The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!

[RPGPundit]

I've updated my blog with the latest questions. Please keep the questions coming!

RPGPundit

[Sigmund]

A: thank you for the question! I agree that there could very well be an opportunity for a whole line of "Lords of.." books with different pantheons.  Whether or not I get around to doing them myself or someone else does with our open license, or what, I don't know.
I can tell you, if only to give you a shard of hope, that if I were to make a book about another pantheon it would almost certainly be the Norse pantheon.
Also, thank you for buying Lords of Olympus; and I hate to rub salt in the wound but you're right... the B&W version looks great, but the full colour version (not just color illustrations but color pages and borders too) looks absolutely amazing!

RPGPundit

Received the color version for Christmas, and I couldn't agree more. It's damn sexy Just beautiful pages, with the decorative headers and footers, and the color art, and the textured pages that look like they're printed on resume paper... fantastic book.

[RPGPundit]

Received the color version for Christmas, and I couldn't agree more. It's damn sexy Just beautiful pages, with the decorative headers and footers, and the color art, and the textured pages that look like they're printed on resume paper... fantastic book.

I'm very glad you liked it! Merry Christmas; you can thank Precis Intermedia for it.

RPGPundit

[Kuroth]

Perhaps this is the one you may translate into Spanish?  Well, Castilian really.  I seem to recall you had a project to have a strong Spanish language game.

[RPGPundit]

Perhaps this is the one you may translate into Spanish?  Well, Castilian really.  I seem to recall you had a project to have a strong Spanish language game.

A: It was my intention at one point to translate FtA! into Spanish, but that didn't come to pass.  Ironically, my Spanish would probably be close to good enough now that I could try to translate or write a game in it (back in the FtA! days it wasn't yet), but I can't say I really have plans to do so at this point. For one thing, that'd probably involve in some way getting into business here in Uruguay, which is something I desperately want to avoid.

RPGPundit

[Kuroth]

A: It was my intention at one point to translate FtA! into Spanish, but that didn't come to pass.  Ironically, my Spanish would probably be close to good enough now that I could try to translate or write a game in it (back in the FtA! days it wasn't yet), but I can't say I really have plans to do so at this point. For one thing, that'd probably involve in some way getting into business here in Uruguay, which is something I desperately want to avoid.

RPGPundit

I see.  Not for Olympus at this time, well for now.  Perhaps it is the subject matter of the forum, but building the great role-play game company of Spanish speaking South America seems appealing, but I understand the many barriers to that type of significant project.  

Very good to see you published Lords of Olympus through Precis Intermedia.  They have a number of solid games with excellent production, Coyote Trail, HardNova and the MasterBook reprint.  So, it was good to see everything worked out well producing it in that way.

[RPGPundit]

Yup. I'm very pleased with the book's production level.

RPGPundit

[RPGPundit]

I posted the Q&A update on my blog, such as it was...

RPGPundit

[RPGPundit]

This is an update to remind people that we're still accepting questions!

RPGPundit

[RPGPundit]

I'm stickying this; any questions about the game can be asked here.

RPGPundit

[Evermasterx]

I'm studying the game and preparing to run it in some week.
My first question: you stated that "Olympian Magic and Primordial Magic function in every world"; am I correct in deducing that Ineffable Names, Elementalism, Enchantment and  Glamour don't work in some world?

PS It's a good game, RPGPundit!

[Evermasterx]

Well I have found my answer in the chapter about gamemastering, but feel that this drawback should be more clearly stated in the description of the power itself, because it is very important.

Another question about the naga example: when our hero switch to Prowess to hit the neck of the naga, the naga too has to switch to bite and so has to loosen the grip?

[RPGPundit]

I'm studying the game and preparing to run it in some week.
My first question: you stated that "Olympian Magic and Primordial Magic function in every world"; am I correct in deducing that Ineffable Names, Elementalism, Enchantment and  Glamour don't work in some world?

PS It's a good game, RPGPundit!

A: thank you!  And yes, your deduction is correct; while each of those other powers will usually work (at variable levels of strength) in different worlds, they will not necessarily work in all worlds.  Those several powers are meant to be the most significant cross-world powers available.

Note that this also means that there can be other powers that only work in one or two worlds; there are power-creation rules available in the LoO rulebook; though in some cases the GM might wish to have these powers available through role-play rather than point-buy.  In any case, the powers listed in the rulebook are those that are generally functional to some degree in the vast majority of worlds/realms.

[RPGPundit]

Well I have found my answer in the chapter about gamemastering, but feel that this drawback should be more clearly stated in the description of the power itself, because it is very important.

Another question about the naga example: when our hero switch to Prowess to hit the neck of the naga, the naga too has to switch to bite and so has to loosen the grip?

A: A: Actually, you will note in the combat example that I mention that the Naga continues to squeeze the hero in its grip; because it is using two different "appendages" (for lack of a better term), squeezing with its coils while trying to strike at him with its head, it can continue to use might to squeeze the hero while using prowess to try to bite at him; this is only possible because the PC has given the naga the opportunity to strike at him by letting go of the naga's head in order to try to strike at it.  The point of the example is that trying to switch abilities is an often dangerous move, and that the GM should be very careful to make sure that a) the ability can be switched, and b) that what the PC is attempting would really be governed by the new ability and not the old one.  Remember, in the example "Brett" first asks the GM if he can headbutt the Naga with Prowess, and the GM rules that in this case the headbutt would still be Might; "Brett" was trying to get to switch to his better ability without having to take any risk on his part.  Of course, its not that any switch MUST involve risk, just that it often does.

A lot of this is just common sense: the naga can try to bite even while it keeps squeezing, so it makes sense that it be able to do both.


As for your first point above, you might be right that it might have been a good idea to state this outright more explicitly in the power description itself; but do keep in mind that the DEFAULT for any of these powers in any world is that it WORKS.  That is, if you are the GM and you have no specific reason why one of these powers shouldn't work (ie. that the realm is known for being "magic-dead", or that a Titan has manipulated the world to make Glamour not work there) then the default should always be that these powers DO work.

RPGPundit

[Evermasterx]

Thank you RPGpundit, it's great to have the author clarifying his intentions. Now I understand the spirit of both rules better.