Ancient Greece RPG Campaign?

[Zardnaar]

So I'm thinking of starting a Ancient Greece inspired campaign for an OSR game Castles and Crusades. It's a d20 D&D game inspired by 1E D&D. Old-school basically.

I don't want to copy the main names exactly eg Athens, Sparta etc.

Basic idea I think is Fate of Atlantis. Going to mine the Assassins Creed:Odyssey game.

Precursors:Atlantis
Ancients: Not Myceneans (Milenians?)

The gods are ascended Atlanteans they overthrew the titans destroying Atlantis on the process.

Thoughts basic idea? Any creative ideas?

Rules phb for free.

Troll Lord Games • Makers of Castles & Crusades and many other RPGs

Troll Lord Games

www.trolllord.com

 

[Valka D'Ur]

What does OSR mean?

 

[Angst]

@Kyriakos

 

[Kyriakos]

Yes, I read it, but silently protested the idea to not use authentic names ^^

Maybe Zardnaar could use some of the lesser epics or parodies, like the Batrachomyomachia (battle between the frogs and the mice) or the lost epic of the Arimaspoi (some pre-scythian tribes in hyperboria, who battled griffons for gold).

 

[Zardnaar]

Yes, I read it, but silently protested the idea to not use authentic names ^^

Maybe Zardnaar could use some of the lesser epics or parodies, like the Batrachomyomachia (battle between the frogs and the mice) or the lost epic of the Arimaspoi (some pre-scythian tribes in hyperboria, who battled griffons for gold).

I might but it's not set on Earth.

What does OSR mean?

Old School Revival or Old School Renaissance.

5E D&D is the most popular followed by Pathfinder 2.

OSR game are generally clones of the old B/X or OD&D versions of D&D.

Castles and Crusades is more AD&D first edition but uses modern d20 mechanics to express it.

Basically they're a lot more streamlined than modern D&D less player options though and a bit harder eg less healing, old school energy drains etc.

 

[Kyriakos]

I might but it's not set on Earth.

There's Lucian of Samosata's "True Story", which is about a massive war between the Empire of the Sun and the Kingdom (or something) of the Moon. Features a ton of factions and beings, like cloud-centaurs and huge ants.
Also a city of lamps, where "to die is to be extinguished".

 

[Zardnaar]

There's Lucian of Samosata's "True Story", which is about a massive war between the Empire of the Sun and the Kingdom (or something) of the Moon. Features a ton of factions and beings, like cloud-centaurs and huge ants.
Also a city of lamps, where "to die is to be extinguished".

Hmmn ironically the world I'm mining has a species of cat folk on the moon. Giant ants already exist, cloud centaurs hmmn.

D&D/clones generally have a lot of Greek myth monsters already.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

D&D/clones generally have a lot of Greek myth monsters already.

Thanks to the stories most of us grew up with, plus various adventure movies and the popularity of Xena/Hercules in the '90s, Greek myth is what many people think of when developing RPG campaigns.

So are you just developing this campaign in general, or do you have a group of gamers in mind?

 

[Zardnaar]

Thanks to the stories most of us grew up with, plus various adventure movies and the popularity of Xena/Hercules in the '90s, Greek myth is what many people think of when developing RPG campaigns.

So are you just developing this campaign in general, or do you have a group of gamers in mind?

Found a couple of younger guys who want to try old school D&D. One suggested Ancient Greece.

It's an idea I've been kicking around last 4 Yeats as I've included on a lit of campaign things for players to pick from.

Rg Egyptian. Greek, Norse, Drow, Generic, Eberron (magitech).

And we have done Drow and Egyptian since 2019.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Sounds like fun. Wasn't Xena filmed somewhere in New Zealand?

 

[Zardnaar]

Ok sone more thoughts. The D&D Giants are going to be children if the Titans and the game will involve them. Plenty of D&D content to refluff there.

Dwarves probably children of Hephasteus, Elves Artemis or aphrodite. Not sure about Gnones, Halflings and half orcs.

Things like Goblins and Orcs probably new but will serve the giants I suppose.

Sounds like fun. Wasn't Xena filmed somewhere in New Zealand?

I think so half the cast was NZ and Australian. I didn't watch it thought it was kinda stupid.

 

[Hygro]

D&D works quite well, just make bronze the default. You can still have armor here and there, just flavor it a bit.

 

[Zardnaar]

D&D works quite well, just make bronze the default. You can still have armor here and there, just flavor it a bit.

Not that ancient its not Mycenae. Bronze will be more prominent though.

 

[Hygro]

Iron Heroes is a good dnd spinoff if you want it more warriors and stunts and low magic, but the setting doesn’t request a different game. Like modern rpgs feel better with other rule sets than dnd for sure. Cyberpunk 2020 would do anything from the 1900s better than dungeons and dragons, but for Ancient Greece dnd is perfect.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I think so half the cast was NZ and Australian. I didn't watch it thought it was kinda stupid.

Oh, there were parts of it that were completely stupid. And the Rome storyline was abominable. I know too much Roman history to enjoy the hatchet job they made of it, not to mention the way they did a thinly-veiled Christianity storyline to go with it. I was actually rooting for the Olympian gods to win, even though some of them were awful. At least Ares and Aphrodite came through that storyline. The rest were killed off.

But there was enough that was just fun adventures, so it held my interest. Hercules was more in the line of adventure and monsters, so I didn't care as much for it unless the storyline focused more on Iolaus.

 

[Zardnaar]

Iron Heroes is a good dnd spinoff if you want it more warriors and stunts and low magic, but the setting doesn’t request a different game. Like modern rpgs feel better with other rule sets than dnd for sure. Cyberpunk 2020 would do anything from the 1900s better than dungeons and dragons, but for Ancient Greece dnd is perfect.

I'm using the Mystic Odyssey of Theros book and the old Age of Heroes book for 2E AD&D. Also have the 2E rules for things like bronze weapons.

They'll have steel/iron but ancient weapons found will be bronze. Things like full plate can't be bought but may be found in Atlantean ruins.

Atlantis will gave a higher tech level may include things like energy weapons.

I'll refluff old AD&D stuff. Expedition to the Barrier peaks won't be a crashed UFO but Atlantean technology.

 

[Caesar of Bread]

Found a couple of younger guys who want to try old school D&D. One suggested Ancient Greece.

It's an idea I've been kicking around last 4 Yeats as I've included on a lit of campaign things for players to pick from.

Rg Egyptian. Greek, Norse, Drow, Generic, Eberron (magitech).

And we have done Drow and Egyptian since 2019.

Nice. Send me a copy of the campaign once finished;.
Also here could be some names.

Minervapolia for Athens
Leonadon for Sparta

 

[Zardnaar]

Nice. Send me a copy of the campaign once finished;.
Also here could be some names.

Minervapolia for Athens
Leonadon for Sparta

I won't write it up as such.


Normally it's a selection of shorthand notes or changes to an official adventure.

Eg I might use say B4 the lost city and place it somewhere near Nithia (Not Egypt).

Or if it's referencing Netheril in Forgotten Realms I'll make notes change the names to Greek ones.

Or I might print a map with 12 locations. I'll shorthand something
Like this.

1. 12 orcs MM pg 67, each had 2d10 silver pieces.

2. Magical tree. 1d4 magical fruits can be harvested. Treat as potion of CLW.

3. Forest clearing. Peaceful and tranquil roll for random encounter.

 

[EgonSpengler]

Name generators.

Ancient Greek town names

Ancient Greek town name generator. 10,000's of names are available, you're bound to find one you like.

www.fantasynamegenerators.com

Hellenic names

Hellenic name generator. 100's of names are available, you're bound to find one you like.

www.fantasynamegenerators.com

Ancient Greek names

Ancient Greek name generator. 10,000's of names are available, you're bound to find one you like.

www.fantasynamegenerators.com

Phoenician names

Phoenician name generator. 100's of names are available, you're bound to find one you like.

www.fantasynamegenerators.com

Some of the fantasy name generators might be appropriate. The Amazon name generator produces gibberish, but the Dryad & Pegasus name generators aren't bad.

Dryad names

Dryad name generator. 100's of names are available, you're bound to find one you like.

www.fantasynamegenerators.com

Pegasus names

Pegasus name generator. 10,000's of names are available, you're bound to find one you like.

www.fantasynamegenerators.com

 

[Angst]

I'm using the Mystic Odyssey of Theros book and the old Age of Heroes book for 2E AD&D. Also have the 2E rules for things like bronze weapons.

They'll have steel/iron but ancient weapons found will be bronze. Things like full plate can't be bought but may be found in Atlantean ruins.

Atlantis will gave a higher tech level may include things like energy weapons.

I'll refluff old AD&D stuff. Expedition to the Barrier peaks won't be a crashed UFO but Atlantean technology.

knowing a good bit about theros (played a lot of mtg back in the day, and that block was around when i played the game quite a bit), it pretty much solves most of your "i need to name things that sound greek while not being a carbon copy of ancient greece" problems. the setting has a good few bits of compelling details, too, that are inspired by ancient greece while not quite being it. like, literally the only issue with the theros worldbook as a setting is that you get it without the cool underworld stuff in theros: beyond death, the return set. (the dnd theros book was made before beyond death was released.) in addition, the latter setting has scarce details on it since it was released during a time where magic creative was basically sidelined for a few years to do nothing because of some massive blunders, it was a big thing and all. of course, irrelevant to us. as a greek-mythology-inspired underworld, it has some good ideas and some lovely art though. here's a wiki page on that set

here's a scryfall search (scryfall is an mtg card search site) for all cards printed in the theros sets; good to look over for inspiration and maybe for snatching some art. there are a few other cards that are of theros characters, concepts, etc, but were printed outside the theros sets, such as these guys, who were originally introduced in OG theros through this lovely card.

no atlanteans tho afaik

hope this helps at all