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Fan Forums => The Official Amber DRPG, Erick Wujcik, and Lords of Olympus Forum => Topic started by: RPGPundit on September 08, 2012, 01:24:04 PM

Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: RPGPundit on September 08, 2012, 01:24:04 PM
For the two years that LoO was under development, we had a lengthy Q&A thread going here (http://www.therpgsite.com/showthread.php?t=17458).  I've now closed that thread and this will be the new place where anyone can ask me questions and get my best possible answer on the subject of the Lords of Olympus game.

You can feel free to ask questions either if you're trying to figure out about the game before buying it, or if you have any doubts or queries after buying the game.  

I will respond to any questions posted, and the questions and my answers will be compiled once a week at my blog.

So, post away!

RPGPundit
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: APN on September 10, 2012, 07:54:25 PM
Are you planning to support the game with adventures, or are their plenty of hooks to go on in the book? Any sourcebooks in the pipeline?

Being diceless, I assume it's resource management based like the Marvel Universe RPG. In that game, you basically 'blew your load' in the first round of combat then floundered about with little/no energy. It also has a death spiral so that if you take damage and your opponent doesn't you're a bit, then a lot, screwed. Is this system better than that, and in what way does it improve on systems that use dice? In other words, why go diceless?

Will the system adapt itself to other genres - supers for instance?

Any system for mass or naval combat in there? I can imagine the size and scale of some monsters requiring armies to make a dent in them.
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: Spinachcat on September 10, 2012, 08:24:19 PM
Again, congrats on LoO! I am sure diceless players will enjoy a new option on the market.

Here's my questions (for you + Brett):

1) How will the game be marketed?

2) How do you plan to develop a word of mouth campaign that spreads interest in the game?

3) How will GMs in North America (and Europe) be organized to demo your game at conventions?

I am asking more biz side questions because Field of Dreams' "build it and they will come" doesn't work in the RPG world of 2012. I'd like to get a sense if there will be an audience for the game before buying.

I'm a huge Mazes & Minotaurs fan, so I am already predisposed to liking LoO, except for the diceless aspect which just seems almost too weird for me. I'd love to go to a con and play LoO before I bought it.
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: RPGPundit on September 11, 2012, 12:46:24 AM
Thank you for your questions!

Quote from: APN;581577
Are you planning to support the game with adventures, or are their plenty of hooks to go on in the book? Any sourcebooks in the pipeline?

A: There are hooks for all kinds of adventures, though not an "adventure hooks" session. Instead, there's a section that has setups for different types of campaigns and guidelines for creating the kind of campaign you would like to run (out of a wide variety of possible scenarios, both fairly orthodox and pretty out-there; everything from internecine squabbling to overthrowing Olympus to end-of-the-multiverse scenarios). Then the individual entries for all the different Primordials, Titans, and Olympians, as well as setting descriptions for the different worlds and realms are absolutely filled with stuff that could make up the material for sessions of adventures.
As for published adventures or sourcebooks, at this very moment there's nothing to announce from me, though I won't rule out that possibility for the future (especially sometime after Arrows of Indra is released). However, Lords of Olympus will be having its own Open License, so this means anyone who likes the game enough will be able to publish adventures or sourcebooks for it!

Quote
Being diceless, I assume it's resource management based like the Marvel Universe RPG. In that game, you basically 'blew your load' in the first round of combat then floundered about with little/no energy. It also has a death spiral so that if you take damage and your opponent doesn't you're a bit, then a lot, screwed. Is this system better than that, and in what way does it improve on systems that use dice? In other words, why go diceless?

A: You assumed wrong, at the very premise of this question. Lords of Olympus, like Erick Wujcik's original Diceless RPG is NOT a system based on "resource-management", or what I like to call a 'beancounter' game; thus it doesn't run into the problem you describe.  Instead, the system works by the characters having "ranks" in different attributes, which can be utilized to attempt different things; and conflict is resolved by a comparison of those ranks modified by situational effects (environment, injury and restedness, tactical considerations, being team-up on, etc).  In play, Lords of Olympus is kind of "chess like"; you can't rely on getting a "good roll", instead you need to figure out a way to beat the other guy, either at his game or by changing the game you're playing with him.  If he outranks you at wrestling, you can try to switch the fight to a distance battle, or use sorcery, or try to take over his mind, or if you're close enough in ranking that it might make a difference, try to avoid him till you can get him somewhere that you have higher ground or he can't press down on you with all his force.
The first answer to how it might be better than games that use dice is if you happen to be a very unlucky dice-roller of course; but the less flippant answer is that in actual play this type of game encourages very descriptive action, making greater use of (and consideration of) the environment, and trying to engage in strategic thinking.  Its also the common experience of people who've played that the mechanics (from the player's side of things) just end up "fading into the background" in a very big way. No one talks about hit points or bonuses or how many points they have in a skill, or that kind of thing, instead you end up talking about your character and thinking about him in a descriptive way, of what you know he does well and not so well, of what powers and resources he has, etc.  If you've ever played games that use descriptive tags and such... well, Lords of Olympus does what those games can only promise to do; it actually comes through with making the game into a deeply immersive experience where you think of your character in a very different way than the typical collections of numbers and bonuses in a more conventional RPG.

Quote
Will the system adapt itself to other genres - supers for instance?

A: It'd be very simple to adapt LoO for other kinds of epic or mythic fantasy.  It would be possible to adapt it for certain types of "supers" games, but you'd need to do some more legwork; this isn't really a generic RPG system.

Quote
Any system for mass or naval combat in there? I can imagine the size and scale of some monsters requiring armies to make a dent in them.

A: One thing to keep in mind is that the PCs, starting-level PCs, are immensely powerful in this game. They START OUT being the equivalent of the kind of power-levels that you only find at the highest levels of most other fantasy game PCs.  They are, after all, the children of gods. Some of them could be considered  one-man armies.
However, as to your question: the Lords of Olympus RPG is probably something that would be considered a "rules-lite" game in comparison to, say, D&D or certainly GURPS.  Its not ultra-ultra-lite, but its mechanics are very streamlined; and the way the system works is not by having a bunch of subsystems or mechanics to deal with different things, but to rely on the core system of Ranks and the environmental modifiers to those ranks to determine how everything physical gets resolved, from a chess game, to a magical duel, to a dance competition, and yes, also a war. So in the game what would be considered for leading armies in battle (against huge monsters, or other armies) would be the character's martial rank (Prowess) along with the in-setting considerations: where does he get its army? What is the composition, equipment, and training of his trooops? How is he getting them to where his opponents are? what does the player say he's doing for an overall strategy; how is he placing his units and using the battlefield conditions?
And you ask all the same questions about the PC's opponent; and compare their relative Ranks, this gives you an idea from the start of who's got the upper hand, and how long the battle is likely to last. Then of course there's the question of what both sides do as the battle is going on, how do they react to situations of advantage or disadvantage, and try to adapt their original tactics? If things aren't going well for the PC, what's he going to do about it?
That's the way Lords of Olympus works.

RPGPundit
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: RPGPundit on September 11, 2012, 12:50:15 AM
Quote from: Spinachcat;581583
Again, congrats on LoO! I am sure diceless players will enjoy a new option on the market.

Here's my questions (for you + Brett):

1) How will the game be marketed?

2) How do you plan to develop a word of mouth campaign that spreads interest in the game?

3) How will GMs in North America (and Europe) be organized to demo your game at conventions?

I am asking more biz side questions because Field of Dreams' "build it and they will come" doesn't work in the RPG world of 2012. I'd like to get a sense if there will be an audience for the game before buying.

I'm a huge Mazes & Minotaurs fan, so I am already predisposed to liking LoO, except for the diceless aspect which just seems almost too weird for me. I'd love to go to a con and play LoO before I bought it.


A: I'm going to mostly leave these questions to Brett; its his company and he's the one who would know what the plan is here. I will say though that obviously I'll be trying to promote the game not just here on theRPGsite and my blog, but also on facebook and through interviews.  I will obviously support any plans Brett has to promote the game!

RPGPundit
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: Evermasterx on September 11, 2012, 09:25:21 AM
will a printed version be available via amazon?
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: brettmb on September 11, 2012, 10:59:08 AM
Quote from: Evermasterx;581674
will a printed version be available via amazon?

Yes. Probably in a few weeks.
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: Evermasterx on September 11, 2012, 11:53:53 AM
Quote from: brettmb;581685
Yes. Probably in a few weeks.
great! +1 sold.
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: Benoist on September 11, 2012, 12:41:00 PM
I think I might just give diceless roleplaying a shot for the first time in my life with this game.
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: RPGPundit on September 11, 2012, 01:06:39 PM
Quote from: Benoist;581702
I think I might just give diceless roleplaying a shot for the first time in my life with this game.


I don't think you'll regret it.

RPGPundit
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: daniel_ream on September 11, 2012, 01:41:09 PM
Are there copious examples of how to resolve conflicts between Ranked PCs?
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: Spinachcat on September 11, 2012, 03:47:45 PM
Brett, kudos for putting the game on Amazon!

When will you have it on Kindle/iPad/Nook?

Quote from: daniel_ream;581708
Are there copious examples of how to resolve conflicts between Ranked PCs?

Great question!  

Can we see one as a preview / download? As someone who has never played a diceless game, I really have no clue how it works and Examples of Play are always extremely helpful.

BTW, will LoO have its own site / forum?
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: brettmb on September 11, 2012, 04:01:46 PM
Quote from: Spinachcat;581720
Brett, kudos for putting the game on Amazon!

Most Precis Intermedia softcover titles are these days: LINK (http://www.amazon.com/Precis-Intermedia-Titles/lm/R3TS55YIVI9GK7/ref=cm_srch_res_rpli_alt_1)

Quote from: Spinachcat;581720
When will you have it on Kindle/iPad/Nook?

It's available as a PDF.

Quote from: Spinachcat;581720
Can we see one as a preview / download? As someone who has never played a diceless game, I really have no clue how it works and Examples of Play are always extremely helpful.

There will be a larger flashpaper preview soon.

Quote from: Spinachcat;581720
BTW, will LoO have its own site / forum?

It already has:
http://www.therpgsite.com/forumdisplay.php?f=29
or
http://www.pigames.net/forum/viewforum.php?f=104
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: RPGPundit on September 11, 2012, 04:06:58 PM
Quote from: daniel_ream;581708
Are there copious examples of how to resolve conflicts between Ranked PCs?


There are what I feel are copious examples how to resolve conflicts; but perhaps more importantly (for those who want comparison with the previous Diceless RPG) is that it comes with more solid and concrete guidelines and parameters for comparison of Ranks than the original Diceless game had; things are more spelled out.

RPGPundit
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: daniel_ream on September 11, 2012, 06:01:25 PM
My decision to purchase the game will pretty much hinge on the quality of that writing, as it's (what I feel to be) the fatal flaw in the original Diceless - oh, fuck, it's the goddamned Amber Diceless RPG.  Let's stop being fairies about it.

Could you post, say, one such example, or ensure that one finds its way into the preview?
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: RPGPundit on September 11, 2012, 08:33:30 PM
Quote from: daniel_ream;581754
My decision to purchase the game will pretty much hinge on the quality of that writing, as it's (what I feel to be) the fatal flaw in the original Diceless - oh, fuck, it's the goddamned Amber Diceless RPG.  Let's stop being fairies about it.

Could you post, say, one such example, or ensure that one finds its way into the preview?


When you say "that writing", do you mean "the more solid parameters and guidelines for comparing ranks/task resolution" that I was talking about before?

RPGPundit
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: daniel_ream on September 11, 2012, 09:26:29 PM
Yes.
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: RPGPundit on September 12, 2012, 12:37:06 AM
Quote from: daniel_ream;581801
Yes.


A: Well, it'd be up to Brett what gets previewed, but to try to give you some idea: there are explicit guidelines as to degrees of success based on the differences between your Class in an attribute and the class of your opponent or the difficulty of the task attempted. You also get a clear and technical description of how to resolve combat by "rounds", when different attributes can get into play, the conditions by which Ego (psychic) combat are possible and how they get resolved, what sort of situations (of prolonged conflict) make Fortitude a factor in whether victory happens or not, what sort of situations should lead the GM to consider the Luck score as a mitigating factor, how to consider Class/difficulty values when fighting multiple opponents at once, levels of injury are clearly outlined along with their effects, healing times and exhaustion rates by attribute Class are clearly and explicitly outlined, and with all relevant powers you get clear outlines of what characters can do with a given power at each Class rank they have in the attributes that are crucial to that power.

RPGPundit
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: daniel_ream on September 13, 2012, 12:54:19 PM
This is sounding very promising.

I'm not sure how much I care for the grafting of the Hellenic mythos onto the Amber ruleset, but that's easily discarded.
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: RPGPundit on September 14, 2012, 05:19:05 PM
Here's the digest blog of the first week's (http://rpgpundit.xanga.com/767902573/item/) worth of q&a. Please keep the questions coming, folks!

RPGPundit
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: Benoist on September 15, 2012, 12:59:24 AM
Related to a previous question but not exactly the same: how easy would it be to say... switch the greek pantheon and premise of the game for a Viking pantheon and Ragnarok premise?
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: Lord Soth on September 15, 2012, 01:35:57 PM
My gaming group is usually just myself and my wife or sometimes another couple if they're not out of state for work. So my question is, how would you adjust the bidding war with only 1 or 3 players? I usually just tell her to build her character and ignore the ladder aspect comepletely. Is there a better or more fun way of doing this?
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: Batjon on September 16, 2012, 12:15:17 AM
I went ahead and took the plunge by buying it last night, the print + PDF bundle.  Thanks for your hard work on the game!

My question is when will the physical copy be available and likely to ship? I heard today the physical copy isn't released yet.
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: Smudged Thoughts on September 16, 2012, 03:10:31 AM
Quote from: Lord Soth;582758
My gaming group is usually just myself and my wife or sometimes another couple if they're not out of state for work. So my question is, how would you adjust the bidding war with only 1 or 3 players? I usually just tell her to build her character and ignore the ladder aspect comepletely. Is there a better or more fun way of doing this?


I usually game with just my wife also. Im going to use the Mythic Gm Emulator and basically emulate other players for the auction, and then use the created characters as npcs. I tried it once with Amber and the auction was pretty fun. Sadly, we never actually played that game of Amber.
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: RPGPundit on September 16, 2012, 08:37:01 PM
Quote from: Benoist;582657
Related to a previous question but not exactly the same: how easy would it be to say... switch the greek pantheon and premise of the game for a Viking pantheon and Ragnarok premise?


A: It would be relatively easy. If you wanted to be lazy, you could do it exactly the same rules; if not, you might want to change around some of the powers a bit (you could turn the World Walking rules around to travel along the tree of Yggdrasil, change the Scrying and Ineffable Words stuff into rune-related powers, and Enchantment into something related to Seidhr magic).  The big thing that would of course be missing is all the setting detail about the Norse pantheon and their cosmology.

RPGPundit
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: RPGPundit on September 16, 2012, 08:38:08 PM
Quote from: Lord Soth;582758
My gaming group is usually just myself and my wife or sometimes another couple if they're not out of state for work. So my question is, how would you adjust the bidding war with only 1 or 3 players? I usually just tell her to build her character and ignore the ladder aspect comepletely. Is there a better or more fun way of doing this?


A: In the Lords of Olympus game there are multiple other options for character creation. If you don't have a group of at least 4 people, you'll probably be better off using one of those options, many of which will work much better than the auction for character creation.

RPGPundit
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: RPGPundit on September 16, 2012, 08:38:44 PM
Quote from: daddystabz;582900
I went ahead and took the plunge by buying it last night, the print + PDF bundle.  Thanks for your hard work on the game!

My question is when will the physical copy be available and likely to ship? I heard today the physical copy isn't released yet.


A: That's really a question for Brett to answer, but he'd indicated to me it was something around 3 weeks to a month.

RPGPundit
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: Colin Chapman on September 17, 2012, 06:06:28 PM
Quote from: RPGPundit;583099
A: It would be relatively easy. If you wanted to be lazy, you could do it exactly the same rules; if not, you might want to change around some of the powers a bit (you could turn the World Walking rules around to travel along the tree of Yggdrasil, change the Scrying and Ineffable Words stuff into rune-related powers, and Enchantment into something related to Seidhr magic).  The big thing that would of course be missing is all the setting detail about the Norse pantheon and their cosmology.

RPGPundit


If you write it, I will buy it. ;) Great work on LoO, Pundit.

cheers!
Colin
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: Batjon on September 17, 2012, 09:49:42 PM
I just worry that a system where whoever has the higher stat USUALLY wins might bore some of my players.  Can anyone please give me an example combat where someone with a lower stat overcomes an opponent who has a superior stat?

I also read that there are randomizers in the game but haven't gotten that far in my reading yet.  Is there some kind of randomizer option similar to dice you can use for these kinds of situations to make outcomes not so sure a thing?

Thanks in advance!
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: Philotomy Jurament on September 17, 2012, 09:56:46 PM
Quote from: Benoist;581702
I think I might just give diceless roleplaying a shot for the first time in my life with this game.

Me, too.  I've read the Amber novels (and enjoyed them), but never tried the RPG.  But frankly, Greek myth resonates with me much more than Amber does.
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: RPGPundit on September 18, 2012, 05:27:30 PM
Quote from: Colin Chapman;583334
If you write it, I will buy it. ;) Great work on LoO, Pundit.

cheers!
Colin


Its something I'm considering; though not for a while. I'd like to wait till Arrows of Indra is done, at least.  After that, we'll see.

RPGPundit
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: RPGPundit on September 18, 2012, 05:41:40 PM
Quote from: daddystabz;583377
I just worry that a system where whoever has the higher stat USUALLY wins might bore some of my players.  Can anyone please give me an example combat where someone with a lower stat overcomes an opponent who has a superior stat?

I also read that there are randomizers in the game but haven't gotten that far in my reading yet.  Is there some kind of randomizer option similar to dice you can use for these kinds of situations to make outcomes not so sure a thing?

Thanks in advance!


A: Well, let's start with talking about a straightforward exchange of blows: if both characters spend the round just trying to attack each other, and nothing else comes into play, then the guy with the higher Class rank will win. But outside of that, things become more complex: let's say that one guy knows that the other is probably better than him, and tries to be cautious; if his opponent is two Classes higher than him, by fighting with great defensiveness, he'll be able to avoid being hit. If the characters are less than that in difference, he might even be able to score a hit against his opponent if the other guy is more reckless, though that guy might also score a hit against him.
The guy in the weaker position could also try to take advantage of something in his environment to help even the odds.  If he fights cautiously, then he might make the battle go long enough that Fortitude comes into play; if his opponent's fortitude is lower than his, he might be able to tire the other guy out. If his opponent's fortitude is more than two Classes lower than his, he might want to risk a hit to himself to be able to hit his opponents, and bet on the likelihood that his opponent will bleed out or collapse from exhaustion before him.
If they're really even, by continuing to fight cautiously, he might end up bringing luck into play, so he might be luckier than the other guy and catch a break that gives him advantage.
So in combat its not just a single attribute that's being compared; its potentially at least three (the combat attribute (might or prowess), the restedness attribute (Fortitude) and Luck).  BUT, you can go even further: if one guy realizes his opponent is a lot better at swordplay (Prowess) than he is, he might want to try to get in close and switch to wrestling match; and suddenly instead of Prowess vs. Prowess its Prowess vs. Might; or Might vs. Might if the other guy does the same!
Or he might try to use magic or enter into mental combat with the other guy, and then Ego comes into play.

So really, conflict in Lords of Olympus is far from boring; it turns into a game of trying to trump the other guy's strengths with your own; shifting the conditions of the fight to your favor while trying to prevent the other guy from doing the same. And in Lords of Olympus there are lots of specific guidelines about how to adjudicate all this.

So the "Randomizer" in the game are the players and which of their abilities they try to "tap" into in a given struggle.

RPGPundit
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: alcmarauder on September 20, 2012, 09:42:36 AM
I like the idea of a open system!  You want a Norse system?  Write it!  Send it in and it might get published as an addition.

Going to try and get a local game of this going.  I was thinking of Gods wandering through modern times.  Hmmmm....

Are there any internet versions of this going on at the moment?
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: joewolz on September 20, 2012, 10:56:04 AM
I have to say, the book is very well done.  Many people don't like the Pundit because he can be acerbic on the internet, but his writing is very good and the two games of his I own (FtA! and LoO) are both extremely well written.  They're labors of love, and it shows.

I was going to do a quick written review of LoO on my show's blog, but instead chose to do a full "on air" review, which will come out on the 2nd.  It's a great game.
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: RPGPundit on September 20, 2012, 08:21:19 PM
Quote from: alcmarauder;583962
I like the idea of a open system!  You want a Norse system?  Write it!  Send it in and it might get published as an addition.

Going to try and get a local game of this going.  I was thinking of Gods wandering through modern times.  Hmmmm....

Are there any internet versions of this going on at the moment?


A: I don't know if there are yet or not, but you could certainly be the first to start one!

RPGPundit
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: RPGPundit on September 20, 2012, 08:22:06 PM
Quote from: joewolz;583983
I have to say, the book is very well done.  Many people don't like the Pundit because he can be acerbic on the internet, but his writing is very good and the two games of his I own (FtA! and LoO) are both extremely well written.  They're labors of love, and it shows.

I was going to do a quick written review of LoO on my show's blog, but instead chose to do a full "on air" review, which will come out on the 2nd.  It's a great game.


I'm really looking forward to that, please keep me updated, send me a reminder, post a thread about it on here, whatever.

RPGPundit
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: RPGPundit on September 21, 2012, 03:18:35 PM
Here's the newest Q&A digest  (http://rpgpundit.xanga.com/768072882/item/)for the week.  Note that I changed one answer, regarding when the book is shipping. I've got it pretty clear from Brett that it ships next week!

RPGPundit
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: RPGPundit on September 29, 2012, 10:40:25 AM
Just a bump here, now that the game has shipped; I hope people keep feeling free to ask questions on this thread, for consideration or clarification on this product.

RPGPundit
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: brettmb on September 29, 2012, 12:25:43 PM
Priority Mail pre-orders shipped yesterday. Media Mail will go out monday. International will start on monday.
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: RPGPundit on September 30, 2012, 04:15:09 AM
Thanks for the clarification!

RPGPundit
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: joewolz on October 04, 2012, 03:50:26 PM
Quote from: RPGPundit;584169
I'm really looking forward to that, please keep me updated, send me a reminder, post a thread about it on here, whatever.

RPGPundit


The relevant review is in Episode 17 (http://2gms1mic.com/2012/10/02/episode-seventeen-burnout/) of our second season. The review starts at 28:16
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: brettmb on October 04, 2012, 04:50:58 PM
The B&W version of the softcover is now in stock (as is the color version) for those on a tighter budget. You also get the PDF with every softcover order.
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: RPGPundit on October 05, 2012, 01:23:17 PM
posted the update, where I mention Joewolz's review, on my blog (http://rpgpundit.xanga.com/768469528/item/).

RPGPundit
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: RPGPundit on October 12, 2012, 12:30:03 PM
I'm posting it here for updating purposes, because there were a lot of (good) questions about Lords of Olympus (among other things) done there: here is the transcript of the Q&A session (http://gmshoe.blogspot.com/2012/10/rpgpundit-arrows-of-indra-lords-of.html) I was invited to give at #rpgnet Chat.

RPGPundit
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: RPGPundit on October 25, 2012, 07:27:17 PM
There won't be a blog update this friday because I'm going to be away, but in any case, please keep the questions coming!

RPGPundit
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: RPGPundit on November 16, 2012, 05:07:43 PM
Just bumping to mention that, with no new questions this week, I instead posted my answer to the thread about how to start a LoO campaign.

RPGPundit
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: DacholaEtecoon on December 10, 2012, 09:53:31 PM
Elementalism question:

Is the element specified when the spell is memorized or cast?

I apologize if this was answered elsewhere.
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: RPGPundit on December 11, 2012, 03:49:18 PM
Quote from: DacholaEtecoon;607715
Elementalism question:

Is the element specified when the spell is memorized or cast?

I apologize if this was answered elsewhere.


No, that's a great question, and welcome to theRPGsite!

A: If an elementalist has power over more than one element, he MUST specify which elemental spell he is memorizing (ie. which type of element) at the time he memorizes it.

Hope we'll see more of you posting, DacholaEtecoon!

RPGPundit
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: DacholaEtecoon on December 11, 2012, 08:07:35 PM
Thank you for welcome and the answer.
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: RPGPundit on December 12, 2012, 12:37:21 AM
Quote from: DacholaEtecoon;607985
Thank you for welcome and the answer.


You're very welcome!

RPGPundit
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: RPGPundit on December 14, 2012, 03:44:50 PM
Posted the Q&A update on my blog. Keep the questions coming, folks!

RPGPundit
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: Anon Adderlan on December 15, 2012, 10:51:58 AM
OK, I get that the higher rank in a situation wins.

But the question is, when do they win?
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: RPGPundit on December 15, 2012, 02:52:00 PM
Anon, just one question for context: have you read the book and don't feel its clear about this, or have you not yet read the book, and are asking to try to get a sense of how the rules handle this?

RPGPundit
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: RPGPundit on December 21, 2012, 05:52:04 PM
Quote from: Anon Adderlan;609169
OK, I get that the higher rank in a situation wins.

But the question is, when do they win?


As I've yet to hear from you regarding the context to this question, I'm going to try to give it a general answer, anyways.

A: There are many factors that can influence the swiftness of an action resolution. The LoO rules clarify (in the section called "Rapid vs. Elaborate Conflicts") that when a conflict is such that one side is very clearly outmatched in every way (say, where there is a difference of three or more classes, and no factors to modify that down), then success for the superior combatant is basically immediate.
If a situation is somewhat closer (say, a difference of two or less class levels between opponents, after any modifications for circumstances) then things take longer and more detailed actions (and likely multiple attempts) are required.

Note that there can be lots of things that draw out an extended conflict; if its a melee fight we're talking about, and one opponent has a vast superiority to the other in Prowess, he will strike his opponent very easily, but if his opponent is immune to his blows (say, due to magical armor) or has a very high Fortitude Class, he might still be up in spite of the hit.  In that case, the conflict will continue for another round, but unless the inferior combatant figures out a way to change his circumstances (say, switching the fight to another kind of ability, or using a power, or doing something in the environment to give him a chance) the fight will continue to tend toward the vastly superior foe.

In the case of two opponents who are very close in ability class, taking no risks, and have the lack of imagination to continue attempting the same actions over and over again, the battle can be a drawn-out stalemate for quite some time, at which point Fortitude becomes an important factor; the GM should consider which of the two opponents will be likely to get tired first.  Luck can also have a secondary effect in the same kind of situation; two very evenly-matched opponents will find that luck can ultimately make a difference (though it shouldn't be so important that it immediately makes all the difference; rather, if two evenly-matched opponents keep striking blows at one another, the difference in luck could be a factor in whether one of the two takes more nicks and cuts that distract or weaken him sooner than the other, or slips or stumbles in the fight after its been going on for a long while).

I hope that answers your question.

RPGPundit
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: Sigmund on December 23, 2012, 10:53:44 PM
Loving reading the game so far Pundit, great job. I will definitely try to find a way to give it a try, but in the mean time just enjoying reading it. A question I have is, would you consider doing a "Lords of Asgard" supplement? I'd love to see your take on that, and perhaps running a campaign where children of both pantheons combine would be pretty fun. I think there's great potential for a line of "Lords of.... " supplements. Once again, great job guys, it's an interesting game and a beautiful book. I'm almost sad I got the b&w version rather than full color cuz even the b&w is gorgeous.
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: RPGPundit on December 24, 2012, 06:14:03 PM
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
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: Philotomy Jurament on December 24, 2012, 06:42:41 PM
Quote from: RPGPundit;611342
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.

I'd buy it; even though I like the Greek pantheon, I find the Norse pantheon even more appealing.
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: Sigmund on December 24, 2012, 10:32:31 PM
Quote from: Philotomy Jurament;611346
I'd buy it; even though I like the Greek pantheon, I find the Norse pantheon even more appealing.


Same here, but to be honest what would truly rock to me would be to use both the Greek and Norse pantheons together. Maybe with most having friendly rivalries, and perhaps the villains hating each other, but teaming up a anyway just to stick it to the good guys :D Loki and Hades (mostly their minions :D ) versus the player team would be awesome.
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: RPGPundit on December 25, 2012, 10:45:13 AM
Quote from: Sigmund;611361
Same here, but to be honest what would truly rock to me would be to use both the Greek and Norse pantheons together. Maybe with most having friendly rivalries, and perhaps the villains hating each other, but teaming up a anyway just to stick it to the good guys :D Loki and Hades (mostly their minions :D ) versus the player team would be awesome.


Well, I would presume that'd be the point, of course.

BTW, sigmund, you might be in for a little surprise...

RPGPundit
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: RPGPundit on December 28, 2012, 11:14:18 AM
I've updated my blog with the latest questions. Please keep the questions coming!

RPGPundit
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: Sigmund on January 01, 2013, 06:53:24 PM
Quote from: RPGPundit;611342
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 :D 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.
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: RPGPundit on January 02, 2013, 12:55:41 AM
Quote from: Sigmund;613591
Received the color version for Christmas, and I couldn't agree more. It's damn sexy :D 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
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: Kuroth on January 17, 2013, 10:36:03 AM
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.
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: RPGPundit on January 18, 2013, 12:15:42 AM
Quote from: Kuroth;619075
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
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: Kuroth on January 18, 2013, 10:48:31 AM
Quote from: RPGPundit;619418
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.
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: RPGPundit on January 18, 2013, 03:31:00 PM
Yup. I'm very pleased with the book's production level.

RPGPundit
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: RPGPundit on January 19, 2013, 01:44:09 PM
I posted the Q&A update on my blog, such as it was...

RPGPundit
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: RPGPundit on March 22, 2013, 03:44:49 AM
This is an update to remind people that we're still accepting questions!

RPGPundit
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: RPGPundit on March 29, 2013, 01:11:50 AM
I'm stickying this; any questions about the game can be asked here.

RPGPundit
Title: About Magic
Post by: Evermasterx on October 11, 2013, 11:36:53 AM
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!
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: Evermasterx on October 15, 2013, 12:20:33 PM
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?
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: RPGPundit on October 15, 2013, 07:06:03 PM
Quote from: Evermasterx;698460
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.
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: RPGPundit on October 15, 2013, 07:14:25 PM
Quote from: Evermasterx;699653
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
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: Evermasterx on October 16, 2013, 01:24:43 AM
Thank you RPGpundit, it's great to have the author clarifying his intentions. Now I understand the spirit of both rules better.
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: RPGPundit on October 17, 2013, 05:29:18 PM
Quote from: Evermasterx;699951
Thank you RPGpundit, it's great to have the author clarifying his intentions. Now I understand the spirit of both rules better.


You're very welcome! That's what the Q&A is for.
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: Evermasterx on January 24, 2014, 04:05:54 AM
Dear RPGPundit,
in the description of Scrying you wrote:
"This power allows a character to see glimpses of unknown, distant places or the hidden fabric of the universe that reveals secrets about the present, past, or future."
It's seems from what follows in the book that one can only scry the present and the future (divination). Can you say more about scrying the past?
Or do you mean that you can discover something about the past only through what remains of it in the present?
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: RPGPundit on January 26, 2014, 04:07:31 PM
Quote from: Evermasterx;726062
Dear RPGPundit,
in the description of Scrying you wrote:
"This power allows a character to see glimpses of unknown, distant places or the hidden fabric of the universe that reveals secrets about the present, past, or future."
It's seems from what follows in the book that one can only scry the present and the future (divination). Can you say more about scrying the past?
Or do you mean that you can discover something about the past only through what remains of it in the present?


A: Wow, thank you for pointing this out! I think maybe its one of the most glaring problems someone has detected yet.
The fact is, somehow this escaped me.  It had been my intention, originally, to include details on how scrying could express details about the past. Obviously, somewhere in between the planning stages and the execution, I plumb forgot.  That's all on me.

So let's look at how, within the context of the system as it is, someone with Scrying to could use it to get glimpses of the past.

Scrying Places, people, and things: Scrying can be used to observe the Present moment in distant places.  I think it would also make a lot of sense that Scrying could be used to obtain glimpses of the past of places, people, and things.  However, the big limitation I would put on this is that unlike scrying the present, in order to make enough of a psychic link to be able to observe the past, the Scryer must actually be physically present at the place in question, or have the person or thing in physical contact with them.  So you can get a vision of a subject's past through that connection at the same level (based on Ego Class) as you would scrying the future.  
So again, someone with Olympian Class or higher Ego  will be able to get a clear and detailed vision; though of course it is entirely possible that the particular context of the vision may not be immediately clear.

I would suggest as a guideline to GMs that they should try to consider whatever is the most significant event, which left the most intense impact, on the past of the person, place or thing in question.  Thus, this may or may not be useful; it may not be directly relevant to what the PC wishes to know about; on the other hand, it may provide the PC with some kind of important information that they hadn't expected, perhaps on a subject that might be of some use in any case, or in the future.

RPGPundit
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: Evermasterx on January 27, 2014, 01:34:21 AM
Thanks! I like this solution, because the constrains of physical presence and major event limit this power adequately.
In other games (i.e. Artesia RPG) this power can be a problem for the GM.
I'm starting my first LoL campaign, so if I find more material to adjust for the second edition, I'll let you know! :)
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: RPGPundit on January 29, 2014, 04:21:08 AM
Quote from: Evermasterx;726865
Thanks! I like this solution, because the constrains of physical presence and major event limit this power adequately.
In other games (i.e. Artesia RPG) this power can be a problem for the GM.
I'm starting my first LoL campaign, so if I find more material to adjust for the second edition, I'll let you know! :)


Please let us know how your game goes, in general.
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: Evermasterx on January 29, 2014, 05:20:10 AM
For now I can say that the place is London, 1938.

The three players are:
* a Baron, member of the House of Lords and owner of a whisky distillery, male.
* a jazz singer, working in a club at night, female.
* a Scotland Yard detective, female.

A secret is preserved in those families, of powers not to be shown.
 
Incipit Tragoedia...
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: RPGPundit on January 29, 2014, 08:05:47 PM
Quote from: Evermasterx;727813
For now I can say that the place is London, 1938.

The three players are:
* a Baron, member of the House of Lords and owner of a whisky distillery, male.
* a jazz singer, working in a club at night, female.
* a Scotland Yard detective, female.

A secret is preserved in those families, of powers not to be shown.
 
Incipit Tragoedia...


Sounds like an awesome approach!
Title: Glamour Wards
Post by: Evermasterx on March 03, 2014, 11:28:51 AM
I need some clarification: the duration of the ward is the duration of the illusion once triggered or the duration of the ward itself as a waiting spell?
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: RPGPundit on March 07, 2014, 09:02:10 PM
Quote from: Evermasterx;734259
I need some clarification: the duration of the ward is the duration of the illusion once triggered or the duration of the ward itself as a waiting spell?


Answer:  Its for how long the illusion will last.  The ward will stay in place awaiting its trigger, for however long it takes, and then activate and be spent when the duration is done after activation.  Barring any outside interference (the alteration of that universe's magical laws, some greater power annulling the ward, etc.) the ward can last indefinitely if it is not triggered.
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: xiombarg on May 01, 2014, 02:47:54 AM
So, I'm pretty impressed with LoO. I particularly like that it has a lot more hard detail on the powers and their interaction with different attribute levels, unlike, say, the original Amber Diceless RPG. Also, the Momus entry is hilarious.  ;)

My question is a bit more trivial, however. How are language barriers supposed to be handled?

In Lords of Gossamer and Shadow, being a Warden gives you a translation ability. In Amber, it's clear that language barriers exist, but fast-time Shadows make it easy to nip off and learn a language, not to mention the strong implication that a lot of languages are just a variant of Thari. It doesn't seem quite that easy in LoO.

 I ask this in part because I'm considering a campaign where all the PCs start on Modern Earth, not knowing their heritage.  Chances are that not all of them will know Greek, which obviously is the language their god-parents would prefer. Or should I simply assume the gods know all mortal languages, even if the PCs don't?
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: brettmb on May 01, 2014, 03:20:01 AM
I'll wait for Pundit's official answer, but I assume that the character's Ego can be used to determine this. A high Ego means that thoughts can be read with full understanding. Likewise, high Ego is likely to understand all languages, while lower classes may know only a few, probably common ones.
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: RPGPundit on May 05, 2014, 03:51:25 AM
Quote from: xiombarg;746123
So, I'm pretty impressed with LoO. I particularly like that it has a lot more hard detail on the powers and their interaction with different attribute levels, unlike, say, the original Amber Diceless RPG. Also, the Momus entry is hilarious.  ;)

My question is a bit more trivial, however. How are language barriers supposed to be handled?

In Lords of Gossamer and Shadow, being a Warden gives you a translation ability. In Amber, it's clear that language barriers exist, but fast-time Shadows make it easy to nip off and learn a language, not to mention the strong implication that a lot of languages are just a variant of Thari. It doesn't seem quite that easy in LoO.

 I ask this in part because I'm considering a campaign where all the PCs start on Modern Earth, not knowing their heritage.  Chances are that not all of them will know Greek, which obviously is the language their god-parents would prefer. Or should I simply assume the gods know all mortal languages, even if the PCs don't?


Welcome to theRPGsite! I hope you'll post more about LoO as you go along, and about other RPGs for that matter.

A:  I think this is the kind of thing you can handle in different ways in different campaigns.  Some GMs might want to save themselves the trouble and just make all languages understandable quickly. For others, of course, this might seem too cheap and easy.

I think a key to this answer is Ego Class, and mental power.  If your character has a decent Ego level, he should be able to learn the native language quite easily using a mental contact with a local. This could obviously also be done by something like Scrying, and possibly even Advanced Metamorphosis.  Of course, there's also the old fashioned possibility of taking time to learn; since most characters have Immortality, but in some campaigns that may not be an option.

Also, for something like this do not underestimate the potential of "local powers" in a World.  The local magic would in some worlds allow a character to learn a language.  In some advanced worlds, technology might do the same.

Finally, there's some of the more hardcore options: you can always dedicate points to control a realm, or to get a daemon that has a power to comprehend languages (or in theory an artefact of some other kind).  And of course, if you have Advanced Primordial Magic, you could always just change all the rules so that everyone is speaking what you speak.  You'll never have to read a language book again.
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: Evermasterx on April 17, 2015, 08:21:19 AM
Quote from: RPGPundit;728011
Sounds like an awesome approach!
My LoO campaign is going on very well.
Now I have 5 player (before they were 3). And 3 of them are females. In Italy this hobby is not an exclusively male thing.

The 3 original players eventually arrived on classic Earth, Olympia, the day before the beginning of the 66th Olympic Games.
The male player, Patroklos, decided to take part in the games, in wrestling as a starter. One of the new players impersonated Milo of Croton, a real ancient athlete (look for him on Wikipedia). The other girl impersonated an Olympian inhabitant.
During the games, an ancient spaceship buried under the Temple of Hera, released 5 terrible monsters on Olympia and our heroes defeated them.
A 6th monster emerged (awakened by Apollo), and they couldn't defeat him, but luckily he was a bounty hunter, retrieving the heads of the killed monsters to collect the reward after leaving the earth with his spaceship.

Olympia's people, saved from destruction, praised the heros and offered the throne to Milo and Patroklos: the two Kings of Olympia. A lot of problems with the senate coming...
Sorry for the female characters, but in classical Greece, power was often reserved to men. And this injustice is a reason of friction between the players and their characters (and it's alright!).

Then they discovered they are progeny of Apollo (or at least that is what Febo said to them...). Unfortunately, Milo killed a Hera's worshipper next to her temple...
So, when Apollo said that Hera was coming to Olympia for revenge, you shoud have seen the face of Milo's player! Priceless moment!
Apollo succedeed into commuting a death penalty in a quest decided by an angry Hera. And she ruled, and Zeus approved, that the players must retrieve the dreaded Black Goblet of Oblivion, located somewhere in Erebus. Oh my Gods!

Now something about the system.
The new female player has no experience about tabletop rpg. None. Nada. Niente. But she identified easily herself with her character, named Xenia, and because the rules are so light, in a couple of session she was in.

As I experienced before with Amber, after a while nobody looks at his/her character sheet, and act thinking about the story 99% of the times.

We have a private mediawiki site where we share images, rules ad characters' logs (only two of them keep a diary).
We have a blog where I post a fast summary of the last session and where they comment, often with challenging tones and rivalry, as it should be.
And finally we have a WhatsApp group named Lords of Olympus to keep in touch between two sessions.

You should be proud, RPGPundit.
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: RPGPundit on April 18, 2015, 01:04:55 AM
Thank you! Your campaign sounds fucking awesome!


With regard to 'female players', I have always had women in my games (at least, very very regularly over the past 20 years or so, and pretty much constantly in the last 12).  But Amber was always a game where I tended to have far more than usual.  The last demo game of LoO I ran had more women than men in it.

I think that here in Uruguay there's probably proportionately quite a few more women gamers than there are in other countries too; North America is probably where there are the least, proportionately speaking, for historical reasons; not so much, I think, because women were intentionally 'excluded' from the hobby but rather because sometime after the mid-80s RPGs started being thought of as a very "Nerdy" thing to do, and for a long time "nerdy" was thought of as being more for boys than for girls.  Even though now geek culture has gone mainstream, it's still overcoming that prejudice, a prejudice that was as much due to girls and women self-excluding from something they didn't think of as 'for them' as it was from any 'no girls allowed' mentality on the part of guys (though some of that certainly existed too).

For example, when I was a teenage gamer, my two sisters (both slightly younger than me) would never have been caught dead playing RPGs because it was a 'nerd' thing.  Now, one of them has a teenage daughter, and to my surprise only a couple of weeks ago I found her writing about D&D on her facebook.  She was pretty damn surprised to find out her uncle's degree of involvement in the hobby.

Come to think of it, I should see if Brett would be willing to send her a copy of LoO...
Title: Dark Albion
Post by: Evermasterx on August 13, 2015, 06:37:57 AM
A question from here, Arcadia, sorry, Rome:
what about using Dark Albion for a LoO campaign in an alternate earth?
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: RPGPundit on August 14, 2015, 01:11:47 AM
Quote from: Evermasterx;848506
A question from here, Arcadia, sorry, Rome:
what about using Dark Albion for a LoO campaign in an alternate earth?


I would think that would be pretty easy to do, and pretty fucking awesome.
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: Evermasterx on August 14, 2015, 06:27:42 AM
Dark Albion could be a personal realm of Helios, Sol Invictus.
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: RPGPundit on August 14, 2015, 10:57:17 PM
Quote from: Evermasterx;848773
Dark Albion could be a personal realm of Helios, Sol Invictus.


Yes, it definitely could be.  It could also be a realm that is being contested/corrupted by the Erisians if you're making them out to be the bad guys in a campaign.
Title: Trumps?
Post by: motherlessgoose on October 27, 2015, 10:00:51 AM
I haven't ever played the original Amber Diceless game, unfortunately.  But I've read the novels.  In the novels, there are Trumps that allow the characters to travel to each other and also communicate.  I see that Scrying takes care of communication in LoO, but is there a power (that I do not see) that allows instantaneous travel to another character?  Is that something that should be done with a magical artifact?
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: Evermasterx on October 28, 2015, 04:51:52 AM
Quote from: motherlessgoose;862019
I haven't ever played the original Amber Diceless game, unfortunately.  But I've read the novels.  In the novels, there are Trumps that allow the characters to travel to each other and also communicate.  I see that Scrying takes care of communication in LoO, but is there a power (that I do not see) that allows instantaneous travel to another character?  Is that something that should be done with a magical artifact?
It can be done with Advanced Scrying - Scrying Gate. But it is slow (hours) and tiring.
Title: Scrying
Post by: motherlessgoose on October 28, 2015, 02:03:32 PM
OK, I see.  You first need to scry the person.  From that you will see the person's location and then be able to open a gate.
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: RPGPundit on October 31, 2015, 03:09:12 AM
Quote from: motherlessgoose;862159
OK, I see.  You first need to scry the person.  From that you will see the person's location and then be able to open a gate.


Hi and welcome to theRPGsite!

Sorry for the delay in answering, too.

Evermaster already answered the question correctly, but I thought you might appreciate some additional information regarding choices.  In LoO, there are obviously powers that equate to powers from Amber, but ALL of them (all the major ones, anyways) are set up to be a little slower and a little harder to use on the fly than their equivalents.

This was on purpose, because I had often found players in my Amber campaigns trying to use powers for combat purposes, in ways that were not strictly contrary to rules-as-written but that didn't seem to me to fit the intent.  In any case, I decided to make the capabilities and limitations of the powers a little clearer, and to tone down the potential range of the powers by making it take more time and effort to use powers.

Powers can STILL be used in combat situations, but normally not 'off the fly'; they require that you be prepared for the conflict beforehand.
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: Croaker on November 04, 2015, 04:39:03 PM
Quote from: RPGPundit;862520
Powers can STILL be used in combat situations, but normally not 'off the fly'; they require that you be prepared for the conflict beforehand.

It's been a long time since I've read LoO, so maybe I don't remember how this works, but if you have the time to expand a little on this and give an example, I'd like it very much.
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: RPGPundit on November 08, 2015, 01:35:00 AM
Quote from: Croaker;863068
It's been a long time since I've read LoO, so maybe I don't remember how this works, but if you have the time to expand a little on this and give an example, I'd like it very much.


Well, the most obvious is the difference between Pattern and Olympian Magic when it comes to affecting probability.  Since the Amber rulebook is a bit hazy on things like how long it takes or how much effort it requires, there's always some asshole who has a really high Endurance and/or Psyche rank that tries to use pattern in mid-swordfight to have his opponent get struck by lightning.

In LoO, the time requirements and attribute requirements are much more clearly laid out: so for example, it states clearly that you need a certain class of Ego to be able to do things that aren't merely within the realm of the possible, but actually highly improbable.  If you don't have at least a numbered Ego rank, you're not going to be able to have someone get struck by lightning.  And the time requirements are expressed in terms of probability as well, where even the most basic effect takes "a couple of minutes" of concentration for someone with a high Ego (five minutes or more for someone lower-classed than that), while doing something really improbable (like the lightning strike) requires a high Ego rank and as long as a half-hour.  No spontaneous lightning-strikes in mid-melee, but if you can watch someone from a distance and have the time (and class rank) to do it, you might be able to do a lightning strike as a sneak attack.
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: Croaker on November 09, 2015, 04:10:31 PM
Yes... So more like sneaking nears someone and taking the time to affect probability than... I dunno, taking the time before jumping to a place so as to release an effect there.

I'm a little torn. I feel that the lack of "quick" actions was one of the things what made sorcery so attractive compared to the greater powers, and that the inability to use them in combat worked against them. OTOH, I totally agree about lightning strikes. Sigh........
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: RPGPundit on November 10, 2015, 05:19:40 AM
Quote from: Croaker;863683
Yes... So more like sneaking nears someone and taking the time to affect probability than... I dunno, taking the time before jumping to a place so as to release an effect there.

I'm a little torn. I feel that the lack of "quick" actions was one of the things what made sorcery so attractive compared to the greater powers, and that the inability to use them in combat worked against them. OTOH, I totally agree about lightning strikes. Sigh........


Well, my experience is that in action, the way powers are set up in LoO make them much more of a thinking man's game, which is sort of what you imagine a power-based character ought to be.
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: Croaker on November 15, 2015, 04:42:05 PM
Hum...

IMO, yes and no.
I think sorcery may be, in a way, a relatively good example of this: You gotta prepare ahead of time, and chose what asset you'll unveil at the right moment, offensively or not.

Not being able to do this kind of things with the greater powers is, I think, one of the reasons Sorcery is so popular: It allows you to plan some flexibility should you need it, which you can't do with the greater powers.

I like planning and time being better than the rest, but I don't like having all the greater powers be all but useless should you need something quickly. Even a barely adequate answer is better than no answer at all.
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: TrippyHippy on November 16, 2015, 01:05:47 AM
So, I picked up Lords of Olympus. Cursory thoughts are:

1) It's really good.
2) The traditional Amber stats have been changed.

So, what was the reasoning behind that? (Number 2, not Number 1).
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: brettmb on November 18, 2015, 07:33:02 PM
Sorry for the delay in responding. Since an open supplement license was planned from the beginning, it seemed like a good idea to change the terminology to better reflect the stats and differentiate the game from Amber.
Title: Questions about the mental link
Post by: Evermasterx on November 30, 2015, 02:34:27 PM
Dear RPGPundit,
I need some clarification about how to establish a mental link.
Scattered in the book there are pieces of information that, in my opinion, do not look coherent.

It's understood that via eye contact or physical touch a link can be established: this is clear.

But in Enchantment you write about the ritual of mental contact with some words to be spoken: is this a ritual specific to Enchantment?

In Advanced Scrying you say (Block Scrying) that if a person as an Ego lower than the Scryer, he is not even aware of the link. Is this true only in this case? Because I've found no evidence of this in other parts.

Under Ego Conflict you say that a mental link can be established through powers, but the only power that seems to allow this is Scrying: or do you mean that Enchantment can do it too via this ritual of mental contact?

I'm confused.

Thanks for your clarifications!
Title: The NEW Lords of Olympus Q&A Thread!
Post by: RPGPundit on December 02, 2015, 09:27:59 PM
Quote from: Evermasterx;866411
Dear RPGPundit,
I need some clarification about how to establish a mental link.
Scattered in the book there are pieces of information that, in my opinion, do not look coherent.

It's understood that via eye contact or physical touch a link can be established: this is clear.

But in Enchantment you write about the ritual of mental contact with some words to be spoken: is this a ritual specific to Enchantment?


Yes. If you have Enchantment, you can make mental contact with someone without having to either touch them or have direct eye-to-eye contact. It's a special feature of having Enchantment.

Quote

In Advanced Scrying you say (Block Scrying) that if a person as an Ego lower than the Scryer, he is not even aware of the link. Is this true only in this case? Because I've found no evidence of this in other parts.


Yes. It is only true in this case. It's a characteristic of this specific trick in Advanced Scrying.

Quote
Under Ego Conflict you say that a mental link can be established through powers, but the only power that seems to allow this is Scrying: or do you mean that Enchantment can do it too via this ritual of mental contact?


Yes, exactly. In theory, there could be other powers or items that could establish mental contacts too, but those are the ones in the game.