Odhanan
Adventurer
I'd go with Requiem for Rome for Vampire the Requiem, personally! 
HBO's ROME Series: D&D campaign possible?
- Thread starter Emirikol
- Start date
Aus_Snow
First Post
FWIW, I probably won't be getting that - I don't even have VtR! But I just gotta say, it sounds like an awesome mixture.Odhanan said:I'd go with Requiem for Rome for Vampire the Requiem, personally!
I recommend Eternal Rome, by the way. Though you just missed out on the $2/$5 sale, I think. :\ Otherwise, or as well, the GURPS book isn't the worst thing out there.
Brian Compton
First Post
You could very easily do a game set in "Rome." There are a couple of ways:
1) Straight play. The characters could be legionnaires in the same group as Pullo and Vorenus, but doing parallel things. Or they could be legionnaires in Pompey's army, having parallel adventures (maybe they're the ones who kidnap Octavius in the pilot). They could also be commoners in Rome, or aristocrats attached to Brutus and Cassius. Just be careful not to let it fall into a "Dragonlance" trap of simply replaying the established stories.
2) Alternate history. Allow them to influence events and then play them out according to the new timeline. Not only does this make it fresh, it also throws off the history buffs who know everything about real Rome. You can then play with any crackpot theories you have about what would have happened if... The easiest one would be stopping Caesar's assassination, but there are plenty of other options here.
You could also look to do the period after "Rome." A GREAT resource for this is "I, Claudius," either Robert Graves' novel or the Masterpiece Theater miniseries from 1976 (I'd recommend the latter- some great sci-fi/fantasy regulars like Brian Blessed, Sian Phillips, John Hurt, and John Rhys-Davies have roles of a lifetime in this, and you get to see Patrick Stewart WITH HAIR!). "Rome" takes so many cues from "I, Claudius," they can and should really be watched back-to-back; the only thing majorly different is production values (not quite "Dr. Who" bad, but still 1970's BBC).
If you want to play during the time, or just slightly before, of "Rome," a good resource for flavor is Steven Saylor's Roma Sub Rosa series of novels. Basically, private dick stories set in the Roman Republic, so you see Rome from the highs to the lows.
As for rules, I second and third recommendations for The Glory of Rome from 2E. Same for Age of Heroes for anyone looking to do some 300-inspired gaming.
1) Straight play. The characters could be legionnaires in the same group as Pullo and Vorenus, but doing parallel things. Or they could be legionnaires in Pompey's army, having parallel adventures (maybe they're the ones who kidnap Octavius in the pilot). They could also be commoners in Rome, or aristocrats attached to Brutus and Cassius. Just be careful not to let it fall into a "Dragonlance" trap of simply replaying the established stories.
2) Alternate history. Allow them to influence events and then play them out according to the new timeline. Not only does this make it fresh, it also throws off the history buffs who know everything about real Rome. You can then play with any crackpot theories you have about what would have happened if... The easiest one would be stopping Caesar's assassination, but there are plenty of other options here.
You could also look to do the period after "Rome." A GREAT resource for this is "I, Claudius," either Robert Graves' novel or the Masterpiece Theater miniseries from 1976 (I'd recommend the latter- some great sci-fi/fantasy regulars like Brian Blessed, Sian Phillips, John Hurt, and John Rhys-Davies have roles of a lifetime in this, and you get to see Patrick Stewart WITH HAIR!). "Rome" takes so many cues from "I, Claudius," they can and should really be watched back-to-back; the only thing majorly different is production values (not quite "Dr. Who" bad, but still 1970's BBC).
If you want to play during the time, or just slightly before, of "Rome," a good resource for flavor is Steven Saylor's Roma Sub Rosa series of novels. Basically, private dick stories set in the Roman Republic, so you see Rome from the highs to the lows.
As for rules, I second and third recommendations for The Glory of Rome from 2E. Same for Age of Heroes for anyone looking to do some 300-inspired gaming.
sniffles
First Post
Somehow I missed this thread until I was looking for something else.
I just recently finished watching the series myself, and my friends and I have all been talking about how much fun it would be to run a campaign in an ancient Roman-inspired setting.
But I think there are some modification you'd have to make to make it fun for players. Celebrim mentioned some good ones in his post. Trying to recreate what happens in the series is likely not going to work unless all your players are history buffs, and are willing to be "railroaded" by history.
For myself, I'd want to see a campaign in a fantasy version of Rome. Introduce magic, and add elements of sexual and racial equality that didn't exist in the real world. As a female player I wouldn't want to be stuck playing only male characters (despite the series characters like Atia of the Julii, most Roman women didn't get out much). And I suspect many players wouldn't want to be limited to playing only humans, either. If your players are a similar group, you'd probably need to find ways to include dwarves and elves and halflings in your version of Rome.
I think the best way of introducing an adventuring group in such a setting would be similar to the way Vorenus and Pullo are introduced in the series. Have them be soldiers and send them on a mission. I imagine the Roman army had scouts and interpreters just as armies did in other periods of history, so non-humans might take those roles. Or possibly some of the PCs could be camp followers or support personnel. They could even be slaves.
Slavery brings up a concept that's hard for many players to get around in my experience. Players tend to react to it the way we would now, rather than looking at it the way the members of a slave-owning culture would. Few Romans would object to slavery, since their civilization was practically built on it. Even the slaves probably didn't object to it much. Slaves had the potential to gain their freedom, they often had positions of power (like Caesar's aide Posca), and many of the cultures the Romans conquered also practiced slavery. But it's hard to get players out of the mindset of opposing slavery and wanting to set all slaves free. Although I suppose that could be a goal for the PCs if it's something the players feel strongly about.
Religion is another concept that the show did nicely, but players are likely to have trouble with. D&D tends to treat polytheism as if it were a kind of monotheism. You don't worship a pantheon of deities, which is what really happened in polytheistic cultures. Instead you cherry-pick one specific deity in D&D. But that one isn't as difficult to get around. Eberron has already taken steps toward handling a polytheistic religion more the way it would be handled in real life.
I'd personally like to see a Roman campaign put more focus on religion in daily life; look at the way Vorenus had a shrine in his house, and there were shrines on the streets that people could visit as a matter of course in their daily routine. Pullo even went on a sort of pilgrimmage to help Vorenus. I could see that religious aspect of life as another way to get the characters involved and show the players more of the game world without having to give them historical lectures.
I just recently finished watching the series myself, and my friends and I have all been talking about how much fun it would be to run a campaign in an ancient Roman-inspired setting.
But I think there are some modification you'd have to make to make it fun for players. Celebrim mentioned some good ones in his post. Trying to recreate what happens in the series is likely not going to work unless all your players are history buffs, and are willing to be "railroaded" by history.
For myself, I'd want to see a campaign in a fantasy version of Rome. Introduce magic, and add elements of sexual and racial equality that didn't exist in the real world. As a female player I wouldn't want to be stuck playing only male characters (despite the series characters like Atia of the Julii, most Roman women didn't get out much). And I suspect many players wouldn't want to be limited to playing only humans, either. If your players are a similar group, you'd probably need to find ways to include dwarves and elves and halflings in your version of Rome.
I think the best way of introducing an adventuring group in such a setting would be similar to the way Vorenus and Pullo are introduced in the series. Have them be soldiers and send them on a mission. I imagine the Roman army had scouts and interpreters just as armies did in other periods of history, so non-humans might take those roles. Or possibly some of the PCs could be camp followers or support personnel. They could even be slaves.
Slavery brings up a concept that's hard for many players to get around in my experience. Players tend to react to it the way we would now, rather than looking at it the way the members of a slave-owning culture would. Few Romans would object to slavery, since their civilization was practically built on it. Even the slaves probably didn't object to it much. Slaves had the potential to gain their freedom, they often had positions of power (like Caesar's aide Posca), and many of the cultures the Romans conquered also practiced slavery. But it's hard to get players out of the mindset of opposing slavery and wanting to set all slaves free. Although I suppose that could be a goal for the PCs if it's something the players feel strongly about.
Religion is another concept that the show did nicely, but players are likely to have trouble with. D&D tends to treat polytheism as if it were a kind of monotheism. You don't worship a pantheon of deities, which is what really happened in polytheistic cultures. Instead you cherry-pick one specific deity in D&D. But that one isn't as difficult to get around. Eberron has already taken steps toward handling a polytheistic religion more the way it would be handled in real life.
I'd personally like to see a Roman campaign put more focus on religion in daily life; look at the way Vorenus had a shrine in his house, and there were shrines on the streets that people could visit as a matter of course in their daily routine. Pullo even went on a sort of pilgrimmage to help Vorenus. I could see that religious aspect of life as another way to get the characters involved and show the players more of the game world without having to give them historical lectures.
CanadienneBacon
Explorer
Just wanted to chime in to say that Rome was a great series. Season two was more violent and not as good, we thought. But season one rocked.
So did Carnivale. So sad to see that series cancelled.
I have no idea how you'd do Rome for D&D using supplements, but you could--with some work and research--use True 20 inconjunction with wikipedia and your trusty ole library card to recreate your favorite bits of the series. I loves me some pseudo-historical stuff in mah D&D. If you go the route of the latter, perhaps you'd be willing to compile a list of the books you use?
So did Carnivale. So sad to see that series cancelled.
I have no idea how you'd do Rome for D&D using supplements, but you could--with some work and research--use True 20 inconjunction with wikipedia and your trusty ole library card to recreate your favorite bits of the series. I loves me some pseudo-historical stuff in mah D&D. If you go the route of the latter, perhaps you'd be willing to compile a list of the books you use?
HinterWelt
First Post
I am not trying to be obnoxious here but seriously, you are very close to Roma Imperious with your description. All the PCs are human but still, spooky. Currently comes in True20 and Iridium systems.sniffles said:
Let me know if you are interested.
Bill
sniffles
First Post
I was over at a friend's place yesterday and discovered he'd just picked up Green Ronin's Eternal Rome. I took a look, and it looks like it could nicely fit the tv series setting and time period into a d20 milieu. It covers the inclusion of non-humans, and makes some nice adjustments to core classes to fit them into the setting, especially the druid class. It even covers use of some of the alternate base classes like swashbuckler.
If I were going to try a Roman imperial campaign in d20 I think I'd find that book very useful.
If I were going to try a Roman imperial campaign in d20 I think I'd find that book very useful.
Cerebral Paladin
First Post
Indeed. Orichalcum's "Alea Iacta" campaign is in a Rome, with some magic and such. There should be a link in my sig. (There may be other Roman storyhours, but that's the only Rome based SH I read/play in.)
Similar Threads
