Homeric Hero

[Vestnik]

I've been reading Dan Simmons' Trojen-War-based sci fi opus Olympus, which inspired me to go back and look at the Iliad. It occurs to me that that a generally Homeric setting could make for a great game -- very larger than life characters, levels of violence that are off the scale, gods intervening in daily life at the drop of a hat, and other such good stuff. Has anyone ever done something like this?

 

Achilles has GOT to be built on at least 600 points.

 

Christopher, Son of Robert, Fleet-Footed Mankiller

[Markdoc]

Re: Homeric Hero

 

I don't know about the Dan Simmons series, but there's no particular reason that the mythical Achilles should be built on a huge number of points.

 

He has mad l33t fighting skillz - but depending on where you set your baseline for a normal warrior, that doesn't require a huge number of points (especially when you consider that his opponents were often fighting naked. Doesn't take a huge attack to kill a guy whose 13's are hanging out in the open for all to see...)

 

He has invulnerability with one weak spot - but the fact that he actually had to fight at all, and that he wore armour, suggests that we're talking "really tough" rather than superman-style "bounces attacks off his chest". Basically we are talking about a high level form of combat luck, by the sound of it.

 

He has his mom as a valuable contact.

 

And .... well, that's basically it. He was tutored by Chiron, so it's possible he knew some cool stuff and he had neato armour made by Hephaistos, but it doesn't seem to have done anything spectacular by itself - it was given to somebody else after he died and they promptly disappeared into obscurity.

 

But you're right - it would make a great setting for a game.

 

cheers, Mark

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Homeric Hero

 

There have of course been a number of RPGs set in the Greece of the "Homeric" era, but if we're talking HERO System specifically, Mythic Greece: The Age of Heroes by Aaron Allston is the one to get, and one of the best treatments of the subject ever IMHO. It's set a generation before the Trojan War, and details the world as the Greek myths described it, with Hellas being at the center, but also incorporates the real historical states surrounding it in that era. It goes into quite a bit of detail on the culture and practices of the Achaean Greeks, and writes up numerous gods and heroes of myth. It would be easy to use that book as the basis for the actual Trojan War.

 

Mythic Greece was written for the Rolemaster and Fantasy HERO systems, but that's the first edition of FH, predating 4E HERO System. It's different in many ways from the current incarnation of HERO. Aaron Allston did create a 4E update for much of the material from that book, which is freely available on the Internet - I could point you to that if you'd be interested. Unfortunately MG has been out of print nearly 20 years, so it can be difficult to find nowadays, but again, I could suggest places to look for it.

 

Now, on the more recent front, Digital Hero #31 includes an article, "Mythic Hero," with writeups for both Achilles and Hercules. Each is given two versions, one "low end" for more heroic games, the other "high end" for superheroic ones. The high end Achilles is provided as a free sample, which you can read here, and he is indeed a combat monster.

[Vestnik]

Re: Homeric Hero

 

Well, the Fleet-Footed Mankiller (sure wish I could get people to call me that , nicknames are soooo boring nowadays) is daughter of Thetis, so he's a demi-god. Stats would probably all be above human max, except for INT and EGO (which would be lower). His schtick is that he's fated to be killed by one person (maybe insane amounts of Luck only to avoid death). And he's got contacts like "Athena, Goddess of War" and a big honking spear only he is strong enough to use.

 

I think I'm going to stat him up. This could be fun. Iliad, here I come!

 

Psych Lim: In the closet about Patroclus.

[Vestnik]

Re: Homeric Hero

 

Thanks LL! I'll take a look at the write-up.

[Vestnik]

Re: Homeric Hero

 

By the way, I really do recommend the Simmons books, Ilium and its sequel, Olympos. Nanotech-enhanced Achaeans on Mars, allosauri on Earth, sentient organo-robots, wormholes and nuke-throwing Thunder Gods. Can't do better than that! He's a fine writer too.

[Cancer]

Re: Homeric Hero

 

Of course, I saw the title of this thread and shuddered in revulsion at the thought of a campaign featuring, in the title role, Homer Simpson with super-powers.

 

Mmmmmmmmmmm ... donut. What a psychlim.

[assault]

Re: Homeric Hero

 

There have of course been a number of RPGs set in the Greece of the "Homeric" era' date=' but if we're talking HERO System specifically, [i']Mythic Greece: The Age of Heroes[/i] by Aaron Allston is the one to get, and one of the best treatments of the subject ever IMHO.

 

Mythic Greece is awesomely cool, and is the main basis of the Fantasy Hero campaign I have sitting in my head but am unlikely to ever get around to running.

 

The high end Achilles is provided as a free sample, which you can read here, and he is indeed a combat monster.

 

You're not kidding!

 

Still, I wonder how he would have compared with Hercules?

 

EDIT: Maybe we should have a "Who would win?" poll.

[assault]

Re: Homeric Hero

 

Of course, I saw the title of this thread and shuddered in revulsion at the thought of a campaign featuring, in the title role, Homer Simpson with super-powers.

 

Mmmmmmmmmmm ... donut. What a psychlim.

 

That would be Pieman. See my signature.

 

More alarmingly, see: http://www.supersimpsons.com/handbook.htm

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Homeric Hero

 

Mythic Greece is awesomely cool, and is the main basis of the Fantasy Hero campaign I have sitting in my head but am unlikely to ever get around to running.

 

 

 

You're not kidding!

 

Still, I wonder how he would have compared with Hercules?

 

EDIT: Maybe we should have a "Who would win?" poll.

 

Or you could just spring for Digital Hero #31, with writeups for Hercules as well, and compare them yourself.

 

Based on those writeups, I'd say that Achilles would be hard for Hercules to catch, and could wear him down over an extended fight; but if Herc managed to get his hands on him, Achilles would end up wrung out like a dishrag, "invulnerable" or not.

 

Achilles in the article is designed as a high-level martial artist and weaponmaster with very substantial extra Defenses, whereas Hercules is a near-top-rung brick with significant combat skill.

[Vestnik]

Re: Homeric Hero

 

Mythic Greece is awesomely cool' date=' and is the main basis of the Fantasy Hero campaign I have sitting in my head but am unlikely to ever get around to running.[/quote']

 

I haven't played in since I was 15 years old or so, but I think Runequest had kind of a Greek feel to it -- the bronze weapons and armor, all the cults.