I let my husband, an equally avid gamer and history buff, have a read-through as well and he quickly pointed out the similarities between Warhammer 40K Space Marines and AU’s Praetorian PCs, as well as the Cthulu-esque nature of one of the big threats, the Dark Thrones. Livia and Anastasia are depicted on the cover art above. In addition to space conflict, there is the conflict between 2 rival empresses, Livia Akiko Augusta (Rome/holy Roman Empire) and Anastasia Heraclides (Byzantium/Moscow). In the case of AU, the alternate history is a never-fallen Roman Empire, which has so far lasted long enough for faster-than-light space travel to be developed, and now rules other planets–in the Sol system and beyond–as well as Earth. ![]() While it does increase the immersion, I worry that it might be a little frustrating for players who aren’t familiar with either Latin or a modern Romance language. (Fortunately, between high school and university I have 4 years of Latin under my belt.) While I personally love the use of Latin for in-game terms, since I enjoyed learning it, I have mixed feelings about its use for mechanical terms, like the names of character attributes. The writers also add to the Roman flavor by incorporating a lot of Latin into both the fluff and crunch. There are fiction vignettes ranging from combat to nobles’ intrigues. And the core book has a lot of immersion. ![]() Whatever term you use, this setting is very well-imagined and intriguing. Acchiappasogni calls AU an “uchronic” RPG, the adjective form of “uchronia,” meaning an idealized, semi-fictional history similar to alternate history. Augusta Universalis (AU) is a new military science fiction roleplaying game from Italian independent publisher Acchiappasogni (pronounced “Ah cap a sony”), and the English language PDF is available on Drivethru RPG.
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