The actor in our group got cast in an October show so we've lost 1/3 of our party. By agreement we put
 |
| Heracles and the Nemea Lion Pieter Paul Rubens |
the campaign on hold and I offered the party something ... different. Instead of waking up in the deep forest, where they WERE, they find themselves on a beautiful beach with Cyprus and Olive trees in the distance.
They're visiting the island of Kalogeros, home to both Mount Olympus and the Gates of Hades. Cerberus has become problematic and the gods have sent the party to the stewards of the island to assist with the mayhem. You can find the whole thing here, including maps, music and VTT tokens. It's a railroad but for a short term somebody-couldn't-make-it drip in it fills the bill. And can be revisited whenever necessary. Note: not thrilled with the music but I found some good usable stuff here and even here. Lot's of folks don't like THIS source but I got a sweet 1-year deal so I'm using it while I can. Some good music here but might be too much waste for too much money. Film at 11.
Anyway. We got in a good three hour session. LOTS of role-playing. My party spent a LOT of time talking to Chyron. A LOT. About stuff that had next to nothing to do with the game. One hour gone. Second hour was spent tracking down the BBG along with all of the encounters therein. Third hour was a reasonably interesting combat. Number of opponents increased nearly every round which was interesting. Party used their AOE spells to good effect when the numbers got big. And the BBG failed an important ST which made it a little easier.
Nothing new from most characters, the exception being our Scribe Wizard who finally uncorked her Manifest Mind feature to good effect. An interesting magic item was the reward. Don't think they've caught on to the whole Hercules thing. Yet. One player has a decent knowledge of the mythology but she still hasn't made the connections. She will. Eventually.
Figured the first session would be intro and one task. Nailed it. So I'm thinking two tasks for the next level. And the hydra is a water/underwater fight which this party has never done. But they DO use a lot of fire-based spells so it might be easier than expected. Hopefully the giant mud crab will grapple the flame throwers.
Damn. Although I'm a true atheist in 'Real Life' (TM), I absolutely love quote/unquote 'religion/mysticism/mythology' in fictional works. As a relatively young kid (about 10-ish or so ?), I already loved Greek Mythology, and in particular the twelve labours of Hercules. Although it's been a long while since I last read it though, I think I can remember enough of it for there to be significant spoilers, but nonetheless (I think I can separate what I know from what my PC might realistically know, so no meta-gaming). When our current campaign ends, I am seriously going to ask our DM to run this for us. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI plowed through Bulfinch's Mythology in HS, lugging the big clunky thing all over town! Glad you like the idea. Please send this link to your DM. I intend to do follow-up session reports as they work their way through. As noted my party hasn't picked up on the Herculean tie in and perhaps the text has modified them enough to not be readily recognizable. Happy Gaming
ReplyDelete