Editing Tyche's Favourites (section)

==Campaign Notes==

'''Dramatis Personae'''

Herein are all the important people in the game.


''The Player Characters and their retinues''

[[Tyche's_Favourites/Rhyanidd |Rhyanidd]] - a princess of the Lugii, from the most northerly fringes of Keltoi influence bordering with Germania, she is an experienced warrior and warleader. Like many aristocrats amongst her people, she is an excellent horsewoman and has served in the role of mercenary cavalry since her mid-teens in the wars of the Greeks. She was on the winning side at Ipsus, seizing much plunder.<br> 
*[[Tyche's_Favourites/Rhyanidd_Retinue |Rhyanidd's Bodyguard]] - a band of Celtic cavalry sworn to protect the Lugian princess. They are devoted to her, they have earned wealth, status and renown following her (and in some cases, freedom).


[[Tyche's_Favourites/Meshullum |Meshullum]] - an Alexandrian Jew originally from Tyre (evacuated as a child from the siege that resulted in its destruction at the hands of Alexander), perhaps it was that early dislocation that led him to his wandering lifestyle. He is a mercenary captain of archers, having been involved in all the major conflicts, since the Gaza campaign, and changed sides more than once. 
*[[Tyche's_Favourites/Meshullum_Retinue |Meshullum's Archers]] - a squad of his most loyal archers, and his nephew; a doctor from the Alexandrian school.


[[Tyche's_Favourites/Septimus |Septimus]] - a Latin from central Italia, he is an enterprising man who considers himself the foremost merchant of war in the Hellenistic world. He provided Demetrios with siege equipment during his famous siege of Rhodes. But he is no idealist allied to the Antigonid cause, he goes where the profit is. 
*[[Tyche's_Favourites/Septimus_Retinue |Septimus' Agents]] - a mixture of assassins, savants and a trio of Cilician pirates.


[[Tyche's_Favourites/Philipos |Philipos]] - a giant of a man from Macedon, he was a hypaspist like his father before him, wearing a fortune in heirloom armour purchased with Persian plunder. On the battlefield he is bronze god of war, almost impervious to harm. He was on the losing side at Ipsus, but came away with his honour intact. 
*[[Tyche's_Favourites/Philipos_Retinue |Philipos' Companions]] - comprising his closest companions; Greek officers, a dubious Ionian former oikonomos, his valet and his nephew who is his shieldbearer.


''Other NPCs of Note''


[[Tyche's_Favourites/Other_NPCs |Other NPCs]] - a listing of anyone else we need to remember.


'''Massalia'''

Since it's the base location of the game, the settlement and it's environs deserve a little focus.

[[Tyche's_Favourites/Massalia |Massalia]] - Some facts about the ''polis'' itself. **work in progress**<br>
[[Tyche's_Favourites/Local_Maps |Local Maps]] - A collection of maps of the region showing a variety of things.<br>


'''Historical Resources'''

One of the great things about using history as our setting is that there's loads of material already out there. Here's a few of the essentials.

[[Tyche's_Favourites/Campaign_Map |The Eastern Hemisphere in 300BC]] - Because you can't have an RPG without a map! These are the main political boundaries as at 300BC.<br>
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellenistic_period The Hellenistic Period] - A leaping-off point into the defining characteristics of the era in which the game is set. Important articles include:<br>
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellenistic_culture#Culture Hellenistic Culture] and the process of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellenization Hellenisation].
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellenistic_religion Religion] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellenistic_philosophy Philosophy].
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_in_the_Hellenistic_period Science] (including [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellenistic_astronomy astronomy], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellenistic_mathematics mathematics] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellenistic_geography geography]) and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellenistic_art Art]. 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wars_of_the_Diadochi The Wars of the Diadochi] - The defining conflicts of the age, where Alexander's companions all vie to take control of his empire.<br>
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wars_of_the_Diadochi#Fourth_War_of_the_Diadochi.2C_308.E2.80.93301_BC The Fourth War of the Diadochi] - The recent series of conflicts for control, spanning 308BC to 301BC, culminating in:
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Ipsus The Battle of Ipsus] - The most recent major engagement, where the ambitions of the Antigonid faction were thwarted, and the passing of the last chance to unite Alexander's empire under one ruler. The players and the board were shuffled once again.
[http://tekeli.li/onomastikon/Ancient-World/index.html The Onomastikon] - A dictionary of ancient names, from various cultures, extremely useful.<br>
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Greek_place_names List of Greek place names] - For those inevitable times when we get the modern or Latin names of places confused with what Greeks, and thus the Greek-speaking PCs would have used.<br>


'''Mechanics'''

I've made some fairly extensive changes to ACKS as written, to accomodate what is a straight historical game. By that I mean there's no magic, no monsters and no dungeons. Fortunately, there's still plenty of meat left in ACKS, even after excising those parts, especially around domain management, economics and mass combat. All of which I hope to make use of as we go.

This hack is called '''Mercenary, Liberator, Tyrant''', and I'll list the various changes here. I'll also explain in each why I made the changes I have. If you want to discuss any of those changes, please see the [http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?689960-ACKS-Mercenary-Liberator-Tyrant thread on RPGnet].

[[Tyche's_Favourites/Chargen |Character Generation]] - Changes to Chapters 2-5, all of which impact on character generation in some respect.

[[Tyche's_Favourites/Play |Adventures and GM-side]] - Changes to Chapters 6, 9 and 10, which either impact play or the GM's side of the screen.

[[Tyche's_Favourites/XP_Milestones |Milestones]] - An alternative experience system which we'll give a try.