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MYTHIC HERO: What Do *You* Want To See?


Steve Long

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Re: MYTHIC HERO: What Do *You* Want To See?

 

OK, I'll give you that, LL. I don't have to do anything along those lines. In fact, I can use existing mythological characters -- Tezcatlipoca, Baykok, et al. -- as an example of adapting a given concept to a given setting ("Here's one version of this guy, showing how he's represented in the Champions Universe").

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Re: MYTHIC HERO: What Do *You* Want To See?

 

Fair enough. But IMO that's different from fitting a major character from another source into an existing mythology' date=' and inventing details which had no precedent to fill spaces where the myths are silent, as I did.[/quote']

I apologize if I have misrepresented the "Valley of Night" material, that wasn't my intention, so I edited my above post.

 

When I mentioned mythological reference links I was specifically thinking of post #15 and just assumed people reading the thread would get the distinction and notice the links in this section:

This section of the grand online Encyclopedia Mythica deals with the somewhat sketchy subject of Inca mythology. It's also a good source of potential names for Valley NPCs: http://www.pantheon.org/areas/mythology/americas/inca/

 

These Wikipedia entries are good for giving you a sense of the impressive architecture and other constructions of the Incas, as well as links to more about their history and culture, if desired:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incan_architecture

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacsayhuaman

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machu_Picchu

 

These National Geographic photos include some more distinctive Inca constructions, as well as glimpses of the typical garb of Andean natives (I know that published issues of NG contain a lot more shots of the descendants of the Incas): http://www3.nationalgeographic.com/places/gallery/peru_mountain-machu-picchu.html?source=G1619&kwid=peru|821585245

Again, sorry if I misrepresented the material. :o

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  • 1 month later...

Re: MYTHIC HERO: What Do *You* Want To See?

 

If you're interested in learning more about my current thoughts for Mythic Hero, check out my latest blog entry:

 

Thinking About MYTHIC HERO

 

A lot of what you read there will already be familiar to those of you who follow this thread, but there is an updated list of mythoi and some other enjoyable tidbits. ;)

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Re: MYTHIC HERO: What Do *You* Want To See?

 

Mythic Hero sounds awesome. I'm a little curious about the name of the product, though. When I read it I think "genre book for playing in mythological settings," but the description seems to lean toward a compendium of mythic gods and beings instead...

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Re: MYTHIC HERO: What Do *You* Want To See?

 

I'm a little curious about the name of the product, though. When I read it I think "genre book for playing in mythological settings," but the description seems to lean toward a compendium of mythic gods and beings instea

 

Think of it more along the lines of "HERO System Grimoire" or "HERO System Bestiary." It's just that "HERO System Gods" sounds awful. Mythic Hero is a much better title even if it breaks the pattern a bit. ;)

 

 

 

 

P.S.: If there was a book called "HERO System Gods," it would basically be a book of one-page profiles of a lot of you guys, showcasing your HERO System design skills. :hex:

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Re: MYTHIC HERO: What Do *You* Want To See?

 

Steve,

 

I see what your intent for this books is, but is there any chance that this book (or maybe in a possible future Legendary Hero that you had discussed earlier) that you could have 5-10pgs that would give advice/rules for progressing an adventuring party through the levels of Legendary Hero, Demigod, to full god?

 

Similar to the intent/purpose White Wolfs SCION system (though in a much more abbreviated way of course.)

 

It would mainly be guidelines that for example might discuss what would distinguish a Cosmic Level Super from a Demigod, I presume it's not just raw point scores.

 

TB

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Re: MYTHIC HERO: What Do *You* Want To See?

 

I see what your intent for this books is, but is there any chance that this book (or maybe in a possible future Legendary Hero that you had discussed earlier) that you could have 5-10pgs that would give advice/rules for progressing an adventuring party through the levels of Legendary Hero, Demigod, to full god?

 

Similar to the intent/purpose White Wolfs SCION system (though in a much more abbreviated way of course.)

 

It would mainly be guidelines that for example might discuss what would distinguish a Cosmic Level Super from a Demigod, I presume it's not just raw point scores.

 

 

Well, it's possible, certainly, if I think I have anything useful to say along those lines. It's a question not just of that, but of time, the size of the book, and other factors as well.

 

Still, one benefit of not only this thread, but trying to fund MH via a Kickstarter, is that it provides the opportunity for fans and backers to make suggestions about what they'd like to see in the book. If enough people are interested in this sort of thing, and willing to express that interest with pledges, I will certainly listen carefully. ;)

 

And there's always the possibility of some sort of companion volume. If MH itself reaches a size where adding more material like this (or "how to design your own pantheon," or what have you) isn't feasible, maybe I could Kickstarter another small, inexpensive book to cover this. Or if the MH Kickstarter exceeds its initial goal early, maybe I could offer to do a mini-companion volume as a bonus for all backers if a larger secondary goal is reached!

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Re: MYTHIC HERO: What Do *You* Want To See?

 

This may have been mentioned, but how about a section on building god/demigod characters for NPC deities in a game world and even as PCs (such as in a Champions setting).

What makes a god a god? Do they have a similar source of power? Options for that in a game world? Package deals? Etc.

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Re: MYTHIC HERO: What Do *You* Want To See?

 

Well, it seems like you'd have to at least touch on how the whole cleric/deity interaction thingy works--what benefits do gods derive from worship? How do the clerics/priests/holy warriors etc. get empowered by their deities?

Another thing...if a deity is the "Supreme Ruler of the Pantheon/Heavens" and the setting is fantasy, should their abilities be tweaked to reflect their relative omnipotence? If it's a superhero setting, does their power get tweaked down a bit? Or up? Perhaps some brief notes on "adjusting" writeups might be appropriate?

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  • 3 weeks later...

Re: MYTHIC HERO: What Do *You* Want To See?

 

I would like to suggest inclusion of Persian mythology. The gods of the Aryan peoples of the Iranian Plateau were diverse and, although they share a few common elements with the ethnically-related peoples of the northern Indian subcontinent, and influences from the nearby Mesopotamian civilizations, developed a unique philosophy and cosmology under the influence of Zoroastrianism, which influenced many neighboring cultures. And it's a subject that's rarely been dealt with for gaming, or any other Western popular culture media.

 

I'm afraid I haven't been able to find a really accessible hardcopy source for Persian mythology, but I can offer a couple of good online sources as a starting point to research. The first is a solid general introduction to the subject, with many specific references, by Albert J. Carnoy: http://rbedrosian.com/Carnoy.html . The whole article is downloadable as a .zip file.

 

The classic work of Persian folklore is the epic tenth-century poem Shahnameh ("epic of kings") by Ferdowsi. Its focus is much more a chronology of the deeds of legendary kings and heroes, than of the gods themselves. This translation by Helen Zimmern is favorably referred to by several sources: http://enel.ucalgary.ca/People/far/hobbies/iran/shahnameh.html .

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Re: MYTHIC HERO: What Do *You* Want To See?

 

LL -- I've been considering Persian mythology, which I have some sources on. It's certainly a possible addition to the book, though it can be a pretty large and complex subject, so I'm concerned about the research burden. OTOH I've already done Armenian mythology, which has some similarities, so maybe that'd give me a good head start. ;)

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Re: MYTHIC HERO: What Do *You* Want To See?

 

JmOz -- I actually have some other goodies in mind as potential secondary goal rewards. :eg: I want all the mythologies in one place, though, for the reader's/user's ease of reference.

 

Hopefully my planned primary goal will be reached quickly so I can implement the secondary goals in short order. ;)

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Re: MYTHIC HERO: What Do *You* Want To See?

 

Well, if it's going to be "all in one place, for ease of reference", then the upper limit is probably similar to Hero System Bestiary, which clocked in at 498 pages. OTOH, FRED clocked in at 592, IIRC. ;)

 

(a 600 page RPG reference on deities would clearly be the best evar!)

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Re: MYTHIC HERO: What Do *You* Want To See?

 

Well, if it's going to be "all in one place, for ease of reference", then the upper limit is probably similar to Hero System Bestiary, which clocked in at 498 pages.

 

AAMOF, when trying to get estimates on postage and suchlike, I used the HSB as my "test case." I don't necessarily think MH would be that big, but it never hurts to plan conservatively.

 

 

(a 600 page RPG reference on deities would clearly be the best evar!)

 

If I were going to go that far, I think the ideal would be to make it exactly 666 pages. :eg:

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Re: MYTHIC HERO: What Do *You* Want To See?

 

intp -- yes and no.

 

Yes, in that I am still intensely interested in writing the book. In fact, I'm so interested that I continue to work on it in my "copious spare time." Since my Kickstarter failed I've finished the Assyro-Babylonian and Finnish mythologies chapters, and am currently working on the Aztec mythology chapter. If I can find a reasonable way to produce and publish the book, I would gladly do so.

 

No, in that unless and until I'm convinced I have a strong chance of success I'm not going to bother spending my time and effort on another Kickstarter (or what have you). The gaming public spoke pretty clearly seven months ago and said they didn't want what I was offering. I haven't really seen anything that convinces me that situation has changed. A lot of game designers are raking in tremendous amounts of money with their RPG Kickstarters, but I have no reason to believe at this point that I could earn any more money with a new KS than I did with the first one. There are simply too few HERO System fans (combined with however many "mythology for gaming fans" I can scare up) to fund a major project of this sort, unfortunately.

 

Nevertheless, I definitely appreciate your interest, and that of the other folx who ask me about MH from time to time (or respond to my "update" posts about it on my Facebook feed). It's always good to know when one of my ideas strikes a chord with a fellow gamer. :)

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