POLL: Biblical-era Middle-East setting

Just want to guage interest before I pour my time into something that may end up only amusing myself (I'm already doing that with Final Fantasy d20, thankyouverymuch. ).

I've recently got a brainstorm for a fantasy setting based loosely off of biblical time periods, cultures, geography, etc. Perhaps blame the Holy Week leading up to Easter.

I imagine it as a volatile world. A vast empire, cold and distant, rules over your home and your family. Religious people hold sway over large tracts of population, morally and materially. Saviours appear, Prophets descend and ascend daily. Revolution is heard in mere whispers in the air, because people get hung for these sorts of things.

I want to plumb the deapths of the Big Three mideast religions, as well as more ancient traditions, less for interpretation and moralization than in the same way that, say, Greek or Japanese myths have been plumbed -- for game inspiration.

I want to make it a world full of intrigue, full of dangerous desert creatures, rife with ancient lost civilizations, brimming with religious passion, overflowing with interesting people. Miracles. Prophets. Faith.

Call it Jerusalem d20. What do I care? I just want an evocative campaign setting out of this!

What do other people think? Good? Bad? Would you use it? Please, tell me. And, if you would like it, how would you like it best? We all know publishing is the best, but I'm not a company. PDF's? In how many different documents? I can make them available in the same area as Videogamed20, I think...

Dont like it...

I have Dm'ed a campaign in earth such as you have proposed.. but it lacked the Ooomph of a magic laden, mystery world of own design or published kind.

I supppose if you took a fantasy take to it it may be somewhat interesting... but then it really wouldnt be true to life either.

If I want to see genocide, racism and a general hatred between religions why should I have to play in that world, when I can open up a newspaper and live in it now....Just my thoughts... I would rather have dwarves and orcs going at it then playing in a "too lifelike" world of Musliims versus Christians.... Too real life for me...My two coppers worth....

"Biblical Era"? That collection of books covers everything from pre-bronze age civilization to mid-iron age. You need to be a bit more specific.

I like the idea. But I'm a sucker for historical settings.

Are you talking Old Testament or New Testament or both?

I would be interested in both but dealing with the New Testament is just asking for trouble. Now, I'm bit of an iconoclast so causing trouble doesn't really bother me...

Ysgarran.

I would figure, though it covers a large swath of time, it covers generally the same "feel." I think they could both be done....

Perhaps the baseline can be at the kinda cusp between the two. When everyone was prophesizing a savior, but after Moses had found the Promised Land. So in the time after the historical books, or the time of them (all the way up through 2 Maccabees). Then, BOO-YAH, you've got prophets and wisdom and such, all ripe for the introduction of possible savior-figures. Or you could set the timeline forward a bit, past the action in the Gospels, and deal with this new religoin in the region, forming and gaining power, against the grain of the powerful government.

Sure, it's a huge tract of history, but I think one setting-book-thing could cover it, perhaps.

Mostly, I want to avoid possible religious conflict by a little disclaimer, something to the effect of "Though based on real Earth religions in real, historical time periods, the following information is not to be taken as reality or religiously inspired. It provides information useful and interesting for playing an RPG in the time periods described, in the regions described, and is no definative survey on the areas, beleifs, or people of the times and regions. If you are seeking more information on these religions or the time periods covered in their holy texts, you can find information on the books used for inspiration for this product in Appendix I: Bibliography."

Heh. The first d20 book with a bibliography (unless Call of Cithibblebibble has one).

I'm not sure it needs to be much more specific than that block of time...I mean, Forgotten Realms covered everything from pseudo-mideaval Europe to stone age frozen north to a Egypt rip-off to the steamy, stone-tooled dinosaur-inhabited jungles. Sure, as a PDf, it'll probably come in more "Bite Size" supplements, but I see a DM's guide beign produced first, giving an overview, then a Player's Guide of some sort introducing mechanics, then various historical/geographical books going into more detail. I'm not sure if, at first, much more needs to be done than an overview. I mean, there's lots of literature already on the topic, and giving a brief (like, <5 pages) overview of the times and events involved could be done fairly briefly, with a reference to a source. And then (as long as there's interest), I'd churn out chronological supplements....

Oh, and about the "too real" nature that could be possible...like I said above, I just want to provide an evocative setting. I wouldn't mind some sort of "Alternate Earth" style setting, where Eden actually is a physical place, and miracles may not be as rare as they are in the holy books, and may be inspired by either divine forces, or demons present in the world (probably requiring an adjusted magic system about channeling spiritual creatures). Perhaps even re-name everything and present it from an outsider's perspective. Perhaps make it that Evil exists, and everyone is trying to find out what the True Good is, with this multitude of philosophers and prophets preaching their varied ways of life. I'd be happy to distance it, somewhat, from it's true historical source, as long as it remains true to the material that makes it an intriguing setting. The "wow factor" provided by acts of God(s), and evocative characters rather than dangerous wilderness monsters (though, of course, those exist).

Perhaps Egypt is a region of elves, and perhaps Rome is actually an Orcish empire. Whatever. The important thing is that the setting remains intriguing, not that it remains entirely true-to-history.

A D20 product that uses some era and region of the Old Testament would be very interesting, especially if the design team did their homework and made the effort to tweak the D20 engine to fit their specific needs.

I would absolutely love to see an old testament setting. If it were done right. The thing is, if you take the Torah as being absolutely literal, and the Prophets and Writings as being mostly literal, you get an interesting, but pretty nasty, world that has very little to do with the beliefs or practices of any of the modern Peoples of the Book.

There's a profoudly different idea of God, or gods (you shall worship no other gods implies other gods), expressed in the Torah than what you get these days. You don't worship God 'coz you love Him, or 'coz you got brought up believing that's how you get to heaven, or anything of the sort. You worship a god in order to get something you want NOW. Mostly involving sacrificing an animal, or your kid, or whatever, for good crops or whatever. Or you worship 'em 'coz they're scary bastards and they can kick your ass. YHVH changes this a bit, instituting the covenant, regular sacrifices, thrice yearly and for certain specific things. But he's also very demanding, and still a scary guy, and he'll kick your ass like nobody's business if you accept the covenant and don't follow it, or if you present a serious threat to his followers, while they're in his favor. Frankly, the YHVH presented in the torah is Lawful Neutral, and not a god I'd particularly like to worship, however happy I am following the modern interpretation. This is a god who sent bears to maul a bunch of kids for calling a prophet of his 'baldy'.

And remember, there is magic around outside of YHVH. Pharoah has his wizards, who can turn their staves into snakes too. Prophecy from other than divine souces is an established fact, though prohibited to YHVH's followers, like a lot of things. Of course, it's not mentioned too much, 'coz it's not the focus of the Book. But it is certainly there.

I'm not sure what to do about the Adversary. He's only in Job, of the Tanach, and he doesn't really fit too well with the world as presented in the rest of it. I'd be inclined to just cut him out; Torah is all you absolutely must take literally, and he causes trouble.

arcseed, I LOVE your ideas.

That's pretty much what I want to do. Not so much interpretive, as quite literal. Right now, Yays win out over Nays, but I'll keep bumping the thread and adding ideas for a few days, until I get a good picture.

I definately would like to do it with homework, and with tweaks where nessecary (magic system, for one).

Any suggestions? I plan on grabbing the Torah and the Koran somewhere, but anything else I should look at, especially for more-or-less newbies on the issues?

And still, I want to know if others would like it. It's looking worthwhile right now, but it's still pretty close.

I've always had this idea of an RPG where Jesus was a superhero, fighting crime in ancient Rome.

Capt. Jesus and the Megadisciples.

However, South Park seems to have stolen my idea, only making all major religious figures into crime fighter.


Anyway, so yes, I'd be interested. Even if it were closer to reality.