Esse on 20/2/2021 at 21:03
Hey all,
I'm looking for some good FM recs for my next Thief binge. Specifically I'm looking for something historical or historical-inspired like Sensut's Dracula series. Horror elements are fine, but I'm a bit tired of horror stuff and would like something more exploratory or with a large rural setting. Any suggestions?
trefoilknot on 20/2/2021 at 21:12
Zontik's Kings Story, perhaps? It's a fictional story, but based on real life places, and there plenty of outdoor exploring in mission 1.
downwinder on 20/2/2021 at 21:39
mech angelo is a great choice
fortuni on 21/2/2021 at 01:49
The only FM based on historical events I can think of is the Bathory campaign by Sensut, but seeing its inspired by a Hungarian noble woman who savagely murdered nearly 600 young women it might contain a fair bit of horror, however I don't remember the campaign being scary, but it was some time ago that I played it. IIRC it's mainly set in a number of castles.
There have been a few FMs based on novels such as The Mask of the Red Death, a gothic horror short story by Edgar Allen Poe, that FM is not scary though, it's actually great fun with a lot of humour in it.
baeuchlein on 21/2/2021 at 04:06
Just as with "Dracula", the Bathory campaign is inspired from historical events, but does not follow them. The Elizabeth Bathory character in Sensut's campaign (which even has a few links to the Dracula campaign) is framed for murders and other misdeeds, but innocent. The (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_B%C3%A1thory) real Elizabeth Bathory is strongly suspected to be a mass murderer, and was declared guilty in trials, but the witnesses' accounts vary much, and some people even think she was the victim of a conspiracy.
Likewise, the Dracula of Sensut's campaign is not as bad as Bram Stoker's, and differs much from (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlad_the_Impaler) Vlad Tepes, who was an inspiration for Stoker's (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dracula#Background) Dracula.
The Nosferatu series of missions by Sensut are the original base for what became his Dracula campaign later on, although the Nosferatu missions were published after the Dracula campaign.
Some FMs are based on real loactions. Zontik is an author well known for doing this, and apart from "King's Story", mentioned above, he also created the "Patriot" campaign, which also has some missions that are set in locations closely matching real-wolrd places, such as the (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mont-Saint-Michel) Mont-Saint-Michel monastery. Some of these missions are located outside of cities, which might fit the "rural" attribute.
There also was a mission made by an author from the Netherlands, I think, playing in his home town of Utrecht. I have forgotten the names of the author and the mission, though.
EDIT: It was "Something up there" by Erik Willems. A short thread on it is (
https://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=57666&p=648315&viewfull=1#post648315) here. The mission can be downloaded from (
http://thiefmissions.com/m/something#m) this page at thiefmissions.com.
Melan on 22/2/2021 at 22:22
Quote Posted by baeuchlein
Just as with "Dracula", the Bathory campaign is inspired from historical events, but does not follow them. The Elizabeth Bathory character in Sensut's campaign (which even has a few links to the Dracula campaign) is framed for murders and other misdeeds, but innocent. The (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_B%C3%A1thory) real Elizabeth Bathory is strongly suspected to be a mass murderer, and was declared guilty in trials, but the witnesses' accounts vary much, and some people even think she was the victim of a conspiracy.
It was a classical perversion of justice, relying on confessions extracted through torture, to bring down a wealthy landowner and enrich her powerful relatives. There is no circumstantial evidence to believe any of it was true. Of course, it makes for a good story. (And mind you, Sensut has done accurate studies of the castles he has depicted in his missions - so there is a degree of historical accuracy to them that's very impressive!)
Esse on 22/2/2021 at 23:33
Quote Posted by Melan
It was a classical perversion of justice, relying on confessions extracted through torture, to bring down a wealthy landowner and enrich her powerful relatives. There is no circumstantial evidence to believe any of it was true. Of course, it makes for a good story. (And mind you, Sensut has done accurate studies of the castles he has depicted in his missions - so there is a degree of historical accuracy to them that's very impressive!)
This is one of the things I'm especially looking for in other FMs. The sheer amount of research put into his FMs is enough to make any history fan giddy. The fact he also looked into the shady testimony and evidence against Elizabeth also caught my attention, subverting it from a typical "Bathory the mass murderess" story.
I'm in the process of downloading suggestions from this thread and playing them. So far, I'm thoroughly liking what people have put out there. I'm still looking for more suggestions, so if anyone has any others, throw them at me! Vaguely-historical or alternate history is also fine!
downwinder on 23/2/2021 at 00:04
spear of destiny is historical and i think there is a couple mission about the holy grail,forgot names of them off hand
baeuchlein on 24/2/2021 at 02:43
Concerning the holy grail thingy, there are some references to the Indiana Jones III movie in various missions, but I would not call that historical. There are two scenes from the movie in "From Beneath the Sands", which I played yesterday. There's also "The Lost Crusade", which also draws some inspiration from the movie.
When thinking about the Vlad Tepes/Dracula theme or Elizabeth Bathory, I am not certain what exactly the truth is. The real history lies several hundred years in the past, and I have heard and read very different accounts of what happened in both historical cases, and these accounts vary much. I will neither believe Sensut nor anyone else knows the truth for certain. Do not confuse this with telling lies - I certainly do not think that Sensut wants to tell us any kind of fake news or blatant lies!
My family has a (long deceased) member who on the one hand was an SS member in Nazi Germany, while on the other hand is said to have been on friendly terms with jewish members of the family throughout these dark times in German history. I guess I will never know what he really thought - I stumbled upon what turned out to be his last will later on, and that also does not fit in with what other members of the family told me about him.
Be careful with anyone telling you he/she knows the truth - reality has a way of distorting images of times long past to something even the best researcher can't make clear again.
