Epic of Aerth d20

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I was thinking of running an Epic of Aerth campaign using D&D 3E rules.

I've come to realise, however, that such a campaign is quite daunting, though, as Epic of Aerth is fairly closely based on Earth's history/myths. This means a lot of research to get the game up and running.

This is different to, say, my Greyhawk campaign where I can just "make stuff up" and get away with it. For Epic of Aerth, most of my material will have to be backed by research on our own Earth's history/myths to pull it off well.

Although I love to research such things, I don't have much time these days so... I was wondering if there's any other "Fantasy Earth" RPGs out there that maybe I could take material from.

The only one that springs to mind is Ars Magica. My only concern with this RPG, though, is that perhaps it's a little too much like a Christian Medieval Europe (eg. it has a divine realm headed by God and an infernal realm headed by Satan). Aerth is more cosmopolitan and its folk worship cultural pantheons.

Any suggestions on other "Fantasy Earth" RPGs out there would be much appreciated

Cheers

 

[Thorindale]

If you can find it, "Dangerous Journeys - The Epic of Aerth" might be what you're looking for.

 

[dead]

If you can find it, "Dangerous Journeys - The Epic of Aerth" might be what you're looking for.

Thanks. Yep, I've got that one. That will be my main reference. This book paints a broad picture, though. I was hoping there were other "Fantasy Earth" RPGs out there that had sourcebooks I could take more ideas from. For example, it might have a city sourcebook on a fantasy London or something so I don't have to do all the work/research on it. I can just steal the ideas and apply it to Epic of Aerth.

Cheers

 

[alms66]

GURPS has lots of "ancient" sourcebooks from Egypt, Greek, Celts, etc.
Literally tons of them, all for GURPS 3E though, I don't think any are available for 4E yet. Still, they're perfectly usable as 4E supplements IMHO, because GURPS doesn't change much between editions and you're not using the system anyway so all you need is the fluff...

Many are out of print, so look for them at Noble Knight and Troll & Toad, or buy the pdf's over at e23 (I think that's their pdf store name anyway).

 

[BluSponge]

Ah! Epic of Aerth! Everytime I think about starting a new fantasy game, I think to myself I'm going to set it on Aerth. So I share your enthusiasm. Unfortunately, the thing that makes Aerth so attractive to me is also what's so infuriating about it. It very much is a skeleton of a setting. There is only the whisp of an idea for the GM to grab hold of and run with. In many ways, you might as well be creating your own campaign world.

Unfortunately, I can't tell you of a single "fantasy earth" rpg setting out there that even touches Aerth. I wish there was one. I'd love to see it. There's a company that has done something of a fantasy earth for Pathfinder, but the reviews haven't been kind. However, having gone down this rabbit hole before, I can offer a bit of advice: don't miss the forest for the trees. While Aerth and Earth look a lot alike, they are different places, with different histories. It's very easy to get bogged down in the weeds and try to get things factually right, but you don't really need to. The Ars Magica sourcebooks are a good information source, but won't do you nearly as much good as you might hope.

If I were going to run a game set on Aerth tomorrow, the first thing I would do is figure out where I was going to start my campaign and do a bit of research on wikipedia about the culture of the place. Aerth should have the veneer of familiarity, but beyond that can (should) be very different. After all, the ancient religions are all very active, magick (high magic in some places) is widely used and accepted, and the different states are stuck in various points in time. Francia, for instance, looks to be in a high renaissance period while the Nordic states are still barbaric tribal strongholds. So rather than go down the history rabbit hole, you are better off getting a few things right and making the rest up whole cloth.

Here are a few sourcebooks and references I'd recommend for Aerth:
Gary Gygax's Living Fantasy (essential)
GURPS Places of Mystery
A good historical atlas
A good book of names (Gygax's Extraordinary Book of Names will do, but there are plenty others)

Beyond that, I'd troll through wikipedia about the starting location you chose. I'd also bookmark Encyclopedia Mythic for purposes of pantheons. If you can find it, a copy of the draft for the Lejendary Pantheons book is essential, but otherwise any edition of Deities and Demigods/Legends and Lore will do.

Beyond that, just go through whatever is in your d20 library and shoehorn in what you want. It'll fit. Just do whatever you have to do NOT to get bogged down in the details. I can almost guarantee Gygax didn't, and indulging the urge to hit every cultural, historical, and geographic note will drive you mad in the end.

Good luck!

Tom
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[dead]

Thanks, guys. I forgot all about GURPS. That could definitely be a good resource. And thanks BluSponge, that's some great advice you have there.

Cheers