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Post by grinch on Feb 16, 2023 18:45:58 GMT
I’m sure we’ve all heard of Heracles or as he was later romanticised as “Hercules” who was famous for his great feats of strengths.
But it struck me that his famous Labours would make for perfect material for a campaign or a series of connected adventures.
There are two lines of thinking you could do with such an idea. Either your PCs decide to take a trip to Ancient Greece in order to assist him in said tasks OR, perhaps more interestingly, your PCs attempt to mold an ordinary Greek soldier/citizens into “Hercules” by taking him to various alien environments to pass said trials.
Suggestions or ideas are most welcome.
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Catsmate
13th Incarnation
It's complicated....
Posts: 3,753 
Favourite Doctors: Thirteen, Six, Five, Two, Eight, Eleven, Twelve, One, Nine...
Traits: Eccentric, Insatiable Curiousity.
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Post by Catsmate on Feb 17, 2023 21:15:57 GMT
I’m sure we’ve all heard of Heracles or as he was later romanticised as “Hercules” who was famous for his great feats of strengths. But it struck me that his famous Labours would make for perfect material for a campaign or a series of connected adventures. There are two lines of thinking you could do with such an idea. Either your PCs decide to take a trip to Ancient Greece in order to assist him in said tasks OR, perhaps more interestingly, your PCs attempt to mold an ordinary Greek soldier/citizens into “Hercules” by taking him to various alien environments to pass said trials. Suggestions or ideas are most welcome.
Primus; for a Classical Greek setting there was a novel (The Argonaut Affair) that had a bunch of time travellers entering a closely parallel universe where a Mad Scientist was attempting to recreate the voyage of the Argo, complete with geneered centaur, mecha Colossus of Rhodes and various other incarnations of Ancient Greek myth. It was a reasonably OK book, but is eminently mineable for ideas and inspiration. Heracles was one of the Argonauts of course.....
Secundus; for a more modern setting there is the Agatha Christie collection The Labours of Hercules which has the Belgian sleuth take on twelve cases that deliberately parallel those of his namesake. They're not great, and some of the parallels are rather strained, but they show the idea could be relocated.
Ultimus; move the quest into space and time. My favourite, I do like a good quest.....
The PCs are involved in some way, not necessarily voluntarily, in finding something, the MacGuffin of the story. Naturally this involves various adventures in locations and themes that parallel the labours. They could be a group from the present day, or from a range of periods and cultures (the classic, if overused, Ragtag Bunch Of Misfits).
In addition to the Key to Time quest in classic Who, there are several other examples from fantasy/sci-fi of the period, particularly Into the Labyrinth.
The quest could either be for the bits of a MacGuffin, which need to be found and assembled (perhaps while evading various others chasing around space-time, something I feel the original KtT arc lacked) or perhaps the MacGuffin is capable of movement itself and keeps relocating just before the PCs grab it ("I deny you the Nidus!"). In the latter case feel free to use the Moiralith, it doesn't get out much these days.
Or maybe the PCs are trying to destroy the thing to prevent the Big Bad getting it/reality breaking down/things from the Dungeon Dimensions leaking through/<insert catastrophe here>.
And don't forget Ulysses 31, it really does deserve an appearance.
Hope this helps.
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Post by soultaker666212 on Feb 20, 2023 0:26:04 GMT
The idea I had for the Hydra is like a self replicating machine made up of twisting cables that resemble like snakes in a sense with screens on the end of these cables attached to some metallic body, the screens acting as the head of the hydra. It would try and collect any metal/electronics etc and try and make more of itself attached onto the metallic body, often cannibalising its own cut off heads into making newer heads, like how the hydra grows more heads when one of them is cut.
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Post by grinch on Feb 27, 2023 15:14:34 GMT
I’d perhaps reframe the Stymphalian Birds as excavator droids which are used by the various Interplanetary Corporations to disassemble building materials and strip their surface of whatever resources they possess. Unfortunately, due to some flaws in their programming they’re prone to over extending themselves and breaking entire planets apart!
Also, they have a habit of having a very loose definition of the term “resources” which more often than not included any resident organic life.
Defeating a group of these could prove a good labour for this version of Hercules.
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Post by grinch on Feb 27, 2023 15:21:20 GMT
Verging slightly off-topic but imagine if the Hercules from the Land of Fiction somehow found his way to Ancient Greece?
In a world lacking in the Greek Pantheon and mythological beasts (well, for the most part) what damage would such a figure have on the timeline?
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Post by soultaker666212 on Feb 27, 2023 18:16:46 GMT
Verging slightly off-topic but imagine if the Hercules from the Land of Fiction somehow found his way to Ancient Greece? In a world lacking in the Greek Pantheon and mythological beasts (well, for the most part) what damage would such a figure have on the timeline? I can imagine a Robots of Sherwood style episode where your PCs may not be convinced its him but turns it actually ia him but like it juat how to get him back into the land of fiction |
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Post by grinch on Feb 27, 2023 21:07:54 GMT
Verging slightly off-topic but imagine if the Hercules from the Land of Fiction somehow found his way to Ancient Greece? In a world lacking in the Greek Pantheon and mythological beasts (well, for the most part) what damage would such a figure have on the timeline? I can imagine a Robots of Sherwood style episode where your PCs may not be convinced its him but turns it actually ia him but like it juat how to get him back into the land of fiction I like that. Even if you don't do the "Escape from Storyland" approach, it could make for an interesting commentary on the nature of heroes through such an adventure. There could be a great many explanations for who this "Hercules" is. A genetic freak or experiment, an enhanced human from the Far Future who is suffering from amnesia or perhaps even someone who is truly touched by the Gods. Perhaps it doesn't matter either way. In any case, he is the stuff legends are made of. |
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Post by soultaker666212 on Feb 27, 2023 22:00:12 GMT
I can imagine a Robots of Sherwood style episode where your PCs may not be convinced its him but turns it actually ia him but like it juat how to get him back into the land of fiction I like that. Even if you don't do the "Escape from Storyland" approach, it could make for an interesting commentary on the nature of heroes through such an adventure. There could be a great many explanations for who this "Hercules" is. A genetic freak or experiment, an enhanced human from the Far Future who is suffering from amnesia or perhaps even someone who is truly touched by the Gods. Perhaps it doesn't matter either way. In any case, he is the stuff legends are made of. Might even be an interesting idea for a player character, some amnesiac character learning he is in fact a legend of mythological proportions and go on their own set of trials throughout time and space with the aid of a Time Lord or even their own time travel device etc. |
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Catsmate
13th Incarnation
It's complicated....
Posts: 3,753
Favourite Doctors: Thirteen, Six, Five, Two, Eight, Eleven, Twelve, One, Nine...
Traits: Eccentric, Insatiable Curiousity.
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Post by Catsmate on Feb 27, 2023 23:13:00 GMT
I like that. Even if you don't do the "Escape from Storyland" approach, it could make for an interesting commentary on the nature of heroes through such an adventure. There could be a great many explanations for who this "Hercules" is. A genetic freak or experiment, an enhanced human from the Far Future who is suffering from amnesia or perhaps even someone who is truly touched by the Gods. Perhaps it doesn't matter either way. In any case, he is the stuff legends are made of. Might even be an interesting idea for a player character, some amnesiac character learning he is in fact a legend of mythological proportions and go on their own set of trials throughout time and space with the aid of a Time Lord or even their own time travel device etc. |
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Post by soultaker666212 on Feb 27, 2023 23:26:36 GMT
Might even be an interesting idea for a player character, some amnesiac character learning he is in fact a legend of mythological proportions and go on their own set of trials throughout time and space with the aid of a Time Lord or even their own time travel device etc. Something like that yes, just sort of in reverse, or perhaps just them forging a new identity and by going on these trials they end up as some mythological hero and such something like that. But like how Jackson thought he was the doctor just this time some ordinary person becoming like the doctor through natural experience maybe even regaining or misinterpreting memories of their past life. |
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