Ancient Lore: The Gates of Troy
Book 1: Heroic Bronze Age
Review by C. Demetrius Morgan
Sing, O goddess, the anger of Achilles son of Peleus, that brought countless ills upon the Achaeans. Many a brave soul did it send hurrying down to Hades, and many a hero did it yield a prey to dogs and vultures, for so were the counsels of Jove fulfilled from the day on which the son of Atreus, king of men, and great Achilles, first fell out with one another. -The Iliad
Synopsis
This review is for the 45-page PDF of the Gates of Troy role-playing supplement for the D20 RPS. Gates of Troy was written by Andrew Kenrick and published by Steam Power Publishing. It is currently available from RPGnow for $5.00.
Rating: Incomplete. Gates of Troy has great potential to be a fine introductory level gazetteer and guide to the City of Troy, the kind of product you could take into a classroom. However the material could use some expansion and a bit of polish. Thus I must, with heavy heart, rate Gates of Troy with a mere 4 out of 10 golden apples.
Initial Impressions top
Two things are immediately noticeable about this supplement. First, while it is well laid out from an aesthetic standpoint the font is just the other side of eyestrain for onscreen viewing. Second, there’s a lot of recognizable period clipart illustrations used. Alas one could summarize the art as Hellenic or generically Greek, but not really specifically Trojan. In fact some of the art is Romanesque. Not that anyone is going to notice, much less care, but it is one of those things that nitpickers will notice and complain about if not mentioned. So there it is. Personally I would have liked to of seen more than just stock clipart used, then again it does lend the document something of an antique air.
Chapter-by-Chapter Overview top
Actually, due to a bad choice of font and layout, there are essentially no chapters. There’s a contents page, which provides a rough break down of should be proper sections, but when scanning through the document there is no way to delineate when one section begins and another ends. This is due primarily to the fact the section headers are indistinct and merge together so, to the casual reader, every page header looks about the same. I’d suggest removing the “The Gates of Troy” blurb that appears on just about every other page, then numerate the chapters clearly, and finally change the font face to something that is more distinct to the eye. As presented the document makes it very difficult to find specific information, sans doing a Boolean search, as one section pretty much blurs into the next. Not good. That said, going by the sections highlighted in bold font face on the contents page, the main sections are as follows:
Introduction - Barely a page of “Hello, this sourcebook is for the fabled city of Troy.”
Playing in the Heroic Bronze Age - Four pages that are little more than a thumbnail overview explaining how the various classes, skills, feats, and races apply to this book’s campaign milieu. While the section on equipment, magic, and monsters does at least inform the average player that this is not going to be a stock setting, this section is otherwise the typical declaration found in most D20 products.
A History of Troy - The background setting detail starts with what is a well presented, if basic, mytho-historical introduction.. Granted it’s only four pages but it does set the stage for what follows.
The Trojans - A quick 4-page snapshot history of the Trojans, from their government and law to their military and religion.
The Geography of the Troad - A quick 2-page overview of the region from the Hellespont and Bay of Illios to the Plains of Troy.
The City of Troy - 11-pages of city detail, including an artist’s rendition of the city. This section contains more than just city information, there are encounter charts, population information, a Tavern complete with NPC (though no floor maps), and most of what a DM would expect to find in a section detailing a city.
The Fall of Troy - No sourcebook on Troy would be complete without some historical accounting of its fall. And here that section is. A bit brief, but functional.
Using this Book - A simple page of suggestions for how to use this sourcebook. Such as, “Depending on your campaign world, you may need to make one or two changes to use this book effectively.” Words for DMs to live by.
Trojan Heroes - 10-pages of personae dramatis. In other words: NPCs. Who you get: King Priam, Queen Hecuba, Paris, Helen, Hector, Aenas, Theano, Cassandra, Helenus, and Sinon. top
Summary top
Troy, located northwest of Asia Minor overlooking the Dardanelles, was that ancient Phrygian city also known as Ilium. A city central to the early history of ancient Greece. Indeed ballads and odes have been written, theatrical plays conducted, and reams of speculative fiction penned about Troy. Perhaps none more important than the Iliad. For it was to Troy that Helen was whisked, Helen whose heralded beauty launched a thousand ships, Helen over whom was fought the infamous Trojan War; so named because it was fought upon the parapets and fields of Troy. It is a well known story, if not a well known period of history, yet Gates of Troy has to live up it. This means this tome must present, at the bare minimum, rules for playing the central ancient Greek tribes of Achaeans and Trojans. While it would also be nice to see some supplemental tribes such as the Myrmidons, Spartans, or Athenians also written up for Game Masters wishing to run lengthy campaigns I will not hold it against this work if other Hellenistic peoples are not detailed in depth. However if these basics are not met then I shall deem this work incomplete as the average GM will need at least some basic overview of the Hellenistic world to properly set up a campaign.
The Setting: In essence this presents the Troy of the Iliad, or rather it’s personae, and rules for how to adapt the standard xD&D classes for play in such a setting. In that regard the document is rather disappointing. For instance rather than detail what it means to be a Hierophant, the document merely outlines how Clerics (in this setting) are devotees of the Olympian pantheon. As if anyone with a copy of Edith Hamilton’s Mythology couldn’t figure that much out! Oh, sure, the Hierophant is mentioned in passing, but as follows: “The following prestige class are appropriate to use in the Heroic Bronze Age: assassin, blackguard, hierophant, and loremaster.” Nice suggestions. However I would rather have seen some actually prestige classes suited to the time period actually detailed. I could probably name half a dozen types of warrior that could of, should have, and probably would have made decent prestige classes for the period, but weren’t. (And I don’t just mean Hoplites!) So the long and the short of it, the setting is a city called Troy, but the window dressing is xD&D, which means some may feel the content flies wide of the “Heroic Bronze Age” mark. If you can live with that without wanting to throttle someone because Hector is a Paladin or Paris is a Fighter/Ranger then you should have no problems using this supplement. top
Game System: Any OGL or D20 fantasy rule set should do. In fact if you don’t have at least some core rulebook to provide the essential rules basics this is totally useless. But it doesn’t end there. You will also want something that details the Greek gods. Thus, to make this useful, Game Masters will need the DMG and PHB in addition to one of the following: Legends & Lore, Zozer Games Heroes of Delphi (provides a thumbnail overview of the Greek gods), or Bastion Press’ Greek Gods. This is very important as the Greek gods figure prominently in most of the classical tales and you will need them. top
Character Creation: I was shocked to find only a brief section essentially doing little more than outlining- all too briefly- how to integrate the standard D&D type character classes for use with this setting. Going in I was expecting to at least see a few prestige classes specific to the milieu, at least a Hoplite or Hierophant, maybe even a Hetaira or Maenad, certainly at the barest minimum a decent NPC Philosopher, Orator, Vestal Virgin, Sage, or Poet class or two! (You do remember NPC Classes? They used to be all the rage.) Instead what were presented are the same tired old clichéd Clerics and Rogues and Rangers and Monks and Sorcerers (in ancient Greece?) and STOP IT ALREADY! The write-ups are borderline sadly pathetic cursory thumbnails, such as the following: “Ranger - Often serving as a devotee of Apollo or Artemis, the ranger is a skilled hunter of beasts, both mundane and legendary. As with nearly everyone in Heroic Greece, rangers are illiterate.” So just about every ancient Greek was an illiterate oaf, really? How then to explain the likes of Aristophanes, Solon, Theognis, Alcaeus, Epicurus, Anacreon, Diphilos, Archilocos, Lucian, Hyperides, Plato, Xenophon, Sappho, Aristotle, and all the other noted poets, philosophers, orators, and assorted sages? Disappointing and very insulting. top
Appraisal top
This has been a tough review. I’ve been contemplating Gates of Troy for sometime. It has its good points and its bad. For instance as a standalone historical milieu Gates of Troy sinks faster than Atlantis. However, for those wishing to spice up otherwise dreary vanilla D&D campaigns, Gates of Troy may be exactly what they‘ve been looking for. It‘s really a matter of perspective. To be honest I was sorely disappointed by what was not presented. However, I can see the potential usefulness of what was. Problem is, as generic historical supplements go, Gates of Troy is somewhat incomplete. This is closer in content to what the material for the City of Greyhawk presented, information for running a city. Yet even that material covered more than just the city. True, there is some supporting material, such as the inclusion of NPCs. Aside from Helen’s Charisma being over the top, calling a priestess a priest, and none of the ancillary characters being detailed- viz. Peleus, Laocoon, Sarpedon, Rhesus, Memnon, Penthesileia, Nestor, Diomedes- there is little fault to be found there. Unless you consider the total lack of period items magical or mundane- Apple of Discord anyone?- or detailed city and region maps to be a major oversight. Indeed, without other regions of the Hellespont detailed, to say nothing of other cultures, giving each character an entire page to be fleshed out with languages known and mention of “race” becomes pointless. Then again those tantalizing clues about other cultures, despite the document providing little to no information about them, are at least a clue about where to begin one‘s research to flesh out the setting. That’s something, right? Maybe. Perhaps it wouldn’t be a problem for a sourcebook dedicated solely to Troy, however this book is not really a sourcebook dedicated solely to the City of Troy, is it? I have to admit it confuses and confounds me at times. Especially when I think about how Gates of Troy also proclaims itself to be, “Book I: Heroic Bronze Age”! Intimating this is the first of a line of products, right? Assuming that to be the case I have to assess the supplement based on that claim. Alas, in some ways, this supplement is a failure. It is NOT a sourcebook of the Heroic Bronze Age; it is a Gazetteer (in need of fleshing out) and city resource for role-playing in the City of Troy. No other Bronze Age cultures are detailed, mentioned a bit perhaps. Worse character classes are merely the medieval fantasy characters of the SRD, no attempt has been made to provide new classes, not even a single prestige class. Rather what are provided are suggestions about how to use those aforementioned stock classes within this setting. Critical fumble. top
Historicity: It is plainly stated in the introduction, “What this book is not is a document of historical fact.” And yet there is this blurb (from the RPGnow page): “The Gates of Troy includes everything you need to find honor, glory and adventure within the legendary citadel or to run a game set during the Trojan War using the core rulebooks alone.” To say nothing of the fact the work endeavors to lay out, based upon established historical timelines, that the Heroic Bronze Age was that time “during which many of the Greek legends are supposed to have occurred”. That era, according to this work, is the period of time “between about 1500 and 1000 BC”. Now there is an old saying about how you can’t have your cake and eat it to. Now, to me, it seems like that is precisely what is being attempted here, as there is no attempt to create an alternative history, nor has any effort been made to present a original fantasy campaign milieu. Rather, what is presented is a work that quotes extensively from the Iliad and other pertinent historical documents. Perhaps too much so. So if it’s not fact and it’s not fiction what is it? Not legendary adventure, that’s for sure. top
Epochs: Archaeologists use “epochs” as cornerstones to mark major eras in timelines. These are usually based on what are perceived to be those moments in time when civilization flourish and thrive and the transitional periods between distinctive stages of cultural development. For instance the Stone Age marks a period of time, however within that era there were several epochs. Namely the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic. It is much the same with the Bronze Age, with the added wrinkle that when we move in to examine the archaeology of individual regions these epochs get further subdivided into cultural phases. However, for the Bronze Age overall, it similarly has three main epoch subdivisions: The Early Bronze Age, ca. 3000 - 2100 BC; The Middle Bronze Age, ca. 2100 - 1600 BC; and The Late Bronze Age, ca. 600 - 1200 BC. These dates are rough estimates and tend to vary slightly from source to source. However there are certain keystone historical events that can be categorized linearly even without dates set in stone. For instance:
The Early Bronze Age: This epoch appears to have been a tumultuous transitional period marked by the move from open un-walled settlements to settlements that were walled and fortified. That says a lot. As does the fact the first recorded urban civilization centers were in full swing in Mesopotamia and Egypt during this time. Indeed mainstream archaeological timelines place the construction of the Giza Pyramids of time and the appearance of the first recorded writing here.
The Middle Bronze Age: This epoch saw existing civilization centers undergo drastic changes. Warfare led to cultural diffusion and possible shifts in population centers. This epoch is noted in archaeological timelines for the emergence of (the still undeciphered) Linear A script.
The Late Bronze Age: This epoch was witness to many advances, from pottery making techniques to weapon making, and was likely a tumultuous transitional period. In Greek history the Minoans and Myceneans lived during the Late Bronze Age, these were civilizations that may have been contemporaries of the Troy of the Trojan War. And both met civilizations appear to have met their ends due to cultural upheavals caused by foreign invaders. top
Assessment: The problem here is that while Troy is often cited as having flourished during the Late Bronze Age, its fall is usually placed during the beginning of the Iron Age. Of course one need only Google for Bronze Age timelines to see how different authors bracket these events into epochs with slightly different periods of time in which they are believed to have occurred. Thus there is a very wide margin of leeway for authors to allow for open speculation. Sadly there is very little of that present here. In fact there is a lot of what I would have thought to be basic to any self-contained city sourcebook, such as maps. Oh, there is a map, and a nicely done one at that. But all it provides is an artist’s rendition of what the city might have looked like. There are no area maps, no overviews of the city showing it’s buildings, no maps of the under city (which probably wouldn‘t exist, but then again certain liberties could be taken here or there), nor is the necropolis detailed. Just about every city would have a separate area set aside for burial, in game terms this would be ripe for possible encounters with vrykolakas, striges, or lamia. Thus this really cannot be said to provide “everything you need” to properly run a D&D styled campaign centered around Troy. And, let’s face it, that’s all this document is really aiming to do. And that, for me, is a major problem because D&D is not the Heroic Bronze Age it’s Medieval Fantasy with a heavy undercurrent of Swords and Sorcery. top
Negatives: A sourcebook for the Heroic Bronze Age this isn’t. I can only assume this blurb was added to the title as an afterthought, perhaps to create a stepping stone product to a planned line of similar supplements, otherwise it is beyond me. Too, Gates of Troy relies heavily upon the stock SRD documents, documents that form the core of all D20 and OGL game products. However these are rules that have been derived from the Hasbro/Wizards of the Coast Dungeons & Dragons property. For those who may have forgotten I remind you, Dungeons & Dragons is a game designed to simulate a medieval fantasy setting heavy on the swords and sorcery. That’s a strike out for recreating a Bronze Age setting- to say nothing of Mythic Greece- right there. Where are the Olympians, the Heroes, Hierophants, Hetaira, Erotes, Maenads, Nereids, Vestal Virgins, and, most importantly of all, the Sailors? Lord love a duck the Trojan War is all about sailors and sailing to a far distant shore yet, where are the rules for sea adventures? Alas Gates of Troy merely presents a paraphrasing of the vanilla SRD rules, presented without even minimal tweaking or modification, and that makes this about as ill suited to the setting outlined as dropping a line with fresh yummy earthworm bait in a retention pond would likely catch carp. If you are looking for an in-depth historical sourcebook, heck if you are looking for alternative core or prestige character classes to use in your campaign, walk on by. This has nothing. That said. . . top
Positives: The layout is very well done, and the inclusion of both a contents page and index are a welcome sight. Despite the lack of period classes, equipment, or magic rules Gates of Troy would make a great chapter in a larger sourcebook detailing either the whole of the legendary Bronze Age or the ancient Hellenic World. Too, as a set of rule guidelines for adapting the City of Troy for use with Dungeons & Dragons type fantasy this isn’t all that bad. In fact if you paired this with Zozer Games Heroes of Delphi and Ronin Arts 101 Collection 2 you should be able to develop a very rich and detailed campaign setting. Just be aware you will need to do a bit of work, beginning with checking your inner nitpicker at the door, and prepare to let the imagination of your inner poet run free. Don’t have an inner poet? Not a problem, just stick with using poetic license! top
Mighty the Wizard
Who found me at sunrise
Sleeping, and woke me
And learn’d me magic!
Copyright © 2004 C. Demetrius Morgan
