A new episode has been added to the database: Axis Arc 2 Ep 4: The Search for 8R-1AN PART 2

A new episode has been added to the database: Project Medusa 6: Thank You For That Chorus of Recollection

A new episode has been added to the database: C3 Episode 79 Agents of WAR Chapter Eight

A new episode has been added to the database: Call of Cthulhu: Masks of Nyarlathotep 57

A new episode has been added to the database: [DND3 Pg 227] Broken Gilded Royal Scepter [Week 38]

A new episode has been added to the database: Putrescent Hestor – Dragon Empire Prep Session 65

A new episode has been added to the database: Iron Kingdom Outlaws episode 86 the final episode

by sdonohue

Ancients of Gaia is a 2020 release with an update in 2025 from Frontier Gaming. It was written, edited and illustrated by P. G. Harrington.

Presentation
The game is presented in a 73 page pdf, but several pages are unnumbered (mostly art and chapter headers). The background information is primarily in two-column format, while the bulk of the book is a single column. The font is large and clear and the book is readable.

Theme
The game is set in an alternate history of the Bronze Age. Characters are adventurers and citizens of the realm who go adventuring to seek personal growth. It is a time when city-states are a growing power and character's can make a name for themselves in a variety of ways depending on their skills and focus.

Characters
Characters are defined by their Axiom, which is similar to a class and provides some unique abilities. The Pragmatist believes in direct action as a way to solve problems, the
Gnostic relies on their own knowledge to choose a path, and the Savant pursues an agenda known only to them. Each axiom grants one starting ability and then additional abilities cost experience to unlock. Characters also start with a single Aspect, but may learn more as they gain experience. The aspects are mostly based on elements of the natural world: Sky, Sea, Land, Heart, War, and Underworld. Each of these grants the character a magical ability and the opportunity to learn more about their current aspect or to add a new aspect with experience.

The game also uses skills and these are in four groups: Magical, Combat, Personal, and Technical. Characters choose the groups they focus on; the Primary group gets 8 points, the Secondary gets 6, the Tertiary get 4, and the Outside group gets 2. Within the skills, the numbers matter: 1 is Novice, 2 is Initiate, 3 is Practitioner, 4 is Learned and 5 is Zenith. Starting characters can't have more than 3 points in any skill.

Once a character has their Axiom, Aspect, and Skills, they need a name, background, and equipment. Equipment and weapons are described in tables and each item has a cost in shekels as well as some special abilities.

System
The game focuses on a fairly common roll vs. difficulty. Characters roll 2 six-sided dice then add their skill and equipment bonuses. If they meet or beat the difficulty (typically set by the GM), then their action succeeds or Passes. If they roll double the difficulty they have an extreme pass, and if they roll double 1s, they have a blunder. An extreme pass means they achieve the desired effect and get a bonus. A blunder means something bad happens to them.

Characters have hit points based on a wounding track and on a successful hit, a d6 is rolled and a table by weapon type determines the damage and any other effects.

When characters succeed on a check of any type, they receive experience for their effort. The system tracks experience in each skill category and most character improvements require an expenditure of experience points of the correct type.

Playing the Game
There isn't a lot of information on playing the game. The GM is reminded several times that they should work with the players to ensure everyone is having fun. There aren't really any suggested adventures and the GM section devotes more space to suggestions for creating weapons, armor, equipment, and NPCs than it does anything else.

Evaluation
There are a lot of grammatical and vocabulary errors in this book. Affect & Effect seem interchangeable and illicit vs. elicit are also confused. Capital letters are also odd, with many words capitalized with no clear reason. In places, it feels like a word has been replaced with a fancier but inexact synonym. There are other strange errors too, like the table of contents goes from page 12 to 48 in one column, then back to 13 in the other column. The book seems to have lifted sections from the author's previous work. The book uses Morningstar several times and it's nonsensical until you realize the author also wrote Morningstar: The Triumvirate Pacts; it's not a reference, it seems to be an artifact of the previous effort.

The book was updated in 2025 and I can't help but wonder if it was tossed into an AI generator with instructions to expand the page count and use fancier words. No proof of course, but it feels like that could have been part of the issue.

As a system, it's nothing special 2d6 plus skill isn't unusual. It could probably used less exposition on weapons and armor (about 14% of total page count) and more tips on playing the game. The storyteller's section is about 3 pages and includes one page on creating new weapons and armor.

I guess it's lucky that there are about 15 published adventures; maybe they'll provide an idea of how to play.

A new episode has been added to the database: 63. Delta Green: A Victim of the Art - Pt 1.

A new episode has been added to the database: Declassified Q&A 4

A new episode has been added to the database: Troika! Two-Fer After Action Episode!

A new episode has been added to the database: Round Table Episode 57-59