The Imperial Line

Constantine XIII, won the throne almost 10 years ago. Alliances always shift, this is current one in 366th year of the New Roman Calendar (1463 in the Gregorian Calendar). Constantine XIII, the unlikely emperor, was a son of a vassal line. Important Vassals married into the main line and can be eligible of the name in this manner. This was a common practice since incest was forbidden by the Church and having a capable male heir was challenging.

Constantine was the 7th in line to the Baldwin house and 6 before him fell in the war and treachery. He was both fortunate, cunning and insightful. His early supporters in the Osman House, was what changed the tide during House Baldwin's wavering hour against House Flor and Komena. House Ad'Din remained neutral, because of their strong family ties with House Osman and the Flor knifes at their throat and the Flor fleets at their gates.

As emperor, he brought justice to the long grievances the Osmans had suffered under Flor and Komena rule. He had settled the legions north to guard Osman's borders and made their city great. He had established the Easter Legions in Bagdad, to ward against the Barbarians of the east. He had brought stability and his reign was marked by the longest summer, 8 years.

Project Outline

Game Setting.
(2 hours) House Komena: Resources, Families, Family Tree, Vassals, Resources, Army, and Territories.
(2 hours) House Osman: (same)
(2 hours) House Baldwin: (same)
(2 hours) House Ad'Din: (same)
(2 hours) House Flor: (same)
(2 hours) Setting key Persona Relationship Tree.
(2 hours) Pressing threats of the empire (by priority)
(2 hours) Edit Setting Map

Character Creation.
(2 hours) Wealth, Status and Economic Roles.
(2 hours) Characterization: Default Disadvantages.
(2 hours) Backgrounds.
(5 hours) Professions and Dramatic Roles.

Total Time: 28 hours.
Target number of hours per week. 4 hour slots.

Its about time

Well i have time now. Anyway, I'm working on a 11C Crusades Dark Fantasy Campaign Setting, that I plan to run this march. It is called "Sins of the Crusade".

The Concept of the setting story is based on the premise "What if Alexius was Successful?". This alternate timeline explores the historical implications of a successful cooperation between the Byzantine Emperor and the Crusaders after Antioch. It Imagines a Reborn Roman Empire and the cost such a Rebirth would mean to the rest of the world. It's fantasy slant comes from the sinister repurcussions, of blending Norman Expansionist Appetite with Byzantine Perpetuating Oligarchies.

The result is a more complicated Byzantine Political Structure that perpetuates suffering and regresses technology while maintaining the Imperial Status Quo for Centuries.

The Fantasy Elements is in the Perpetual Dark Irony and Suffering the Rulers of the Empire live. Each generation suffering darker and darker tragedies. The Pain of the decendants of the Conquerors is drawn out over centuries. It culminates to a point that dark powers further extend the suffering with curses of undeath, immortality, and monsters. The land also suffers these dark curse as the world suffers cycles of famine that last years, nights that last weeks, mists that shroud the east, storms that wall western sea, ferocious jungles in the south and the winter of the north.

Its Byzantium in Perpetua at a cost that cannot be paid.

Equipment Lists

This is filler until the real Low Tech comes around. It is mostly based on the discussion on the forums. It has a simplification of the shield discussion, the bow accuracy discussion, the armors are basedon Dan's articles and the horse discussions.

They are in PDF form since I use open office.

GURPS 4e Low Tech Equipment 1st Crusades Era.pdf
for Armors Shields and Bows.

GURPS 4e Horses v2.pdf

• to download without much hassle: just scroll down the page and choose the basic service. Its under the flashy red sign.

Note on Horses: I didn't bother improving the ST to Wt. ratio as per suggested in the horse threads since it was a very tricky matter because I wouldn't know the ST ranges of different breeds.

If you have any changes to suggest please post it here to alert anyone who is interested in the Hand out.

Notes on the way the information is organized. Seeing such a list of equipment will typically delay game start time. Ideally this information is already organized into Outfits which can be customized or taken as is.

Organizing Outfits and Primary Horses into cards would speed up character creation. Players selecting from the cultural and combat role packages could easily narrow down their choices from their own needs.

11C Outfit Cards are still in the works

Some Basic Equipment

Squadron or Deckarchy Equipment. (p. 138)
1st. Footman:
1) Thick Tunic which extends down over the knees.
2) Heavy Hiking Sandals.
Note: boots are discouraged for hiking.
3) Short Cloaks.

Finally Got my copy of the strategikon. I'm painting some Byzantine Figs (5century) and organizing a targetnumber based set of rules derived from Warhammer. GURPS, my own biometric research, and my own findings.

The myriad peoples of the Byzantine Game.

The Peoples a Player can choose for a character are as follows:

Byzantine
Greek
Macedonian
Ilyrian
Armenian
Latin

Nomad
Hun
Thracian
Avar
Arab

Sassanid (Persia)
Acheamenid
Assyrian
Kurd

Barbarian
Isaurian
Goth
Slav
Iberian
Numidian
Celt

Outside Kingdoms
Egyptian
Ethiopian
Franks
Artorians (British Celts)