Dice on the Nile: TTRPG Actual Play Podcast

In preparation for our upcoming event on Roleplaying History — Dice on the Nile we have prepared a special podcast of a gaming session. Our game is played against the backdrop of Egypt, in the 8th century of the common era. Though the land is ruled by Muslim Arabs, it is still part of the world of late antiquity, and the traces of the Roman Empire are still everywhere, as are many older traditions of Egyptian life, with its irrigated agriculture tied to the yearly flood of the Nile.

The game system we are using is Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition. But, as D&D is most associated with European heroic fantasies, we have made some adaptations, which will be discussed at the upcoming event.

Listen as Theodora the monk (Jennifer Cromwell), Phoibasia the poet (Eline Scheerlinck), the exiled Nubian prince Mariankouda (Grzegorz Ochała), and the Arab fighter Abdallah (Alon Dar) navigate the situations designed and narrated by Games Master Ed Hayes.

Before jumping into the gameplay podcast, here is our story so far…

Our characters have set off on their journey in a passenger boat travelling down the Nile from southern Egypt, just above the first cataract at Aswan. After their boat was damaged in an accident, they decided to spend the night a monastery, perched among the red sandstone hills above the Nile.

The visitors soon realised that all was not well at this “red monastery”. During their simple evening meal of dry bread and brackish water, they heard an uproar. When they investigated, they found the monks and nuns throwing bread, shouting and accusing each other of heresy and of stealing food. Bread and figs have gone missing, and the community is going hungry. To make matters worse, there is no-one with the authority to calm these controversies. The superior of the monastery, father Ezekiel, passed away two days ago. Since then, factions have formed around two rival monks who claim to be his successor: the short, fat, father Abnuda, and the tall, thin father Abraham. Our characters even had to intervene to prevent physical fights between the monks. The charismatic Mariankouda brought them to their senses.

Meanwhile, the nuns are grieving for their holy mother Susanna, who is struck by a strange sickness, and Abdallah discovered a young monk, brother Peter, sneaking around in the darkness after dinner. Was he the culprit who had been stealing figs?

Troubled by these discoveries, but exhausted from their day’s travel, the visitors went to sleep. But they did not sleep easy. Theodora woke to hear demonic chanting outside the room of the mother superior, and awoke the monastery with a great noise aimed at driving out the demons. The other characters woke to find that all their valuables had been stolen, including Phoibasia’s jewellery and Mariankouda’s precious relic, and the money they needed to continue their journey. When they tried to investigate outside the monastery compound, they were attacked by a swarm of vermin which seemed to have been produced by the devil himself. The adventurers were now thoroughly mixed up in the strange occurrences at the monastery. Can they find the thief and reclaim their possessions? Can they identify the source of the strange evil that hangs around the monastery like a dark cloud?

Listen to find out…

We hope this actual play helps to set the mood for our panel discussion, Dice on the Nile: Roleplaying History. The podcast joins together two short gaming sessions and includes all the talk about game mechanics as well – as you’ll see, the characters were all low on resources and health as they prepare to face the challenges ahead!

Tickets for the event are free and it takes place 5pm - 7pm BST online, on Monday 10th May. We will discuss how the use of Dungeons & Dragons helps us engage with the history of the early Islamic world. We also ask what challenges are posed by the use of historical settings in roleplaying games, and what kind of ethical issues are involved in roleplaying characters from diverse cultural and historical locations.

We would like to say a huge thank you to Chris Gregory of the Alternative Stories and Fake Realities Podcast for editing, audio effects and post-production work. Sound effects are from Freesound.org and original music was composed and performed by Chris.

Enjoy!