HISTORICAL CAMPAIGNS

Tonguez

A suffusion of yellow
I would like something about myths from Middle Orient in the Jahiliyyah ("age of ignorance"), the pre-islamic age with the Sumerian, Akkadians, Mesopotamian, Babylonians pantheons.
Goodman Games did some Mesopotamia stuff and their was a Dragon article on Mesopotamia in the 2000s too
 

log in or register to remove this ad

Bluenose

Adventurer
I would like something about myths from Middle Orient in the Jahiliyyah ("age of ignorance"), the pre-islamic age with the Sumerian, Akkadians, Mesopotamian, Babylonians pantheons.
Babylon on Which Fame and Jubilation are Bestowed might do some of that (it's around the time of Hammurabi, so hundreds of years after Sumer and Akkad were more than history).

Edit: And I've also remembered Zenobia, which is distinctly later but has more emphasis on the Arab world.
 
Last edited:

Wasteland Knight

Adventurer
I've played in a couple of games that were essentially TTRPG analogs of "historical fiction" novels, i.e. adventure took place in a historical time period, around historical events but PCs were fictional (but historically accurate) characters.

Generally, these sorts of games require either a good amount of research or high degree of knowledge among the GM and players.

The specific games/systems used were:

1. "Dark Ages" Europe with Ars Magica. Ars Magica was my first exposure to this sort of gaming experience. It was quite interesting going from playing gonzo-fantasy D&D to historically accurate Magi in Europe.

2. Hundred Years War with a homebrew system

3. Thirty Years War with WHFRP

ETA 4: Viking raiders with some supernatural elements using some variant of the Runequest/Chaosium d100
 

Wasteland Knight

Adventurer
I've run a few Mythic Earth adventures using Mythras, and I'm a few months into a Mythic Britain campaign, using the supplement of the same name, which started with the "Waterlands" adventure, an excellent Celtic mystery-horror scenario set in the fens of the north east coast of England. Mythic Britain is set around 500 CE and is more of a Bernard Cornwell style than Excalibur, even though Arthur, Merlin and Morgana are knocking around this time though as dark ages Celts. British druidism is represented using the animism magic system, with the Annwn otherworld being accessible to druids (only) and magic the province of spirits. Early Christians can venerate saints but only very rarely successfully call on Miracles.

Looking forward to Bronze Age Mythic Babylon (during Hammurabi) which is looking very good, due out sometime in 2021.

I've read through Mythic Britain, and it looks to be a great foundation for a campaign. I think Mythras makes a great system to run these sorts of games.
 

Bilharzia

Fish Priest
I've read through Mythic Britain, and it looks to be a great foundation for a campaign. I think Mythras makes a great system to run these sorts of games.

Mythras characters are generated out of a specific culture and career, that foundation and the rules core system tends to give the game a fairly realistic feel to which you can then add whatever supernatural/magical/mystical elements you like, all of which is supported by the main rule book. It's not as noodlely as GURPS and it's broader than Ars Magica (although it does share some authors with Ars).

If you're running a Mythras Vikings campaign Logres can cover some of this at a pinch (although of course it's much earlier) but there is also a "Vikings of Legend" supplement which is pretty close to the Mythras rules, based on the Mongoose RQ II rules which is the predecessor to RuneQuest 6/Mythras.
 

aramis erak

Legend
Got some links? I collect this stuff.

No, sorry, I downloaded the pdfs, and didn't keep the links.
Got your back on this one

not as far back, but still of use, espec. for WWII:
 

Samloyal23

Adventurer
Ever since the 2E AD&D Historical Reference Guides came out I have wanted to play a campaign set during the Jewish Wars, fighting against the Roman Empire. I snatched those books up as soon as they came out, still have my set. Even playing later editions they are an invaluable resource.
 

Ever since the 2E AD&D Historical Reference Guides came out I have wanted to play a campaign set during the Jewish Wars, fighting against the Roman Empire. I snatched those books up as soon as they came out, still have my set. Even playing later editions they are an invaluable resource.

That is a cool campaign idea. I wrote a module that I never released called the Secret of Actium, for my Caligula RPG, that is set in Roman Egypt during the Alexandrian Riots.
 

Samloyal23

Adventurer
That is a cool campaign idea. I wrote a module that I never released called the Secret of Actium, for my Caligula RPG, that is set in Roman Egypt during the Alexandrian Riots.

There is nowhere near enough content in RPGs for Jews, despite our outsized presence in other media. Jews were mentioned in several of the HR books, but there was not one single Jewish oriented character class. The Crusades took place in our Holy Land, but the guidebook just treats us as bystanders to the warfare. It really pissed me off, despite how much I loved those books.
 

billd91

Not your screen monkey (he/him)
There is nowhere near enough content in RPGs for Jews, despite our outsized presence in other media. Jews were mentioned in several of the HR books, but there was not one single Jewish oriented character class. The Crusades took place in our Holy Land, but the guidebook just treats us as bystanders to the warfare. It really pissed me off, despite how much I loved those books.
Did you ever encounter Testament by Green Ronin? It's Old Testament, so it's a bit further back than either a Roman or Crusader campaign. But it's still interesting.
 

Remove ads

Top