Lords of Olympus Q&A Part III
Continuing our Friday series, where I answer questions from this thread on theRPGsite regarding my plans for the Lords of Olympus RPG.
Q: I am big fan of Greek Mythos RPGs, but I am still waiting for a game that uses dice. And I am far from alone. Why should we unwashed hordes consider looking at Lord of Olympus?
A: Well, let me be frank about one thing: when it comes down to it, there are some people that just don't like diceless games.
There are some that THINK they can't possibly like diceless, even though they've never actually tried; they can't imagine that the game would be satisfying without those little polyhedrals to chuck around. These people, if they gave Lords of Olympus a chance, might change their mind.
There are some who say they don't like diceless, but their real problem is that they never played a GOOD diceless game. I would hate diceless games too if my entire experience of them was with Nobilis, for example. In your case, you mentioned to me that you played Erick Wujcik's Amber Diceless, so clearly you are not one of the people who fall into this category.
Finally, there going to be some people for whom diceless play just didn't convince them. You mentioned in your post that you "wondered why we weren't just LARPing".
What strikes me about that statement is that you may be feeling like diceless games are too freeform. Lords of Olympus certainly won't be GURPS; and its purpose is still to have a game where from the point of view of the player, it all but is a LARP in the sense that they do not need to keep track of points and numbers or resources, they just have to know what their character is good at and bad at, and what they can do in a general sense.
So if you are a player who really loves doing lots of mechanical things with the system itself, Lords of Olympus may not end up being for you.
On the other hand, some people had issues with a game like Amber, for example, in that it seemed like there was far too little definition in the rules, too few structures of how to arbitrate things, and this seemed to leave everything up to the GM.
If that is your issue, Lords of Olympus may be, for you, an improvement over that kind of design, since I've gone to some lengths to try to create more structure in how things like Powers are managed, giving specific rules for just how much Ego is necessary to make certain effects, and how much Fortitude is needed to keep going with powers. In combat too, I am more explicit than in certain other games, when it comes to how to judge in the comparison of ability scores and how certain environmental influences should affect modify ability Classes.
So yes, a little more structure than previous successful Diceless games; which might be enough to move you and others to check it out; but I also don't want to be deceptive and pretend that its something other than what it is.
There is one final point here: you say you love Greek Myth; well, I think that honestly this is going to be the most complete treatment that the Greek pantheon and mythology has ever received in an RPG to date. So maybe that too will overcome your other doubts.
Q: Greek Mythology has a lot of characters. Roughly how many characters do you plan to write up for Lords of Olympus?
A: Here's the list of all the actual deities that will get a full entry in the book (in cases where they're mentioned as a group, ie. "the muses", that means they're treated as a group within a single entry):
Khaos, Phanes, Erebus, Tartarus, Nyx, Aethyr, Hemera, Momus, Nemesis, Eris, Moros, Thanatos, Hypnos, Morpheus, Phobetor, Phantasos, Uranus, Aphrodite, Eros, Harmonia, Gaia, the Cyclopes, the Hecatoncheires, Typhon and Echidna, The Furies, Pontus, Eurybia, Nereus, Amphitrite, Thaumas, Iris, Mnemosyne, the Muses, Coeus, Phoebe, Asteria, Hecate, Leto, Apollo, Asclepius, Artemis, Crius, Pallas, Perses, Themis, The Fates, Thea, Eos, Helios, Selene, Japet, Tethys, Tyche, Metis, Athena, Clymene, Atlas, Prometheus, Epimethus, Menoetius, Phaeton, Styx, Nike, Kratos, Zelus, Bia, Oceanus, Rhea, Cronus, Zeus, Dionysius, Hermes, Pan, Heracles, the Graces, Hera, Hephaestus, Ares, Phobos, Deimos, Eileithya, Hebe, Pasithea, Hestia, Poseidon, Hades, Demeter, Persephone.
Apart from these, several of the lesser gods and demi-gods are detailed in specific entries (for example, the Hesperides, Hyades, Pleiades, Hyas, and Calypso will all be covered in the entry on their father Atlas). There will also be entries on a variety of non-divine monsters that are well known in Greek Mythology (centaurs, nymphs, fauns, sirens, giant creatures; and specific creatures like Ladon, Scylla, Charybdis, the Kaukasian Eagle, etc).
I hope that's a good number for you...
Q: Gods often have specialties (Music, Wine, Fertility, Metalworking, Marriage, etc). How do you plan to handle this in the game?
A: There are a set of optional rules for having a "divine theme". I was uncertain how would be the best way to handle this, so I ended up creating three different optional rules for how to handle these themes; one where the theme is just window-dressing, one where the theme you choose makes a slight difference in terms of your handling that theme, and one where its a major defining element of your character. All three are presented equally as optional rules for the game.
Q: Do worshipers matter in Lords of Olympus? If so how do you plan to handle them in the game?
A: Worshipers do not matter in terms of game mechanics, no.
Q: Can characters with the Immortality power die?
A: Yes; they can die by extreme violence, just as some gods did. Its just very difficult, between Immortality, the natural regeneration that high Class in Fortitude confers, etc. Someone has to really want you to die for you to die in the game.
Q:How powerful do you plan on making the Main Olympians gods relative to the power level of starting player characters?
A: Its my intention that the PCs start out as fairly powerful, comparable to the other "children of" Gods. They will start out less powerful than some young but famous gods like Heracles, and significantly less powerful than the major players of the universe like Zeus, Poseidon or Hades. These special NPCs are going to have "Above 1st Class" abilities; but in general the PCs will be very competent.
Please keep posting the questions in our Q&A thread, and I'll keep answering them every Friday!
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