Introduction

Howdy folx! I’m about to launch a Kickstarter for my book Mythic Hero, and I figured it might be a good idea to set up a page where I could tell you more about it. ;)

Describing MH is simultaneously easy and a bit tricky. The joke tagline we sometimes used when describing it around the metaphorical Hero Games water cooler was “Steve’s version of Deities & Demigods.” That’s a pretty good one-phrase pitch, but it doesn't really do the book justice. The key words are “Steve’s version.” As someone who (a) got into geekish pursuits via reading mythology, and (b) is a D&Der from way back when, I loved the “DDG” (as we called it) from the moment it hit the hobby store shelves. When it occurred to me that I could write such a book for the HERO System, I immediately fell in love with the idea (as I hope you will too).

Thus, at its core MH is a review of a lot of mythoi for gaming — descriptions of gods, heroes, monsters, and more from the great (and not-so-great) mythologies of the world. They’ll all be written up in HERO System terms, of course, but the raw information is useful for any game. In that sense, MH is a lot like the DDG — but because this is “my version,” it’s going to go waaaay beyond that.

Generally speaking the DDG didn’t provide much beyond character sheets, aside from a few paragraphs of introductory information. Well, that’s not how I roll (as the kids say). When I describe a mythology, I want to cover more than just the gods, heroes, and monsters (though those are unquestionably the key element). I also intend to discuss:

—the cosmology. How does this mythology view the world (and the otherworld)? How was it created, what’s its “history,” how can characters get from one part of it to another? Do any special “rules” govern how characters live and adventure in this mythology?

—the magic. Some cultures have distinctive ways of viewing and using magic, and these affect or become a part of their mythologies. Where I can dig up this information with relative ease, I intend to include it. This won’t be a full-on HERO System Grimoire sort of treatment, but I’ll provide enough to inspire you, help you create a character, and so on. 

—well-known myths. Obviously I’m not setting out to write a book filled with all the world’s myths; there are entire encyclopedias and libraries devoted to that. But I think it really helps gamers understand a god — his abilities, his weapons, his personality, how best to interact with him in a game — if some of his best-known stories are at least briefly summarized. So there’ll be plenty of that sort of thing in the book, and the Bibliography will show you where to go if you want to know more.

—last but not least, if there’s any other cool information I uncover while doing research (like special spells, enchanted items, or types of spellcasters common to a culture or mythos), I’ll shoehorn that in somewhere — details like that are always fun and useful for gamers.

Chapter By Chapter

The first chapter of MH will feature a bunch of useful introductory material. There’ll be plenty of “crunch bits” such as “Templates” for common divine abilities; that kind of stuff is always useful. But beyond that, this chapter will cover what I think of as “mythic roleplaying”:  different ways to present/use the gods in a gaming campaign (and the implications for each); how characters interact with gods (and even fight and trick them — as ridiculous as that may “realistically” sound, it happens a lot in myth); and even how to play gods in mythology-based campaigns. This isn’t going to be a huge chapter; the book’s already long enough and I don’t want to get too bogged down in this sort of thing. But I feel it needs some coverage.

The rest of the chapters cover individual mythoi. The basic structure is:  introduction; cosmology and related information; gods (major/important/fun gods get full character sheets; lesser deities just get textual descriptions); heroes; and lastly villains and monsters. For example, the Norse heroes section has einherjar, Sigurd, and valkyries, while the monsters include Fenris and Jormungandr; the Russian/Slavic monster section has character sheets for vodyanoi, domovoi, rusalka, and other such spirits. Here’s the list of mythoi I’m currently planning to cover:

American Indian (split into six sub-chapters covering major cultural groups)†

Armenian†

Assyro-Babylonian

Aztec and Mayan

Canaanite*

Celtic

Chinese

Demonology (medieval Christian demons like Belial, Moloch, and so on; may also include some angels)

Egyptian

Etruscan*

Filipino*

Finnish

Greek and Roman

Hawaiian and Polynesian/Oceanic (possibly split into two chapters)

Hindu

Hittite*

Hungarian*

Inca

Japanese

Maori*

Masai*

Mongolian/Turkic*

Norse†

Slavic/Russian

South American* (possibly combined with Inca)

Sumerian†

Voodoo

Yoruban

Miscellaneous

(Entries with a * after them are subject to being demoted into the “Miscellaneous” chapter based on how my research goes. Entries with a † are already written, or nearly so.)

As you can see, the list includes all the old favorites (like Greek, Norse, Egyptian, and Chinese) along with quite a few more obscure mythoi, many of which have never been covered for gaming (as far as I know). The general guideline about which pantheons get a chapter is whether the subject has good, approachable resources in English that I have or can obtain. One reason gamers tend to emphasize/know about Greek and Norse mythology is that there are such excellent resources available on them. I have an extensive personal mythology library (you can see it in the Kickstarter video), and that will form the foundation of the research required to write the book. (And no doubt my collection will grow as I create MH!) It’s going to be a lot of work... but also a lot of fun, and in the end it will create a really great gaming supplement.

Lastly, I plan to include an appendix in the book discussing how you can create your own pantheons and mythologies for your games. If all goes well with the Kickstarter, some backers will have the opportunity to help me create the gods for the example pantheons I’ll include in this part of the book. I expect it will be a fascinating exercise in mutual creativity. ;)

Conclusion

Obviously this isn’t going to be a small book! The American Indian Mythologies chapter itself is over 30,000 words long (about half the length of more than a few gaming supplements I’ve written), and the Norse chapter exceeds 20,000 words. My guess is it’ll be somewhere in the 300-400 page range, though that depends on art density, my layout skill, and other as-yet-uncertain factors. It could easily be longer. Getting the rest of the book written is going to take a lot of time and work...

...and that requires a lot of money. So I hope you’ll check out the Kickstarter, pledge your support, and help me make Mythic Hero a reality!

If you’d like to know more, or have a question or suggestion, you’re welcome to post a comment here, or you can use the Message Boards (you’ll find a link in the right-hand menu). I’m sure there’ll be a lively discussion going on over at the Hero Games message boards as well. ;)

Comments

[John Taber]

Can't wait for the kickstarter. :)

[Steven S. Long]

Thanx John! I just have a few more duckling to get into position and I should be set to go. ;)

[Kaze9999]

Oh! Maybe Jeff Dee can do some art???

[Steven S. Long]

Kaze, I thought about that too. :) Unfortunately the DDG art he's currently "re-doing" is still owned by WotC (or at least it's always marked with WotC's copyright when he posts it on DeviantArt). Beyond that, given the prices he asks for his art on eBay, I'm not sure I could afford to hire him.

But that's a few steps down the line. First I have to make enough progress with the project that funding seems likely, and then I'll talk more closely with the artists I'm interested in. ;)

[Gary Denney]

Let me see, a talented writer doing a book on a subject that he is passionate about. And it is for my favorite system. Yeah, I'm so in. :)

[Arcangel 'Archie' Ortiz, Jr. aka cptpatriot]

Hey, Steve. While I personally don't have a need for the book, as a 'friend of Hero' I'll see what I can do to help it along when you initiate the Kickstarter.

[Steven S. Long]

Thanx Arcangel! Any bit of help, no matter how large or small, is deeply appreciated. ;)

[Curtis Gibson]

I'll dive into this Kickstarter for sure.