Legends of the Ancients: Carthage by RPGobjects is part of their Legends of the Ancients line designed with this aim in mind: ?Each book in this series will present a brief snapshot of an ancient civilization, presenting enough history and mechanics for you to add it to your game.? How well does this product live up to that goal?

Unfortunately, not so well. The only information on Carthage itself is included in: a brief synopsis, which mentions nothing of the government of Carthage, its politics or religion. A time line, only half of which deals with Carthage before it falls to Rome, which includes at least one factual error (Pyrrhic victory is from the campaign of King Pyrrhus of Epirus against the Roman, it has nothing to do with Hannibal). A poor recounting of the Battle of Zama which ended the Second Punic -Rome against Carthage- War and broke Carthaginian power. Some additional information can be gleaned from the two NPC descriptions, but the information on Carthage is woefully inadequate.

The two NPCs are both statted out at 20th level (!), limiting their usefulness in most campaigns. One, Scipio Africanius, uses a Noble class from an unnoted non-SRD source, the other, Hannibal, has level in Barbarian which does not fit the impression of a great general.

The mechanics are the best part of this product, but even they have flaws. The Mercenary is a fighting-based core class that gets D12 HD, two good saves, 4+Int Skills and slightly fewer bonus feats then a Fighter but some other special abilities instead. It is a class that any Fighter should take their first level (maybe two) in and then take Fighter levels from then on, it is simply that much better then a Fighter at low levels. There are two new feats, one is tied to the Mercenary class (limiting its usefulness) while the other has some real potential for a Barbarian. The two new spells both have serious XP costs (one for the caster, the other for the subject) but are both interesting with good roleplaying potential.

In the final judgement, Legends of the Ancients: Carthage fails to live up to its promise. There are a few useful pieces here, but not enough to run an adventure (let alone a campaign) featuring Carthage or a culture based on that great city.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Disappointing<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Disappointed<br>

I'm 60/40 for this product, but as I have no distinct reasons why I wasn't totally impressed, I'll give you the plus side...

This supplement provided a nice transition from historical fact to d20 stats but seemed a bit lacking in overall content. The layout and artwork are great, and the Mercenary class stat blocks will come in handy if you are planning on running a Roman or mediterranean campaign. I am probably goint to integrate aspects of this into a Roma (Iridium System) campaign in the near future.

Additionally, I'd say that if you have access to a decent history book (or Wikipedia)and have moderate GM experience you could probably use this information to develop or adapt an existing adventure over to a north african or mediterranean campaign in a few hours. So it is useful as a springboard to larger individualized work.

In short it provides some great ideas in a small package.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Great layout, nice art, general overview of Carthage was nice.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: I can't put my finger on it but it just seemed sort of flat.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

This covers another piece of mythic Earth that I don't have to research myself, and it is very good.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: All of it, but could have been fleshed out a little more.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: More background would have been nice.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

All in all, not a good value. The class and write ups of the two NPCs take space away from an examination of Carthage itself. One error I noticed was Hannibal doesn't have a Knowledge (tactics) score.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Disappointed<br>