Spear formation, not pikes. That is a Macedonian Phalanx. The Sarissa was not a weapon used by the Greeks.
…And in other, more happy subjects, if Athene isn’t taken yet…?
Spear formation, not pikes. That is a Macedonian Phalanx. The Sarissa was not a weapon used by the Greeks.
…And in other, more happy subjects, if Athene isn’t taken yet…?
[quote=“BurningSol”][quote=“Derek”]
It’s GREEK dude they haven’t invented homophobes yet![/quote]
Also Incorrect. Homosexuality was frowned upon in ancient times as well. The practice of Bisexuality was common for two reasons:
1: Men had to be good in bed
2: Female citizens had to remain virgins
Therefore, a young boy had to have a tutor to teach him the arts of love before he was married. This was usually in the form of an older man, who then disappeared from the picture once said young boy was married. If a man -chose- to remain with men, it was either done discretely, and he was provided with a wife -anyway- so that he could provide himself an Hier. The reason it was disapproved of is because it did not furthur the species. A bisexual man was accepted, because he could still have sons with his wife.[/quote]
Hardly a common occurance.
Your source says they were picked for a specific combat purpose. It could be said they were an exeption to the otherwise common rule, for “when dealing with the lion, I find it pays, to learn to tolerate it’s little ways…”
Ie: If it’s defending us, it can do what the hell it likes.
In the Common rule, however, it was not tolerated.
I don’t think the Ancient Greeks were as intolerant as you make them out to be. Pederasty, love between younger boys and older men, was entirely acceptable, up until the point where the boys started growing facial hair.
We’re not so much dealing with issues of hetero/homo/bisexuality as the concept of pederasty. Harmodius and Aristogeiton, Achilles and Patroclus, Heracles and Iolaus, Solon and Peisistratus - these same-sex couples all consisted of an older man and a younger man. Homosexuality really wasn’t a concept, it was pederasty that existed and was accepted.
I can see how homosexuality outside of pederasty wouldn’t have been welcomed, but the word homophobic seems too strong for Ancient Greece where they were more accepting. It’s a more appropriate word for the wonderful world we have today, where as a result of more strict and forbidding religions, sex is very controversial and even talking about it is frowned upon, let alone going outside the boundaries of normality and entering the realm of “the queer”. Just like Cameron’s pink fluoro ‘over-the-shoulder-strapped’ speedos, Borat style.
Regardless, I believe modern homophobes probably make no distinction between bisexuals and homosexuals.
I intend the game to be rated “General”, so there will be no man-boy love that people need to worry about.
However, Aphrodite will be at hand so love will be a big part of the game. I will have suggestions for the “rules of love” as well, which will deal with what to do about jilted lovers and both magical and natural love.
[quote=“BurningSol”][quote=“Raoul”]Can I be Bacchus?
R[/quote]
Dionysos. Bacchus is a Roman god.[/quote]
Okay, it’s probably silly of me take a Greek on in the arena of Greek Mythology, but I was a Classics Student…
As far as my lecturers led me to understand, the the name ‘Bacchus’ does also appear in Greek Mythology (for example, see Eurpides’ play “The Bacchae”) but Dionysos was more common.The Romans used “Bacchus” exclusively for the deity.
[quote=“BurningSol”]Also Incorrect. Homosexuality was frowned upon in ancient times as well. The practice of Bisexuality was common for two reasons:
…[/quote]
According to one of my Classics lecturers who is a specialist on sexuality in the Classical period, both Greek and Roman, there is considerably more to Greek sexuality than the pat “Oh, before men got married, they fooled around, and afterwards they were entirely straight.” He said that relationships of older men could get very complex and nuanced, involving multiple people. Trust me, I recently spent five weeks talking to him everyday, and the conversation got quite wide ranging.
The Symposium is an interesting text to read. Along with all that philosophising, there’s a very bittersweet love story - as told much after the fact, by one of the participants - and I think, possibly, Plato was trying to defend Socrates’ reputation, or something. There’s a discussion of how other cities viewed the sexual practices of Athens, though. So… an interesting text to read. Oh, and lots of drinking.
Well, I -was- attempting to try and give ideas and suggestive criticism as asked, but since the issue i thought was least important for the game has been focused on, I shall let it drop. Ladies and Gents, I and my Greek bloods shall passively withdraw.
Oh my god…this is the coolest idea. :mrgreen: Why haven’t you people elaborated on it yet!!! Somebody get a venue and a budget and sort this one our PLEASE[b] !!!
And stop wasting your time debating the sexualities of the Greeks. If you disagree- you disagree. So get over it.[/b]
But it’s one of the fun things about the greeks. That and horse statues.
Just curious about the combat rules and magic system that will be used. Also any character classes or concepts.
There’s some discussion about system and characters earlier on in this thread, before the classics pendantry really got rolling. Worth going back and reading.
I think the general outline of combat was that your average character would be wounded (incapacitated) by a single blow that does not land on armour. Armour would be perfect protection. No hit points, if you take damage one time you go down. So, a very simple basis and similar to what we’re looking at for No Man’s Land.
Derek was trying to think of a way to make helmets useful if the head is not a valid target, but hadn’t yet. Me, I’d just make head shots legal.
Some characters would be strong enough that their blows would wound characters through armour. They would make some sort of IC call. “By Ares, your armour will not protect you” or such. Some character’s skin might count as armour. Or most of it, in the case of Archilles.
Calls for special abilities would be IC and use the names of the gods to denote them. “By Zeus, this lightening bolt will wound you.” Derek was looking at having cards with special abilites on them, especially for attaching to special items. While I was initially against this, having seen them work okay in Hindenburg I guess it could be okay and would allow for some surprise abilities while being simpler than trying to explain all the bits to everyone. Although I’m not sure where some of the less-fully-clothed characters would store their ability cards.
In terms of player characters, Derek had them split into gods, demi-gods, mortals and monsters. No NPCs. In fact, between both the special cards and the no NPCs it’s looking a lot like a freeform larp (like Hindenburg), but with live combat. It might work well with PCs being given a character sheet with clear objectives and lots of connections to other PCs.
I’m currently thinking of making the head a valid target for javelins. I have made some (20?) very light javelins for this game that are very “face friendly” so this’ll likely be what happens.
I’m currently working on getting the sexy armour able to be reasonably mass produced. I have spent 2.5 days carving wooden formers for making hardened leather greaves on.
Hopefully they will work. My first attempt using them wasn’t a success.
I just attended an SCA event in Christchurch where we had a scenerio where the (mortal) fighters fought people dressed as the gods. The gods were from many different pantheons and each god had a special way they had to be to be killed: Odin for example had to be flattered before you fought him. Thor had to be struck with a thrust to the chest.
It was lots of fun
I am very sore because I could only be killed by a very very light touch and all the people who fought me were brutes and thumped me six shades of purple.