Our very own Poobah of the D.O.N.G tenbones had a post about bronze age gaming in another thread.  What he wrote was pretty cool and got me thinking of gaming in the bronze age, something that I've never done.  What would you use to run a bronze age game?

Damn you! This is going to derail my current campaign...

Okay! What are we talking about? System? Setting? Real world herbs and spices for flavor?

Quote from: tenbones;978425Damn you! This is going to derail my current campaign...

Okay! What are we talking about? System? Setting? Real world herbs and spices for flavor?

All of it my friend, all of it!

Personally I'd use Heroes of Olympus, since I have it and like it, and I also have the supplement for Egypt that was published in Nexus magazine. It seems to do everything I need, including rules for sailing voyages.

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Wanderer would be perfect.

Quote from: Pat;978431Wanderer would be perfect.

This one?
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Quote from: Dumarest;978434This one?

Yes

More seriously, Mercator (PDF) might be worth a glance.

QuoteOriginally Posted by Tenbones
I think the key thing here is, as always when I talk about these things, is making sure you put your players deep into the context of the world. It's not enough for me to just watch the movies and know the fables, it's about taking all of that and putting it in context with Bronze Age cultures and bringing it all to life. A lot of this stuff is slightly tweaked material from standard S&S fantasy, but with bigger "legendary" stuff.

- the gods (and their enemies) are active! PC's get cursed/blessed which by itself makes them have enemies
- legendary beasts. Go full Kaiju if you have to. Give them fatal flaws, but exploiting those flaws are major quests unto themselves
- ancient cults that have big secrets they protect. Screwing with them makes enemies of various powers.
- Wars! City states are always seeking to expand, or at least crush their enemies!
- Mysteries and Secrets of the Powers. The world looks normal, but there are secret rules known only to the Powers that certain mortals can learn (and abuse). As always, just knowing this stuff can/will make you enemies and friends with other Powers.
- Bronze Age historical fun. Chariot races, gladiatorial fighting, raping the horses and riding off on the women etc.

This is all really good stuff.

So I have run a lot of Swords and Sandals stuff: A Cthulhu Invictus game, tons of Hyborian Age stuff, a death of the 9th legion mini-campaign using BRP, etc. I much prefer this type of adventure to your bog standard fantasy-medieval stuff. What I have never been able to pull off is a Jason and the Argonauts, Clash of the Titans, Homeric style Greek/Eastern Med style game.  I've tried, but its never worked. Nor have I known anyone who has pulled it off. So I'm all ears here and eager for suggestions.

I would use Runequest6/Mythras.

Quote from: Pat;978431Wanderer would be perfect.

It would be perfect if it existed.  Are there any serious plans to do this?

For a rules lite game system I think Heroes of Hellas is a serious contender.  It is BoL re-skinned for Greek myth and it's well done.

Quote from: Madprofessor;978446It would be perfect if it existed.  Are there any serious plans to do this?

There was a thread on ODD74, but it's been dead for almost a decade. And I linked to Mercator upthread, which is a similar attempt to rethink Traveller for the Bronze Age. It's more sword & sandals than the sword & sandals & centaurs of the other suggestions in this thread, but I think that still could make an excellent game. Even without the monsters of mythology, the Bronze Age Mediterranean is a fascinating place.

Quote from: Pat;978452There was a thread on ODD74, but it's been dead for almost a decade.

Too bad.  What a fantastic idea. Somebody should pick this up.  I'd buy it. Was there a legality problem, or just not enough energy/enthusiasm?

QuoteAnd I linked to Mercator upthread, which is a similar attempt to rethink Traveller for the Bronze Age.

I had no idea that this existed, I'm reading it enthusiastically.

QuoteIt's more sword & sandals than the sword & sandals & centaurs of the other suggestions in this thread, but I think that still could make an excellent game. Even without the monsters of mythology, the Bronze Age Mediterranean is a fascinating place.

Yeah, well that is big question.  How gonzo with gods and monsters do you want your game?  For example, should there be PC sorcerers/magic users, or not? Is "magic" purely the domain of gods and titans? Does magic even exist?  What about magi of far of Persia, spirit shamans of the Scythian steppes, or death magic of the Pharaohs? Certainly, there is plenty of adventure to be had with just history and mortal foes, plots and adventures, but I don't think it would feel right without at least the perception of occult mystery.  Anyway, drawing those lines about magic I think is an important starting point.

Well there is Blood & Bronze, which is set in the time period. If I was going for the old Sword & Sandal movie feel, I'd likely use Pax Gladius from Deep 7's 1PG rpg line. For Jason & The Argonauts style, Heroes of Hellas.

Quote from: Pyromancer;978445I would use Runequest6/Mythras.

I would do this. It even has Mythic Rome, and Mythic Greece is on the way. The freebie download adventure is a straight up inspiration from Harryhausen's Seven Voyages of Sinbad with it's multi-armed statue coming to life. It has hoplons and bronze armor as the default and spears and xystons. It's sample characters are bronze age inspired, and seemingly from a greek style city-state. It has brotherhoods and cults and magic in the style that you would expect. It has great support for tuning combat styles so that your gladiators all are trained differently. There are harpies and cyclopses and minotaurs and chimera, oh my.

literally, if you run it out of the box, it does this pretty well dead on. there is even a for pay adventure to continue on from the free Sariyana's Curse. Also, happen to be 25% on DTRPG right now.

I'd use some form of BRP/Mythras... but I'm currently in a campaign of Mazes & Minotaurs and that has been a lot of fun as well.