Mythic Constantinople starts out with an introduction, of course, and sets the year at 1450. It talks about how religion is a major feature, though you need not explore it in your game, and talks about how much mythic you want to put in. Fortunately, you don't have to put any magic in it - the non-human races are pretty optional. It also has a pronunciation guide for Greek and Turkish, which you will probably need
Next is the section on history and geography of the area. it talks about the Bosphorus, the Golden Horn, and the city itself - how it looks, what it's population is at any point, fortifications, monuments, and the nine districts. This section is a half a dozen or so pages, largely because there are far more detailed sections ahead in the book.
Next is the 20 or so pages on Byzantine culture. It talks about the different social strata - the demos, the mesoi, and the dynatoi. There is also the emperor and his family, but that's sort of out of the scope of the rest. It talks about slavery, foreigners of various types, as well as magic and superstition. Language, clothing, pastimes, and the calendar (filled with religious feasts) make up much of the next section, giving a detail picture of life in Byzantium as portrayed here (I personally cannot attest to it's accuracy). Education, gender roles, and the economy, as well as guilds follow next, and then into the natural extensions of crime, governance, law enforcement, and the judicial system. Next come a couple of pages each on the church and the military, with mercenaries and the navy getting small sections of their own.
Then we have the mentioned mediterranean world. it gives the bulk of this section to the Ottoman Empire, which makes sense. They don't get quite as much as Byzantium proper, but certainly a bigger section than the others. It goes into quite a bit of detail about the military and education systems here, so you can use it for a protagonist as well as an antagonist.
Next comes the character creation section. They detail out Greek and Turkish characters in extensive detail, as well as Arab, Frankish (essentially, all Europeans), Arimapsoi (a sort of cyclops), Astomatoi (mouthless humanoids with giant ears they can fly with that live off the smells of food), Blemmyai (Acephali from the Mythras book), Kynokephaloi (dog headed humanoids that are well loved in Byzantium), Minotauroi (take a guess), Skiapodes (monopeds!), and tripithamoi (essentially, imps). A couple of new careers in the catholic priest, labourer, miracle worker, and sportsman. There are also a couple of pages of culture and profession specific combat styles here - a really nice add. A section on names and background events specific to the campaign round out this part
Money and equipment follows. There are a couple of new weapon traits and a couple of new weapons. Greek Fire gets a nod, as well as early firearms and explosives. Artillery rounds out this section.
Next comes the magic section. They have specific Gifts from God called Charismata, exorcist animists, alchemy (and cleverly done at that), and some new folk magic. Christian theism gets a bit of a tweak on Theism that leans not only on requiring a gift from god, taking communion, and having people who believe in you being a conduit of God's power. It's a great little take on Theism that will really alter how it's played. Sorcery is given a couple pages as well, and tweaked to be the realm of a Bad Idea, but definitely the promise of power. Animism and Mysticism get small sections that come up later in organizations that teach them. Lastly, it talks about Christian, Muslim, and Jewish relics.
Next comes an extensive section on communities. there are 37 organizations in this, ranging from military brotherhoods to dervishes to exorcists to hospitallers to Platonic philosophers. far too extensive to list here, they all seem to follow the cults and brotherhood format in Mythras, many with Gifts (including some non-traditional ones, like room and board). There are also 26 big name NPCs in this section covering a pretty wide range of societal roles.
The next 60 pages or so is Constantinople in detail. And wow, the detail. The nine districts above each get 3-6 pages, as well as charts for randomly generating city nodes and all kids of info on typical houses and businesses and the like. Even typical conversation topics. Each district also includes rumors, local lore, and several (6-15 or so) places of interest in them, along with affiliations associated with that, people who are there, organizations that utilize it
The last section is about 30 pages to help you build a campaign. There are four campaign arcs all laid out, as well as many Secrets to add into your game, and themes to help guide you. There is advice on running a military campaign, especially the fall of Constantinople (the siege and the battle for the city are presented a separate campaigns). There is also a small bestiary in this section.
It’s 232 pages in that typically dense Mythras format. Art is solid and spread throughout, though not overly so. Probably ever dozen pages or so. Maps for the empire, the region, and for specific city level stuff (larger ones are available separately).
The pdf is disappointingly NOT bookmarked or hyperlinked. Right now this is probably its greatest flaw. I get that it will be many many bookmarks, but wow, it’s a lot of material to not have them. TDM typically does them, so i imagine it'll be coming here in a future revision
edit: the pdf has since been updated with extensive bookmarks and hyperlinks. was just a few days. thanks for the prompt response!
(the majority if his text was taken from a
my review of this product on another board)
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