help a lazy guy out w/what my Greek father told me

[a_verheaghe]

I'm working on keywords for a Heroic Greek campaign which I'll gladly share when finished. But, I really was hoping some creative writer could step up and help with a "What my father told me" for this campaign, or some ideas. I always thought the What my ? told me were a great peice of RQ and would like to use them in this campaign.
Thanks in advance and I'll be posting some keywords soon.
Andy

[epweissengruber]

How specific are you getting with the cultures?  Are you going mythic or crypto-historical?  Are we talking Greek/Trojan/Spartan, or Scythian/Argive/Theban/Ionian/Lydian/Minoan/Greek Scicilian/Greek Lydian/Persian?

[a_verheaghe]

I was torn between both, but feel that Heroic Greece is probably best. Less work for everyone involved. Plus the Heroic age is when all the stories take place, which ultimately is what I'm trying to emulate

[epweissengruber]

A school teacher has set up a role-play simulation of the Olympic games complete with thumbnail sketches of the different cultures of ancient Greece.  From my (very) limited knowledge, the teacher seems to have captured the reputation each city state had in the classical world.  Remember that Argos and Thebes were the bees knees in the myths and histories ... Athens becomes hot stuff much later.

http://members.aol.com/Donnclass/Greeklife.html#ARGOS

YOU ARE AN ARGIVE! You have been educated in the arts and the sciences, and trained to be productive and capable in times of peace or war. You have much of which to be proud. Although your close neighbor, Corinth, is on the coastline, your polis is located on a plain, where the weather tends to be hot and dry in the summer, and cold and wet in the winter. Your soil is not especially fertile, and you must fight the elements to grow food. In spite of this hardship, your magnificent stone sculptures of athletes, rippling with muscle, are the envy of many a Greek city-state. You are famous for your wonderful musicians and poets. Drama reached new heights in your polis. Plays are performed in open-air theatres, drawing crowds of 20,000 or more Argive citizens! Unfortunately, you have a problem. When Athens and Sparta asked your polis to send supplies and troops to fight the Persians, after the battle of Thermopylae in 480 BCE, you refused. For this decision, you are held in disgrace by the other Greek city-states.

ARGIVE GOALS AND BEHAVIOR AT THE OLYMPICS:  Your goal is to reverse the negative reputation you currently hold in the ancient Greek world. You will have to work hard to convince other city-states that your athletes, soldiers, scholars, orators, architects, poets, dancers, and artists are as fine, if not superior, to the other city-states. You cheer Argive victories, and win as many events as you can. Your goal is to make sure that Athens and Sparta don't win at all. (Your plan is to throw your support to Corinth or Megara toward the end of the competition, if it appears you can not win.) You are Argives, hard-working, honest, loyal, clever, creative, courteous representatives of Argos, and of her glorious past. Good luck in the games!

[epweissengruber]

Danile Ogden wrote a great book that provides all of important sources for our understanding of magic in the Classical world.  It is organized by topic, heavily cross referenced, and well indexed.

Magic is closely tied to necromancy and curses depend on binding the energy of a spirit to your particular purpose.  For example, there is a stomach-turning description of two witches burying a boy up to his chin and letting him starve to death while they feast nightly.  The pain of longing empties out his liver and the marrow of his bones.  When they roast his bones for a magic potion, the raw need that consumed his soul is preserved and turned into the key ingredient in a love potion.  The drinker will be consumed with the same burning need.

So if you are thinking magic -- you might want to think of using the Spirit Magic rules, with the heavy voodoo/necromantic/prophetic rituals being sources of bonuses that help you break into the spirit world or to bind spirits to your purposes.

Here is the table of contents and a review.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0195151232/ref=pd_sim_books_2/103-1228165-6522234?v=glance&s=books


Greek Sorcerers
Alien Sorcerers (Persian Mages, Chaldaeans, Egyptians)
The Rivals of Jesus
Medea and Circe
Witches in Greek Literature
Witches in Latin Literature
Ghosts
Necromancy
Curses
Erotic Magic
Voodoo Dolls and Magical Images
Amulets
Magic and the Law

plus copious indicies and bibliographies.

You could read out excerpts from the book as set-ups to your games.  It think the author has done his own translations -- they seem very up to date.

BTW.  Ron has caught the flavour of Classical dark magic in his Sorceror game: you might want to check out some of his Demon mechanics.  They fit really well with the necromantic, erotic, and sadistic aspects of evil magic from the Greek and Roman worlds.

Best of luck

[Mithras]

Hi, I should really pimp my my own Greek campaign here, shouldn't I? It's very classical Greek, however, so may not be what you are looking for. But it is RuneQuest, so, depending on when you got into HQ/HW may hold familiar ground for you.

It's called Warlords of Alexanderhttp://www.geocities.com/zozergames/warlord1.html