Take the tour ×  I am a DM/GM for a role playing game, and I
want to plan a large festival for the game. I want to have it as
authentic as possible, but don't know where to start. From the
various fiction sources I've read I have thought of the
following:    • Jousting   • Archery   • that strength thing at
carnivals today where you hit the lever and it sends the thing
up to hit the bell   • ?  Any others that would have been at a
"typical" festival ranging between about 1000AD-1600AD?
share|improve this question add comment  1 Answer  up vote 5
down vote accepted  Carnivals with games of chance and skill are
mostly an invention of the 19th and 20th centuries. One source
credits the 1893 Chicago World's Fair for the start of the
traveling carnival.  A better choice for the Middle Ages would
be tournaments and hastiludes, festivals showcasing various
sorts of military-based games. Wikipedia's article on
tournaments has a lot of information for you. Their article on
hastiludes doesn't have a lot of depth, but