Fall of Rome is best described as "Episodic Strategy". Why? Well, other terms just don't communicate quite as well the style of game we bring to you in Fall of Rome. What, then, is Episodic Strategy?

1. Designed for Adults. Episodic Strategy is about wits, not twitches. Our games are the online games for adults that typically don't play (other) online games because of the orientation of those "other" games: adolescent, repetitive, time draining, reflex oriented, and dependant upon splashy graphics instead of great game play.

2. Played in Episodes. Episodic Strategy games are generally long games, with adequate time between episodes. In the case of Fall of Rome, there are 72 hours between episodes. An important feature to our clientele is that each player independently chooses which time between episodes to play, that is, to issue commands to his forces and communicate as he wishes with fellow players within that 72 hour block of time. This means the game serves your schedule, rather than the other way around as in other types of games. At the conclusion of that 72 hour period, all orders are executed by the game server simultaneously, and the new episode is thereby created, with all the events each player would know about: his battles, his character actions, army movements, etc, resolved, related descriptively and displayed graphically on the updated map and other game screens. A game consists of up to 24 episodes and so a single game, or "campaign" as these games are sometimes called, will provide a little more than two months of entertainment.

3. Episodic Structure. Games like this present a fully developed, epic setting. In the case of Fall of Rome, Dark Ages Europe. Characters emerge and perform heroic, nefarious, or political deeds. They gain power, establish themselves as forces to be reckoned with, as do their puppet-masters - the players who are their handlers. There is plot, whose principal component is the path to victory: the strategies the players form to bring their position in the game to that culminating, climactic event. This path is different from player to player, and from game to game, never repeating.

4. Multiplayer Metagame. Episodic Strategy games such as Fall of Rome are multiplayer games. Each Fall of Rome game has twelve human players. Player's actions here change the world, they are not undone as in "persistent" worlds of more familiar online games. Though communication within the game messaging system is encouraged, each player decides for himself how much he wishes to politic with his rivals. Players may craft ever-shifting arrangements with their co-conspirators, resulting in changing alliances, the rare betrayal, and clever misdirection or deliberate ambiguity in their negotiations. While the game itself is the point of playing, there is something beyond the moves ordered in each episode that creates a higher fascination with our players. This concept centers about the creation of your in-game persona. How you behave in any given game will establish a reputation for your persona as chivalrous or diabolical, puppet master or lone wolf, according to the legend your style of play generates. Fall of Rome allows you to develop several different personas, and choose which you will play as in any given campaign, so that you may be chivalrous as one persona, while allowing your darker side to prevail in another persona. This "metagame" aspect clearly transcends any one campaign, and is one reason why players of our games tend to play for years or even decades.

5. Low Cost. Most Episodic Strategy games are offered on a subscription basis, with either little, or as in Fall of Rome, no upfront cost. So you can play Fall of Rome for about six months before you will spend what you would upfront for the average PC game in a store.

6. Game Play Over Graphics. We all know that splashy graphics are eye-catching, for awhile, anyway. Our clients see past the flash, and quickly grow bored with that type of game. Fall of Rome has an intuitive graphic user interface, attractive art, and easily recognizable icons, unique for each kingdom in the game. But that is not why you will love Fall of Rome. We are all about game play, specifically, true strategy game play (NOT "RTS"!). Your reflexes don't mean squat here. If you are looking to swat a rat with an axe or hear bombs exploding, this is not a game for you. Fall of Rome is about crafting your strategy, reacting to your opponents each episode, and making deliciously difficult choices about which commands you will issue on any given episode that create this unparalleled entertainment experience.

If you believe this is an experience you might like to try, we are sure you will appreciate the lavish attention we have put into making Fall of Rome the ideal game and diversion for you! Go ahead, Rule Your World!