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Prodigal
 
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| Apologies if this has been answered before but... the culture guides are naturally skewed towards the assumption that people will play in culturally homogenous groups. If one wanted to build a warband of mercenaries, runaway slaves or whatnot, would the system support this, given the emphasis on "looking right"? Is a band made up of all five cultures (all using their own culturally appropriate gear) acceptable?
-- -- --
Eos: Manius Shard. Green and gold shiny healy thing.
Shadow Wars: Johnny Hyper, Hack the Planet!
Odyssey: Was Prince Ramekhet IV, of the line of Nectanebo etc etc; now Quintus Antoninus, sentimental fool err... philosopher of Rome.
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Heroic Knight
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Unfortunately, the short answer is no.
The game is designed to play up the differences between the cultures, and to enforce through OOC rules and structures the IC xenophobia between the five nations. This will be elaborated on in more detail in the (imminent) mailshot and supporting materials.
----
All opinions, comments and views expressed in Rule7 posts are mine, or have been sufficiently well plagiarised that you'll never tell the difference. They may be well-informed, educated guesses or pure speculation, but they certainly do not represent any official Odyssey or PD position. As with all PD matters, definitive positions regarding Odyssey issues are best sought direct from PD through the usual official channels. Accept no substitutes!
PD - Odyssey: Campaign, Story & Quest PD - Maelstrom: Doctor Gabriel Pretorius (Ph.D Ch.D Saren), Rimici Capell Future Prospects Group
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Prodigal
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Just to clarify Ian's point:
You cannot have a warband who are 3 Roman Champions + 4 Egyptian Champions + 1 Greek Champion.
However, a person's 'nation' as defined by the game MAY be where they were born, or MAY be where they are currently settled. So our group of runaway slaves might have settled in Persia - in which case there are 8 Persian Champions who must wear Persian cultural armour for the extra bonuses.
You cannot change your nation once a character has been played.
So you could have a group with a colourful background and names drawn from the different nations, but as far as the game mechanics are confirmed if you want to fight together in the arena you must be anchored somewhere and come under the jurisdiction of those gods.
This and other questions will be in the FAQ. The implications of 'nation' will also be explored in some other rules.
PD: Odyssey Game Producer
Almost-RL: Photographer for hire
Insurrection: Dead Washer-up
Serenity: Redshirt #2, Crew of the Qi-Lin
www.disturbing.org.uk
www.odysseylrp.co.uk
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Prodigal
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Simon (1/11/2010)
Just to clarify Ian's point:
You cannot have a warband who are 3 Roman Champions + 4 Egyptian Champions + 1 Greek Champion.
However, a person's 'nation' as defined by the game MAY be where they were born, or MAY be where they are currently settled. So our group of runaway slaves might have settled in Persia - in which case there are 8 Persian Champions who must wear Persian cultural armour for the extra bonuses.
You cannot change your nation once a character has been played.
So you could have a group with a colourful background and names drawn from the different nations, but as far as the game mechanics are confirmed if you want to fight together in the arena you must be anchored somewhere and come under the jurisdiction of those gods.Pretty much as I expected, but how does this impact on non-combat characters and groups? Are there cultural bonuses that apply to other things, or we relatively free in that regard if we never intend to step into the arena? And assuming the group mechanically conformed to one ruleset, would you be tolerant of characters who willingly accepted the non-cultural penalties for IC reasons, or is this something to be avoided/resisted?
-- -- --
Eos: Manius Shard. Green and gold shiny healy thing.
Shadow Wars: Johnny Hyper, Hack the Planet!
Odyssey: Was Prince Ramekhet IV, of the line of Nectanebo etc etc; now Quintus Antoninus, sentimental fool err... philosopher of Rome.
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Heroic Knight
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theshoveller (1/11/2010)
Pretty much as I expected, but how does this impact on non-combat characters and groups? Are there cultural bonuses that apply to other things, or we relatively free in that regard if we never intend to step into the arena?
And assuming the group mechanically conformed to one ruleset, would you be tolerant of characters who willingly accepted the non-cultural penalties for IC reasons, or is this something to be avoided/resisted?
Exactly the same conditions will apply for all characters, combat-based or otherwise.
----
All opinions, comments and views expressed in Rule7 posts are mine, or have been sufficiently well plagiarised that you'll never tell the difference. They may be well-informed, educated guesses or pure speculation, but they certainly do not represent any official Odyssey or PD position. As with all PD matters, definitive positions regarding Odyssey issues are best sought direct from PD through the usual official channels. Accept no substitutes!
PD - Odyssey: Campaign, Story & Quest PD - Maelstrom: Doctor Gabriel Pretorius (Ph.D Ch.D Saren), Rimici Capell Future Prospects Group
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Prodigal
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I'm not sure I follow, but I'm guessing all this will be clear from the mailshot?
-- -- --
Eos: Manius Shard. Green and gold shiny healy thing.
Shadow Wars: Johnny Hyper, Hack the Planet!
Odyssey: Was Prince Ramekhet IV, of the line of Nectanebo etc etc; now Quintus Antoninus, sentimental fool err... philosopher of Rome.
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Prodigal
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I suspect the rulebook will make this clear, but please feel free to drop me an email with some more details in the meantime. I'll either answer, confirm the rulebook will answer and/or add an FAQ.
PD: Odyssey Game Producer
Almost-RL: Photographer for hire
Insurrection: Dead Washer-up
Serenity: Redshirt #2, Crew of the Qi-Lin
www.disturbing.org.uk
www.odysseylrp.co.uk
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Wag
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theshoveller (1/11/2010)
Is a band made up of all five cultures (all using their own culturally appropriate gear) acceptable?
Isn't this a bit of a contradiction in terms? Given the period and setting to be *Roman* or *Carthaginian* is to desire to associate intimately only with other Romans and Carthaginians - if you were a Roman who freely chose to spend his time associating intimately with non-Romans rather than Romans then in what sense are you a Roman?
In this context, I think it's more sensible to look at culture a set of "Shared Concepts" - so there's no sense in which you could talk about a band having more than one culture - they either have a set of "Shared Concepts" or they don't.
Marios
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Champion
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I'll wade in from the mechanics point of view...
It's not just champions, it's across the whole game. There are skill mechanics and overall game mechanics that enforce cultural homogenity. The majority of the key skills available to the other classes do not work with characters/gods/furniture from different cultures. When your mates go somewhere fun, you don't get to go unless you're the same culture. And so on...
This is not like Maelstrom where you can assemble the all star cast from across cultures picking the best from each. Maelstrom doesn't care that your Fidelian is teaching a Kamakuran how to make the armour that the Rukh is going to wear. Odyssey wont let you do that, the Kamakuran can't be taught and the Rukh can't wear it.
It'll be abundantly clear when the rules go live, but the mechanics strongly incentivise sticking to one culture (in name on your stats anyway). If you don't wear armour, nothing stopping you looking, dressing and talking from another culture - the system only cares what's written in the box. If you want to be your Roman group's token Egyptian - you're better putting 'Roman' in the culture box than you are 'Egyptian', even if stat wise the Egyptian skills are closer to what you want.
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Prodigal
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Marios (1/13/2010)
theshoveller (1/11/2010)
Is a band made up of all five cultures (all using their own culturally appropriate gear) acceptable?
Isn't this a bit of a contradiction in terms? Given the period and setting to be *Roman* or *Carthaginian* is to desire to associate intimately only with other Romans and Carthaginians - if you were a Roman who freely chose to spend his time associating intimately with non-Romans rather than Romans then in what sense are you a Roman?
In this context, I think it's more sensible to look at culture a set of "Shared Concepts" - so there's no sense in which you could talk about a band having more than one culture - they either have a set of "Shared Concepts" or they don't.
But you can have a shared concept that doesn't fit neatly into one of the five cultures that exists in rules terms, while still possibly remaining true to the spirit of the setting. Slaves, mercenaries/auxiliaries, ex-pats and so on.
-- -- --
Eos: Manius Shard. Green and gold shiny healy thing.
Shadow Wars: Johnny Hyper, Hack the Planet!
Odyssey: Was Prince Ramekhet IV, of the line of Nectanebo etc etc; now Quintus Antoninus, sentimental fool err... philosopher of Rome.
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