Breadth of Popsanity

Sunday, January 20, 2019

The Eschaton · Viral Art for Sale - Part 3 - All Boxed up with Nowhere to Go

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/367249877
A tale of whales, discounts and the breaking of physics.

Monday, January 14, 2019

Greek Mechology - Part 2 - The World - Rome and Friends

Rome:

The Italia Peninsula is both smaller and greater then they have ever been. Without the constant slaves of conquest, Rome has been forced to rely on automation for the mines and the fields. Still, Rome and its allied states have learned from the blood and iron used in the 1st Punic Wars. All roads still lead to Rome as thousands flock to the city for a better life.

Syracuse:

It is mostly occupied by the Romans, but the Greeks and Carthage inhabitants are always providing resistance. It is a place that is like the Vietnam war that gives dread to those troops that get this tour of duty.

Mt. Edna:

Ancestral home of Hephestus, this is one of the largest Cyclops colonies on the planet. These master smiths were rumored to be friends of Archimedes and have picked up a few of his tricks with their mastery of lightning and magma. They also invented the Donair.

Carthage:

Carthage survived relatively intact from the 1st Punic wars. The worship of Baal allowed young impressionable shades that had been sacrificed to help in the protection of this mighty empire. It currently controls the northern African coast, Corsica, Sardinia and the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula (where they have a working relationship with the monstrous entity Scylla who lives by the pillars of Hercules).

Libya:

Ruled by a woman that claims to be Medusa, queen of the desert. Her nomadic minions cover themselves from head to toe and raid their neighbors: Carthage and Egypt. They are considering an alliance with Rome but are wary of dealing with the Patriarchy.

Iberian Peninsula:

The rest of the Peninsula is Centaur Territory. After being morphed by a curse done by the Carthage (that loosely went "if you like horses so much, you can be one."), they have adapted by setting up a logistical network of way stations across Europe for communications. They attempt to hold their primal nature by using music and poetry to provide a focus, which results in some truly amazing entertainers that scour the lands.

Gaul:

This proud people once sacked Rome and Rome has never forgotten it. The Druidic Consul holds sway and is masters of alchemy, often using strange potions on fearless troops to create monsters dedicated to acting as guardians of the land.

Britain:

This land is the Atlantis of this world. Very little is known about this world, even the nearby Gauls give it a wide birth. What is known is it is a location of huge Standing Stones, strange blue-white light lines of immense magical energy and a surprising amount of sheep, always watching.

Alps:

A Pythagoras cult (complete with a Pythagoras shade) has taken over the Matterhorn and have built a mathematical wonderland, complete with automated monsters.
Automation provides warm running water, but it runs a contest once a year for initiates.
They have a working agreement with Hannibal, which allowed significantly more troops and elephants to cross the alps in this timeline with relative ease.

Germania:

Here be Giants, which was rumored to have migrated from the north and settled here. While their populations aren't large, they have managed to raise huge paddocks of sheep to live off of. Runes and ritual are very important to these monsters. They commonly hire themselves as mercenaries for anybody if the price is right. However, they are beginning to slow, but surely learn the ways of the south and are trying to organize themselves into a mighty kingdom that will dominate the continent.

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

Sunday, January 13, 2019

The Eschaton · Viral Art for Sale - Part 2 - Interpretive Lovecraft (I was helping)

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/363614165
Our game continues from last time where we learn to monetize Lovecraftian horrors.

Tuesday, January 8, 2019

Greek Mechology - Part 1 - Overview

This is an idea I've been stewing on off and on and decided to flesh it out to see if interest to develop further.

It's essentially its own sandbox of the Ancient world, with a few twists to make it different.

Automatia

One of the defining moments of the settings is just after the 2nd Punic wars.

1. Archimedes of Syracuse is captured, rather than killed.
2. He's then sent to Alexandria with his new patron as a "wonderous consultant" and expands on the knowledge there.
3. He finds out about the aeolipile and refines it with the knowledge of the day.
4. These toys win favor at court.
5. Athens takes issue and starts a "toy war" with Alexandria
6. with this rivalry pushing innovation, within 50 years, it allows the Greeks to push back the Roman expansion for a while with automatic as well as low-grade rail transportation.

This is an ancient world where technology managed to be driven to mythic levels and has changed a lot of how the world works, for good and ill.

Rome, while powerful, hasn't reached it's insane empire building levels yet, mainly due to its rivals stealing state secrets and developing their own weapons and countermeasures.

Shades of the Past

Hades/Pluto must have opened the gates because of this blood because the spiritual dead are surprisingly common.

Some claim to be fragments of the gods, some claim to be great figures of history and it's very hard to confirm which shades are telling the truth.

While the mainstay is Greco-Roman, every culture of the ancient world has had this occur causing the need for inter-pantheon politics through the possessed Council, an international organization dedicated to deruffling feathers with varying degrees of success.

While they can do little directly to affect the current world, they can use worshipers and ride them, not unlike the voodoo tradition, while offering mystical insight and power.

(Heck it is rumored that the Shades of great scientists and builders of the past is the reason why the ancient world has gone through such innovation as cults seek to out tech each other until they are grabbed by the local authorities).

Sometimes it comes as incantations, other times comes as essentially superpowers, but there is usually a trade-off to control such power and makes many superstitions have real power, at least in their jurisdiction.

This has caused many historical figures to play a prominent role long after their deaths. Although it does make people somewhat blasse whenever yet another "Alexander the Great" or "Hercules" comes to town.

For example, there is a feud where a shade of Socrates has accused a shade of Plato of corrupting his words and using his mouthpieces, causing a feud between the Socratic Order and the Philosopher kings that has been going on since the return of the shades and it's only going to get worse from here.

This also allows many people who were relatively mundane in life and forced to walk the living world to setup mystery cults or agreements with adventurers to make something of their afterlife
(which can even include former player characters).

Sometimes these Shades end up mutating the living, resulting in the transformation of entire people into mythical creatures, both monstrous and playable, many of which are still trying to find their place in life, which often leads to the multicultural center
that is Rome.

Now the Punk

The punk aspect would be patrons in all cultures, but especially Rome, owning most of the pie by being able to trace it to the founding of the republic.

A lot of the others have hereditary kings that claim to go back to divinity.

Your characters are the plucky upstarts that have to wade through the various power plays of both external and internal politics while wondering where your next meal is, at least at first. :)

Additionally, a lot of underground cultures based on ideas, professions (such as the firemen of Rome) and mystery cults that "do your own thing" as contrast and potential political upheavals.

It gets worse if a shade gets a liking to you. Suddenly, you have a fragment of the gods/ancients/spirit and are usually considered "unfit" by your betters. Whether they exploit or exterminate you, they will consider you beneath them unless you can bring them to heel.

Inspirations

Disneys Aladdin (because Mechanicles started it all)
GURPS Rome
Hercules (1983)
Hercules vs the Moonmen
History Bites
Hardcore History: Dan Carlin (Punic Nightmares, Death Throes of the Republic, Celtic Holocaust, King of Kings, Glimpses of Olympias)
Rinse the Blood off my Toga (a Wayne and Shuster Special).
Rome (HBO Special)
The History of Rome (Michael Duncan)
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Edward Gibbon)
The Storm before the Storm (Michael Duncan)
Into the Lands of Bones- Alexander the Great in Afghanistan - Frank L. Holt

#greek

#greekrpg

#roman

#romanrpg

#rpgmaker

#rpginspiration

#worldbuildings

#greekpunk