Napoleon’s Folly: Egypt 1799

Text and illustrations by Brian Sago, 2011 and 2019. All rights are reserved.

This playset is an accessory for the Fiasco role-playing game by Bully Pulpit Games. Fiasco is copyright 2009 by Jason Morningstar. All rights are reserved. For more information about Fiasco and to download other playsets and materials visit www.bullypulpitgames.com

Cover font is Antiquarian Scribe by Brian Wilson

THE SCORE

A year ago, in 1798, Bonaparte put together an expedition. We could join him, although the destination was undisclosed. “Confidentielle,” they said. ​ ​ Seek our fortune with the most famous general in the world, or remain in the instability of post-Revolution ? It was an easy choice.

France was at war with Britain – had been for decades – and the expedition was named the “Army of England,” so the destination was obvious, right? A mix of soldiers and intelligentsia boarded. We packed our wool clothing and after a month at sea found we were landing in Egypt. In June. And Napoleon didn’t pack enough canteens.

Within a month the entire fleet was lost in a single battle, leaving the “Army of England” stranded under the Egyptian sun. There would be no retreat.

We spent a year chasing hostile Bedouin and Mameluke through the desert, had a bout of dysentery and a close call with the bubonic plague, then moved on to fight the Ottomans and the British in Syria before backpedaling all the way to Cairo.

Last night our megalomaniac leader snuck away on a private ship to France. Abandoned his army and all the scientists and artists he brought along on this miserable expedition.

We, the remnants, are stranded a long way from home and a long way from a friendly face.

MOVIE NIGHT

The Duelists, The Count of Monte Cristo, Barry Lyndon

BOOK CLUB

The Count of Monte Cristo by , The Duel by Joseph Conrad, The Black Count by ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Tom Reiss, Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen by Olympe de Gouges, ​ ​ ​ ​ NaSamplepoleon in Egypt by Paul Strathern, A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dic kens file ​ ​ ​

Notes about roles and culture

1. Jackals and Dogs

When choosing Relationships, a few feature a pairing of Egyptian and French roles. Some roles can be either, as you wish.

As you choose roles, don’t create a pairing that makes no sense. If you choose roles that include French and Egyptian parts, assign the Relationships so that they make sense.

Or make everyone be French, trapped in a hostile foreign land. Omit relationships that don’t fit. If you need to change a die roll to make this work, do it.

2.

In 1799 slavery was a part of some cultures. While abolished by 1794 in post-Revolution France, slavery will return to French colonies in 1802 and remains a part of the cultures in Egypt until 1895. Unlike slavery in the United States, in Egypt it wasn’t strictly based on skin color.

In 1799 there was a slave market in the bazaar in Cairo. Some of Napoleon’s soldiers purchased slaves while in Egypt. Napoleon made plans to purchase slave soldiers to bolster his army. Slaves sometimes rose through the ranks of society. One of Napoleon’s French generals, Alexandre Dumas, had been a slave as a child. When the French abandoned Egypt, the person who stepped in to govern the country, Muhammed Ali Pasha, was a former slave.

There are a couple references to slavery in this playset. Slaves don’t need to be a part of this ​ ​ Fiasco, but you’ll see the subject in a couple potential plot threads. If you don’t want to address this sensitive issue in your game, you don’t have to include it.

3. Gender

Approximately 300 French women, often married to French soldiers and officers, were on this expedition in a wide variety of roles. One even challenged Napoleon to a duel. And obviously there were plenty of Egyptian women in the society. Don’t feel isolated to choosing only male roles.

4. Depth

Nominally in Fiasco each pair of players has a Relationship between them. In an effort to provide as much historical context as possible without inhibiting your creativity, this playset has been crafted to provide depth and flavor in a clash of cultures during a time period with which you may not be familiar. Some are specific, some are vague. If one relationship isn’t enough to get your storytelling rolling, stack on others until you have enough momentum in your story. Use the dice as improvisational prompts for random inspiration, and deliberately push past that when you feel an urge. Sample file RELATIONSHIPS while abandoned in a blistering place...

1 Gluttony

1 Profiteers selling munitions to the locals

2 Opium addict and the middle man

3 Crooked faro player and compulsive gambler

4 The one with the canteen and the one without

5 Cartographer and sunburned survey lackey

6 Frenchman with a love of Egyptian cuisine and Cairo spice merchant

2 Lust & Sloth

1 Coffee lovers, vying for the attention of the same belly dancer

2 Our spouses are in France, but we’re not

3 One besotted and one oblivious

4 A few days imprisoned together

5 The quartermaster and the plague-infected soldier

6 One held hostage by the Bedouin and one delivering the ransom

3 Wrath

1 One of you is missing a limb because of friendly fire; the other was the fire

2 War “buddies” from the Italian campaign

3 Together we committed war crimes

4 One of you left the other for dead

5 Both aboard the flagship L’Orient before she was sunk by the British ​ ​ 6 Together we dug the trench and filled it with quicklime and bodies

Sample file 4 Greed

1 Military accountant and profiteer

2 Antiquarian and crate-hauling lackey

3 Jointly hid the spoils from the commander

4 Competitors for the next promotion

5 Gambling partners, with debts

6 The French merchant who lived here before the invasion and the new pillager

5 Envy

1 Relic-hoarding atheist and the religious zealot

2 The golden child who gets the easy assignments and the regimental kicking boy

3 Egyptian guide and the occupying French dilettante. ​ ​ 4 The cantinière with the food and the ravenous one without any ​ ​ 5 The dilettante book-learned scientist and the grizzled war veteran ​ ​ 6 Siblings, but of different ranks

6 Pride

1 French atheist and Egyptian Muslim, keeping each other alive for now

2 French convert to Islam and Egyptian spouse

3 Zoologist and protégé who cleans the animal pens

4 Siblings, one married to an aristocrat and the other married to an Egyptian

5 Elite Egyptian Janissary and French lieutenant

6 Artilleryman with a sand-choked cannon and wainwright who fixes the axle Sample file