Mortar & Flame

446 A.D. The Roman Empire is crumbling.

Beset on all sides by predators and scavengers, ravaged by widespread famine and disease, consumed by political unrest, incompetence, and corruption. Religious tension, a flagging economy, and roadside brigands are the daily concern of every Roman citizen. City after city is looted and burned by invaders, while the roman elite increasingly ignore the central governance and isolate themselves in semi-autonomous agricultural estates. The coins continue to be more and more debased, as the morals of the people likewise degrade. Trade struggles to meet the desperate needs of a suffering populace while ignorance and degeneration grow like a mold as education and the arts wane.

The city of Rome sacked for the first time in over 800 years.

All of Britannia lost to pagan savages.

Atilla the Hun rampaging in the Northeast.

The great city of Carthage stolen by the Vandals.

Assassination and depravity claiming one short-lived Emperor after another.

There is only one question that remains. Will you be the mortar that holds off the collapse of this great monument, or the flame that brings it crashing down?

Mortar & Flame is a roleplaying game set within the twilight years of the Roman Empire, focusing on the trials and tribulations of the player-characters as they struggle to defend Rome and her people, or, perhaps, participate in it's destruction. With an emphasis on storytelling, the game highlights the complex issues which arise when there is no clear cut and clean solution, facing the players with the difficult task of choosing who and what to save when you can not save everything. Combat, when it occurs, is arduous at best and easily lethal, reflecting the brutal atmosphere of the setting.

Your enemies are limitless and conflict never more than a step away, but it is not hopeless. Such a place and time as this is filled with endless opportunity for heroism and triumph. The actions of the characters, however small, have meaningful impact on the people and places around them. It will be difficult, and they will sometimes fail, but the players can indeed truly make a difference.

This campaign is not about abstract notions of saving the world and all it's faceless inhabitants from some vague evil threat. It's about people. People with names, families, fears and dreams. It's about getting up day after day and doing whatever it takes to make the lives of those people a little bit better. And perhaps, restoring some of the honor and glory of Rome.