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I can most heartily recommend Ian Mortimer's Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England as an accessible starting place to a lot of day-in-the-life inspiration for Ellesland.
I will look that up, thanks. It's actually easier to run Science Fiction campaigns for that reason. Players seem to know they can't just ring up Holt Fasner and upbraid him for being a megalomaniac. Terry Jones' Medieval Lives, by the way, is also a good starting point for an education of medieval society.
I've probably played D&D more than any other system, and it seems to encourage the monster mash style more than any others. I really like DWs 'fey world' approach - elves
might exist, but virtually no one in living memory swore to actually seeing one, up close. All kinds of 'magic' salves and potions are available for sale at the marker square or fair, but crossing paths with a real sorcerer in a ruined temple or forgotten keep, could be a nightmarish proposition.
Tailoring characters to urban style adventures in the beginning of a campaign, where intrigue and investigation are the idea seems a good idea and at least gives players a chance to get familiar with the dimensions of the game world. But would be barbarian players who want to run around in chainmail britches swinging a zweihander tend to get a bit disappointed when told that their character is a wiry expert at endemic warfare, only fights under favourable terms and would much prefer to stun the other guy with a sling stone before scurrying in with a trusty knife or club for the coup de grace.