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


Steve Long

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For me, I'd be far more interested in 'running gods as PCs' then I would be in Dieties and Demigods style write ups. I know the D&D write ups is primarily what this book will be about, but allowing players to play gods is an untapped genre in HERO and something of a popular conceit in many games these days. 

 

I would be interested not only in the typical powers of gods (immortality, commanding the elements, etc) but in their background abilities that interact with their worshippers (hearing prayers, appearing before worshippers from across the planet, building an afterlife and guiding a soul there, etc). 

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17 hours ago, Tywyll said:

For me, I'd be far more interested in 'running gods as PCs' then I would be in Dieties and Demigods style write ups. I know the D&D write ups is primarily what this book will be about, but allowing players to play gods is an untapped genre in HERO and something of a popular conceit in many games these days. 

 

I would be interested not only in the typical powers of gods (immortality, commanding the elements, etc) but in their background abilities that interact with their worshippers (hearing prayers, appearing before worshippers from across the planet, building an afterlife and guiding a soul there, etc). 

I totally agree with this. In fact, I already plan on running such a game. I think there could be a lot of ways that you could approach the topic.

 

What would be extra cool would be a "Mythic Hero" done in a "Powered By Hero" style. 3 pantheons to choose from, Greek, Norse, and Hindi, mix and match to your pleasure. Guides on building godlike powers, guides on setting up your own pantheons using the power system n stuff. I know this isn't really the vision for e current concept, I just think it would be cool.

 t

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 3/17/2020 at 10:15 PM, Shoug said:

I totally agree with this. In fact, I already plan on running such a game. I think there could be a lot of ways that you could approach the topic.

 

What would be extra cool would be a "Mythic Hero" done in a "Powered By Hero" style. 3 pantheons to choose from, Greek, Norse, and Hindi, mix and match to your pleasure. Guides on building godlike powers, guides on setting up your own pantheons using the power system n stuff. I know this isn't really the vision for e current concept, I just think it would be cool.

 t

 

A cool thing to try and do with this would to also incorporate some of the Hero "kingdom" rules from The Ultimate Base, but obviously tailored for mythic/god proportions and religions and followers, etc... and going up against other Gods, not just one on one, but utilizing the kingdom rules to convert followers and expand their followers. 

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  • 4 weeks later...

I am interested in the different types of religions, so animism, pantheism, elementalism, polytheism, dualism, monotheism and of course the atheist religion of Buddhism.

What would also be fun would be cargo cults, and also some speculation on future religions, or how religions have/or will cope with a multi species Universe.

Now as to whether this is best approached from that approach, with a chapter on each, and examples, or not, is a design choice.

 

So, as an example, dualism might well lead with Zoroastrianism, but with nods to Manicheanism, Christian heresies like the Cathars, and of the potential explanation of Christianity as a dualist religion. Then one might discuss the idea of how fantasy / future might feature other dualisms than the Earthly good/evil or light/dark..

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
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But I am really interested in EMMA, what a fantastic idea for a book.  I'll be watching for it.

 

I wrote EMMA because for the past 20-some years I have been looking for just such a book. I figured someone somewhere along the line must have written a reference book on the subject. But apparently not -- so finally, last year, I realized how by my file on the subject had gotten, and I said, "The hell with it -- I'll write it myself!" I doubt it will sell all that well, but at least now I will have it available for my own use. ;)

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  • 3 weeks later...
3 hours ago, JmOz said:

EMMA?

 

On 3/11/2020 at 11:21 AM, Steve Long said:

--snip--

What I've been working on for most of the past year, and pretty steadily for the past few months, is a nonfiction project:  The Encyclopedia Of Mages, Magic, And The Arcane (or "EMMA" for short ;) ). For years I have looked for a reference book specifically about terms for magic and users of magic. For example, I want to be able to look up what they call a witch or a wizard in, say, northern Australia, or Borneo, or among some obscure African tribe, or in parts of historical Europe. And then maybe I could also read about their terms for magic, how they think spells work, and other fun details.

--snip--

 

 

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I have been monitoring mentions of EMMA. 

Just waiting for the "buy it now" notice.

 

Excellent. ;)

 

Progress is definitely being made. I still have several large stacks of books to enter into the manuscript, but as long as Real Life doesn't ambush me and disrupt my work (as it has this week, sadly), data entry is going pretty quickly, all things considered. But when I'm done with the stacks of books, I have some decisions to make about whether to cut bait and start the layout and publishing process, or to continue doing research (mostly in books that I will have to read to research Mythic Hero, so in a lot of ways it may make more sense to read them now and incorporate the relevant data into EMMA, too. Still, expanding an existing book is what second editions are for... ;)  )

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1 hour ago, Spence said:

EMMA the second

 

EMMA part two

 

EMMA the return

 

The EMMAnator

 

 

 

Hopefully there will be lots of other customers who share your enthusiasm!

 

While there is a lot more material in EMMA than I ever expected there to be -- 130,000 words so far, mostly consisting of 1-2 line entries defining terms for "magic" or "guy who uses magic" or various related subjects -- I don't think I'm likely to get as far as The EMMAnator. ;)  Though I suppose if I ever want to tackle subjects like Alchemy or Voodoo in-depth, they might qualify. But I have so many other projects to deal with I'm not sure I'll ever get that far.

 

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9 hours ago, Steve Long said:

 

Hopefully there will be lots of other customers who share your enthusiasm!

 

While there is a lot more material in EMMA than I ever expected there to be -- 130,000 words so far, mostly consisting of 1-2 line entries defining terms for "magic" or "guy who uses magic" or various related subjects -- I don't think I'm likely to get as far as The EMMAnator. ;)  Though I suppose if I ever want to tackle subjects like Alchemy or Voodoo in-depth, they might qualify. But I have so many other projects to deal with I'm not sure I'll ever get that far.

 

 

Well, I am an avid reader and for non-fiction, EMMA falls into that category.  Magic may not really work, but the beliefs and subjects do exist.  

But my interests don't come from the normal direction either.  For example naval warfare in the Age of Sail is an area I  really enjoy and have researched to a great extent.  My personal library is far better than the Public Library which is pretty much useless these days.  Unless it is a cookbook everything of any use is classified as "reference" and cannot be checked out. Libraries are no longer a quiet area to read, they are community centers. 

 

Anyway, I am really interested in the actual tactics and the reasons for them.  The equipment and the reasons behind those.  I could really care less about who did what.  Most of the books on the subject are either transparent copies that simply rearranges the information presented in the other three books with a small opinion piece that makes it "different and new" or is 99% about the who's and their political woes.

 

A book like EMMA that will actually give information on things were believed to work and lexicon they used would be awesome. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I would want to see information on running myths, demigods/god level characters. Considerations and concerns in making demigods/gods/ myths, playing them, playing gods and including myths in different genres(champions, fantasy hero, fantasy hero/martial arts(Exalted types) horror, Sci fi, etc), campaign concerns with god levels, etc... Some samples would be okay but I'm not interested in  a whole book of just gods stats or myths from around the world. 

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