The best ruleset for playing in Ancient Mesopotamia! The beautiful layout and art is a bonus.

Blood & Bronze is a sword & sandal game by Cyclopean Games set in a mythic Mesopotamia. The players portray daring adventurers seeking gold and glory in a realm having just recovered from a cataclysmic flood, where monsters prowl the wilderness, resources are scarce, and the gods literally rest in ziggurats.

The setting is painted in loose strokes only. There is a pretty map (with hexes added to help measure distances), and a couple pages are dedicated to the cultures and people of the area, but it's all about providing a tonally consistent feel for the world rather than laying out precise details.

The system is a fusion of the old-school adventuring mindset and a more modern approach to rules. The mechanics are easily recognisable for most gamers (ability tests, damage rolls, saving throws, etc.); however, skills work more like Basic Moves in Powered-by-the-Apocalypse games, as they are available for all characters, and they sometimes offer choices (for instance, if Force is rolled, damage may be avoided if the target yields).

There are six classes (Mercenary, Rogue, Mystic, Desert Farer, Courtesan, and Seer) that come with unique ability choices and starting equipment. Magic is resource-based (lotus powder for Mystics and bone salt for Seers), and it is geared towards utility rather than firepower. Tests are rolled with a pool of six-siders (a handy probability chart is included to ensure clarity), whereas saves are made on a d20. Endurance is a combination of “hit points” and “encumbrance allowance”. Combat doesn’t require a grid, as distances are abstracted into zones. Advancement is based on offering wealth to a god or ruler (collectively called "covenants"), and it may provide advantages outside of one’s class abilities.

The rules are simple and generally worded clearly, and the layout is extremely good (there are a handful of typos, but they only hurt the text’s aesthetic value). Another strong point is how much advice is packed into the otherwise slim book detailing the responsibilities of referees and players (again, similarly to Agendas in PbtA games), how to get the maximum out of the light-weight system, and how to adjudicate situations where no clear rules apply (much of which is applicable to other games, too).

It is a complete game in the sense that character creation, the resolution mechanics, and a general description of the setting are included (the part of the rulebook that pertains to players is also available for free), although enemy stats can only be inferred from a sample random encounter table. There is a neat starting dungeon, Slave Pits of Sippar, while Wonders of the Wild describes a couple wilderness zones (mostly through unique random encounters) – both free. There are also a couple adventures released that you can even get in a bundle along with the core rules.

Blood & Bronze is probably not your game if you prefer tactically deep combat systems, carefully crafted character builds, or vanilla fantasy adventures. I recommend it to those who like loose rules and pulp fantasy, and those really into the DIY attitude, as many cool things are only hinted at (such as the potentials of the covenant-based advancement).

I can't remember how I came across this RPG set in mythological Mesopotamia, but any game with a historical setting is an easy sell for me.

This is a relatively short digest size staple bound booklet (in its print incarnation which is only available on Lulu. I contacted the publisher who then gave me a freebie code to get the pdf from DTRPG) with the rules, a short dungeon-crawl style adventure and some flavour text about the setting. The latter is inspiring but a bit thin on detail so anyone who knows nothing about bronze age Mesopotamia will probably need to visit the library to flesh the setting out to game-able dimensions. What really does sell the setting and atmosphere is the internal artwork which is FANTASTIC. I don't think any new material for the game has appeared in some years now, but even a short setting book utilising the same artist (Rich Longmore) would be a real gem.

The core mechanic is this - you have six stats with a value 3-12 and a derived value 1-4. For a skill check you roll a dice pool equal to the derived value and count 5s and 6s as successes. More successes means a more triumphant result. For saving throws you roll a D20 and compare it to the relevant stat's raw value. Equal or less is a save, over is a fail. There are skills which derive from your stats which can be used to influence rolls.

The game uses six character classes, of which two are magic users. The magic is quite interesting - the Mystic uses the narcotic effects of the black lotus to gain extra sensory powers, and the Seer utlisies "bone salts" to conduct his sorceries. Spell lists are very short for both.

Combat is done by using derived skills - Use Force and Hurl/Shoot. Damage dice explode for critical hits. Shields improve your defence rating, armour proper soaks damage but runs the risk of being destroyed when it does so.

This is definitely a rules light game, and even setting light due to its short length. However, a competent GM with an interest in the history of the time can really make Blood and Bronze an exciting and unusual gameing experience for the players. Despite its compact size the game is flavourful and inspiring. The intent is for a "sword and sandal" low-magic type game where most antagonists would be human, with monstrous foes rare and powerful - much like the original Conan stories or Ray Harryhausen movies. One thing the game could have profited from would be a bestiary of creatures distinct to the mythology of the time and place.

The only downside for me was the writers' insistence on referring to player and GM as "she" in all the rules examples. This is a bit jarring and bad English usage, unless they really are suggesting only women can play the game. Still, it's only a minor annoyance and shouldn't detract from anyone's decision to buy this excellent and overlooked game.

Nice map and beautiful illustrations. Very inspiring and easy to use hexcrawl.

The fantasy genre takes its inspiration from western, and mostly European folklore. While some claim inspiration from other sources, the established fantasy baseline is hard to shake. Blood & Bronze is a wonderful change, and sets the game firmly in the ancient Mesopotamian mythology.

Blood & Bronze does not contain more words than it absolutely has to. At 66 pages it has just enough to make the setting and rules come across.

The rules themselves are simple. A character has six abilities. They have a score between 4 and 12, and a derived rating between 1 and 4. The character's abilities are used either in saving throws, trying to roll under the score with a d20; or as in a skill roll, rolling a number of d6s equal to the rating, 5s and 6s counting as successes. It doesn't take much to learn, and easy to use.

The new old There is a neat merging of new and old, similar to other Swedish games I've read. On the surface it seems fairly traditional, nearly OSR. But all characters also have skills, some of which have applications similar to story games like the moves in Apocalypse World. Use force lets you attack, unless your target submits to you; Advice may let you help others on their skill roll, if they follow your advice. It strikes a nice balance between the action-oriented system and story-oriented system.

Adding more flavor to the game are the six character classes a player can pick from: Mercenary, Rogue, Mystic, Desert Farer, Courtesan and Seer. They too are a combination between the traditional classes and archetypes found in modern games. The classes gives a character's health and equipment, but also talents. Each class gives a number of unique skills that let their character influence the game in ways fitting to their class.

The wrong side of the river The chapters detailing the setting are part descriptive and part show-don't-tell. You get the basic outline of the setting: the ancient Mesopotamian civilization, a few generations after the Great Flood. Most of the setting beyond that is contained in a few pages of random scenario generation. One scenario is a dungeon crawl in a bandit fortress, the other has random encounters for wilderness travel. Applicable and informative.

The game covers a lot of ground, and not a single word is wasted. That is also the game's biggest flaw: I wish there was more. It has these large black and white drawings of Mesopotamian life that really helps make the setting spring to life. While you can easily find resources about it online or at the library, the game gives such an intriguing glimpse into a completely different gaming world, one feels cheated when there isn't more. The mythology the game is based on is in particularly lackluster. I suppose that's what future supplements are for.

First posted on RPGGeek

This is a small supplment for BLOOD & BRONZE RPG but could be used with many other fantasy games easily.

it presents a fairly simple and useful travel and hazards rules and tables for generating interesting encounters in the regions of thbe game's setting.

What I likd the most was that many encounters were related to each other and could be easily developed into a full adventure. Very useful indeed!

A good sized product with numerous locations and NPCs that can lead to multiple adventures. It is easily adapted to any city that would have a slave pit in it.

Disclosure: I asked for and was sent a copy to review.

Blood and Bronze seems to rest its hat on the setting. It's Mythical Mesopotamia, the land of flooding twin rivers, which to me is just a brilliant idea. In this case, it's a fantastical, quasi-historical land, and there is definitely a Zothique/Lankmar feeling to the setting.

The art is really great. Maybe my favorite since Astonishing Swordsmen.

The player classes aren't entirely new but in general look interesting, particularly the mystic's lotus spells and the seers bone salts. I also quite like that nomads and courtesans are basic class choices. It implies a game not reliant on dungeon delving and violence, but there are plenty of combat rules and tricks for those who do enjoy rolling for iniative.

While the classes aren't entirely original, the ability scores are certainly more so. Gone are stalwarts like strength and constitution and instead we have guile, lore, sense, craft, vigor, and might. Okay, that last two are basically CON and STR but it's still a nice change that seems to fit the system well.

Given the time period and the setting, I would have liked to see maybe Hammurabi the seer, Enkidu the wildman, or Gilgamesh the mercenary incorporated into it. Maybe some war chariots too. There is some sub-optimal placement, as the character sheet seems kind of haphazardly inserted into the middle. Finally, there are quite a few pages that explain what an RPG is and define terms. I suspect most people who pick this up will know what they are getting. Nonetheless, this is quite a triumph of really cool ideas placed in a setting that practically writes its own adventures.