Sword-and-sandal RPGs: ancient history and myth
This is a list of RPG systems and supplements that are either set in or at least vaguely inspired by “the ancient times”, broadly construed. This is, of course, a very large category, as recorded ancient history spans approximately 4000 years and encompasses all inhabited continents. While the games listed here fairly well represent all the different periods of antiquity from the Bronze Age up to the age of migrations, their geographical reach is mostly restricted to the Mediterranean Basin and the neighboring areas of Western Europe and the Near East. Unsurprisingly, this means primarily Greece, Rome, Egypt, and Mesopotamia, since these civilizations hold the most widespread recognition.
The ancient peoples themselves had already mythologized their own distant past; subsequent epochs, including our own, produced further legends and fanciful images of life in antiquity. The ancient world thus exists for us simultaneously as the real stuff studied by academic historians and archaeologists and as an imagined past that never really existed. Accordingly, the games on the list cover the whole spectrum, from the “antiquarian” to the “Hollywood” visions of ancient history. Examples include:
- careful historical reconstructions aiming for high accuracy and realism, with only minor embellishments in the service of fun;
- settings inspired not by ancient history, but by ancient myths, often emulating the logic of the epic narratives involving demigod heroes;
- hommages to representations of antiquity in popular culture, such as the Italian “peplum films” and the projects of Ray Harryhausen;
- essentially fantasy settings with ancient trappings serving mostly decorative functions.
It is worth noting that my earlier list of sword and sorcery games is a natural complement to this one. While typical Conanesque settings are melting pots of various cultures and epochs, they most often include some broad stand-ins for ancient civilizations, and their systems usually model the type of heroic adventures that is very appropriate for ancient-era roleplaying.
Mythras
System · Ancient-flavored fantasy implied setting
5 figs out of 5
Agon
System · Greece (mythic)
5 figs out of 5
Mazes & Minotaurs
System (OSR) · Greece (mythic)
5 figs out of 5
RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha
System · Ancient-flavored fantasy
4 figs out of 5
Zenobia
System · Roman Empire
4 figs out of 5
43AD
System · Roman Empire
4 figs out of 5
Heroes of Hellas
System (Barbarians of Lemuria) · Greece (mythic)
4 figs out of 5
GURPS Greece
GURPS setting · Greece
3.5 figs out of 5
Blood & Bronze
System (OSR) · Bronze Age Mesopotamia (fantasy)
3.5 figs out of 5
Mythic Babylon
Mythras setting · Bronze Age Mesopotamia
3.5 figs out of 5
Jackals: Bronze Age Fantasy Roleplaying
System · Bronze Age (fantasy)
3.5 figs out of 5
Odyssey of the Dragonlords
D&D 5e setting · Greece-flavored fantasy
3.5 figs out of 5
Lex Arcana
System · Roman Empire (fantasy)
3.5 figs out of 5
Mythic Rome
Mythras setting · Roman Republic
3.5 figs out of 5
Testament: Roleplaying in the Biblical Era
d20 setting · Bronze Age Near East
3 figs out of 5
Arkadia
D&D 5e setting · Greece-flavored fantasy
3 figs out of 5
HR6 Age of Heroes
AD&D 2e setting · Greece (mythic)
3 figs out of 5
GURPS Egypt
GURPS setting · Egypt
3 figs out of 5
Babylon On Which Fame and Jubilation Are Bestowed
System · Mesopotamia
3 figs out of 5
Cthulhu Invictus
Call of Cthulhu setting · Roman Empire (horror)
3 figs out of 5
Nefertiti Overdrive
System · Egypt (fantasy)
3 figs out of 5
Mythic Greece: The Age of Heroes
Rolemaster/HERO setting · Greece (mythic)
3 figs out of 5
GURPS Imperial Rome
GURPS setting · Roman Empire
3 figs out of 5
Into the Bronze
System (OSR) · Bronze Age Mesopotamia (fantasy)
2.5 figs out of 5
Dark Eras
Chronicles of Darkness setting series · Various periods and cultures
2.5 figs out of 5
Requiem for Rome
Vampire: The Requiem setting · Rome
2.5 figs out of 5
Ancient Kingdoms: Mesopotamia
d20 campaign · Bronze Age Mesopotamia (fantasy)
2.5 figs out of 5
Egyptian Adventures: Hamunaptra
d20 campaign · Egypt (fantasy)
2.5 figs out of 5
Trojan War
Fantasy AGE setting · Greece (mythic)
2.5 figs out of 5
Gary Gygax's Necropolis
d20 campaign · Egypt-flavored fantasy
2.5 figs out of 5
Necropolis
D&D 5e campaign · Egypt-flavored fantasy
2.5 figs out of 5
Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of
System (2d20) · Ancient-flavored fantasy
2.5 figs out of 5
Age of Legends
6d6 setting · Greece (mythic)
2.5 figs out of 5
Warlords of Alexander
BRP setting · Hellenistic period (fantasy)
2.5 figs out of 5
The Valley of the Pharaohs
System (Palladium) · Egypt
2.5 figs out of 5
Weird Wars: Rome
Savage Worlds · Roman Empire
2.5 figs out of 5
Atlantis: the Second Age
System · Ancient-flavored fantasy
2.5 figs out of 5
Hercules & Xena
System · Ancient-flavored fantasy
2.5 figs out of 5
Eagle Eyes
Fate setting · Roman Republic
2.5 figs out of 5
HR5 The Glory of Rome
AD&D 2e setting · Roman Empire
2.5 figs out of 5
Fragments of the Past
System · Bronze Age (fantasy)
2 figs out of 5
Mythic Egypt
Rolemaster/HERO setting · Egypt (mythic)
2 figs out of 5
Hellas: Worlds of Sun and Stone
System · Greece-flavored space opera
2 figs out of 5
Aegean
System · Greece (mythic)
2 figs out of 5
Hollow World
B/X D&D setting · Ancient-flavored fantasy
2 figs out of 5
Dark Sun
AD&D 2e setting · Ancient-flavored fantasy
2 figs out of 5
Beasts & Barbarians
Savage Worlds setting · Ancient-flavored fantasy
2 figs out of 5
Blood of the Gods
Wild Talents setting · Greece (mythic)
2 figs out of 5
Brazen Backgrounds
System-neutral supplement · Bronze Age
2 figs out of 5
Thennla
Mythras setting · Ancient-flavored fantasy
2 figs out of 5
Relics & Rituals: Olympus
d20 setting · Greece (mythic)
2 figs out of 5
Centurion: Legionaries of Rome
System · Roman Republic and Principate
2 figs out of 5
The New Argonauts
System (d20) · Greece (mythic)
2 figs out of 5
Mythos
Savage Worlds setting · Greece (mythic)
2 figs out of 5
Plane Shift: Amonkhet
D&D 5e setting · Egypt-flavored fantasy
2 figs out of 5
Hunters of Alexandria
System (Fate) · Roman Empire (fantasy)
1.5 figs out of 5
Southlands
D&D 5e and Pathfinder setting · Ancient-flavored fantasy
1.5 figs out of 5
Old Empires (Forgotten Realms)
AD&D 2e setting · Ancient-flavored fantasy
1.5 figs out of 5
NOD
Hexcrawl zine · Ancient-flavored fantasy
1.5 figs out of 5
GURPS Low-Tech
GURPS sourcebook
1.5 figs out of 5
Eternal Rome
d20 setting · Rome
1.5 figs out of 5
Heroes of Olympus
System · Greece (mythic)
1.5 figs out of 5
OpenQuest
System · Ancient-flavored fantasy implied setting
1.5 figs out of 5
OGL Ancients
System (d20) · Ancient world (mythic)
1.5 figs out of 5