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
5 figs out of 5
Mythic Babylon (Mythras)
5 figs out of 5
Mythic Rome (Mythras)
5 figs out of 5
Mazes & Minotaurs
5 figs out of 5
Agon
5 figs out of 5
RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha
4 figs out of 5
Zenobia
4 figs out of 5
43AD
4 figs out of 5
Heroes of Hellas (Barbarians of Lemuria)
3.5 figs out of 5
Blood & Bronze
3.5 figs out of 5
Jackals: Bronze Age Fantasy Roleplaying
3.5 figs out of 5
GURPS Greece
3.5 figs out of 5
GURPS Egypt
3.5 figs out of 5
GURPS Imperial Rome
3.5 figs out of 5
GURPS Low-Tech
3.5 figs out of 5
Odyssey of the Dragonlords (D&D 5e)
3 figs out of 5
Testament: Roleplaying in the Biblical Era (d20)
3 figs out of 5
HR6 Age of Heroes (AD&D 2e)
3 figs out of 5
HR5 The Glory of Rome (AD&D 2e)
3 figs out of 5
Babylon On Which Fame and Jubilation Are Bestowed
3 figs out of 5
Nefertiti Overdrive
3 figs out of 5
Arkadia (D&D 5e)
2.5 figs out of 5
Cthulhu Invictus
2.5 figs out of 5
Mythic Greece: The Age of Heroes (Rolemaster/HERO)
2.5 figs out of 5
Mythic Egypt (Rolemaster/HERO)
2.5 figs out of 5
Lex Arcana
2.5 figs out of 5
Into the Bronze
2.5 figs out of 5
Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of (2d20)
2.5 figs out of 5
Ancient Kingdoms: Mesopotamia (d20)
2.5 figs out of 5
Atlantis: the Second Age
2.5 figs out of 5
Age of Legends (6d6)
2.5 figs out of 5
The Valley of the Pharaohs (Palladium)
2.5 figs out of 5
Gary Gygax's Necropolis (d20)
2.5 figs out of 5
Necropolis (D&D 5e)
2.5 figs out of 5
Egyptian Adventures: Hamunaptra (d20)
2.5 figs out of 5
Chronicles of Darkness: Dark Eras (series)
2.5 figs out of 5
Requiem for Rome (Vampire: The Requiem)
2.5 figs out of 5
Trojan War (Fantasy AGE)
2.5 figs out of 5
Warlords of Alexander (BRP)
2 figs out of 5
Hercules & Xena
2 figs out of 5
Hollow World (D&D)
2 figs out of 5
Eagle Eyes (Fate)
2 figs out of 5
Blood of the Gods (Wild Talents)
2 figs out of 5
Beasts & Barbarians (Savage Worlds)
2 figs out of 5
Dark Sun (D&D)
2 figs out of 5
Plane Shift: Amonkhet (D&D 5e)
1.5 figs out of 5
Weird Wars: Rome (Savage Worlds)
1.5 figs out of 5
Hunters of Alexandria
1.5 figs out of 5
Hellas: Worlds of Sun and Stone
1.5 figs out of 5
OpenQuest
1.5 figs out of 5
Brazen Backgrounds
1.5 figs out of 5
OGL Ancients (d20)
1.5 figs out of 5
Eternal Rome (d20)
1.5 figs out of 5
Relics & Rituals: Olympus (d20)
1.5 figs out of 5
Heroes of Olympus
1.5 figs out of 5
Centurion: Legionaries of Rome
1.5 figs out of 5
The New Argonauts (d20)
1.5 figs out of 5
NOD
1.5 figs out of 5