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HELLAS is Ancient Greece in space. Essentially. That tag of course is just a starting point. The game does endeavor to achieve the feel of a Greek epic in a science fiction setting, and in large part it succeeds. The book itself has most of the text on light yellow pages with chapter headings and introductory fiction being in gold text on black pages, with 'red-figure' style illustrations resembling those of classic pottery, except the scenes depict tentacled aliens and Hoplites with energy guns.
The Prologue, or "What Is Hellas?" gives the reader Twelve Revelations as to what the game is. Specifically, HELLAS is a "generational space opera depicting Hellenistic Heroes overcoming fantastic odds to save their worlds and create a legacy for themselves, either by succumbing to fate or realizing their heroic destiny." The game uses a modified Omni System that does most task resolution on a D20. It is mentioned that the players are supposed to be the movers and shakers of the game world (universe) and mechanics aim to enact generational change on societies through player action, with glory and legacy as motivating factors. Readers are also warned that the game involves a certain amount of sex and violence, which is certainly appropriate to Greek myth: Characters are "heroic" mainly in the sense of being larger than life, with appetites to match, as opposed to Boy Scouts with superpowers. The mindset is likewise more appropriate to ancient days than the modern West, with much action centered on tragedy, factional revenge, and the spoils of combat, including the taking of the enemy's beautiful and willful wives and daughters - this despite the fact that the setting has plenty of opportunities for female heroes as well (Xena: Warrior Princess is of course mentioned as an inspiration). In addition to the list of media inspirations, the Prologue lists a game Glossary and a much needed pronunciation guide for Hellenic words, noting that these should not be taken as a guide to actual Ancient Greek.
Chapter One is a bit difficult to read given that the text is printed in white or gold on an outer-space background of stars. Sidebars detail a Hellas Timeline which is probably a more objective setting guide than the main text. Basically the story centers on the Hellenes, a human race who were technologically "uplifted" by advanced aliens that the Hellenes came to worship as their gods. In less than 400 years they progressed from the Iron Age to the Space Age, expanding out from the home planet of Creta. 956 years after the Twelve gods "awakened" the Hellenes, a primordial being named Kronos appeared, claiming to have devoured the gods and seeking to destroy the Hellenes as well. The Hellenes defeated Kronos by pitching him into a nearby star, which had the unforeseen effect of turning the star into a supernova, thus dooming the Creta solar system. The Hellenes were forced to expand outward, encountering new gods and discovering the "Slipspace" technology that allowed them to find new settlement worlds and encounter other races. At this point the Atlantean and Spartan factions split off from the main (Attikan) faction, but the Attikans founded a new civilization on the planet Athenoi and continued to expand, despite occasional wars with the Zoran race and the Spartans. The most serious war for civilization occurred against the highly advanced Atlanteans, and the only way the Athenoi could prevail was to use Slipstream weapons to pitch the Atlantean homeworld into the depths of slip-space. For hundreds of years, there was relative peace. But in the year 2101 after Awakening, the Spartan homeworld was destroyed and it soon became known: The Atlanteans had returned.
Chapter Two describes the Hellene society, "unified in spirit and belief" but a politically fragmented people. Certain cultural bases are common on most worlds of the setting, including "alien" worlds influenced by the Hellenes. Whereas in historical Greece the polis was a basic political unit centered on a city-state, in HELLAS the concept refers also to larger units, e.g. a government controlling a planet is an Ecumenopolis and an interplanetary unit is an Astropolis. A polis of any size has a central gathering point (Acropolis) where the assembly of the polis (the Agora) meets to deliberate on political issues. At this point the game has a D20 table (the first of many) giving a random government generation table with definitions of each (a Timocracy is rule by those who own property, a Kritocracy being rule by a body of judges, etc.). Most poleis (plural) allow for the existence of slavery, and full political rights are possessed only by native-born, property-holding citizens, although unlike historical Greece most poleis allow women some or all rights of citizenship.
While Hellenic society possesses starfaring technology, the book states that it is not applied in a "ubiquitous" fashion; on a local level they still use horse-drawn equipment and rowed boats. The culture considers technology more a tool than a necessity. They have some computerized entertainment but generally disdain the concept of simulated games when they could physically participate in the real thing. There is no real Internet, but convenience dictates that some communications be done via Slipspace- even that has a transmission speed of 170 times the speed of light, or 1 parsec per week. Thus a transmission from Athenoi going to a planet 33 light years away (about 10 parsecs) would take 10 weeks to reach the destination.
After spending a couple of pages on the military organization of a polis (which is generally applied the same way on all technology levels and is roughly equal for both army and navy), Chapter Two focuses on the Delphoi Legion, "a quasi-spiritual military organization dedicated to pursuing peace and justice across the universe." Having a moral code, and willing to take recruits from all races and nations, it is an ideal group for the player characters to join. They are highly skilled in war although they usually set themselves to stop conflicts between nations so that balance can be maintained. Their philosophy is both monist (belief that all existence is one substance) and pandeist (holding that any number of gods could exist and that all beliefs have some worth). In practice, a Legionaire is obliged to maintain a Focus (concentrating on the reason behind his mission); this concentration creates a state known as Flow, in which he is one with his mission and instinctively does just what is required. The concept of Focus and Flow is one of several "dyads" or twofold expressions in the game, and in the book is identified with the dyad of star and planet, or Sun and Stone, also translated as Hel and Las. (Get it?)
Chapter Three details the setting, starting with the trans-stellar environment of the Slipstream (or Panthalassa, the 'cosmic all-sea'). It is effectively a hyperspace like in many other science fiction settings, with its own "AEther" currents that are thought to be the breath of the gods. This means that there are actually sounds in this space, and since there are currents, starships do use sails, specifically large cables with "AEtheric force screen emitters" to catch the winds. It is possible to move about with no spacesuit here, and even survive on the limited flora and fauna although these are tasteless and barely filling. Prolonged exposure (more than two months in Slipspace) will cause a traveler to lose himself and become an undead shade that hunts the living. The environment also has its own (dark-violet) light and a certain gravity, and thus it is more analogous to an ocean than real space is. The deeper one goes into the strata of Slipspace the harder it is to navigate, until it reaches a dark void. However the lower one goes, the faster the travel. Civilizations have marked known trade routes for the Slipstream, which make travel easier and safer (but this also means that travel can be tracked). One always has to deal with the local weather conditions, which are marked on a random generation table.
Chapter Three also deals with the various types of ships in the setting and their necessary systems, such as sensors/transmitters, Slipspace drives, in-system drives and "Antikythera" navigation computers. After ships are discussed, the major star systems of the setting are detailed on a map with the various space control sectors coming together to look a WHOLE lot like a map of Greece and Sicily. The entirety of Hellene Space, or the 'Greece' of the map, is often called the Hellas Cosmopolis, with each of the constituent Regions being an Astropolis. Each of the major Regions is detailed in terms of favored deity, chief planet/system, form of government, and key personalities. Some of the Regions are organized into constellations or Leagues of Astropoleis. Most of the Hellenes' non-human allies live beyond the Ionian Solar Sea, with their main enemies, the Zorans, living in an area east of the map that they refer to as Anatolia (analogous to Asia Minor or modern Turkey on the map, which makes the Zorans analogous to Trojans). The area corresponding to Crete is where the original Hellene homeworld was before the star went nova.
Chapter Four is "The Hero's Journey," or rather the player's journey through the character creation rules. A Hellenic Hero is actually touched by the Gods (in the setting, the word hero means 'demigod'), either through blood ancestry or patronage, and thus a step above most. Character generation is fairly involved. First you get ten Attributes: Intelligence (INT), Perception (PER), Will (WIL), Charisma (CHA), Strength (STR), Dexterity (DEX), Constitution (CON), Speed (SPD), Combat Rating (CR) and Dynamism (DYN). Most of these are fairly self-explanatory, with SPD being one's movement rate and Initiative rating, CR being one's base statistic for combat skills and Dynamism being the "inner power of the Hero to manipulate the universe." The Force, or the One Power, or what have you.
Characteristics are on a fairly relative scale per trait- as with Ars Magica 0 is usually the default, where for example a CON of -2 is "indolent Epicurean," +0 is "Average Hellene," +2 is Athlete, +5 is "Champion Marathon Runner" but +8 is Elephant. After writing the stat blocks, you choose a race.
Amazorans are a blue-skinned race, who are generally both militaristic and female-dominant; like the Spartans they only give full citizenship to those who have served in the military, and like the historical Spartans they only let one gender serve in the military, it just happens to be female. Their traits make them effective in both combat and athletics.
Goregons are a reptilian race who go about on snake-like bodies but have arms (like some versions of Naga and Medusa in myths). They have strong boosts to physical stats, have a hypnotic stare, and poison resistance. They were a tribal culture "uplifted" by contact with Hellenes but enslaved by Atlanteans; since rebelling they have reasserted their tribal structures but retain contact with other races.
Hellenes are the humans of the setting. The sample picture looks EXACTLY like Leonidas in 300. They have no specific attribute bonus but can add 5 points between stats. They are considered the favorites of the gods and thus have the ability of "Tyche" and thus get to re-roll a number of times equal to the character's WILL stat per game.
Kyklopes are a black-skinned humanoid race who develop a "third eye" that actually manifests as a crystal sphere rotating about their heads. By sewing shut their physical eyes, or gouging them out, the Kyklopes can develop the full potential of the third eye, allowing the character to choose one of three special abilities in either empathy, artificing, or finding weakness in combat (although that power takes a combat action).
Myrmidons are actually insect hive minds that emulated Hellenes by forming gestalt colonies in the shape of humanoid soldiers. (In the Greek myths, Myrmidons were actually groups of soldiers magically created from ant colonies.) "Myrmidons love Hellenes and try to imitate them at every opportunity." The colony state allows the "individual" character to have a lot of neat powers, such as regenerating the rest of the body, shifting through small spaces or splitting off a "homunculus" that can act remotely from the central hive.
Nephelai are effectively air elementals, although they somewhat resemble angelic winged men and women. They can fly, become intangible, and send messages hundreds of miles on the wind.
Nymphas, like Greek nymphs, resemble beautiful female spirits of woods and seas, but are a sexual species - thus they all have female secondary sex characteristics, but some are actually male. However, because of their feminine traits, sensuality, and lack of combat skill, they were easily enslaved by the Atlanteans as concubines and servants. On Hellene worlds they are considered unbiased judges because of their lack of ties to existing political/military structures, and because of their focus on the "softer arts" of social interaction versus fighting.
Zintar are easily the most science-fiction-alien looking of all the races here, being "powerfully built cephalopods" who use their enhanced perceptions and "kybernetic" abilities to interface with machines; thus they have developed robot carapaces that allow them to act outside their natural aquatic environments (the example looks like a kind of robot centaur). They are allies of the Hellenes but have their own highly involved and "rather pyramidlike" social structure.
Life Paths are supposed to be optional, but strongly recommended, reinforcing the "fated" aspects of a Hero's life. The tables all use d20 rolls for things like place of birth, status of parents and siblings, divine heritage ('All Heroes have been touched in some way by the Gods') and so on. The concept of Life Path tables is hardly unique (there were books written several years back by Paul Jaquays that used them as generic game tools) but in my opinion they often get too specific to fit the character in to them. In HELLAS, the examples include the likes of "Outwitted the Zoran King Darius" or "Aboard the only ship to ever track and kill a Kraken." It is stated however that the system is intended as a "muse" for character creation, and also allows for collaboration in character origins, for instance if two PCs rolled the same Life Event. The next step in the Life Path is to pick the character's Profession. Professions are skill templates, some of which like Ambassador or Fighter Pilot, are usable by anybody, while some, like Zintar Kybernetes or Amazoran Fire Lancer are obviously tailored to a race. Then the player rolls for The Calling, or the events that occurred in training for that profession. The random events include events of Great Tragedy (!) or path-specific events, some of which are bad but some of which gain bonuses to attributes, skills or Glory. "Note: The Game Master and players may have realized that this creates characters that are not balanced against one another, and that is fine. Characters of all ages and walks of life populate the world of HELLAS."
Disadvantages must be taken by a PC. They come in "levels" up to 3, and the PC must take five levels (so one level 3, two level 1, etc.). Disadvantages come in three categories: Relationship (e.g. elderly mother needs constant attention, or lover is trapped in the underworld), Internal (personality problems) or External (various others, including a dark secret, physical defects, etc.). Mechanically, the player is in control of when the Disadvantage is activated (meaning technically he doesn't have to do so at all) but invoking it means the PC gets Hero points equal to the level of the Disadvantage. However these points cannot be saved and must be used by the end of the game session. Ultimately Disadvantages serve to add depth to the character and the game play.
At this point the player gets 40 Freebie Points to spend on developing the PC. Buying an Attribute up costs 5 FPs per Attribute point. Skills are 1 for 1 to a maximum of +10 add at character creation. Talents are 5 FPs per Talent. You get Hit Points equal to CON + Racial Hit Point base. The Freebie Points section is also where the book goes over how Hero points work: The character starts with 5 plus x2 the Charisma Attribute. They can be used to negate a critical failure, add to damage, soak damage, add an extra combat action, etc. However one's ability to spend them is based on character Glory: A beginning character with 20 Glory can spend 2 Hero points per action, while a more experienced character with 100 Glory could spend 5. There is also an interesting concept called Fate Points: You get these simply by asking for them. They work just like Hero Points except that each Fate Point moves the character closer to his predestined Fate as determined in his Life Path rolls. Thus the Hero's life is deliberately presented as a race between his heroic Destiny and his tragic Fate.
A character is also supposed to have Ambitions that motivate him in the short term and culminate in his ultimate Destiny. These should be not merely important but properly heroic: "Find a cure for my mother's illness" is a bad example, while a good example is "Steal the apples of an evil Zoran King as a cure for my mother's illness". Finally, the Hero is also supposed to have an appropriately poetic Heroic Epithet. Like "Swift-footed Achilles" or "Joxur the Mighty." There is an important game benefit in this: Once per adventure he can gain an automatic success at an almost impossible task if it involves his trait. For example the "swift-footed" character might use his trait to catch a speeding vehicle.
Skills are listed next. Each is modified by a specific Characteristic and each has a certain training period listed with it. After this you get Talents which are used to customize the character, and are analogous to D&D Feats or GURPS Advantages. After listing all of this, the book shows how it all hammers out by presenting Iolaus, a Spartan example character.
Chapter Five presents the rules for Dynamism. As with the Force in the Star Wars universe, all these powers work according to the same principle, but various Traditions approach it in different ways. The Delphoi Legion teaches it as an applied philosophy, while older Traditions think of it as shamanism or sorcery. PCs cannot learn more than one Tradition. A Dynamist learns up to seven Modes for effects: Attack, Illusion, Influence (mind-affecting), Kinetic (telekinesis), Manipulate (alterations of physical objects and beings), Sensory (ESP) and Shield (protection). You can only use the Modes you have learned and you cannot use more than one Mode at once. Chapter Five also gives us one of the first demonstrations of how Omni System actually works: You take your adds in the given Mode as a bonus, then apply the difficulty level of the power (so Kinetic skill +7 with a Power level of 6 to levitate oneself is a total bonus of +1), roll on the "Omni Table" and get a result ranging from Mishap (failure with potential consequences like brain damage), Failure, Partial Success (half effect), Success or Critical Success. In most cases Dynamism causes mental fatigue such that each attempt at a power causes a cumulative -1 on rolls for Dynamism that day, unless a Critical Success is made. In addition, you can apply penalties to the rolls to increase an effect's area, duration, and so on.
After descriptions of the Modes you get descriptions of the Traditions. The Delphoian Tradition of the League (based in the philosophy described in Chapter Two) allows all Modes with no special bonuses or penalties, so again it is a great basic choice for PCs. Traditions based in local mysticism, like Shamanism, have their own advantages and disadvantages, and may apply modifiers to certain modes or bar access to certain modes. Shamanism, for instance, does not allow Kinetic, is at -3 to Attack and +3 to Sensory. In application, Shamanism gives a +3 to spells that work with the character's patron totem, but since shamanism requires achieving a dream state to access these powers, using Dynamism without drugs or meditation is at a -5.
Chapter Six details the "Gods of Sun and Stone." In the Hellenic tradition, the Twelve are evenly split into six male and six female Gods, who are in turn identified with the elements of Hel (the active element) and Las (the passive element). They are fairly similar to Olympian gods, but the Hel gods all have the initial "A" for their names and the Las gods all have the initial "H", so that the analogs of Zeus and Poseidon are called "Heuson, the Father" and "Hoseidon, the Sailor." Since each character has a patron God, the traits of the Gods include the powers a Hero gains at a certain level of Glory, including beginning Glory 0. If a character somehow achieves Glory 275 or higher, the Hero achieves a certain form of apotheosis depending on the nature of his god. For instance if one is a follower of Areson, God of War, one's battle prowess increases to the point that the god himself becomes jealous and withdraws his favor, eventually challenging you to single combat. "If you succeed, you will be allowed to take a seat at the Red God's table as a Hero of war. If you fail..."
There is also an option for the Agnostic Hero, who acknowledges but does not worship any of the Gods. Such characters gain power through mastery of self, and at Glory 300, the character actually becomes a God and disappears from play (like the other characters who achieve Glory 275).
After description of the Gods, the chapter briefly goes into details of regular worship. It is customary to give sacrifices for some occasion like a wedding or great event, before a battle, or as atonement for an offense against the Gods. There are also "votives" which are similar but are material goods dedicated to the Gods but not destroyed like the objects of a sacrifice. These are often saved by the local priests and given to charity. A Hero who sacrifices can make a CHA or Seduction roll at a -3 to appease the Gods; higher levels of success will earn up to 12 Hero Points. It is also possible to blaspheme or curse out a God, which never results in direct retaliation but does make life more difficult and withdraws one's godly favors if the God offended was also the Hero's patron. However, as a roleplaying bonus, the blasphemer gets Hero Points equal to his WIL for one action. This encourages interesting scenarios, to say the least. One can also swear an oath in a God's name, allowing a bonus to one skill equal to CHA+1, but this becomes a penalty if the character strays from pursuit of the oath. If the oath is fulfilled the Hero gains 5 Glory but if he fails he loses 20 Glory and gains a Fate Point.
The Hellenes generally worship and sacrifice in a sacred space called a Temenos. In addition, each of the Twelve Gods of the Hellenes has their own Temple Moon, an artificial satellite of the God's favored planet, being exactly 144 km in diameter. Allegedly these were built by the Gods themselves, as they predate Hellene colonization. Each is guarded by a small fleet of patrol ships that are authorized to destroy any trespassers. "Only the most pious or worthy may set foot on a Temple Moon."
Chapter Seven details the equipment of the setting. For simplicity, all currency is measured in Drachmas (dm) where one Drachma is about equal to the cost of a loaf of bread. The middle class earn about 400 dm a month. Barter and trade are also common. Manufacturing often uses a ceramic-metal composite (called cermet) that has the material advantages of both. "Equipment in HELLAS is literally powered by Sun and Stone." Specifically, it uses a type of ore found near some systems called Promethium, which is a powerful energy source and will burn at 7500 degrees Fahrenheit in oxygen. Everything from homes to personal energy weapons employs a contained Promethium battery, and half a kilogram can power a family home for a week.
Chapter Seven gives us the prices for standard equipment, some of which are given details, ranging from the Amazoran Creature Harness to the Crowbar (+3 bonus to prying attempts, or +2 to damage rating, price 5 dm). Kybernetics (as opposed to the Machine Interfaces used by Zintar) are usually looked down upon and are normally only allowed for medical necessity. It is illegal to disguise an artifical limb as organic. There are also Machina (robots) but after sentient Machina revolted in ages past it was decreed that no Machina should ever be created to be disguised as a Hellene. Biotech is extremely advanced, and some wound-closing agents were also found to retard the aging process. Equipment also includes clothing; due to Hellenic standards there are adjustments to social skills in certain cases, for instance going about armored is considered rude at inappropriate times, but nudity (not gratuitous nudity so much as loosely dressed in the Classical manner) is acceptable. Those "nude" characters with the Enchanting Beauty Talent get to employ it in these cases, and of course require no costs. This chapter also includes the rules for Zintar Carapaces, which can of course be traded out or modified.
After clothing you also get lists for weapons, armor and vehicles, including the modification of vehicles with weapon hardpoints and other systems. Of course in order to know how all this stuff works for your character you have to know how combat works. And movement. You know, stuff. But seven chapters in, the book still doesn't tell us any of that. Where are the core rules for HELLAS?
Chapter Eight. Oh. Here. The book says HELLAS is not a "pickup and play" kind of game, but at core it's very simple. The aforementioned Omni Table uses a d20 for all task resolution. A modified result of 0 or less is Critical Failure, 1-5 is Failure, 6-10 is Partial Success, 11-19 is Success, and 20 or more is Critical Success, with results being similar to the examples given for Dynamism earlier. Modifiers include: Attribute (a relevant attribute adds or subtracts from a roll, again much like Ars Magica), Skill Level (one's level of training; Skill Level plus Attribute is the 'Skill Rating' used as the base modifier to the Skill roll), Intent (the declared intent of the action, necessary for the GM to gauge the action's difficulty as well as the likely results of a Critical Failure or Success), Degree of Difficulty (DoD, or the general bonus or penalty depending on how difficult the GM decides the task is), and possibly Opposed Actions (if one is acting against an opponent, the opponent's Skill Rating is the DoD of the task), Multiple Actions (if a character attempts more than one action, each after the first takes a -5 penalty, such that for three actions, the first action is normal, the second is at -5, third is -10, etc.) and "Other Modifiers" dependent on relevant other rules. The concept of Intent is emphasized in order to embellish the details of game actions, and thus the "heart and soul of any Omni System (TM) is the interaction between the players and the Game Master."
When making an Attribute Check (like a PER roll unmodified by any Skills) the Attribute modifier is doubled. Weapons use a base Damage Rating (DR) which for natural or melee weapons is modified by STR. Social Reaction rolls are modified by CHA plus Glory. Individuals move at a base 30 meters per 6 second round or +6 meters per +1 SPD or -3 meters for each -1 SPD. The game dodges Encumbrance rules as being against the epic theme of the game, but takes a common-sense approach that implies that "truly heroic characters do not overburden themselves with an overabundance of items, attempting to account for every eventuality" and the GM can apply situational penalties to over-equipped PCs as a result. Actual lifting is a limit of one's own body weight plus 50 kg per +1 STR (or -20 kg per -1 STR). DoD is described on a scale of "Any fool could do it" being a +10 and "Extreme" actions being -10 with the option of "Beyond extreme" being -15 or more.
Combat thus works along predictable lines. The DR as modified is a flat number of Hit Points that a target takes if hit. Armor has a Protection Rating (PR) that directly subtracts from DR. With the Omni Table, a Partial Success with a hit is only half the total DR, and a Critical Success is the full DR plus a Critical Wound; page 217 also gives a brief table of other sorts of damage such as unarmed attacks, burning, or drowning. Initiative is a SPD Attribute Roll. Higher Initiatives can declare actions or react against the Intent of a slower opponent. In Omni System there are four types of Combat Tactics: Attack, Defend, Movement and Stunt. The first three are fairly self-explanatory but have options such as Grapple (Attack) and Flee (Movement). Stunts are miscellaneous other things like dirty tricks and daredevil stunts. These are obviously subject to GM ruling. However Aimed Shots and autofire attacks are also examples of Stunts. Even beyond the Stunt concept, the GM and players are encouraged to engage in "Creative Combat" by describing and taking advantage of objects in the environment (for example, bystanders). "Role-playing need not stop when combat begins."
Combat is rather bloody in any event; most characters have a Hit Point base around 20, modified by CON and possibly Talents. This Hit Point base does not change after character creation. A Spartan spear usually has a DR of 7 and a basic Hoplite armor vest has a PR of 4. A "Critical Wound" gained from a Critical Success on the attack screws the victim up and he has to make a CON Roll minus the DR of the attack to continue taking action. Beings reduced to zero HP are at the verge of death. Once a character is at 0 or negative HP he must roll a CON roll modified by current HP (i.e. negative Hit Points are a penalty). A Partial Success or Failure leads to a permanent injury or scarring upon recovery. Mishap means he's dead, Jim. It is possible to do Subdual damage to knock out an opponent, in which case taking the target to 0 merely knocks him unconscious for a few minutes. Otherwise Hit Point wounds recover at the rate of 5 HP per day modified by CON (minimum of 1 point per day for negative CON characters). Mortally wounded characters or those who have taken a Critical Wound or permanent injury may take longer to recover. Some Dynamism abilities may speed the healing process. In addition to the types of environmental damage already given, the book goes over the common diseases of the setting in terms of "Level" (presumably a target number to recover, though this isn't made clear).
Chapter Eight also gives the rules for how Vehicles actually work, given that standard vehicles themselves were listed in Chapter Seven. Stats are: Maneuverability (MAN), Hull (HUL), Sensors (SEN), Speed (SPD), Acceleration (ACL), Deceleration (DCL), Slip Drive, if any (SD) and Size (SIZ). Of these, MAN is akin to vehicle DEX, HUL is a measure of durability equal to CON, SEN is like character PER, Speed is maximum velocity as opposed to ACL or DCL which are the ratings for how fast the vehicle can speed up or slow down in one round. Size is on a scale where 1 is 4m or less, 3 is like a truck or a space fighter, and 7 is a space station. Vehicles within one SIZ category of each other recieve no special modifiers in attacking each other, but each SIZ differential beyond the first gives the smaller vehicle a +1 to Attack against the larger vehicle and likewise the larger vehicle applies +1 to the smaller vehicle's Defense per SIZ category. SPD scales according to vehicle type: Aircraft scale is X10 character scale and the Spacecraft scale is character scale times 100. On these scales, the faster a vehicle goes, the higher the penalty to pilot the vehicle. Fast vehicles that are engineered for high speeds represent this in a positive MAN rating. This section gives several possible dogfighter-style maneuvers. Mass vehicle combat rules, while not emphasized, are included for space battles and the like. This is where MAN and SEN become important, given that the range of detection can extend out to 2 AU. Combat is similar to personal combat except that a Critical Wound becomes "Heavy Damage" that applies a -5 penalty to ship systems until repaired. Some ships have deflector shields, which are effectively vehicle PR.
Chapter Nine is the Game Master's advice chapter, or "How To Run This Game." Deliberately quoting Aristotle's advice that a great story should have a beginning, a middle and an end, HELLAS contrasts with most RPG settings that present "a brief beginning and an eternal middle" by determining a specific period of time, from the beginning of the Hellenic 4th Age to 100 years. Like the characters in PENDRAGON, the first generation of PCs will adventure, have children and die out, and their children and successors will complete the campaign story.
Despite the metaplot-heavy approach, HELLAS also emphasizes the primacy of the PCs; "there are no 'first-level fighters' in HELLAS". The players are encouraged to be proactive, and the GM is encouraged to roll with what they do while still being able to arrange the overall plotline. Creating adventures is likewise explained in Aristotle's terms: The plot should be relatively linear and self-contained, have a "worldly magnitude" and have elements of complexity, such as the tragic element of a character who tries to accomplish one goal and ends up achieving the opposite result (a dramatic concept referred to here as peripeteia).
One unique element, again taken from Greek history, is the point that the ancient bards often relied on memory to recite commonly-known tales, and actually relied on audience participation to fill in the details. Thus in the game, the GM is advised to encourage players to add details into his own scene descriptions. (Like: 'I bet the (ship) bridge is dark and foreboding. Like the only light comes from the computers and the red glow from the video monitor on the floor.' Jerry the GM: 'Very cool, I like it.') Likewise PCs are allowed to use Hero Points to insert useful details ('dramatic editing', although it isn't called that here). The GM is advised to use surprise and misdirection in plots to keep players interested, and is again advised to use his judgment if the players come up with something spontaneous outside his plot.
PCs are also given rewards. In the setting, these include intangible things like information and reputation, or game effects like a temporary use of a Talent applicable to the story. And of course they get experience points. Typical story arcs of two sessions can earn between 3 and 16 XP, more depending on the complexity or scale of the story. Then the game (finally) describes Glory and how one earns it. Glory points are usually story rewards, where "fighting with Style and Heroics" and/or "fighting naked and with abandon" are 1 Glory each and saving a planet from destruction single-handedly is 20 Glory. In addition to its benefit in spending Hero Points (see character creation rules) high Glory gives a "reputation roll" where other characters roll INT with a DoD of the PC's Glory to know of his heroic reputation and deeds. That is not always a good thing, of course. Conversely one can lose Glory by offending the Gods, neglecting a lover, or behaving cowardly in battle (which in itself offends the Gods, since after all the character is a Hero). Then you get the mechanic for Fate Points: Again, one can ask for Fate Points to use as Hero Points, but after gaining 10 Fate Points the PC dies in a manner fitting the Fate described in his Life Events. However, HELLAS, like other "dynastic" games, or like the Honor rules from old Oriental Adventures, allows the player to make a successor character who has 20% of his forbear's Glory and possibly his special Godly heritage. Also, both Fate and Destiny allow a character to use "bonus points" for actions except that Destiny can be used mainly in the fulfillment of a character Ambition, but Fate can be invoked at any time and allows the character to get more bonus at a lower level of Glory. However if one "tempts Fate" this way and the die roll on the task attempted is 5 or less, the PC gets a Fate Point.
On the "meta" level, the Heroes' actions really do affect the universe. In concrete game terms. This is a game concept called Metousia. Metousia allows a PC to deliberately change societal factors in their area, on a scale of 1 to 10 in benefit, on the areas of Civilization, Affluence, Order (stable government), Security, Religion, (material) Prosperity and Quality of Life. However these factors all act on each other, so raising Quality of Life also raises Order but lowers Civilization (as the culture becomes more decadent). Metousia points are pooled by the players from rewards given by the GM, and the base cost to change a trait is its new level (so raising Order from 3 to 4 would be 4 points). This base cost is multiplied by the size of the social entity (basic for City, up to x10 for Galactic Empire).
And, like the "Winter Phase" in PENDRAGON, characters have to determine their "down time" between adventures. In HELLAS, it's called the "Respite Phase" and can take 1d20 months. This includes a small table for a very broad range of random events, like "A moment of clarity" or "Family intrigue." Each is associated with a certain stat; success on a stat roll can earn Glory while failure earns up to two Fate Points. There is also a random table for what happens in the rest of the universe during all this. Then the book discusses how PCs spend XPs on their stats.
Chapter Ten gives the stats for Adversaries. Much like the BUFFY/ANGEL games, adversaries are presented with abbreviated stat blocks so that most skills and traits are represented in combat by an "Ability Level." Most monsters have a Weakness that a PC can remember with a Lore roll. These include the surviving intelligent Machina, the Scyllans (basically 'energy salamanders') and space versions of the classic Greek monsters. In addition there's a neat set of tables to create your own Greek-style mishmashes of animal parts to use as mythological monsters.
This chapter also details the history of the setting's "Big Bad," the Atlanteans. They, like the Spartans, split from the mainline Hellenic culture, partially because they followed Hadon, God of Death, who is not one of the Twelve. That emphasis on death led them to attempts to conquer it through genetics and other life sciences, which in the early days of Hellenic expansion gave the Hellenes access to life-extending drugs. This also allowed Atlanteans to exploit the various Hellenic planets by producing versions of the "Pandora" life extension customized to specific worlds to control the costs. One Hellenic leader, having already discovered a certain atrocity committed by the Atlanteans, infiltrated the Atlantean homeworld and discovered that their life sciences had created a monstrous bio-engineered planet, where the Pandora drug was synthesized through the corpses of Hellenes. The fallout of the discovery caused Sparta to start a war with the Atlanteans (not completely with the permission of the other Hellenes) and it was only with the help of the Amazorans and Zorans, who realized the threat Atlantean technology posed to them, that the Hellenes even survived. At length, the Delphoi Legion used special technology to project the Atlantean homeworld into the Atlantis star and then directly into Slipspace, where its mass caused it to slip deep into the void. Unbeknownst to the Hellenes, the Atlanteans survived that void, and made contact with some thing that gave them the power to rebuild and then strike back. It was they who destroyed Sparta, purely out of revenge, but their plans are much longer term. The last survivors of the original Atlantean race who were preserved by their new god are analogous to the ten kings of Atlantis in Plato's tale, but any one of them is practically a demigod, with potent Dynamism and bio-wizardry. Their minions are freakish creations and natives of the Slipstream.
This leads to Chapter Eleven - Vengeance: A Hellas Campaign. The campaign setting focuses on the events immediately following the Atlantean destruction of Sparta and continues for 25 years. The various scenarios are apparently disconnected but connect over the larger period as the Heroes become aware of the ghastly nature of the Atlantean menace and the level of its threat, and as the threat culminates they are forced to challenge everything they thought they knew about the conflict. Then after the campaign story, the book goes over several other more episodic story ideas.
The Credits page lists the book's inspirations as "Mr. T, Ice Pirates, Flash Gordon, and Galaxina."
SUMMARY
HELLAS works because it is consistent with its goal of making a space opera game along the lines of classic Greek heroism, with the setting creating sensible reasons for the differences between it and other games. For instance, while it’s a bit much to assume that a space-faring culture would prefer to use Bronze Age technology in everyday situations, it makes sense if one takes into account the participatory nature of ancient Greek culture, as opposed to the couch potato American culture. The heavy emphasis on fate and continuity also reinforces the Classical sensibility. The game itself is easy to grasp and has potential for both bloodiness and spontaneous action. So, while the concept of ancient Greeks in space might not have occurred to most gamers before, after reading this book it becomes highly attractive. Two spears up.
Style: 4
A highly stylized game that conveys its own sense of culture.
Substance: 4
HELLAS is not a fancy rules system, but it works, and while it uses a lot of tables, they also convey the sense of the "Hero's Path."
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