The Last Days Of Constantinople: Role-Playing Adventure In The Byzantine Empire

Rating:
Summary: Excellent historical roleplaying
Review: I ran this adventure for my friends up in Portland on December 28, 2004. Since I was running Constantinople as "90% true" to history I didn't use the D20 D&D rules embedded in the module. For greater realism, I used the GDW House Rules found in Twilight: 2000, version 2.2. and Traveller: The New Era. I've made some modifications, mostly simplifying for the sake of ease and to reflect the more primitive background. My source material for this was from my earlier work on La Conquista.

The author, Dr. Mike Bennighof, has done an oustanding job of the careful balancing act required in crafting an exciting historical adventure. Several of the NPCs are real people of the time, including the emperor himself. Detail is only added as it moves the story along. Though I didn't use them, more magic-rich backgrounds are offered. Optional adventure 'plug-ins' -- like the Trench Raid -- make it easy for the referee to control the pacing of the module. And finally, the main plot has three alternative goal scenarios to suit the referee, particularly useful if players have already read the book.

In preparation for this tournament with 8 players I created handouts and adventure art. A new idea I had was plastic stands with character portraits (borrowed from Osprey military books) and listing important notes about their background and abilities. I had the players choose their characters based on these stands, rather than the more detailed character sheets. The stands also helped as "name tags" for the other players during play.

Also new was giving each character a secret to keep, which would sometimes put players at cross-purposes. This was very successful, leading to many raised eyebrows and a few laughs. Less successful was the honor point system I adapted from the module rules, which was regarded with some apathy by the players.

In the end, we all had a great time. Play time was about 4 hours, my limit because it was a weeknight. It was a challenge keeping play under that time -- especially as any ref knows -- with 8 players. I basically dumped the optional plug-ins, and the players helped by being extra clever and efficient, which enabled them to leave with their mission objective before Constantinople fell.

Memorable moments include running the Turkish blockade, when the archers and arquebusiers of the party poured murderous fire on the Turkish corsair pursuing them. The enemy ship was left in their wake, sails on fire and its captain dead. Gina's House of Joy provided some laughs, when one party member decided to privately question a male prostitute, merely because he called himself "The Baron."

In all, a very satisfying adventure. I'm not surprised it was an Origins Award Nominee for Best RPG Adventure, 2001.

[Players & their characters: Jason (Thorsten of Danzig - German Teutonic Knight), Kelley (Bertrand De La Salle - French arquebusier), Sky (Daniil of Korela - Russian mercenary), Ross (Diego de Alvarado - Spanish Knight Hospitaller), Liz (Francesco di Vaccio - Genoese arquebusier), Cindy (Giovanni da Isola - Venetian archer), Victoria (Romina Sidi - Turkish-Italian merchant), Chris (Zoë Vatatzes - Byzantine actress)]

Wayne Gralian
Wayne's World of Books / Krakow RPGs
www.WaynesBooks.com/Constantinople.html