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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 8302801" data-attributes="member: 42582">I was given a gift card for my local games shop (Mind Games in Melbourne) and saw this on the shelf and picked it up.I've had the free PDF for a long time (August 2006 download date) but never played it, and never read it that closely. The revised edition is also a game of Homeric Heroes forced to wander the Mediterranean as they try to return home, but is pretty different mechanically, and maybe in play too (I'm not sure exactly how the original version was meant to play).The resolution is a little bit like Cortex+ Heroic: roll a dice pool built from Name, Epithet and Domain (a bit like Distinctions in Cortex+) and keep the two best results. The target number is determined by the GM ("Strife player") taking the best single result from his/her pool and adding a fixed value that reflects the current intensity of the strife.There are a lot of interacting resource-and-recovery pools that power additional dice and absorb fallout: Pathos (the closest thing the system has to Healing Surges), Divine Favour, and Bonds (which allows bringing another character in to help you, either adding to your pool or protecting you from fallout). At the end of each contest, the highest successful player gets full Glory (equal to the target number), the other successful player(s) get(s) half that, and any player who lost gets 1 Glory. Glory serves similarly to XP: at certain totals the PCs' Name die is stepped up. There are also ways for gaining Boons, by pleasing the gods or by suffering lots of Pathos - these generally step up other dice (eg Epithet or Domain).Angering the gods generates Wrath, which is a bit like the Doom Pool in Cortex+ and allows the GM to introduce additional dice into his/her pool. Pleasing the Gods can generate Divine Favour, and eventually allows the wandering heroes to return home.The overall dynamic of play, as described in the book, reminds me a bit of AW and also of Dogs in the Vineyard (but with Islands and their strife in place of Towns and their sin). One feature which I would have to experience in play to get used to is that action declaration is rather sparse, and more of the detail comes out after a contest is resolved - players recite the deeds of their heroes.I'm rather keen to play this game. Has anyone had experience with it?</blockquote>

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