The classic PC game 'Age of Empires' One of the great inspirations for my Age of Legends rpg |
(Summary TL;DR)
. The Age
of Legends (AoL) is a rpg project whose idea is to emulate the sagas
and heroes of classic texts, while using the historical Earth as its
setting, maintaining the mythological, magical and divine elements.
. The
basic setting would occur during the Colapse of the Bronze Age
(~1300-900 BC), the same period of the War of Troy, the Invasion of
the Dorian and other legendary events.
. The
system will be inspired by Old School rpgs, specially AD&D and
OD&D.
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So, it is
time to present the Age of Legends, the project which I've been
dedicating myself in the last couple weeks (and that, I must point
out, was the motivation for me to create this blog).
My idea
with Age of Legends is to create an old school rpg with the structure
of the epics and sagas of yore, using as inspiration its classic
literature – be it mythological or religious, new or old –, like
the Iliad and Odyssey; the Japanese Kojiki; the Indian Mahabarata;
the Summerian Gilgamesh; the Egyptian Am-Tuat; the Nordic Volsung
Saga; the Portuguese Lusiads; the Old Testament and the Torah; the
Beowulf; the Irish Lebor Gébala Érenn; and many, many
more.
It's true
that this proposal already exists in other rpgs, like Slaine d20,
using the celtic mythology; the Testament d20, using the Old
Testament; the Arrows of Indra, using the Mahabarata; and the Spears
of the Dawn, using African mythology and religion. Even D&D does
a similar thing, basing its games around the european mythology of
knights (as with the settings of Dragonlance, Grayhawk, Forgotten
Realms and Birthright). With so many games doing a similar thing,
what Age of Legends would bring of new to the table?
The main
difference is in the fact that all those rpgs which I have presented
used such classic tales in order to create a new fantastic world
that, although similar, it's different from our own. And that is the
proposal of Age of Legends: instead of creating new cities,
countries, lands and people inspired by the classical texts, it would
be based upon historical Earth.
Yes, there
would be some reservations. It would be the historical Earth based on
mythology and legend, with magic and gods. The same Earth that we
read in old tales; where Heracles went to hell to capture Cerberus;
where Circe transformed sailors into pigs; where the bards of the
Tuatha de Danaan threw fireballs with their songs; where Moses was
able to part the Red Sea; where Amaterasu herself allowed Jimmu to
fund the Empire of Japan.
I know
that this could be a very delicate point, mixing so many different
beliefs, specially when dealling with religious texts like the Bible
and the Torah. But my intention is not to create friction, nor is it
to attack or discredit any religion. I just want to create the
possibility for amazing stories, and the idea of creating, for
example, an Israelite hero, capable of convoking the help of Angels
and pronounce sacred psalms would be amazing.
So, that
is the proposal of Age of Legends: create a game using mythological
and historical Earth as its setting which, even though fantastic and
supernatural, it would still be our Earth, with thousands of years of
history, texts, languages, music, arts, empires, people and
civilizations that Game Masters and Players would be able to search
and use in their campaigns. I will be posting more regarding the
project, my choice with the system, the setting and the overall tone
of the game.
Until
then,
Valete!
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