Homegrown fantasy setting in classical Greece

[Fnordianslip]

One thing to remember about any involvement Hera has with the world; she's probably gonna aim to screw over one of Zeus' children. So, sure, have Herakles side with someone. As soon as he does, expect Hera to step in and try to make that side lose. Not directly of course, but she will be plotting. Depending on how much of a women scorned approach you want to take with her, she could be actively plotting the downfall of Zeus. One fun thing to do might be to have a PC who was one of Zeus' children. Sure, he gets a bit of a stat bonus or blessed, but Dad is awful busy and Hera has nothing but time on her hands...

[Fionn The Otaku]

On a tribal level Heracles would most likely favor Dorian Greeks like the Spartans over Ionian Greeks such as the Athenians as the Dorians invaded Greece at the end of the Heroic age under the leadership of Heracleidae. On the individual level Heracles would likely favor men like him self, strong athletic adventurous, over Intellectuals, Kings and other men whose power comes more from the intangible than the physical.
Other Greek Ancestor Hero Saints such as Theseus, legendary Olympic champions, Orpheus or Odysseus would similarly favor men like them selves.

[XMark]

How do you handle magic in a classical mythic game?

I'm curious as I was thinking about a classical greek or egypt game, too, but couldn't make up my mind about how to handle magic.

Mark

[Mercator]

Originally Posted by Fnordianslip

One thing to remember about any involvement Hera has with the world; she's probably gonna aim to screw over one of Zeus' children.[...]

That's what I have in mind. Short of dealing with the Titans (they would also send her to Tartarus, after all), her main goal in life will be to undermine Zeus' power and screw his sons' lives.

Originally Posted by Fnordianslip

One fun thing to do might be to have a PC who was one of Zeus' children. Sure, he gets a bit of a stat bonus or blessed, but Dad is awful busy and Hera has nothing but time on her hands...

You are reading my campaign notes from your computer, aren't you? ;-)

This made me think: if the PC are going to be God-spawned heroes, they will have to specify who their immortal parent is at character creation. We can make this part of the Unusual Background. Would you charge, say 10 points for any of the myriad minor gods, 15 for one of the twelve Olympians, and 20 for Zeus himself? The more powerful your parent is, the stronger your powers are (2xUB point cost for powers only?) and the likelier he is to save your butt when things get wrong. Or should it cost, say a flat 15 points, because more powerful parents mean also more powerful Enemies, Fates, etc?

[Mercator]

Originally Posted by Fionn The Otaku

On a tribal level Heracles would most likely favor Dorian Greeks like the Spartans over Ionian Greeks such as the Athenians[...]

But if the Spartans happened to favor the darker and more vicious Ares...

Originally Posted by XMark

How do you handle magic in a classical mythic game?

I'm curious as I was thinking about a classical greek or egypt game, too, but couldn't make up my mind about how to handle magic.

Mark

We were also discussing that some posts ago. GURPS Greece (BTW, a very good book; you might want to get it for your game) assumes you are using the GURPS spell system and justs comments on which kinds of spells are adequate to the "feel" of the Myths and which ones should be forbidden. I don't quite like that; for a Greek setting I'd rather not have "spells" as some scientifically developed, systematic invocations of some impersonal force. I'd rather magic appeared only as "special powers" that a few people and creatures have by virtue of descending from a God.

I think a Hero template could reserve a fixed amount of CP just for the powers. Say, you have characters with 150 CP + 75 from disads, and they have to spend 40 points on either a single strong power or a couple of minor, related abilities. Depending on their divine parent (see my above post), they have to choose what their power is, e.g., sons of Apollo could have healing powers or could be exceptional bards; sons of Ares would have enhanced combat abilities, etc. Look at post #5 by Asta Kask.

You could also buy a God as Ally or Patron. When you want to ask him or her a favor, roll for appearance; if the Ally appears, that means the God intervenes in you behalf. This is quite more abstract, but can model the kind of "in extremis" begs for supernatural help that a God could grant to a devoted follower (and would be specially indicated for one-time favors for past services to the God in question, etc.). This would only work if the PC has been scupulously pious, has never insulted that god in the past, etc. Idea: each city is patronized by a God. Does this mean the whole city can take Patrons and they apply to all the inhabitants? That could be part of a character template.

I don't know much about Egypian magic (pity...), but I guess it revolves around death, decay and the afterlife, and practized only by high priests in solemn ceremonies and such. Egyptian undeads, wraiths, etc should be very, very dangerous.

M.

[Martichoras]

An interesting, engaging setting, and a very interesting thread :D

Now, if I were running this game, I would probably play up Κρόνος's association with the Golden Age, and have the PCs discover, after the campaign has progressed for quite some time, that the Olympians are petty usurpers whom treat humans as playthings, and the Titans, alien though they may seem, are ultimately less disruptive to human existence...


As for associating YHWH with the Mythos, I think Nyarlathotep or Yog-Sothoth would be more fitting than Azathoth. Azathoth is a blind Idiot, with no understanding of the consequences of his own acts of creation. Azathoth would seem incapable of having a chosen people.

[Mercator]

Originally Posted by Martichoras

An interesting, engaging setting, and a very interesting thread :D

Thank you very much. As I said before, I'm really enjoying this discussion.

[...]have the PCs discover[...] that the Olympians are petty usurpers whom treat humans as playthings [...]

Not exactly a big surprise, don't you think? ;-)

But I get your point. It goes to my "Ideas for the Future Evolution of the Setting" file.

As for associating YHWH with the Mythos, I think Nyarlathotep or Yog-Sothoth would be more fitting than Azathoth. Azathoth is a blind Idiot, with no understanding of the consequences of his own acts of creation. Azathoth would seem incapable of having a chosen people.

That has always bugged me; if Azathoth is a blind idiot, why is it said that he is the Lord of the Universe? What power does he have over it? I guess he is the Lord in a symbolic way: the encarnation or perfect mirror of the true nature of the Lovecraftian universe: random, uncaring, insane, un-understandable, and deeply, deeply evil. But this is a rather off-topic thought... or perhaps not? The Greek Gods and Titans are themselves symbolic representations. Working out what they represent is better left as an exercise for the reader ;-)

BTW, I'm working on a comprehensive guide to my setting for players and GMs, which will incorporate a lot of the ideas here. Once I'm done and get the Imprimatur from SJG (for the 4E versions of GURPS Greece rules, etc), I'd like to make it *freely* available on the net. Do you all agree with this? I do not want to use info I do not have the rights of. Since nobody has explicitly claimed copyright in their posts, I understand you all agree, but I'd rather be sure (if not, I'll just keep the PDF for private use and no harm done, but from the number of views this thread has, there is quite some interest).

[Lord_Kjeran]

Chello!

Well, I don't think I've thrown out any good ideas, but I have no problems with that...

Imprimatur? So you want this supplement free of heresy? ;)

Tony

[Fnordianslip]

This made me think: if the PC are going to be God-spawned heroes, they will have to specify who their immortal parent is at character creation. We can make this part of the Unusual Background. Would you charge, say 10 points for any of the myriad minor gods, 15 for one of the twelve Olympians, and 20 for Zeus himself? The more powerful your parent is, the stronger your powers are (2xUB point cost for powers only?) and the likelier he is to save your butt when things get wrong. Or should it cost, say a flat 15 points, because more powerful parents mean also more powerful Enemies, Fates, etc?[/QUOTE]

As far as unusual background goes I would probably go with a flat point cost (10ish) or none at all. I think you said you were looking at a fairly low power level to begin with, 150ish points, so, I wouldn't be too worried about PCs using their points for outrageous abilities. Another fun take would be to charge a 5pt unusual background for being descended from the gods. The catch, you don't get to pick who. I've found the whole, you can pick your friends but not your family thing, works great in games. Usually PCs jump at a chance to get powers for half the background cost and you jump at the chance for working their parentage in however you like. Most of my PCs usually end up offering up great ideas to try to sway me to the parents they want. Also, I don't know if you've read Roger Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber, but, if you get a chance, those books offer up a great viewpoint on how backstabbing immortal siblings might act.

[Mercator]

Originally Posted by Lord_Kjeran

Chello!
Imprimatur? So you want this supplement free of heresy? ;)
Tony

Free of copyright violations, the modern equivalent. I plan to include 4E versions of the character and creature templates form GURPS Greece, and I want to be sure SJG does not object. I don't think SJ, Kromm and the rest of the staff would come after me with pitchforks and torches to drag me out of bed and burn me alive in the Austin town square, but why take the risk? ;-)

About heresy... well, we have already discussed the possible relationship between IHVH and Nyarlathtotep, so I don't think we can make it any worse ;-)