[Lords of Olympus] The Bad Guys?

[Weehawk]

You know... the ones that wear black hats and such.

Who could they be? Who could be the enemies of the gods?

I know there is a lot of gods that the characters could be on the bad side of. That would be easy to have going on.

But I also want, at the same time, a more epic plot going on. Something powerful enough to threaten the reign of the Olympians. I know... use the Titans or the Primordials or even another Olympian(s). But what if it was another set of gods from a different mythology? Egypt, Norse, Babylonian, or the Roman gods? Or even two mythos working together?

Or could it the the dreaded Cthulhu mythos at work? LOL!!! They would probably get their collective tentacled butts handed to them in a basket.

Any thoughts?

[Tolknor]

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But I also want, at the same time, a more epic plot going on. Something powerful enough to threaten the reign of the Olympians. I know... use the Titans or the Primordials or even another Olympian(s). But what if it was another set of gods from a different mythology? Egypt, Norse, Babylonian, or the Roman gods? Or even two mythos working together?

Or could it the the dreaded Cthulhu mythos at work? LOL!!! They would probably get their collective tentacled butts handed to them in a basket.

Any thoughts?

I don't play the Olympian game, though it looks interesting and i would if i had any players around to join in with.  However, if you are looking for another pantheon to get some bad guys out of that isn't common currency in scifi and fantasy fiction I suggest the Aztecs.  There have been some generally good books about them but i'd not use them.  Take a quick peek at the wiki for them at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aztec_mythology

They have a nice range of serious crazy, a nice amount of inner pantheon politics, and some really great artistic representations online.  

I was considering having an Amber campaign i was running, with a complete rack of Amber Elders and PC youngins, go toe to toe with an Aztec rack of ruin, with their own primal artifact to compete with the pattern, and a whole multiverse of shadowlands filled with heart-rippin maniacs.  Sadly the game petered out.  

If nothing else, the mythos are interesting reading.

[Croaker]

And as you say, you can sure inject some cthulhu mythos in your game. Some Primordials are alien enough to easily qualify as Great Old Ones.

[RPGPundit]

I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to put the [Lords of Olympus] header on this one, since its very specifically related to that game.

If you want Epic Big Bad Guys; there are a lot of excellent candidates, some that I suggest in the book.

Yes, you can go with another pantheon, somehow leaked over from another multiverse where they, and not the Greek Gods, rule the roost.

Regarding the Cthulhu mythos, I'd strongly suggest against it. I think you should instead go for the Primordials.
Read the Primordial section and entries of the RPG very carefully: they're not human. The Titans and Olympians are human (in terms of behaviours); some primordials take human bodies, and look human, but they're not.
Even when they try to behave human, they don't do it right: they're just one big Thing, a single archetype and its all they can be.
And they are INCREDIBLY powerful, more than the younger gods by far. Zeus has to make careful deals with them.
And not being human, their motives aren't human. They do things for what seem like no reason; they don't make sense.

In the LoO world, Cthulhu & Co. should be at best just lesser servants/eidolons of Khaos, the formless void.
Now, if all reality came out of Khaos.. what else could come out of Khaos?
Or what happens if Khaos wants to start swallowing the Multiverse back up?

The other primordials could likewise be of use: Tartarus gives birth to horrific monsters from his pit. Aethyr provides the force-field around Olympus' airspace.  
I've already written about Eris and her Family of Discord, who would be ideal Primordial Enemies for a campaign that wasn't world-ending but would still be really tough for PCs to handle.
Moros, the Primordial of Doom and Fate, is so powerful that Zeus and Themis (two of the biggest badasses on Olympus) gave him their three daughters in exchange for some measure of influence over him.  Dark cults all over the multiverse worship him, as do secret networks of assassins.

Hypnos (primordial of Sleep) and his clan rule over the Dream world.  Hypnos' twin brother is Thanatos (the Primordial of death), his wife is the insane olympian goddess of Drugs (and the daughter of Hera and Dionysius!); and his sons are the gods of Dreams, Nightmares and Impossible Things.
From the Dream Realm, hypnos or his gang can go anywhere and interact with anyone who sleeps.  If they decided to go bad for some incomprehensible Primordial reason, they'd be a gigantic menace to absolutely everyone.

So yeah, if your preference for a LoO campaign is for Multiverse-menacing baddies, rather than the milder Olympus-threatening internecine warfare; give some serious consideration to the Primordials!

RPGPundit

[Tolknor]

When it comes to the Cthulhu stuff i suggest just leaving them alone.  Many GMs run them from vague references and gamer write ups without reading more then the Wikipedia articles on them.

I've read a lot of his stuff.  He was not a happy man.  He does not write happy stuff.  I don't watch horror movies because i spent a summer reading way too much dark fiction, thank you.

Greek mythos have enough bad guys.  Flesh them out.

Sorry.  Lovecraft is a sore spot for me.  A brilliant writer with terrible thoughts who was willing to leave them for future generations to have nightmares like his own.  I steer people away from his writings whenever i can.

[RPGPundit]

When it comes to the Cthulhu stuff i suggest just leaving them alone.  Many GMs run them from vague references and gamer write ups without reading more then the Wikipedia articles on them.

I've read a lot of his stuff.  He was not a happy man.  He does not write happy stuff.  I don't watch horror movies because i spent a summer reading way too much dark fiction, thank you.

Greek mythos have enough bad guys.  Flesh them out.

Sorry.  Lovecraft is a sore spot for me.  A brilliant writer with terrible thoughts who was willing to leave them for future generations to have nightmares like his own.  I steer people away from his writings whenever i can.

Me, I love Lovecraft.  But I note that his work did not exist in a vacuum.  His stuff was deeply informed by both ancient myth and things like medieval grimoires.  And really, the Primordials were the Mythos before it was Lovecraftian.

I think its much more interesting, and refreshing for geeks who're quite accustomed to the mythos by now, to see something different.

RPGPundit

[Tolknor]

Me, I love Lovecraft.  But I note that his work did not exist in a vacuum.  His stuff was deeply informed by both ancient myth and things like medieval grimoires.  And really, the Primordials were the Mythos before it was Lovecraftian.

RPGPundit

I think the problem with Lovecraft for me is the same with King.  I like the way they write, how they craft their work.  I loved both of their work up until i hit a point where it was too much crazy for me.  With King it was reading Pet Cemetery, the Stand,  and  It, in a row and deciding i had enough of his bad ideas.  

Lots of other ways to get bad ideas to be sure.  Just hit my limit with those.   I have a buddy who got the hebby jeebies from the  Aliens movies and the Alien beast.  If they show up in his worlds they turn into different things.  He just said he does not need them wandering around his head.   Of course he was also the guy who had spent 12 hours reading King's It, right up till the Whittier earthquake hit.  He stood up, yelled, and threw the book out his apartment window and never retrieved it.  There was some teasing....