Myth Adventures, Creative Input Options

[rlemansky]

Greetings.

I've been reading some of the posts on EarthDawn and SR, so bear with, please.

Emphasizing some of the more fantastic elements-that is, magic and metahuman/critter aspects-may make for some interesting runs. My ideas are just coming together, so any input'd be appreciated.

I first read Robert Asprin's Myth Adventures series way back in the 80's. I also got to read the comic/graphic novel adaptations (and illustrated trade paperbacks) by the amazing Phil Foglio-so, much of my mental imaging of the characters comes from Phil's artistic interpretation.

Has anyone read the series? Read them without the illustrations-so they have a more 'realistic' (in fantasy terms, anyway) image of the characters?

Could the series be translated into a SR campaign? The dimension of Perv had a blend of magik and technology at a rather high level, so I'm thinking the conversion's plausible...

Young human mage-street punk:Skeeve.

Old human mage-possible former wageslave:Garkin.

Burnout mage:Ahhz (Orc?).

Toxic shaman:Isstvan.

Free Spirit/ally spirit:Tananda.

Troll sammie:Chumley the Troll (Wendigo'd be a close second, especially if you used these folks as villains or runner competition).

The books that comprise the series hit most of the cliched plots of fiction:The Big Game, The Big Heist, The Crack Team Against The Unbeatable Army, Rescue Mission, Save The Multiverse From The Insane Madman-you get the idea. (Not a criticism- from what I read, it was/is intentional, and makes for a fun twist.)

I'm thinking that most of the plots could be made into runs (with a little input), and most of the characters could be converted over (with more of the same). With some, you might have to up the intellgience level/sentience of some Critters-but that in and of itself could be wild. If Dragons and Saquatches are spaient, why not Stayrs and Centaurs...?

Any input?

TIA

R

[Ancient History]

When are you working the Faery Godfather into it?

[nezumi]

I've read through one book in the series. It must have been the bad book. I really can't understand *WHY* you'd want to. However, a semi-major point would be to build up the metaplanes (and the relative ease of travel to them). Have the metaplanes appear like the magical universes I seem to recollect they traveled to.

[Glyph]

Skeeve would be easy, since he's a fledgling wizard. But he would have high mental Attributes, including Charisma - also a pretty good leadership skill, and moderate skill at athletics and stealth. He has shown zero summoning ability, so make him a sorcerer (which will free up more points for skills and Attributes). His spells would be ignite, levitate, magic fingers, clout, phantasm, and mask.

Aaz would be an ork or troll changeling. His Magic loss should be considered pre-char-gen - in other words, don't make him waste 25 points because he used to be able to sling spells. Instead, just give him a high Magical Background knowledge skill. It breaks his background from the books a bit, but the only way to really approximate his toughness is to make him a cybered-to-the-max sammie. He tends to favor unarmed combat over melee weaponry, although he should have some ranged skills. He should have a maxed-out Intelligence, and a high Willpower. Despite a low Charisma, he will still have decent skills in Intimidation and Instruction (despite his gruff manner, he is an effective mentor to Skeeve).

[rlemansky]

Ancient History:
C'mon, an elf in organized crime? Almost a cliche in SR, for the most part. Seriously, though, part of my initial challenge has been overcoming my cartoon-y experience and perception of the characters-but most of them seem to be so rich and entertaining-like the aforementioned Fairy Godfather (Iron fist in velvet glove-of lavender, no less, indeed), that it's seem a shame NOT to utilize them.

Weren't Calvin and Hobbes street samurai in the intro of the Critters of North America sourcebook? I'm shooting for something along those lines. Viable characters with a fictional base.

Nezumi:
I'd not planned on using the D-hopper-most of the other planes and beings would just be Changelings or sentient critters. Asprin's other dimensions were rather one dimensional (sorry) for the most part, but that was kind of the point of them.

Heck, my view of many cities and states tends to be one dimensional, let alone countries. Even many of the folks that I know, due to the nature of our interactions, can be pigeon-holed into stereotypical roles-real people as one-note characters.

But, any dimension jumping could merely be travel, or going from one section of the city to the next. The Pacific NorthWest sports so many different settings-the Tir, Native American territiories, UCAS cities-all of that combined with Japana-corps, Undergrounds and arcologies...It'd be like going from one dimension to the next, going from the Barrens to an arcology to the Tir-if you get my point. The characters (and creatures) in each setting would be almost as unique as another plane's-especially if the plane has humanoid life, right?

And, if those characters were memorable (as most of the Myth ones are), it'd make for a great run. At least, that's my hope.

I'd like to know which book you read-the latest run of collaborations isn't quite up to the level of the early ones, but still pretty good. I can't help but laugh at the 'Chapter Quotes'-hilarious.

Glyph:
Great idea on Aahz, instead of the Burnout route. Makes for a more well rounded character. I'll probably use him as an NPC, what with his extensive knowledge and all-great foil for me to abuse the runners with (Oh, wait, this isn't Paranoia the RPG, is it?) Maybe an Immortal ork?

Would it destroy much of the game's realism if too many humanoid Critters had sentience? I gather most folks hated SURGE (and I'm not sure where THAT all stands with the new edition), but if changelings are present, it'd stretch the 'grittey realsim' of the game a bit anyway, right? I'd like to be able to have Gus the Gargoyle show up-now, Gleep on the other hand...

Thanks for the input. Any more?

R

[Daddy's Litt...]

Tanada is a phy-adept

Massha is a mage but with a heavy dependance on focus.

Guido and Nunzio are street sam with a lot of essence still.

Don Bruce would be a free spirit.

Let us run the puns on the mob bosses not listed in Mob War:
Head of the senior citizen's mob- Don Ameche
Head of the Hawaian mob: Don Ho
Head of the bondage scams: Don Knots

[Snow_Fox]

Dear in the group in which your husband played, we were all very aware of the books,

He was knicknamed Skeeve,
Rich who was over 6 feet tall and built like a troll was chumley.
Your host and his wife were Aahz and Massha. etc

[Shrike30]

The moment I saw you starting to list off "who's what" from the Myth books, I knew Tananda was going to end up an ally spirit. Too much exposure to DS rots your brain! :P

[Glyph]

One thing to ask yourself is if you really want to pidgeonhole them into the exact abilities they had in the books, or just use the personalities for roughly similar characters. Take Tananda. She is a skilled assassin and spellcaster, physically tough enough to brawl with her massive troll brother - she would have to be either a multi-initiate adept of the magical way or a free spirit to do all of that, and you could wind up with someone far above the power curve for your campaign. But instead, you could just make an elven sorceress/face with dyed green hair and some stealth skills, and you would have a character that could fill the same role/have the same personality as Tananda in the books, without being too overpowering.


You might also throw a few curveballs at the players who have read the books. Maybe Aahz is trying to lure out a magical rival, so he's only pretending to have lost his magic. Maybe Tananda is actually secretly working for Isstvan. And so on.

[rlemansky]

Thanks for all the input.

Shrike:
My brain was pretty rotten to start with, but exposure to DS may have made it work. The list was off the top of my head, and WAS admittedly very DS influenced. Of course, that's what I'm asking for here, though-influence or input. Glyph seems to have thought it through more than I had.

Glyph:
Excellent take on the character. In the recent books, Tanda doesn't do much of the assassin thing (Gods, I'd forgotten how many assassins there were! Brockhurst and Higgins as PhysAds-great!), but you've stirred my memories. The idea of a PhysMage (low on magik but high physical abilities-and face attributes) assassin with a sex kitten personality-to quote AAhz 'The mind boggles.' Will be great fun, though. I'll have to figure out the build point distribution, unless I use her as an Ex Machina NPC aide to the players-here comes the cavalry, and it's cute.

OK, so she's NOT an ally spirit. My bad. :twirl:

More characters:

Brockhurst and Higgins-PhysAd assassins.

The WoofWriters (Ydnew and Drahcir-the Pini's of ElfQuest in RL)-SHapeshifters.

Vic-Vampire.

Ajax-PhysAd Bow specialist.

Abdul the Rug Merchan/Frumple-Fixer/Johnson

Quigley-CyberZombie

Gleep-Dragon (maybe a Drake)

Massha-Focus Addicted Mage

Calvin the Djinn-Free Spirit (THIS one makes more sense)

Birfirt-Fire Elemental Ally Spirit

Gus-Gargoyle totem Shaman

Hugh BadAxe-PhysAd (weapon specialist-guess what kind)

Could make for quite the cast of characters.

A run to stop the insane R&D Head Isstvan's looking VERY workable.

Should be great fun, almost as fun as the X-Men themed camapign-but less nasty surprises. They don't like that all that much. Still have bruises...

R

[Snow_Fox]

quiggley as a CZ? What? He was a not too bright knight who became a wizard later on.

my guess is a runner who didn't know he was awakened.

[Glyph]

You could probable approximate that by making Quigley an adept of the magical way, with just one or two points in magical ability (but no magical skills yet), and the rest in things like improved ability that make him tougher than average but aren't obviously magical. I would definitely give him a lower than average Intelligence and Willpower, too, since he is very gullible and easily manipulated. Maybe even a lower than average Charisma, but the Good Looks and Knows It edge, to represent that he is someone women would like, but wouldn't want a long-term relationship with.

A cyberzombie would make sense, though, if you are less trying to approximate him, than his initial role - anti-magical minion of Isstvan to go after the group. And it would fit in with "A run to stop the insane R&D Head Isstvan".

[SkeevePlowse]

What series is this again?

It sounds interesting, but I've never heard of it.

[rlemansky]

Thanks for all the input.

Yes, I'll probably be going for approximations, and I still want a viable storyline. I could likely simulate most of the characters (as pointed out and with you folks' help), but I want a few surprises. So, recognizable characters, but disticnt individuals. Worked with the X-Men theme, and they never saw theXavier/dragon twist coming. :evil:

Skeeve Plowse:
Are you kidding or what-my sarcasm filter's on the blink. With a name like Skeeve, I figured you hAD to have heard of the adventures of Aahz and Skeeve, right?

Another Fine Myth, Hit or Myth, Myth Directions, Little Myth Marker, Myth, Inc. Link, Something Myth Inc., Myth-nomers and Im-Peerv-ections-I've missed a bunch, but there are some good collections, comics, and the illustrated trades are great, if you can find them. In cas you WEREN'T kidding. (Too early for teasing for me.)

Thanks again,

R

[SkeevePlowse]

*grins*

Yes, I was just teasing. I'd have thrown in my two cents, but anything I'd have brought up is pretty much covered already.

[Daddy's Litt...]