This is a site for discussing roleplaying games. Have fun doing so, but there is one major rule: do not discuss political issues that aren't directly and uniquely related to the subject of the thread and about gaming. While this site is dedicated to free speech, the following will not be tolerated: devolving a thread into unrelated political discussion, sockpuppeting (using multiple and/or bogus accounts), disrupting topics without contributing to them, and posting images that could get someone fired in the workplace (an external link is OK, but clearly mark it as Not Safe For Work, or NSFW). If you receive a warning, please take it seriously and either move on to another topic or steer the discussion back to its original RPG-related theme.

The March of the Ten Thousand

Started by Pyromancer, April 18, 2017, 07:35:33 AM

Previous topic - Next topic
Print
Go Down Pages 1 2 3
User actions

Trond

#15
April 19, 2017, 05:11:40 PM
Quote from: Rincewind1;957937Funny, I literally just finished watching that film.


My main tip for the GM? Watch it as well, and take the cue from it as well as 300, and don't be afraid to make the various lords of Persian area be extremely varied in both culture and tactics, as the region was very, very far from an unified culture, and consisted at that time of about 5 - 10 different kingdoms that sworn vassalage to King of Kings, rather than just one landmass under one ruler.

Is the movie any good?

Gronan of Simmerya

#16
April 19, 2017, 05:18:41 PM
Quote from: Pyromancer;957867
Now it's up to the player characters to take responsibility and put themselves in charge. Can they bring the ten thousand back home?


Any thoughts?

Yeah.  It sounds like it could be fun, but it's quadrillions of light years away from anything that could be called a 'hex crawl', which usually designates a sandbox type game.  This game has a very coherent, very tight "goal" which is nothing like a sandbox.
You should go to GaryCon.  Period.

The rules can\'t cure stupid, and the rules can\'t cure asshole.

kobayashi

#17
April 19, 2017, 05:43:08 PM
Just found that old promo in english (for a Savage World conversion I dropped)

[ATTACH=CONFIG]903[/ATTACH]

chirine ba kal

#18
April 19, 2017, 05:45:38 PM
Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;958205Yeah.  It sounds like it could be fun, but it's quadrillions of light years away from anything that could be called a 'hex crawl', which usually designates a sandbox type game.  This game has a very coherent, very tight "goal" which is nothing like a sandbox.

Plenty of really good maps out there, too. This is a pretty common campaign theme / subject in ancients circles, and there's tons of useful material available for the kind of campaign being discussed. The possibilities of going from micro- to macro- is an added feature, as far as I'm concerned.

The comment about the mass of camp followers is very, very good - something for the PCs to think about, like Gronan used to have to do... :)

Gronan of Simmerya

#19
April 19, 2017, 08:10:36 PM
A snail cart.  A damn cart full of damn snails so her damn husband can have damn seafood for his damn dinner.
You should go to GaryCon.  Period.

The rules can\'t cure stupid, and the rules can\'t cure asshole.

Pyromancer

#20
April 19, 2017, 08:19:43 PM
Quote from: chirine ba kal;958216Plenty of really good maps out there, too. This is a pretty common campaign theme / subject in ancients circles, and there's tons of useful material available for the kind of campaign being discussed. The possibilities of going from micro- to macro- is an added feature, as far as I'm concerned.

Can you point me to anything specific?
"From a strange, hostile sky you return home to the world of humans. But you were already gone for so long, and so far away, and so you don\'t even know if your return pleases or pains you."

Naburimannu

#21
April 20, 2017, 06:22:47 AM
Quote from: Madprofessor;958199Ancient Persia is not well covered in RPGs, for that matter neither is classical Greece, surprisingly.

http://www.paulelliottbooks.com/free-rpgs.html has Zenobia/Ionia/Aegyptus for 260 AD, and https://basicroleplaying.org/files/file/4-warlords-of-alexader/ for 260 BC...

Pyromancer

#22
April 20, 2017, 08:21:50 AM
Quote from: kobayashi;958200I still can offer some help if needed.

To sum it up : the campaign is a point-crawl that starts in Babylon. At the end of each adventure, the PCs choose on that map where the 10000 go next. They start the campaign with 10000 men, if they reach Byzantium with less than 5000 men, bad shit happens to them.

Thanks! It might be an opportunity to brush off the French I learned in school. What kind of rules does it use?
"From a strange, hostile sky you return home to the world of humans. But you were already gone for so long, and so far away, and so you don\'t even know if your return pleases or pains you."

kobayashi

#23
April 20, 2017, 09:14:42 AM
It was a very simple set of rules : roll pools of D6, each die that comes as 4,5 or 6 is a success. Nothing much of interest for you here.

What may interrest you is character generation that took into account the origin of your mercenary :
Athens (good strategists), Sparta (good warriors), Crete (good archers), Thracia (knowledge of the Persian empire), Thessaly (good cavalry), Rhodes (good sailors), Arcadia (good hunters) and Argos (good artists/philosophers).

Black Vulmea

#24
April 20, 2017, 01:46:23 PM
Quote from: Pyromancer;957867Any thoughts?
Sounds like a good wargame or board game, but a roleplaying campaign? What if I decide to sell out the Greeks to the Persians for a satrapy?
"Of course five generic Kobolds in a plain room is going to be dull. Making it potentially not dull is kinda the GM\'s job." - #Ladybird, theRPGsite

Really Bad Eggs - swashbuckling roleplaying games blog  | Promise City - Boot Hill campaign blog

ACS

Kiero

#25
April 20, 2017, 04:01:32 PM
Quote from: Black Vulmea;958393Sounds like a good wargame or board game, but a roleplaying campaign? What if I decide to sell out the Greeks to the Persians for a satrapy?

Haha, what a very Greek thing to do. After all, if there's a group vehemently for fighting their way home, there'll be another group vehemently for an accomodation.
Currently running: Tyche\'s Favourites, a historical ACKS campaign set around Massalia in 300BC.

Our podcast site, In Sanity We Trust Productions.

Pyromancer

#26
April 20, 2017, 04:56:43 PM
Quote from: Black Vulmea;958393Sounds like a good wargame or board game, but a roleplaying campaign? What if I decide to sell out the Greeks to the Persians for a satrapy?

That's why I think it makes a great roleplaying campaign: The players can do this (or at least try)! And we will see how it plays out - in play.

Simply retelling Xenophon's Anabasis would be lacking, wouldn't it? I think I even would prefer players who have seen "300" and know about Alexander the Great from history lessons, but have never heard of this story and can approach the whole situation with a totally open mind and without any idea what they are "supposed" to do.
"From a strange, hostile sky you return home to the world of humans. But you were already gone for so long, and so far away, and so you don\'t even know if your return pleases or pains you."

Black Vulmea

#27
April 20, 2017, 05:01:37 PM
Quote from: Kiero;958413Haha, what a very Greek thing to do. After all, if there's a group vehemently for fighting their way home, there'll be another group vehemently for an accomodation.
Fuck accommodation - I want Hyrcania so I can raise an army of Turkmen and seize the empire for myself.
"Of course five generic Kobolds in a plain room is going to be dull. Making it potentially not dull is kinda the GM\'s job." - #Ladybird, theRPGsite

Really Bad Eggs - swashbuckling roleplaying games blog  | Promise City - Boot Hill campaign blog

ACS

Pyromancer

#28
April 20, 2017, 05:03:58 PM
That being said, I'm also interested in good wargames dealing with this story!
"From a strange, hostile sky you return home to the world of humans. But you were already gone for so long, and so far away, and so you don\'t even know if your return pleases or pains you."

Raleel

#29
April 20, 2017, 05:55:22 PM
Mythras would be a good RPG for this. It's already well tuned for the ancient world - the setting presented in the book is remarkably close to ancient greece. It's Ships and Shield Walls supplement has the mass combat rules, including morale. Rules for internal factions can be pulled from the Cults and Brotherhoods. plenty of fatigue rules, and random encounters can be pulled from many locations.
Print
Go Up Pages 1 2 3
User actions