awesome. I want to be achilles. My only weak spot is my ankle.
Also how much historical RP do we need to do. Cause as much as I like all the guys who LARP, I really don’t want to have RP being the lover(s) of any of them.
I have this weird feeling that it could all be tied together somehow. The gods can confer blessings and curses onto mortals. Mortals can prey to the gods and ask for blessings, but there’s always a chance they’ll get a curse instead. The gods characters decide.
The blessings comes in the form of powers like the ones we mentioned above, prey to Zeus and he might give you the ability to call down lightning, just once. You have to go back and prey to him again to be blessed again (mortals can only carry one blessing at a time).
Can you recieve blessings from multiple gods? Are the gods limited in how many blessings and curses they can deliver? When you go to the temple to prey to a favourable god, are you then at risk of being cursed by another god that doesn’t like you?
I can see that as an interesting balancing game of favour and disfavour. Also, it gives mortals a great reason to interact with the gods fairly frequently, which would make a constant connection between the otherwise somewhat separate god/mortal games.
What you need is a big room, divided in half by a cloth. One side of the curtain is the temple, where the mortals enter to pray. Dress it up like a greek temple. The other side is Olympus, where the gods live. Dress it up as the greek heavens. Have a big table for the gods to sit around, arguing. Lots of grapes, red wine, etc. When mortals enter to pray, the gods can hear them through the cloth wall and respond.
Demi-gods like Herakles might be able to actually pass the veil and travel to Olympus, I dunno. Gods might be able to leave and come down into the world in some instances. Wouldn’t be epic Greece if Zeus didn’t come and get mortal women pregnent. The gods play a game of pawns, getting information from their worshippers and powering them up to have their will done, while cursing those who oppose them.
Mortals who sacrafice wine, olives and grapes would of course be more likely to get their prayers answered… 
And a couple of animals as well
He had a weakness for women as well.
It’s GREEK dude they haven’t invented homophobes yet! Besides, it’s not you being gay, it’s your character 
Can I be Bacchus?
I like wine, and it seems to like me as well. And I like having a good time.
R
Wouldn’t it be more fun if we suggested other people to cast into roles? 
Most of the Greek stories involve sex:
- lovers scorned
- wives being stolen
- goddesses charming handsome young men
- gods charming handsome young men
There probably needs to be some kind of way for this to happen in game that is tasteful, fun and only slightly embarrassing.
We don’t need to stick to conventional time of course, so if Zeus goes and gets someone pregnant, it can probably all be over in half an hour (in time for someone who has died to decide they want to be Zeus’s next kid).
This could work really well. You could have a map of the world with little figures that represented players.
The gods could take mortal 'guises and wander the world, in which case they could interact directly with players.
I can just see Zeus or Aphrodite deciding they’re running low on followers, so it’s time to nip out and breed some more…
Maybe somewhere like Awhitu. Anna ran a few games there and I remember getting ferried across to the island by a ferryman (who I didn’t pay 'til the return trip).
I was thinking that blunt trauma would just get better by itself. Sharp would need magic to heal. Probably only complicates things for no gain.
As far as money and equipment goes, I’d be tempted to say you can have whatever you bring providing it is in the correct (Greek) style. People who provide lots of extra stuff can have some magic items as well.
This one is spot on. The XIIIth legion short swords would be okay as well. Staves would be great.
[quote=“Derek”]There probably needs to be some kind of way for this to happen in game that is tasteful, fun and only slightly embarrassing.[/quote]I thought that this article was interesting. It’s a discussion of how to have sex and not have sex, all at the same time. It’s from Finland, where they take Larp very seriously indeed.
[quote=“Stephanie”]Zeus for thunderbolt smiting
Hera for smiting as well? She’s most well known for motherhood, getting back at Zeus for infidelity and having it in for Hercules[/quote]
We could have them for different sort of smiting. Hera could smite the cheating husbands and such, while Zeus is more generic sort of smiting. Zeus is also the patron god of guests, which was a fairly important role. But that depends on how technical we want to get on Greek society.
Like if you want someone freed from the Underworld but Hades said ‘No!’, you can try and get to him through Persephone. I’m sure I remember a mythological character trying this in some myth, but no name springs to mind.
A note on costuming: I know I’m a classics geek and pedantic, but pretty please can we not let people in togas play?
[quote=“Anna K”]Like if you want someone freed from the Underworld but Hades said ‘No!’, you can try and get to him through Persephone. I’m sure I remember a mythological character trying this in some myth, but no name springs to mind.[/quote]And there are things like Psyche being sent to Persephone to bring back some ‘beauty’ in a box, or Adonis being given to her to look after as a baby.
[quote]A note on costuming: I know I’m a classics geek and pedantic, but pretty please can we not let people in togas play?[/quote]Both out of period and, I have it on the best of authority, demned uncomfortable to wear.
Oh yeah we’re all forgetting Hermes. He’s the main form of communication between demigod and gods. He also contacts mortals and is Zeus’ way of telling other gods what to do.
you sure those aren;t D&D illustrations? cause they look very familiar…
They are in fact, but they’re also really good. Especially Ares and Hades.
Yeah, get rid of the blunt distinction and you also lose the “number of blows to kill” complication too. And people don’t have to pay attention to what they’re being hit with. Less rules, better game. IMHO.
If you want to restrict combat ability then restrict the weapon length, e.g. make the maximum length of clubs shorter than swords. In larp, weapon length makes a massive difference to effectiveness.
In your system, how do people know if they’re being hit with a blow that damages through armour? In the UK they call “through” for this type of damage. But I can’t suggest that, because I hate OOC calls. How about “by Ares, your armour will not avail you!” kind of stuff?
I’d suggest changing the name “incapacitated” to “wounded”. It’s a simpler word, and with no Hit Points in the system there’s no confusion over what being wounded means. If you’re wounded, you’re down. Also, that way it falls into line with an almost identical combat system I have in mind for another liove combat larp I have in mind. 
Actually, I’d like to playtest that combat system some time. I’m still in favour of a “combat workshop” sometime under the aegis of LARPS like I suggested over here, and I’d like to trial that combat system at such a workshop.
Sounds very freeform. Maybe my thoughts about balancing power levels and restricting the god’s abilities and so forth aren’t appropriate then. I guess the question is, do the organisers want to plan out everything that can be done in the game in advance and tell the players, or will it have a cooperative storytelling feel to it where players can just make shit up? Either way can work, so long as the groundrules are clear.
[quote=“Derek”]
This one is spot on. The XIIIth legion short swords would be okay as well. Staves would be great.[/quote]
I reckon this would be great for a minotaur:
I think the rule mechanics need to be sorted out in advance. But the specific details can remain reasonably flexible. I also think that the use of “lammies” would probably be a good thing to enable people to get straight into the game with minimal problems using the rules.
Magic Items can have little cards attached and anyone with special abilities can have a card describing their ability.
For example we may decide that if you are using magic you begin the spell with the god who has granted the power. Examples:
[b]Magic Spell - Lightning Bolt[/b]
Say: “By Zeus, you have been struck by lightning and are wounded!!!”
Range - 5 paces, target must be visible
Effect - target (and anybody touching them) is wounded and falls prone.
THIS SPELL MAY BE USED ONCE AND MUST BE RETURNED TO THE TEMPLE
IT MAY NOT BE SOLD/STOLEN OR TRANSFERED TO ANOTHER PLAYER
[b]Magic Item - Cloak of Invisibility[/b]
Say: “By Hades, everything this cloak conceals is invisible”
Effect - everything the cloak conceals is invisible. Multiple people
can hide inside it. Anything sticking out (hands/faces/feet etc) can be
seen.
THIS ITEM ALWAYS WORKS, YOU CANNOT TURN IT OFF
IT MAY BE SOLD/STOLEN OR TRANSFERED TO ANOTHER PLAYER