A Powered by the Apocalypse RPG
Based on Homer's epic poems, the Iliad & the Odyssey, and Greek Mythology
THE GAME
INDIE TTRPG
PBTA
The game has been designed using the Powered by the Apocalypse (PbtA) framework, originally developed by D.Vincent Baker & Meguey Baker for their tabletop role-playing game Apocalypse World.
PbtA games emphasise a narrative approach to role-playing and operate with the principles fiction first, that the game is the conversation and that we play to find out what happens. PbtA games emphasise the themes, tropes and atmosphere of the genre. PbtA games offer the tools to create cinematic moments and allow all the players to cooperatively build the world they are playing in.
HUMAN
CHARACTERS
Being true to Greek Mythology and the Homeric tradition, our heroes can only be human. This reflects humanity’s place in the Greek cosmos, and the unique relationship Greeks have with their gods. Humans differ from the world’s other inhabitants in their mortality and their dependence on the favour of the gods. Whereas the land provides for the old races of previous Ages, humanity has to toil the land, sow and harvest, tend the flocks and build high walls in order to have food, shelter and safety. Moreover, humans need to offer sacrifices to the gods and hope for their divine favour. Stepping beyond the walled cities of human civilization means crossing the threshold from the normal into the supernatural, from safety into peril, from the mundane into the heroic.
HOMERIC
PLAYBOOKS
In PbtA RPGs, a playbook is a unique character sheet that encapsulates the essence of a heroic archetype. Faithful to the Homeric epics (the Iliad & the Odyssey) and to Greek mythology overall, the game offers unique playbooks that reflect the different heroes and their heroic paths that one encounters in the ancient Greek myths and legends.
The Unrivaled Warrior playbook carries the fighting prowess and determination of heroes like Ajax the Great and Hector. The Divine Offspring playbook enjoys the support of a divine parent, but they're also cursed to be unfit for mortal life — much like Achilles or Hercules. The Trickster has the cunning of Odysseus in life and in battle, both in this world and beyond. While the Seer can be a warrior, a sage or a healer, while being a mouthpiece of the gods — prime examples being Amphiaraus or Helenus or Troy.
THE HEROIC AGE
GLORY &
DIVINE FAVOUR
Like all great heroes of Greek mythology, you are in pursuit of everlasting glory. Glory that will elevate you in the eyes of the immortal gods and earn you the respect and admiration of mortal friends and adversaries. However, no mortal can achieve such glory without securing divine favour, and without facing divine displeasure. Every mortal aspiring to become a hero needs the help and support of the Olympian gods, as well as the challenges and perils thrown in their path by they Fates and the Olympians themselves.
THE WORLD
Welcome to the Land of Myth!
Land of Myth: Age of Palaces™ is a fantasy role-playing game set in Mythological Ancient Greece. It is a game setting based on Homer’s great epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey, which take place during Hesiod’s Age of Heroes. This is the age of Hercules, Perseus, Theseus, Achilles, Diomedes, Jason or Bellerophon, and the great events of the Argonautic Expedition, the Calydonian Boar Hunt, the War of Thebes and the Trojan War.
Throughout our game we have striven to maintain the original flavour of Homeric Greece and to create an epic gaming environment that will bring Homer’s world to life. As a result, even though the world is full of mythical beings, peoples and beasts, there are no elves, dwarves or halflings, neither goblins or orcs, nor many of the monsters typical to swords-and-sorcery worlds.
This world was created by the Titan god Cronus, father of Zeus, during the Golden Age. It is a world created for the children of the gods, a garden for the immortals, a world indifferent to the plight of mortal men and women. This enchanted land is the Wilderness. The wilderness is a living space of flourishing nature, home to countless beings and monsters that perpetually expands. Where human influence ends (typically at the furthest edges of rural settlements and farmlands) that is where the wilderness begins. This creates a constant tension on the borderlands, where the wilderness is trying to reclaim the land while humans must fight to maintain their farmlands and their settlements.
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Humans have to toil and fight against an aggressive environment in order to carve out small havens of human civilization. Human civilization is defined by agriculture, making wine and eating bread, walled cities, and most importantly, by the offering of sacrifices. Anyone who steps out of the enclosures of human communities is crossing into a world of peril, wonder and heroism. Throughout Homer’s Odyssey, the hero Odysseus meets numerous peoples (the Cyclopes, the Laestrygones, or the Lotus-Eaters) all of whom pose different dangers to humans. These are peoples who follow different rules and have special relationships with the gods. And yet, strife is just as often found within the walls of human habitats.
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In a world of intrigue, war and constant struggles, the heroes leave the safety of their cities and villages in search great adventures, either in the Wilderness, or in distant, unknown and exotic cities.
WHO WE ARE
Seven Thebes is a project dedicated to the development of role-playing games and board games with mythological and historical themes. We are a small team who love gaming and are committed to developing high quality, original games. Through historical research we create worlds and games that retain the original flavour of the sources, and are fun and epic to play.
Our name is a reference to the Ancient Greek tragic play Seven Against Thebes, by the poet Aeschylus, which relates the events of the War of Thebes, the first of the two great wars of the Age of Heroes — the other being the War of Troy.
