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Hunters of Alexandria
Hunters of Alexandria is a roleplaying game in an urban fantasy setting, but one set in the ancient rather than the modern world.
Players take on the role of members of a small monster hunting organisation, the Venatores, in the city of Alexandria, in the year 1AD. The Emperor Augustus rules Rome, and Alexandria has been under direct Roman rule for the last 30 years. Monsters, ghosts, sorcerers and things that go bump in the night all threaten the people of Alexandria.
In this 110 page A5 book we present complete rules for character generation and play, and details of this mythic and monstrous version of ancient Alexandria, including different factions at play in the city, the geography of Alexandria, supernatural beasts, scenario seeds and a complete introductory scenario.
The book is designed to be lightweight and easy to absorb. It is suitable for immediate sandbox play (with a full cast of supporting non-player characters detailed as well as the city itself) and also includes a full introductory scenario (Saviour Gods). It comes with four example characters so you can start running the game after reading.
Hunters of Alexandria in a Nutshell
The year is 1AD or 753AUC, 753 years after the foundation of Rome.
Egypt has been under Roman rule for a generation, since Augustus the first Roman Emperor deposed the last of the Greek Pharaohs, Cleopatra. Alexandria is the capital.
Alexandria is a big city, with nearly a million people (this is breathtakingly huge for the ancient world). It is highly cosmopolitan, with Romans, Greeks, Egyptians, Jews being the main peoples here.
Monsters and magic are real. Monsters are similar to those from myths and legends, though not all the stories are literally true. Magic is subtle rather than flashy.
Most people believe in monsters and magic, though they have seldom if ever witnessed either, and dismiss the majority of the stories as nonsense. They are correct in this, but do not realise the extent of the supernatural world.
The main gods worshipped here are typically Egyptian (Isis being the main example), a syncretic combination of Greek and Egyptian (the chief being Serapis), or Roman. People are increasingly seeing the older gods as facets of the Roman gods, but the priesthoods of Serapis and Isis resist this idea.
The Musaeum of Alexandria is a great source of scholarship, with a vast library, but isn’t what it was in pre-Roman times.
You belong to an organisation known as the Venatores, meaning Hunters.
Your job is to hunt down supernatural threats to the city.
The Fortune System
The game uses the Fortune System, a light version of the Fate rules , influenced by the Jadepunk RPG . It provides a straightforward approach to resolve tests and conflicts in historic fantasy settings.
Pre-generated player characters
The game comes with four pre-generated player characters so you can pick up and play!
Introductory Scenario – Saviour Gods
The Great Lighthouse of Alexandria is a shining beacon in the night, which guides sailors safely into port. It is also a highly magical place, thanks to rituals performed by its architect when it was built. It is a beacon of light that prevents the forces of darkness from invading from the sea. Miraculously, given all the violence of Julius Caesar’s arrival forty six years ago and Augustus’s subsequent toppling of the Ptolemaic Dynasty thirty years ago, the Tower has endured. Now a dark force within the city wants to see the tower destroyed, so that powerful masters may secretly avoid its revealing gaze and settle in the city.
Saviour Gods is an introductory scenario for Hunters of Alexandria. It is intended to give a firm grounding for both players and games masters in the setting and the rules.
Players take on the role of members of a small monster hunting organisation, the Venatores, in the city of Alexandria, in the year 1AD. The Emperor Augustus rules Rome, and Alexandria has been under direct Roman rule for the last 30 years. Monsters, ghosts, sorcerers and things that go bump in the night all threaten the people of Alexandria.
In this 110 page A5 book we present complete rules for character generation and play, and details of this mythic and monstrous version of ancient Alexandria, including different factions at play in the city, the geography of Alexandria, supernatural beasts, scenario seeds and a complete introductory scenario.
The book is designed to be lightweight and easy to absorb. It is suitable for immediate sandbox play (with a full cast of supporting non-player characters detailed as well as the city itself) and also includes a full introductory scenario (Saviour Gods). It comes with four example characters so you can start running the game after reading.
Hunters of Alexandria in a Nutshell
The year is 1AD or 753AUC, 753 years after the foundation of Rome.
Egypt has been under Roman rule for a generation, since Augustus the first Roman Emperor deposed the last of the Greek Pharaohs, Cleopatra. Alexandria is the capital.
Alexandria is a big city, with nearly a million people (this is breathtakingly huge for the ancient world). It is highly cosmopolitan, with Romans, Greeks, Egyptians, Jews being the main peoples here.
Monsters and magic are real. Monsters are similar to those from myths and legends, though not all the stories are literally true. Magic is subtle rather than flashy.
Most people believe in monsters and magic, though they have seldom if ever witnessed either, and dismiss the majority of the stories as nonsense. They are correct in this, but do not realise the extent of the supernatural world.
The main gods worshipped here are typically Egyptian (Isis being the main example), a syncretic combination of Greek and Egyptian (the chief being Serapis), or Roman. People are increasingly seeing the older gods as facets of the Roman gods, but the priesthoods of Serapis and Isis resist this idea.
The Musaeum of Alexandria is a great source of scholarship, with a vast library, but isn’t what it was in pre-Roman times.
You belong to an organisation known as the Venatores, meaning Hunters.
Your job is to hunt down supernatural threats to the city.
The Fortune System
The game uses the Fortune System, a light version of the Fate rules , influenced by the Jadepunk RPG . It provides a straightforward approach to resolve tests and conflicts in historic fantasy settings.
Pre-generated player characters
The game comes with four pre-generated player characters so you can pick up and play!
Introductory Scenario – Saviour Gods
The Great Lighthouse of Alexandria is a shining beacon in the night, which guides sailors safely into port. It is also a highly magical place, thanks to rituals performed by its architect when it was built. It is a beacon of light that prevents the forces of darkness from invading from the sea. Miraculously, given all the violence of Julius Caesar’s arrival forty six years ago and Augustus’s subsequent toppling of the Ptolemaic Dynasty thirty years ago, the Tower has endured. Now a dark force within the city wants to see the tower destroyed, so that powerful masters may secretly avoid its revealing gaze and settle in the city.
Saviour Gods is an introductory scenario for Hunters of Alexandria. It is intended to give a firm grounding for both players and games masters in the setting and the rules.
110 pages, Paperback
Published November 17, 2015
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
January 8, 2018
The role-playing game is set in Roman Alexandria in the year 753 after the foundation of Rome. That's 1 AD to you and me. This is a time when Alexandria is a thriving city under Roman rule. The conceit is that all the players are part of an organization called The Venatores (Hunters) and your job is to seek out and trouble-shoot supernatural threats to the city and empire.
And why not? Roman Alexandria is chock full of larvae lamiae, lares, and lycanthropes, not to mention more exotic things that have creeped in from nearby Aegyptus, like ghouls, sphinxes, and sha.
The book offers a capsule history of the city, a gazeteer of places, sample characters, a who's who of the city, factions, scenario outlines, a full adventure, and all the rules you need to play. Rules are a modified version of the Fate system. The game is light enough that you can pick up and play with minimal preparation, and it can do this because you, yes you, can fill in all the blanks you need from your own imagination of what a Roman city is like. Setting the game in Roman Alexandria is a brilliant stoke, because it's just exotic enough to give a sense of wonder, and familiar enough to make play easy.
In the interest of balance, I do have a few small quibbles with the book. It really could use another pass through an editor or proofreader, though the errors are not significant enough to impede one's enjoyment. And the included scenario by Newt Newport, although it does an excellent job of making use of the core text and bringing the setting alive, will need to be given some thought before running it to smooth out some structural inconsistencies – for example some scenes are connected by threads so loose I think the players will easily miss the connection, and the ending will need to be given some thought as none of the 4 possible resolutions presented actually deals with what I think the the most likely outcome. Lastly, these is some questionable advice in this scenario – it's a mystery and the text advises you not to give the players advice when they get stuck (even when the scenario writer doesn't provide enough clues). If you follow this, you may well end up in one of those embarrassing situations where the game grinds to a halt because nobody knows what to do next, and you'll be forced to write a Gumshoe system knock-off - and nobody wants that.
I'm recommending this game without reservation. It's short. It's sweet. It's fun. You are experienced enough to overcome the hiccups in the scenario. And you all need more ancient history in your gaming life than you currently have – stop mumbling, you know it's true!
And why not? Roman Alexandria is chock full of larvae lamiae, lares, and lycanthropes, not to mention more exotic things that have creeped in from nearby Aegyptus, like ghouls, sphinxes, and sha.
The book offers a capsule history of the city, a gazeteer of places, sample characters, a who's who of the city, factions, scenario outlines, a full adventure, and all the rules you need to play. Rules are a modified version of the Fate system. The game is light enough that you can pick up and play with minimal preparation, and it can do this because you, yes you, can fill in all the blanks you need from your own imagination of what a Roman city is like. Setting the game in Roman Alexandria is a brilliant stoke, because it's just exotic enough to give a sense of wonder, and familiar enough to make play easy.
In the interest of balance, I do have a few small quibbles with the book. It really could use another pass through an editor or proofreader, though the errors are not significant enough to impede one's enjoyment. And the included scenario by Newt Newport, although it does an excellent job of making use of the core text and bringing the setting alive, will need to be given some thought before running it to smooth out some structural inconsistencies – for example some scenes are connected by threads so loose I think the players will easily miss the connection, and the ending will need to be given some thought as none of the 4 possible resolutions presented actually deals with what I think the the most likely outcome. Lastly, these is some questionable advice in this scenario – it's a mystery and the text advises you not to give the players advice when they get stuck (even when the scenario writer doesn't provide enough clues). If you follow this, you may well end up in one of those embarrassing situations where the game grinds to a halt because nobody knows what to do next, and you'll be forced to write a Gumshoe system knock-off - and nobody wants that.
I'm recommending this game without reservation. It's short. It's sweet. It's fun. You are experienced enough to overcome the hiccups in the scenario. And you all need more ancient history in your gaming life than you currently have – stop mumbling, you know it's true!
Displaying 1 of 1 review