[Q&A] John & Anne Ruthven (Hero’s Journey)

[19:01] <+AnneRuthven> Hey, everybody!  I’m Anne Ruthven, and I’m the head writer and creative director for Hero’s Journey.

[19:01] <+JohnRuthven> Hey everyone! Im John, systems designer for Hero’s Journey.  Thanks to everyone for coming.  This is exciting 🙂

[19:02] <+JohnRuthven> Im not good at being patient…ive been threatening anne with hitting enter on that post for 5 minutes 🙂  Thank you Dan for having us

[19:02] <+AnneRuthven> We’re here to talk about Hero’s Journey, a new game about playing mythological heroes in an alternate modern setting, and to answer all your questions about it.

[19:02] <+AnneRuthven> And thanks to all of you for coming out.  Let’s do it!  (done)

[19:02] <~Dan> The floor is open to questions! 🙂

[19:03] <+Abstruse> Can you elaborate a little more on the setting?

[19:03] <+Watcher> I love your guys work, but I gotta ask, what can I do in Hero’s Journey that I can’t already do in Scion? There seems to be a lot in common, but from what I have been able to gleen, there is a lot that can be done in fixed up (houseruled) Scion that can’t be done in HJ, and everything seen in HJ so far can be done in Scion.

[19:03] <+JohnRuthven> Anne will be in charge of our (done)….because of previously impatience on my part 🙂

[19:03] <~Dan> (That looks like it will take some answering, so question pause.)

[19:03] <@Silverlion> What do you mean by an “alternate” modern setting?

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[19:04] <~Dan> (Welcome to #rpgnet, Lucy! Q&A in progress!)

[19:04] <+AnneRuthven> Abstruse: Absolutely.  The setting is basically our modern world – things as they are now, with all our current culture, politics, countries and science.  The only difference is that monotheism did not arise as a major force in this world, and that ancient polytheistic religions all over the world are instead very much alive and influential.

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[19:05] <+JohnRuthven> Watcher Thank you for your love.  First, hopefully we can head off a lot of scion comparison questions by saying that we hope to not directly compete with scion, and would imagine that people who like one of the games would find things they enjoy in the other.

[19:05] <+AnneRuthven> Historical events still occurred in more or less the same way they did in real history, but if they were religiously motivated, they happened for different reasons to match the setting – for example, the Crusades still happened, but were motivated by the religions of the European pantheons (Norse, Celtic, Slavic) as well as the usual political reasons.

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[19:06] <+AnneRuthven> Players will be adventuring in a world that’s the same as their own, except that they’re as likely to walk past a temple to Zeus as they would be to saunter past a church in their own city.

[19:06] <~Dan> (Welcome to #rpgnet, Guest67 and RomulusGloriosus!)

[19:06] <+Songtress> So do the Gods, interact highly with Mortals, or are they sitting in some other dimension? Can they have children with mortals? Does this make them more or less powerful than other heros (I mean being hte children of gods,directly?) I remember one of your videos talking about one of the characters was a descendant of Set, I believe.

[19:06] <+AnneRuthven> Silverlion: I think that also covers most of it, but the idea is that games don’t need to do a ton of world-building or research – they can jump right in with the world as we know it, and substitute polytheistic religions and mythology for the monotheistic ones more common in a lot of the world today.

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[19:07] <~Dan> (Question pause in effect, Songtress. 🙂 )

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[19:07] <~Dan> (Welcome to #rpgnet, Aynie, patman!)

[19:07] <+JohnRuthven> With that said, hopefully if both systems are done correctly, you can do tons(all?) things with both.  The difference I think will be on the focus of the game.  I dont like to speak for scion, but I think their goal is a high octane explosive movie version of a modern heroic movie

[19:09] <+JohnRuthven> But Hero’s Journey strives to focus on the story of the Heroes.  The cyclical nature of the hero’s journey that has existed for eons.  The hero is called to adventure, sets out on quests, is changed by their experiences and returns home “with the elixir” with the thing that changes the world in addition to themselves

[19:09] <+Lucy> Hello! Does the setting have a lot of mythological creatures present, or the presence of the gods, that would make the modern world more accepting to the god touched and magical things than our own? Can we expect mythological creatures to be working side by side with mortals?

[19:10] <~Dan> (Everyone, just a reminder that there is currently a question pause in effect. Please hold further questions until you see a (done) from our guests. Thanks! 🙂 )

[19:10] <+JohnRuthven> I think just like you can tell a compelling, interesting, high RP story with dungeons and dragons, you can accomplish both scion’s and Hero’s Journey’s goals in the other game.  They would differ in which one the game system tries to accomplish more with its mechanics and style(done)

[19:10] <+AnneRuthven> (done)

[19:10] <+AnneRuthven> Songtress: The gods do not directly interact with humanity very much – it’s taxing and difficult for them to descend to earth, and many of them are operating under complex non-interference pacts among themselves and other pantheons that would cause major political incidents if they were to march down there and start smiting unbelievers.

[19:11] <+AnneRuthven> They CAN go down there and start a ruckus, but doing so is probably not worth it to them except in moments of gravest importance.

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[19:12] <~Dan> (Welcome back, NostraThomas!)

[19:13] <+AnneRuthven> Lucy: The default setting is our world as-is, so you won’t be likely to go to work and have a minotaur as your supervisor.  However, one of the major conceits of the game is that as soon as the Heroes begin their story, things change and become more legendary to be part of their quest.

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[19:13] <+AnneRuthven> Dragons may not be roaming the forests of Germany for most of history, but if your character is there, they suddenly might be, and the more deeds and stories your Heroes tell, the more the world will change and shape itself to become part of those stories.

[19:14] <+AnneRuthven> In essence, a new Age of Heroes starts by virtue of you (and your party members) existing.  And once it does, anything your game wants to do goes, pretty much.

[19:14] <~Dan> (Questions may resume!)

[19:14] <+Watcher> Are there any big differences from Scion? From what you have just said it seems… a lot like Scion with the branding filed off and renamed. Epics, Purviews, legend being spent, it all seems to be there in one way or another. Like, do you guys have a brilliant new mechanical system for Fate? Anything entirely new and unique?

[19:14] <+Bwgustaf> when you talked about the aesir you mentioned how they came to be used for nazi propaganda. will other entries talk about the gods actual character vs. there use as propaganda material?

[19:14] <+JohnRuthven> woo, that was some catch up 🙂 great questions everyone

[19:15] <+Lucy> Thank you!

[19:15] <~Dan> Actually, would you mind describing the system, while we’re on the subject?

[19:15] <~Dan> (And question pause. 🙂 )

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[19:15] <~Dan> (Welcome to #rpgnet, Rob!)

[19:15] <+Abstruse> So I assume Joseph Campbell’s an influence?

[19:16] <+Abstruse> (Oops, sorry!)

[19:16] <+JohnRuthven> ok.  Ill sort of boil watchers question into Dan’s.  and if I dont answer your’s well enough in it watcher, please let me know

[19:16] <~Dan> (No problem. 🙂

[19:16] <+AnneRuthven> Bwgustaf: Since we are very excited about the setting of the game, we’ll be doing a lot to talk about gods in both a traditional and modern sense – who they are in their ancient myths and religious personas, and what ways the modern world may reinterpret and experience them.

[19:17] <+AnneRuthven> For example, our forums have been having a lively discussion lately about the issue of sacrifice – human, animal, burnt offerings, etc. – which was essentially important to some of these older religions.  How might they have “updated” their practices in the modern day, and what does it mean to be a modern worshiper of them?

[19:17] <@Silverlion> What pantheons are available/listed?

[19:17] <+JohnRuthven> What you would normally consider attributes in a classic game like dungeons and dragons(strength, dexterity, etc) are gone.  Instead,  your main stats revolve around the aspects of the hero you embody.   Things like Warrior, Trickster, Sage

[19:17] <+AnneRuthven> Most likely you’ll see gods used in advertising, with their own 700 Club-style televangelist shows, with tons of media created about their lives and moms who nag you for not going to shrine this week.

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[19:18] <~Dan> (Welcome to #rpgnet, Sowiljr!)

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[19:19] <+AnneRuthven> So while the brief use of the Norse gods as symbols of Germanic heritage and pride during the Nazi era are a little bit of an old reference, things like that in the modern world will abound, and we’ll be providing some suggestions for the setting as well as guidelines for GMs to come up with their own.

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[19:20] <+JohnRuthven> Each of these aspects has 4 talents that are under it.  These are facets of that aspect that you could invest in/.  Three of those talents are active and rolled to do tasks.  One of them is passive and used to resist others influence or to represent things like how much you can lift or throw

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[19:20] <~Dan> If I could interject briefly, do you happen to have a character sheet we could see?

[19:20] <+AnneRuthven> Jumping in on the system discussion now!  Actions are performed by rolling dice (d10, success-based) in the appropriate Aspect and Talent, and comparing the result either to a difficulty (if doing something to an NPC/environment) or an opposed roll (if against another PC).

[19:21] <+AnneRuthven> Dan: Actually, yes, although only the first page is presentable for company right now – the second’s still being worked on.  Let me rustle up a link.

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[19:21] <~Dan> (Welcome to #rpgnet, griffinguy24!)

[19:22] <+AnneRuthven> And example of the current final draft of the character sheet is here: (Link: http://www.herosjourneyrpg.com/images/charsheet1(wip).jpg)http://www.herosjourneyrpg.com/images/charsheet1(wip).jpg

[19:22] <+JohnRuthven> Domains are slightly different.  They represent universal forces instead of heroic aspects.   Here is where you would find elemental powers and powers over the celestial bodies.  The three domains are Celestial, elemental, and spiritual(life and death, plants and animals)

[19:23] <+AnneRuthven> You’ll see on it the seven Aspects, each of which represents a set of archetypal heroic roles, and their attendant Talents, which are the skills they umbrella.

[19:23] <+LoserOnDemand> (Link: http://www.herosjourneyrpg.com/images/HJ_charactersheet_page1.jpg)http://www.herosjourneyrpg.com/images/HJ_charactersheet_page1.jpg

[19:24] <+JohnRuthven> loser wins 🙂

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[19:24] <~Dan> Irony!

[19:24] <+griffinguy24> So, how is Defense calculated?

[19:24] <+AnneRuthven> The idea is that various mythic heroes take on different aspects of heroism at different times – Odysseus, for example, is sometimes a Sage when he is lauded for intelligence and wise counsel, but sometimes a Trickster when he’s pulling shenanigans on Polyphemus, and then again a Warrior when he’s busting heads at Troy.

[19:24] <+CodeRR> Does being god-touched also make you a priest or religious figure to mortals?

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[19:25] <+AnneRuthven> Still on the system question  – sorry, others, we’ll come back to you! – one of the major features is the Web of Fate, which is a system of character advancement that involves gaining various powers and bonuses to your abilities in a web-like formation.  Each Talent has a set of Blessings within the Web that are associated with it, and investing in that

[19:26] <+AnneRuthven> Talent allows you to progress through that area of the Web.  Each Talent’s options adjoin one another where they have conceptual overlap, so that players can actually decide to travel laterally in the Web to pick up some new abilities, or progress higher in one specialized area.

[19:26] <+Lucy> If monotheism has been removed, how are you staying respectful to Jews who suffered through the Holocaust? Or us being historically driven out of Egypt, Russian, Germany and France?

[19:27] <~Dan> (Question pause. Let’s give the poor folks a chance to catch up. 🙂 )

[19:27] <+JohnRuthven> Not that its an exact copy of the system, but if you’ve played FFX or Path of Exile the web is similiar.  You have some passive bonuses in each section that are appropriate for that Talent, and you have some Blessings that are usable as “powers” for your character

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[19:27] <+AnneRuthven> For example: the Trickster Aspect contains the Disguise Talent, which has a set of powers and buffs (mostly related to disguising yourself and hiding things) you can progress up.  However, it’s adjacent to the Creator Talent of Vision, which governs creativity, so that people who started as Tricksters can dip over into powers that involve the creation of

[19:28] <+AnneRuthven> illusionary visions as well.

[19:28] <+voidshaper> For folks having trouble viewing the character sheet: (Link: http://i.imgur.com/xCveAvu.jpg)http://i.imgur.com/xCveAvu.jpg

[19:28] <+AnneRuthven> The idea is that you can specialize to be super awesome at just a few Talents’ Blessings, or you can spend a little more of your XP to move around and grab a wide set of skills – it’s extremely customizable to characters.

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[19:30] <+JohnRuthven> So you ask: how do you actually use these powers.  You’ll see at the top of the sheet are “labors”.  These are split into episode, chapter and saga.  Your blessings, depending on their power level, will use either episode, chapter or saga blessings.  They refresh at the end of each episode chapter or saga(an episode being a scene that is around one central ev

[19:31] <+Songtress> Tht’s good to know yeah I am not ‘stuck’ to my God anymore!

[19:31] <+JohnRuthven> event, a chapter is a game session, and a saga is many game sessions that string together to form a full Journey for the heroes.

[19:31] <+JohnRuthven> done(i think, im sure everyone has more questions related to those)

[19:32] <+JohnRuthven> wait, backtracking….still have many more questions

[19:32] <+Lucy> Hahaha.

[19:32] <+griffinguy24> *sad trombone*

[19:32] <~Dan> (You guys are doing fine. 🙂 )

[19:33] <+AnneRuthven> Griffinguy24: Defense, like the other passive stats of Sight or Speed (which are on the second page of the sheet right now, so you don’t see them) begin at a uniform number for everyone.  They are not linked to a stat and can instead be increased via buffs from the Web of Fate.

[19:33] <+JohnRuthven> (dan you are too kind)

[19:34] <+AnneRuthven> This allows anyone, regardless of character build/type of character, to decide their investment in things like avoiding swords to the face or running away from danger without forcing them to also invest in a stat they may or may not be interested in using (i.e., no one has to buy any stat just to not die).  The Web provides bonuses to the passives under

[19:34] <+AnneRuthven> a variety of Talents, so heroes of all stripes have the opportunity to pick up some bonuses to them.

[19:35] <+JohnRuthven> CodeRR it doesnt automatically make you a priest or religious figure.  There isnt a mark on you or anything.  And other then your sudden surgence of powers, they have only your word to go on.  I think its very possible if you’ve shown the powers of your patron, but I think humans will also have the fear that you are an infiltrator from another god.  More or

[19:35] <+JohnRuthven> less so depending on the religion problabl

[19:35] <+AnneRuthven> They may also think you’re lying/doing magic tricks/cheating with science/a mutant.

[19:35] <+AnneRuthven> It depends on your presentation.  🙂

[19:35] <+JohnRuthven> However I think many god-touched will take up their patron’s followers and work as priests or symbols of the faith

[19:36] <+xyphoid_> the jew question is an interesting one to me too – i mean, sure, historical pantheons all over america, but is that the case worldwide? do you go into regional replacements? religions have had political roles, do you try and map them directly?

[19:36] <+altered> Is the population of the world aware that the polytheïstic gods are real? By this I mean it is a proven fact.

[19:36] <~Dan> (Just a reminder that the question pause is still in effect, folks. 🙂 )

[19:37] <+JohnRuthven> Yeah, I think more importantly, to that question in particular, we wanna leave a lot of power in the GMs hands to let any NPCs, human or otherwise, make t heir own decisions

[19:37] <+AnneRuthven> Lucy: This is alternate history only in that things happened for different reasons, but they still happened.  Terrible tragedies like the Holocaust or various diasporas for various peoples still occurred and were still awful chapters in human history; their motivation and execution might change slightly to fit the setting, but they are neither removed nor

[19:37] <+AnneRuthven> glossed over.  Humanity’s history, ugliness and all, is intact in spite of the different religions at work behind the scenes.

[19:38] <+Aynie> But the Jews are monthestic, without monthesim, they would not be the same people.

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[19:38] <+Lucy> So there are some people who experienced those events, and were persecuted, but are not Jewish? What would they be, and why would they make the same choices?

[19:38] <+Aynie> And their religion and practiices were one of the very strong points in favor of them being the first targets (minus their banking systems)

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[19:39] <~Dan> (Welcome to #rpgnet, pyroflare77!)

[19:40] <+AnneRuthven> Lucy & Aynie: That’s absolutely true – without monotheism, the Jews would not be the same people, and we are not going to suggest that they would be.  Neither, in a real world where monotheism didn’t exist, would devoutly Muslim cultures in the middle east be who they are, nor various other ethnic and religious groups who were persecuted for their beliefs and

[19:40] <+AnneRuthven> practices (Zoroastrianism, for example).

[19:41] <+Lucy> But the events still happened, regardless?

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[19:41] <@Silverlion> Of course that shapes the fact that your world is VERY alien place; because Christianity has shaped a lot of things as well

[19:43] <+AnneRuthven> This is a fantasy setting, one in which every peoples’ history is changed as a result of the alternate history conceit.  We definitely do not want anyone of any faith or people to be offended or disenfranchised by this, and are making every effort to ensure that we handle those things well.

[19:43] * @Silverlion nods

[19:43] <+AnneRuthven> Similarly, the intent in using polytheistic pantheons as major characters in the game is to provide an alternate fantasy setting that draws from world myth – but not to suggest that worshipers of polytheistic religions in the modern day are in some way invalidated.

[19:43] <@Silverlion> Makes sense, always a struggle for balance

[19:44] <+Lucy> Thank you for taking the time to answer my question!

[19:44] <+AnneRuthven> Absolutely, thank you for asking it.

[19:45] <+JohnRuthven> Well, it shouldnt be a VERY alien place, any more then the world of …..Pacific Rim was alien.  Yes, there were giant robots and monsters…and theres a big wall on the west coast.  But the general of the US still had a similar function..and he still had to listen to senators.  Things like that still should feel the same, but it is also very different

[19:45] <+Abstruse> What pantheons are you going to include in the game at the start?

[19:45] <+JohnRuthven> Dan We’re having a disagreement here.  How do we handle questions during a pause?  do we go up and try to hit them all.  Or do we get everything to the pause and then say done?

[19:45] <+Aynie> But Pacific Rim’s aliens didn’t negate the history of the world, just the future.

[19:46] <~Dan> You try to hit all the questions prior to the pause, then give us a (done) when you’re caught up.

[19:47] <+Abstruse> (Sorry, didn’t realize there was a pause still going!)

[19:47] <+JohnRuthven> done

[19:48] <@Silverlion> Well, I don’t think you’d see the world like it is, if one of the major religion that shaped most of Western history is absent.

[19:48] <@Silverlion> But 😀

[19:48] <+AnneRuthven> (No worries, it’s a lot of text!)

[19:48] <+AnneRuthven> Silverlion: That’s why it’s an alternate setting – like in my Crusades example, Christianity may have been the main motivator for that movement in our world, but in HJ it still happened, just for different reasons.

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[19:49] <~Dan> (Welcome to #rpgnet, yoday112358!)

[19:49] <+AnneRuthven> It is a fantasy setting, after all.  🙂  If we were trying to do realistic alternate history from a single point in time, we’d go bananas – instead, the idea is to use history and the real world exactly as they are, and if something involved monotheism, you simply [insert plausible other religion here].

[19:49] <+AnneRuthven> Or political influences, or social movements, or anything else that makes sense.

[19:50] <+Rob> Percentage-wise, how much of the Core Rulebook will focus on your new setting, addressing things like how various major events in history that were based on monotheistic religions changed?

[19:50] <+JohnRuthven> Silverlion.  I dont at all mean to be dismissive.  Seriously at all.  But alternate history is a fairly large genre of fiction.  Pacific Rim may have been a not great example, cause its alternate present.  But Im not sure we’re capable of explaining all of how it could work in this format.  It’ll definitely be handled in the book.

[19:50] <~Dan> (Question pause still in effect. Please hold questions until we get a (done) from our guests! 🙂 )

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[19:50] <@Silverlion> No worries. I was just curious

[19:50] <+AnneRuthven> While we are providing examples and guidelines, a lot of this is on a need-to-know basis – a given game may need to know exactly what religious motivation was behind the expulsion of the Parsi from Persia if Islam didn’t exist, but another may not ever have it come up.

[19:51] <+Rob> John did write “done” earlier, didn’t know I had to wait for red text. Sorry.

[19:51] <+AnneRuthven> Our goal is to give GMs the tools they need to be able to run with those things, since we can’t cover every scenario out of the box.

[19:51] <~Dan> (Oh, did he? My bad, then, Rob. 🙂 )

[19:51] <+JohnRuthven> yeah, thats on me rob, i said i wasnt in charge of the dones cause im awful at them…but then i did it anyway, and was not suprpisingly wrong

[19:52] <+Rob> I think you needed to actually put “(done)” not just “done”, maybe

[19:52] <~Dan> (This is an unusually active Q&A. We’re all just doing our best. 🙂 )

[19:52] <+Lucy> Unusually active is good!

[19:52] <+Rob> Hey, no worries. I just don’t want to get in trouble, or get John in trouble. 😛

[19:52] <~Dan> (Indeed!)

[19:52] <+CodeRR> Is their stories of previous god touched? More modern ones beyond the mythological age?

[19:53] <~Dan> It takes a lot to get in trouble here, and a (done) error ain’t even in the ballpark. 😀

[19:53] <+AnneRuthven> Okay, here’s an official (done) – if your question skated by us, send again.  🙂

[19:53] <+Abstruse> What pantheons are you going to include in the game at the start?

[19:53] <+altered> Is the population of the world aware that the polytheïstic gods are real? By this I mean it is a proven fact.

[19:54] <+griffinguy24> I feel that, at the very least, if you’re doing alternate histories, mentioning how WWII (at least) was different is one of them.  Especially since the Nazis historically aligned themselves with the Aesir

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[19:54] <+AnneRuthven> Abstruse: The beginning game comes with four developed pantheons – the Norse, Greek, Hindu and Egyptian gods.  On the off chance that our current Kickstarter hits its highest goal, another one could be added, but for now we’re rolling with those four.

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[19:54] <~Dan> (Welcome to #rpgnet, Rasmus!)

[19:54] <+AnneRuthven> They were chosen for popularity among players and influence on world mythology, but we’re looking forward to including many more in the future.

[19:54] <+JohnRuthven> altered its similiar to how religion exists now.  Many are devoutely aware in their heart of hearts.  Many skate the edge and believe but are unsure, or go to temple just in case, but dont truly believe.  Others dont believe at all.  The arrival of the god-touched will influence that in their own stories in differente ways

[19:55] <~Dan> Can you give us an idea of the power level of the PCs?

[19:55] <+AnneRuthven> altered: No one has scientific proof of Indra existing, say, any more or less than we do with people scientifically proving the Christian God’s existence.  Some believe, some don’t.

[19:56] <+JohnRuthven> griffenguy24 totally noted.  Although I think STs may want to handle it in different ways.  We’ve been back and forth on publishing our official “meta” as some people love that and some people hate it.  It currently is reserved book space, but we arent sure on it.

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[19:56] <+JohnRuthven> why cant i spell the word griffin

[19:56] <+AnneRuthven> Dan: PCs begin as basically mortal, albeit mortals who have become the main characters of a mythic story and are therefore poised for awesomeness.  There are three tiers of power they can progress through – the Mortal tier, at which they are basically augmented humans and just beginning to learn about their divine possibilities,

[19:57] <+AnneRuthven> the Immortal tier, at which they have become legendary Heroes on par with figures like Heracles or Gilgamesh, and the Divine tier, when they can actually become gods themselves.

[19:57] <+Aynie> When someone actively channels Athletics, they are invoking the Warrior Aspect, but how can a player convey that their character is athletic without enboying an Aspect? Is it possible, or handwaved?

[19:57] <+Aynie> And if handwaved, how is it rolled off/shown in game?

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[19:59] <+AnneRuthven> Aynie: There are a couple ways of handling this.  All major actions any hero takes ever embody one of the Aspects, which are specifically designed to describe the kinds of mythic actions the figures of legend take.  If you need to do something important for the story that rolls Athletics, you are embodying the Warrior, which is the mythic archetype in charge

[19:59] <+AnneRuthven> of doing impressive physical things.

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[20:00] <+AnneRuthven> You can definitely SAY your character is athletic, and have it be true, without them needing dots of Athletics – normal people without any Warrior can swim across a pool or climb a low ropes course or do high school track and field.  But if it’s important to the story or difficult and heroic, you’re taking on the Warrior aspect when you do it – the Warrior is

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[20:00] <~Dan> On a related note, do I understand correctly that both Aspects and Talents have scores that add together?

[20:00] <+AnneRuthven> literally what you are becoming when you do those things.

[20:00] <+AnneRuthven> Alternatively, you can gain bonuses to Athletics from Blessings in the Web of Fate, even if you never get any dots of Athletics itself – they are scattered through various Talent trees.

[20:01] <+AnneRuthven> You won’t be as good at it as someone who is actually into Athleticism, but you can get enough bonuses to be better than average if you want to.

[20:01] <+Aynie> So, they are irrevocably tied together? Mm, ok.

[20:01] <+JohnRuthven> Yes.  When you take a Athletics action for example:  You roll your dice from Warrior and add free successes from Athletics(both are on the same scale that increases by the dot you buy.  The first dot is 1, the 2nd 3, the 3rd 6, the 4th 10, etc)

[20:02] <+AnneRuthven> Aynie: Yep.  The Aspects’ job is to cover every heroic feat you would ever want to take by describing the kind of hero you are embodying when you do it.  You can do other stuff without rolling them, but it’ll almost never be important or relevant stuff.

[20:02] <~Dan> Ah, so the Aspects are dice and the Talents are auto-successes?

[20:02] <+AnneRuthven> Correct!

[20:02] <+altered> Are all three tiers – Mortal, Immmortal and Divine – in the core book? Or are these going to be split across different books?

[20:03] <+Abstruse> What’s the adventuring paradigm? Is there a reason built into the game for the PCs to leave their house and go do stuff?

[20:03] <+Bwgustaf> while on the topic of historical motivators, could you discuss what caused the suppression of american cultures without monotheism mucking about america?

[20:04] <~Dan> (Question pause.)

[20:04] <+AnneRuthven> Bwgustaf: Europeans mucking about in America.

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[20:04] <+AnneRuthven> They still showed up, conquered everything in sight, absorbed as many natural resources as possible and converted or suppressed as much native culture as they could.  They just happened to be of various European polytheistic faiths while doing so.

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[20:05] <+JohnRuthven> Altered Yes, we felt it was necessary to get a coherent system.  But it was pretty difficult, and we had to cut some stuff that we hoped would be in the book, but will have to come out in a next book very soon.  (more in depth creatures, NPCs, story)

[20:05] <+JohnRuthven> But we felt it was most important for PCs to be able to see where they were going from the get go

[20:06] <+AnneRuthven> Abstruse: I think you asked earlier and got caught in a question pause, but Joseph Campbell’s model of the hero’s journey is definitely an inspiration, and one we’re trying to follow in our game structure.  One of the major elements of the classical hero’s journey is the Call to Adventure, which is the moment that a hero is called from their normal life to do

[20:06] <+AnneRuthven> or experience extraordinary things.  The core book contains a section to help GMs with those kinds of calls to adventure, and suggested possibilities for getting PCs on the road and ready for glory.

[20:07] <+AnneRuthven> (An easy example would be a monster turning up and needing to be dealt with; a more complex one might be the PC finding that cultists have been doing strange things in their neighborhood, etc.)

[20:08] <+Lucy> The special power in Warrior is Brawn. Can Brawn be used for acrobatic things (it does not mention it)? Or would acrobatics be under some other Aspect?

[20:08] <+AnneRuthven> And the next step after the CtA is always the Denial of the Call, when heroes try to say “Nuh-uh, I want to stay where I am and not go on crazy adventures,” so there will definitely be a boot in the butt moment for many.  🙂

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[20:08] <+Lucy> flips and agility and whatnot.

[20:09] <+Rob> Percentage-wise, how much of the Core Rulebook will focus on your new setting, addressing things like how various major events in history that were based on monotheistic religions changed?

[20:09] <+Rob> (asked earlier, before question pause)

[20:09] <+AnneRuthven> (Done) with the last set, I think

[20:10] <~Dan> Can you give us an overview of how combat works?

[20:10] <+Donner_Thunderer> Why are the gods interfering at this point in time? Or have they always been doing this? Was there a big event that sort of pushes them to embody power in mortals or is it something else?

[20:11] <+Bwgustaf> i meant on topic of conversion actually, since “praying towns” are mostly christrain in orgin. for example, would tribes forcefully converted to norse paganism look different then those forced

[20:11] <+Bwgustaf> to convert to a strange faith in the real world?

[20:11] <+AnneRuthven> Lucy: Brawn is actually a passive Talent (each Aspect has one), and it makes heroes better at basic physical tasks – they can lift more, jump farther, throw stuff harder, etc.  Agility-based tasks depend on what you’re doing – gymnastic athletic flips might require Athleticism, but dancing might require Beauty or sleight of hand Legerdemain.

[20:11] <+griffinguy24> What does the Pursuit Talent do, besides chasing down prey?

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[20:11] <~Dan> (Question pause.)

[20:11] <+AnneRuthven> It depends on what you’re trying to accomplish.

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[20:14] <+AnneRuthven> Rob: Not a high percentage, but that’s by design.  We want to give players and GMs a good, flavorful sense of the setting, but we’re hoping to give the basics here and expand upon them in the future.  Since the game is in alternate “reality” and can be played without GMs having to do any outside research or worldbuilding if they don’t want to, we’re keeping

[20:14] <+AnneRuthven> the setting light but with the tools needed to expand, and will be providing options and suggestions for GMs to do so in the meantime.

[20:15] <+AnneRuthven> Donner_Thunderer: The book provides options for “big events” that could have pushed the pantheons to create God-Touched humans to represent them, but they aren’t strictly necessary.  The Heroes themselves are the stars of the show, not the gods, so their entrance is what makes the story begin, not something that happened before them (unless your individual

[20:15] <+AnneRuthven> game wants that to happen, of course, in which case play on.)

[20:16] <+JohnRuthven> Combat:  We’ll put aside blessings for the moment as they could be all sorts of things that could effect change combat.  The basics of combat are involve fairly simple rolls between warrior(either unarmed or weaponry) and the opponents defense.  Any successes over the opponents defense are taken as damage.  There are two types of health, fatigue and lethal.

[20:16] <+AnneRuthven> The essential idea is that it’s time – decreed by destiny or the turning of the cosmos or whatever else you think is appropriate – for a new Age of Heroes, like unto the one of ancient Greece, to begin.  And the PCs are those herose.

[20:16] <+AnneRuthven> heroes*

[20:17] <~Dan> JohnRuthven: How does weapon damage work?

[20:17] <~Dan> (Sorry if you were already typing that up.)

[20:17] <+JohnRuthven> Unarmed attacks do damage to fatigue boxes, while weapons to damage to lethal boxes.  When you run out of fatigue boxes you’re just unconscious, but if you run out of lethal boxes you’re dead.  We wanted heros to be able to have non-lethal brawls and lethal sword fights

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[20:18] <~Dan> (Welcome to #rpgnet, Fivelmun!)

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[20:18] <~Dan> (Welcome to #rpgnet, PhoenixRizing!)

[20:19] <+AnneRuthven> Bwgustaf: Again, largely the same – the native American populations were still conquered by Europeans and forcefully converted to their religion.  A Norse praying town would certainly have different religious practices and trappings than a Christian one, but the act and its end result – European invaders forcibly indoctrinating natives into their religion – i

[20:19] <+JohnRuthven> Weapons, by themselves dont do “extra” damage.  Because we dont want weaponed heros to have an advantage.  We dont want brawlers to be a non optional heroic type.  So, the difference is only what you roll and if the damage is fatigue or lethal.  Weapons are “more” deadly, but not “better”

[20:19] <+AnneRuthven> basically the same.

[20:20] <~Dan> So it doesn’t matter if a character is using a dagger or a bazooka?

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[20:21] <+AnneRuthven> The basic idea is that heroes of all kinds of combats are important, powerful, and able to compete with one another in mythological tales.  We want that to carry over to the game, so what kind of weapon – or no weapon at all – that you choose to fight with is a matter of your personal preference, but doesn’t make you automatically better or worse than anyone

[20:21] <+AnneRuthven> who chose differently.

[20:21] <+PhoenixRizing> No rush for katanas is always a nice thing imo

[20:21] <+JohnRuthven> However, each type of weaponry: ranged, unarmed, thrown, melee does have a specialty that is in a different aspect(one who traditionally has that in myth).  Those are part of the web of that particular talent.  And they do give bonuses to the damage based on the weapon.  BUT, you’re correct that it woudltn matter if I had a dagger or a claymore.  The hero

[20:22] <+JohnRuthven> is the center of the story, not which weapon he happens to wield

[20:22] <+JohnRuthven> o god…..I think my larp had like 8 katanas and 2 battle axes and zero other weapons in the first nwod larp i did

[20:22] <+AnneRuthven> Ah, the good old days.

[20:22] <+Bwgustaf> on the topic of death, how is your game going to be handling passage to the “other side”? does it happen only at certain tiers?

[20:23] <+MonkofLords> This may be a sort of minor question, but is it possible to try and get lethal fists?

[20:23] <+yoda112358> what is your intent for mortals? do you want them to be able to threaten supernatural forces? or is that something you intend to leave up to GMs?

[20:24] <+Bwgustaf> or only for certain cultures?

[20:24] <+JohnRuthven> Bwgustaf which do you mean exactly.  passing to the other side as in actually dying, or going to the underworld, like on an adventure?

[20:24] <+AnneRuthven> griffinguy24: Pursuit is the stat for any kind of high-speed movement.  It’s rolled not just to chase down prey, but also to competitively race against someone else, to avoid obstacles while moving at high speeds, or anything else that might involve running or covering ground as quickly as you can.

[20:25] <+JohnRuthven> Monkoflords lethal fists are is a blessing, but uses a episode labor, so its not up constantly.  Doing lethal all the time is the benefit weaponry has over unarmed

[20:25] <+AnneRuthven> The related Blessings in the Web for Pursuit have to do with increasing speed at the beginning, and eventually branch out into teleportation and creative ways to make it to whatever or whomever you’re trying to make all haste toward.

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[20:25] <+Bwgustaf> dying and entering the underworld. like how it happens in popular culture.

[20:25] <~Dan> (Welcome to #rpgnet, Lrac!)

[20:26] <+Lrac> Hi!

[20:26] <+AnneRuthven> Hey, there!

[20:26] <~Dan> (Lrac: Here for the Q&A?)

[20:26] <+pyroflare77> Outside of flavor, what does pantheon choice and god choice determine?

[20:26] <+Lrac> Yep. What did I miss?

[20:27] <+Lucy> JohnRuthven Normal people can and do beat each other to death with their hands and feet. Is the need for a blessing strictly for fighting mythological things, or can you do lethal to mortals with your unarmed?

[20:27] <~Dan> (Quite a bit, but the log will be up shortly after the end. 🙂 )

[20:27] <+AnneRuthven> Bwgustaf: Dying, for the majority of folks, involves being taken by your religion’s psychopomp or guide to the underworld that is associated with it; Zoroastrians walk the Bridge of Chinvat, Egyptian traditionalists are taken to journey through Duat, and so forth.

[20:27] <+JohnRuthven> yoda112358 …..your name is hard to type, so many numbers.  Mortals can threaten super natural forces at the mortal and beginning of immortal tier(a fair bit of the game) but as you get towards divine mortals will stop being an issue(and you’ll probably stop dealing with them because like the gods before you, going to earth is a sometimes activit

[20:27] <+voidshaper> to expand on weapons not being the focus of a character, there are several notable weapons and other legendary items in myth that have stories and character of their own. Some others might be wondering how HJ handles those, so I’ll steal their thunder and submit that question 🙂

[20:28] <+AnneRuthven> Heroes can travel to the Underworld on adventures at any time they can find and successfully get into one, although we would suspect this becomes more feasible (and less immediately fatal) once they get into the Immortal tier.

[20:29] <+JohnRuthven> lucy again, id advise to be careful with comparisons like that for the game, because we arent trying to model the real world.  But when someone runs out of fatigue, unarmed attacks on that person instead do lethal health boxes in damage

[20:29] <+JohnRuthven> not at all to discourage questions

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[20:29] <+AnneRuthven> Pyroflare77: Each pantheon provides Heroes with three things: their Ethoi, which are the core religious motivations of that pantheon (the pantheon has three, the Hero will get two of them), which the hero must uphold in order to advance in level; a set of Blessings that only that pantheon has access to, based on their traditional religious practices; and

[20:29] <+AnneRuthven> bonus Labors.

[20:29] <+JohnRuthven> but that just because something happens one way in the real world, doenst mean itll be modeled that way.  much like the bazookas and daggers comparison

[20:29] <+Abstruse> (If you start typing someone’s username and hit tab, it will automatically complete their nick. Keep hitting tab and it’ll cycle through them.)

[20:30] <+AnneRuthven> Individual gods also provide bonus Labors to their chosen Heroes, based on what they do themselves – so a God-Touched representative of Thor, for example, would likely get some bonus Labors for performing Elemental Blessings, since Thor is a thunder god.

[20:30] <+JohnRuthven> Abstruse:  hero, my god thats awesome

[20:30] <+Aynie> You say that you aren’t modeling the real world, does that mean that mortals will have less of an emphasis in Hero Journey stories?

[20:31] <+AnneRuthven> The gods don’t grant actual powers or stat changes or anything – just the ability to do more things in the areas they do things, which you can use to your benefit or ignore without much of a detriment.

[20:31] <~Dan> Does HJ include a bestiary, and if so, how extensive is it?

[20:32] <+griffinguy24> How do NPC companions work?  Your Sleipnirs, your Enkidus, etc.

[20:32] <+Fivelmun> Sorry if it was answered before, but what’s Defense? It’s around the passive talents, but its not actually one of them it seems

[20:33] <+AnneRuthven> Aynie: We’re modeling a world based on heroic myth, so how important humans are entirely depends on how important their role in the story is!  Humans can be and often are important in mythology – as worshipers, antagonists, pawns, what have you – and so they are important in HJ.  They are part of the world and the original people from which the PCs come.

[20:33] <~Dan> (Question pause.)

[20:34] <+AnneRuthven> Fivelmun: It was, but the quick answer is that it’s the stat you use to avoid attacks pointed in your direction.  It encompasses all forms of damage, so you can feel free to say that your character’s high defense means they’re a whirlwind of unhittable dodgery, or just a tank who attacks bounce off of – whatever floats your character’s boat.

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[20:34] <+AnneRuthven> Aynie again: Especially at the Mortal tier, the PCs are basically just very talented mortals themselves, so mortal doings and the world around them are still very influential to their stories.

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[20:35] <+JohnRuthven> Dan: a small one, we had planned for it to be more extensive, but its one of the things that was forced out to fit in all three tiers and just….everything else.  We’re working to be able to squeeze more of it in, because i do think its very important to a book.  Also….that would be unpaid for art…Artists so awesome and expensive!! But worth it

[20:35] <+Aynie> Can Mortals be stated on the character sheets, and if they cannot be, how are they going to represent a threat to the HJ PCs?

Session Close (#rpgnet): Tue Jun 10 20:36:09 2014 -0500

 

 

Session Start (Dan:#rpgnet): Tue Jun 10 20:36:23 2014 -0500

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[20:36] *** Topic on #rpgnet is: #rpgnet welcomes John & Anne Ruthven (Hero’s Journey) 06/10/2014 7:00 p.m. CST! || Q&A schedule: (Link: http://tinyurl.com/rpgnetschedule)http://tinyurl.com/rpgnetschedule || Q&A logs: (Link: https://gmshoe.wordpress.com/)https://gmshoe.wordpress.com/

[20:36] *** Topic set by Dan (6/5/2014 at 10:00 PM)

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[20:36] <~Dan> (Whoops)

[20:37] <~Dan> (Was there anything after Anyie’s question?)

[20:37] <+AnneRuthven> Griffinguy24: NPC companions that stay with you all the time?  It’s possible to get these, but they represent a sort of general bonus granted to you for being a hero.  They don’t give you any buffs – for example, Sleipnir is a horse so you can ride him, but he won’t buff your stats or anything – but they provide special Blessings that can be used once in a

[20:37] <+Bwgustaf> what about being dead to begin with? does hj cover being a dead character trying to return to return to life ala dante’s inferno?

[20:37] <+AnneRuthven> great while (so having Sleipnir is better than having a normal horse, because once or twice in a blue moon you can use his Blessing and go rocket-fuel speed).

[20:37] <+AnneRuthven> (I think just BWgustaf’s above?)

[20:38] <+voidshaper> I’ll post this again: to expand on weapons not being the focus of a character, there are several notable weapons and other legendary items in myth that have stories and character of their own. Some others might be wondering how HJ handles those, so I’ll steal their thunder and submit that question 🙂

[20:38] <+PhoenixRizing> (Dan: no, you were quick)

[20:38] <+voidshaper> lots of text flying by, hah

[20:38] <+Lrac> I was the guy on RPGNet who was concerned about the possibility of gods choosing to be gods of modern things. Is that possible, and if so, when will that be covered further?

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[20:40] <+AnneRuthven> Bwgustaf: That’s up to an individual game’s GM – whether or not a dead PC is allowed to try to adventure back to life will depend on the needs of the game.  I imagine if you’re playing with multiple people, one PC hogging all the game time on a solo adventure to escape the underworld would be a problem for other players, but it’s also a mythic story that

[20:40] <+AnneRuthven> could be pursued if the game’s cool with it.

[20:40] <+AnneRuthven> But yeah, if the heroes of mythology can do it, I don’t know why the heroes of HJ can’t.  🙂

[20:40] <+JohnRuthven> Aynie: No antagonists will be handled as on the character sheets, not even other god touched.  The aspects, talents, blessings, everything like that is for the hero.  NPCs, of all types will be statted withi dice pools and automatic successes based on their needs fitting into the heroes journey.  They are a piece of the story that is being told, not the prota

[20:40] <+JohnRuthven> ganists

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[20:41] <~Dan> Does magic exist in the setting aside from divine powers?

[20:42] <+JohnRuthven> Bwgustaf: Additional to your question, I think thats something that we’ll handle in the future.  Like its something I’d like to spend a whole book writing on and adding to the setting, but not something we’ll have out of the gate

[20:42] <~Dan> As in wizards, shamans, etc.?

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[20:42] <+AnneRuthven> voidshaper: I was actually going to expand on that before other questions popped up.  🙂  Famous magical artifacts of lore work exactly like the Sleipnir comparison above – while they do not provide bonuses in and of themselves, owning them gives you access to rare Blessings you can use at an appropriate moment.  Mjolnir, for example, might give Thor

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[20:42] <~Dan> (Howdy, Le_Squide! Welcome to #rpgnet, Guest00!)

[20:43] <+AnneRuthven> a special Blessing that allows him to deal both fatigue and lethal damage at the same time once in a great while, or something.

[20:44] <+AnneRuthven> You could also get character options that are neither a living thing nor a weapon that grant you these kinds of bonuses – for another example, we have a PC in the playtesting group right now who instead has a major prophecy about his future exploits, so he can call upon his destiny for a special Blessing once in a while.

[20:44] <+voidshaper> Very cool 🙂

[20:44] <+JohnRuthven> Dan: it isnt in the mortal world, before the heroes arrive.  its not something that is just happening as part of the setting.  But as the need arises, as the heroes need difficulties and trials and tribulations, magic will arise in mortals as often as hydras appear for the heroes to deal with

[20:44] <+RomulusGloriosus> I really dig that

[20:45] <+AnneRuthven> (These things are all based upon the Campbell Hero’s Journey model again – specifically, that heroes always receive some kind of important tool or companion to help them on their journeys.)

[20:45] <+JohnRuthven> But, thats very GM dependent

[20:46] <+AnneRuthven> Lrac: You can absolutely become a new god of something modern – you can be a god of anything you want to, really, and create the mortal following to revere you for it to boot.  PCs will probably often be gods of modern concepts, I would imagine – only so many “god of storm” slots left out there.

[20:46] <+Lrac> YAY!!

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[20:46] <+Altered> How does your character advance and gain new talents, etc. You buy them experience points? And how do I become a mortal-class godtouched and transcend to the immortal class?

[20:46] <+AnneRuthven> Many gods in the modern world already have some of those facets – for example, because she’s a goddess of knowledge and wisdom, modern worshipers of Sarasvati in India have also assigned her as the patron goddess of exams, and she has extra offerings around those times of year.

[20:46] <+Lrac> That’s what I wanted to hear.

[20:47] <+Lucy> Is there mechanical support for being the god of something science-ish? Or is that all just refluffing the existing blessings?

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[20:47] <~Dan> (Welcome to #rpgnet, Bowen!)

[20:48] <+Lrac> Lucy: That’s something I’d like to know as well.

[20:48] <+AnneRuthven> Lucy: A little column A, a little column B.  Many powers can be turned to modern pursuits as easily as to ancient ones – for example, if you wanted to be a god of the internet, the Sage Blessings having to do with instant arcane knowledge retrieval would stand you in good stead.  For more specialized things, those special tools we talked about above that

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[20:48] <+AnneRuthven> grant specialized Blessings can also pitch in to help define your modern concept – so perhaps our internet god would have one that allowed him to do things more directly with his chosen area of influence that way.

[20:48] <+JohnRuthven> Altered: Much like many systems, you gain them through xp.  We arent reinventing the wheel there at all.  Moving between tiers will be more in the hands of the GM though.  The first and last saga of each tier will be special and have very specific parts for each of the heros.  More then other sagas in the game, the first and last of each tier will stick very

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[20:50] <+JohnRuthven> closely to each step of the Heroes journey, and the GM chapter strives to help work on this very specifically.  At the end of the final saga of each tier, when the Hero “return with the elixir” they will ascend to the next tier

[20:50] <+JohnRuthven> (the final tier after divine being the end of the story, the final chapter)

[20:51] <+AnneRuthven> (DONE)

[20:51] <+JohnRuthven> DONE!

[20:51] <+AnneRuthven> (Yeah, high-five!)

[20:51] <+JohnRuthven> (we did it! more questions!)

[20:51] <~Dan> Nice. 🙂

[20:51] <+Lucy> Do the spheres/domains like Fire and (hopefully) Fortune use the dice and successes of Aspects? Or do they have their own dice and successes?

[20:52] <~Dan> Quick note, everyone!

[20:52] <~Dan> The “official” end time is at the top of the hour. However…

[20:53] <~Dan> …authors are always welcome to promote their products here, so John and Anne, you two are more than welcome to hang out with us as long as you like.

[20:53] <~Dan> That said, after you’re caught up with the current batch of questions…

[20:53] <~Dan> …is there anything that we haven’t covered that you’d like to mention?

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[20:53] <+JohnRuthven> Thank you Dan you have been awesome.  We’ll stick around for a bit, but certainly dont wanna clog up the chat room.  Also, I could use a drink 😉

[20:54] <+AnneRuthven> Lucy: Blessings from the Domains roll dice from appropriate Aspects (so a power that attacked someone might roll Warrior, one that creates something might roll Creator), but they get their successes from Domains.

[20:54] <+JohnRuthven> We’ll think of something we havnt covered to say too

[20:54] <+AnneRuthven> This allows those Blessings to have some variation in the kinds of heroes most likely to excel at them, but prevents heroes who are good at the Domain from ever being terrible at them because of an Aspect.

[20:54] <+AnneRuthven> (Also, Fortune is in, barring Kickstarter disaster.  :))

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[20:55] <~Dan> Oh, one other note: Please know that you guys are always welcome here, as are all of you who’ve shown up for the Q&A. And this is has definitely been the most active Q&A in a loooong time, so well done, folks!

[20:55] <+AnneRuthven> We’ll be here for a few more minutes, but since we’re about to hit time, thank you to Dan for this awesome opportunity, and thanks to all of you for your excellent and thought-provoking questions.

[20:55] <+JohnRuthven> dictating is way better then typing.  anne has a few things from both of us coming soon

[20:56] <+AnneRuthven> We’ve had a great time talking about it, and we’re active on our own blog and forum at herosjourneyrpg.com if you ever want to visit over there, too.  🙂

[20:56] <+Lucy> Is there a cap to how many successes you can use from your Domain based on your aspect? Like… you have MAX domain but NO aspect?

[20:56] <+AnneRuthven> Here’s our obligatory Kickstarter plug: (Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1116606684/heros-journey-a-tabletop-rpg-of-myth-and-legend)https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1116606684/heros-journey-a-tabletop-rpg-of-myth-and-legend

[20:56] <+CodeRR> I think my question got lost

[20:57] <+CodeRR> Is their stories of previous god touched? More modern ones beyond the mythological age?

[20:57] <+AnneRuthven> CodeRR: Oh, thank you, we didn’t mean to skip you!

[20:57] <+CodeRR> It’s cool

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[20:59] <+AnneRuthven> CodeRR: There are tons of options for that!  The core book won’t be able to go into all the people that COULD have been God-Touched throughout history or who in our world right now might be, but those things are certainly possibilities for individual games.  Interacting with other heroes (even antagonist ones) is one of the fun parts of any heroic story,

[20:59] <+AnneRuthven> after all.

[20:59] <+AnneRuthven> I should also plug that we will have a fiction novel detailing the adventures of some young modern-day God-Touched coming out around the same time as the core book, so you can always give that a look if you’d like.

[20:59] <+JohnRuthven> lucy there is no cap like that.  If you less then 4 dice to a roll, you roll 4 dice.  In your example you’d roll 4 dice, with 55 autos(also, in your domain you’d probably have some blessings that gave you bonus dice to your domain, so rarely would you be in that situation unless you avoided those blessings on purpose)

[20:59] <~Dan> Oh, that reminds me: Perhaps you’d like to link to your Kickstarter?

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[21:00] <+AnneRuthven> I just did, but I’m happy to do it again.  🙂  (Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1116606684/heros-journey-a-tabletop-rpg-of-myth-and-legend)https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1116606684/heros-journey-a-tabletop-rpg-of-myth-and-legend

[21:00] <+Lucy> (Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1116606684/heros-journey-a-tabletop-rpg-of-myth-and-legend)https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1116606684/heros-journey-a-tabletop-rpg-of-myth-and-legend

[21:00] <~Dan> Whoops. Silly me. 🙂

[21:00] <+JohnRuthven> its ok, triple linking it is awesome.  hopefully more people will see it 🙂

[21:00] * ~Dan chuckles

[21:00] <+JohnRuthven> We really think, that if you’re interested in mythology, you will love this game

[21:00] <~Dan> It sounds great. 🙂

[21:01] <+Altered> Is there a date for the release of Heroes Journey? And how much time would you leave between possible future expansions?

[21:01] <+CodeRR> Ah I did forget about that, thank you. I do have one last question that my players have been wondering, is their any mechanical benefit for being a child of a god or creature?

[21:01] <+RomulusGloriosus> It seems like with so much talk about the alternate history, there might be some interest in historical settings for the game. Is that a future possibility?

[21:02] <+JohnRuthven> RomulusGloriosus: yes! its something I want to do! I have ideas and excitement.  But we should probably get some of the more in demand pantheons and spheres and such in the game first

[21:03] <+Aynie> For that, would you bring in consultants?

[21:03] <+AnneRuthven> Altered: After talking to our printers and production team, we will hopefully be releasing it no later than the second week of September.  We’ll need a little time to recover after the core release (whew!), but we hope to be able to release new material on a schedule of approximately two supplements every three months, assuming the game is successful.

[21:03] <+Aynie> Historical folk who can look at the setting you’re asking and radically research and work to make those settings fit?

[21:04] <+Lucy> Oh one last question before you guys go! I understand your aspect system is like a wheel. I heard somewhere that you have to ‘work your way around the wheel’. Is that true? Do you have to start in one place and work your way around, or can you start in more than one place on the wheel?

[21:04] <+JohnRuthven> CodeRR: Neg.  We want to make the playing field as balanced as possible for all types of characters.  Your birth gives no mechanical benefit

[21:04] <+AnneRuthven> Aynie: We would definitely be open to that, although specifics would have to wait until embarking on those projects.  More research is always a good thing!

[21:05] <+AnneRuthven> CodeRR: But you can be a child of a god as a Hero if you want to for flavor reasons.  It’s entirely up to you.

[21:05] <+Aynie> That’s good. You guys are so dedicated to your mythological research, it would be nice to see the same effort when you go in-depth to historical settings as well 😀

[21:05] <+AnneRuthven> Aynie: I couldn’t agree more.  🙂

[21:05] <+JohnRuthven> Lucy: You “start” on the wheel wherever you buy talents.  You only have to “work around it” if you want some blessings that are in a section with a talent you dont have.  “working around the wheel” is an option, but definitely not mandatory.

[21:06] <+AnneRuthven> Essentially, if you think of the wheel as being a spiderweb, all Talents start in the center and then head outward.

[21:06] <+CodeRR> Thank you for clearing that up. Thanks for all the question answering you two have done for us 🙂

[21:06] <+Lucy> So you could theoretically start with 1 in every talent?

[21:06] <+AnneRuthven> It was our pleasure!

[21:06] <+Rob> So is this less a situation where creatures like Titans have escaped, and more a free-form journey for all kinds of Heroes? Or can we expect an over-arching reason for the assembling of so many god-touched?

[21:06] <~Dan> Again, not that you guys need to run off, but if you can hang out for a moment, I’ll get the log posted and get you the link. 🙂

[21:07] <+AnneRuthven> Lucy: Start, no – you’ll have a limited number of Talents you can get at character creation.  But heck yeah, if you buy a dot of each Talent, you can have seven different entry points to the web, enabling you to go pretty much anywhere.

[21:07] <+Lucy> Thank you guys so much for answering all of our questions. Even the hard religious ones!

[21:07] <~Dan> I’ll be right back with that link. 🙂

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