Sparta’s 300
Welcome to the heroic age of Ancient Greece, can you stand to the last warrior side by side with King Leonidas of Sparta?
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This is the first Historical Range Supplement to be released under the Spartans Unleashed banner.
This module provides variations on the core ruleset of the Cursed Empire game (2nd Edition) enabling players to start a campaign around the 5th Century BC in the Eastern Mediterranean. New weapons and classes have been provided as well as a brand new character sheet and optional rules. |
The introductory scenario provided will see the players joining the ranks of the Greek first line of defence against the oncoming onslaught of Xerxes and his huge invading army. The player’s aim may be to stay to the very end or collect loot and flee before the final day of battle.
Players will generate their champions then have their characters head for the pass of Thermopylae where they are to stand and defend the old Phocian Wall. Whether they are Phocians, Thespians or even Spartans, they will all be expected to excel in battle and gain as much renown as they can following the Points of Renown tm (PR) system. Special rules relating to Heroic Combat tm are also provided enabling cascading actions, i.e. series of actions that feed off the success of previous actions.
Non-player characters will provide the necessary background to develop a campaign further, in particular the Battle of Platea and a basis for the naval battle of Salamis.
A mini-wargame is also included in the supplement enabling players to recreate the battle itself and can be used by Masters of Tales (MT's) to track scenario progress or as a completely separate game.
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Intro
Stripped of his Red-Crested Spartan helm, Leonidas head is framed by his long black matted and dark blood stained hair. The pale blood-drained olive skin of the King-warriors face, almost white under the sunlight, stands out all the more against a well shaven short and pointed beard. Coagulated blood and torn flesh dangle from his neck, where his head has been hacked from his athletic body just minutes before. The last vision of the dead kings eyes is the road to which now lies open for Xerxes of Persia. The tears and moment are captured on his face that now drips with his sorrow¦
The time is mid-September, 480 B.C., 16th-18th September to be precise; the place, Thermopylae, Greece in the heat of the Mediterranean Summer; the occasion, the aftermath of one of the most glorious battles in history.
A vast army of Persians from all over the Persian Empire was on the march to conquer Greece, gathering all in its way, drinking the rivers and lakes dry and crushing any resistance in its path. A small force of Greeks was all that stood in their way. And yet, in a pass that narrows to a space smaller than a few hundred yards, the impossible almost happened. For three days, just over 7,100 Greeks, spearheaded by an elite unit of three-hundred Spartans, gave a savage warning to a Persian army that outnumbered them by a ratio of over 50 to 1 by slaying over 20,000 of them. Over 350,000 men willing to die for the glory of the Great King came up against the most efficient killing machine in history.
King Leonidas I son of Anaxandrides, king of Sparta, commander-in-chief of the Greek resistance to Persia at Thermopylae, died in a heroic last stand that remains an example of bravery to this day.
After the battle Xerxes son of Darius, the Great King of the Persian Empire, toured the battlefield victorious but concerned, looking for Leonidas' body. He ordered the immediate beheading of the corpse and the impalement of the severed head on a pole as an example to his men and any who would oppose him. This was uncustomary for a Persian King and was an indication of the indignation and affront that the Spartan had caused.
In the narrow coastal pass -- a king died and a legend was born. Led by their unbreakable leader Leonidas, three hundred Spartans and their Thespian comrades in arms numbering seven hundred stood and fell and took the pride of the Persian Empire down with them. The Immortals suffered heavy casualties and would never quite recover their former reputation. The self-sacrifice of Sparta and Greece's steadfast resistance to the Persian oppressor would win the day in the following weeks and months.
This scenario will allow a group of players to relive the last three days of the battle as they take on the roles of Spartan and Thespian champions. The aim for each player is to maximise their Points of Renown (PR) gain before being slain in combat. If a player decides to flee to fight another day, they may do so but by doing so will compromise their final PR gain and they may even suffer from a reputation of cowardice.
Each player is to generate a character following the Spartans Unleashed game system as used by the Cursed Empire Roleplaying Game. The additional rules relating to the 5th Century BC are included in the first part of this module. A series of pregenerated characters have been supplied to get things moving faster or to be used as examples for each player or as NPC's for the Master of Tales.
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