Castles & Crusades Codex Egyptium
Nothing gets people excited quite like Egypt. A kingdom that began at least in 3,100 BC to the time of the Romans, it has missing time where "nothing really happened" (according to one Prof. used to joke) that lasts longer than the entire history of the United States. It is an impressively long amount of time and even one that seems incalculable. There is the old saying. "Man fears time, but Time fears the Pyramids."
This codex takes on the "newer" Codex format. This is one makes the new format a little clearer. The "Chapters" covers history and mythology with some game material while the "Appendicies" are game material proper.
For this review I am considering the PDF from DriveThruRPG and the hardcover edition. Again our author and designer is Brian Young. Color covers, and black and white interior art.
Chapter 1 The Black Land Arose (Geography and Worlds)
This chapter begins with a basic map of the lands around the Nile and even up to the Mediterranean Sea and out East to the Fertile Crescent. This chapter covers the geography of these lands and a bit on the people. To call it brief is a massive understatement. We are talking about nearly 3,500 years of history and people and change. While the Egyptians were notoriously resistant to change and very xenophobic, there is still a glossing over of history here. Of course, this is again a gamebook and not a history text. No problem then, there is more to come.
Chapter 2 From Early Darkness (History and Mythic Background)
This covers the history, real and mythical, of the lands. This covers the stone age (Paleolithic) to all the Dynasties up to the Fall of Rome in terms of real-world history. The remaining covers the mythical history of Egyptian creation and gods.
Chapter 3 Presided over by the Divine (Gods, Goddesses and Supernatural Figures)
This chapter opens up with some spiritual concepts like priests, mummification, souls, and the afterlife. For the Egyptians, the afterlife WAS life. Everything they worked for the afterlife. The gods and their place in the afterlife is also discussed.
Chapter 4 Rife with Charms and Spells ( Magic in Egypt)
As with many ancient societies, magic was not "Supernatural" but a part of nature and that has never been more true than with Egypt. Various words of power are discussed and listed. Descriptions of the Egyptian "wizards."
Chapter 5 Neter and Netert - The Divine
Egypt is the land of Gods. Lots and lots of Gods. Here only some of the Gods are detailed. Since Egyptian history is so long that even the gods changed. There are 40 pages of gods here. Some are listed more than once as their roles changed over the centuries. Young has a Sisyphean task here, trying to catalog all the gods that Egpyt has had. Even if it not complete it is the most complete one I have seen in a game.
Chapter 6 Using Egyptian Mythology In Airhde
For the first time the Codex covers the Troll Lords' homeworld of Aihrde. Parallels are drawn between the gods of Aihrde and the gods of Egyptian. The advantage here, beyond the page, gives a nice mixing pot (Aihrde) that all the other Codices can be mixed.
Appendix A Names This covers names for all sorts of people, PCs, NPCs, Gods and more.
Appendix B Social Classes The various classes in ancient Egypt. Note that social class was ironclad; you didn't move around between them.
Appendix C Defended by Fierce Warriors (The Military and Soldiers) Covers the different sort of warriors. None are different from the Fighter game-wise, but there are a lot roleplaying ideas here.
Appendix D Chariots The high tech of the ancient world. It could not be understated that this was the implementate of war for the time.
Appendix E The Sphynx A little bit of background on the creature.
Appendix F Where Monsters And Demons Dwell The creatures of ancient Egypt. 25+ creatures here and each one is more interesting than the last to be honest. I am hesitant to say this is the best chapter, but it is really fun.
At the end is a really nice bonus map. The map is included with the PDF.
While there is a lot of information in this book, it still makes me want more. I have a feeling that to do this topic justice we would need a 500+ page book. I can't even begin to imagine what Young had to do to pare it down this much.
Eygpt is just so damn interesting. There is so much here to play with that my cup runneth over with ideas. I honestly don't even know where to even start to be honest.
With all of these Codecies, one would be tempted to combine them all. Build something akin to Lands of Adventure or Man, Myth, & Magic. While I could see this working somehow in Aihrde or a homebrew campaign, I would avoid it for a purely mythic Earth where I feel this would work best.
For my money and time, play these various codices in their own times and their own places. For me, that would be the best way to really get the feel for them. Nicely they are written in such a way to allow pretty much anything.
I understand that Dr. Young is working more of these. I am really looking forward to them!
2 comments:
Thanks for this review & this is one of Michael Young's most underrated books in my opinion.
Michael? I wasn't aware that was my first name, hahaha...
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