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The evolution of the world’s first role-playing game has been the subject of much debate for a wide variety of reasons. But one of the core issues concerns the nature of the player characters. In the early versions of that game, characters begin as little more than bold normal folk who set out to find gold, glory, and gadgets. They may, one day, become heroes; they may also get killed by angry badgers their first day in the dungeon. Succeeding iterations of the game have changed that premise substantially; making beginning characters increasingly powerful, more and more heroes from the get-go. And yet, the leveling mechanism remains in place, which is somewhat contrary to this design philosophy.

It is these thoughts which Hellas seems to address. Hellas is a number of things, but, for me, Hellas is a game that fully understands its premise and pursues it doggedly.

Setting

That actually might have sufficed for a discussion of setting. But Hellas instead devotes a significant portion of its length to fleshing it out. There are charts for typical fines imposed upon criminals and another chart to roll up random governing structures, including kritocracies (rule by judges) and machinocracies (rule by machines). There are discussions of marriage customs, education, cuisine, and the place of such cultural ideals as the Polis and the Agora. There is a gazetteer of Hellenic space with pictures of the various planets. This is all sometimes fascinating--some interesting thought, for example, is given to why people with intergalactic space travel also use swords; just enough to relax the materialist side of the brain. On the other hand, there is a bit of an info-dump quality to the setting as well. This is particularly bad at the beginning of the book, which contains 15 pages of history interspersed with communication broadcasts from various people within the Hellas Universe. These pages are dry, dense, and difficult to read, being printed in white text on star-filled blue pages.

Given the science-fiction setting, it would have been very easy to leave religion out of this game. Hellas happily does not make that mistake. Instead, it puts a great deal of emphasis on the Gods. Most Heroes will have favours and marks from the Gods, as well as gifts based on their level of Glory. The presence of the Gods is everywhere. There are even rules for blaspheming (it gives a Hero Point bonus, but may well earn divine enmity). All of this is absolutely appropriate to a game drawing on Hellenic Heroes. I give Fiegel and Grayson much credit for this decision.

I have to take a little bit of that back, however, due to the naming of the gods. For reasons that are opaque to me, the Olympian deities have been renamed according to a scheme which makes all the gods associated with Sun begin with “A-“ and all the gods associated with Stone begin with “H-“; further, male deities have names ending in “-on” and female deities end with “-ia” . Thus, the god we all know as “Ares” becomes “Areson” (a male deity associated with the Sun) while “Zeus” becomes “Heuson”. Hermes becomes “Hermia” as the god is seen as a goddess in the setting. I really can not fathom the rationale behind this scheme. The authours have made clear in discussions that this is not supposed to be actual Hellenes in Space, but all of the other names are actual Hellenic names. So why not the gods? I find this confusing for no real purpose. Plus, calling someone “Hoseidon” is just wrong.

Although the setting is really very humanocentric, there is some place for aliens as Heroes. These include humanoids, such as the war-like Amazorans and the mystical Kyklopes. Less humanoid species include the serpentine Goregons, complete with paralyzing stare; the androgynous, pheromone-wielding Nymphas; and the multi-limbed, cephalopod Zintar, who wear battle-suits and the like to move on land. My favourite, however, are the Myrmidons: hive-minded insects who worship the Hellenes as gods, and assemble each colony into a replica of a Hellene body. Not only are the Myrmidons unlike the more usual alien types, but they are a wonderful example of how the game uses the Hellenic myths as a foundation to build upon.

Premise

Actually, I would say that it contains an over-abundance of nifty mechanics to support this. Is such a thing possible? Yes. What I mean is that each mechanic is spiffy, but there are so many of them that they end up being unwieldy. For example, during the course of his adventures, a Hero may collect Experience Points, Glory Points, Hero Points, Drive Points, Fate Points, and Metousia Points. And each of those things exist to allow the hero to do something cool and you could add the Epithet mechanic as well. For me, that is just too many mechanics, particularly as they all work slightly differently. Thus, you can spend a Hero Point to do several specific things (add +2 to a roll, add +4 to damage, or add an extra action among other things) or you can use your Epithet to do something entirely free-form.

I would suggest combining a number of these mechanics. For instance, you could use increases of Experience or Glory as increases of Metousia. Maybe using the epithet simply allows 2 Hero Points to be spent for a specific purpose. There are a number of ways that the proliferation could be reduced. I suspect, however, that there are people who like having many different way to “be cool”, as evidenced by the popularity of games such as Exalted.

Speaking of Metousia, this is a wonderful idea in which characters can effect actual changes to the setting. Every settlement, planet, what have you, is rated in key aspects: Civilization, Affluence, Order, Security, Religion, Prosperity, and Quality of Life... Metousia can be spent to change these ratings. Thus, if the players want to ride in and clean up this town, they can adventure, beat up some bad guys, and then spend Metousia to raise the Order level. I particularly like the way that changes always have unintended consequences. Thus, raising the Order level automatically increased Religion as well, but decreases the Security level. You could try then to increase the Security, which also increases Prosperity, but that will reduce Quality of Life. So much room for tragedy there.

One change that I would make is to remove the idea that you must spend double the Metousia to have your changes be permanent. That seems like over-kill to me. Temporary changes should be the effects of the characters actions; Metousia should always be permanent. That change would help clear up some vagaries in how to use Metousia. For example, using the corrupt town idea, one might wonder if the characters can just step off their ships, spend the Metousia, and get going. Or, conversely, whether killing the corrupt officials has any affect without the use of Metousia. Neither of those should be the case.

Basic System

Characters consist of six familiar attributes (Strength, Intelligence, Will, Dexterity, Constitution, and Charisma) plus four additional attributes (Perception, Speed, Combat Rating, and Dynamism). Those last two are worth notice. In Hellas, a character's raw combat and magical (Dynamism) abilities are attributes. This is also how Talislanta handled it, but the actual OMNI rules made these last two attributes into derived stats (Combat was the average of Strength and Dexterity and Magic was the average of Intelligence and Will). The merits of the two approaches have been debated among fans, but it would be fairly simply to switch Hellas to the core OMNI mechanic if one prefers. As it stands, a Hero can be physically unimpressive and still be a combat monster or a titan and have no combat facility.

Rather than being ranged from 3-18, attributes range from -5 to +5, which is essentially the same as using the standard attribute modifiers from the d20 system. Skills are rated the same way and all dice actions essentially involve adding together an attribute and a skill, subtracting any penalties, and adding the roll of a d20. The significant difference from WotC’s d20 system is that the target values are fixed in OMNI; difficulty is measures by penalties to your roll instead of increased target numbers. Thus OMNI uses a very simple chart for all rolls:

OMNI Table

Total Value of Roll	Result
1 or less	Fumble
2-5	Failure
6-10	Partial Success
11-19	Full Success
20 or more	Critical Success

This includes combat which actually is a d20 system i.e. involving no other dice types. All weapons have a fixed damage rating, which is modified by the result on the OMNI Table. Partial Success is half damage, while Critical Success requires the victim to make a Constitution Roll or collapse.

I am very fond of this system as a straight-forward, transparent mechanic. It exists to be clear, fast, and not to do any fancy tricks. That is the base system anyway. OMNI then added something called “Talents”, which were essentially d20 Feats. I was not in favour of this addition and I am not particularly fond of their appearance in Hellas. They add a further layer of complexity which is particularly unnecessary given all of the other mechanics added to give the Hero oomph. I might allow one or two at most at the urging of players, but no more than that.

In contrast to the use of Talents, I am extremely pleased with the way that Hellas uses this simple mechanic to expand into new areas, such as navigating Slipspace and starfighter combat. This is a true unified dice mechanic: dead-simple to learn and expandable.

Hellas contains some errors in the system section, most of which result from directly copying text from earlier games. I note with some amusement the example given of using Dodge in combat. It is directly copied from the example in the A2A book and thus contains the same error that I noted in my review of that game (that is, it describes a character using the Brawl skill to Dodge which is not allowed). I might suggest that the folks at Khepera Publishing pay more attention to my reviews in the future; I don’t type these things just to hear my keyboard clack.

Magic (or something very like)

Actually, there is a bit more to the explanation of that. The book briefly discusses three traditions of Dynamism. The first is the Delphoian Tradition and is, if you will forgive the simplification, the Hellenic version of The Force with the Delphoian League as the Hellenic Jedi Knights. Their inclusion may strike one too clichéd--does every space setting need Jedi? Well, maybe not, but I found this iteration unexpected and clever. The second Tradition is Shamanism, based upon animal totems, and the third is Zoran Sorcery: a non-Hellenic philosophy which olds that the powers of the primeval Titans can be sought through ritual. Thus Dynamism remains ambiguous in nature—psychic, religious, or magic.

The Dynamism system is essentially the OMNI magic system. It is in keeping with the whole core design philosophy of OMNI and is akin to a stripped-down, simplified HERO system. It is an effects-based system, in which all effects are fitted into one of seven Modes: Attack, Illusion, Influence, Kinetic, Manipulate, Sensory, and Shield. Any attempt to use Dynamism involves deciding which Mode is appropriate, deciding upon a Level of Effect, and then rolling Dynamism + Mode – Level of Effect on the OMNI Table. For those used to cause-based systems, it may seem awfully vague; for those used to highly detailed effects-based systems (such as GURPS, HERO, or M&M), it may seem a little loose. For me, it is just about the right level of detail.

There are no pre-built Dynamism effects in the book which is a mistake. Dynamists can literally attempt anything for which they have the appropriate Mode. Those unfamiliar with effects-based system may find themselves at a bit of a loss as to what they can do and how to do it (though much less so than if they were using the more complex systems mentioned above). At the very least, the Traditions should have had a few sample effects to give the flavour of what they do. For example, do Delphoian Legionnaires have a recognizable fighting style? Do they typically summon energy blades into existence or cause their foes to catch afire or strike directly at their minds? As it stands, there is no “typical” which, at least, has the advantage of not closing player minds to possibilities. I suppose that I must also add this: I have never seen a Talislanta or OMNI product in which some if not most of the pre-built effects weren’t riddled with errors. So Hellas avoids that anyway.

Finally, if Referee and groups find the range of effects available too broad, it would be extremely easy to limit the number of effects known to any individual Dynamist. This situation was discussed at length when the system was first introduced in Talislanta 4th edition and the easiest response was to say individual users began play with a number of known effects equal to the number of points they had in Modes + Intelligence. I do not think that is as appropriate to Hellas as it was Talislanta, but the option is there.

Character Generation

Intelligence	0	Perception	0
Will	0	Charisma	0
Strength	0	Dexterity	0
Constitution	0	Speed	0
Combat Rating	0	Dynamism	0

That is, all average. But Hellenes get a total of +5 points to spread around. I put 2 in Combat Rating, 2 in Charisma, and 1 in Speed, giving me this:

Intelligence	0	Perception	0
Will	0	Charisma	2
Strength	0	Dexterity	0
Constitution	0	Speed	1
Combat Rating	2	Dynamism	0

Hellenes have some variety depending upon their culture. I make my character an Athenoian. That gives me some skills, such as Diplomacy and Etiquette.

Now, I roll on the Life Path to see how my character came to be the man he is. First, birth month. I was born in the winter month of Anthesterion, which has the holiday of Father’s Day and is associated with the god Heuson (or, as I insist, “Zeus”). Next, my planet of birth turns out to be Sparta. Hmn, that’s interesting. I wonder if my parent’s were on a mission to Sparta? Or exiled there?

Continuing on, I find that my mother died at some point and my father remarried. Maybe my mother was Spartan and my father left after she died, to raise me in Athenoian space? Then I find that my father is a Priest, which in addition to adding to my story, also gives me one zero-Glory divine gift. I like the idea of “Battle Rage”, a gift of Areson. I decide that this is the God my father serves.

Next, family status. Aha! My family is corrupt and evil, but hides under an exterior of benevolence. That wasn’t what I was thinking of at all, but I like it.

I have four older siblings it turns out. I dislike the first, am hated with a passion by the second, share a mutual love with the third, and admire the fourth to the point of emulation. Wow, what a family! I think maybe the eldest and second sibling are wicked older brothers, while the 3rd sibling is a sister who is as uncorrupt as I, while the fourth I’m not sure about. Maybe a heroic brother who was killed fighting the family evil?

As a family gift I get…a family pet. Gee, they sure don’t like me much, do they? I could have gotten a fortress or a spaceship and an aether weapon. I got a pet. Well, that fits.

I do pretty well on my Divine Heritage: I get 5 Glory for having a God as a grandparent on my mother’s side. I then get a +1 Intelligence as a Divine Mark.

Next, as I child I encountered something special, which turns out to be…a young person who grew up to be a fellow Hero; one of the PC’s. That’s a nice touch.

Now I choose a patron god. Given my idea of a noble warrior, fighting the corruption of his own family, I take it as serendipity that I was born in the month of Heuson, so I choose the Father of the Gods. Maybe he’s a better father than my mortal one.

I need a Destiny, a noble goal which I hope to be helped with by my god. This might be chosen by the GM or by me. I choose “To free the Church of Areson from corruption.” That’s because my father is a bad priest of Areson. I also need a Fate, which is a tragic counter-part to the glorious Destiny. I roll “fated to die when his true love is found.” Man, that sucks. Awesome.

The Life Path is done for the moment and I have a very different character than originally conceived. His past is full of family strife and corruption, siblings hated and loved, a bloody destiny and a tragic Fate. Now I need a Profession.

I quibble here with the terminology, as what is called “profession” should actually be called “Vocation” or “Calling” or maybe even “Archetype”. It is a short description of your Hero’s essence.

I was going to choose a warrior-type originally, so I pick Hoplite, a professional soldier. This increases my Combat Rating by 1 (giving me a total of +3 so far, which is pretty good). I also get a number of skills, such a Command, Pankration (unarmed fighting), and several Weapon skills. For possessions, I receive armour and shield, a Spartan spear and a Hoplite beam rifle. I get 500 drachmas base and then roll to modify it. Hey, a critical success means that I have 1,000 drachmas. Finally, I receive that Talent of Advanced Military Training.

I now pick up the Callings Path, to discover what happened in my years as an adult. I quibble with the terminology as what is called a ‘Calling” is more like a Profession. I think profession and Calling should be swapped in this game. In any case, I can choose multiple Callings and multiple trips down the Path, but each one ages me. And, as in Traveller, this isn’t good. I’ll try one to start.

The Hoplite profession suggests several likely Callings, such a Noble and Warrior. But the heck with that; it also suggests a Legionnaire of Delphoi, which is the Jedi Order of the Hellas universe. That totally makes sense for my noble warrior. Plus, it’s a Jedi.

But on second thought, I think I might take a first Calling as a simple Warrior and then move into the Legionnaire calling later. It sounds better to me that he would have begun simply and then have proved himself worthy of entering the Legion. After all, his family probably has a rotten reputation with the Legion. So, I choose Warrior first. Rolling tells me that it takes 2 years minus my Intelligence. Ah, my Divine Mark already helped. So this first trip down the Path only ages me 1 year to 19 years old...

Strangely, the event of my Warrior Calling is a Scholarly Pursuit. Not what I anticipated. My particular pursuit was that I solved a great riddle and won the respect of a Zoran noble. I now have free passage through all Zoran space. That’s nifty.

But I think I’ll try that warrior Calling again. A second pass take me 2 years (I’m 21 now) and I get a Warrior Special Event. Apparently, I have proven myself in battle and even captained a group of Spartan Hoplites. They remember me and count me as a brother (and you know how bad-ass Spartans are).

Now I think it’s time to be inducted into the Legion. I choose the Legion Calling and it takes me 4 years (Legion stints take an extra 3 years) I’m 25 now. During the term in the legion I get a Legion Special Event: guarded the King of Athenoi. That gives me +5 Glory (giving me +10 so far).

That was neat. I’ll take another stint. Wow—I spend 7 years this time, making me 32. This is probably the last term I’ll take. This stint gives me Scholarly Pursuits (which we recall I had in my first term as a Warrior). But this time it isn’t good. An academic disgraced me at a symposium. The lie follows me and has tainted my previously sterling reputation. I lose 4 Glory, going down to 6.

Okay, I’m done with this phase. I’ve had some real highs, but ended on a low. Which, actually, is a great excuse to begin adventuring now.

But wait, there is still more. Now I choose 5 levels of Disadvantages, which are either internal, external, or relationship problems. I think I’ll put 2 levels into a rivalry with a fellow Legionnaire who believes the lies from my disgrace. Or maybe he is the one who Disgraced me? Even better. I’ll take another 2 levels in a heightened sense of ethics and the final 1 in a bad reputation from that same academic failure. I better think up exactly what happened there.

Now I get 30 Freebie points to spend. I won’t go into all of that at this point, but I do know that I want to buy up my Strength to +1 (5 pts) and my Will to +2 (10 pts). I might spend 5 pts to get the Animal Companion Talent and turn my otherwise useless family pet into something nifty. Maybe a pet wolf?

I get 9 Hero Points (Charisma comes in quite handy here) and 22 Hit Points. I need some Ambitions now. One is obviously to clear my name of the scandal created by that nasty rival (who I just know decide to name Xenophon). Another is to kill my evil Father. Space Oedipus, ho!

Almost done now. I just need a name. But even that has importance in this game. Because my name must have an heroic epithet attached to it and I can use that epithet once per adventure to do something amazing. This is actually rather difficult. After having gotten my brain into the gear of reacting to the random rolls and making sense of them, it is hard to shift gears and pick a totally free-form ability. Eventually I settle on “Noble-browed Kaimachus”. I decide that “Noble-browed” means that I can persuade people to do something honorable, whether they would be inclined to or not.

And I am, at last, done. Well, actually, I haven’t used all my Freebie points yet to get Skills, Talents, and maybe play some more with my attributes. So, I’m mostly done. Barring any changes from Talents, my attributes now look like this:

Intelligence	1	Perception	0
Will	2	Charisma	2
Strength	1	Dexterity	0
Constitution	0	Speed	1
Combat Rating	3	Dynamism	0

That was…exhaustive. Surely no simply CharGen. But this isn’t D&D, where you are rolling up a first-level schlub hoping he won’t die in his first encounter with a domestic cat. This guy is a big, freaking Hero. He’s had adventures that could fill a long night before the fire. He’s had glorious success and perfidious tragedy. Whatever Fate holds in store for Noble-browed Kaimachus, it will be distinct.

If Noble-Browed Kaimachus died, it is going to be a real effort to replace him. Of course, there are so many mechanics in place to help him avoid death that it isn’t too likely unless the game is stretched over a very long time period, when ageing effects will take their toll. And, intriguingly, that is the suggested mode of play. Despite all of there cool tricks, it is assumed that all Heroes will die during the game. Hellas, like Pendragon, is meant to be intergenerational and tell the story of dynasties and the rise and fall of Heroes.

Campaign and Adventure Hooks

Art

Conclusion

By the same token, this game could be enjoyed even by those who don’t embrace the premise or the rules. For example, given the parallels to Traveller, one could simply use the setting for a unique Traveller-type game: over the hill Athenoian space merchants trying to eke out a living.

However, this is a very good game just as it is. It is one of those games that screams “play me!” with the voice of a hundred Spartan warriors every time I look at it. Which is a good thing.

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