This is the email I sent on Oct 12, 2021 to introduce the campaign to players.
The new setting will be Egypt, during the reign of Pharaoh Ramesses III. R3 is not a direct relative of Ramesses I and II: 27 years and seven pharaohs separated the death of Ramesses II and the coronation of Ramesses III. R3 is the second pharaoh of the 20th Dynasty. His father Setnakht deposed the female pharaoh Tausret in her 9th regnal year.
We find ourselves in the eighth regnal year of Ramesses III. It has been three years since the military campaign that succeeded in repulsing an invasion from Libya. The seat of government is moving to the fortified temple of Medinet Habu at Thebes, still under construction, though the nominal capital is still at Pi-Ramesses (House of Ramesses, the capital constructed by Ramesses II) in the eastern Nile Delta
Egypt extends from deep into Nubia up along the Levant into Mesopotamia and the border with the Hittite empire in the north and the Mitanni to the east.
You will all need new characters for this campaign, though they may be reincarnations of your Victorian Knights characters if you wish. There are some constraints on character creation:
your new character will be 10th level
your character must take at least one level of cleric. You may choose any listed Egyptian deity except the Aten
the only spellcasting class available is cleric, except priestesses of Isis may take levels in druid (they still have to take at least one level of cleric).
you might be able to persuade me that a priest/ess of Set or certain other deities should be able to take levels of warlock or other classes, but you have to come up with a build that's thematic for the character's patron deity
race must be human or elf. "Elves" are Nubians (Kushites).
Nubians are nominally equal citizens, but may encounter racism, increasing as they go north
notes on gear below
I may nerf some spells, particularly fast travel spells like teleport and wind walk. Or I may not; I need to think a bit more about the campaign
Magic is everywhere. Every village has its own patron deity, most towns have several or share the gods of the Nome (district). Many streams, hills, palm groves, marshes and even large rock outcroppings have an associated spirit.
The land has mostly recovered from the heresy of Akhenaten, now >150 years in the past. The PCs, along with major priests and officials are aware that Akhenaten was under the thrall of a band of mind flayers led by Smenkare. This secret has been kept from the general public. The mind flayer dominion over Egypt was broken by Tutankhamun, but remnants of the group escaped and made occasional attempts to regain control. Ramesses III believes his father Setnakht put a final end to the mind flayer incursion in the civil war that overthrew Tausret.
As in my Persian campaign, I don't want to worry about game balance issues caused by mucking about with the equipment lists. However. the equipment must be adapted thematically. For example, plate armor is likely to be linen or leather inscribed with a protective spell that provides an equivalent armor class. It still takes up the armor slot and stacks (or doesn't) like armor with other forms of protection (amulets, spells, shields). Same thing with weapons: something may function like a rapier, but it's going to look like a magically inscribed bronze or stone blade.
Aside: magic wands look like this.
I haven't quite decided the starting equipment budget yet. It will probably be somewhere in the neighbourhood of 6000GP.
Each PC bears the title "Servant of the beloved land", reporting to the First Prophet of Montu: Hekmaetre-Nakht (aka Turo or your holiness, depending whether you're in public). PCs are fairly high level functionaries, roughly equivalent to the third ranking priest in a major temple or a mid-ranked noble. Their status is well below the level of the godlike pharaoh. PCs also rank below major servants of the palace and the upper ranks in the army.
Here is a list of some of the functionaries of Ramesses III. The list is for the entire 20th Dynasty. Not all of Ramesses III's children have been born yet. For the sake of expediency, we'll assume that all the functionaries listed already have their appointments
The hieroglyphics below are how google's Fabricius renders the title "Servant of the beloved land." More info to follow as I make it up.