# Welcome
*Rome DCCIV AUC, The Edge of the Republic, Rome and the provinces in 50 BC. Source: https://oldwest.exodusnds.com/era-books/rome/welcome*
"Father, I have put in an offer for a new slave," I said.
"Fabia, is there a reason we need another slave? You already have three who attend to you, do you not?" Father asked.
"Yes, Father, I do. This is not a lady for me. It is a gladiator." I looked up from my desk, setting my reed pen down.
"What purpose will the gladiator serve our house?" He asked.
"He is an investment, I was at the games yesterday with Marina. She has a Gaul she owns and says she's making income off his winnings," I leaned back and crossed my arms, lifted my eyes to his.
"The senators talk about her and her Gaul. Her prospects for marriage have declined," He said. The small corners of his mouth edged upward. Lips were tight together.
"I will not use him to replace my lost husband. He's Thracian and a slave," A sigh escaped me and I felt my face tighten. I forced a polite smile.
"We don't have a trainer," Father said, one brow arched.
"Father, I have spoken to Nerva. He has a ludus and will accept our gladiator for training and games," I said.
"He agreed to take on the costs?" He asked.
"No. I agreed to pay a premium for his favor," I said.
"Why?" He asked.
"He knows Senator Numa, whom you need to vote with you. We help Nerva, Nerva speaks with Numa, Numa votes our way. Our house wins. And I have my own gladiator fighting in the arena," I said. A smile cracked on my face before I stopped it. I was pleased with myself. I folded the letter authorizing the purchase and dripped wax on the seam.
"I see, aren't you an industrious daughter. Which gladiator?" he asked.
"Bithys. He fought yesterday, successfully, with flair."
Father reached over and pressed his ring in the wax on the folded papyrus. Nodded and departed.
"You, Slave, stand," the Dominus commanded his gladiator.
Bithys stood. He was wearing a very small loincloth, his skin oiled. Tall, he was very tall. I walked around him, looking at the scar on his left forearm, his back, chest, legs.
"Is he intact?" I asked.
"Yes, Fabia, he is," he answered.
"He is otherwise rather damaged," I said, tilted my head and narrowed my eyes.
"He won yesterday without a scratch. He will continue to do so. I know what he is worth."
"Is he obedient?" I asked.
"He knows his place. Not all of those scars were from the arena. He has learned."
"Does he pass blood?" Marina told me to ask about this.
"No, he's in top health."
"No fevers from his wounds, even?" I turned to the Dominus, inspecting his face before he answered.
"I mean, who wouldn't get sick with the blood, bile and shit in the arena? He's quickly recovered," he said.
"Father said I shouldn't go over 7,000 sesterces. Would that do?" I asked, leaning toward him, with a tilted down chin.
"Oh, Fabia, as much as I admire your father, and respect your acumen, this is a top notch fighter, 12,000 is a fair price for him."
I smiled, perhaps too much. I love this part of any deal. I needed to find how low he would go.
"12,000? Perhaps for a gladiator without the extra adornment of scars." I turned towards the door out of the room and walked, slowly toward it.
"Not even a counter?" he asked, his hands wide open.
I continued to walk to the door, turned my head slightly, "Would 8,000 do it for you?" I asked.
"Be reasonable, 10,000? He's got years left in him!" He walked to follow me.
I let out a short cutting breath. Walked a few steps more to the door in silence, letting the offer hang in the air unanswered. He stepped next to me.
"Is that the best you can do?" I said.
"Fine, 9,000 and not a sesterce less."
"Father will arrange payment." I handed him the sealed letter. Looked at Bithys. "Come, my gladiator." He followed me out the door.
## Getting Started
*Rome DCCIV AUC* brings the Roman world of 50 BC, the last year before the civil war, to Exodus NDS. Fabia, Bithys, Nerva, Marina and Senator Numa of the story above are fictional, and the Starter Adventure begins where the story ends. Begin with these four steps.
1. **Pick a character.** Use a sheet from Pregenerated Characters, or follow the seven steps at the start of Character Creation and Roles: characteristics, an Origin, a Role, 110 experience points and the Role's kit.
2. **Read the key rules.** Players read Ordo, Dignitas, Attitude and The Petition in Era Rules, Patronage and Rank. The GM also reads The Bout and Crowd Favor in The Arena and the Games, and The Clash in Legion Battles. Look up the other rules as needed.
3. **GM: read Running the Era.** It shows how to build a session on each of the three engines: patronage and rank, the arena, and legion battles.
4. **Run the Starter Adventure.** *The Senator's Vote* runs in five scenes from 3 Ianuarius to the Nones of Februarius 50 BC, for three to seven players. Keep the Quick Reference nearby.
## Dates and Region
| Item | Statement |
|:--|:--|
| Region | The Mediterranean: Italy, Gaul, Asia Minor, Egypt and North Africa. Rome and Alexandria have chapters of their own, and Gaul and the Provinces covers the rest (The Era, The Mediterranean in 50 BC). |
| Play range | 58 to 44 BC, from Caesar's Gallic command to the Ides of March. Set a campaign in any year of it. |
| History range | About 133 to 27 BC, from the Gracchi to Augustus. Earlier events explain how Rome got here; later events are what the characters cannot know yet. |
| Map year | 50 BC. Rome counts it as the year 704 from the founding of the city, DCCIV in Roman numerals, and dates it by its consuls, Paullus and Marcellus (Historical Reference, The Calendar in 50 BC). |
| Dates | The book gives the Romans' own civil dates (Gods and Religion, The Roman Year). In 50 BC the calendar runs some five to seven weeks ahead of the sun (The Era, The Day and the Year). Years are AD and BC. |
### Tone
Civil war is a year away. Begin at a patron's door, in the street or at the arena. A legion or a villa can be the center of play, too. Characters ask people above them for what they need and repay them in service and Favors (Running the Era, What the Game Is About). Slavery, conquest, crucifixion and death in the arena carry their historical weight. Some events stay off the page (Running the Era, What the Game Plays Off the Page). *Rome* and *Spartacus* inform the drama. Caesar, Cicero's letters, Plutarch and Suetonius ground it. Where the screen departs from the record, follow the record. Legend boxes identify stories the sources cannot establish.
## What a Table Needs
Start with the Exodus NDS Core Rules.
| You need | For |
|:--|:--|
| *Exodus NDS Core Rules* | Dice, checks, character creation, structured play, recovery, adversaries. |
| This book | Origins and Roles, Era talents, the Era Rules, the arena and the games, legion battles, the essential gear table, adversaries, the Starter Adventure, pregenerated characters and the Quick Reference. |
| *The Fantasy Armory* | The gladius, the pilum, the scutum, the dagger and every other blade, spear, club and shield of 50 BC. |
| *The Armourer* | Mail, scale, lamellar and the helmet. |
| *The Ranged Armory* | Bows, slings, the lead sling bullet and the bolt- and stone-throwing engines. |
| *The Stable* | Horses, mules, camels, elephants, tack, carts and chariots. |
| *The Apothecary* | Remedies, drugs and poisons. The illness rule is in Era Rules, Medicine and Illness. |
| *The Heavy Armory* | Rams, siege towers and galleys, which Legion Battles cites. Not needed to play. |
To run the Starter Adventure, use this book, including the essential gear table, and the Core Rules. Look to the owning sourcebook for each stat line. The Source Book Map in Gear and Prices lists what you can use in 50 BC. It excludes the Black Powder Armory and later armories.
## The Era Cast
The art and examples follow nine fictional people through the Senate, the legions, the street, the arena, religious life, a province and Egypt. Some are free, some freed and some enslaved. Seven have player sheets in Pregenerated Characters. The GM plays Sulpicia, while Papirius stands against the players.
##### Aulus Septimius Crispus, centurion on leave from Gaul (fictional)
Septimius, about 38, enlisted at seventeen in Cisalpine Gaul. He served all eight years of the Gallic war, in the front rank at the Sambre and as a centurion by Alesia. He is due for discharge, but his promised land rests with a man in Rome he has never met. **In the book:** a pregenerated character.
##### Fabia Tertulla, the senator's daughter who keeps his letters (fictional)
Fabia is about 24, the second daughter of a senator who spent two fortunes on elections. She married at sixteen and was widowed at twenty-one. Now she handles her father's letters, keeps his seal and knows the houses in his debt. She bought Bithys, and her house sold him on. **In the book:** a pregenerated character.
##### Banona, Aeduan noblewoman and envoy (fictional)
Banona is about 30, born at Bibracte into the nobility of the Aedui, Rome's oldest Gallic allies. Her brother's part in the revolt of 52 BC cost the family its lands. She has come to ask the Senate to restore them. **In the book:** a pregenerated character.
##### Lucius Cornelius Eros, freedman moneylender (fictional)
Eros, now about 46, was born in Ephesus and sold as a child. He took his master's family name when he gained his freedom at thirty. His borrowers include the family's sons and half a street. **In the book:** a pregenerated character.
##### Bithys, Thracian gladiator (fictional)
Bithys is about 27 and has fought eleven bouts as a thraex. Captured as a boy in a war on the Thracian border, he was sold and trained in Capua. Fabia's house bought him, then sold him to Nerva, the lanista in Capua who hires him out. **In the book:** a pregenerated character.
##### Sulpicia Maxima, Vestal Virgin (fictional)
Sulpicia, about 28, has tended Vesta's hearth for twenty-one years, since the Pontifex Maximus chose her at seven. Families lodge wills and treaties there and trust her with their secrets. **In the book:** the GM's (Pregenerated Characters, Sulpicia and Papirius).
##### Decimus Papirius Rufus, street boss of the Subura (fictional)
Papirius, about 41, once ran a gang and a corn-dole queue for a tribune of the plebs. The tribune fell, but Papirius held the streets. Protection, loans and votes are his to sell. **In the book:** an adversary, with a stat block in Adversaries.
##### Chryseis, physician and midwife of the Fabii (fictional)
Chryseis is about 35, born into a family of physicians on Cos. Pirates took her at seventeen and the Fabii bought her. She runs their sickroom, has delivered three of their children and has buried one of their sons. **In the book:** a pregenerated character.
##### Kallias of Alexandria, envoy of the Ptolemaic court (fictional)
Kallias is about 52, from a family of royal clerks in Alexandria. He has served three Ptolemies and is in Rome to keep the king's creditors from calling Egypt's debts. **In the book:** a pregenerated character.