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Percy Jackson and the Olympians


DonTiburon

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I'm thinking of introducing my girlfriends 12 year old son to the wonders of the Hero Game System. He is a big fan of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, which I think is just prime for Heros (Gyro Hero anyone?)

 

Anyone have any advice for campaign limits or other bits of wisdom?

 

And you have not read this series, I strongly recommend it. Very enjoyable, even for an ol' curmugdeon like me.

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Re: Percy Jackson and the Olympians

 

I'm thinking of introducing my girlfriends 12 year old son to the wonders of the Hero Game System. He is a big fan of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, which I think is just prime for Heros (Gyro Hero anyone?)

 

Anyone have any advice for campaign limits or other bits of wisdom?

 

And you have not read this series, I strongly recommend it. Very enjoyable, even for an ol' curmugdeon like me.

whats percy jackson and the olympians? if its based on an anime or cartoon you may want to run it as an animated series type campain,for example dark champions the animated series

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Re: Percy Jackson and the Olympians

 

the premise is that the Greek mythos is alive and well in the current world. As Western civilization has moved west, so has the gods. Currently, Mount Olympus is above the Empire State Building.

 

The main characters are all half-blood children of the gods. Percy Jackson is the son of Posiedon, the only currently surviving decendent of one of the big three (Zeus, Posiedon, Hades). The big three made a pact after WW II not to breed with humans, as those children tend to cause a great deal of mischief. That pact has been broken twice since then, once by Zeus and once by Posiedon.

 

The world is full of monsters, but because of a magical mist, mundanes do not realize it. Instead, they see something that is easier for the minds to accept.

 

Each novel, Percy is assigned a quest. In the first, he has to travel to Hades to recover Zeus' most prized lighnting javelin, which Zeus believes Percy has stolen and is about to go to war with Posiedon over. Percy travels there with his friends, Grady the Saytr and Annabelle, a daughter of Ares.

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Re: Percy Jackson and the Olympians

 

Artemis Fowl is a 12 year old master criminal in a fantasy setting. He comes up with these big plans to score big. My local expert ;) says they are pretty good. Not as good as Percy or Alcatraz, but a solid second tier.

 

I've not read them yet, but he has the first two, so I will give them a try.

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Re: Percy Jackson and the Olympians

 

I'm thinking of introducing my girlfriends 12 year old son to the wonders of the Hero Game System. He is a big fan of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, which I think is just prime for Heros (Gyro Hero anyone?)

 

Anyone have any advice for campaign limits or other bits of wisdom?

 

And you have not read this series, I strongly recommend it. Very enjoyable, even for an ol' curmugdeon like me.

you might want to check with the boys parents first and clearit with them

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Re: Percy Jackson and the Olympians

 

I've only read (well, actually listened to) the first book, but it was very enjoyable. I used to listen to audio books constantly between my night shift job and driving to school a town over, and it's amazing what gems you find in the "young adult" section of the library.

 

As far as campaign limits and such? I’d probably go with 75/75 or 100/100 depending on how powerful you want them to be. 100/100 is the same as Teen Champions, so that might be appropriate. I’d keep the Active Point level fairly low also, probably around 40 AP with some powers allowed to go up to 60 or so for individuals “shtick”. EDIT: Also, Activation rolls, Require a Skill Roll, and other conditional limitations can be helpful in making young or inexperienced characters with powers, however, that may be more complicated than you want to get since these are new, young players.

 

I think you should probably build the characters for any kids involved. Don’t bog them down with chargen just yet. Ask them what type of character they would like to play: fast, strong, smart, sneaky, et cetera, and work from there. Also, if they’ve read the series, ask them which god they would want to be a child of. Probably make the big three off limits. Maybe even get them some other ‘mythology for kids’ type books to let them see some other gods and heroes that may not be showcased in the series.

 

This sounds like it could be a fun campaign, even for adults. I may just have to pick up more of these books if they are as good as the first. Anyway, hope this helps. Feel free to post some characters when you get them set up, or any questions you may have.

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Re: Percy Jackson and the Olympians

 

Don't know how I came across this but I was thinking about a Camp Half- Blood campaign coming back from Vegas. Then I realized the thread was almost a year old. Still, with the movie coming out on DVD in June, it's almost timely again.

 

Did you run the campaign Don?

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Re: Percy Jackson and the Olympians

 

OK, just me then.

 

Just going to put some thoughts and notes here so I'll know where the are.

 

I haven't seen the movie, but I expect there will be extensive spoilers from the books. So guess I should use spoiler tags.

 

The premise is that the gods and monsters of Greco-Roman mythology exist, and still take human consorts resulting in half-blood children. (ONLY the Greco-Roman? What about the other mythoi?)

 

Characters can be of three types, Half-Bloods (such as Percy and Annabeth), Monsters (such as Grover and Tyson), or the rare mortal unaffected by the Mist (Rachel Dare).

 

All Half-Blood characters were raised by a single parent, or a bioparent and step-parent. Half-Bloods must take the Complication "Hunted by Monsters." They may take the Physical Complications "Dyslexia" and/or "Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)." Heroes should not harm mortals "unless absolutely necessary." This may lead to a Code vs Killing, but it is not obligatory.

 

Monsters (and Gods and Titans) are immortal. If reduced to negative BODY they disappear into smoke and dust, leaving no difficult to explain corpse behind, but they will regenerate in time. (For NPC monsters, "in time" means when the GM needs them again, for PC monsters, "In time" means "make a new character.")

 

Gods and monsters cannot be affected by mortal weapons. Monsters can affect each other and mortals, half-bloods can affect mortals and immortals, and be affected by both earthly and celestial weapons.

 

Invulnerability to mortal weapons: Desolidification (affected by Magic), Persistent (+1/4), Inherent (+1/4), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2) (80 Active Points); Cannot Pass Through Solid Objects (-1/2), Not vs Immortals or half-bloods Power loses less than a fourth of its effectiveness (-0)

 

This means monsters have to buy their STR and attacks with the Affects Physical World (+2) advantage.

 

Celestial bronze weapons can affect immortals but not mortals. (Have the advantage Affects Immortals and Half-Bloods (+ 1/2) and the limitation Cannot Affect Mortals (+0). Half-bloods, being part mortal and part immortal, are affected by both mortal and celestial weapons.

 

 

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Re: Percy Jackson and the Olympians

 

I haven't seen the movie, but I expect there will be extensive spoilers from the books. So guess I should use spoiler tags.

 

The setting stuff starts out mostly the same as the books, but the stuff about monsters is never made explicit, and the plot diverges more and more as the movie goes on.

 

 

All Half-Blood characters were raised by a single parent, or a bioparent and step-parent. Half-Bloods must take the Complication "Hunted by Monsters." They may take the Physical Complications "Dyslexia" and/or "Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)." Heroes should not harm mortals "unless absolutely necessary." This may lead to a Code vs Killing, but it is not obligatory.

 

I'd go with a Distinctive Feature as well.

Half-bloods aren't just hunted by monsters, they attract them. The whole reason for Camp Halfblood is that they can't "pass" as mortals because monsters can sense them and seek them out. In some cases, I'd have the Distinctive Feature include parentage. The folks who meet Percy and know his lineage seem to do so only from his reputation. Several monsters identify Annabeth on sight, though, based on her eye color (and presumably her general resemblance to her mother.)

 

 

One thought on that set of powers:

 

 

How can a physical weapon not affect mortals? If you stab a mortal with a celestiial bronze dagger, don't they still suffer the effects of being stabbed, which are hardly pleasant?

 

A wizard did it.

Celestial bronze is magic. It can do stuff like appear to be a pen until activated into a sword. When you stab a mortal with it, it just passes through the mortal as though desolid.

 

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Re: Percy Jackson and the Olympians

 

One thought on that set of powers:

 

 

How can a physical weapon not affect mortals? If you stab a mortal with a celestiial bronze dagger, don't they still suffer the effects of being stabbed, which are hardly pleasant?

 

According to Chiron, "They're simply not important enough." Celestial bronze weapons pass through mortals and non-magical inanimate objects as if they were ghost. The first time Percy met Rachel he tried to slash her with Anaklusmos, with no ill effects other than startling her as she watched a three foot long bronze sword pass through her abdomen. In the first five books there was only one weapon, Backbiter, that had one edge of steel and the other of celestial bronze, and thus was deadly to both mortal and immortal.

 

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Re: Percy Jackson and the Olympians

 

I'd go with a Distinctive Feature as well.

Half-bloods aren't just hunted by monsters' date=' they attract them. The whole reason for Camp Halfblood is that they can't "pass" as mortals because monsters can sense them and seek them out. In some cases, I'd have the Distinctive Feature include parentage. The folks who meet Percy and know his lineage seem to do so only from his reputation. Several monsters identify Annabeth on sight, though, based on her eye color (and presumably her general resemblance to her mother.)

[/quote']

 

The smell is only distinctive to monsters. The "family resemblance" can be a DF. In addition to Anna beth's gray eyes Percy's sea green eyes are commented on more than once, and IIRC Thalia's eyes are sky blue. Don't recall it being mentioned, but I would expect Bianca and Nico to have eyes of such a dark brown they appear black, and Clarisse's to be light brown, amber, like a predatory animal, almost looking as if there were a fire dancing within them. Charles Beckendorf has brown eyes, but not as dark as Bianca and Nico. Silena Beaureguard, can't decide; maybe violet, or hazel, appearing subtly different every time you look into them.

 

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Re: Percy Jackson and the Olympians

 

The smell is only distinctive to monsters. The "family resemblance" can be a DF. In addition to Anna beth's gray eyes Percy's sea green eyes are commented on more than once' date=' and IIRC Thalia's eyes are sky blue. Don't recall it being mentioned, but I would expect Bianca and Nico to have eyes of such a dark brown they appear black, and Clarisse's to be light brown, amber, like a predatory animal, almost looking as if there were a fire dancing within them. Charles Beckendorf has brown eyes, but not as dark as Bianca and Nico. Silena Beaureguard, can't decide; maybe violet, or hazel, appearing subtly different every time you look into them.

[/quote']

 

I figure that something that is only detectable by a certain group is equivalent to the "detectable with special equipment" level of a Distinctive Feature. Like the "buzz" in Highlander was a distinctive feature, only noticeable by other immortals.

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Re: Percy Jackson and the Olympians

 

The setting stuff starts out mostly the same as the books, but the stuff about monsters is never made explicit, and the plot diverges more and more as the movie goes on.

 

The plot divergences made both my wife (an elementary school librarian) and me indignant because they really didn't seem necessary.

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Re: Percy Jackson and the Olympians

 

i figure that something that is only detectable by a certain group is equivalent to the "detectable with special equipment" level of a distinctive feature. Like the "buzz" in highlander was a distinctive feature' date=' only noticeable by other immortals.[/quote']

ok.

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Re: Percy Jackson and the Olympians

 

The plot divergences made both my wife (an elementary school librarian) and me indignant because they really didn't seem necessary.

 

That and some of the changes killed the funny. Part of the tone of the books is the humor of modern interpretations of mythological constructs. I'd particularly liked the bit where

the Hydra was attached to a franchise, so cutting off its head made two stores open somewhere in America. "You know those stores that seem to spring up overnight?"

It's the sort of thing that would be fun to carry over into the game world, as in American Gods.

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Re: Percy Jackson and the Olympians

 

Percy's Sword

 

 

Percy's sword is celestial bronze, about three feet long. Engraved on the blade are Greek letters spelling out Anaklusmos, "Riptide." Chiron says it has belonged to several heroes over the millennia.

 

Anaklusmos is enchanted to appear as a ball point pen until Percy uncaps it. It will always return to Percy's pocket (no focus limitation). While it always returns to him, it has been taken away from him in combat (Restrainable). Drawing any celestial bronze weapon will attract the attention of any monsters in the area (Perceivable).

 

Anaklusmos (Riptide) : Killing Attack - Hand-To-Hand 2 1/2d6 (3d6+1 w/STR), Reduced Endurance (1/2 END; +1/4), Affects Immortal Any form of Desolidification (+1/2) (70 Active Points); Restrainable (including disarms) (-1/2), Perceivable (-1/4), Limited Power, does not affect mortals Power loses less than a fourth of its effectiveness (-0) (40 Real Points) 3 END

 

 

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