Myrmidon

[PlotDevice]

And so it begins... let's see how it evolves.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
The Myrmidones or Myrmidons (lit. "ant-people") of Greek mythology were initially the inhabitants of the island of Aegina. When a plague killed all of the human inhabitants of the island, King Aeacus prayed to his father Zeus for a remedy. Zeus responded by transforming the ants of Aegina into a race of people, the Myrmidons.
They later founded a kingdom in Phthia and took part in the Trojan War, fighting on the side of Achilles, the grandson of Aeacus.
The mythic Myrmidons were famous for their blind and remorseless loyalty to their leaders, so that in pre-industrial Europe the word "Myrmidon" carried many of the same connotations that "robot" does today.

Theme: A Historical Period.

Beginning in the golden age of the Greek mythos, a game that spans all of history since then, following the lives of the immortal Myrmidons. They shall take part in every period, as much or as little as the players desire, even surviving the end of the age of the gods, all the stages inbetween, even until the modern age. They shall make their own mark on history and decide their own purpose... perhaps...

Ingredients: Wine

Fermentation of special wine shall be one of the key needs of the characters, and shall for a central aim. The source of it shall be relevant to their origin and the needs of the game…

Ingredients: Entomology

The ants were made into people by the gods... and so were the other insects. Sort of. Lots to do here. See the bit about cards…

Ingredients: Accuser

Yet to be firmed in, but shall probably be a systemic element in action determination. I think there will be some sort of honour code between the myrmidons… it will be the basis of their interactions and prevent them coming into direct conflict with one another… because if they were to, it might destroy everything.

Ingredients: Invincible

Yet to determine specifics, but the characters shall be immortal, invincible and invulnerable.

Ingredients: Companion

The gods have a pact with their children. They have a duty to them they binds. As a result, answering the prayer of His son, even now, with the gods almost gone, they have a responsibility. The gods must answer to the Myrmidons. Each Myrmadon has an essence of the god Zeus as a companion, the higher self that makes them immortal. There are some elements of this I am still formulating.

Rules limitation: No Character Sheet

I may be able to make this fly since the characters shall have identcal base abilities. The issue is keeping track of their psychological development... remains to be seen.

Cards

The card types are insects. Insects have essences that can be set or played. Cards have four sides each with different implication for how they are set.
Blattodea (cockroaches)
Coleoptera (beetles)
Collembola (springtails)
Dermaptera (earwigs)
Diptera (flies)
Embiidina (web-spinners)
Ephemeroptera (mayflies)
Grylloblattodea (rock crawlers)
Hemiptera (true bugs)
Homoptera (aphids, scale insects, leafhoppers, cicadas)
Hymenoptera (wasps, ants, bees)
Isoptera (termites)
Lepidoptera (butterflies, moths)
Mantodea (mantids)
Mantophasmatodea (heelwalkers)
Mecoptera (scorpionflies and hangingflies)
Neuroptera (lacewings, ant lions, dobsonflies)
Odonata (dragonflies, damselflies)
Orthoptera (grasshoppers, crickets)
Phasmida (stick insects)
Phthiraptera (lice)
Plecoptera (stoneflies)
Protura (proturans)
Psocoptera (psocids)
Siphonaptera (fleas)
Strepsiptera (twisted-wing parasites)
Thysanoptera (thrips)
Trichoptera (caddisflies)
Zoraptera (angel insects)

Fixed characters-no generation

The characters begin from the basic insectile start. How they evolve is the centre of the game, their origin is set. Setting down some cards in different orientations generates different effects.

Resolution system must use colours

Each of the card sides have colours. They form the ‘suits’ and there will be a relationship between the colours and the dice rolls (to be determined).

Hand gestures have mechanical in game effects.

I might borrow from poker here, with hand gestures by the player for different actions. (hold, challenge, etc). Also there might be indicators from character hand gestures to indicate elements of the accuser themed honour code.

Dice system with 3 distinct pieces of info from a single roll

There will be action success, action results, and effects on the cards at minimum from the one roll. Or it might shift a bit… but this one will be easy, I think.

OK. I have started. Whee!

Evan

[PlotDevice]

Oh! I have just strengthened my wine connection. I had this in the back of my head, but here is a nice element to bring it together:

Again from From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Ambrosia
For other uses, see Ambrosia (disambiguation).
In ancient mythology, Ambrosia (Greek ἀμβροσία) is sometimes the food, sometimes the drink, of the gods. The word has generally been derived from Greek a- ("not") and mbrotos ("mortal"); hence the food or drink of the immortals. The classical scholar Arthur Woollgar Verrall, however, denied that there is any clear example in which the word ambrosios necessarily means immortal, and preferred to explain it as "fragrant," a sense which is always suitable. If so, the word may be derived from the Semitic MBR ("amber", compare "ambergris") to which Eastern nations attribute miraculous properties. In Europe, honey-colored amber, sometimes far from its source, was already a grave gift in Neolithic times and was still worn in the 7th century CE as a talisman by druidic Frisians, though St Eligius warned "No woman should presume to hang amber from her neck." W. H. Roscher thinks that both nectar and ambrosia were kinds of honey, in which case their power of conferring immortality would be due to the supposed healing and cleansing power of honey, and because fermented honey (mead) preceded wine as an entheogen in the Aegean world: the Great Goddess of Crete on some Minoan seals had a bee face: compare Merope and Melissa. See also Ichor.

One of the impieties of Tantalus, according to Pindar, was that he offered to his guests the ambrosia of the Deathless Ones, a theft akin to that of Prometheus, Karl Kerenyi noted (in Heroes of the Greeks). Circe mentioned to Odysseus that a flock of doves brought the ambrosia to Olympus.

Derivatively, the word Ambrosia (neuter plural) was given to certain festivals in honour of Dionysus, probably because of the predominance of feasting in connection with them.

"Ambrosia" is related to the Hindu amrita, a drink which conferred immortality on the gods.

Many modern scholars like Danny Staples relate ambrosia to the hallucinogenic mushroom Amanita muscaria.

Amber... insects caught in amber... frozen in time...

I love it when a theme comes together. You can smell the aromas... cooking, cooking...

Evan

[PlotDevice]

Idea dumping now.

There were chthonic cults and olympian cults. The king Aeacus represented a marriage between the powers of the underworld and the earth and the olympian gods...

I am sensing an intrisic conflict here... perhaps something of the nature of the Companion. Maybe the Myrmidon psyche is divided between the Olympian higher mind, granted by the gods, and the more primal insect mind, chthonian in origin. So there are two companions? doing a devil / angel on the shoulder? or the higher mind is the player's domain, and the cards dictate the lower mind?

Maybe they can evolve... getting back to my darwinian idea. Maybe playing the cards blends the Myrmidons into having new totem species. Maybe the Myrmidon essense is maintained as a species ubermind? a hive collective that can evolve while remaining immortal. Maybe they use humans as hosts?

Hmm... this might have moved to a tangent. think some more, then get back to you all.

Evan

[Nikolai Volkoff]

I am still saying you are CRAZY!!!

But idea is brilliant. You must have the ancestor of GREAT MOTHER RUSSIA.

I am posting the ideas of myself soon.

[Jason Petrasko]

[PlotDevice]

Why thank yous all.

Card variation possibility:
1-2-3-4
1-2-4-3
1-3-2-4
1-3-4-2
1-4-3-2
1-4-2-3
Each facing has a different effect based on what colour faces what way. 4 colours, 4 sides, 6 possibilities. so with 30 base cards, this variation option makes 180 cards...

more thinking needed.

configuration of open (set) cards indicates character's current status. 4 cards set in diamond edge to edge. outer edge of square determines base interactive abilities... colours:

primary
red
blue
yellow
black

combos

same colour - primary result
different Seconday
red-blue=purple
red-yellow=orange
blue-yellow=green
black-blue=indigo
black-red=?
black-yellow=brown

maybe relevant maybe not. maybe difference is primaries square the number, secondaries add it, except black which subtracts? hmm

more thinking.

[PlotDevice]

[PlotDevice]

Still tossing up wether to make the game chronological or make the essence of the Myrmidons temporially transcendant. Leaning towards the latter. so the players can play for setting too, at stake the next period in time to be examined... wonder how to represent the time periods and what changes with each one? maybe a "setting" card set...

[PlotDevice]

... the PLAYERS are the myrmidon's companion. The Myrmidon is aware that it is a construct, and the cards and other player actions determine when the myrmidon acts or asks or prays...

[CodexArcanum]

How amusing, our games are developing along similar lines.

I also figured that 4-color edged cards would be an interesting play aid. Here's how my game is working out:

Players are seperate parts of a hivemind. They control the actions of a group of Myr (same word as you, yep). The myr are an insectoid alien species being invaded by humans.

Each player lays down a card to complete an action, like closing a circuit basically. However, other players can add onto that circuit (and so can the first player, if he has the right cards) to build up more potent results and move the situation in a way that the player wants it to go.

The four colors (actually, 5) that I've worked up so far are:
Red = Warfare, attack and defense. Relates to Soldier Caste
Blue = Calm, craft and problem solving. Relates to Worker Caste.
Yellow = Attention, communcations and trade. Relates to Noble Caste.
Green = Mystic, prayers and leadership. Relates to Priest Caste.
White = Blank, continues or stops, but adds nothing. Releates to Drone Caste.