Salvete, one and all,

I have been thinking, for quite a few days now, of beginning my very first NRP; an NRP that I intend to set within the time period of the Ancient/Classical world of the time. This will not be an AU, and there will be no fantasical elements - so if you dislike history, just don't bother reading any further.

That being said, I do not expect people to run out and buy £70 Routledge Press Monographs, nor do I expect anyone to know every detail of every period off-by-heart. That is why I, and possibly other co-GMs (depending on any interest this does/does not get) will be around to help you with any queris or questions you might have.

Now, here are the four options I was thinking of (please note that I am incredibly bad with any sort of stats, therefore any NRP I do create will likely be statless, or have the barest of anything to do with numbers.)

Option 1) The Peloponnesian War: each player take a city-state, major or minor, and must guide it to glory or ruin. Diplomacy, economy and military skills will be needed to survive - especially if you are one of the lesser powers.

Option 2) Diadochi: Alexander's empire has fallen apart with his death, now his generals fight over the carcass like rabid dogs. Players will be able to take the role of the major powers, as well as client/vassal states/powers.

Option 3) Something Roman: Likely the Roman Republic, possibly the first civil war (Octavian VS Anthony), or perhaps even something to do with the empire. The invasion of Britannia did spring to mind.

Option 4) Dark Age/Arthurian Britain: The Germanic invaders have gained a foothold on the eastern seaboard, the Irish and their ilk raiding and invading from the west, and in the middle all those Roman-British and Celtic communities once dominated by the falling Roman Empire.

So, four options, feel free to pick two (or three), as well as any ideas you might have.

Thank you for reading.

Interested. Peloponnesian War sounds awesome.

Interested. Peloponnesian War sounds awesome.

That is the period I was mostly thinking of, funnily enough. :D

Truly, there are no others? Is the Classical world so limp and colourless that no other would be interested, compared with the multitude of fantasies and sci-fi settings?

Id be interested in the Diodachi or darkages scenarios

Truly, there are no others? Is the Classical world so limp and colourless that no other would be interested, compared with the multitude of fantasies and sci-fi settings?

Scifi and fantasy are easier to write. You can make your own history, own race, own characters etc etc.

With historical nrp, people actually have to do research to play as a nation. You do not have the freedom of history, the freedom of race nor the freedom of character. (I mean, I doubt you'd have a ultra 'good guy' knight character in the persian empire during the greco-Persian conflict times.

Unless Ofcourse you are very loose with rules but then you lose the cultures of said nations.

With all that said, id be more so interested in the 4th option, as I know more about that time period than the others.. Though id still have to do research which is a chore.

@NerevarineFair, fair.

@MonkeypantsI know it's near impossible to tell online, but I was actually being sarcastic; I'm well aware that the average RP'er "doesn't have time for that" though why it should need to be a chore I'm not so certain - I've never asked anyone to have detail down to the smallest detail.

On the flip-side, why take up time to create an entire world, when a world that already existed - and everything to do with it - is right at your fingertips, just a few keystokes away. All you need to do is just read over a wikipedia article.

However, I digress.

Apologies if it sounded like I was serious, I was only jesting and will be more careful with my words next time.

Peloponneaian War sounds good to me too. I'm gonna assume that we'd be going with a Greek Culture?

@Cold HandsNot necessarily, although they were the main 'players', and would be preferred, I'd also allow 'fringe cultures' such as Makedon, Odrysian Thrace or the Illyrians to be player controlled; as GM I would be handling the Persians, and generally trying to play everyone to my advantage.

Peloponessian War! I'd like to be Thebes or Corinth.

@Louis Dabout Take control of commercialism or the isthmus...I see how it is. :P

Excellent, you are most welcome.

Dark Age Option for me!

@NerevarineFair, fair.

@MonkeypantsI know it's near impossible to tell online, but I was actually being sarcastic; I'm well aware that the average RP'er "doesn't have time for that" though why it should need to be a chore I'm not so certain - I've never asked anyone to have detail down to the smallest detail.

On the flip-side, why take up time to create an entire world, when a world that already existed - and everything to do with it - is right at your fingertips, just a few keystokes away. All you need to do is just read over a wikipedia article.

However, I digress.

Apologies if it sounded like I was serious, I was only jesting and will be more careful with my words next time.

My own two cents is that with Historical Nation RPs, not only do you lack freedom, but if you play a historical loser in the conflict, like Athens, you have to find a way to avoid the stupidity that led to the 'Revolt of the 400' and the 'Execution of the Naval Commanders at Arginusae' without seeming to break character.

Or, how about if you're playing Mark Anthony and the best option is to discard Cleopatra, but history and staying in-character demands that you keep her around?

And, finally, with Fantasy Nations, you can be a 'good' nation as well as an 'evil' one, with shades of grey optional. You don't have to commit atrocities just for survival, or participate in slavery because the tech to obsolete it completely didn't exist yet. You can just say: I have Magic, therefore I don't have to do what nations normally do out of realistic concerns.

I will wait for your counterargument.

Edit: Also, as the Arthurian Option seems to be losing, I think I'm going to start my own Dark Ages game on another side.

@Letter Bee

Right then, let us add my two cents, and make four cents; I apologise again if this gets to sound like a rant, it honstly isn't meant as such.

You, like Monkey, seem to be labouring under the misapprehension of exactly what I would expect of the players if this RP was to go ahead; that being, from what I can tell, a precise knowledge of every minutiae of the Classical world and the setting they are in, as well as a strict adherence to the actual and factual events of the Peloponessian War.

I'm not sure where this comes from, but I'll just clarify here that I'm not going to make anyone stick to anything past the setting and the general actions of the time. Athens need not be the loser by the end, and as for Anthony...if someone wanted to discard Cleopatra, I'd tell them to go for it! Oddly, I'm not a professor of history, nor am I that much of a pedant that I'd demand strict adherence to the true events of the timeline. Think, if you will, of a game of Total War; you begin as a nation, in a period of time, but once the actual game begins it is up to the player to then forge their own path through that period of history. That is what I'd expect from my players.

How does this give you a lack of freedom? Unless you want to blatantly tear up everything of past events, which kind of nullifies the entire point of a historical RP, there are any number of options open to you. I, personally, do not see this lack of freedom.

On to your next point, I'll ask a question in return: why can you not be "a 'good' nation as well as an 'evil' one, with shades of grey optional" within a historical setting? History is actually full of such characters, full of such cultures, and yet you believe this option too is only available in a Fantasy setting?

What would you consider the Roman Empire to be, for example? It certainly had an 'evil' to it, as well as a 'good', and I'm certain there were shades of grey throughout - I don't need to create a nation for that.

Classical Sparta, perhaps? Enslaved their neighbours, yet were a state of supposed equality and relative freedom toward their womenfolk; once again I'd say that all three options you mentioned could be applied to them as well.

As for magic, I'd agree that if you're doing high fantasy then this might work, but let's look at ASoIaF or Tolkien's works, or the Conan stories, all of which are supposed 'fantasy' settings with magical elements to them. Yet in each of them there is a need for survival, there are atrocities, and there is slavery to be found.

This is not a counterargument, as I don't believe I'm arguing at all, simply stating what I believe - that is that everything can be found in history that you can create in a fantasy setting (minus the fireballs and dragons and so forth) and, while there are certainly easier elements to just imagining your own cultures and the like, what has actually happened in our own world is no less interesting for RP purposes.

@Jbcool, Thank you; that was a good position, and sorry for the misapprehension.

I am still starting an Arthurian RP on another site.

@Cold HandsNot necessarily, although they were the main 'players', and would be preferred, I'd also allow 'fringe cultures' such as Makedon, Odrysian Thrace or the Illyrians to be player controlled; as GM I would be handling the Persians, and generally trying to play everyone to my advantage.

I've started a Dark Ages Britain RP.