Comments on: Stealing Ideas: Percy Jackson & The Olympians http://dicemonkey.net/2010/03/05/stealing-ideas-percy-jackson-the-olympians/ Not Your Usual Bag of Dice Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:18:49 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Scott http://dicemonkey.net/2010/03/05/stealing-ideas-percy-jackson-the-olympians/comment-page-1/#comment-1159 Scott Mon, 08 Mar 2010 03:15:23 +0000 http://dicemonkey.net/?p=2442#comment-1159 I run an occasional Dads & Kids game with 10-year-olds. My son especially is a huge Percy fan, and so when I started hinting (not very subtly) that 'more than one' of the party might be demi-gods, it really got them fired up. Once I started trying to map the PATO mythology onto the D&D mythology, it wasn't hard to find parallels. As the Dawn War story is largely based on the Greek story, it's basically all there anyway, so I just added a few embellishments. Instead of the Olympians vs. the Titans, I started with the 12 'Celestians' vs. the Primordials, and it all follows pretty logically from there. The 12 Celestians are the 11 deities from the PHB, more or less. Io was the original king of the gods, and now Bahamut holds Io's seat on the council, but doesn't claim the title (Tiamat rejects the council altogether). Tharizdun was the 12th member, but after the war, he was replaced with Asmodeus, who is tolerated because of his enmity with the demon lords (ex-Primordials). Roughly, most immortals and their servants line up on this side of the conflict. Emphasizing a strong fey connection can give you an excuse to have centaur or satyr NPCs show up as mentors/allies. Obviously the Shadowfell is a great 'Land of the Dead'. On the other side of the conflict are the primordials, including those who have become demon lords (such as Orcus). Demons then serve the role of the PATO monsters, by being able to smell demi-gods, and disappearing in flames when they are killed (possibly returning), etc. Giants and other one-time servants of the primordials also line up on this side. PCs who find out they are demi-gods can't trumpet the relationship, or every demon and giant around will be gunning for them. Mechanically, it can be as simple as using power flavours to make the characters fit, and then choosing Paragon Paths and Epic Destinies that make sense (heck, there's an ED called 'demi-god'). If necessary, go as far as house-ruling racial powers from other races. For example, a human child of Bahamut might replace a first-level attack with the dragonborn breath weapon. A child of Melora might have the Genasi's SwiftCurrent or Windwalker powers, no matter what their actual race. Anyway, I am just at the beginning stages of introducing this to the kids, but so far they are going crazy for it. I would be interested in feedback. I run an occasional Dads & Kids game with 10-year-olds. My son especially is a huge Percy fan, and so when I started hinting (not very subtly) that ‘more than one’ of the party might be demi-gods, it really got them fired up.

Once I started trying to map the PATO mythology onto the D&D mythology, it wasn’t hard to find parallels. As the Dawn War story is largely based on the Greek story, it’s basically all there anyway, so I just added a few embellishments. Instead of the Olympians vs. the Titans, I started with the 12 ‘Celestians’ vs. the Primordials, and it all follows pretty logically from there.

The 12 Celestians are the 11 deities from the PHB, more or less. Io was the original king of the gods, and now Bahamut holds Io’s seat on the council, but doesn’t claim the title (Tiamat rejects the council altogether). Tharizdun was the 12th member, but after the war, he was replaced with Asmodeus, who is tolerated because of his enmity with the demon lords (ex-Primordials). Roughly, most immortals and their servants line up on this side of the conflict. Emphasizing a strong fey connection can give you an excuse to have centaur or satyr NPCs show up as mentors/allies. Obviously the Shadowfell is a great ‘Land of the Dead’.

On the other side of the conflict are the primordials, including those who have become demon lords (such as Orcus). Demons then serve the role of the PATO monsters, by being able to smell demi-gods, and disappearing in flames when they are killed (possibly returning), etc. Giants and other one-time servants of the primordials also line up on this side. PCs who find out they are demi-gods can’t trumpet the relationship, or every demon and giant around will be gunning for them.

Mechanically, it can be as simple as using power flavours to make the characters fit, and then choosing Paragon Paths and Epic Destinies that make sense (heck, there’s an ED called ‘demi-god’). If necessary, go as far as house-ruling racial powers from other races. For example, a human child of Bahamut might replace a first-level attack with the dragonborn breath weapon. A child of Melora might have the Genasi’s SwiftCurrent or Windwalker powers, no matter what their actual race.

Anyway, I am just at the beginning stages of introducing this to the kids, but so far they are going crazy for it. I would be interested in feedback.

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