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Gary Devore

~ archaeologist and author

Gary Devore

Tag Archives: roman

Playing as a Roman in Skyrim

08 Thursday Aug 2013

Posted by Gary Devore in Games, Roman

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

games, roman, skyrim

Roman Skyrim 1One of the best things about one of the best games out there, Skyrim, is the ability to use mods to personally tailor the PC gaming experience.  I have played around with creating some of my own mods (like this waterfall house), but my absolute favorite, and must-have mod was a Roman Imperial Armor and Weapons one made by Jedo Dre.

On the whole, we are poorly served by adventure games set in the Roman world, despite there being a lot of Roman themed games out there.  Rome Total War is a decent strategy challenge, but gameplay is mostly set battles and a mix of Risk/Civilization resource micromanaging.  There have been a few city-builder games using Roman architecture, but none actually allow you to play as a Roman.  There was a short-lived independent MMORPG called Roma Victor that attracted some attention (especially from the Nova Roma types), but another called Gods and Heroes was cancelled before launch.  Fallout New Vegas had a Caesar’s Legion faction, but joining it required playing as an amoral character, which I never do.  According to the trailer, the upcoming Ryse: Son of Rome, with its depressing Call-Of-Duty-esque macho posturing and over-the-top violence porn, looks absolutely dismal.

2012-09-20_00003So, for folks like myself who love open-world games, Skyrim is king, and with mods I  have the ability to adventure dressed as a a version of an ancient Roman.  Since one of the major factions in the game are the Romanesque Imperials, it was relatively easy to justify the costume in the world, adapting it to the fantasy setting.

When I play a game like Skyrim, I want to identify with and develop a strong fondness for my character.  I’m not always sure game devs realize this, given the often unattractive character design options included in such games (or specifically straight devs with regard to male character design, since the female characters are always buxom and beautiful while the male skins are usually cartoonish or ugly).  Vanilla Skyrim is definitely an example of this (with a huge discrepancy between male and female attractiveness in appearance choices), so modding also allowed me to improve the look of my character, as well as giving him a set of fantasy-inspired Roman armor.

Below is an image gallery of my adventures as a Roman throughout the world of Skyrim (each image opens as a larger version):

The stealth archer
The stealth archer
Atmospheric snow covered ruins
Atmospheric snow covered ruins
Taking down a centurion (the other kind)
Taking down a centurion (the other kind)
Surveying Skyrim
Surveying Skyrim
Guided by a favorite firefly lantern mod
Guided by a favorite firefly lantern mod
Roman in Skyrim
Roman in Skyrim
Decided not to jump
Decided not to jump
Another view of the firefly lantern mod
Another view of the firefly lantern mod
Tomb hunting
Tomb hunting
Looking out over a very cold sea
Looking out over a very cold sea
My friend the crow
My friend the crow
Not sure if he's friendly or not
Not sure if he’s friendly or not
The stunning vistas of Skyrim
The stunning vistas of Skyrim
I built a mod house atop this waterfall.
I built a mod house atop this waterfall.
Bloody bandits
Bloody bandits
Walk or teleport?
Walk or teleport?
Catching salmon in the river
Catching salmon in the river
Playing with an "animal friend" mod
Playing with an “animal friend” mod
Playing with an "animal friend" mod
Playing with an “animal friend” mod
"Animal friend" mod does not work on dragons
“Animal friend” mod does not work on dragons
Running away from danger
Running away from danger
Even the ugly scrubland is beautiful in Skyrim
Even the ugly scrubland is beautiful in Skyrim
I amassed a huge collection of wonderful bows
I amassed a huge collection of wonderful bows
The Roman, the vampire, and the troll
The Roman, the vampire, and the troll
The Roman mod I used also changed all the imperial troops' armor to lorica
The Roman mod I used also changed all the imperial troops’ armor to lorica
Soon before the proposal
Soon before the proposal
Cleaning up the dirty city of Riften
Cleaning up the dirty city of Riften

Class Warfare, 2nd century CE

05 Saturday Jan 2013

Posted by Gary Devore in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

class, marcus aurelius, meditations, roman

Image

A quote from the Meditations (I.11) of the emperor Marcus Aurelius (Penguin’s Staniforth translation):

To my mentor Fronto I owe the realization that… our patrician families tend for the most part to be lacking in the feelings of ordinary humanity.

The textbook writing that I’ve been doing over the last six months has really brought home to me the gap between the elites and non elites in the ancient world, and the ability for the elites to rationalize and justify not only their privileged position but also the lot of the masses.  “Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?” indeed. 

This was in a section of the Meditations where Aurelius talks about the corruptible influence of absolute power, and that when you have so much, and can buy and sell your way out of anything, often the first casualty is your compassion toward your fellow humans.  Amongst the rich and elite families of his time, and of our time I would strenuously argue, that absence becomes internalized and fossilized.  

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