Salvete, fellow Romanophiles!
This week on the blog we have a special guest post by author, game designer, and all-around Roman history-lover, Ben Joshua.
As many of you know, though I spent many years in the academic world, I also believe it is important to nurture a love of history through popular culture. This is often done through television, movies, and popular fiction.
But there is another area in which folks can meet history face-to-face, or even take part in it…
I’m talking about gaming, Role Playing Games to be precise, or RPGs.
This is a somewhat new area for me, so I was fascinated when I found out how Ben translated his love of the Roman world and history into a fresh new gaming environment that will, from the sound of it, suck you right in.
So, strap on your lorica segmentata, and grab your gladius! Let’s see if we all have what it takes in the world of Immortal Empires…
Take it away Ben!
Do YOU have what it takes to become the next Emperor?
By: Ben Joshua
That’s the question many of us, in our ambitious youth, ask ourselves. Of course, we might not aspire to become Princeps, but we do aspire to become something (great). I admit I did. My studies at West Point helped me to appreciate how the Roman war machine, with its state-of-the-art legion structure, gave them victory after victory on the battlefield. From there, I began to admire Imperial Rome in its entirety: military strategy, architecture, government (our Congress derives from their Senate), and especially their culture of strong, independent women and the conniving men who love them (or was it the other way around? LOL!).
My interest deepened years later when it dawned on me that Jesus Christ was born during the Pax Romana, and later crucified during the reign of Tiberius Caesar, and how utterly significant that was! That Tiberius’s reign of terror made senators shake for fear of being thrown off the Tarpeian Rock for imagined treason…well no wonder Pilate shuddered and finally caved when the Jews insinuated he would not be a friend to Caesar if he let Jesus live! That realization blew my mind; Roman history had suddenly become one of my favorite hobbies.
So when my friend Clay, a Jewish Romanophile, invited me to help develop a game he hoped would bring Imperial Rome to life, I jumped at the chance. What we developed was a phenomenal game system of esoteric delight that celebrates the ruthless political intrigue of a magical and immortal, Imperial Rome. The object of the game is to become Emperor/Empress by any means possible. We called the game: Immortal Empires Role-Playing Game for Mature Players.
Immortal Empires Role Playing Game for Mature Players is a tabletop Role-Playing Game designed especially for Romanophiles like us, as well as stalwart RPG’ers who may never have been enthusiastic about Roman history (but who will be educated by the game). It can also be played over the internet using Skype, zoom, or any other camera-based communication platform.
Set in the backstabbing era of Imperial Rome, players must manipulate their characters to power through webs of Romanesque intrigue. Magic, fey, the undead, and immortals that your enemies might send against you all complicate your ascent. Defeat them, outwit the enemies who sent them, and you can become the next Princeps!
The game is definitely not a watered-down role-playing game. There are myriad ways to tweak your character. It also builds vocabulary (Latin and English), hones simple math skills, educates on historical events and milieu, and emphasizes problem solving in a mature (and oftentimes scheming) way. The game system, developed for over 15 years, relies on ten-sided dice for random generators (attacks, skills rolls, etc.). It has an open magic system (create your own spells to do what YOU want them to do), a whopping ten major (and magical) fighting arts (with over 375 unique powers), hundreds of Talents, Traits and Flaws, and so much more.
Even better, a series of novels set in the game world help you get to know the “official storyline” personalities and milieu, with more on the way. They tell the story of one Thascius Gildo’s rise to power, without ignoring the struggles of other powerful women and men vying for dominance.
If you’re the storytelling type, you can become The Storyteller, bringing your players through the story you’ve prepared for them. You, the Adept Romanophile, can decide to make your story about Personalities your players must outwit, or about an event in which they play a starring role. You decide how much actual history you want to insert into the game, as you challenge your players to rise to power in spite of the obstacles you place before them. You’ll have to be prepared for your players trying to outwit you at every turn, because you’ll be role-playing the game world personalities they meet.
The game assumes every major civilization is at its own zenith of power (with the very magical Ancient Races ruling). It takes the most interesting events and items from our history and allows you to insert them into your Story. The exact details are left to you; but there are spathas, onagers, triremes, togas, cognomens, frumentarii, fgens in Rebus, senators, the Cursus Honorum (and Militim, Scholasticus), Imperium, and so much more.
While your players might have to deal with undead and fey abominations, these are generally not considered the true enemy (that would be too adolescent a game, in our opinion). Instead, the true enemy might consist of that powerful senator (played by the Storyteller) who is trying at every turn to ruin your house by sleeping with your spouse. Or, perhaps even more sinister, the elusive enemy might be the friendly player sitting next to you, whom you trust as she smiles at your every suggestion but is plotting to assasinate your pater familias! Does anyone remember Brutus…?
This sophisticated game is generally not for the uneducated. It is not for children. It is assumed that there will be adult situations in your scheming and betrayals as you gather power through subterfuge and with Machiavellian supremacy. Hence, the two core game books (The Storyteller’s Codex and The Adventurer’s Rulebook) are written for you, the highly educated reader, who understands innuendo and nuance.
We at subrosa.games are striving to get Immortal Empires RPG into the hands of more Romanophiles so we can build a fun community of players and storytellers, Emperors and Empresses, who enjoy challenging each other’s intellects while immersed in a milieu we love. We hope to some day have conventions (Saturnalias?) and tournaments. We hope to some day help direct films with great actors and actresses set in accurate, if magical, panoramas of the majesty of Imperial Rome.
Dreams, certainly. For now, we just want to let you know the tabletop version is available, as are three novels (I’m writing book 4 now): Mirror Motives, The Starborn War, and Keeper of the Myst. We are working on our websites that we hope to have interactive in the coming year (so that people can network with each other to find gaming sessions and storytellers).
Subrosa.games and ImmortalEmpires.com are currently under development (but you can sign up on ImmortalEmpires.com to receive an invite when we’re done). We’re thinking about setting up a GoFundMe or similar page once the websites are done; rewards for contributions would take the form of game books, novels, and free online memberships. We are also looking for angel investors who share our greater vision.
I don’t want it to sound like a sales pitch, but if you are interested in trying it out, you can start playing the game now by ordering the two core books from Amazon.com. These are beautiful 8.5×11 Hardcover books with full color printing on quality paper. Even if you’re not a role-player-gamer, you might still enjoy the novels.
Thank you in advance for your support. When we launch the websites, we’ll need you as seasoned Storytellers and Players to show other intelligent schemers how to properly play Immortal Empires — the Roman way!
Sincerely and with profound respect and gratitude to Adam and his fans for letting me share this guest blog post.
Ben (Maximillian Rufus, Legate, in the “Official Story”)
The author grew up an avid reader and writer, served as Vice President of the Wargames Committee at the United States Military Academy at West Point, and later as a military intelligence officer stationed in Germany. He currently lives a quiet life with his dog, writes novels and music, and serves from time to time as Project Director for a small development company. He enjoys oil painting, Roman architecture and history, reading over-the-top historical fiction, and playing saxophone to EDM and smooth jazz.
I’d like to thank Ben for taking the time to tell us about his RPG game set in the world of ancient Rome.
I’m not a hardcore gamer myself, but after reading about this, I just might become one!
A virtual life in the Roman Empire?
Yes please!
For those of you who are interested, be sure to head on over to www.immortalempires.com to sign-up for the mailing list and receive all the updates on the game.
Sounds like this is going to be a wild ride!
Cheers, and thank you for reading.
