Almost done!
As Im finishing up, have a few announcements to go along with it.
First, yes the polls are down again...it sucks. If they come back up, you have about a week to vote before we'll close voting for this next project. Looks like Slavs getting an official page, write-ups, pictures and a full redo of psp/associateds is probably gonna be happening.
Should our website have a facebook page? Would that be a good place to put updates and reach more people? Would that be helpful to you or those you know? Does it seem not anymore helpful then the site and you wouldnt care? Let us know.
Your relic input. From now til sunday any non anonymous commenter can make a suggestion about a relic they'd like to see in the pdf. Could be a power you want it to have, a culture or god it is linked to, maybe an exact item from myth that you'd like to see statt-ed or a modern item you'd like to see a mythic spin on. We've done a lot of hard work on these, now time to have some fun with it. If you have many ideas feel free to list them all, but we cant promise more then one will make it in.
As Im finishing up, have a few announcements to go along with it.
First, yes the polls are down again...it sucks. If they come back up, you have about a week to vote before we'll close voting for this next project. Looks like Slavs getting an official page, write-ups, pictures and a full redo of psp/associateds is probably gonna be happening.
Should our website have a facebook page? Would that be a good place to put updates and reach more people? Would that be helpful to you or those you know? Does it seem not anymore helpful then the site and you wouldnt care? Let us know.
Your relic input. From now til sunday any non anonymous commenter can make a suggestion about a relic they'd like to see in the pdf. Could be a power you want it to have, a culture or god it is linked to, maybe an exact item from myth that you'd like to see statt-ed or a modern item you'd like to see a mythic spin on. We've done a lot of hard work on these, now time to have some fun with it. If you have many ideas feel free to list them all, but we cant promise more then one will make it in.
Well being obsessed with the Greek Pantheon like I am...
ReplyDeleteNemian Lion Cloak of Hercules fame.
The Golden Fleece
The Golden Apple of Discord
The Armor of Achilles
The Helm of Darkness (Hades' Helm)/Hermes's winged sandals used by Perseus.
Pandora's box (Probably empty but it probably has some health or something with releasing disease into the world)
The Greeks really do love their toys.
DeleteI'm sure that you probably have this already, but some of the Aztec über relics might be nice. Like xiuhcoatl or Itlachiyaque ("place from which he watches" aka Tezcatlipoca's mirror). Really, a lot if the gods WMDs would be nice.
ReplyDeleteNon sequitur: typing this shit on an iPhone is difficult
Heh, when we started working on it and were wondering what big god relics to include, I was all like, "Dude! Xiuhcoatl! Flaming snake atlatl of magical fame! Do it!" But then a few minutes later I was like, "Wait, shit, that is actually technically a person and not a relic." My shattered dreams.
DeleteItlachiyaque is a much more reasonable choice. We're definitely going to do some big godly relics (though not all - leave some mystique for STs who want to use them their own way and all that!).
Quick idea:
ReplyDeleteCould you possibly include a glossary or list of some key items in myth by pantheon, if you don't get around to specifically statting them? Just a name a and a one-off description/context/reference would be amazing. This would be for the STs who want an idea for a story piece associated with a relic for X pantheon, but don't really know much about it. It would give people like me a launching point to go do some research - just knowing that cool thing exists. And then I can go and attribute my own stats, etc. to it.
You guys have massive brains full of awesome mythology that I'm jealous of. If we can ever create an index of them, I'll be ecstatic :P
Food for thought?
Anne does most of the typing. Thats gonna depend a lot on how much she feels like doing. But its definitely a good idea.
DeleteIt definitely sounds like a great idea, though I'm not sure if it belongs here or as its own separate thing. Let me work with John a little this weekend to rough out what it would look like, and see if maybe it should be included here. If not, definitely something to file in future projects!
DeleteThe more I think of it, the more it seems like its own animal. The Glossary of All Myth Stuff is probably going to be a massive undertaking.
DeleteIt would be wicked useful though. Hmm...
Seconding armor/cloaks made of Nemean hide, with Herakles' as an example.
ReplyDeleteHydra-poison-tipped arrows or bullets.
Perseus' Harpe.
Unicorn's alicon.
The Imperial Regalia of Japan.
The four hallows of the Tuatha de Dannan.
Golden Apples of the Hesperides.
First time ive been stumped with the alicon...hrmmm...
ReplyDeleteIt's like a sneaky, back-door way of forcing you to work on poisons again.
DeleteNot sure if I should feel proud of this...
DeleteSeconding the Imperial Regalia of Japan. Also, there aren't too many Deva Relics around, so how about Gandiva, the Sudarshan Chakra, the Kaustav Mani and Shiva's Trident? Perhaps a relic 'Third Eye' kind of thing?
ReplyDeleteI also have a personal liking for musical relics, so what about Saraswati's Veena, or Apollo's Harp? Too bad you guys don't use a Sound Purview, or these relics would be perfect for channelling that. Hmm, what if Sarasvati's Veena let a Scion use his Charisma instead of other Attributes for activating Water boons. Or if that is too powerful, using Art(Music) instead of the specified skill? Also they should probably be able to transform into any musical instrument as needed.
Also, really looking forward to the Egyptian relics section.
Excellent ideas, thank you!
DeleteCould you possibly add a section on your Relic building process? Both in game (what your characters have to do in order to create Relics, what actions, objects or reagents they must undertake, etc…) and out of game (your personal process on creating relics).
ReplyDeleteHmm, a look at crafting processes in-game is definitely something that I think folks might find useful, but then again it's hard to define (John vlogged about how hard it is, even). I wonder if it's better here, with an Industry upgrade, or remaining sort of undefined. Hmm.
DeleteRelics
ReplyDeleteFestival("ish") Relics (i.e. Jarilo's Idol used to celebrate his Spring Festival, The tub the Kami Uzume danced on to bring forth Amaterasu, etc.)
Maybe a Facebook map app (if it's not to complicated) so that people on the facebook page can click on a link to bring up a bing map that basically says "this is in Aztec territory, that is in voodoo territory, this particular Japanese island is not in the Kami's area of influence"
Man, it probably would be hard, but that map sounds like all the fun to make. Also all the hours. But I love projects that are all the fun hours.
Deletebrb, geography
I think i meant more like something that takes your Scion Map and turns it into an overlay. From what i understand there's a Google map plug-in that does the same thing for IN Nomine Tethers (Basically specific In-game locations that led directly to either heaven or hell.)
DeleteI have no idea what this is. But hopefully anne knows and maybe can make it work. She loves maps.
DeleteI know that this is a bit of tangent from Relics but are you planning to anything with Ganesha's Rat? I kind of like the little guy.
DeleteFunny you should mention - we wrote a relic yesterday that had to do with Ganesha's vahana. :)
DeleteFrom the Irish: Fragarach, Moralltach, Baegeltach, Gae Bulg, Gae Guide, and Gae Der
ReplyDeleteFrom England: Clarent, Carnwennen and Caledfwlch
From the Manx: Macabuin
It'd also be great to see some Relics from the Slavs. There's not a lot to go on, even using their folktales instead of mythology. Kladenets is one of the few magical items I was able to find a name for. Be interesting to see what your brains can storm up.
The last bit is that it might be really cool to see some Trophies as well as Relics. A magical bezoar from the goat who suckled Zeus, the tears of a Squonk, the cursed hide of a Skinwalker. That kinda thing.
Slavs are a little slim; I recall the frustration when working on the Birthrights section of the Bogovi. Since they're debuting on the site soon, it would be nice to have some in there - let me see if I can find something good to slip in there.
DeleteI vote for the Seven Pood Mace from the tale of Little Rolling Pea!
DeleteI'm just going to put this up here in case someone forgot to add them, but how about Norse items too.
ReplyDeleteMjolnir
Thor's sword(or was it always a hammer and someone in modern day gave him a sword. Idk why someone would.)
Apples of Immortality(maybe some healing)
Various Rings of Power(pretty sure there are a lot of them)
Gungnir(think that is the spelling for Odin's Spear)
A similar, but not the same, boat like Hel's
I can not think of all the names of weapons, horns, cloaks and many other things the Norse have, but you can see I would like some of the stuff.
Greek is covered, though I would like to see more Irish if its possible.
The Mesopotamian Gods, I must see Jericho Skulls in the list. I can help out with them if you need it. Pesedjet, I can see tattoos and ink drawing being big, so maybe relic ink? Then scales, scrolls, tablets, armor(influenced by Greek or before Greek. 2 separate styles and could be plot points.) and maybe a monument or something smaller.
Aztec, sacrificial weapons and monuments, swords that grow obsidian and the obsidian grows in the person after cutting them(maybe it feeds on blood to grow?), different toxins and blowdarts/arrows. Pelts and other things.
I could go on and on, but I have to get dinner now, so I will stop here. Queries?
Some archaeologists think Thor actually originally had an axe, but that over time the art depictions of it started looking more like a hammer so it morphed that way. Either way, though, he definitely doesn't have a sword. Freyr's the sword guy. :)
DeleteDon't worry, we have plenty of Norse stuff on our list!
Lol, no. I looked back and I got Surtr's sword mixed up in modern history. Which would be interesting to know it. lol. The Norse needed some love. lol. Then tried to expand on it to other pantheons.
DeleteHopefully you can do the Jericho skulls, something I would attribute to Death, Earth maybe and talking to your guide with. or bringing follower/s. depends on how you wanna flavor that.
Jericho skulls wouldn't fall under the Anunna, considering that they're quite firmly in Canaan where the Elohim are lurking. :) They're a great idea for a Canaanite relic, though (especially for Yarikh, the patron god of Jericho!).
DeleteAh, Canaan... I get those mixed up all the time. Even though I have had 3 classes this semester talk about the 4-5 grand civilizations at the general location(literally one conquering the next for power) I tend to get them mixed up, but not on purpose. lol.
DeleteBut I do have to ask, are you sure it would fall under Canaan. I can not remember when exactly Canaan ruled over Jericho, but there have been many different Jericho cities and the one I am talking about, is 6000 BC to maybe 4600-2800 BC. And I do not know if they ruled at those times or even the time frame exactly when the skulls were made. But, I am just asking to make sure I am not wrong in my thinking, cause I can't remember every single detail about all artifacts.
It also could be that they continued the skull tradition under Canaan rule and we can not find any of the skulls, I mean there are only 10 I know of. but I figure I would ask to make sure it goes well.
Yep, it's definitely the same Jericho (the Biblical one), and it's definitely Canaan - Jericho's in Palestine/Israel, smack in the middle of the Canaanite territories, and was built and settled by the local population very early. The city probably originally built in 9000 BC or so, and was refounded and rebuilt several times, but always by Canaanites until it was destroyed by invading Persian forces around 800 BC.
DeleteThe Jericho skulls are dated at around 6-7000 BC, so they were very definitely created by the local Canaanite population; the Assyrian/Persian invaders were far in the future at that time. They'd still make awesome relics for any Scion of the Elohim, though - similar ones have been found throughout Canaanite territories, and they're definitely a very cool, very culturally appropriate choice, especially for a Scion of Moloch or Mot.
Jericho's actually in our Elohim supplement as the Malak-preserved personal city of the moon-god, Yarikh. :)
lol, thanks for the history. I like history, but sometimes I get stuffed mixed up and I just wanted to make sure I had the right idea on who made what. They all influenced each other art wise and culturally, but Jericho Skulls are unique to one culture. Thanks for the help and I do hope to see them, cause I do agree with you. They would be very cool and close culturally to the scions of the Elohim. Can't wait to see how you guys decide to make them.
DeleteStatting up some awesome mythical relics would be great, but like you said, leave some mystique for STs to explore.
ReplyDeleteYou guys have a huge array of character who have been played in your games, and who are still played. Even if you compile some of their relics in this work, it would be great, as it would give a variety of relics and pantheons, for a variety of characters and concepts.
Also, if you have different ideas on the 'cost' in dots of relic powers, it would be a cool thing to put in the PDF, making it also more useful to STs.
BTW, if you guys need help making the PDF, I am willing to devote of my time to do it.
We're definitely including a few of the relics from our games that we felt worked really well. And we're definitely doing a selection from different pantheons, so hopefully there'll be something for everyone!
DeleteI've got the PDF covered, but thank you. :) You guys are all very awesome about offering to help with stuff!
Knowing the cost of relic powers in dots would be great. I've tried to backwards-engineer the costs of "+Purview to X" powers and so forth from your character sheets, but getting some official rules for ST relic design would be awesome :) Your relic powers are way better/more synergistic than the book's.
DeleteI know the relics on some character sheets arent quite up to date. I think its too giant a topic to try to stuff into this project(although items in this project should make things like that easier to suss out). Also something we can go more in depth during class.
DeleteMimir's Gjallerhorn, which he used to drink from his well. There is no mention of a drinking horn used to do so, he could have used a bucket, but a horn seems more in line with the Old Norse style.
ReplyDeleteI've also seen scholarship that suggests that the idea that Gjallerhorn (which is Heimdall's horn that he blows at Ragnarok) was used to drink from the well is a translation bobble, and that the line in question is really referring to Heimdall gaining his super perception from the well (kind of like Odin gains his super wisdom). Either way, though, Gjallerhorn and Mimir's well are both major Norse relics of note.
DeleteI know in the past you have said that providing a breakdown of how to build relics would be very hard, but I think an honest attempt during this project would be incredibly useful. Every relic you create is probably going to be excellent, but we cannot use these relics in every single game. If you include at least a point breakdown of what you create, we can extrapolate those ideas for countless relics of our own creation.
ReplyDeleteOn to my relics of choice!
The Dagda's Club (because I want to see how you model the multi-kill mechanic).
The River Styx (because I want to see how you handle location bonuses).
Tarnhelm (because I want to see how you model shapeshifting).
Book of Thoth (because I want to see how you model items that are useful, but also carry terrible curses).
Gleipnir (because I want to see you balance super grapple ribbons).
Thanks for some awesome suggestions!
DeleteBtw, which are you planning to let out first, Slavs or Goodies? I'm a fan of authentic mythology myself so the relics is something i would spend some time researching myself if i were in your shoes.
ReplyDeleteBirthrights will be coming out first; that's what we've been working on for the past couple of months. The voting poll for what to do next had the Slavs winning, so once the Birthrights are out, we'll move on to them. (They were released as a PDF a while ago, but this'll be us getting them on the website with the other pantheons and brushing up their associateds and PSP.)
DeleteMonday's Vlog said you were almost done on the birthright PDF. So are we talking before, after, or around turkey day? We tend to travel thanksgiving.
ReplyDeleteHopefully before to aroud - I think that'd be a good target date to be finished by. A good deadline helps keep us focused!
Delete