig up are always going to be more evocative than our own imagination. I play a Celt, and tried to center myself around a 1640 Highlander Scot.

(text wall follows, TL;DR at bottom)

Most of what our idea of barbarian culture is like comes from the Roman descriptions of the Germanic tribal peoples on their borders, and a little bit from the Saxons that Charlemagne warred against. The Cymbri peoples are described as whole nation of straight-up Conan stereotypes; seven feet tall, with long white hair and blue eyes, wielding massive axes and swords while charging naked at their enemies. There is a particularly fantastic account from Marius’s campaigns against them where the younger warriors try taunting a Roman garrison by riding down the snow covered mountain face in front of the fort naked, sitting on their shields like sleds. Evidently the Cymbri women were pretty tough too; they stood behind the warriors during the battle against Marius, urging them onwards, tearing open their dresses (bare bosoms feature often in ancient history) and describing the horrors of being taken into slavery if their men should lose the battle. When the Cymbri were routed, the women tried to rally them, and killed those that kept fleeing and took their weapons, or charged the Romans with knives and clubs or even unarmed and tried to kill as many as possible rather than be captured into slavery.

Less ‘mythical’ depictions can come from the Visigoths or Alaric’s armies around 400-476 CE. They wore patterned trousers, giant mustaches, and carried big, ornately painted shields. The mustache was a big thing – any ‘real’ German barbarian of the time wouldn’t be caught dead without their bad-ass mustache. The Romans describe them as immensely muscular, freedom loving, inured to cold and hunger, and pretty much unwilling to do what authority figures told them to do if they didn’t feel like it. They discussed all political and business decisions twice - once while roaring drunk, and once sober "so that they can deliberate without pretense, but reserve judgement to when they could ill afford to make a mistake." (Tacitus) They had strong traditions of gift exchanging when meeting, and thought of women as holding a direct line to the gods and capable of speaking prophecy (the descriptions are very much of a 'I told you so' kind of prophecy)

The Britons were pretty ‘barbarous’ too, carrying severed heads from their saddles, going bare-chested into combat, bleaching and spiking their hair into this scary hedgehog kind of look. Also, mustaches. Always mustaches.

If you want to get real squirrely, be unique and model yourself after the Cossacks or any other Asian steppe peoples. They’ve got the standard tropes of fur ornamented clothes and such, but have a mid-East feel you can represent with lamellar or scale armors, or clothes stolen/based off of medieval Chinese and Turkic or Kwarismian styles. Additionally, mustaches. It’s a theme that’s fun to follow through tribal peoples – if you’re clean shaven or have a full beard, then you’re probably ‘civilized’. If not, you have a mustache, and the type of mustache you have denotes where you’re from. In this case, central Asian steppe peoples have been documented as wearing anything from Fu Manchus to bushy droopy things. One tomb was unearthed from being frozen solid, preserving the body of the warrior buried there. He was heavily tattooed, and had a waxed handlebar mustache.

Tattoos were big, particular ones on the arms or full sleeves. Ink and needle quality weren’t great, so the extant ones we have are usually a bluish hue with geometric designs or other symbols instead of portraits or modern ‘flash’ style art. For the Germans and Saxons, dying your hair red and wearing it long was popular. The Burgundians greased their hair back with rancid butter, but you could probably just use hair gel. Dozens of hairstyles were used, with maybe only the Mohawk going unrepresented.

Look up Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History podcasts. He uses amazingly evocative language and sources to give you the feel of his subjects. You can get great ideas from the way he describes tribal peoples. In particular, listen to Thor’s Angels (talking about Germanic barbarians), The Death Throes of the Roman Republic (more Germans!), and his series on the Mongols (about the Mongols, obviously, as well as other central Asian steppe peoples).

TL;DR Dress like a punk rock biker. Kick ass, party hard, for tomorrow you die.

Keith_Stratton wrote: ... The mustache was a big thing – any ‘real’ German barbarian of the time wouldn’t be caught dead without their bad-ass mustache.

Keith_Stratton wrote: ... The Britons were pretty ‘barbarous’ too... Also, mustaches. Always mustaches.

Keith_Stratton wrote: ... Additionally, mustaches. It’s a theme that’s fun to follow through tribal peoples – if you’re clean shaven or have a full beard, then you’re probably ‘civilized’. If not, you have a mustache, and the type of mustache you have denotes where you’re from. In this case, central Asian steppe peoples have been documented as wearing anything from Fu Manchus to bushy droopy things. One tomb was unearthed from being frozen solid, preserving the body of the warrior buried there. He was heavily tattooed, and had a waxed handlebar mustache.

Are you f***ing kidding me. This is amazing.

Dude, fucking mustaches.