1. CENTRAL THEMES
Fate is the most important one. No one escapes from it, not even the gods. Countless tragedies and greek myths show the consequences of trying to do so, like Oedipus Rex. But as most players prefer to have good endings, one can assume that their fates are nice or at least uncertain. An attribute of luck or divine inspiration could simulate that. One could also assume the party members are favored by one or more gods, or try to achieve this status. This is as much of a blessing as a curse, for gods may give great privileges as well as becoming furious with any disrespect.
Worship is like a business contract with someone not very reliable. You ask for something, sacrifice some good wine, cattle, gold or even an entire ship to Poseidon. The gods will decide the proportional help or blessing, be it good results in the dices or Poseidon's hand grabbing the enemy galley. Be careful with what you wish, for the gods may help in terrible ways as to teach lessons. Remember Midas and his wish for gold, which ended up in the loss of his daughter.
There isn't a canon mythology. Many legends have several iterations, such as the amazons:
A) Go far enough from civilized lands, and you'll find women wearing pants, riding horses, handling bows and axes as well as men!
B) They say in some nomad tribe called "amazons", one can't find a single man. They lay with scythians, sending the boys to their dads.
C) Others say that they aren't nomads, but have a city in northern Anatolia. There are men there, but they are second class citizens.
D) Some even say that amazons are africans from the Upper Nile, and that they worship Medusa as their goddess-queen.
Hospitality is something sacred. Guests as like brothers even if from opposite sides, good behavior is paramount no matter the ones involved. Disrespecting this is like the paladin unfulfilling his oaths: a priest or oracle will demand a quest to settle the offense. If someone which was your hosts requires, you'll go somewhere and recover his stolen armor, deliver it honorably and finding out his sons promise to serve you one day in exchange.
The Bronze Age Collapse and the following dark age are an apocalyptic event almost unbelievable but real. City-states and kingdoms falling one after the other, confused refugees with a thousand rumours and the end of civilizations. Shall the heroes investigate the chaos and its origin? Who are the "Sea Peoples" which attack everything and everyone? Or perhaps it is better to keep an island of sanity amidst the sea of madness, such as a Camelot with bronze and chariots? Or maybe just wander around, selling one's spear in exchange for gold and favours?
2. PCs e NPCs
"Heroes" are people which are extraordinary in some way. It's not a matter of goodness or evil, specially because, many times, the strongest dictates the rules. Just remember that the gods and fate are the strongest of all...
Geographic elements such as rivers; concepts; emotions; diseases. Almost everything has an anthropomorphic personification worshipped as a god. You can even find a mountain judging who is the best singer!
The spartoi appeared out of sown dragon's teeth, "fully armed for battle". One can interpret this as a kind of draconic people with claws and scales, natural arms and armor. Whatever is your choice, theban aristocrats claimed to descend from them.
A character can explain their magic as teachings which he or she received from the many mystery cults, perhaps originating from exotic lands such as the East or Egypt.
A sorceress can be a follower of Hecate, goddess of the moon, magic, ghosts and necromancy*. She could attempt to user her powers to improve her life in a society where women are practically property of their husbands and fathers. This could trigger a literal witch hunt.
*The original necromancy: speak with the dead to know the future. Your character can be the first to use it as a way to raise and control ghosts and undead, creating the "fantasy necromancy".
Some of these mysterious cults had berserker-like cultists. Dionysus' Maenads went into violent trances, ripping apart animals and even people with their bare hands. Ares can enter into a warrior's heart and lead him into a terrible fury, propagating the madness of war.
3.PLACES
Besides the old Olympic Games, there were several games in different regions and cities. Such games were at the same time competitions, political assemblies, religious festivals, markets and even there were truces among warring city-states for it to happen. Instead of meeting at a tavern, the players could meet at the games.
Odysseus, Jason, Theseus, even Aeneas... Maritime voyages were common in the myths. Adventures in unknown islands, the dangers of life at sea, leading exiles and founding a colony, there are many possibilities. The greatest greek galleys had thousands of crew members, and could work as floating towns in which the players live, buy and sell.
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| Scythians. |
According to the greek, the world became weirder as one went away from Greece:
North: the tides take away entire trees, leaves working as sails, capable of sinking ships. Men dressed as wolves eat human flesh.
East: cyclopean nomads steal the gold of gryphons. Elephants become so common that a king can gift another with five hundred of them.
West:the western winds of Iberia can make mares pregnant. The great river Oceanus might not be a river, but the greatest of seas.
South:there is a kingdom of people which are tall and hairless, with rubbery bones and two-tongued mouths which can talk with two people at the same time. The garamantian nomads actually are bandits of a kingdom which, somehow, has crops in the middle of the desert.
4. EQUIPMENT
Heroes such as Aquiles and Herakles used chariots as war platforms and transport vehicles through the battlefield. They were the "tanks" of the Bronze Age, before someone capable of breeding horses big enough to ride had such an idea. The ancient greeks also imagined chariots pulled by gryphons.
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Another option would be the wingless gryphons seen at the Knossos Palace.
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There are plate armors, but they're made of bronze (an alloy of copper and tin). Good quality bronze is better than iron and easier to forge and fix. Some bronze alloys could pierce steel. The reason that bronze is expensive and rare was because tin deposits were rare and were far away from copper deposits. In a fantasy world, this could be different. So a Mythical Greece could rightfully loathe iron as a barbarian, inferior metal, while bronze is the true, greek and heroic metal. Bronze cuirasses could be cheaper, and even full plate could be available, like this one.
One can also find armor made of iron, horn, leather, teeth, bone and certain vegetable fibers such as linen. There are as many options as there are barbarians, and only the gods know of many of these exist.
Greek artificers existed in legends and reality: respectively, Daedalus and Archimedes. Some of the things they might create: gigantic siege towers; drill-like rams; automatons such as the huge Talos or simply animated wheeled tables; the first crossbows, ballistae and catapults; "magic items" which aren't parts of monsters or divine gifts.
There were ships in many sizes: from biremes used against and by pirates; the classical triremes; going all the way up to the colossal catamaran galleys, moved by four thousand professional rowers. These were real. Fantasy opens up the possibility of, for example, exchanging a hundred human rowers for a couple of giants with huge paddles; or maybe tireless undead which row all day and night.
5. BESTIARY
Hydras, minotaurs, chimeras etc etc, the monsters of greek mythology are quite explored. But we can find many others waiting for their chance. You may like ones such as:
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The indian dragons are great serpents with shining eyes and sharp teeth which ambush elephants, ripping off their eyes before coiling around their preys' necks and strangling them. These dragons also have serrated crests from which burns a fire hotter than any torch. They might have wings as well.
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The neades were such enormous beasts that their roars could crack the very ground. Existing in older times, the greek could perhaps have found fossils which were actually from dinosaurs.
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The gods had very fast, immortal horses, sons of the four wind gods that sometimes assumed a horse form themselves. But some heroes received these animals as divine gifts: Herakles, Aquiles, Peleus... Ares' horses had fire breaths.
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Argos Panoptes was a giant with a hundred eyes spread throughout his body. He guarded a nymph turned into a white cow by the goddess Hera.
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Echidnades was a giant with snakes instead of feet.
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The drakaina Scythia was a beautiful snake woman which seduced and had sons with Herakles, one of which founded a kingdom of nomad horsemen.
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Meanwhile, the drakaina Campe was the jailer of the cyclops and hecatoncheires. She had a hair made of serpents, a tail instead of legs, fifty heads of beasts such as lions and boars in her hips; A thousand snakes served as feet like a monstrous centipede, dark wings sprang from her shoulders and a scorpion's tail was on her head.
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A personal favorite is Typhon, perhaps the deadliest creature in greek mythology. A giant whose head reached the stars, flaming eyes, pointed ears and a filthy beard. It had serpent's tails instead of legs, wings and a hundred snake's heads instead of hand fingers. Even inside in the Pit of Tartarus, it caused storms.
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Useful links:
The classes of D&D5E adapted to greek fantasy:
Mazes & Minotaurs, a free tabletop game happening on fantasy Greece:
Bestiary:
Kingdoms of Mythical Greece:
Exotic peoples:
A video about the Bronze Age Collapse:
A digital reconstruction of the Palace of Knossos:
Weapons, armor and war in the Greece from 1600 to 1100 BC. Also has information on the Sea Peoples:
About the Sea Peoples:
Bronze Age illustrations:
Armors:
Helmets:
Shields:
Weapons:
Gallery with several appropriate images:
Old ships:
Articles about ancient history:
About the phalanx:
