Brow, Cameron
Description
Litus Saxonicum("The Saxon Shore") is a tabletop roleplaying game set in Britain between the years 450 to 500 A.D, during the Anglo-Saxon colonization
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of the island against its Romano-Brittonic natives. It requires a game master, who will describe the game setting and story with the help of the book, and at least one player, who will use the game mechanics to act within the story of the game master. A pack of dice are required. Otherwise, the book is all that one needs to play the game.
Gameplay Diversity: The player can be either a Briton, an Anglo-Saxon, a "Celt", or a Roman. Each culture has different norms, rules, and characteristics. Likewise, one is not only a member of a certain culture, but also of a religion and a sub-culture. Therefore there are many possible ways to approach the game, and endless plot development opportunities. One could even use the Expanded Settings of the game to play outside of Britain, in other Migration Period scenarios.
Novel Mechanics: The game contains many unusual mechanics that are often neglected in other games: mechanics for marriages, childbirth, farming, brewing, naval battles, large scale battles, etc. These expanded mechanics allow for a truer representation of the time period.
History: There are sections not only for gameplay, but for pure history as well. The Encyclopedia section details the specifics of the religions, legal systems, and cultures of each society within the game as they existed in the real world. It also contains a timeline of British history from the year 54 B.C to 500 A.D. To the extent that anything is fictionalized by the author, the reader is duly warned. There are optional magical abilities and monsters featured, though even these are strictly based upon period-relevant monsters.
Realism & Complexity: The mechanics are designed to be realistic models - realism has no relation to complexity; sometimes real things are complex, and sometimes they are simple. The mechanics for intuitive facets of life, like "food needs", are kept very simple or even left to the free decision of the game master. By contrast, the mechanics for involved activities like combat are detailed and procedural.
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