Quick Reference

Use this digest to find the rule you need. Each table points to the chapter that owns the rule, explains it and gives examples. If a figure differs here, use the owning chapter's figure.

Find Strength settings, kits, Pay and the Origin and Role entries in Character Creation and Roles. For the essential gear table and Source Book Map, use Gear and Prices. Adversaries holds the stat blocks and index. For distances, see Places and Campaign Tools. Find the timeline in The Era and the ready-to-play sheets in Pregenerated Characters.

Making a Character

Character Creation and Roles, Creating a Character.

1. Species. Human.
2. Characteristics. Start all six at 2. Add 1 to one and subtract 1 from another. Keep each between 1 and 4.
3. Origin and Role. Take 4 profession skills, home tongues, a Strength and an Ordo from your Origin. Your Role supplies 6 profession skills, a kit, a Standing and favored talents. Check eligibility in Ordo and the Roles.
4. Spend 110 XP. Cap skills at rank 2. Buy talents at Tier 1 or Tier 2.
5. Free talent. One Tier 1 talent, Core or Era.
6. Kit, Stake and derived values. Take the free kit and your Standing's Starting Stake (Era Rules, Money and Credit). Use the Core Rules for derived values.
7. Name and details. Choose a tie to another player character and one to the world. If enslaved, name your owner. If freed, name your patron.

Pay the usual XP for favored talents. Lettered Roles read and write Latin or Greek free. Otherwise, spend 5 XP for literacy in one tongue you speak (Skills and Talents, Tongues).

Core Touchstones

Patronage and Rank in Brief (Era Rules)

Ordo: Ordo can be Senatorial, Equestrian, Citizen, Freedman, Peregrine or Enslaved at creation. Only an event in play can change it (Terms: Ordo).

Dignitas starts at 3 Senatorial, 2 Equestrian, 1 Citizen, Freedman or Peregrine (among Romans), 0 Enslaved; the ceilings are in Era Rules, Patronage and Rank, Dignitas I.

• Infamis (gladiator, lanista, actor, brothel-keeper): Dignitas never above 1.
• Using Dignitas: When you roll Charm, Negotiation, Leadership, Deception or Intimidation openly as yourself and the audience knows you, add 1 Boon Die at Dignitas 2 or 3, 2 at 4 or 5, or none at 0 or 1. Skip these dice on Legion Battles unit checks.
• Reaching up: Make the Ask one step harder if the person is two or more Ordines above you, is neither your patron nor your owner, and your patron has not introduced you. Cap the difficulty at Severe, including the step for a letter.
• Gain 1 (once a session): a trial or election won, games given, a decoration or public victory, a public service for a man of higher Ordo. Lose 1: a called Favor refused, a lost election after exposed bribery, a public Calamity on a social check, public shame. Condemnation sets Dignitas to 0.

The GM names up to 3 markers. Add at most 3 Boon or 3 Bane Dice from Attitude alongside Dignitas. Skip Attitude on the canvass and verdict. A patron's word moves one marker one step toward Neutral, two with Patron's Seal (Skills and Talents). Each house moves once per scene. Read the Room with Average Savvy + Perception.

The Petition and Calling In

Elections and Bribery in Brief

Era Rules, Patronage and Rank (Elections; Bribery); the sums are in Gear and Prices, Bribes by Office.

• Who stands: a free-born male citizen of the office's age (quaestor 30, praetor 39, consul 42), not condemned, not infamis.
• The canvass: Make an Extended Check. Roll Hard Charisma + Charm once a month, using Leadership for soldiers' votes. Each month add up to 2 Boon Dice from Dignitas and up to 2 from Favors, Credits and helpers combined. A bribe or hired gang adds 2.
• Scandal: a Calamity removes 1 accumulated Success and costs 1 Dignitas.
• Exposure: If a bribed month ends with any net Bane, face prosecution for ambitus after the vote (Law and Courts). A gang costs as much as one month's bribes.
• Odds (Charisma 3, Charm 2, 2 Boon Dice, no bribe): quaestor 56.9 in 100, praetor 34.5, consul 23.5. About 7.5 in 100 exposure for each bribed month.
• The lex Tullia: no gladiator show within two years of your election (The Arena and the Games, The Editor).

The Short Rules in Brief (Era Rules)

Law and Courts

• Preparation: Add 1 Boon Die per useful Lore, Streetwise, Perception or Negotiation check, up to 2.
• The verdict: Roll the advocate's Charisma + Charm. Add up to 2 dice for Dignitas and up to 2 from preparation and Credits with jurors' patrons combined. Skip Attitude dice. There is no fee.
• Result: Success acquits. On 0 net Successes, try the case again next session. A second split acquits. Failure condemns.
• Penalties: bribery, ten years' exile and Dignitas 0; violence and treason, exile and Dignitas 0; extortion, restitution and loss of rank, and many condemned governors go into exile. A Calamity adds a second penalty.

Medicine and Illness

Severity: Roll Might + Fortitude daily at Easy for Mild, Average for Serious or Hard for Grave. See The Illness Clock in Era Rules for Strain, Bane limits and Courses.

• 2 marks end the illness. A Breakthrough marks both on any result, with no Strain or Bane Die for that check. On any other failure, add 1 Bane Die to all checks, up to the limit.
• Illness Strain stays until recovery. A Mild illness cannot incapacitate. Only a Grave illness can kill, with at most one Critical Injury after incapacity.
• Care: Before the daily check, the physician rolls Medicine once. Roll Average with rest, clean water and food, or Hard on campaign. Add 1 Boon Die per net Success to the day's check, up to 2.

Travel

• The sailing season lasts roughly April to October. Under the old sailors' rule, the closed sea lasts about 11 November to 10 March.
• By the sun (the default): In 50 BC, the seasonal closure falls from late December to late April on the civil calendar. By the calendar (GM option): Close from 11 November to 10 March on the civil calendar (Era Rules, Travel, II).
• Out of season: Each leg, the master rolls Hard Agility + Operate (Sail), upgrading one Trial Die to a Crisis Die . Failure doubles the time and costs all aboard 3 Strain. Calamity wrecks the ship. Each person rolls Average Athletics or suffers a Critical Injury.
• Rome to Brundisium: about 360 miles. Distances and days for each leg are in Places and Campaign Tools.

Slavery and the Price of Freedom

Era Rules, Slavery; the prices are in Gear and Prices, Purchased People and The Price of Freedom.

• Status: Ordo Enslaved, Dignitas at most 1, Standing Peculium. No property, marriage or suit in law; limits on the story, never dice.
• A person bought enters play as an NPC. The buyer is his owner and patron.
• Freedom: Buy it from the peculium, make a Severe Ask, receive it by will or earn it for a deed. If word gets out that an owner refused a fair price, he loses 1 Dignitas.
• The vicesima: Whoever buys the person's freedom pays 5 in 100 of his value. Formal manumission by a citizen makes the character a citizen of Ordo Freedman.

Money and Credit

Standings: Peculium 25 HS, Wage 75, Trade 225, Professional 675, Equestrian 4,000 (Debt 2,000), Senatorial 12,000 (Debt 6,000); the credit limit is twice the Stake, none for Peculium (Era Rules, Money and Credit, Stakes).

• Creation Debt is due at the close of the second month of play.
• Interest: Pay a lender 1 in 100 monthly, compounded yearly, or a patron or friend of rank 4 in 100 yearly plus a Favor. Beyond the limit, pay 4 in 100 monthly and gain an antagonist.
• A Debt past its day: Add 1 Bane Die to Negotiation and Charm with anyone who knows. Debt can lead to enslavement for a Peregrine. Citizens are exempt.

The Arena in Brief (The Arena and the Games)

• The appeal: Once per bout, the loser or his lanista can roll Hard Charm. Success grants missio.
• The editor's standing: against the crowd, -1 Dignitas; a winner at Crowd Favor 6, +1 Dignitas (the Dignitas V gain, once a session).
• Injuries: Core Recovery; the ludus's medicus always has supplies, time and a safe place. An untreated Critical Injury adds +10 to Critical Injury rolls.
• The matched arena kit: helmet and greaves give Resistance +1; a Samnite's Mail Shirt gives +2 instead.
• Money: a purse is 800 HS. Hire of a team fighter 2 purses (1 to 2); a single-combat fighter 4 (3 to 15); the lanista's price usually 10 (3 to 15), paid in place of the hire for a hired man given the sword; a raw recruit 1 to about 3; a free volunteer's signing sum 2; the winner's purse 1, or 2 and a palm at Crowd Favor 5 or 6 (The Editor).
• The rudis: a winner at Crowd Favor 6 with five or more victories may be granted it; discharge, not freedom.

The Chariot Race

• Three legs. Roll Average Agility + Operate each leg. Total net Successes for distance. Farthest wins. Break ties on a six-sided die. The light Chariot adds 1 Boon Die (Handling +1).
• The inside line: Before the leg, upgrade one Trial Die to a Crisis Die and add 2 Boon Dice for the driver.
• The wreck: On a Calamity or 3 or more net Banes, roll Average Agility + Operate. On failure take one hit for 6 damage, less Resistance, and leave the race.

Chances in 100. Bets on bouts: even match evens; one Melee rank better 4 to 3; two ranks 2 to 1; heavier armor 3 to 2 (Bets).

Legion Battles in Brief (Legion Battles)

The Clash. Oppose the units' Quality pools. More net Successes wins. A tie holds. Narrate the unit's Boons, Banes, Breakthroughs and Calamities without spending them.

• Supply: Weekly, roll Average Negotiation to requisition or Survival to forage. Failure drops supply a step. Success with 2 or more net Boons raises it a step.
• Hits in the press: If your unit drops a step, every character who fought takes 5 damage plus the margin, less Resistance.
• The break: Roll Average Athletics, Hard if horse pursue. On failure the GM chooses capture, incapacity or rescue.
• Losses: About one in ten at Worn, one in four at Half, one in three at Shattered.
• The pilum: On a hit against a shield-bearer, spend 2 Boons to strip Defensive and Deflection until he cuts the shield free with a Maneuver.
• The camp: Average Might + Athletics Group Check. Success fortifies the line. Broken units rally inside at Discipline 1. Failure leaves low works (+1 Boon Die). At 3 or more net Banes, unfinished works give the defender +1 Bane Die.
• Siege works: Roll Hard Intellect + Craft, adding 2 Boon Dice with legion labor. Ramp: 6 threshold, 5 days per roll. Hill-town line: 8 threshold, 1 week per roll.
• Horse archers: A lost Clash costs them nothing. Without a camel train, arrows last 4 Clashes. Lock shields to give the screen 2 Bane Dice and halt your unit.

Era Talents at a Glance (Skills and Talents)

Origins and Roles in Brief (Character Creation and Roles)

• Origins: 13 birthplace Origins and 2 status Origins (Freed, Enslaved); each gives 4 profession skills, home tongues, a Strength and an Ordo (Character Creation and Roles, Origins).
• Strength: once per session, 1 Boon Die on one check with either skill in the Origin's setting. A status Origin names a birthplace for one home tongue only.
• Roles: 23 Roles, each with 6 profession skills, a kit, a Standing and its Stake, and favored talents (Character Creation and Roles, Roles). An enslaved character's Standing is always Peculium, 25 HS, whatever the Role. Who may take each Role is in Ordo and the Roles and each Role's Open to line.

Gear and Prices in Brief (Gear and Prices)

Read ~ as approximate. For stat lines, check the essential gear table and the owning sourcebooks.

• A legionary's year after Caesar doubled the pay: 900 HS, before deductions (Suetonius gives no year for the doubling; this book applies it in 50 BC). A centurion: twice the legionary.
• A purse is 800 HS (The Arena and the Games, The Editor).
• A public bath is 1 quadrans.

Adversary Index (Adversaries)

Use the Adversary Index for each entry's tier, Resistance, Wound Points and section.

Pool Minion Wound Points across the group, using the listed value per figure. A gladiator has 10 + Might. For four player characters, an Easy encounter is one Minion group the party's size, surprised or on bad ground. Standard is 4 to 6 Minions in one group or one Elite. Hard is one Elite and a group of 4 Minions, or two Elites. Deadly is one Nemesis, one Minion group and one Elite (Adversaries, Sizing an Encounter).

The Year 50 BC (Gods and Religion; Places and Campaign Tools)

Under Lucius Aemilius Paullus and Gaius Claudius Marcellus, the year has 355 days and no intercalary month. Civil dates lead the sun by about five to seven weeks. Courts sit on fasti, assemblies may meet on comitiales, and nefasti bars legal business.

Place the Compitalia in late December or early January. Check the festival table in Gods and Religion for what happens and the seasons table in Places and Campaign Tools for how to use it.

The Republic in Brief (Powers of the Republic)

• Lictors: 12 for a consul, 6 for a praetor outside the city (2 in Rome) or a governor of praetorian rank, 24 for a dictator. Rome has no police.
• Governors: a former consul or praetor goes out as proconsul or propraetor, with legates, a quaestor and a staff, at least five years after his magistracy. He is checked only by the extortion court in Rome, after he comes home.

For the chain of authority from the enslaved to the tribune, see Powers of the Republic, Who Answers to Whom.

Index of Rules

Index of Rules continued