500 AD Campaign

[Water Bob]

Try the D20 "Last Days of Constantinople,"

Typing in "d20 Historical" into Google returns a lot of results. There's a lot of stuff out there for the d20 game if you look, both supplement and adventure.

You might want to convert ideas and situations from Viking-era or Biblical-era d20 stuff. There's the d20 Past supplement from WotC. I would think the Greek era stuff would be something you'd be interested in.

The Google search returns some threads on this forum about historical gaming that might be helpful. Try that, then narrow your search to "d20 Rome", "d20 Ancient Persia", and stuff like that.

HERE'S a link to Noble Knight's d20 Historical page. Don't forget homebrew campaigns, either. Something like CrusaderEarth might prove to be very helpful.

Also check Amazon. Their lists can be helpful, especially in finding third-part, non-WotC stuff like OGL Ancients.

 

[xanth_ih]

You may want to note that, at 500 A.D., the eastern and western churches weren't separated. The Great Schism only happened in 1054. You may be thinking of the Council of Chalcedon (451), which separated some eastern churches (the monophysite churches, e.g. the Copts) from the rest - this did not, in fact, impact the more-or-less cordial relations between Constantinople and Rome.

BTW, Constantinople didn't have an archbishop. It had a patriarch, which is slightly better and sounds grander to boot... but the official head of the church was the emperor.

It was my understanding that in the West, the Pope was seen as leader of the church (vic 500-ish) and his office was a source of contanuity during the decline of Rome. In the East (Constantinople) there was a Patrarch who was held to be subordinate to the pope, since the pope resided in Rome, and the church was founded by Peter in Rome.

Therefore, although the church had not split as of yet, I could eaisly imagine some tensions between the two, especially since Constantinope was on the rise and the city of Rome was on the decline.......

Opens the door to lots of intrigue and shennanigans for the PCs to get mixed up in

Im open to corrections on my history, thoughts or suggestions

 

[Water Bob]

Typing in "d20 Historical" into Google returns a lot of results. There's a lot of stuff out there for the d20 game if you look, both supplement and adventure.

You might want to convert ideas and situations from Viking-era or Biblical-era d20 stuff. There's the d20 Past supplement from WotC. I would think the Greek era stuff would be something you'd be interested in.

The Google search returns some threads on this forum about historical gaming that might be helpful. Try that, then narrow your search to "d20 Rome", "d20 Ancient Persia", and stuff like that.

HERE'S a link to Noble Knight's d20 Historical page. Don't forget homebrew campaigns, either. Something like CrusaderEarth might prove to be very helpful.

Also check Amazon. Their lists can be helpful, especially in finding third-part, non-WotC stuff like OGL Ancients.

Also, an adventure comes to mind: [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Greenland-Saga-Fantasy-Roleplaying-Supplement/dp/0970796129"]Greenland Saga - The Lost Norse Colony.[/ame] Although it's set in Greenland and there abouts in the year 1454, the book does have some interesting notes on melding real life religion with magic and other descriptions of life in the middle ages. It's designed for 2nd-4th level characters.

Although its set about a thousand years after your setting, and in a different part of the world, I think it would be easy to adapt it to someplace along the Mediterranean, Aegean, or Black Sea.




EDIT: And, here's some other stuff you might be interested in...

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Mythic-Vistas-Eternal-Graeme-Davis/dp/1932442421/ref=cm_syf_dtl_pl_11"]Mythic Vistas: Eternal Rome d20 Suppment[/ame]

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Mythic-Vistas-Trojan-Aaron-Rosenberg/dp/1932442251/ref=pd_sim_b_2"]Mythic Vistas: The Trojan War d20 Supplement[/ame]

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Egyptian-Adventures-Hamunaptra-Mythic-Vistas/dp/1932442332/ref=pd_sim_b_4"]Mythic Vistas: Egyptian Adventures d20 Supplement[/ame]

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Mythic-Vistas-Medieval-Players-Handbook/dp/1932442146/ref=pd_sim_b_3"]Mythic Vistas: Medieval[/ame]

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Mythic-Vistas-Testament-Scott-Bennie/dp/0972675620/ref=pd_sim_b_1"]Mythis Vistas: Testament[/ame]

 

[Empirate]

It was my understanding that in the West, the Pope was seen as leader of the church (vic 500-ish) and his office was a source of contanuity during the decline of Rome. In the East (Constantinople) there was a Patrarch who was held to be subordinate to the pope, since the pope resided in Rome, and the church was founded by Peter in Rome.

Therefore, although the church had not split as of yet, I could eaisly imagine some tensions between the two, especially since Constantinope was on the rise and the city of Rome was on the decline.......

Opens the door to lots of intrigue and shennanigans for the PCs to get mixed up in

Im open to corrections on my history, thoughts or suggestions

Broadly speaking, you're correct, and whatever furthers your game is more important than historical truth anyway!

Constantinople had a patriarch just like some other cities (Antioch and Aquileia, for example). In other places, there was no patriarch, but there were bishops and archbishops. All of these were held to be more-or-less independent heads of church within their respective dioceses, although there were massive differences in dignity and actual power. The patriarch of Constantinople was one of the most esteemed clergymen, since his diocese was so rich and politically important, and it contained so many people. But even the bishop of, say, Ferrara, Amiens or Lincoln wouldn't normally let anybody but an ecumenical council (a gathering of all the important prelates of christendom) dictate his ways.

That said, the bishop of Rome (none other than the pope) was held to have the highest dignity in all of christendom, and could often translate that dignity into political clout. The papacy had a long way to go before becoming the de facto ruler of the church, though (this took until the 11th/12th century, roughly).

Tensions between papacy and patriarchy are quite likely, though, and make good fodder for adventure. Furthermore, you could think about adding some heathen peoples into the equation, godless devils who just wait to be brought into the fold - and who will control the missionaries to do so, pope or patriarch? Who will the newly christian ex-heathens owe allegiance to?

The Huns or the Avars might be good candidates in your timeframe, although the former are slightly too early for 500 A.D., and the latter came a little bit later to the party.