Ideas for Greek-Style Setting

[dukeofwolfsgate]

So I'm building a greek-themed setting for my players, and was hoping some people might have good ideas to add to the mix.

I'm going to be allowing Mariner Fighting Style and the Storm Origin for Sorcerers, all from the Waterborne UA.

I'm also in the process of creating an original pantheon that draws heavily from the traditional greek setting, but deviates just enough to feel unique.

I plan on restricting a few weapons and armors that feel a little too "medieval".

Any ideas as far as player options/restrictions, thematic style, naming conventions, story-line, and villains?

Most importantly, do dragons feel too out-of-theme for this setting? I plan on using a lot of monsters that have a greek theme to them, but just can't decide if i should limit myself to those that come from greek-myth.

[Thrudd]

Take a look at "Mazes and Minotaurs" for some ideas, it's a free download.

There are a few serpent-like creatures in Greek myth that might be interpretted as dragons. Some of them can fly, a few of them have multiple heads, like the Hydra. Serpent monsters are a pretty common obstacle/guardian in Greek myths.

[Kriton]

Here are my two oboloi.

I'm also in the process of creating an original pantheon that draws heavily from the traditional greek setting, but deviates just enough to feel unique.

If you want it to feel unique but greek-ish try changing the number of gods(from 12) but give each of your gods a variety of loosely related spheres of interest and a couple of unrelated.

Any ideas as far as player options/restrictions, thematic style, naming conventions, story-line, and villains?

The tone should be heroic fantasy, maybe with a hint of sword and sorcery if you want to mix it up a little.

For names try an online name generator, but try to avoid the christian ones(though keep in mind that some christian saints had indeed greek names).

Storylines should involve ethical choices and "bad" decisions coming back to bite your players in the buttocks, usually in the form of some pissed off god, or their servants, or the erinyes or some other cosmic force that has the capacity to get pissed off. One of the most common forms of hubris is arrogance, if not indeed the only. Oh and the gods can be pretty unfair in their dealings with mortals though not necessarily "evil" in the dnd-spawned meaning of the word.

Villains could be petty and spiteful figures of authority, monsters, dAemons of some sort, dirty-old-man-like wizards, or maybe even gods.

Most importantly, do dragons feel too out-of-theme for this setting? I plan on using a lot of monsters that have a greek theme to them, but just can't decide if i should limit myself to those that come from greek-myth.

Dragons are A-OK for the greek theme, but try making them weird like:"The golden fleece was defended by bulls with hoofs of brass and breath of fire. It was also guarded by a never sleeping dragon with teeth which could become human soldiers when planted in the ground. The dragon was at the foot of the tree on which the fleece was placed."-quote from here

I hope this helps.

[Hawkstar]

A creature with the head of a goat(Or horse), body of a cat, tail of a serpent, wings of a bat, covered in the scales of a lizard and breaths fire, frost, lightning, or acid certainly feels suitably Greek to me.

[Kami2awa]

The sea will be really important. A world of islands, like Earthsea, would give a strong atmosphere similar to the Oddysey. You probably want some rules for sailing and naval combat (which would make spells like Control Winds or Control Weather really important).

You could have lots of creatures be unique. You didn't fight 1d6 minotaurs, you fought THE Minotaur (enhance it as appropriate for your PC's level). A lot of monsters might be actually be cursed humans or half-human.

The gods will matter a lot more, your PCs might be on a mission from them or even their enemies. Offerings to the gods, cryptic prophecies and omens are a big deal.

Artificiers and inventors like Daedalus make the world more interesting. Science and progress might be more prevalent; philosophers are renowned. There will be great libraries, until some idiot sets them on fire.

You might want to change the standard PC races; elves and dwarves are from Northern European myth. Perhaps Planetouched linked to the four classical elements instead?

Go watch the original Jason and the Argonauts and Clash of the Titans for inspiration :D

[Templarkommando]

Medieval settings tend to use steel and iron for weapons and armor. This is technically anachronistic or at the very least fairly rare depending on what period of Greek history that you're talking about. It seems like you're in the mythic period would indicate that your setting is some time during the bronze age. One option for a rules variant would be to look up the stats on bronze armor and weapons. I think armor for example has a -1 to Armor Class in 3.5, and a lower hardness. This would make sundering a little easier to pull off amongst other effects. Depending on the tone of your campaign, the rule may be just an extra annoying thing to keep up with, so it's really up to you.

The Greek weapon of choice is the spear - at least for military units. To that end, the following entry might be helpful:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoplite

As far as naming conventions, names tend to end with an os, es or a us.

Theseus

Democritus

Damocles

Hercules

Alexios

Andros

Apollos

Hippocrates

Socrates

There are, of course, other Greek names, but that seems to be a rule of thumb.

As far as dragons, the rule that I think of when it comes to monsters in ancient Greece is that they seem to be singular propositions. There is a pegasus, a cyclops, a boar of Calydon, a medusa, a minotaur, a hydra etc. Each one of these encounters seem to be unique encounters that should be memorable in their own right as stand-alone single time fights.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

Although things like centaurs, cyclopes and giants are species of more than one. Those latter two are pretty close to Gods though if I recall correctly, and especially giants have fought against (and for/with) gods in mythical "heavenly" wars.

Another theme you could use is that of great journeys. The voyages of the Argonauts and Odysseus link memorable encounters with a tiny bit of overarching plot. Navigation can be difficult if you piss off the wrong god, and every island you come to has some new horror on it, be it sirens or a gate to the underworld guarded by Cerberus.

[Kriton]

As far as naming conventions, names tend to end with an os, es or a us.

Theseus

Democritus

Damocles

Hercules

Alexios

Andros

Apollos

Hippocrates

Socrates

There are, of course, other Greek names, but that seems to be a rule of thumb.

Many male greek names also end with an "on", such as: Kriton, Platon, Apollon(not Apollos:P), Solon etc. Female names tend to end with vowels or with is: Athena, Electra, Kalypso, Elleni(thats Hellen), Hera, Artemis, Themis etc.
There is also the female name Atropos(one of the fates) but I think it's just a wild exception.

I can't think of any greek names ending with "e" pronounced as in hEllo.

[Kriton]

Many male greek names also end with an "on", such as: Kriton, Platon, Apollon(not Apollos:P), Solon etc. Female names tend to end with vowels or with is: Athena, Electra, Kalypso, Elleni(thats Hellen), Hera, Artemis, Themis etc.
There is also the female name Atropos(one of the fates) but I think it's just a wild exception.

I can't think of any greek names ending with "e" pronounced as in hEllo.

EDIT: Also most greek names tend to mean something.

[Solaris]

EDIT: Also most greek names tend to mean something.

That's not unique to the Greeks. Every name has a meaning, even if it's been forgotten.

[Amaril]

I agree that the monsters the players fight should be unique, but there's still stuff to draw from for other races. You could have options like satyrs, naiads, dryads, and centaurs, all of which are races rather than unique creatures and seem fairly appropriate for PC power level from what I know.

[Mr. Mask]

On the note of gods as villains, make sure they're not villains your characters can kill. Unlike God of War, I can't think of any Greek myth where a human kills a god. Demi-gods and relatives of gods, sure, but not actual gods.

Getting the favour of the gods should be important, and at various times in the adventures it should sometimes occur that you anger a god and so get some extra challenge cast on you in your journey as punishment. The cultural theme is very much trying to gain the gods favour, and not to cheese them off. The idea of scorning the gods would be considered mad and likely to bring terrible luck. Any Kratos God of War character will become a tragedy, who will not kill a single God. As indicated, the gods in such a setting are childish, vindictive, moody, very dangerous, and beyond reproach.


For races, the classical centaurs, satyrs, and other such creatures are possibilities. You could try to extend this to monstrous creatures like the harpy. Also the Amazons, surely. You could also get creative with groups like the Spartans, Persians, etc.. There should also be a strong distinction from the "Greek" faction, and the outsiders who are not "Greeks", and aren't civilized with "Greek" customs. Just as no one blinks at the cruelties of the gods, no one blinks an eye at slavery, or cruelties performed against outsiders in war (there would be some niceties between "Greek" states, but against everyone else it's basically a war of enslavement and genocide in both directions).


There would be all sorts of neat customs and culture you could bleed in, and change to your tastes. Treating your guests well is very important. Killing someone who is your guest is a tremendous crime that will bring the furies upon you, if not the wrath of Zeus himself (potential plot hook, the players are hunting down such an oath-breaker, or a negative trait that one of them is fleeing furies for breaking an oath). The culture had other taboos, such as incest and kin-slaying, as well as avenging the deaths of your kin. People have a deep interest in thought, discussion, conversation, and debate. If you give a poor public debate, the crowd might get up from their seats and beat you. Being able to speak well is paramount in the culture. However, brutality is aplenty.

The Olympic games feature renowned wrestlers, known for breaking all of his opponent's fingers. People who surrender are despised as cowards, while those who fight even to their deaths or great injury are cheered. And even these games, the Spartans boycotted them for not allowing eye-gouging. Physical fitness is in fashion, even as a healthy layer of fat over muscle also is. Running and other athletic pursuits are also popular, though the wrestling really draws the crowds.


With the thought of female players, beyond the idea of Amazons (who would probably be seen as uncivilized, but formidable barbarians): While women weren't known for fighting in Greek culture, Athena was born with armour. You could have a, "daughters of Athena," social class, essentially female paladins who receive great respect among the civilized "Greeks". I wouldn't make them a mechanical class, as that might restrict player freedom (and really, a champion of Athena might well materialize herself under any class). You could also play up the female Spartans a bit, if you wanted (Spartan women trained and fought in practice, though they didn't go to war, so having female "Spartan" warriors wouldn't be hard). And of course, if the players are demi-gods or royalty, no one will bat an eye if the women decide to wield swords.


Hmm, anything else? Weaponry inspired by the era could be interesting. Phoenician longships are the best in the world at that time, though methods of fighting vary widely across the world from hoplites to horse archers. Bronze and iron could coexist in the setting, iron technology still being poor and in its early stages.


Those are my first thoughts. Hope some of them were helpful.

[Templarkommando]

Many male greek names also end with an "on", such as: Kriton, Platon, Apollon(not Apollos:P), Solon etc. Female names tend to end with vowels or with is: Athena, Electra, Kalypso, Elleni(thats Hellen), Hera, Artemis, Themis etc.
There is also the female name Atropos(one of the fates) but I think it's just a wild exception.

I can't think of any greek names ending with "e" pronounced as in hEllo.

Nike

Syntyche

[sktarq]

Some things to consider:

Travel: Travel was a big to-do in the Greek world. They basically reinvented the travelogue as a written to be more than just tales of daring do. The long trade and colonization efforts (which was just as often a town district or extended compound in another nation as a new city carved out of the wilderness) that many Greeks went on were often based on scouting missions. Working for scouting missions, retrieving a items from/ making contact with/ etc a colony, clearing a trade route etc would all be good adventure seeds

Sacrifice: This is how many people dealt with the priesthoods and divinity. And in a world with actual magic people would have been unlikely to keep the practice if their neighbor can cast all the same blessings AND gets to keep his incense, wine, livestock and slaves. So figuring out what benefits accrue to those who sacrifice may be a neat idea. Adventure seeds of collecting the appropriate sacrifice/tools etc, or recovering it from people who stole it before it was presented to the deity, or just turning place/time/object combinations into McGuffins/plot points.

Social issues: a few big things come up here.
First is the fact that ancient Greek society was not very....fair. Slavery was the norm, in most areas women had few if any rights (there were certainly exceptional regions and groups with special exceptions but they were just that exceptions to the norm), in most areas there was serious stratification of power and social mobility was limited. Thus there are lots of "tread carefully" points in this morass. And you know your players better than we do.
Secondly there was the great gulf between the Greeks and "Others". Real History Greece was surrounded by groups like the Illirians, the Minoans, the Persian Empire, NeoHitties, and via the Ocean a whole morass of others-especially . However they did have a very strong Greek identity and would cleave to each other vs an outsider. So rescuing another Greek expedition, rallying a number of regional powers to fend off an outside invasion etc would all be good adventure seeds.

Internal Polis-centric identity. Your home city-even it was the home city of your colony was at the heart of most Greeks identity. If the Greeks would fight together against the world then those of the same Polis would be their brothers with whom they would fight other Greek cousins. The amazing amount of variability in Greek society (Military dominated Monarchs of Sparta, Corinthian Trade magnates, and Athenian Oligarchical/Democratic naval power) was a hallmark of Greek civilization as a whole.

Non-Polis power however was very great in most of greek history and makes for good adventure seeds , villans etc. While we are uses to all other power centres being secondary to a primary military/political unit (an artifact of the Peace of Wallachia) this was not true in ancient Greece. Major Academies were powers in their own right and also exerted powerful influence on classical political forces - their differing philosophies and even rules of admittance (one of Lesbos was for a time unique in admitting women for example) would be echoed in places where their graduates gained power. Also many Major temples were in practice sovereigns over their own territory. Getting some to follow the law was an exercise in negotiation as often as force.

Instability: One of those things people tend to skip over in a skim of several centuries of Greek history is that it was a tumultuous time. When there were not foreign invasions there were internal wars and raiding and banditry were rife. What city states were dominant ebbs and flowed over the decades. Colonies were founded, lost changed hands, and refounded. Grand projects were started, sometimes completed, sometimes worked for a time before collapsing, and other times abandoned.

The deal-a greater theme that arches through lots of Greek issues is the art and near sacredness of the deal. Citizenship was far more explicit a deal between an individual and the rest of the populations with distinct benefits and responsibilities laid out in Greece than it was before. Sacrifices to the Gods was often put in the form of a "this for that" type system. and those who go back on their word were dark indeed.

Also questing towards an idealized form was another common theme within ancient Greek culture. There were many such iconsand though in the modern day we only deal with a few of them (the classic beautiful athletic youth being the most famous) there were many at the time. Various figures from tales ancient even them, demigods and heroes. Questing to be worthy to meet, join the party of, or even become one of these figures would be a major quest line. And for high level (and certainly epic level characters) the mythic nature of their exploits would have direct and concrete actions of people holding them up not only to be emulated but as definitional figures of some ideal.

[Kriton]

Nike

Syntyche

Nike is actually pronounced Niki as is Syntychi

[dukeofwolfsgate]

Wow! So many great ideas and examples! I have a lot to consider. If anyone has more thoughts, please add them!

[NRSASD]

Couple more things on the religion and culture front:

Just about every major geographic feature had its own spirit or even demigod that lived within it. Better not cut down that old tree because a dryad lives within, while during the Trojan war the river flowing by Troy actively fought the Greek attackers by flooding on them repeatedly until Achilles stabbed the spirit responsible.

Likewise, just about every hero (and their human adversaries) all had at least a traceable drop of divine or royal heritage in their blood. Many of the gods had a thing for mortal women and remarkably poor judgement and restraint with keeping their hands off the ladies (I'm looking at you Zeus). As such, divine heritage through a lucky grandparent, while uncommon, was not particularly unusual either.

While every Greek city acknowledged the same pantheon, each city had a favored deity who looked out for them at a cosmic level. Blaspheming against a city's deity was a crime worthy of execution in even the most tolerant of cities (in fact, Socrates was executed by Athens for that very reason), because offending the local god put the entire city at risk of divine retribution. At the same time though, every city made sure to honor all of the gods through festivals celebrated throughout Greece.

Another major group of strong female characters would be the priestesses/huntresses of Artemis. Since Artemis was the goddess of the hunt and young women, a group of women dedicated to protecting nature from over-exploitation and children from harm would certainly fit within the setting.

It cannot be overstated that a Greek city state valued its independence above almost everything else. While they formed alliances and leagues for specific reasons (such as trade or mutual adversaries), these alliances collapsed the moment the reason was removed or a better deal was discovered. A city state controlled the lands around its city, any colonies it founded, and any cities it could coerce into cooperating, but almost nothing else. Because of the rough terrain and the lack of a centralized authority, bandits were virtually a constant in peacetime and in war.

Since no city state controlled much territory, none of them had an official army per se (Sparta being the glaring exception). Every male citizen was expected to serve in the military if the city asked. All of the citizens regularly drilled to fight in close formation, so they were quite effective combatants despite fighting only infrequently. Most wars were fought in the summer while the crops were growing and the majority of the public had a lot of spare time. Since a city state's army was literally its people, any serious losses would cripple the city for a generation. As such, most battles were not as deadly as one would initially suspect, since most of the battles were decided by which army could scare the other into fleeing first.

Cavalry didn't really exist in any meaningful form until Alexander came along with his Companion Cavalry. The bad terrain, a lack of stirrups, and no real organization meant it was a great way to move around quickly or chase fleeing foes, but an effective cavalry charge didn't exist. Since there were no stirrups, most cavalry either used spears (not lances), swords, or javelins.

Armor wise, shields are a big deal. Anyone who fights has a shield, ranging from the massive bronze-shod round shield of the hoplites to the smaller flimsier wicker or hide shields of the skirmishers. Leather, bronze breastplates, hide, and scale mail (foreigners only) are used a fair amount, but most soldiers just wore their clothing into combat. The most popular type of armor at this time doesn't have a D&D equivalent. It was called the linothorax, and was basically hardened and laminated linen (fabric). It was decent against melee weapons, but really excelled against missile fire; the layered fabric functioned quite similarly to kevlar. As a final note, spears and swords are a big deal, but with the exception of the odd axe there weren't any 2-handed weapons really.

[Mr. Mask]

Just a footnote on NRSASD great contribution, Socrates was accused of heresy for political motives (this was a common way of hurting your enemies). Arguably, he died because he told them during his trial the city should pay for his lunch every day. On that note, a popular form of execution was drinking poison.

I would also like to add to sktarq's excellent post, that on the matter of unfairness, it really was the accepted state of the world (and still is in some places, where they'll ask you, "why does it have to be fair?"). There was an example where a weaker nation was under attack, and the Greek commented (possibly to the weaker nation) they should surrender, because it is the right of the strong to conquer. So if in the setting someone comments on unfairness, they will get funny looks.

Deity-Based Class Restrictions?
Thinking about NRSASD's comment about female followers of Artemis, you could potentially try to cover all the classes (I'm assuming DnD here) with groups like this. So, warrior priestesses of Athena might be able to become Clerics, Fighters, Paladins, and maybe some others. While followers of Artemis could become Rangers, Druids, Clerics, or some others. And of course, you could be a Fighter/Rogue/Sorcerer of Athena, as long as one of your classes fit. This would be flavourful and interesting, but you are restricting player freedom, so it mightn't be worth it.


I've given all my current thoughts, Wolfsgate. If there is anything you're wondering about, hearing it would give me something to exposit about further (when you have all of Greece to talk about, where to even start?).

One thing to mention, is in some ways I see no reason you couldn't make it a literal fantasy Greece for your setting. Greece with real centaurs and such, and magic and new orders based off Artemis and Athena, etc.. Of course, if you want to make drastic changes, then a true fictional setting inspired by Greece would still be better.

[Honest Tiefling]

Firstly, if you need names here you go. That site has a whole heap of them.

If you want to do something different with the gods, consider the other tales then what we consider 'normal'. Make Dionysus the heir to Zeus' throne. Mention Zeus' first wife, Dionne. Aphrodite is now the patron of sailors (and no, not like that, as in not getting them killed) or Hectate being the goddess to guide souls to the underworld and NOT malicious.

Toss in some stuff from Anatolia/Turkey/Middle East, either by having them be somewhat outside the pantheon or conflating them with similar gods (such as Astarte/Aphrodite). Maybe increase the importance of titans/primordials like Gaia/Selene/Eos/Nyx/Helios, even if that means taking away those powers from the Olympians.

[Closet_Skeleton]

Clerics don't actually make any sense as a class in a Greek inspired setting. Priesthoods were only very rarely permanent positions and were almost never a social class, so a Christian style clergy has no real place in a classical setting.

People with holy powers are fine though, they just shouldn't be priests in a typical D&D way.

Most importantly, do dragons feel too out-of-theme for this setting? I plan on using a lot of monsters that have a greek theme to them, but just can't decide if i should limit myself to those that come from greek-myth.

Dragon is a Greek word, of course it fits. Pretty much all the medieval monsters had Greek roots. Its not like D&D dragons are that similar to medieval ones anyway.

On the note of gods as villains, make sure they're not villains your characters can kill. Unlike God of War, I can't think of any Greek myth where a human kills a god. Demi-gods and relatives of gods, sure, but not actual gods.

Gods can't die. Even Chronus and the Titans were still alive, just chained in Tartarus.

While every Greek city acknowledged the same pantheon, each city had a favored deity who looked out for them at a cosmic level.

The Greek Pantheon varied a lot. No two sources we have from the Greek world agrees 100% about how the famous stories are actually supposed to have gone.

Lots of non-Greek deities also often got assigned the names of Greek deities, just to confuse things. One Greek city in Asia Minor might have three temples to Zeus, one for the Greek Zeus, one for a local non-Greek deity the Greek colonists adopted when the city was founded and renamed Zeus and one for a Egyptian deity that some mercenaries brought back with them and decided to call Zeus.

Since no city state controlled much territory, none of them had an official army per se (Sparta being the glaring exception).

Sparta was not an exception. It has a citizen army just like everywhere else. They also had non-citizen soldiers from the serf-class (Helots) but they were also only part time.

The city states generally controlled a lot of territory. A Greek Polis wasn't strictly defined to just the urban portion. Athens was basically the capital of all of Attica, which was a reasonable sized region full of villages that all considered Athens to be the main power centre.

[Zrak]

Though there are already a ton of great posts in this thread, I feel like there are a few things that could still be mentioned.

Gods: I think you can maintain the "feel" of the Greek gods even if you switch pantheons, appearances, and personalities as wildly as you like as long as you keep two things in mind. First, they're an aristocratic family, with all the dysfunction, rivalry, and animosity that often implies; unlike deities of most settings, their hatreds are more often personal than based in their portfolios or ideologies. In other words, the squabbles between the Gods are petty, not just by our standards, but even in-universe; Zeus has to go all "So help me Me, I will turn this car around," on his children a few times during the Iliad. Second, they're both more personal and more interventionist than the deities of basically any D&D setting; they will descend to earth and drive your chariot or abduct a lady from her husband for you when the mood strikes them, if they take a personal fancy to you.

Weapons: As others have pointed out, bronze was the dominant metal at the time in which many Greek epics are set. Aside from the in-game qualities of bronze (decreased hardness, slightly lower AC, maybe the fragile quality) that others have mentioned, there's also the fact that certain weapons just aren't as feasible in bronze as they would be in iron. Short-swords are workable, but longswords generally weren't, for example; in general, hafted weapons are going to be much more common than anything that isn't. Shields are ubiquitous, and shield-and-spear styles were common enough that it might be worth homebrewing some feats for it, or to just make shields a more feasible option in general. Speaking of making things more feasible options, javelins were also ubiquitous, and could use some feat/houserule love to be made into a more workable combat style. Longbows also weren't a thing, in general, although their mechanics could be used to replicate the famously gigantic bows of certain characters. Lastly, throwing huge rocks was just a thing dudes did on the battlefield, at least in epics if not in history, so adding a feat to give players the Rock Throwing monster ability might not be a bad call.

On the note of gods as villains, make sure they're not villains your characters can kill. Unlike God of War, I can't think of any Greek myth where a human kills a god. Demi-gods and relatives of gods, sure, but not actual gods.

Diomedes might come pretty close to killing a couple during his rampage in The Iliad, but he's aided by a Goddess and it's also not clear if Ares's injuries are really that severe or Ares is just being a huge baby because he's never felt pain before. Whether gods can die, even at the hands of other gods, is pretty ambiguous, and most versions of most stories would lean towards the fact that they can't, although some of their actions and statements in other stories would indicate the opposite.

You could also get creative with groups like the Spartans, Persians, etc.. There should also be a strong distinction from the "Greek" faction, and the outsiders who are not "Greeks", and aren't civilized with "Greek" customs.

As a side note to this excellent point, it's important to keep in mind that the idea of Greeks at the time didn't exactly match up to how we see it, today. As Mr. Mask says, there was a distinction between Greeks and non-Greek outsiders (the original "barbarians"), but the idea of a unified category of "Greek" was by no means as strong or consistent contemporaneously as it is from the perspective of history; who was included in the collective naming of the day depended not just on the time, but even the speaker.

(there would be some niceties between "Greek" states, but against everyone else it's basically a war of enslavement and genocide in both directions)

As another addendum, the popular notion that the Achaemenid empire outlawed slavery is a misconception drawn from the Achaemenid empire abolishing debt slavery. Keeping captives as slaves was still, insofar as we can discern from the records that remain, a going thing.

[Vitruviansquid]

It is, in my opinion, much less important that your players are fighting minotaurs and harpies while wielding bronze xiphos and worshipping Athena, and much important that your stories take on Greek modes of storytelling with Greek worldviews.

Your stories must have heroes of might like Ajax, and heroes of trickery like Odysseus, and heroes of virtue. Your PCs should meet friends and foes mad with hubris, and see the results of trying to exceed the gods. Your characters should find themselves swept hither and thither in the machinations of the opposing gods. The wilderness should be full of dangerous, strange creatures as well as helpful nymphs and nature gods, not to mention barbarians with strange features and even strangers customs.

[Lawleepawpz]

Yes! An opportunity to put my classics major to use! :D

First off, avoid the letter C. That is Roman. For any usage of C, use K or S instead, the same goes for Y. The Y is Greek is actually an Upsilon, or U. Avoid H as well, as that is a breathing sound. Z is sounded as "zd". In addition, Male names will end with -Ov, -Is, and -Os almost always, -Es is an adaptation by the Romans. This should help a bit with authentic names.

Second, Greek myth almost always ends with some accidental tragedy. Herakles' wife is tricked and kills him, Theseus is thrown into a pit or something, Perseus kills his grandfather, Odysseus dies, Menelaus returns to be mirdered by his wife in a coup attempt with her lover, Ajax kills himself, et cetera. While this does have exceptions, consider killing off a beloved NPC by accident of a character. Because you did X? Zeus strikes down your friend.

Monsters are very dangerous, and only a true hero has a chance to kill them. Make sure your characters become famous if they take down a legitimate monster.

cities would often be known for something. Marathon the Well-Watered, Corinth the Trade City, Spartan Soldiers, etc. I might add more, don't know yet.

[Sredni Vashtar]

You really can't understate the importance of the pettiness of the gods in a Greek Myth inspired setting. They should be mucking around in the PC's lives fairly regularly. (They also make for excellent quest-givers.)

[MrZJunior]

Metal was incredibly valuable. Think of all the treasures laid out by Herodotus it's things like bronze tripods or other metal implements. If one of your characters owns a full set of Hoplite gear they would be quite wealthy indeed.

Greek civilization was old even by the the time what we think of as the classical era rolled around. Legends abounded about the ancient ruins which dotted the landscape. For instance in later times the ruins at Mycenae was attributed to Cyclopses because it was thought that only they could be powerful enough to move the great boulders which made up the walls.

Remember, acropolis is another word for citadel, not just that thing in Athens.

If I think of anything else I will post it.

[Zrak]

Your stories must have heroes of might like Ajax

Two of them, in fact. Both named Ajax.

More seriously, though, that is a good point. On a similar note, if you really want to emulate the style of storytelling from Greek myth and epic, which is honestly more essential to the feeling than any isolated monster or deity, you have to learn to make Railroading less a bug than a feature. The best way to do this is to let the players do whatever they want, but have events paint them into a corner, just like in your favorite tragedy/epic/whatever; there's nothing against trying to evade your fate, it's just that nobody ever really succeeds.

[goto124]

[some snipping involved] their hatreds are more often personal than based in their portfolios or ideologies. In other words, the squabbles between the Gods are petty, not just by our standards, but even in-universe; Second, they're both more personal and more interventionist than the deities of basically any D&D setting

The gods seem to be babies with too much power. Does it help to imagine how a overly large group of childish DMs and co-DMs would run a game? *looks over at Worst DMs thread*

you have to learn to make Railroading less a bug than a feature. The best way to do this is to let the players do whatever they want, but have events paint them into a corner, just like in your favorite tragedy/epic/whatever; there's nothing against trying to evade your fate, it's just that nobody ever really succeeds.

Also, tell your players in HUGE BOLD LETTERS.

Though, could there be a better way to handle Greek-style than railroading? After all, prophecies tend to be vague, and the PCs could easily reinterpret it into something that they want.

[VoxRationis]

Greek civilization was old even by the the time what we think of as the classical era rolled around. Legends abounded about the ancient ruins which dotted the landscape. For instance in later times the ruins at Mycenae was attributed to Cyclopses because it was thought that only they could be powerful enough to move the great boulders which made up the walls.

Related to this: is this supposed to be the age of heroes and myths, the early time of a "primitive" grandeur a la Mycenae, or the age of Classical Athens and Sparta, of phalanxes and triremes? Very different settings.

[Zrak]

Eh, truly vague prophecies are a newer trope. While often spare in detail, the prophecies in most epics are pretty exact. There's not really any "No man of woman born" shenanigans, let alone "when the goat turns red" shenanigans, in the prophecy of Achilles's death, for example. Generally, the player agency should be in how they arrive at whatever pre-determined endpoint, rather than what that endpoint is. This is something a lot of campaigns, like playing "prequels" to previous campaigns or canon storylines from an extant franchise, already deal with without too much trouble. Telling your players is definitely a good idea, though.

[dukeofwolfsgate]

I've given all my current thoughts, Wolfsgate. If there is anything you're wondering about, hearing it would give me something to exposit about further (when you have all of Greece to talk about, where to even start?).

Well, casters in general seem to fly in the face of the greek-era theme, but players have already expressed an interest in playing them. One in particular wants to multi-class bard and warlock. I can see the cleric and paladin classes fitting to some extent, but how much magic was there in the greek mythologies?

How would a wizard fit in the city-state social structure?