Why Historically Accurate RPGs Are So Hard to Do
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In fantasy and science fiction RPGs, especially open world ones like The Elder Scrolls or Fallout series, players are used to random encounters, loot drops and being rewarded for exploration with new new stories, locations, monsters, dungeons and loot. For the most part such a thing is not entirely possible in a real world RPG.
Unless there is a valid reason for interesting loot you really can't justify a randomised loot system in a real world RPG. Likewise you can't feature dungeons or other such locations unless they should actually be there. Naturally you can't populate your world with monsters but you can't exactly feature frequent random encounters either without breaking the realism of your setting.
So how then do you go about creating compelling RPG content in a historically accurate setting? One solution would be to concentrate more on character interaction, choice and consequence than on combat, allowing the player to live and interact within a historically accurate setting without risking either breaking the setting or risking repetition by putting the emphasis on the normal staple of the open world RPG, exploration and combat.
On the other hand, you could take the opposite route and base your game entirely around exploration and combat, sending a character into a strange new world to explore and conquer, like a Conquistador in America, a Portuguese sailor in Macau, an escaped African slave freedom fighter in Brazil, an explorer in the Amazon or any other setting that could make your character a stranger in a strange land. There's also the possibility of an interesting middle ground, setting the game within a lesser known historical period that could be as new and interesting to players as an original fantasy or science fiction world.
