Hey all,

Can anyone from Nocturnal status us on where Before Iron is in the production queue?

Thanks!

I can't say exactly where it is, but we are working to get the backlog in print.
We don't want to rush the new game setting on top of each other, though, and since we just got Paladins through the KS stage there will be some time yet.

Oh, and the publishing side (as opposed to me) doesn't much like Before Iron as a title, so it will be called something else.

Was this the "Greek/Trojan War" game using the Pendragon mechanics?

Yes, it is.

Oh, and the publishing side (as opposed to me) doesn't much like Before Iron as a title, so it will be called something else.

"Kleos" maybe?

"Myrmidon!"

Pity that "Age of Bronze" is already taken.

What about "A Thousand Ships"? Or has that also already been used?

Along that same Marlowe vein, "Towers of Ilium"

Alternatively, the base system is "King Arthur Pendragon", maybe this could be called "Agamemnon"?

Hmmm . . . how about "Polis" or "Acropolis" --- I gather a big feature of the game is founding your city state. More academic, but still interesting might be "Oikistes" (οἰκιστής).

"Acropolis" might suggest Athens in the time of Pericles, well after the Mycenaean era. I think it should be something that specifically evokes the Greece of mythological times, rather than that of the 5th century B.C. Though "Polis" might work.

Polis and Acropolis sound more like a Civilization base building game. :P

I think I would go with something like:
"Demigods: Heroes of the Bronze Age"

That is, assuming that the PCs are actual demigods.

"Age of Achilles" might be a good one, too. He has more name recognition than Agamemnon. Also, Odysseus is more associated with the wandering sea voyage. Hmm. Although Achilles is bit wound up into the whole Troy thing. Maybe "Age of Hercules" instead? That was the heyday of the demigods, the voyage of the Argonauts, etc.

Age of Heracles would be better; "Heracles" is the original. "Hercules" is the Roman version, and would be as out of place as "Jupiter" and "Juno" instead of "Zeus" and "Hera"..

Is the game set primarily during the Trojan War (as a few earlier comments suggested), or the previous generation (that belonging to Heracles, the Argonauts, the hunt for the Calydonian boar, etc.)?

Is the game set primarily during the Trojan War (as a few earlier comments suggested), or the previous generation (that belonging to Heracles, the Argonauts, the hunt for the Calydonian boar, etc.)?

Its time period covers all the Mycenaean period.

Age of Heracles would be better; "Heracles" is the original. "Hercules" is the Roman version, and would be as out of place as "Jupiter" and "Juno" instead of "Zeus" and "Hera"..

I know, but Hercules is the English spelling, too. Since "Age of" is in English and not in (Ancient) Greek, I think it is OK. Whereas English does have different words for Jupiter and Zeus. And Jove, come to think of it, although that shares the Latin root.

Just like we talk about Alexander the Great rather than Megas Alexandros.

I'm still pulling for "Kleos".

It means glory, or renown; for deeds which people hear of you and your ancestors/descendants, passed from father to son. Since 'kleos' was such a big part of the Iliad, and it's basically the central mechanic of Pendragon, it seems appropriate.

To my knowledge, no one else has trademarked the name for an rpg yet.

PS. Also if one wants to nitpick, it ought to be Ἡρακλῆς, or "Herakles" with a 'k', there is no hard 'c' in Greek. Also, another argument for "Kleos" as the title, Herakles = Hera + kleos, = Glory through Hera.

Why not just call it "Mykene" after the period and city-state, or "Atreides" after the royal bloodline of Atreus?

As I see it, the title of this RPG should follow the honored tradition of its predecessors Pendragon and Charlemagne: the name of the most important, (semi-)mythical king of the era (I know Charlemagne is historical, but his persona in the game supposedly is the MYTHICAL Charlemagne).
I think the most famous regal figures of the mycenaean era in the myths are "Ajax Telamonian", "Atreus", "Agamemnon Atreides", "Odysseus Laertiades", "Aeneas", "Minos".
So, what title?
"King Minos of Knossos"? "King Ulysses"? "King Odysseus"? Personally, I am rather favourable to "King Aeneas". "King Priam of Ilion" has a certain solemnity to it...

As I see it, the title of this RPG should follow the honored tradition of its predecessors Pendragon and Charlemagne: the name of the most important, (semi-)mythical king of the era (I know Charlemagne is historical, but his persona in the game supposedly is the MYTHICAL Charlemagne).
I think the most famous regal figures of the mycenaean era in the myths are "Ajax Telamonian", "Atreus", "Agamemnon Atreides", "Odysseus Laertiades", "Aeneas", "Minos".
So, what title?
"King Minos of Knossos"? "King Ulysses"? "King Odysseus"? Personally, I am rather favourable to "King Aeneas". "King Priam of Ilion" has a certain solemnity to it...

I like what you say, but Greek Mythology has too many heroes...you cannot pick up and say he is the best.

What about..."Age of Heroes" or "Heroic Age"?
I know it does not sounds like anything special for us but from a Greek point of view to be a Hero means a lot!

WHAT ABOUT USING HOMER OWN WORDS?? THE GM SHOULD INVOKE A MUSE TO BE INSPIRED!!!

Why do not we use the "Incipt" of the Iliad?

"Sing, o Goddess.." or "Sing o Goddess!!" or "Sing Goddess" or "Sing, o Goddess, the anger"

I would love a game called like this!

Or maybe, from Odissey:

"Tell me, Muse, of that man..." or just "Tell me Muse" or "Tell me, o Muse"

Or, if we need a "1-word" name, another possibility is "EPOS" which is the name in Greek of the literary genre.

As I see it, the title of this RPG should follow the honored tradition of its predecessors Pendragon and Charlemagne: the name of the most important, (semi-)mythical king of the era (I know Charlemagne is historical, but his persona in the game supposedly is the MYTHICAL Charlemagne).
I think the most famous regal figures of the mycenaean era in the myths are "Ajax Telamonian", "Atreus", "Agamemnon Atreides", "Odysseus Laertiades", "Aeneas", "Minos".
So, what title?
"King Minos of Knossos"? "King Ulysses"? "King Odysseus"? Personally, I am rather favourable to "King Aeneas". "King Priam of Ilion" has a certain solemnity to it...

That's the problem like Luca pointed out. There is no One Central King in the Greek Heroic Age, unlike in the case of Arthur and Charlemagne. Even Agamemnon is just the first among equals.

Age of Heroes would work but it is a bit vague, which is why I singled out Hecules upon the first place. As for Homer's own words, unfortunately he is so wrapped up in Troy and it's aftermath, which was pretty much the Camlann of the Heroic Age.

I can't say exactly where it is, but we are working to get the backlog in print.
We don't want to rush the new game setting on top of each other, though, and since we just got Paladins through the KS stage there will be some time yet.

Understood... Please come out with this though - I really want it! :-)

6D6 Fireball just released a game about Classical Greece called Age Of Legends, FYI.

And isn't the Charlemagne book actually titled Paladin now? That obviates the 'famous leader' pattern entirely.

That's the problem like Luca pointed out. There is no One Central King in the Greek Heroic Age, unlike in the case of Arthur and Charlemagne. Even Agamemnon is just the first among equals.

Age of Heroes would work but it is a bit vague, which is why I singled out Hecules upon the first place. As for Homer's own words, unfortunately he is so wrapped up in Troy and it's aftermath, which was pretty much the Camlann of the Heroic Age.

I feel that central thing should be to evoke the feeling of Greek EPIC poetry.
Homer is just the best, but also the other later (Greek or Roman) imitators as late as Vergil'Aeneid of Apollonius Rhodius' Argonautica (or what few fragments survive of other epics) started with an invocation to a Goddess/Muse/Apollo to be inspired.

"Tell me o Muse" or "Sing me o Goddess" is generic enough to evoke many "Greek Heroic" things.
It's the hallmark of Greek Epic literature.

And it's not just troy.
Odisseos' travel is the archetype of all heroic RPGs!
Otherwise a generic "epos" should be good...but maybe it's just me.

Well you could always use GREECE: In The Ages of Gods and Men

Any news on the status of the project?