I'm gonna run an rpg with some friends of mine, and I thought 'hey: everyone's crazy about medieval japan and china, but what about korea?' In the interest of it not being left out in the rain, I've decided to set the game in the 3 Kingdoms period of Korean history, where, as far as I've read, Silla, the country I've set as the setting, is under frequent attack from its neighbors and other foreign powers. Also, I've decided to make the players part of the hwa rang. Now, I've done a search for what history might be available, but the most I found was sketchy anecdotes involving hwarang do. So, anyone who might know anything about the period, and the hwa rang, please let me know so I don't just make them Korean samurai , even though that's what they seem to be, really..warrior poets who were administrators in peace time and elite warriors in war time.
I knowthis is a little long, i hope it helps u out ^_^ if not then check this page: http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/History of Korea Three Kingdoms (????) Period In the period 57 BC Centuries: 2nd century BC - 1st century BC - 1st century Decades: 100s BC 90s BC 80s BC 70s BC 60s BC - 50s BC - 40s BC 30s BC 20s BC 10s BC 0s BC Years: 62 BC 61 BC 60 BC 59 BC 58 BC 57 BC 56 BC 55 BC 54 BC 53 BC 52 BC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Events Ajodhya was restored by King Vikramaditya. Second year of Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars: Battle of the Axona Caesar defeats the forces of the Belgae under King Galba of Suessiones. Caesar defeats the Nervii in the Battle of the Sabis. Bak Hyeokgeose becomes the first ruler of the Korean kingdom of Silla. (traditional date) ..... Click the link for more information. to AD 668 Centuries: 6th century - 7th century - 8th century Decades: 610s 620s 630s 640s 650s - 660s - 670s 680s 690s 700s 710s Years: 663 664 665 666 667 - 668 - 669 670 671 672 673 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Events Childeric II succeeds Clotaire III as Frankish king Constantine IV becomes Byzantine Emperor, succeeding Constans II Theodore of Tarsus made archbishop of Canterbury. Silla, led by General Kim, Yoo-Sin, conquers Goguryeo. The Korean peninsula is unified for the first time in its history, under King Munmu of Silla ..... Click the link for more information. , the Three Kingdoms The Three Kingdoms of Korea (Samguk; ??; ??) were the kingdoms of Goguryeo, Baekje and Silla, which divided the Korean peninsula between the 1st and 7th centuries. In 668, Silla conquered Goguryeo after having already conquered Baekje, thus ushering in the Unified Silla period and effectively putting an end to the "Three Kingdoms." Other, smaller kingdoms and tribal states existed before and during the Three Kingdoms period, including Gaya, Dongye, Okjeo, Buyeo, etc. ..... Click the link for more information. of Silla Silla (sometimes spelled Shilla) (??; ??) is one of the three kingdoms of ancient Korea. Silla conquered the other two kingdoms in the 7th century: Baekje in 660 and Goguryeo in 668. Historians sometimes refer to Silla in the period after it conquered the other two kingdoms as Unified Silla. It is believed that Silla was founded by Bak Hyeokgeose in 57 BC. It is known that by the 2nd century a distinct confederation was existing in the south east of Korea. King Naemul (356-402) established a heriditary monarchy. By annexing the eastern half of the kingdom of Gaya state in the 6th century, Silla emerged as a fully grown kingdom. ..... Click the link for more information. (or Shilla), Goguryeo Goguryeo or Koguryo (???; ???; pinyin: Gaogoulí) (1st century BC-668) was a kingdom in southern Manchuria and northern Korea. It is often referred to as one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, along with Baekje and Silla. History According to Samguk Sagi, King Jumong (posthumously called King Dongmyeongseong) ..... Click the link for more information. , and Baekje Baekje or Paekche (??, ?? was a kingdom in southwestern Korea. In Korea, it is known as one of the Three Kingdoms, along with Goguryeo and Silla. It was destroyed by an alliance of Silla and the Tang Empire AD 660. According to Samguk Sagi, Baekje was founded in 18 BC by King Onjo, who led a group of people from the kingdom of Buyeo in Manchuria, to the Han River region in the middle of Korea. (King Onjo also claimed to be a son of the founder of Goguryeo.) During the reign of King Goi (234-286), the state systems of the kingdom were consolidated. ..... Click the link for more information. existed, as well as the minor confederacy of chiefdoms called Gaya (which was eventually conquered by Silla in 562). All three major kingdoms were influenced by China. Buddhism was introduced in 372. In 660 the stronger kingdom, Silla allied with China's (Tang Dynasty) and overthrew Baekje (in 660) and Goguryeo (in 668), and eventually Goguryeo people found new kingdom, Barhae (a.k.a. Bohai). While Silla was forging diplomatic ties with China, Baekje had sustained a close relationship to Japan - and helped build the Nara Period (see Yamato) - before it completely fell to the Silla-Tang alliance. During the Unified Silla period (681 to 935) Buddhism expanded, and culture developed substantially
Here's a good link to an accurate history of the Korean Martial Arts: http://cclib.nsu.ru/projects/satbi/satbi-e/martart/muye.html If you've got Hwrang in there and you're being accurate, they should all be weapons fighters.
As I understand it (big disclaimer) hwarangdo is a modern martial art, relatively speaking. Deliberately plugged into accounts of the hwarang. But from what I've read, the hwarang weren't really that akin to the samurai. They were the male children of the Korean aristocracy. And they were required to learn writing, art, etc. In addition, they were required to learn swordfighting, archery, riding a horse, etc. But in the same sense that renaissance men were expected to learn fencing, dance, riding, etc. In other words, the hwarang didn't constitute an elite military force. They were just getting a well rounded education as young men. In the same way that we have "physical education" prerequisites in school, they had swordfighting and riding. (Granted, there was a greater chance that they might actually have to use their swordfighting. And, as of yet, my volleyball training hasn't come in very handy in a fight.) But what the hell. It's a roleplaying game. Not a history text. Make them the military elite. And introduce the "sulsa." Korean's answer to the ninja, drawn from the best of the hwarang. Maybe that's accurate. Maybe it's not... but it's cool. Stuart
well it certainly is cool..Korea's answer to the ninja? That's a new one on me. It's good reading too; I tried googling it but I kept getting all the hwarangdo stuff instead, and I'm pretty sure I know what that's all about. edit: I looked up sulsa and what's come up is pretty sketchy..not bad for an rpg, though. Assuming sulsa even existed, it seems to me the hwarang were to the sulsa what the samurai were to the ninja: the former group was honorable and the latter was devious. Interesting adversaries to say the least, since I'm gonna keep magic and supernatural stuff to a minimum.
Yep. Me too. The only articles I've ever seen on the sulsa were written by Joo Bang Lee and his family. The creators of hwarangdo. But whatever. It's a cool idea. Out of curiosity, what system are you using? (Yeah, I'm a fellow gamer. Or was.) Stuart
Meh. It probably wouldn't really treat Korea anyway. The original Oriental D&D mentioned "Koryo." But there was very little actual source material or rules for it. You'd do just as well to come up with your own tale of hwarang and sulsa. Toss in a couple of Korean monsters. Shake vigorously and serve.
Good stuff, that. I'm planning on a pretty nifty tale of political corruption and treason, with our heroes the players the only ones that can stop a potential invasion by either one of the other kingdoms or China. Anyone happen to have any info on Korean weapons, though? I know about their straight and curved blades, but not really all that much.
Sweet! I haven't read this book myself, but you may want to take a gander: Fighting Weapons of Korean Martial Arts by In Hyuk Suh and Jane Hallander Probably available through Amazon.
And have a look at this: http://www.myths.com/pub/myths/myth.html Under the section on Korean myths, there are various links. Including one on the hwarang (of course written by Joo Bang Lee now that I'm taking a closer look). Stuart
it's not bad. I actually stumbled across that earlier today. Yeah, Mr. Lee's influence is pretty much everywhere you see -do at the end of 'hwa rang' Oh and the latest version of the story incorporates a band of sulsa assassins. Instead of them being part of the hwarang, they're mercenaries from Paekje who were let in for a bribe to kill Silla's king! Will our intrepid band of heroes discover this dastardly plot? Stay tuned on Saturday, when I hopefully get enough people to run the game
That sounds pretty fantastic. You're definitely going to have to let me know how it goes. Good luck mate. Stuart
