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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Carnun" data-source="post: 9124603" data-attributes="member: 7042848"><a href="https://www.paulelliottbooks.com/zenobia-rpg.html" target="_blank">Zenobia</a> by Paul Elliott is my all-time favorite in this category. Or the more updated version, 43 AD (I know, not technically Bronze Age, but captures the spear and sandal feeling exquisitely, and it's the same system).It's a rules-lite, gritty 2D6 + modifier game. Character stats are Might (self-explanatory), Learning (literacy and education), Craft (craftsmanship and manual labor), and Fate (luck and the will of the Gods). You also roll culture of origin and social class. You acquire skills but they don't add to rolls, you just do them. They're kind of like feats, but lo-fi, like "Fire-starting" or "Horsemanship." Some combat skills are activated with a Fate point.How the writer does Fate in this game is ingenious to me. It's an attribute but also a spendable pool. As an attribute it's like a catch-all 'Save' (determined by the will of the Gods). But you can spend points of Fate (lowering your overall score) to achieve automatic successes on rolls, or to fuel powerful combat skills. You replenish Fate by entreating the Gods and making sacrifices to them.Combat it brutal. There are rules for saving up your margin of success to spend on your next successful attack to inflict a truly gory wound. There are neat little tables for this too.Paul Elliott is also a writer of historical fiction and I've read Zenobia and 43 AD just for the historical information alone.EDIT: Forgot to mention that these games include rules for priests, witches, and druids -and their curses and blessings too.</blockquote>

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