Here’s a sandbox roleplaying
campaign I ran a few years back. The setting:
Baghdad in 800 AD (183-184 in the
Hijri calendar). I often like to start out with just a setting and characters, and the
intrigues that go with them, then I throw out a bunch of threads and see which
the players will grab hold of. The advantage of that approach is they’re
familiarizing themselves with the background at the same time as various
adventure leads are warming up.
(As for the rules, we used
GURPS or you might try
Tales of the Caliphate Nights or
Basic Roleplaying. Or even write
a PbtA version if you have the time; the variety of characters certainly lends itself to that kind of system. Those are all fantasy versions set in "the Arabian imaginary", though, and if you prefer
a more historical take, as I do, Guy Le Strange's
Baghdad During The Abbasid Caliphate will be your most treasured sourcebook.)
The deep background to the campaign postulated a forgotten era when aliens travelled to Earth and enhanced some
humans (the likes of Gilgamesh) to assist them in returning to the stars. Some
of that ancient technology yet remains if the characters know where to look.
There’s no magic in
this setting, but psionics exist (though very rare). Still, you don’t need to
stick to any of the assumptions or storylines here. Just chuck some of these
ideas at your players. All they have to do is react in character and the story
will shape itself.
BAGHDAD LOCATIONS OF INTEREST
The Shammasiyah Quarter. The inhabitants of
these suburbs are Armenian Christians, transplanted en masse by order of
the Caliph from their original village. The centre of the community is the Samalu Monastery. Any Christians among
the PCs can get lodging here if they need it, but the practices of Armenian
Christianity are different from those of the Franks and tensions could soon
develop.
The Mamuni Palace is on the east bank of
the Tigris opposite the Palace of Eternity. This is Jafar’s residence.
The Bab-at-Tak, the high arched gate at the eastern end of the Main Bridge, is renowned as a meeting place for poets.
The Palace of Eternity (Kasr-al-Khuld) was built twenty-five years ago in the reign of Harun al-Rashid's grandfather, the Caliph Mansur. Its majestic gardens are said to rival the beauty of paradise, and it stands high above the Tigris opposite the Khurasan Gate, free from the gnats that swarm in lower-lying areas.
The four Houses of Wisdom stand south of the Gharabah Gate. Each has a professor and seventy-five students, and in the entrance hall to the campus rests a famous water-clock called the Chest of Hours. The libraries of the Houses are arranged and catalogued to make information easy to find, and for a price the students can copy any work that characters require.
For colour the referee may wish to allude to markets and professional quarters such as the Needle-makers Wharf, the Market of the Perfumers, the Date Market, the Cotton Market, and the Tuesday Market. Also canal names such as the Fowls' Canal, the Canal of the Dogs, the Canal of the Cooks, and the Thorn Bridge over the Nahr Isa canal, adjoining the Market of Shawk-Sellers, these thorns being used as kindling for ovens and public steam baths (hammams, a staple of daily life to be found throughout the city).
The Kufah Gate ("Pilgrims' Gate") in the south-west is where those setting out for Mecca leave the city. And no tour of 9th century Baghdad is complete without mentioning the Office of the Poor Tax (Diwan-as-Sadakah) which stands opposite Dromedary House.
PRINCIPAL NPCs
HARUN al-Rashid (37) the Caliph.
JAFAR al-Barmaki (33) the Vizier.
ABBASSA (28) the Caliph’s favourite sister; very smart.
ASMA (32) another of the Caliph’s sisters; schemer but not very effectual;
resentful.
MAMUN (20) the Caliph’s eldest son; good at statecraft, sciences and arts, but
no soldier. Likes astronomy. Mother: Marajil,
a Persian slave. Advisors: Fahl ibn Sahl
and Hasan ibn Sahl
AMIN (17) the Caliph’s second son; good military mind, poor at politics & leadership; a bit strident. Mother:
the Princess Zubaida.
QASIM (15) the Caliph’s third son. Honest, trustworthy – far too much for his
own good. Tutored by Prince Malik
(see below). Mother: Qasif, a
lowborn slave.
MUTASIN (12) the Caliph’s youngest son.
COURTIERS & GENERALS
TAHIR ibn Husayn (30): a Persian general, known as Zol-Yamanein
(“the warrior with two right hands”) as he fights with a sword in each
hand.
ALI ibn Isa ibn Mahan (34) a general of Bedouin ancestry, secretive
and inscrutable, loyal to Prince Amin’s faction.
Prince MALIK ibn Salih (50) a troublesome
character – effective general, member of the Abbasid family, proud, he chafes
and gets impatient when not given a task. Has mentored the Caliph’s third son, Qasid, since he was a child.
KHUZAIMA ibn Khazim (48) grizzled chief of police, cautious, plays
the political spectrum and is careful not to offend any powerful factions.
IN KHORASAN
FADL ibn Sahl and HASAN
ibn Sahl
Brothers (Zoroastrian
converts) who are destined to advise Mamun
as viziers – assuming that the player-characters do nothing to change the
course of history. (As if.)
OTHER BAGHDAD NOTABLES
AHMAD ibn Hanbal (20) an Arab of the Banu Shayban tribe; young
zealous scholar who regards the sect of the Caliph to be heretical, and openly
preaches such, but is too popular simply to throw in prison.
ALI al-Rida (45) an imam and Dean of the House of Wisdom, seventh descendent of the
Prophet, rather unworldly mystical type, mentor of Maruf al-Kharki.
MARUF ibn Firuz (42) “al-Kharki”, a Persian convert from
Christianity, extremely ascetic, a hardliner who looks for heresy and impiety.
He was formerly the slave of Ali al-Rida.
- SARIK al-Saqati (33) disciple of Ali al-Rida and
bodyguard to Maruf ibn Firuz. He is a Sufi martial artist and also has a
psionic power to make people forget their family and become detached.
Archdeacon BARADAN (60) of the Samalu Monastery, a shrewd
operator who keeps a low profile.
- Vazak, Musheg
and Sahak (all mid-30s):
assistants to the Archdeacon.
OTHER MONARCHS
The Byzantine Empire
is ruled by Irene of Athens (42),
who recently (797 AD) deposed her son Constantine VI and had him blinded and
imprisoned. She pays a tribute to the Caliph to avoid war (the Byzantines
already have their ongoing war with the Bulgars and rivalry with the Franks to
contend with) but it’s known that her finance minister, Nikephoros (45), opposes this.
Charlemagne (58) has recently been crowned Emperor of Rome.
Al-Hakam I (33) rules as Emir of Al-Andalus (Iberia) which is the last surviving
stronghold of the Umayyad dynasty which formerly ruled the entire Muslim world,
until the Abbasid rebellion in which the Umayyad line were hunted and
massacred.
Idris II (16) rules as Caliph of the Berber kingdom of Morocco. His father was
poisoned by an assassin sent by Harun al-Rashid sixteen years ago, so there’s
no love lost there. Still a teenager, Idris is said to be “a person of almost
magical ability”.
Ibrahim I (44) is due to be installed as Emir of Ifriqiya (modern Libya and
Tunisia) to rule there on behalf of the Abbasids, a response to the ongoing
rebellion of the Berbers against their Arab governors.
Krum the Horrible (43) is Khan of the Bulgars. Said to drink
from cups made by lining his enemies’ skulls in silver. The clue is in the
name.
Obadiah (30) is Khan of the Khazars. Like most of his nobles, he is a convert
to Judaism, but most of the Khazars are Tengrists (kind of ancestor-worship
meets animism).
She (Hiya = “she” in her native Arabic) is
ruler ofthe lost civilization of Kôr in the heart of Africa. She is an immortal, born 900
years ago in Arabia, but who has gained access to some ancient (and possibly
non-terrestrial) technology and has been busy learning about it.
In Kôr, Hiya has a Chamber of the Far-Travelling
Carpet which has a pattern of tiles on the floor that create a dimensional
“carpet” which allows her to travel across great distances. The effect is like
teleportation, and the portal remains hanging in the air until she returns to
it. Using this, she has been disrupting the Silk Road trade from a hidden
mountain fortress above Samarkand.
She wants the arrow (
qv)
from Nubia, and has sent an android assassin and three mortal but devoted
followers to get it. The android is a killing machine with ebon hair and paper
white skin. In ordinary human terms she is mindless, and cannot speak or
interact socially; nor can she be
detected with ESP. (
Tekumel fans may recognize the type.)
ADVENTURE SEEDS
These aren’t presented in any particular order, but note that some are
dependent on earlier threads having been picked up.
The Envoy from the West
Charlemagne (known in
Baghdad as “Shah al-Ma'in”) has crowned himself Emperor of Rome, and has sent emissaries
with gifts for the Caliph. If any of the player-characters are to be European
Christians, that’s how they come to be travelling to Baghdad.
Order of Succession
The Caliph is due to
announce this shortly. Not even Jafar knows what he’s planning. Traditionally,
the eldest son, Mamun, has been the heir apparent, but his mother was a slave
whereas the mother of the second son, Amin, is an Abbasid princess.
The ceremony involves
the closing of the four gates of the Round City (see below). The Caliph then
proclaims that Amin will be heir, and the order of succession will thereafter
pass to Mamun, who in the meantime will go to the city of Merv to take up the
governorship of Khorasan (Persia). Tahir of the Two Swords comes to Baghdad to
fetch him.
The Gates
To mark the
announcement of the order of succession,
the four gates of the Round City are
all closed at noon prayers. It can be seen that each gate is covered in an
array of cuneiform-style glyphs.
On close examination:
- the metal
of which the gates are made is an unknown alloy.
- they are
covered with some kind of graphical cipher, perhaps indicating coded charts.
History: the gates
were brought by order of the Caliph’s father from the town of Wasit, which stands on the site of Zandawad, a city built by order of King
Solomon. (Unknown history: they were
brought originally from Uruk.)
Deciphering the glyphs
reveals a kind of stylized map centred on the site of Uruk. It’s clear that
there must be a fifth set of gates somewhere, containing missing information
required to complete the map, and after consulting the records the characters
find that these other gates were sent to the Mosque of Mansur but never fitted. The Imam, Ali al-Rida, refers
enquiries to Maruf ibn Firuz, who of course refuses all
requests to see the gates.
The fifth gates are
being kept at the Bukhariot Mosque
in the Lion & Ram Quarter, west of the Round City. Even having found out
that much, the characters have to somehow get to see them – not easy, as they
are packaged, piled up and far too heavy to lift, and of course the imam of the
mosque, Halba ibn-Jubaya, has been told not to grant access.
The fifth set of
glyphs firmly pinpoints a location at modern-day Warka, which will lead the
characters to the Hairy Man adventure
(see below).
A Hairy Man
The ruins of a huge
city wall are found by workmen digging irrigation channels for the modern town
of Warka. This is part of the ruins of Uruk. This is not widely reported, so
unless the characters have deciphered the map on the gates (qv) they
will never get to hear about it.
If the ruins are excavated,
a tomb is revealed in which lies the perfectly preserved body of a big (7 foot)
hairy man with strong, almost ape-like teeth. This is
Enkidu, an immortal, who has remained in a state of suspended
animation for millennia. The characters may be able to revive him, but ensuring
he becomes an ally rather than a rival or enemy is not so easy.
Running Amok
There have been
several violent incidents in the Atikan Quarter. The first few were individuals
running amok, then larger groups. Usually the pattern is attacks on property,
escalating to violence or even murder, and afterwards the perpetrator claims to
have only a vague memory of their actions, as in a dream. All except the first
incident happened on a Friday.
First of the
perpetrators was Hisham of Basra, who is due to be executed in three days. He
didn’t kill anyone, but was heard shouting blasphemous remarks. If questioned,
he may reveal that he had gone to the Jewish Quarter to try to catch a glimpse
of a girl he’d seen.
The actual cause is a teenage
girl, Anonui bat-Ezra, who is developing psionic powers that as yet are not
under her conscious control. She belongs to a wealthy Jewish family (her
father: Ezra bar-Adom) and travels to the bath-house each Friday in a covered
litter. One incident occurred on Friday evening outside a house in the Jewish
Quarter used as a synagogue.
The Road to Samarkand
Reports are starting
to trickle in of disruption on the Silk Road. Caravans have been attacked by
bandits out of the hills, who seem to have become unnaturally bold of late. The merchant Yao ZHANG, who claims to be an
emissary of the Chinese Emperor Dezong, recently arrived with a report of
having been overtaken by a sandstorm crossing the Karakum Desert, and his
companions were whisked away “by bridges that walk” – or, at least, the
translator thinks that’s what he said. This connects to The
Forty adventure.
The Caliph’s New Palace
The Caliph no longer
wishes to reside in the Golden Gate Palace, but instead plans to move out of
the Round City to the (larger) Palace of Eternity on the west bank of the Tigris.
Naturally this raises concerns about security.
The Arrow
A dignitary from Egypt
brings the Caliph an arrow that can cut almost anything. (This is literally
true; it’s like a vibroblade.) He says it was brought by a traveller from
Nubia. The Caliph orders it placed in the palace vaults.
Cursed Ship
Reports from sailors
in the Gulf describe a “high, bronze-hulled” vessel, “like a floating castle”.
Prince Mamun's farewell party
This episode follows Order
of Succession and The Arrow. There is a party for Mamun on the eve
of his departure for Khorasan.
During the party, a guard
staggers up from the vaults where the Caliph's treasures are kept. He collapses
in front of one of the characters, revealing two long deep sword-cuts across
his back.
In the vault there is
a circular pattern of rainbow light on the floor. An albino warrior with a
fixed, insane expression stands ready to fight as three men with jet-black skin
search the racks and boxes. This is the group Hiya (“She”;
qv) has sent
to fetch the arrow, and can ultimately connect to
an adventure based on H RiderHaggard’s novel.
The Forty
This is the eventual
result if the characters investigate The Road to Samarkand adventure
seed or travel to Persia and end up investgating attacks on the trade routes.
In the hills above
Samarkand, the Forty are a group of heretical rebels from Afghanistan. They
have come across an ancient alien facility with a huge circular door that opens
on a voice command. (One door only partly opens. There’s a smaller postern gate
but they don’t know the command for that.)
FORTY THIEVES
Sword 18 2d+2 cut
Knife 17 2d-1 cut
Javelin 16 2d+2 impale
(with thrower)
HP 15 Parry 13,
Dodge 12, Perception 17, Stealth 15
Armour: Kevlar-like material (7,
weight 20) on torso; mail (4) on limbs, head.
Inside: a tunnel
thirty feet tall with gantries (partly collapsed, but now reinforced with
wooden poles) to a series of apartments. There are lighting globes, about half
of which still work. At the end of the tunnel is a hangar where the Big Spider (a sixty-foot-tall military
robot) is housed.
BIG SPIDER
Acrobatics 17; Danger
Sense; Combat Reflexes
Leg swipe 15 9d crush (1-3 per round)
knockback
Barbed darts 18 4d
twice (large piercing -> +50% damage) & reel in*
Blades 18 3d twice (half armour)**
Dodge 7 Armour 11 Perception 25
HIT POINTS 120
All its attacks can
only be defended against with Dodge.
*If both darts
penetrate armour, delivers electrical stun (3d direct to Fatigue) and reels
victim in. Victim has two rounds to break free: ST vs effective ST of [damage
taken x d6]. Then reaches blades and is wrenched: roll ST or HT vs effective ST
of 30 or take 4d crush to neck or limb.
**Used when victim
reeled in; remember that these are monomolecular and halve armour.
The Big Spider is not
under the control of the Forty, but it recognizes that they control the doors.
When the doors are open, it periodically patrols its route and attacks people
crossing the border without authorization (ie everybody). It collects all their
items, brings them back, but then discards them as nothing matches the items it
is programmed to search for. When “parked”, the spider also projects a local
view (5 mile radius) of the terrain as seen from a satellite.
The Forty therefore
have treasure here worth about 5 million dirhams in the form of gold, gems,
spices, silks, artworks, weapons, etc. This wealth is what enables them to
bribe a network of informers in Samarkand, allowing them to cow the government
there by assassination or bribery.
Samarkand
The city is ruled by a
Council of Three: Arash, Jamsid and Kazem, all of the House of Aramanth. As
it’s Persian, politics is less religiously dominated, though it is not so free
and cosmopolitan as Merv or Nishapur.
The Grand Imam is
Ardeshir al-Yaha, a moderate, originally from Baghdad.
The leading light in high society is
Princess Parisa Esfani, mid-40s, bossy, rich.
The local agent of the
Barmaki clan is Sitvar ibn Ghabani, a young and very serious fellow, more
resourceful than his callow appearance might suggest.
WHAT HAPPENED IN OUR CAMPAIGN
The player-characters realized the
trouble in the marketplace (Running Amok) was caused by a psionic and identified the likely
culprit as Anonui, daughter of Ezra the rug merchant. But they couldn’t get
access to Anonui until her two older sisters were betrothed, whereupon it would
be possible for a third suitor to visit Anonui. So they went to Ezra and three
of them asked to marry his daughters.
Charlemagne’s two
emissaries, Lanterfrid and Sigimund, were due to return home. The Caliph (at
Jafar’s instigation, after a recommendation by the player-characters) appointed
Ezra to take some fine rugs to the new Roman Emperor as a gift. Oh, and a white
elephant called
Abulabaz as well. That gave Ezra and incentive to marry his
daughters off, so that they would be taken care of while he was away from
Baghdad.
However, Anonui was by
now learning to control her power, even though largely unaware of it. She caused
Ezra to demand an impossibly huge dowry of 30,000 dirhams for each of her sisters (Buran and
Huldah).
Two of the PCs now decided
that the best way to deal with Anonui bat-Ezra, the nascent psionic in the
Jewish quarter, was not to marry her but to kill her. Yes, I know; I thought it
was a dark turn too. They sneaked off without telling the others, crept into her bedroom at night, and smothered her
with a pillow. When the other PCs confronted them about this, they fell back on the argument that it was better than waiting
till she grew too powerful. (You may recall Nick Fury saying something along those lines.
Cap wasn't impressed.)
Hashim was still
executed for blasphemy, as the presiding judge Maruf ibn-Firuz (aka al-Kharki)
would brook no plea for leniency. But it’s not clear whether Hashim’s fate ever
figured in the characters’ calculations anyway. As one of the players put it in
the write-up:
“We killed the carpet
seller's daughter, making it seem that she died in her sleep. We tried to paint
her as a witch to exonerate the young man due to be executed from blasphemy. He
was executed anyway.”
At the ruins of Uruk, their
map guided them to a hill which turned out to cover a huge man-made dome. They were
able to break into this and lower themselves fifty metres to the floor below.
Some falling rocks gave them gashes and bruises, but that was nothing compared
to the sentry spider-robots that attacked using circular blades on their legs.
They entered what some
might have considered a burial chamber, though it was obviously built with a
different purpose in mind. Banks of instruments on the walls were now so
damaged that only an occasional light blinked on and off. Waking up the power
source briefly displayed a holographic star map filling the whole room which
showed a planetary system located close in to the galactic core – not that they
were able to interpret what it meant.
On a catafalque lay
the hairy body of Enkidu. (His hair having continued to grow very slowly over the
centuries he’d been in “
Odinsleep”.)
A player said in the
write-up:
“I think we activated
a homing beacon, but it seemed to point straight up into the night sky where
there are no ships. Are there? And we saw something that might have been a star
map, but there just aren’t that many stars in the sky. Are there?”
Thereafter, having
been afflicted by a device called the Eye of Humbaba, they
travelled to the heart of Africa to seek help from Hiya. Or did they go to steal her power? It
depends which of the players you ask.