This PDF bundle features both Historica Arcanum: Echoes of Renaissance and Historica Arcanum: Serenade for the Damned.
Echoes of Renaissance
A 5th edition setting guide
Page Number: 304
Contents:
- Foreword
- Introduction
- Chapter I: The World of Historica Arcanum
- Chapter II: Character and GM Options
- Chapter III: The City of Venice - Locations
- Sidequests
- Chapter IV: Bestiary
- Chapter V: Appendices
About the Book
The Most Serene Republic of Venice, 1521 CE. With the deft strokes of painters’ brushes and soldiers' blades, the Italian peninsula is vibrant and seething. While the arts are flourishing under the patronage of the wealthy elite of Florence, Milan, Venice, Naples, and the Papal States, the ground beneath everyone’s feet quakes with the thundering, incessant march of war. The Holy Roman Emperor and the King of France have both invaded and laid claim to huge swaths of Italian territory, and in these seemingly never-ending “Italian Wars,” the various Italian city-states and kingdoms take sides, protect their interests, and often change allies with the shift of the wind. They fight these battles with condottieri, professional soldiers for hire who have a vested interest in the battles being prolonged so that they get paid well. Sieges are common, stalemates and doublecrosses commonplace. In the most recent hue of these wars, the War of the League of Cambrai, practically all of Europe united against Venice, and though Venice suffered humiliating early losses, by the end of the war La Serenissima had regained its lost territory, and the map returned, for the most part, to its pre-war uneasy position.
Amidst this bloody backdrop, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Da Vinci create masterpieces for wealthy patrons, Titian shines as the brightest artistic star of Venice, and Machiavelli observes and opines what is required to be a clever leader in these precarious times. Meanwhile, Venice’s monopoly on trade with Asia has not only been challenged by the Ottoman might, but also the Atlantic voyages of the Portuguese and Spanish. From the outside, Venice looks like the wealthiest and most stable of the Italian city-states, and the city has an incredible streak of being able to weather the storms of its rivals–but this floating city is perched precariously on ground that is sinking around it. The world is changing, and Venice’s serene stability may not be enough to secure its existence.
A Serenade for the Damned
A 5th edition adventure module
Page Number: 336
Contents:
- Foreword
- Glossary of Key Terms
- Introduction
- Dramatis Personae
- Act I: Dreams of Waves of Ash
- Act II: On Comes a Crimson Gyre
- Act III: The Danse Macabre
- Act IV: Undying Love
- Appendices
About the Book
As dawn breaks, your ship enters the lagoon, navigating past low-lying islands of silt and short trees. Gradually, the grand islands of Venice proper come into view, like a mirage rising from the morning mist and brackish sea. You spy the Palazzo Ducale, its pink tiles glowing sumptuously in the rays of the rising sun. The Campanile, St. Mark’s bell tower, looms beyond, and its largest bell, the marangona, announces to all in the city that it is time to get to work…
…Your captain deftly turns the vessel into the Grand Canal and swoops past black gondolas rowing to and fro, and the many brilliant palazzi where servants begin opening windows and letting in the glorious morning. Up ahead is the Rialto Bridge, and the final destination of your journey. The ship pulls up to the merchant quays, and you are greeted by the music of a city waking up to bask in its own glory…
The year is 1520 CE. The dust from the War of the League of Cambrai has settled, and the kingdoms and city-states of Europe brace for another coming conflict. Resentment simmers between France and the Holy Roman Empire; the Medici Pope Leo X bristles at the writings of Martin Luther and prepares to excommunicate Luther; and the Republic of Venice watches its neighbors and the resurging might of the Ottoman Empire with patient circumspection. Meanwhile, the mages of the Harem in Constantinople sense a terrible, dark chaos rising and threatening to engulf the entire region. They send trusted agents to hunt for the source of this arcane disturbance. Amidst these tensions and fears, a group of actors begins to prepare for their biggest performance ever, one that will bring Venice and its leader, the Doge, to their knees.
Despite danger at every turn, decadent Venice eagerly anticipates the Grand Carnevale, preparing festivities and performances like never before. Its streets and canals, adorned with the elegant Istrian stone and glorious marble masterpieces, are abuzz with activity and excitement. Yet amidst the sea of masks and revelry, between the palace chambers and churches bedecked in damask silk, cristallo, and jewels, darkness looms still. Threads of a thousand plots and schemes are entwined, wickedness old and new stirs, and all is empowered by the movement of celestial bodies bolstering the fell winds of magic.
In this gyre of intrigue and darkness, shadowy faces don masks, light up the stage, and prepare for the grand crescendo of their show–a vengeance decades in the making. Will the adventurers, thrown together by circumstance, be enough to stop the flood of madness threatening to overtake Venice?
About Historica Arcanum
Historica Arcanum™ is a grand setting for tabletop games, where arcane powers, occult horrors, and unlikely heroes clash in secrecy, as the history of our world marches on.
In each sourcebook of the series, players and game masters can delve into exciting timelines and regions of the world in the ever-expanding universe brimming with lore and storylines to explore.
