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Game Geeks reviews: The Laundry and Rome


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Thanks for the update. I often visit Kurt's website or check out his reviews on UTube - he seems to give very informative and entertaining reviews, and he tends to like the same games that I do. He appears stoked with the recent BRP explosion. Some good reviews here.

" Sure it's fun, but it is also well known that a D20 roll and an AC is no match against a hefty swing of a D100% and a D20 Hit Location Table!"

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Good sighting at 7min! I think he just made a slip-up heh heh plus its in the title...

" Sure it's fun, but it is also well known that a D20 roll and an AC is no match against a hefty swing of a D100% and a D20 Hit Location Table!"

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He even refers to the "Kingdom of Rome". It's all just loose talk...

But you can reasonably talk about Rome as an "Imperial state" from the 1st Punic War onwards (and could argue it earlier if you count conquest of Italy). It's just that "Romanisation" in any meaningful sense is more characteristic of the Empire.

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Actually, BRP Rome contains some information about the Kingdom of Rome, too. And yes, there was a "Kingdom of Rome", it lasted some hundred years and preceded the Republic.

Rome was an "Empire", meaning that it conquered foreign lands, from its very beginning, even in the Kingdom period. Some historians speculate that it had already conquered most of Italy under its fourth king, and was later vanquished and enslaved by the Etruscians, only to regain its freedom and its former splendour by overthrowing its Etruscian king.

Please note, however, that the term "Imperium" has a very different meaning when used for the Roman Empire. What makes Augustus or Tiberius an Emperor and not a King is that his title is not hereditary (not necessarily, at least). In that regard, the Holy Roman Emperor and Napoleon are Emperors, too: from the moment they are elected, they are the supreme authority, but their authority does not come from their father but from a council that elected them. Something similar worked for the Roman Empire.

Proud member of the Evil CompetitionTM

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I have a question about something that may or may not be found in the Rome books: There was supposedly some kind of rite-of-passage thing that the Romans used. A person was put into this structure that was filled with traps. If they made it out alive and in one piece, they got immediate and lasting high status in society. I forgot what this was called. Does the Rome books cover this? I forgot what the name of this rite-of-passage thing was called.

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I have a question about something that may or may not be found in the Rome books: There was supposedly some kind of rite-of-passage thing that the Romans used. A person was put into this structure that was filled with traps. If they made it out alive and in one piece, they got immediate and lasting high status in society. I forgot what this was called. Does the Rome books cover this? I forgot what the name of this rite-of-passage thing was called.

The Curia or Senate house.

What? ;D

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I have a question about something that may or may not be found in the Rome books: There was supposedly some kind of rite-of-passage thing that the Romans used. A person was put into this structure that was filled with traps. If they made it out alive and in one piece, they got immediate and lasting high status in society. I forgot what this was called. Does the Rome books cover this? I forgot what the name of this rite-of-passage thing was called.

There's nothing in the Rome book about this, since I've never heard of such a thing. On the face of it the whole idea is alien to Republican sensibilities, but I'm interested where you originally read about it.

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Sounds like a Greek Labyrinth. Doubt it was a historical standard rite-of-passage though

" Sure it's fun, but it is also well known that a D20 roll and an AC is no match against a hefty swing of a D100% and a D20 Hit Location Table!"

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I'm sure it was Roman. It's kind of like the Greek labyrinth. It was not a standard rite-of-passage, but something that Romans could do to increase their status in society--if they survived. I think it was a short-lived thing, however.

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Actually I think there may have been something like this in the old Fellini movie (circa 1970?) called 'Satyricon', I'm not sure, it rings a bell actually. Some guy going through a labyrinth with traps and even a mock 'minotaur' gladiator at the end... not sure how accurate it all was. Maybe a search on UTube may pick it up

" Sure it's fun, but it is also well known that a D20 roll and an AC is no match against a hefty swing of a D100% and a D20 Hit Location Table!"

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Man, it is irritating me that I cannot find out what the thing I'm talking about is called. I bought a set of documentaries on Rome from the History Channel. But time is not permitting me from watching them as fast as I'd like.

Anyway, people would go into this building and if they came out alive and in one piece, they would have indelible psychological effects. If they went to a town where they were not known, people would follow them around with a checklist of the psychological effects that the ordeal would have on them. If they met all the effects on the checklist, they would be permitted into places and aspects of society that only the most connected would otherwise have access to. In fact, it is considered to be history's first documented use of psychological profiling.

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