Learn What I Heard the Sea-born Seer Relate (GLAUGUST, M&M: Fates)

The lot has been cast, and my quest decided: the PRIMEUMATON spake that I must "Breathe New Life into an Old Post". So I shall, and This post seems apt for my Mazes and Minotaurs game.

Fate

The Fates sit before their hearth at the center of the world (which is everywhere), spinning, weaving, cutting, mending, all the twistings of the lives of men. They do this at the behest and consent of Zeus, king of the gods. Of course, he commands them only because he is fated to. Who can search out the workings of the gods?

All the gods (including rather minor ones) can reveal fated futures to men, and especially to their priests and special oracles (which can sometimes include horrible beasts like harpies or sphinxes). It is a bit of an effort. Way easier to just tell them things that were or are, rather than will be. Further, there is a difference between a thing prophesied and a thing fated. Prophesies can be conditional: You will surely die unless you eat that berry. Fates are absolute: You will kill your father and marry your mother.

The conditional nature of prophesy is not uncertainty in the future: the Fates know your future, inexorably. It's instead the choice of the god giving the prophecy to not give you the full story. They're still truthful, and probably more useful than a fate. But if you choose to eat the berry and not die, that was your Fate from the beginning. If you don't eat it and die, that was your Fate from the beginning too. But the god isn't telling you which one will happen.

When a character levels up, they roll to detemine if their Fate has been decided. Roll 1d10, minus the magnitude of their luck modifier, whether positive or negative. If this result is equal to or under their new level, their Fate is decided. A table of fates is given below, which can be rolled by the DM, modified by the character's Luck mod. Or the DM can simply choose which one they have. The gods have been known to play dice, but they aren't bound by them.

Example: Alexandros and Boops (it means "ox-eyed") level up to level 2, and have a luck mod (after ability enhancements) of +1 and -1 respectively. They both roll 3 on their d10 roll. The magnitude of both their luck scores is 1, so they both subtract 1 from 3 and get 2, which is equal to their level. Then, the DM rolls for their Fates. Alexandros gets a +1 to his result here, whereas Boops gets a -1 to his.

Fates (2d6)
≤2. You are going to (or have already) wronged the gods, and will die an ignominious death and have one of those special ironic punishments in hades.
3. You shall die by the sword. Which probably isn't news to you.
4. You shall die by your child.
5. You shall die in some circumstance (1d6):

1. Fire
2. Water
3. Under the earth
4. In the sky
5. On the horns of a bull
6. Due to Bees.

6. Roll again. If you roll this result again, treat it as 5. The result of the second roll is reworded to leave a multitude of interpretations.
7. Roll again. If you roll this result again, treat it as 8. The result of the second roll is complicated by the following factor (1d6):

1. You shall come within a hair's breadth of this fate, but it will not happen.
2. This fate will only come after you have wandered nearly the whole world
3. This fate will only come after you have lost what is dearest to you
4. This fate will only come if you devote yourself to one specific god.
5. This fate cannot come to pass until a certain person or monster is dead
6. This fate is surely impossible, and can be safely ignored! (until it comes down on your head)

8. You shall defeat the terrible [Monster/Evil wizard/What-have-you].
9. You shall learn a great secret.
10. You shall wage a war against [City-state] and win.
11. You shall found a great city.
12. You shall ascend to godhood.
(results 2-5 are "Fated Deaths" while results 8-12 are "Fated Quests")

While you possess a Fate, you cannot die until it is completed. You could be chopped into pieces, turned to stone, cast into the pits of Tartarus, wither until you become a grasshopper, etc. but you can't die. Mechanically, this means that while you could be incapacitated by damage, and "die", effects such as a Nymph's Kiss of Life or a Mithraic Priest's Divine Resurrection have no time limit to work on you, since you aren't technically dead (just mostly dead, and therefore slightly alive). You can also be raised by divine intervention, or even minor intervention (Thanatos will recognize there's been some sort of a mix-up, and bring you back).

However, if you would die, instead you lose something else. This starts at the edges of your life and works in. Maybe you lose your father first, then the rest of your family, then your good name, then that magic item you use all the time, then perhaps a level, then your sight or strength... This also happens if you ignore your fated quest for a year, or do something drastic to avoid a fated death (such as trying to kill your kid). At any time you may declare that you have "nothing left to lose". This stops the "clock" for your tragedies, but you'll roll twice and take the lower result for all rolls that don't work to fulfill your Fate, and you die as soon as possible after you fulfill your fate.

Just because you have a Fate doesn't mean the spindle of Clotho stops turning. You still roll to see if you have a new Fate each time you level up. However, while you have an unfulfilled Fate, your luck modifier doesn't affect the d10 roll (though it still affects the fate-table roll), and you roll an extra dice for each unfulfilled fate you have and take the highest result. Also, rolling a Fate from a level up doesn't tell you (the player or the character) what the fate is. You still need to find an oracle for that, and probably should do it quick before some oracular monster uses it to mess with your head.

Example: Boops levels up to level 3 while still having his fate unfulfilled. He rolls 2d10 to see if he has a new fate, and gets 3 and 8. His luck mod doesn't affect this at all, and he has to take the higher. 8 is higher than his new level, so he doesn't have any new fate.

Finally, none of the gods take kindly to being toyed with. If you use your outlandish Fated Death to do some dumb shenanigans, expect the sudden appearance of your paradoxically unborn child, or a mysterious swarm of angry bees.

Mazes and Minotaurs: d30+ Gods to Show Up for a Minor Intervention

Sometimes a player might make a Minor Intervention without being very specific, or maybe the god they named is busy at the time. Here's a vague list of gods, mostly historical, that might show up instead. I've tried to make it so that the neighbors of each entry are related in some way. The GM may of course decide how the god reacts, but a default behavior is also listed.

1. The Moirai, goddesses of Fate. Mostly just here to giggle, but might give prophecy.
2. Dike, of Justice. Stern and totally impartial, will cut a liar's tongue out.
3. Aedos, of Shame. A veiled woman with a diffident mien, but audacious in word, will reveal whatever people don't want revealed.
4. Nemesis, punisher of hubris. Sympathetic to the unlucky, spiteful if you've prospered
5. The Furies, punishers of sin. If you did kinslaying or breached xenia, will try to kill you. If not, sit around picking their noses.
6. The Graces, givers of gifts. Will cure one curse (of yours or the enemy), or double your Personal Charisma temporarily.
7. The Hours, of fruitfulness. Their mere presence speeds the growth of plants, but mostly they just dance about.
8. Calliope, of Epic poetry. Beatifically bored, wants to see or hear something interesting.
9. Clio, of History. Will tell you, at length, the details of local history and folklore. Mystic fortitude save to stay awake.
10. Euterpe, Erato, Polyhymnia, of Song. The game is a musical now, no more talking only singing.
11. Terpsichore, of Dance. Everyone present gets +3 to their Grace score temporarily.
12. Thalia, of Comedy, and Melpomene, of Tragedy. In an extended and lively debate about how this should end.
13. Urania, of Astronomy. Very agreeable, if sleepy, by daylight; Would like you to leave her alone at night.
14. Iris, of the Rainbow. If she actually shows up, she has a message for you. It's very important.
15. Hermes. Sometimes just shows up!
16. Pan, of the countryside. Will likely scatter everyone about, like they all got drunk and woke up somewhere random. After this, will randomly bother the scattered party members.
17. Eros, of sudden Love. Will select either the two most likely partners, or the two most unlikely partners, and target them with his arrows (which they might dodge).
18. Morpheus, of sleep. Will send all present to sleep, and give them a collective dream, which might be pretty helpful for conflict resolution (50% gate of horn, 50% gate of ivory).
19. Thanatos, of death. 50% he has come for a random person present. If he hasn't come for a specific person, might be persuaded to end someone early.
20. Hebe, or Ganymede, of youth. They (whichever is present) bear the cup of youth, and offer a sip from the worthiest (highest level) mortal present (they can then offer this to an ally). Restores all health and reduces their age by 2d6, down to 16 at lowest.
21. Heracles, of heroes. Gives 100 glory (mazes and minotaurs XP for fighters) to the hero with the highest glory.
22. Asclepius, of health. His first concern is the sick, dying, and dead; Will cure the most dire present (including bringing the dead or undead back to life).
23. Aristeaus, of bees. Believes the situation can be only improved with the addition of a considerable quantity of bees; They aren't angry but there sure are a lot.
24. A Nymph, of whatever is most prominent in the vicinity. Much older and more powerful than player character nymphs. Character (1d4): 1. Amorous 2. Dread 3. Innocent 4. Wise.
25. An Anemoi, of the Winds. Anemoi (1d4): 1. Bearded and grumpy Boreas 2. Youthful and refreshing Zephyrus 3. Warlike and Blustering Notos 4. Contemplative and sullen Eurus.
26. A Nephele, or more likely quite a few, of the Clouds. Delightful encouragers of philosophy and fantasy and apparent enemies of common sense; Will speculate for hours.
27. A Lampad, or more likely quite a few, of Torches. Silent, mischievous, beckon for you to follow (1d4): 1. into the underworld (maybe back out) 2. into a sacred grove 3. up to the starry heavens 4. to be hopelessly lost.
28. Hecate, of magic. Gives 100 wisdom (mazes and minotaurs xp for wizards) to the hero with the highest wisdom, and changes one curse, enchantment, or fate into something stranger.
29. Proteus, of the sea-change. All know his challenge: To the one who can hold him through 3 of his transformations, will tell the future or grant some (broadly beneficial, but possibly weird) change to their physical forms. If you can't, suffer mutation.
30. Chronos, of time. Unlike most gods, who are flighty and fickle and prone to their own desires, he is very patient, and will slow down time or stop it to hear and consider the situation. Surprisingly, perfectly willing to send you back in time. Resolving paradoxes (or choosing not to resolve them) is his job, and he loves his job.

You can and should comment more gods to add to the list. Default behavior is optional.

Mazes and Minotaurs Houserule: Minor Interventions

Gonna be going on a vacation with my WIFE (new development!) and her family, and the people want Greek mythology, so I'm gonna be starting a Mazes and Minotaurs campaign (or maybe just doing a one shot). As a ruleset, it's worth giving a look: It's unserious, creative, seemingly very playable, and full of little editorial blurbs talking about the spurious history of the game and of gaming as a whole. Also it's free, and well laid out (even with its hilarious and/or cringeworthy clip-art illustrations). Since I'm going to run it, I wanted to write down a little houserule before I forget.

While it takes a priest to invoke the mighty Divine Intervention of one of the Olympian gods, the lesser gods of earth and sky, of virtue and happenstance, may be called forth by any character. To call a god, a character must perform an invocation lasting a full combat round and naming (if only vaguely) the god they desire to appear, and then must roll a d20, modified by their Luck, Level, and (in the case of Magicians) their class's Magical Talent (Orphic Voice, Elemental Mastery, etc.), against a target number of 20. An unmodified roll of 20 always succeeds.

On a success, the god named (or another appropriate god or spirit of the GM's choice) appears, "stepping out" onto the scene like an actor from the chorus or from some unseeable backstage. The character who invoked the god has, of course, no control over them whatsoever, and they are by default a neutral observer to the events before them (the GM might also make a reaction roll, if the god is fickle enough). They may be propitiated, however, to make them well-disposed to the invoker's requests (or, by contrast, offended, or propitiated by an enemy). The powers of the lesser gods are not to be taken lightly, though they tend to favor less spectacular displays of power than the Olympians. At least, they may replicate any effect of mortal magic (though tending towards their domain), and several more powerful and subtle effects, and cannot be killed by any mundane means.

On a failure, the god does not appear before mortal eyes (though the gods are always watching in matters of their concern). They cannot be invoked again for a nebulous and entirely arbitrary amount of time. Magicians of all types (who, of course, deal regularly with such spirits) may expend their Power points to reroll a failed invocation: 3 power points will allow a single reroll, while 6 power points (equivalent to a true Divine Intervention) ensures that the lesser god appears.

However, Magicians can only reroll invocations to lesser gods over which they have sway: Elementalists and Nymphs have sway over the elemental and natural gods of their domains, gods of rivers, winds, or flames; Lyrists and Sorcerers have sway over the gods of the human heart, personifications like Death, Justice, and Rage, as well as the shades of the dead; and Priests have sway over the gods who act as servants of their Patron god, such as the clouds of Zeus, the muses of Apollo, or the furies of Athena (as well as those gods who are the servants of all the gods, such as Iris or Hebe).

Lesser gods may also be propitiated through longer and more expensive invocations. These longer rites take 10 minutes, and include a sacrifice of some equivalent monetary value (whether through throwing gold in a lake, burning expensive incense, pouring expensive wine, or the slaughter of animals or people). This starts at 1 Gold Coin for a +1 bonus to the invocation roll (and to the reaction roll, if the GM makes one), and increases to +2 at 10 gold coins, +3 at 100 gold coins, etc.

This houserule I think takes care of a few big gaps in the original rules. Firstly, the lack of non-olympian god representation (common in Greek myth content from the nerds of the 80s). I feel that the common appearance of the gods of all sorts is an integral part of the feeling of a Greek myth or a Greek drama. It is a poor representation of Greek myth that does not allow the river Scamander to take offense to Achilles, or Right Logic and Wrong Logic to debate in the Academe of Socrates.

Secondly, the lack of non-combat spells for many of the magicians. An Elementalist of Air can call up winds to serve as a shield, but has no power to fill the sails of a trireme. A Sorcerer can command the living, but has no ability to perform that most basic form of hellenic magic which calls up the spirits of the dead. The Astute and GLOG-minded reader will notice parallels to the most prototypical and elegant GLOG magic ability. The ability to transform a physical task into a roleplay negotiation is probably one of the most fun magic rules ever written, in my opinion, and should probably be included in whatever setting has room for it (the prospect of persuading a Warp Drive occurs to me, and tantalizes). Fair credit to Loch as well, whose Magos was not far from my mind as I wrote this.

GLAUGUST TAX: SPELL(S) OF THE EVIL KING

I cannot, I think, elaborate all the spells of the evil king, but I can write one, with some wifely help.

Turquoise Doom
R: Touch T: Object, creature, or concept weighing less than 10^[dice] pounds D: Permanent
Encases the target in [sum] layers of beautiful and indestructible eggshell, blue like that of a robin (and also the size and weight of a robin's egg, no matter what is contained therin). Each layer may only be broken by genuine tears of sorrow for the thing contained therein. For each layer, a different person must weep. The tears don't need to fall onto the egg: it suffices that they fall on any earth worked by human hands. Laughter is nearly weightless, and your own death is around 1000 pounds. The EVIL KING's death is trapped this way, though none know it, and he considers it safe, since who on earth would cry over his death?