Quote from: Simlasa;444065I'm thinking the big Rome book for BRP would also be handy for guys like me that don't have much of a handle on the period except for watching I Claudius and the HBO series.

That book is quite excellent.  Overwhelming, really.  

One thing to keep in mind, though, is that the BRP Rome book describes the late Republic (the period just before Caesar), whereas Chaosium's Cthulhu Invictus focuses on the early Imperial period (about a century after Caesar, iirc).

Quote from: Aos;443970I'm first generation off the farm, and did a fair share of farm time as a kid; I yern for the country life, but I must admit, I do not miss outhouses!

Outhouses help cultivate a healthy respect for spiders.

Quote from: Akrasia;444158Phew!  I was starting to think that I was the only one who had read any of REH's Bran Mak Morn tales here.  

Del Rey collected all of Howard's horror stories in one book appropriately titled The Horror Stories of Robert E. Howard.

Worms of the Earth is my favorite Bran Mak Morn tale and one of Howard's best.

Enough with all the regurgitated BS about Lovecraftian horror being this existential shit about man's place in a meaningless cosmos. At this point it's just a forum meme.

CoC is a cheesy horror game about creepy monsters and weird cults, and there ain't nothing wrong with that.

Quote from: RPGPundit;443927I was thinking that what could more or less resolve this would be to switch from just having a straight sanity mechanic to having a "rationality/irrationality" mechanic in the style of the spanish game Aquelarre.

RPGPundit

I was going over my old school notes on Seneca's tragedies, seemed like a good place to go for some inspiration, and some sort of rationality/irrationality mechanic kinda makes sense.

Would you expand a little more on your idea?

Quote from: Eugene;444034Hello all, new poster here!

I think you can make a case for Cthulhu in the pre-rational era.  The terror really comes from "everything you think is true about the universe isn't" and "you aren't as important as you think you are."  That can completely be said to be true during the Roman era.  Imagine being a Roman, growing up trusting that there are gods, that proper behavior is required to have a harmonious relationship, and (if you're a Stoic, anyway) that there is some sort of moral order to the universe.  I'm sure that when it's discovered that almost all those things are lies, that can be just as sanity busting, no?  Loss of sanity is really about your world view being shattered as it becomes clearer it doesn't match reality.

Even in the 1920s or the modern world, most people believe in God, and it's -that- part of them that is most psychologically susceptible to a Lovecraftian revelation.

Yes, I think that's a very reasoned argument.  I'll have to see what my players respond to that.

Welcome to theRPGsite, Eugene!

RPGPundit

Quote from: Akrasia;444160That book is quite excellent.  Overwhelming, really.  

One thing to keep in mind, though, is that the BRP Rome book describes the late Republic (the period just before Caesar), whereas Chaosium's Cthulhu Invictus focuses on the early Imperial period (about a century after Caesar, iirc).

Why oh WHY is it that so many rpg products about Rome choose to focus on the Republican period, which in comparison with the Empire is positively fucking DULL as far as the opportunities for playing both war, action-adventure, and intrigue.  The only thing that the Republic was better at may have been politics, and there's plenty of that in the Empire too.

I would like to see an RPG product aimed at the days of Caligula, the Year of the Four Emperors, the era of the Five Good Emperors, Commodus, the Severans, the Crisis of the Third Century, or Diocletian and the Tetrarchy (the last desperate true attempt to save Rome, rather than Constantine who just euthanized it)! But no, instead, every single RPG product on Rome focuses on Julius or earlier and acts as though Imperial Rome, which is the period that made Rome unforgettable to human history, was just the "boring stuff that happens later with no RP potential".

Fuck.

RPGPundit

Quote from: Lorrraine;443928How does that mechanic work?

Well, basically, you had two opposed attributes: Rationality and irrationality.  They generally were negatively co-related to each other, so that if one was 30, the other was 70; if one was 40 the other was 60, etc.  The more "civilized" you are, the more educated or cultured, the more likely you were to be mostly Rational, but that wasn't a hard and fast rule.

When you rolled rationality and failed (from seeing something that shatters the rational world view) you would lose the one and gain the other.  Having a high rationality gave you some protection against supernatural effects. On the other hand, a high irrationality could help you in using magic.

That's just from memory, though, so if there's someone with the game on hand or who has more experience than me they may be able to explain it better.

RPGPundit

Quote from: RPGPundit;444392I would like to see an RPG product aimed at the days of Caligula, the Year of the Four Emperors, the era of the Five Good Emperors, Commodus, the Severans, the Crisis of the Third Century, or Diocletian and the Tetrarchy (the last desperate true attempt to save Rome, rather than Constantine who just euthanized it)! But no, instead, every single RPG product on Rome focuses on Julius or earlier and acts as though Imperial Rome, which is the period that made Rome unforgettable to human history, was just the "boring stuff that happens later with no RP potential".

Seconded. This is the epoch in which most great old school epic sword-and-sandal movies were set, and it's puzzling to see it mostly ignored by Ancient Roman settings for RPGs.

Fvlminata: Armed With Lightning is the only exception that springs to mind.

Quote from: RPGPundit;444392I would like to see an RPG product aimed at the days of Caligula, the Year of the Four Emperors, the era of the Five Good Emperors, Commodus, the Severans, the Crisis of the Third Century, or Diocletian and the Tetrarchy (the last desperate true attempt to save Rome, rather than Constantine who just euthanized it)! But no, instead, every single RPG product on Rome focuses on Julius or earlier and acts as though Imperial Rome, which is the period that made Rome unforgettable to human history, was just the "boring stuff that happens later with no RP potential".

Fuck.

Jesus Christ. Do I agree with that sentiment. Well said.

Quote from: Eugene;444034Hello all, new poster here!

By the way: careful with that axe, mate.

I just HAD to say it.

Quote from: Akrasia;443875I wouldn't say Conan so much as Bran Mak Morn.  

But yeah, Cthulhu Invictus has a much stronger 'Howardian' feel to it than 'Lovecraftian'.  And that is perfectly fine (if that's what you want).  It can be just as creepy, etc., as CoC set during the 1920s.

I would very strongly recommend R. E. Howard's Bran Mak Morn story, "The Worms of the Earth," to anyone interested in running a CoC game set during the Roman era.  It is a Roman Cthulhu Mythos story.

Worms of the Earth is absolutely brilliant. For me, The Dark Man is another favorite BMM tale, even if Bran is more of a symbol than an actual character. I've said it on another forum, and it bears repeating here: If you consider yourself a Robert E. Howard fan, and you've limited yourself to what you conceive to be his finest works, the Conan tales, then you are doing yourself a disservice. The Bran Mak Morn tales can create a greater appreciation for the Conan yarns, because they flesh out Howard's conception of the Picts in ways vaguely touched upon in Beyond the Black River and Wolves at the Border; i.e. the rise and degeneration of the Pictish culture (Howard's fantasy version of it, of course). I have a great appreciation for Howard's Bran Mak Morn tales, and I wish they garnered more attention.

I am a huge fan of sword & sorcery literature, as well as the Cthulhu Mythos. I have indulged my fandom by mixing them as often as I can. One of the better examples of this is a Viking Age game I ran a while back. I have used the NEMESIS system, Castles & Crusades, Labyrinth Lord, the D6 System and BRP for various games in this vein. I have had a lot of success and fun along the way. For those interested, here are a few setting notes:

Viking Age Orkney and Northern Scotland
Viking Age Orkney and Northern Scotland (Addendum Part I)
Viking Age Orkney and Northern Scotland (Addendum Part II)

I believe most fantasy roleplaying systems can handle this kind of game right out of the gate, as long as the right approach is taken. Here is an article I wrote explaining how I prefer to handle fear and sanity when using D&D or a retro-clone for this style of play:

Spelling Out Horror and Sanity In Fantasy Roleplaying

One positive thing about using a fantasy roleplaying system as opposed to using Call of Cthulhu is that the players can create characters and begin play without ever knowing it is going to be a Mythos style game. The game master is not obligated to reveal this to the players. Only through play do they realize there are cosmic level horrors running about, and it is up to them to adjust their style of play accordingly. If Call of Cthulhu was sitting on the table at the time of character creation a whole different attitude is adopted by the players, and there is no real sense of danger once the horror is revealed. This will seem underhanded by some, but I have used this technique with a couple of different groups and it was very effective. And in the end everyone had fun with the curve ball I threw them, which is the point in the first place.

As others have stated earlier, there are several excellent example of Lovecraft infused sword & sorcery, mainly the Bran Mak Morn stories by Howard, and the Simon of Gitta stories by Tierney. I bought a copy of Cthulhu Invictus and it is an excellent sourcebook for anyone interested in playing a Lovecraftian game in an archaic age. Oddly enough, I was not as impressed with Cthulhu Dark Ages...

Thanks,

Shane

Quote from: RPGPundit;444393Well, basically, you had two opposed attributes: Rationality and irrationality.  They generally were negatively co-related to each other, so that if one was 30, the other was 70; if one was 40 the other was 60, etc.  The more "civilized" you are, the more educated or cultured, the more likely you were to be mostly Rational, but that wasn't a hard and fast rule.

When you rolled rationality and failed (from seeing something that shatters the rational world view) you would lose the one and gain the other.  Having a high rationality gave you some protection against supernatural effects. On the other hand, a high irrationality could help you in using magic.

That's just from memory, though, so if there's someone with the game on hand or who has more experience than me they may be able to explain it better.

RPGPundit

Rationality/irrationality sounds a lot like Sanity/Cthulhu Mythos, I think the original mechanic would probably be best kept.

I am thinking about using the Composure mechanic from the French L'Appel de Cthulhu 6th Edition. Composure acts as a sort of Sanity Armour, absorbing SAN damage.

The Composure mechanic could be a benefit of an Allegiance (Gold Book, p.315) to philosophical schools of thought, institutions, beliefs, e.g., Stoicism, Glory of Rome, the Ninth Legion, Roman honor. A sort of Pillar of Sanity.

I like this idea because it appears modular, just adding to the Rules as Written.

Not being a regular tweaker of rules, it will probably take me some time to hammer the kinks out. Any advice welcome.

Quote from: RPGPundit;444392Why oh WHY is it that so many rpg products about Rome choose to focus on the Republican period,
RPGPundit

I think part of it is that then you can play a Gaul fighting the Romans.

Here's an idea - combine the Roman Cthulhu idea with the post by Benoist about the "chemical attack" the Persians supposedly used. Think about it - two armies, fighting a seige, they begin digging underground and then... well, you know about those Things Man Was Not Meant To Know... they pop up at the most inconvenient times...