In no particular order:

1. Go horseback riding (a MUST!).

2. Learn the names for various riding equipment and supplies.

3. Visit an authentic blacksmith's shop. Places like colonial Williamsburg, Virginia are good for this, even if not set in exactly the right time period.

4. Find and wear a replica suit of armor. This is even harder than it sounds; the first thing you will learn is a lesson about the relative sizes of people then and now...

5. Learn fencing. It's good exercise too.

6. Visit an art museum. The Cleveland Museum of Art is one of the best, but if you can get to the Louvre, I won't argue the point. Either way, this is probably the most important thing on the list. While you are there, see the following things:

-- arms and armor
-- clothing and tapestries
-- calligraphy
-- religious relics
-- basically ANYTHING from the middle ages.
-- basically ANYTHING from ancient Egypt, Greece, or Rome. The remnants of a previous time do much to add atmosphere to a campaign.

   This is definitely a biggie. Museums are a veritable cornocopia of roleplaying tidbits. Other things to look for:

-- Coinage (Keep an eye out for size and shape)
-- Scenery (Including Castles, bridges, houses, etc)
-- Maps and Models (of ships, buildings, weapons, etc)

7. Think back to your art museum trip. Imagine everything you saw was some kind of magical item...

8. Read "Beowulf".

9. Read "The Canterbury Tales".

10. Shoot bows and arrows of various types.

11. Read a book about herbalism. "The Magic and Medicine of Plants" from Time/Life Books is one I recommend. In short, if you don't know the significance of, oh, say, the mandrake, you don't know anything about herbalism, even if you think you do.

12. Play chess, even if it is the degenerate modern variety first recorded in 1518.

13. Sleep under the stars. Ask yourself if any self-respecting 15th level nobleman would do the same.

   Sleep under the stars in the rain and see if that ominous looking cave doesn't start to look inviting. Just lay down on the ground for a moment when it's cold and see if you don't look for other shelter. Listen to the noises.

14. Attend a Wiccan gathering.

   Open Circles tend to be done in full regalia to impress the 'norms'. Wicca is generally thought of as religion of the commoner (even among wiccans), what about it would be attractive to commoners.

15. Attend a Roman Catholic Mass said in Latin.

   In Latin, Mass was exactly the opposite of the afore mentioned religious gathering. It was religion for the commoner. How much more arcane could you get?

16. Visit a Gothic Cathedral.

17. Visit an authentic castle. If you happen not to live in Europe, there is a decent replica of one in Loveland, Ohio (!). (If anyone reading this has the address of Chateau La Roche, it would be much appreciated).

   Mine is just as difficult for some but since the castle was brought up .... Visit a village or city with a pre-industrial layout. Check out Venice. City planning wasn't focused on the same things now as it was then. If you can't get there, check out some photos. Buildings don't have beginnings and ends, and the entire city is labryntine for the sake of protection. 'Streets' vary from size to size, growing and shrinking to the point of becoming thoroughfares and crevices, opening up to large 'squares' or closing themselves off against a later built wall. Check out the Doges Palace. Spend some tyme in the armoury, and then proceede to the 'dungeon'. Too cool.

18. Read "The Name of the Rose" by Umberto Eco.

19. See the movie of the same name. A picture is worth 1000 words, and at 24 frames a second, that's a lot.

   That's 1,440,000 Words per minute! Check out "BraveHeart" and "Rob-Roy" while you're at it, and don't pass up the Japanese movie, "Ran", if you run a Japanese culture and can find the flick.

20. Be familiar with the following infamous villains and dastardly events:

-- The Spanish Inquisition
-- Sir Francis Drake
-- The Spanish Armada
-- Savanarola vs. the Medici family
-- The Viking attacks on the Anglo-Saxons.
-- The Huns

21. Find some Medieval recipies. Make and eat them, if you dare.

   Check with your local Society for Creative Anacronism, they can generally help you out with a great number of the things on this list actually.

22. Go hangliding. It's probably the closest thing to a flight spell that we'll ever have.

23. Write with a quill pen.

24. While you're at it, learn a little calligraphy.

25. Learn a bit about the language of heraldry.

26. Learn the names for the various parts of a castle and cathedral. And I mean more than just "dungeon" and "altar."

   Make sure everyone is playing from the same deck. If the High Priest of Cour tells the PC's to meet the page in the sacristy, get the relic, and leave it in a chest in the narthax on thier way out; and they don't know thier narthax from a thorax, then the whole effect is lost.

27. Explore a wild (non-commercial) cave. Consider the difficulty of doing the same in armor.

   Don't stop there, consider all the difficulties. Bring a nice yard long walking stick with you and give it a good swing in some of those passageways. Turn off the light and try to sit there for five minutes; turn the light back on. Suprised? Turn if back off and try to finish the five minutes. Remember the way the cave has total disregard for "levels". Try to stay dry. Try to stay clean (try not to soil your robes.) Try to read while someone else is carrying the light. Try ....

28. Get an illustrated, full-color armor catalogue from an place that makes authentic armor. Sure, the stuff for sale will all cost a lot, but it's the pictures you're after. You may learn a lot just by paging through the catalogue. I once knew someone who had a catalogue like this, but alas, he is lost to the sands of time... Can anyone help?

29. Hear some recordings of early music, ie., that of the troubadours and Gregorian chants.

30. Go wilderness backpacking. Then YOU tell ME if AD&D movement rates make sense.

   This is one of my personal favorites. Especially for you Halflings and Gnomes. :')

31. See a demonstration of falconry.

32. See a demonstration of jousting and swordfighting.

33. See a demonstration of archery.

34. Have your fortune told by a live fortune teller (NOT a dial-in psychic). Whether or not you believe in that kind of thing, the magic is in the presentation, and this is what it's all about.

35. Read "The Pilliars of the Earth" by Ken Follett. It's got lots of sex in it (and this is bad?), and it also has a lot of background on life in medieval England and the building of cathedrals. A fascinating book.

36. Ride a carriage over a gravel, dirt, or courdoroy road.

37. Read anything by Tolkien, but ignore the humans for the most part. Pay attention to the elves, dwarves, halflings, and humanoids. To keep them interesting, the races should all be SPECIAL and UNIQUE, and Tolkien understands this.

38. Take off your glasses. Now consider the importance of adding a PERCEPTION trait to your character sheet. (As a character, my PER score would probably be around 4 or 5 without my glasses). I'll leave it to you to work out the details.

   Did that. I'll be damned if we don't make ten to fifteen perception checks a night.

39. Read the Book of Revelation in the Bible.

40. Read "The Wonders of the Invisible World" by Cotton Mather for information on witchcraft.

41. Read "The Pit and the Pendulum" by Edgar Allen Poe for an idea of what good suspense is like.

42. Read (or see performances of) "Macbeth" and "Hamlet".

43. Forget Monty Python.

   NEVER DEVIL BOY! ... oh, wait, you mean during the game ... ok ....sorry ....

44. Forget "Robin Hood: Men in Tights".

   NEVER DE-- Doh! Sorry, sorry, ....

45. Forget Greyhawk and Forgotten Realms. Fun, yes. Authentic, no. (The same goes for the above two).

46. Consider carefully the availability of coinage in your world. The vast majority of medieval valuables came in the form of LAND and TITLES, not money. Land is the very basis of the feudal system. If you want easily portable valuables, use jewelry or gems. Coins were much rarer than most AD&D fantasy adventures have you believe. Jewelry is more fun, too.

47. See a replica of a medieval ship, of almost any kind.

   If nothing else, check out the U.S.S. Constitution. She's not medieval, but what a beaute!

48. Carry and use a torch, even a Tiki Torch, while trying to do something else.

   Carry the torch and try to spar! Try to throw the torch down for combat and see how well you still see.

49. Read James Michener's "Poland", especially the sections dealing with the middle ages. Heck, the whole thing isn't a bad read anyway.

50. Build a fire without matches or other modern equipment.

51. Remember that most people of the time are illiterate.

52. Remember that most people of the time are short of stature.

53. Remember that most people of the time are superstitious. The existence of actual, working magic will probably do a lot to further this.

   Especially for 'primitive' people. If goblins are so much more primitive than humans, why aren't they frightened to death when the skinniest guy of the enemy starts wielding the power of the Gods? On the other hand, think of how they counter that. If they are superstitious, then they probably have someone whose task it is to deal with those supernatural things, and if magick is real .... then look out adventurers.

54. Remember that most people of the time die young. Adventurers will have longer lives if they can pay for clerical healing, which is vastly superior to any other kind available.

55. Remember that adventurers are extremely rare. Fighters and rogues should be the most common, followed by clerics. Wizards should be the most rare, special, and MAGICAL of all.

56. A list of interesting good guys (and gals) to keep in mind:

-- Charlemagne
-- Joan of Arc
-- Nostradamus
-- Leif Ericsson
-- Thomas Beckett
-- Eleanor of Aquitaine
-- Leonardo da Vinci
-- St. Bede the Venerable
-- Roger Bacon
...any one of these people would make a fascinating addition to your campaign world.

57. Invest in some candles for better atmosphere.

58. Remember the Afterword of the First Edition AD&D DM guide. It is a great loss to the second edition that it was removed, and this sentence in particular is worth repeating verbatim: