Topic: Interest check Greek mythology[mul](closed)

[Fragile Dreams]

                                                                         Greek Mythology RP
 Hello and welcome to the introduction to one of my roleplay ideas. First of all i would like to apologize for any mistakes on grammar and literacy, because english are not my first language. I’m from Greece, the land of myths and heroes, thus i created a roleplay based on the ancient myths from my land. The introduction, i’m showing you here is about to explain what kind of characters i would like to play with, as well to describe some things about the play. The setting starts from the time that the most  known Greek hero start his adventures, Hercules. No, it will not be like the TV show and no player will be able to play as one of the known mythical, Greek heroes. The players will have to create their own characters, based on the Greek civilization of that time. More details about the character creation will be shown below. It will be a DnD like game but it will be a freeform gameplay.

Classes:  The classes in this setting are somewhat same with the DnD classes but with many differences. For example, the ranger has the same abilities as the typical, DnD ranger but in Greek mythology is more like a hunter. Anyways i will explain further, saying about each class that has differences from the DnD ones.

Ranger: As stated above, the ranger is a hunter, adept on survival and hunting animals. Unlike the DnD ranger, the hunter, as i’m about to call the class from now on, cannot cast spells on plants or based on nature spells but only spells on animals and animal based spells. The weapon experties are, short sword, spear, bow and daggers.

Druid: The Druid is about the same with the DnD druid, same spells, same attributes  and same abilities. The Druid draws spells directly from Gaia, the Mother Earth and not from the Gods, although he must be humble towards them and respect them, since the Gods are above all beings.

Priest: The most respectfull class and highest state in ancient Greece, the priest can be the cornerstone in a play. Advisor, warrior, spellcaster, healer, based on the God he/she chooses to worship, the priest is the most helpfull class. Priests in ancient mythical Greece are the most common spellcasters, since mages were worshiping Hecate, an evil deity of magic. The spells a priest can cast are based on the God he/she worships and prieches, meaning that every god offers the spells, based on His/Her portfolio.

Mages: Mages are mostly withes. Potion, alchemy, hexes and reading signs on dead animals are the common things that mages can do. To be more specific a mage, is like a medium with curses and reading scrolls. Like stated above, mages worship Hecate, the evil underwold deity of magic, so most of them were evil. But that doesn’t mean a character must be evil to play a mage.

The rest of the existing DnD classes are the same and no differences are there to explain.



Gods: Is the main thematology in ancient Greek myths. Gods define the mankind and rule above all, so defying them will be not tolerated by Them. The greatest thing about Greek gods is that They have human characteristics. They hate, they love, they get obsessed, they forget and they get jealous. Often Gods, intervene into human affairs because they show favor to a person or a city. They have fought between them, thus having a favored god can mean, that another one might be after you or his clerics hate you. Typical examples and explanations:

Athena vs Poseidon: These two gods have fought about who will be worshiped in Athens. Athena offered wisdom and heroism where Poseidon offered water during dry times. Athena appereared in front of the Athenians with a branch from an olive tree and Poseidon appeared with an urn filled of water, saying that Athenians must choose a gift, so a god should be worshiped. Athenians chose Athena.

Athena vs Ares: The true forms of war, where Athena represents the strategic and heroic war and Ares comes as the brutal, furious and blood covered war. Athena favors the wise, cunning warrior and Ares the sadist and killer. The two gods are always in confrontation about the aspect a war can take.



To be continued…

[Duchess]

you seem to compare it to d&d,  i never played that game and can say i haven't watched the movie. to what  can i than compare it?

the classes will be like normal humans?

and under gods,its only those 2 choices you have?

[RubySlippers]

What about Bards ever hear of the famed Sappho of Lesbos not to mention Apollo and the Muses, and someone has to chronicle the heroes and their quests. Not to mention taking up weapons to defend themselves and take part of them. I was thinking a Spartan Bard their women were trained to be fit and use weapons, and would have stidied the arts. Of course she would worship the strong and honorable Artemis the Patron Goddess of Sparta. Shockingly really Ares wasn't the patron diety.

As for mages why would all serve Hecate, one focus on a school like Enchantment might worship Aphrodite or some other diety such as Apollo. Diviners also could serve any of the major dieties being seers.

[Fragile Dreams]

You can easily compare it with Lord of the rings or any other fantasy based movie or computer game. If you want a more detailed analysis about a character, ask any question you want about any of the classes you want. To be honest, what the name sais is what the class does, it's not so difficult, be sure. It's only skills that make them different and im not so close-minded to say "you cant do that or your class can't do that". Again, ask if you still have any problems.

I was about to say, the races in the game in my next post, so since you ask i will say now. The races are human, Half-nymph and half-god.
The human is the typical person like you and me, no question there i suppose. The half-nymph is the offspring from a human and a nymph, either a wood nymph or a water nymph. The special characteristics of this race are the almost divine beaty, the long life and the illness immunity. Depends on what kind of nymph the mother is, the child takes a unique specialty. The child of a wood-nymph, has the ability to hide in the shadows to the point of zero visibility. The child of a water-nymph, has the ability to swim fast and be able to breath under water. The half god is the child of a god and a human (yeah, Greek gods were humping humans very often.), the child takes the god's main attribute, which is like based on what would the god have. For example, the son of Zeus will have the strength way above a typical human, a child of Aphrodite would be the most beautifull person the world have seen. I know being the child of a god is totally hot but this has a major drawback. As i stated above, every god has another opposing him/her. So the enemy god of the parent, would do anything to hunt you and kill you, just because he/she wants to get on the nerves on the parent.

The two examples i gave about gods are not which gods you can choose to have the favor....but an explanation about which gods argue.
the gods you can choose from are:

Zeus- King of the Gods and ruler of Mount Olympus; god of the sky, thunder, and justice. MAIN: Strength
Hera- Queen of the Gods and of the heavens; goddess of women, marriage, and motherhood. MAIN: Wisdom
Poseidon- Lord of the Sea; god of the seas, earthquakes, created horses. MAIN: Strength
Demeter- Goddess of fertility, agriculture, nature, and the seasons. MAIN: Wisdom
Aphrodite- Goddess of love, beauty, desire, and fertility. MAIN: Beauty, charm
Apollo- The Sun God; god of light, healing, music, poetry, prophecy, archery and truth. MAIN: Dexterity, healing/prophecy
Ares- God of war, frenzy, hatred, and bloodshed. MAIN: Strength
Artemis- Goddess of the hunt, of maidens, and the moon. MAIN: Dexterity
Athena- Goddess of wisdom, crafts, and strategic battle. MAIN: Wisdom
Hephaestus- Blacksmith to the Gods; god of fire and the forges. MAIN: Strength
Hermes- Messenger of the Gods; god of commerce, speed, thieves, and trade. MAIN: Speed, dexterity
Dionisus- God of wine, parties, and merriment. MAIN: Wisdom, charm
Hades- Lord of the Dead; god of the Underworld and earthly (gems and precious metals) wealth. MAIN: Strength, instant kill.

As you notice, along with the gods i wrote about what did they do and what are their main attributes to know what main has each god and would give to any half god child. The spells a cleric can cast are based on what God(dess) of, each one of them was.

To RubySlippers. Bards of course are there although they were called rapsodi, of course i know of Sappho and Orpheus and every bard there was. I explain who Appolo was. The base idea of the game is that they start as low unkown heroes, having their own stories and backgroungs but during game they are putting their own touch to the known myths, as well the players know a real version of any myth. Spartan women were exactly as you know them but at the time of hercules were the same women as every other. Artemis, yes she was the protector of Sparta but Sparta was different than the Sparta shown in 300. Sparta's people were mostly hunters than warriors and the girls were asked if they wanted to join Artemis's temple as priestesses. Tyndareus was the king of Sparta and his sons were Castor and Polydeukis, also knows as Dioskouroi (sons of Zeus).

The mages thing you say is what priests do. Priests specialties are based on the God(dess) specialty, so a priest of Aphrodite will have enchantement and charm, Appolo's priests can forsee things and Hephaestus's priests can invoke the element of fire. Mages worship Hecate because she their spells were mostly hexes and potion creation, spirit communication and telling signs from dead animals. See Medea, Ariadne, Kirke

[Duchess]

hmmm..than yeah..this i would love to try ..

[Fragile Dreams]

Cool!!!! Any idea about the character you would like to play? I would love to help you with any questions you might have.

[mannik]

This sounds like a really cool idea...but you forgot Hades in your list of gods.

[Duchess]

idk yet..i thinking about a human expecting to become a priestess, or a nereida. like calypso... dont know yet

since your the Greek expert, is it true that once you take a piece of clothing from a nymph they will stay with you.
but if they get a hold of that clothes they will return back to where they from?

[Fragile Dreams]

Damn! You're right!!! Sorry about that. And he was about to be one of the mains Thanks for reminding me, i will edit right away.

To sensualnymph. It's not true, nymphs in Greek mythology were shy and show themselves very rarely. Mostly to the human they wanted to mate with or to druids. Even they fall in love with a person, that person must be really beautifull and spend a lot of time in a forest or the sea. Kalypso was a nymph, so hardly you could go away from the water, to start roaming the lands for adventure

[Duchess]

  you see, sheesh your the best ..so much info online u don't know which is true

so where i can find more info about the priest likes?

[Fragile Dreams]

Me of course

Which god interests you and i will tell you, what you have to do and what kind of spells you have.

[RubySlippers]

Well I watched the history of Sparta in a PBS program from the library, just curious, if its early Sparta women still ,gasp, had far more power than in any other Greek City-State and the training program was still there just not that firmly in place. Women tended to do the economics and the like while men focused on hunting a war training, they just didn't start the Agoge for some time. I think this was built on the earlier roles that they favored. But the Spartan way of life was there little luxury, little if any clothing, perfection of the body and equality (at least among the citizens). So a woman bard from there would fit well I was thinking serving Artemis as her patron goddess and likely handle herself in a fight. Spartan women are nothing if not the match for any man that is not a Spartan.

I need to find a nice name though, (something nice and pretty) of Sparta. NOT Helen. lol

[Fragile Dreams]

If you are going to play as Bard, then i would suggest to worship firstly Appolo, then his sister Artemis. Of course you have to worship every god but to show more interest to those two more...You can say, "I sacrifice these animals, to the Twins."

[Oniya]

I'm interested!  I cut my teeth on Bulfinch's Mythology.    Then I learned to actually read it and found it was more interesting that way.    Ovid is absolutely fascinating, too.

I even think my dictionary is less-buried than most at this point, so I could possibly help with names as well.

*scurries off to work on character concept*

[RubySlippers]

If you are going to play as Bard, then i would suggest to worship firstly Appolo, then his sister Artemis. Of course you have to worship every god but to show more interest to those two more...You can say, "I sacrifice these animals, to the Twins."

If I worshipped Appolo wouldn't that piss off APOLLO? lol

Seriously I intend her to honor Artemis first but not ignore Apollo and the Muses, or Aphrodite and the dieties of love when she whips up a love ballad to a maiden fair. Bards tend to be flexible. To offend the gods is generally a bad thing.

[Fragile Dreams]

I'm interested!  I cut my teeth on Bulfinch's Mythology.    Then I learned to actually read it and found it was more interesting that way.    Ovid is absolutely fascinating, too.

Sorry to ask but...what is Bulfinch's Mythology? :S And what is Ovid? I've never heard of those terms before. Anyways, i'm glad you like the idea and i'm looking forward to see your character.

Seriously I intend her to honor Artemis first but not ignore Apollo and the Muses, or Aphrodite and the dieties of love when she whips up a love ballad to a maiden fair. Bards tend to be flexible. To offend the gods is generally a bad thing.

Note, that Bards are not the rogue-like bards as DnD. They are mostly, story tellers than mischivieous instrument players that charm and steal. If you still have any problem with names, find a background of your character, let me know and i will find something for you...same goes with everyone.

[Oniya]

Sorry to ask but...what is Bulfinch's Mythology? :S And what is Ovid? I've never heard of those terms before. Anyways, i'm glad you like the idea and i'm looking forward to see your character.

Bulfinch's Mythology is one of the more comprehensive English language collections of Greek mythology.  As for Ovid - He wrote the Metamorphoses in roughly 8 A.D., which was a collection of primarily those myths that centered around transformation (like Arachne, Daphne, etc.)  My apologies, though, turns out he was Roman, not Greek (but they stole most of the myths anyways ).

[RubySlippers]

Sorry to ask but...what is Bulfinch's Mythology? :S And what is Ovid? I've never heard of those terms before. Anyways, i'm glad you like the idea and i'm looking forward to see your character.
Note, that Bards are not the rogue-like bards as DnD. They are mostly, story tellers than mischivieous instrument players that charm and steal. If you still have any problem with names, find a background of your character, let me know and i will find something for you...same goes with everyone.

Bards would like be decent fighters and there is nothing wrong with stealth in war, hell, its often a good tactic. As for my character I was thinking a performer that was a priestess of Artemis and skilled in fighting not an odd skill for a Spartan woman. They learned javelin and spear, dagger and were very fit. You know a proper Spartanish Bard, and anyway who needs amny things give her a lyre and her talents, the favor of her goddess and a spear with shield (if I train with one) and she is likely content. What matters is gaining honor and favor of her goddess and do honor to her family and people. Well thats how I plan to play her.

[OldSchoolGamer]

I'll be watching this thread with interest.

[Fragile Dreams]

Bulfinch's Mythology is one of the more comprehensive English language collections of Greek mythology.  As for Ovid - He wrote the Metamorphoses in roughly 8 A.D., which was a collection of primarily those myths that centered around transformation (like Arachne, Daphne, etc.)  My apologies, though, turns out he was Roman, not Greek (but they stole most of the myths anyways ).

Thanks for sharing the info, i appreciate it a lot and turns that i know about Ovid from my latin lessons, although i knew him as Ovidius...the classic script "Ovidius poeta in terra patrica".

Bards would like be decent fighters and there is nothing wrong with stealth in war, hell, its often a good tactic. As for my character I was thinking a performer that was a priestess of Artemis and skilled in fighting not an odd skill for a Spartan woman. They learned javelin and spear, dagger and were very fit. You know a proper Spartanish Bard, and anyway who needs amny things give her a lyre and her talents, the favor of her goddess and a spear with shield (if I train with one) and she is likely content. What matters is gaining honor and favor of her goddess and do honor to her family and people. Well thats how I plan to play her.

From my experience in Greek mythology, Artemis was the goddess of hunt, maidens and moon. So in my pen and paper RP i gave three domains of spells to her priestesses... animal, moon and last because most of the Artemis's priestesses were skilled in fighting as you truely say, was war. Some very old myths say that the Artemides (Artemis's priestesses) were the first werewolves, based on the phase of the moon. And happens to know some myths that they turn into werewolves (see, the attack of the amazons to Athens)

[Tears in the Rain]

I am very interested in this game.

[Fragile Dreams]

I am very interested in this game.

Im glad to hear that MrsNo6... what interests you the most? I mean what kind of character you're thinking?

[Tears in the Rain]

I was thinking a half-wood nymph priestess.

[Fragile Dreams]

Sounds very interesting, although i must tell you being a half nymph is a bless and a curse. You see, you will be one of the most beautifull women the world have ever seen, meaning that all men would come after you, not mentioning that they would anything to get you, even rape. Plus, being the most beautifull woman would make some of the naughty gods notice you. for being a priestess, since you are from a wood nymph i would suggest something forest related. Like Artemis or Dionesus. There is always the option of making a druid, although i'm not sure if there were any female druids in Greek mythology. I will search for it and i will inform you as soon as i find something.

[Tears in the Rain]

It still sounds like a lot of fun to me. :)