Several Cambridge Players here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=VLh7R_m09Mw&mid=500
Discussions and groups for the [Odyssey LRP], run by PD in 2010
If one of those who played in the pilot could put a review here, that would be appreciated.
Felicity playtested the Eygptians at the pilot, which was largely to test the combat system, and only covered a couple of the classes (heroes and warriors). General impressions:
- Bows (the Eygptian cultural weapon) are underpowered in arena combat even when calling drop;
- The main danger with stab safe spears is that people don't notice you've hit them, especially through armour and in the back;
- Not calling damage makes fights more immersive, but makes blows significantly less likely to be taken;
- Shield walls are very powerful in arena combat.
- Heroes (the leaders of a band) are actually physically weaker than warriors. This is non-intuitive, but helps keep the desired ratio of one hero to a warband in the arena.
The character templates indicate mainly combative and combat support roles, including warriors, physicians, diplomats, warleaders, crafters, and astrologers (I have no idea what they do).
Bearing in mind that the setting includes PvP?, linears into the wilderness, and arena combats, a balanced group with good combat capability looks appropriate...
Felicity notes the following on the different cultures' playstyles (shamelessly stolen from the Rule7 Odyssey forum):
Egypt:
Style: Active offstage NPC - the Pharaoh will be interested in what's going on, and likely to interfere in events at the annual. Heavily plot- and story-driven. Revolves around internal politics, the Gods, mystery, history and the occasional bandage-wrapped horror from below.
Think: The Mummy, Cleopatra, a bit of Lovecraft.
Persia
Style: Passive offstage NPC: the Shah-an-shah is uninterested in what you do as long as you bring him victory. Revolves around polite, political conflict between the Kings jockeying for position as successor to Darius. Mystery, intrigue, high politics, luxury roleplaying.
Think: 300, Alexander
Carthage
Style: Savage, survival-of-the-fittest city states with an overall naval feel, with supreme rulership decided by the Gods on an annual basis. Revolves around dog-eat-dog politics, wheeler-dealing, dirty tactics, fanatical devotion to dark gods and lots and lots of blood.
Think: The Scorpion King, 10,000BC, Robert E Howard
Rome
Style: Early republic, with players electing players into positions of authority on a yearly basis. Senate and Legion, with a strong dislike of kings and heroes. A place for strong groups and strong group concepts. No NPC drivers in authority whatsoever but PC authority total.
Think: HBO's Rome, I Claudius, Gladiator
Greece
Style: Anarchic city states (edited to change to...) City states in the anarchic aftermath of Alexander's fall. No centralised power. No authority, PC or NPC, save what is made in game. Lone heroes attract bands of followers in their quest to become greatest hero in the known world and gain favour of the Gods.
Think: Jason and the Argonauts, Troy, 300
9/3/10 So, with the costumes guides and rules having been out and distributed for a while, any majority view of a Cambridge group, Nation and concept?
Plese vote again below. Or tell me it was all agreed over waffles. Or suggest a meeting on the subject. Or something.
Garuda would like to play a warrior in damn near anything, preferably Persian, not too bothered.
SevenSecrets wants to play something non-combat in almost any style.
- I believe there is a small group doing Egypt not looking for open applications, and some people going to do Carthage with the DUTT crowd, rather than a single Cambridge group which is taking open applications from anyone in CUTT... --ChessyPig
Several group concepts have already been floated, as we can field a substantial (and very dangerous) contingent from Cambridge and friends.
Greek Phalanx.
TimB was interested in this, as it allows for substantial combat, looks good, and uses stab-safe spears. I'm sure he can discuss this better at length...
- Oooh, sounds fun. - Corin
- Not really my kind of thing, and I can't justify buying a stab-safe spear for one event a year. --Valtiel
- To give some idea of what we have in mind, the current group concept is for a noble Greek family and entourage. Thematically, we want it to be something like the Julii family from the Rome series (in terms of having a lot of internal plot and well defined characters), but flavoured strongly by Greek tragedy. In particular, we want to court disaster by trying to create Epic (and improbable) Drama and offend the gods in the process.
- One person has the stated win condition of being turned into a tree by Hera, whereas personally I want to accidentally seduce my sister, get her pregnant, then get myself killed in the arena out of grief for the terrible disgrace I have caused. Possibly then playing my own incestuous offspring, who has aged supernaturally quickly due to being brought up in Stygia, who can then accidentally seduce his mother and...
- well, hopefully you get the idea. We want to be cause all manner of disaster and screw ourselves up.
- Oh, and we want to fight some people in the arena too, but victory or defeat there have little bearing on the group win conditions. If you would like to describe us as a Greek Phalanx group, feel free. But I plan to call us A Curse Unto the Seventh Generation Waiting to Happen--TimB
- This sounds quite fun, I'm not sure how easy I'll find it to create "Epic (and improbable) Drama" but I can try --Joey
If you'll excuse my interjection, here's the description of the group concept I put up on livejournal, for anyone who's interested:
The concept:
- The members and household of a political family, with the muscle to back up their ambition. Attitude is very much "the family comes above all" and the public facade is of a united front. Behind closed doors internal politics, backstabbery and treachery are very much the norm, and are pretty much expected. The only conditions under which pursuing personal ambition is squashed by the household in general is if it looks likely to damage the family's prospects. If you've watched Rome, then this is very much in the style of the Julii family.
Group goals:
- Get cursed out of existence by jealous Gods
- Gain power and resources for the family.
- Always appear civilised
- Show no weakness
- Incest
- Beat the crap out of our political rivals in dark alleyways (stabsafe spears optional)
- Don't get caught
- Win glory in the arena
- Enjoy all of the above!
Character options:
- We are the cream of Greek society. Above all else, we excel, and we excel comprehensively. The household concept should allow for the full range of concepts available in the greek culture brief. Characters can either be family members (I have a plan for an alpha female type who is not at all a cross between Attia from Rome and Mrs Coulter from the Golden Compass) or trusted servants and advisors. We will need bold warriors to win us glory in the arena, tactical minds to guide the family to power, physicians to tend to our mental and physical welfare, priests to tell us to stop taunting Hera provide spiritual advice, muscled thugs to kneecap our rivals late at night and generally look intimidating, and of course musicians, actors and philosophers to keep us up to date on the cutting edge of civilised entertainment.
Provisos:
- The one thing I think needs to be stressed is that ooc: internal politics are hilarious and made of win, as are external politics. ic: If you (or I) screw up on either of these and risk the welfare of the household, the family will not hesitate to squash you/cut you loose/kneecap you and leave you for the lions in the arena...
--Katherine
Persian contingent.
Garuda's idea. Greeks, romans and 'gyptians are all fairly well defined as looks, and while we aren't going for historical accuracy, I'd like to do something original. Persia is a large area, and can have plenty of interesting and varied groups, or variation within a group. A religeous themed group could be interesting, devoted to Mithras or Ahura Mazda. This allows for holy warriors, temple guard, prophets, priests, crusaders, holy trinket salesmen, missionaries, and probably many other sorts.
OtherEvents/Odyssey/PersianGroup
- Yay, I get to play a harem boy. --Valtiel
- I don't know if I'll be around, but I'm most in favour of this group. --Chevron
Carthagian cultists.
Taking the efficient approach to Carthagian religion. Haven't had children yet and need some cash? Are you a filthy Roman out late at night without the rest of your group, or going to do something heroic that we don't give a toss about? Won't you or your baby look pretty on the altar! Offended any of the gods recently? Need a quick boost of fortune or power? Just tell us your requirements and we'll do the rest! Having read the Carthagian brief, the game is crying out for a group of amoral stabby bastards to provide a plentiful supply of possibly not entirely willing sacrifices. Not for everyone - I don't see the group doing much arena combat, f'rinstance - but requiring front of house staff to make deals and alchemists to make appropriate substances for those special sacrifices just as much as vicious killers willing to heartlessly stab up other people's characters. This idea is ChessyPig's fault.
- Requiem quite fancies the idea of playing an alchemist in this group, purveyor of overpriced crap to foreigners and the real stuff to good honest Carthaginians.
- I would like to play Carthage. I am going to horribly typecast myself as a follower of Astarte, all sex, stabbing, sacrifice and slightly too few clothes, and it will be AWESOME :D (ps anyone want to play my Eshmun-following submissive lover?) --Pufferfish
- The brief appears to contain copious amounts of sacrifice, facial tattoos and scarring. I'm in (and Eshmun-following sounds fun... :) --Bluebottle
- I think I like this group. I have this vague notion of an amoral alchemist/merchant person ... --Winterlove
- I think I may well play a 'Sacrifice Acquisition Specialist' --Corin
- Another vote for Carthage, and the Aquisitions Department. Sacrificing is Serious Business, and someone has to write up the shopping lists... --Koryne
- If I can make it this sounds fun :) slightly odd altar girl? --Porange
- Oooh, dark gods. Excellent. That'll be me playing a priest of Dagon, then. --Valtiel
- Looking at this enthusiam, I'd just like to inject a cautionary note. A group that cuts nasty deals, sacrifices other PCs and does crazy disturbing religeous rituals? Might not last too long... The Venin in Eos, the Hive of the Wasp in Maelstrom. I played in both. The first event its fun and interesting and adds interesting PvP?. The second event everyone's suspicious of you and looking for an opportunity to backstab you. The third event they build a coalition, roll over your camp, and execute you all. Course, it might not take this long, or it might go swimmingly.... --Garuda
- Even if it doesn't last long, it'll still be awesome. Of course, we'll try and be subtle...--Corin
- Hey, it'll be fun, there isn't any shortage of other ideas to go on to, and it's not as if there's any mechanical character advancement to get behind on or anything :). --ChessyPig
Eygptian group Felicity quite fancies furiously investigating what's going on in Eygpt, and then Doing Something About it. Hopefully with a side order of monster-hunting.
- Vaguely Lovecraftian mutterings and political intrigue sound interesting. The thing is, if it DOES turn out to be Unspeakable Eldritch Horrors, the thing I'm most likely to Do About It is pledge my wholehearted support to the gribblies. --Valtiel
- I am most interested in Egypt from the descriptions above, with the added bonus of having studied it at length. --Zebbie
- I think I'm also most interested in Egypt. --Joey
- Egypt for me. --Fyrheafoc
If you have any other ideas, feel free to add them here.
Cambridge Group Quite a few of us are more interested in playing as part of a Cambridge group than we are yet attached to any particular concept. Now is the time to be vocally ambivalent!
- First priority: Cambridge. Second priority: Shield wall. 'nuff said. --I
- Yes please --Koryne
- I want to play a warrior in a militant (vaguely noble) and decisive group out to win glory/renown/loot for their X. --Garuda
- Unless I have misunderstood Odyssey horribly, I think this describes the vast majority of groups (though someone is bound to start an IC tea house eventually). --TimB
- I think I'm in this boat. Practially all the cultures sound awesome to me (with possibly egypt and greece sounding slightly more awesome than the others). I would like to hit things, and try out stupid ideas that I manage to justify as being a good idea at the time. --Malselene
- This sounds good, though I'm still somewhat repelled by Carthage. --NT
- Support role for me, possibly priest. Also rather repelled by Carthage. -- SevenSecrets
- I'd quite like to be in a Cam group, and to mess around with dark horrible religion. (Egypt or Carthage) --Darktachyon
- I'm in this camp. --Requiem
- If I'm around --Chevron
- Interest in Cambridge Group, with strong preference with Egypt or Carthage --Taxellor
- I'd enjoy any group. I'm much less interested in Greece and Rome than the other cultures, though. --V
Whatever group concept is chosen, a few points:
1)If we can get agreement soon enough, some sort of uniform would be excellent. From sashes to headscarves to tabards and tunics, a group in a unifying theme looks brilliant.
2)It'd be great to take a portable BBQ, tents, chairs, etc. This allows for more of a social game, an IC base, and somewhere for our enemies to find us. Please, however, can we not have this expand into the rather large baggage train required for Maelstrom. --Garuda
- By the time you have personal kit, group tents, multiple chairs, cooking facilities, and a table or two, all you're really missing versus the M.E. setup at Maelstrom is a few boxes of accessories, and I guess they're maybe 20% of the total volume. Saying 'bring a load of stuff, but also make it not be too extensive' isn't quite as easy as you might think... --I
- No tables. No chairs. Minimise personal kit. Maybe 1 or 2 group tents. Minimal cooking equipment. No Burgundian, no shrines. No bloody charcoal... --Garuda
- I'm bringing at least my chair, not all of us are built for sitting on the ground. If we minimise the number of groups (it would be awesome if most of us could agree on something) then this allows for a lot more efficiency when it comes to group stuff. --Koryne
- I like having loads of Stuff - what's the problem with the Maelstrom baggage train, as long as someone's willing to drive the van? If there isn't a baggage train it limits the number of people I can car around (as I would be stuffing my car full of kit instead). --ChessyPig
- For a group of 10 or more, anything smaller than the Burgundian isn't so much a group tent as a landmark to store stuff in. If you want a functional group base of any sort after dark, you need a fire (which means at least some charcoal - although you could get away with one bag if you had people prepared to butcher pallets). Cooking on open fires is a damn sight nicer than doing so with gas stoves. Guess it's a question of whether the game will run on the Maelstrom or LT model of site setup. Also, who are the unsigned comments by? --I
- I am perfectly prepared to butcher pallets. hmm, must buy a hatchet... --Garuda