Thursday, December 9, 2021

Greek Mechology - Part 5 - Magic and Mystery Cults

Olympias, Alexander the Great's Mother, is the most important spellcaster of the era.

Olympias presenting the young Alexander the Great to Aristotle by Gerard Hoet before 1733


While originally an adept sorceress and a devout member of the snake-worshiping cult of Dionysus, the fact is that her powers were merely fledgling until her beloved son began to march across the known world-conquering all in his wake.

From this, she used the systematic sorting capacities of Aristotle and mix them with her own training to create a standardized method for spellcasting.

She took the "local" magic and bent it to her will allowing her an undue amount of power in her own right.

While she was reportedly executed by a family that she murdered, there is a consistent rumor that she sent a shapeshifted goat to take her fate and that she is still around, doing her great work hundreds of years later.

Magic - An Overview

The root of the magic system is that of telos:  the study of purposiveness or of objects with a view to their aims, purposes, or intentions. With this filter, most magical rituals were streamlined to the absolute minimum.

By giving magic a degree of rationality, it also requires an altered state of consciousness.  This created a multimedia psychodrama, where the spellcaster puts on a theatrical performance using sounds sights, and smells to create the perfect state for the spellcaster.  It's a combination of both altering the way the spellcaster views the world and how the world is used as both inspiration and projection to get the desired effect.  

Technically, despite the possibilities, magic cannot violate the laws of nature.  While the rules of Greek Mechology are not our own, they are consistent enough that give it a pseudo-scientific methodology.

So what are the Rules?

Roman copy in marble of a Greek bronze bust of Aristotle by Lysippos, c. 330 BC, with modern alabaster mantle




1. Energy is Energy:  Technically energy cannot be created or destroyed, merely transferred.  Spellcasters become more powerful over time by making themselves more susceptible to natural law and become living batteries over time.  It also means energy can block energy, even if the energy comes from a radically different source.

2. Magic uses Energy:  Even if successful, Magic will take much energy and drain it not unlike an electrical device.  Expect to have to recharge using repetition, altered states, and even drugs. 

3. The Four Humors: are particularly necessary to be self manipulated in order to focus the spellcaster.  However, this effect will unbalance the spellcaster and will have adverse effects on their health.

Blood is the channel where the energy is stored.  If you wish to generate a flashy external effect (ex. Fireball), it comes from the blood.  This is where most Kinesis forces start.

Yellow Bile is the channel for physical human augmentation (ex enhanced strength).

Black Bile is the channel that is associated with the melancholy nature of the spellcaster.  This is the humor of enchantment of objects and influencing other people.

Phlegm is the channel of the mind.  This is the human aspect that allows mind-reading and the moving of objects without physical activity.  It also has a cold aspect.

4. Cosmic Patron: Often the magic requires a "Cosmic Patron" to perform.  This usually means "the gods", but may also refer to powerful mythological creatures.  This usually requires a sacrifice of some sort to be able to use such power.

5. Teamwork helps:  Just like any job, having the help of others makes work easier.  This often includes chanting, singing, and even the production of "magical plays" for a powerful effect.  This can even include conducting automata such as at the Temple of Artemis.

6. Negotiation. In many ways, a spellcaster needs to be political.  Without being able to negotiate with the Shades of long-dead heroes and divine avatars, the powers are limited.  However, since many of these shades now possess the living, the negotiation may also include ensuring the host gets something out of it as well.

Religion




The Gods exist, but honestly, they want little or nothing to do with this world.

However, divine experiences do happen on a regular basis.

Most divine intervention is that of Shades pretending to be something they are not.

Most of the time, they get away with it because most religious folks would rather be safe than sorry and they do usually fulfill the obligation as is it not all that much different than secular magic.

Additionally, this also explains the existence of hybrid gods, as a shade may pretend to be more than one god: ex. Hermes Trismegistus - a divine hybrid of Hermes and Thoth.

Classical Gods

These are the "Mainstream" gods of the classical world.  Even if you are a nonbeliever, don't be surprised if you have to perform some rites in the name of civic duty:
  • Zeus/Jupiter
  • Hera/Juno
  • Poseidon/Neptune
  • Cronos/Saturn
  • Aphrodite/Venus
  • Hades/Pluto
  • Hephaistos/Vulcan
  • Demeter/Ceres
  • Apollo
  • Athena/Minerva
  • Artemis/Diana
  • Ares/Mars
  • Hermes/Mercury
  • Dionysus/Bacchus
  • Persephone/Proserpine
  • Eros/Cupid
  • Gaia/Gaea
  • Hypnos/Somnus
  • Rhea/Ops
  • Uranus
  • Nike/Victoria
  • Eos/Aurora
  • Pan/Faunus
  • Selene/Luna
  • Helios/Sol
  • Hekate (Hecate)


Mystery Cults

Dionysiac cult Louvre G407 n2.jpg


Besides the normal overt religion, there are many mystery cults that range in popularity under the radar of standard society.  The following are the most common of the mystery cults

  • Cult of Attis
  • Cult of Cybele
  • Cult of Despoina
  • Cult of Trophonius
  • Dionysian Mysteries
  • Eleusinian Mysteries
  • Mysteries of Isis
  • Mithraic Mysteries
  • Orphic mysteries
  • Sabazios
  • Samothracean mysteries
  • Serapis

https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/myst/hd_myst.htm 
 

Other Gods

There are a ton of worshiped gods even outside the Greco-roman pantheon.  Whether it is Bhaal of Carthage, the Egyptian gods, the Persian gods, and many more.  While the magic works more or less the same, some of these may have exotic tricks that may catch people used to standardized magic unaware.


#greek
#greekrpg
#roman
#romanrpg
#rpgmaker
#rpginspiration
#worldbuildings
#greekpunk

Monday, November 1, 2021

Sunday, September 26, 2021

Slugblasters - Dimensional Neon Tartar Sauce; Part 4 - Gundam My Knee



We fight a Gundam that apparently missed leg day.

We also made peace with our arch-nemesis: Beezaldubb only to possibly return him to a rather mad and raging mob.

Finally, we find JL's Truant officer is a member of that neon pyramid cult.

#forgedinthedark #slugblasters #Jungle #Neon #mech #pyramidpower #gundam

Slugblasters - Dimensional Neon Tartar Sauce; Part 3 - Pyramidic Rhythm

Return of the Metal  Dub Step gods.


https://p1.pxfuel.com/preview/656/374/572/dinosaur-robot-jurassic.jpg




#forgedinthedark #slugblasters #mesoamerican #Neon #dubstep

Sunday, September 12, 2021

Slugblasters - Dimensional Neon Tartar Sauce; Part 2 - Too Many Kems!


https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1147116684

This time, we end up inverting a dragon's gender and it goes downhill from there, mostly on a Zepplin.

#forgedinthedark #slugblasters #desert #dragon #zepplin

Sunday, September 5, 2021

Slugblasters - Dimensional Neon Tartar Sauce; Part 1 - A Holding Pattern of Jelly

Witness our first exciting full episode where our heroes end up in a Waterworld but end up being way cooler than Kevin Costner.



next week: Inverting the Dragon.

#forgedinthedark #slugblasters #charactercreation  you know what you did #squid #underthesea

Sunday, August 29, 2021

Slugblasters - Dimensional Neon Tartar Sauce; the beginning - Eat Milk, Drink Cheese

We restart an epic game where we find out that the world wasn't quite like we left it and have to deal with the fact my best friends may have changed.


#forgedinthedark #slugblasters #charactercreation  you know what you did #squid

Thursday, August 26, 2021

Wednesday, August 25, 2021

Eschaton - Comfy Con - Part 1 - when Conventions go Intergalactical

 This is a start of a game using the Eschaton system, where we decide that having all needs met means that Conventions will become all important.

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1112534167



#eschaton #convention

Tuesday, July 27, 2021

Amber - Arkhe and Market - When the Gods go Drinking (I'm going to plough your fields)

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1098140852

Built on the back of Amber, two gods try to get two mortals to get into a wine making contest, with hillarious results. 

The phrase, "we can fix that, we have time travel" comes up in this experience.

Enjoy this contest of whine.

#amber #drinking #backtothefuture


Monday, July 19, 2021

Savage World - Death to the IzNotz - Part 6 - Assta-la-vista IzNotz!


As the exciting conclusion of our murdering of IzNotz, we dive into the depths of the secret bunker where we find out the ultimate fate of Nora the Tamigauchi.


 #savageworlds #apocalypse #80's #ww2 #barberians

Sunday, June 20, 2021

Monday, June 14, 2021

Savage World - Death to the IzNotz - Part 5 - Tanks for the Memory or Don't Tread on Me.

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1055468783

Our heroes get stuck in a Canyon where we need to deal with wave upon wave of IzNotz.    Trix falls in Love with the BMX Bandit from the previous episode.  We lose a friend in the process.



  #savageworlds #apocalypse #80's #ww2


**********************

The party fought wave upon wave in a canyon, somehow managed to befriend the bandit chief from the last episode (well sorta), and now they are at the bunker that has a mysterious symbol at the front of the door (see podcast for details).

We're in the final stage of the game where Nora the tamaguichi is attached in the building and will let them in, but Otto has prepared a bunch of scary threats in the underground bunker.


The after shot of the tank.


Monday, June 7, 2021

Savage World - Death to the IzNotz - Part 4 - I like Big Buttes



Our epic adventurers go into the desert and death with bandits on bikes that may be cribbed from a really neat movie.

Plus Sandstorm and Sandworm; two areas of sand for the price of one!

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1048309389

  #savageworlds #apocalypse #80's #ww2

Sunday, May 30, 2021

Savage World - Death to the IzNotz - Part 3 - Bugbearian the Emancipator (and I really, really want that sword)!

Our heroes attack with flying wood, knives and fury, and way too many arms.

but then Jetpack.



https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1040781286

 #savageworlds #apocalypse #80's #ww2

***********************************

The new player whom was using a stock character spent a good amount of time redoing it, but long story short, the following happened.

1. The party decided to go to the mini-mall and emanipate some slaves. Some did it because it was the right thing to do. Some did it because they saw a shiny sword being used by the IzNot that decided they were.

They decided the best course of action was to buy a wheelbarrel and swipe a whole bunch of weapons.

the ninja killed the swordsman in one blow and honestly, the party cut through the slavers with ease.

But a legendary figure was waiting for them.

Otto Skorzeny the 23rd, popped up the raised level of the mall, fired a gun that acted as a distraction while he used a magnitization ray to steal nora the tamaguichi and immediately blasted off with his jetpack.

The party tried every single trick they had, but the villain had bennies and manged to get away.


Once the local authorities showed up, they found out Otto Skorzeny the 23rd had already paid for everything (including the slave rebellion) and said it was a demonstration.


He also dared the party to follow him into the desert.


He also wrote got the last word in his letter because apparently Otto plans for everything. :p

Monday, May 17, 2021

Savage World - Death to the IzNotz - Part 2 - Do you Know the Puppet Man?

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1025299518

Our heroes descend into the dark basement of our discontent.  

#savageworlds #apocalypse #80's #ww2



**********************************

Long story short my players dived into an underground bunker in the house to trounce IzNotz.


The place smelt of Saurkraut and fear.


They collected suspiciously cribbed treasure.

https://wolfenstein.fandom.com/wiki/Treasure_(Wolf3D)

They rescued Scorpia and her little friend Snappy.

They also found the Journal of Otto Skorzeny on the 23rd (where they found out their Tamagotchi Nora is actually spelled Norad, and one character is seriously jealous because he outright says he has a Jetpack: neener, neener).

After cleaning out the area, they are in the trader's district of Styxx where half the party wants downtime to purchase stuff and the other half wants to incite a slave rebellion.

They also want payback on the gargantuan-headed psychic guy Doctor Henrich von Megamind as they killed his puppet doppelganger an episode earlier.

Sunday, May 9, 2021

Savage World - Death to the IzNot - Part 1 - Streamlined Heroism

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1017277037



Our heroes begin their epic adventure in a new town where there is IzNot activity. 

#savageworlds #apocalypse #80's 

*******************************

including synopsis

Savage worlds - post-apocalyptic game (using weird wars 2 and day after Ragnarok)

Well, the Last Game went well, although a lot of it was improv because of PC's actions.

The overall theme is Barbarians vs Fascists (you know what I'm talking about).


The party consists of:

1. A bug monster with four arms

2. A dwarf adventurer based loosely on Jack Harkness and has a techno gauntlet as his main weapon.

3. A grumpy old druid that has dedicated his life to stopping illegal hunting (I have no idea how he decides this in the post-apocalypse)

4. A Halfling ninja whose answer is usually murder followed by extreme justification.


Oh, and the Dwarf has a Tamagotchi called "Nora" that he picked up at the beginning of the game.

**************************************

It started in a post-apocalyptic city called Styxx (cribbed from Darwin's world), where they just got off a zeppelin and are at the docks.  A crate broke open and three enormous scorpions broke out.   

So naturally, our party decided to distract them and put them out of the port instead of fighting them.  They were essentially dumped on rocks safely nearby.

When the merchant who owned said scorpions as a delicacy, he got booted off al la 300, but was saved by the dwarf so he scampered back to his place of residence.

The party decided to follow them back to a mansion and after yammering on a decision, saw an IzNotz flag in the window and went in as two teams.

1. The druid turned into a spider and the dwarf acted as if to sell him to get intel on a job and/or fortune.

2. The ninja and the bug snuck in to see what they could loot.


They met the big bad in the meeting room, a small guy with a big mutated head who almost purchased said the spider, until two IzNotz grunts found out about the bug.


One fight later, everybody but the two guards at the door were dead (the party let them go as they appeared to not be IzNotz as one of them entertained him with baby pictures), lit the place on fire, and are now looting the place.

They found the following:

Chest full of Canadian pennies.

Chest full of Canadian tire money.

A secret passage 

Two animated corpses reinforced with metal that just woke up. (Axis Stitches)


Tuesday, May 4, 2021

Savage World Experimental Sessions - Death to the IzNOTZ!



One episode where we decided what to play.

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1001025651

One episode of us fumbling around with savage worlds.

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1009126864

#savageworlds #rifts #ww2 #ragnarok #apocalypse #wierdwars

Sunday, April 18, 2021

Slugblasters - Don Knotts Podunk - Part 3 - Dino Dubbstep!!

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/992693157

and we bring our newly named friend named Fred to the party and shenanigans occur.


#dinosaur

#bladesinthedark

#donknotts

#slugblasters

#rickroll

Sunday, April 11, 2021

Slugblasters - Don Knotts Podunk - Part 2 - Flying the Dino

 https://www.twitch.tv/videos/984445713

We ride Junkasaurus in a post-apocalyptic dimension.



How could you not like Junkasaurus


#dinosaur

#bladesinthedark

#donknotts

#slugblasters

Sunday, March 7, 2021

Slugblasters - Don Knotts Podunk - Part 1 - Character Generation

and now an epic adventure where we begin in a small town with a questionable pond.


#bladesinthedark

#donknotts

#slugblasters

Sunday, January 31, 2021

Eschaton - The Uncouchables - Part 5 - Happy Mindscape everyone



and now in our final episode of the UnCouchables.

Snails may have taken over our transhuman society. :D

  #pbta #eschaton

Sunday, January 24, 2021

Monday, January 11, 2021

Eschaton - The Uncouchables - Part 2 - An Ikea of Couchables

In our next exciting episode, so many clocks are started, a crab does a heist and  Joe learns to game the system. :p


 

Part 1

Part 2

#pbta #eschaton