I’ve held off making this blog post for longer than I should have. Rather than a handful of smaller updates, I was waiting to have something to show from the BFJB adventure setting I’m working on. I’ll get to that, but first…
Alea iactanda est is making stellar third party material for BFJB. You should check out their Ecstatic Profession, and their Urban Encounter Tables. In candor, something like the ecstatic was on my list of possible future professions (under the title “Shock Head”, derived from Heimpel, W. (2003). Letters to the King of Mari: A New Translation, With Historical Introduction, Notes, and Commentary. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns). Alea iactanda est’s material will be a valuable resource for anyone running a BFJB 2.0 campaign, or any other TTRPG set in the Ancient Near East.
Moving on, I ran across the following two articles during research for the new adventure setting:
- George, Andrew (1999) “The Dogs of Ninkilim: Magic against field pests in ancient Mesopotamia.” In: Klengel, H and Renger, J, (eds.), Landwirtschaft im alten Mesopotamien — Ausgewählte Vorträge der XLI. Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, Berlin 4.–8.7. 1994. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer Verlag, pp. 291-299.
- George, Andrew and Taniguchi, Junko (2010). “The Dogs of Ninkilim, part two: Babylonian rituals to counter field pests“. Iraq. LXXII: 80.
They might give you a window into some of the source material for what I’m going to talk about next.
The title of the new adventure setting is The Cursed Colony of Meslamtaea. Here’s a draft of the cover I’ve been working on:
As far as a projected release date, I’m thinking sometime in June, 2020. A lot of that depends on what I decide to do about hiring a third party to draw a map or two. I’m far enough along that I’ll probably have to make that decision within the next week or so.
Since professions were discussed above, here’s a draft of one that’s going to be included in the new adventure: the Taskmaster.
The taskmaster profession is, at its core, a specialized bureaucrat. The Bully skill operates much like the Bureaucrat’s Authority, but specifically only targets wardū, amātum, and captives.
Obviously, slavery, and issues surrounding human interaction and relationships between slavers and the enslaved are morally and politically charged. Several of the non-player characters who appear in the eponymous Cursed Colony are either captured slaves or slave masters, and a lot of the potential drama comes from friction between the two factions. My current draft of Cursed Colony (which I’m going to abbreviate “CCoM” henceforth) contains a lengthy discussion of how these issues should be treated with respect to BFJB games, including which aspects of slavery should be ignored or de-emphasized.
All that said, here’s another excerpt with an artifact entry:
So much for taking a break.
Šukāmu Press 