what type of "fantasy" campaign do you play?

[Desdichado]

The Persian troops fought by the Spartans were also called athanatos in some texts, because (IIRC) as one would die another would step smoothly into place, making the troop seem less like a mass of humans and more like a hydra.

And those Persian troops are usually called the Immortals in English texts today. Sorry for chiming in on the hijack for a minute...

 

[Seonaid]

Well, I used a Latin name for Urbis. And since this new setting touches a lot of philosophical questions, I decided to go with something Greek this time.

So I went to a Greek online dictionary and had "immortal" translated into Greek - after all, it's pretty hard to kill someone off permanently in this setting unless you directly assault his sould.

And "Athanatos" was what came out...

Yeah, definitely, though I was going more for the "death drive" of psychology idea, which by adding "a" would make it the opposite (sort of), which works real spiffily as well.

 

[MaxKaladin]

My setting, Caenum, is based on the Roman world. I've put in plenty of fantasy elements and I've twisted a bunch of stuff around, but the ultimate base is Roman. I don't know if that counts as standard fantasy or not.

 

[Enforcer]

Well, my campaign is currently set in the world of Exalted (White Wolf, non d20). That setting certainly qualifies as non-standard by any definition.

For those of you who get all nervous at the idea of giving up your precious d20 system, Exalted is really really cool. Really. Cool. Really.

 

[barsoomcore]

Exalted sure looks awesome. I won a copy of that somehow (can't recall how just at the mome) but haven't been able to talk anyone into running a campaign in it. Sigh.

Barsoom, my campaign, is definitely non-standard. I rewrote the magic rules, disallowed all classes except fighters and rogues (with some monks and OA classes), changed the armour rules so that agile clever folks have way better ACs than armour-clad tanks, made the sky pink, took out most mammals and replaced them with dinosaurs, removed all races except human, changed the whole idea of what undead are and why they're around, figured out what demons, djinnis, elementals, ghosts and leprechauns have in common and then stuck all my PCs in the dreamscape of an insane undead goddess.

They hate me. But they keep coming back for more...

Oh, and Enforcer, it's not MY precious d20 system.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

IANAG (I Am Not A Greek), nor do I speak/read the language, but I've been going through a lot of greek words the past six months because of my Light Against the Dark campaign. So take this with a grain of salt, but not too big of one.

Athanatos means "undying" or, rather, something which by its nature is incapable of becoming dead. It can also be used to refer to something which is everlasting. That is, it doesn't mean "immortality" so much as it does "an immortal".

The Persian troops fought by the Spartans were also called athanatos in some texts, because (IIRC) as one would die another would step smoothly into place, making the troop seem less like a mass of humans and more like a hydra.

Immortality as a state (rather than immortal as an object) is, I believe, athanasia.

I think I'll stick to "Athanatos", as "Athanasia" will cause too much confusion with certain Russian princessess...

Seriously, while I wasn't aware of the deeper meaning of the word (thanks for the explanation, BTW), it still works - lots of people in the setting want to become truely immortal, and many can get pretty close to that ideal...

 

[seasong]

I think I'll stick to "Athanatos", as "Athanasia" will cause too much confusion with certain Russian princessess...

Bah! Yeah, I ran into this with my Asthantasia campaign - why do people hear Anastasia anytime it ends in "tasia"?

But I wasn't meaning to diss the word choice - I think it works pretty well, especially when you think about Xerxes the Persian god-king and his personal, "immortal" bodyguards .

 

[Aeolius]

My campaign, "Beneath the Pinnacles of Azor'alq", is set primarily underwater. I have tailored the encounters, treasures, and magics to fit an aquatic theme. Unlike the typical D&D undersea adventure, where PCs use magic items to remain beneath the waves, BPAA assumes that the PCs are water-breathers from the start.

 

[Gez]

For those of you who get all nervous at the idea of giving up your precious d20 system, Exalted is really really cool. Really. Cool. Really.

Well, I've played Vampire, more Vampire, Vampire: Dark Age, and a sort of MiB/Demon Hunter mix (absoluterly not official). I'm mastered Vampire, Mage, and Changeling.

I'm quite fed up with the Storyteller System, and that awful rule of the 1. Having perused Exalted in game store, I saw that they have tried to fix it (it seems better now that 1s don't remove success), but I'm happy to use the d20 system for now.

 

[Gez]

Bah! Yeah, I ran into this with my Asthantasia campaign - why do people hear Anastasia anytime it ends in "tasia"?

Athanase is a first name is Romania. It indeed means "immortal" and comes from the Greek. Anastasia has, I think, another etymology, but I don't remember which. All I remember is that "Anastasie" was in France (19th century and beginning of the 20th) a "nickname" for censorship. To be "a victim of Anastasie's scissors" was a way to say you've been censored. (Of course, the expression has disappeared with censorship.)

But I wasn't meaning to diss the word choice - I think it works pretty well, especially when you think about Xerxes the Persian god-king and his personal, "immortal" bodyguards .

Ah, Xerxes. He was about as godly as his bodyguards were immortals. What a moron...