Polaris is...

[Ben Lehman]

I am a DORK, and managed to forget to log Ron out on this machine.  :-(

Apologies for any confusion.

yrs--
--Ben

[Larry L.]

(which, if you have three or more friends that are Mahabharata junkies, no big deal.)

I wish I had three or more friends that were Mahabrharata junkies.

Man, you missed out on the opportunity to announce Sorcerer D20.

[Brand_Robins]

I wish I had three or more friends that were Mahabrharata junkies.

Word.

OTOH, I don't have three or more friends that are Arthur junkies, Greek epic junkies, or anything other than anime and movie junkies, so....

That said:

The necessarily tragic plot arc of zeal -> weariness is a direct rip on the Greek piety -> hubris.  For the Mahabharata, you would need to find the plot arc inherent to all characters in the story (if there is one) and also get everyone onboard with the background and color (which, if you have three or more friends that are Mahabharata junkies, no big deal.)

I do not yet have Polaris in my hands, and this could change when I get it, but the problem here is that the Mahabharata, while it certainly had many tragic elements and lots of negative things to say about the nature of humanity, is (in the end) a book about overcoming. Unlike Achiles, Karna finds Moksha for following his dharma, and unlike Agamemnon, Arjuna is justified by god for doing what he must in order to rule.

I suppose you could do a dharma --> entrapped by samsara --> tragedy --> possible moksha for those who died according to dharma, but it doesn't seem to follow exactly from what I know of Polaris' setup.

[sben]

You know what would be another workable setting for Polaris?

Star Wars ep. I-III.

[Rob Donoghue]

I do not yet have Polaris in my hands, and this could change when I get it, but the problem here is that the Mahabharata, while it certainly had many tragic elements and lots of negative things to say about the nature of humanity, is (in the end) a book about overcoming. Unlike Achiles, Karna finds Moksha for following his dharma, and unlike Agamemnon, Arjuna is justified by god for doing what he must in order to rule.

True, and I admit I was thinking of things more from the side of the Kauravas, who have a number of good or partially good elements among them - specifically thinking about the story of Karna in this regard.

(I'm somewhat lucky in that a friend of mine is a magnificent storyteller, in the classical sense of the word, and because of him our group has a lot of general awareness of this stuff.  Of course, he's also supposed to be runnign an Exalted game (of this flavor) any damn day now).

Hmm.  _That_ said, I find myself running other myths through this particular blender to see what comes out.  I find myself coming back to Norse mythology - it ends pretty badly and seems ot have the right sort of flavor, but it doesn't necessarily have the placeholder for hubris. Hnh.  Interesting exercise, all told.

-Rob D.

[Larry L.]

You know what would be another workable setting for Polaris?

Star Wars ep. I-III.

(Represses the urge to scream.)

Actually, Polaris supports science fantasy if that's the way you wanna roll it. The setting is sufficiently vague to allow this. Look at it: there's things like environmental suits and flying machines hinted at.

Imagine the Starlight Swords are made from beams of pure starlight...

Yeah. That could kick some ass.

The Mistaken? A power plant failure. A wormhole accident. An impact from the heavens.

Describe characters to look like extras from Farscape instead of pseudo-medieval dudes.

Just don't actually get all scientific and spoil the mystery.

This could be way, way, way cooler than Star Wars.

[Nev the Deranged]

 You know for someone who's never read Werewolf, that was a pretty close conceptualization.

 And at GenCon Ben's demo's all included "as a Knight, you have a Starlight Sword, which is just like a Lightsaber, only cooler!"

 That little demon handpuppet thingie, in "his" interview with Ben, said that was the best game pitch he'd heard all Con- "It's like Star Wars, only cooler!"