Campaign Outline

 The 3rd Century Crisis: An Introduction 

Welcome to the ashes of the Roman Empire, circa 260 AD! Now, the 3rd Century Crisis is a real historical event - it was kicked off by the assassination of the reigning emperor, at which point the whole Empire fell apart as various factions claimed the throne. However. I’ve buggered the fuck out of any vague historical accuracy that might remain after I D&D-iffied the shit out of it, and this version of the world shares only a passing resemblance to real history, because real history is overrated, and it’s much more fun to have legionnaires fight dragons and manticores as opposed to boring old tribesmen.

What will this campaign be like? Well, I’d say it’s kinda like Skyrim or New Vegas, given that the main questline is “pick a faction and fight for them will the end”, with liberal amounts of crazy side quests sprinkled in for good measure and a bit of variety. You’ll have some choice in who you work for, though it’s not too complicated. On a faction front, the crisis has five major actors: The Gallic, Palmyrene, and Roman Empire, along with two major foreign factions that nip at the heels of the crumbling empire, the Germanic Tribes and the Sassanid Empire. Now, you, dear player, will begin the campaign in one of these - you have to start in a tavern somewhere, as is tradition in the RPG medium. But, more importantly, you will, at some point, need to pick a side. Eventually, you will have to choose an empire that you swear loyalty to, and whose interests you will fight for in this fractured world - though, as is tradition, you can do missions for all of them up to a point (much like how you can do all the faction missions in New Vegas, until you hit the point of no return with one of them, and the rest start wanting to kill you). Now, in practice, that means there’s one major decision at the beginning - Foreign, or Roman? The former is simpler, as you basically just gonna be kicking the shit out of any and all Roman factions you can see, unifying the other tribes/kingdoms around you, and then marching on Rome. Basically: Murder murder murder, kill, kill, kill, etc. However, if you go with the Romans, you will have to pick a more specific Roman faction - and then you’ll have to kill, subjugate, or vassalize the other Romans, as well as pacify the other barbarian/eastern factions. Honestly, a lot of murder and killing on this track too….

You could be an absolute madlad and attempt to forge your own empire or faction in this time of crisis, but c’mon, who does that! You’d have to be crazy! *wink wink*

Diplomacy wise, you will occasionally have to do some interesting and complicated diplomatic stuff at times, but the main crux will be mass combat and grand military strategy. If you end up in a diplomatic situation, it’ll probably involve some lovely court intrigue with politically motivated assassinations/kidnappings/blackmail. So if you ever end up in major cities with powerful clients and enemies, watch you back - everyone wants to be emperor, and most are willing to kill for the chance.

Now, on the topic of Race, magical and otherwise. The Mediterranean world is inhabited by humans, for the most part - most magical races (except, ironically, goblins and orcs) are persecuted in the Roman Empire, and are only really common in the barbarian lands of Brittania, Germania, and Dacia, with some stranger races surviving in Persia. However, both within and outside the Empire, there are a thousand human tribes, races, and ethnicities, with a hundred cultures present in a single city - go wild on that front. And to be clear, that’s not to say you can’t be a magical race, I’m just saying it’ll be tough going in certain places. Depending on where the party starts geographically, this status quo could change, but if you start in any of the Roman factions’ lands, you have to be careful. Obviously I won’t stop you from playing a magical race, but I will warn you - it can be very fun (I’ve played a Tiefling character in a xenophobic fantasy Wild West campaign who had to hide his face at all times and pretended his horns were part of his helmet, so I get the appeal) but it can limit your options in social interactions, and could even put your life in danger.

Religion wise, I’ll also note that most faiths are widely accepted in all factions, but that Christianity is persecuted in the Roman Empire (as Christians refuse to recognize the Roman Emperor as a god, and are seen as traitors) and Zoroastrianism is frowned upon (as the Zoroastrian Sassanids are a regional rival). Vice versa, Roman paganism is not terribly well liked in Germania and Persia, as it represents the imperialistic Empire across the border. In short - worship at your own risk.

So, with that bit about what you should expect from the campaign out of the way, let’s get you more comfortable with the world itself. I’ve laid out a relatively comprehensive but fairly brief (by my standards, anyway) socio-political description of each major power, who they worship, and what magical powers and beasties they can call upon. You definitely don’t have to read it all - God knows it’s still too long for its own good, but I can’t bring myself to cut anything. If you’re not a slut for worldbuilding like I am, I’d recommend at least skimming the section on Religions, especially if you wanna play a Paladin, Cleric, or a Warlock, and maybe take a cursory glance at the Factions, cause that’ll tell you a bit about your potential employers/rulers. If you’re thinking about playing a magical race, take a look at the Germanic section of Magic and Monsters.