Suggest Me A System: Demigods

[SwordChucks]

I have an idea for a campaign but don't know what system to run it in.

The basic idea is: The players are Demigods that are half-god half-mortal. The pantheon I'm using is homebrew inspired heavily by Greek mythology. I imagine the game being similar to the labors of Heracles or the voyage of the Argo, with lots of fantasy monsters being overcome and Gods acting petty. One of the major things I'd like is heritage powers that match the characters' parent gods (e.g. Heracles-type strength for the descendant of the god of war or the ability to manipulate emotions for the descendant of the goddess of love).

I'd thought about using D&D 3.5 but the more I think about it the less I think it fits. I'd like magic to be a rare ability, magic items to be nearly impossible to get without a god giving them to you, and the setting to sort of match the Hercules and Xena T.V. shows.

I've heard of Scion and it seems similar to what I want but the setting and gods don't match my ideas. I haven't gotten a chance to review the rules yet, crunch-wise is it a good fit?

[Anonymouswizard]

The games I can think of off the top of my head are Scion (Where you could make your own homebrew setting and Pantheons if you wanted, drop firearms from the game and it could easily be 'high fantasy'), Mutants and Masterminds, and GURPS, in order of suitability.

[TheTeaMustFlow]

Exalted might work as a base (given that exalted are essentially demigods), but it would obviously need some reworking and massive refluffing.

[Eisenheim]

Looks like I get to be the first to suggest FATE this time. I suggest FATE core or FAE, great, system light, easily customizable to fit your needs. I haven't played anything else since I discovered it, and fate does a great job modeling individuals who are seriously powerful, if that's what you want.

[Knaight]

You should be able to get Mythender working pretty well for this. There are a few tweaks that will need to be made (change the apotheosis rules a bit), but they are fairly obvious - plus, as a system Mythender is focused around what are basically demigods fighting what are basically gods and their minions. The greek style fantasy monsters fit right in with that.

[SwordChucks]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone.

I'm currently looking into FATE and Scion to see how well they would work for this.

I have some experience with M&M 3rd edition and it's pretty well liked by my group. Anyone have an Idea of what power level Heracles had about the time he fought the Nemean Lion ?

GURPS is a system I've always wanted to get into but I doubt I could ever convince my group to learn it.

Based on what I've heard of it, Exalted might be too high power level for the game I'm planning. Is this just a misconception on my part? What kind of encounters could be expected for an Exalted adventure starting out?

I mostly play D&D so I'm kind of relying on suggestions to expand my horizons. I've never even heard of Mythender until just now

[Tarlek Flamehai]

GURPS-Supers

HERO-Champions

HERO is going to be the easier of the two, and GURPS will be the deadlier.

[TheCountAlucard]

Based on what I've heard of it, Exalted might be too high power level for the game I'm planning. Is this just a misconception on my part? What kind of encounters could be expected for an Exalted adventure starting out?

Probably a misconception. My group's present foray into the world of Exalted is as a group of privateers going after an undead pirate for various reasons.

Really anything in any of the Conan stories by Robert E. Howard could work as an Exalted adventure, albeit remembering that you've got an adventuring party of five Conans.

[Xuc Xac]

I thought about using D&D 3.5 but the more I think about it the less I think it fits. I'd like magic to be a rare ability, magic items to be nearly impossible to get without a god giving them to you, and the setting to sort of match the Hercules and Xena T.V. shows.

If you want magic to be rare, then don't put a 20th level wizard with a "Ye Olde Magick Shoppe" franchise in every village. If the world is populated entirely by 1st, 2nd, and 3rd level NPCs with only NPC classes, then the PCs will be godlike.

Normal people have a few ranks in Bluff or Diplomacy or Perform, but the PC child of the goddess of love and/or music is supernaturally charming because he is the only person in the world who has levels in Bard.

The armies of the most powerful kings are just a mass of 1st level commoners pressed into service and the elite units are 1st level warriors. They all have Strength scores of 10-11. The child of the god of war is an actual Fighter or Barbarian.

Magic items aren't for sale. They don't show up randomly in treasure hoards. Instead of finding magic items in the monster's treasure, have the PC's patron/parent show up with a gift as a reward for killing that horrible beast. It maintains the proper "wealth by level" and also solves the "Why didn't the orcs use this +2 sword against us?" problem.

[Totema]

GURPS-Supers

HERO-Champions

HERO is going to be the easier of the two, and GURPS will be the deadlier.

I was going to mention Champions as well.

[SwordChucks]

snip

While I agree that these are good steps for a low magic D&D campaign, I feel that the nature of the Christmas Tree Effect would cause problems. D&D 3.5 assumes that you're buying potions and upgrading your weapons or paying for spellcasting. If a god comes down and blesses a player, I as the DM, have to determine what that blessing is which can be a lot of extra bookkeeping. If I give the player what they'd like within the limits of WBL, how is that different then them spending gold to get enhancements? Also the character might not be on good terms with their parent which would make earning a boon from them awkward.

If the players are using PC classes to represent their divinity they'll look god-like compared to commoners, but the monk and fighter will still be weak when fighting a hydra. Another issue is that the game is badly balanced at later levels, which I would like to play to, and the game is very dense which makes adding new players harder.

This may come across as bashing 3.5, and in a sense it is, but I still like it. I just don't think it handles what I'm trying to do very well. Another benefit of not using 3.5 for this is that I get to learn a different system and I've been meaning to do that for awhile. FATE looks great by the way.

[Knaight]

If you want magic to be rare, then don't put a 20th level wizard with a "Ye Olde Magick Shoppe" franchise in every village. If the world is populated entirely by 1st, 2nd, and 3rd level NPCs with only NPC classes, then the PCs will be godlike.

Or one can just use a different game. There's tons of them out there, it's worth trying out a few anyways, and the proposed idea isn't really within D&D 3.5s ideal niche (though it's not that far out of it, and could be made to work with relatively little effort).

[Tarlek Flamehai]

You could even do this with Amber the Diceless Roleplaying Game.

[SirAshley]

I think that Scion is your best bet. Your characters could start out at the Hero level using the Hero source book, and as they grow into their power could move on to the Demigod source book as your adventure continues. The d10 system is pretty straightforward, so it wouldn't be too difficult to grasp for you or your players coming into it new, if that is the case.

[TheCountAlucard]

Isn't Scion a modern setting, IIRC?

Also from my understanding, the rules were kinda crazy. I mean, I'll put up with crazy rulesets; after all, I suggested Exalted, but from my understanding, once you start getting into demigod+ levels of power, you start snapping the possibility of interesting conflicts over your knee like a rotten branch.

Also also there's a new edition of Exalted coming out in some months, and those folks will be handling a new edition of Scion.

[SwordChucks]

I think that Scion is your best bet. Your characters could start out at the Hero level using the Hero source book, and as they grow into their power could move on to the Demigod source book as your adventure continues. The d10 system is pretty straightforward, so it wouldn't be too difficult to grasp for you or your players coming into it new, if that is the case.

One of the players has the book too, so this might end up being what we go with. I haven't read too much of it yet, does it handle combat well?

[The_Snark]

Also from my understanding, the rules were kinda crazy. I mean, I'll put up with crazy rulesets; after all, I suggested Exalted, but from my understanding, once you start getting into demigod+ levels of power, you start snapping the possibility of interesting conflicts over your knee like a rotten branch.

Scion's rules are indeed a bit of a mess. There are cool elements in there, but the game is not very well-balanced at all, and becomes even less balanced the higher you get, to the point that it isn't even really playable when you reach god-level. Also, there are a number of character concepts it just doesn't handle very well.

A number of people have worked on extensive house rules, rewrites and/or conversions to different systems. The only one I have personal experience with is a quick-and-easy version using the Prose Descriptive Quality rules (core PDQ rules available freely here, fan-written Scion conversion is here). It's worked fairly well for me so far, it's uncomplicated and doesn't constrain gameplay. If you're looking for a game with lots of mechanical detail, it may not be the best choice, but if you just want some basic conflict resolution rules while you tell stories about demigods it's solid.

Aside from that... Mutants and Masterminds could work, it's not designed for this but it contains most of the rules and character-building stuff you'll need. (Plus a lot of stuff you probably won't need.) Exalted could work, but not right out of the box - you'd need to do some tweaking, and the rules are finicky enough that I wouldn't recommend it unless you're already familiar with the system. Nobilis could work, but it defaults to a higher power level than you're looking for, so you'd have to tweak character creation a little.

Chuubo's Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine is a little unconventional as RPGs go, and of course you'll be taking the rules without the setting, but it could definitely handle a premise like this. Might not fit your preferences, but I'd play it in a heartbeat.

I've heard good things about FATE Core, but honestly don't have much practical experience with it; from what I remember, it handles supernatural abilities by essentially telling you to make up your own rules for them, which may or may not be to your taste. I know the Dresden Files version has supernatural powers you could use, but the base system isn't as polished (also they're tailored to a specific urban fantasy setting).

[WhiteShark]

You could try Legend; it's d20 based and therefore won't be utterly unfamiliar and it kind of assumes that the PCs are superhuman and getting stronger. The way it handles magic items also avoids the issues you mentioned.

[SwordChucks]

I wanted to say thank you to all of the people that made suggestions. I've been reviewing the systems mentioned and I've gotten a lot of good ideas from them.

Also, Scion is a crazy mess of good fluff and meh crunch, so I'll have to check out that conversion when I have more time.

Thanks again everyone.

[Jay R]

Mythic Greece The Age of Heroes (available here) is a supplement for Rolemaster of Fantasy Hero (Champions). It can be adapted to other systems, but I think you'll find it's exactly what you want. It was written in 1988, so you'll be looking for an old copy.

[Geostationary]

I'm seconding FATE and Mythender; from what I've read/heard they could work pretty well.

Also seconding Chuubo's Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine; it's a fairly unorthodox system, but it could work really well for what you're wanting and it's very customizable in terms of powers. While it comes with a setting, the system can be ported to new settings with relative ease. However, it may not play the way you're looking for so if you want more granular combat and/or less focus on social/roleplay aspects it may not be for you.

[Milo v3]

You could try Legend; it's d20 based and therefore won't be utterly unfamiliar and it kind of assumes that the PCs are superhuman and getting stronger. The way it handles magic items also avoids the issues you mentioned.

Legend even suggests that you can have the magic items be blessings from gods, or you can use the option to gain less items than default at the benefit of your character being more innately powerful.

[Jay R]

One other comment about the book Mythic Greece The Age of Heroes (available here).

It has specific rules for demi-Gods, including 3d6 of Luck and 3d6 of Unluck, to guarantee getting messed around by Fate. Also a demi-God is Watched by a friendly God, and Hunted by the minions of an unfriendly God.