MythicMortals Screen
MythicMortals Screen
MythicMortals Screen
David Schirduan’s
Mythic
Schirduan’s
♥ Mortals
♣ BE THE
BE THE HERO
HERO
♦
CHOOSE
CHOOSE
YOUR
YOUR
WEAPON
WEAPON
GRAB
GRAB
YOUR
YOUR
CARDS
CARDS
Game Art
David Schirduan Sarah Richardson
Kannon Rickell
Eric Quigley
Layout Alex Garcia
Rickard Elimää Laura Ketcham
Christopher Kimball
Rare
Editing David Guyll
John Lewis Winston Lew
Lauren Clark
Thanks
Lauren Schirduan, Matthew Bannock, David Guyll, John Lewis,
Tod Foley, Jesse McQuain, Rickard Elimää, Jason, Gini, Paul,
Jack, Ashley, Joel, Sam, Andrew Armstrong, Adam, Jan W,
Derek W, Jesse Cox, Daniel Warmke, Joe Banner, Stefan Grambert,
Micah, Michael Harrel, Edward D, Lauren Clark, and all of the
amazing Kickstarter Backers!
Funded through:
Game World.......................................................... 8
Player’s Guide.....................................................11
Character Creation: Selecting a Mat 11 – Description of Basic
Game mechanics 12 – The Deck 12 – The Mat 14 – Placing
Cards 16 – Actions 20 – Reactions 25 – Stability Track 28 –
Recovering Cards 30
Additional Information........................................76
Making Mats 76 – General Guidelines 76 – Default Slot
Template 77 – Dealing Damage 78 – Reactions 79 –
Abilities 79 – Weapons 80 – Defense Bonuses 81 – Flaws 82 –
Recognition/Inspirations 83
The Game
Mythic Mortals is an action-focused role-playing game that lets
you and your friends engage in over-the-top fights and epic battles.
Inspired by The Avengers, 300, X-Men, Devil May Cry, and so
many more; Mythic Mortals aims to bring that fun, explosive
experience to the table top.
You and your friends will play as yourselves, suddenly
granted incredible powers and thrown into a world that is fa-
miliar yet dangerous.
5
Then switch up your weapons, leap off the ledge, and finish
them off with a flying hammer smash.
Mythic Mortals gives you all of the tools you need to live
your dreams of being an incredible, powerful hero. The combat
is meant to be empowering, and the mechanics all reinforce a
feeling of excitement and competency.
To keep things interesting, that incredible power shifts and
fluctuates wildly, keeping you on your toes throughout the game.
It’s up to you to master your powers and the rules of the game. If
you can do that: you will be the hero!
Along with the above, there are two major things that Mythic
Mortals does better than most other RPGs:
Mythic Mortals is fast. Designed from the ground up for
one-shots and short campaigns, Mythic Mortals aims to pro-
vide a complete, satisfying experience in just a few hours. No
leveling, no grinding, no complex mechanics. Everything is
streamlined to be learned, played, and mastered in a single
session. By the end of your adventure, you’ll feel like you’re
just starting to get ahold of your powers and what you can do
with them.
6
Is there always room for improvement? Sure! And I still enjoy
playing Mythic Mortals to this day. But it’s not necessary to
invest 6 months into this game to enjoy it fully.
Mythic Mortals is about you. The real you, the one reading
this book. A lot of games encourage you to create and control a
fictional character, someone that you can pretend to be. Mythic
Mortals encourages you to be yourself, only with incredible pow-
ers! This makes it very easy to engage with, and takes a lot of the
pressure off of role-playing and trying to act in character.
You and your in-game version will both be learning how to
control their powers at the same time. You’ll both be exploring
new things, confronting dangerous threats in your hometown,
and defending the places and people that you love. Mythic
Mortals wants you to bring yourself to the table, not a bunch of
rules and funny accents.
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Game World
“God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. [...]
Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?”
— Nietzsche
8
Every time a person dies, the power within them is released and
the Ancients get just a little bit stronger. Eventually, they will be
unstoppable, and our little species will be crushed back into dust.
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Player’s Guide
What You Need to Play
A printed out Mat for each player.
Mats can be found online at http://mythicmortals.com.
Two 6-sided dice, preferably two per player.
A small coin or token for each player.
A Normal Deck of 52 Playing Cards for each player.
Take out the Jokers.
Hunter
Armed with ranged weapons, your shots benefit from different
elements, granting them special abilities.
Sneak
You are powerful but cautious. Your strongest attacks take 2 turns
to use, but allow you to strike from the shadows with deadly force.
You also have a wide variety of poisons at your disposal.
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Brewer
Buff team-mates and harm enemies. You can use brews as weap-
ons or as aids. There is a lot of flexibility and strategy for this
support class.
The Deck
Whenever a you want to shoot fireballs from your eyes, sum-
mon a giant battle axe, or deflect the blow from a Kraken, you
must draw upon the power of your Deck, using your Mat,
cards, and dice.
12
Your cards are used both for offense, defense, and your health. At first
it seems like you’ll never run out of cards...until you do! Depending
on what class you have there are a lot of different strategies for pre-
venting damage and making those cards last for as long as possible.
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The Mat
Your Player Mat shows all of the abilities, weapons, and flaws you
have access to. Most Player Mats consists of 4 Slots, a Stability Track
and a small player reference section along the bottom of the Mat.
Slots
There are 4 columns along the top of each Mat, called Slots. A
card from your Deck is placed on the top of each Slot, activating
powers and giving every Slot a value. Some Mats deviate from
the examples below, but this is a good place to start.
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Mythos – The Mythos slot determines special powers and
abilities. It is also used for determining the turn order.
Accuracy – Accuracy is used for making basic attacks, and
usually determines which weapon is currently available.
Defense – Defense is the reaction slot, and is used to dodge
or block attacks.
Damage – This determines how much damage your attacks
deal. This Slot also determines which flaw you suffer from.
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Leland, the Brewer
Placing Cards
Whenever you draw new cards, you must choose which cards
go in which slots. This is one of the most important parts of
the game.
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Suits Determine Abilities
The suit of the card you place in each slot activates the option of
that suit in each column. These options remain until your cards
are next switched out. A Slot will never be empty, it will always
have a card in it, meaning you will always have one, and only
one, option from each column active.
Changing the order of the cards completely changes which
options you have available.
Choose carefully which cards go into which slots. You can’t
control what 4 cards you get, but the can control how they are
used. Consider questions like:
Which weapon do I want to have active?
What flaw should I avoid in this situation?
Where should my highest card go?
Where should my lowest card go?
Will I focus on avoiding damage, or dealing damage?
Which Mythos ability is the most useful?
Make the most of your 4 cards, since they will change again
in a few turns. It’s up to you to make each turn as effective as
possible.
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Put the Jack♠ in the Accuracy Slot. It’s not a bad idea to put your
highest card in your accuracy Slot, especially when starting out.
Your weapons are reliable, and deal decent damage. The higher
your Accuracy Slot, the easier it will be to hit with that weapon.
Put the 9♣ in the Damage Slot. High damage is important.
Since your Jack is ensuring that you’ll probably hit with your
weapon, make the most of it with a high damage card. The Flaw
(Stubborn) also doesn’t really stop you from using your weapon
much, so it’s not a bad choice.
Put the 5♣ in the Mythos Slot. This is a low card, but the suit
is a very useful Mythos ability (Careful Aim) that does not re-
quire a roll. Useful for finishing off an enemy, since it can’t miss.
Put the 3♦ in the Defense Slot. Your last and lowest card
goes in defense, which puts you in danger. However, your other
cards should allow you to kill anything before it kills you...hope-
fully. As a bonus, your weapon attacks gain the Earth element,
which slows down your foes and may prevent them from getting
close enough to hurt you.
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Put the Jack♠ in the Mythos Slot. This Mythos ability lets you
attack several foes, dealing ½ Damage (the card in your Damage
Slot), a perfect choice for handling a large number of enemies.
In order to use it, you need a high card in Mythos, making the
Jack the logical choice.
Put the 9♣ in the Damage Slot. High damage is still im-
portant, except it will be primarily used by your Mythos ability,
rather than your weapon. It’s the same Flaw, but doesn’t impact
this build too much.
Put the 5♣ in the Defense Slot. Against a bunch of foes,
having slightly higher defense is important, since you’ll be using
that card to dodge and avoid damage. The element granted to
your weapon is also useful for keeping enemies away from you.
Put the 3♦ in the Accuracy Slot. Your last and lowest card
goes in Accuracy. Since you’ll be using your Mythos more than
your weapon (Shotgun), it’s a good idea to sacrifice Accuracy.
However, should the need arise, the Shotgun is a great weapon to
use for burst damage, since you can fire it twice in one turn, and
then go back to using your Mythos ability for your main damage.
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Actions
When a fight starts, everyone takes turns. On your turn, you
may perform a single Action. An Action isn’t a distinct event or
movement, but rather a summary of what you aim to accom-
plish on your turn, (which is about 2–4 seconds of real time.)
You don’t need to concern yourself with the minutiae of each
individual step of that action.
Perform a Trick
Performing a Trick includes anything you might want to do
during combat that isn’t about dealing damage or disabling a foe.
Examples of Tricks:
Grabbing the MacGuffin
Overcoming a difficult obstacle
Chasing an enemy through a dense jungle
Clearing a path through a ruined street
Hiding from an enemy
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Lauren,
the Ancient Power
TO PERFORM A TRICK
1. Describe what you are doing, and what you want to be the
outcome.
“I’m digging a hole that I can hide the Golden Fleece in. I
don’t want them to find it.”
“I try to yank the sword from the stone.”
“I want to find out where the noise is coming from.”
2. Roll two 6-sided dice and add the results together.
3. Compare the result of the dice to the value of the card in the
Damage Slot
If the dice are below the Damage Slot, the Trick succeeds
and your expected outcome occurs.
If the dice are above the Damage Slot, the trick fails or
does not have the intended result.
If the dice are equal to the Damage Slot, a Critical
Success occurs! In addition to the Trick succeed-
ing; something extra cool and awesome happens.
Critical results are covered more in the GM Section.
4. Move your token along the Stability Track. The Stability Track
is covered in more detail later on page 28.
5. End your turn.
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Attack with your Weapon
This includes anytime you use your weapon (from the Accuracy
Slot) to strike an enemy. Some weapons have special rules and
unique ranges. Make sure your target is in your weapon’s range
before you attack.
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Use an Ability
Abilities are special powers unique to your Mat. Usually listed
under your Mythos Slot, their effects vary wildly. Be sure to read
each one closely, and ask your GM for clarifications.
TO USE ABILITIES
1. Describe your ability, its appearance, and any targets or effects.
“I’ll use ‘Widespread Pain’ to attack all three golems with
flashes of light.”
“After getting close, I ‘Grapple’ the djinn, tossing him into
the building.”
“With a thought, I cover the battlefield in a ‘Glacial Blast’,
slowing all enemies.”
2. Roll two 6-sided dice and add the results together.
3. Compare the result of the dice to the value of the card in the
Slot used for that ability (usually Mythos).
If the dice are below the Slot, the ability succeeds.
If the dice are above the Slot, the ability fails and no
special effects occur.
If the dice are equal to the Slot, a Critical Success occurs.
In addition to the ability succeeding, something extra
cool and awesome happens.
4. Move your token along the Stability Track.
5. End your turn.
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Sprint
When you spend your entire turn moving around, it’s considered
a Sprint. Sprinting does not require a roll. It allows a player to
move up to Shout range anywhere on the battlefield, within rea-
son. (Distances and Ranges are covered in more detail on page 32.)
In general, Sprinting lets you get wherever you need to be,
unless it’s really far away. It can be extremely useful when your
weapons switch, replacing your bow with a sword. Use Sprint
to stay dangerous and effective, adapting to your weapons and
ranges as they come.
Vent
Venting is an alternative to Overloading, and let’s you switch
out your cards whenever you want. It does take up your entire
action, although you are protected until your next turn. (Venting is
covered in more detail later on page 29.)
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Anat, a violent
war goddess
Reactions
Reactions are made in response to a threat. They do not happen
during your turn, and usually rely on your Defense Slot. Reactions
are incredibly important for preventing damage and avoiding
negative enemy effects. There are several ways that you can react
to an attack:
Dodge
Dodging is an attempt to avoid all damage and negative effects
of an enemy attack. It’s whenever you try to get out of the way.
Dodging is the most effective Reaction but, also the riskiest.
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To Dodge
1. Describe how you are avoiding the attack:
“I drop to my knees, letting the blade pass over me.”
“I simply fall to the side, letting the beast charge past.”
“After my attack, I continue my roll, ending up behind
the enemy.”
2. Roll two 6-sided dice and add the results together.
3. Compare the result of the dice to the value of the card in the
Defense Slot
If the dice are below the Defense Slot, the dodge succeeds
and you avoid all damage and negative effects.
If the dice are above the Defense Slot, the dodge fails, and
you suffer full damage from the attack.
If the dice are equal to the Defense Slot, a Critical Success
occurs. In addition to the successful dodge, something
extra cool and awesome happens.
4. Move your token along the Stability Track.
5. End your turn.
Block
Rather than attempting to Dodge an attack, you can meet it head
on, absorbing the blow and shrugging off the damage.
Blocking an attack does not require a roll, and reduces
any damage taken by the value of the Defense Slot. When you
Block an attack, it acts like armor in many other games, reduc-
ing damage. After Blocking an attack, move your token along
the Stability Track.
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The Griffin rakes you with its claws. You decide to Block
the attack with a car door you found. The Griffin deals 10
damage, and your Defense Slot has a 7. After Blocking,
you take 3 damage.
The ghoul sprays you with a vile poison. You decide
to Block the attack. The attack deals 4 damage, and your
Defense Slot has a 9. After Blocking, you take 0 damage,
but you are still affected by the poison.
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A small coin can also be used to remember where you are the
Stability Track. New characters start at Fresh.
Stability Track
Let’s talk about health. In Mythic Mortals, your Deck is your
health; whenever you take damage, you discard a number of
cards off the top of your deck equal to the damage taken. This
not only depletes your deck, but can result in the loss of useful
cards! Be sure to use reactions and abilities to prevent as much
damage as possible.
Aside from enemies, the main source of lost cards come from
the Stability Track. The Stability Track is near the bottom of your
Mat, and tracks how often your cards switch out.
When you get a new set of cards, place your token on “Fresh”.
After every Action or Reaction, your token moves along the
track, one space at a time.
Overload
Once your token reaches the end of the Stability Track, you
immediately Overload. Discard all four cards on your Mat,
and draw four new cards, placing them in your now empty
slots.
Overloading essentially causes 4 damage, and you don’t get
to keep any of your cards. On the plus side, Overloading lets you
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keep your current set of cards for as long as possible and doesn’t
take up a turn.
Discard all 4 cards from Mat
Doesn’t take up your turn.
Keep your current cards for as long as possible.
Venting
Venting is an alternative to Overloading. Rather than waiting
for Overload, you can spend your turn Venting, and switch out
your cards early.
To Vent, discard two of the cards on your Mat, and place
the other two cards back into the bottom of your deck. You are
protected until your next turn, and cannot be harmed. Draw 4
new cards, and place them in your now-empty Slots.
You only lose two cards.
Takes up your turn.
Preserve your highest cards, building a stronger deck each
time you Vent.
Protected until your next turn from all harm and damage.
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Death
When you run out of cards in your Deck, it’s all over. Death occurs:
When you can’t discard any more cards from your Deck. If
your deck is empty, but your Mat is full, you aren’t dead until
you next take damage.
When you can’t draw any more cards from your Deck. If your
cards switch out (either from Venting or Overloading), and
you don’t have enough cards to fill your Mat (4 cards).
In the GM section, there are two additional suggestions about
expanding Death:
“Dead” players revert to their normal human forms, and are
extremely vulnerable. They must try to regain their power.
Dead players return as Ancient Powers, allowed to guide
their allies from beyond the grave.
Recovering Cards
Many abilities allow you or your allies to Recover cards, replen-
ishing their Deck and getting their best cards back from the
Discard pile.
When you Recover cards, search through your Discard pile
and choose which cards you want to recover up to the amount
you are being healed. Remove these cards from the discard pile,
and place them into the bottom of your Deck.
Recovery as a Strategy
Recovery prevents your deck from running dry but it can also be
an important strategy. Recovery and healing are the same thing;
anything that puts cards back in your deck.
Whenever you Recover cards, you get to choose which cards
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you recover. Essentially, you get the opportunity to build up
your deck in the way that you want. Strategic card recovery can
give you the final push that you need to vanquish your foes.
Invigorate
There are times when healing abilities just aren’t enough, and
you can’t seem to Dodge/Block enough damage. When the end
is nigh, you get the chance to turn the tables.
Whenever a player’s Deck drains to 10 cards or less, you may
Invigorate them. Invigorating another player doesn’t take up
your turn, or theirs. It can happen at any time (even during an
enemy attack).
To Invigorate another player, discard 4 cards from your
Deck. The receiving player immediately recovers 3 cards from
their Discard pile. This can be done any number of times, as long
as the receiving player has 10 or less cards in their deck.
If a Player dies, they cannot be Invigorated. You have a slim
window of opportunity; make it count!
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Advanced
Player’s Guide
Movement and Range
Mythic Mortals keeps things loose and abstract during combat.
Spacing, distances, ranges, and more are not tracked very closely.
Rather, see these ranges as a general rule of thumb.
A turn in Mythic Mortals represents about 2 seconds of in-
game time. Keep this in mind whenever you estimate ranges
and distances.
Melee
You could get to your target in about 2 seconds and hit it
with a stick.
Size of an average room.
About 40 feet.
Shout
Your target could clearly hear if you shouted.
2 or 3 Melee lengths.
About 100 feet
Sight
You can see them with your eyes.
2 or more Shout lengths.
200+ feet
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For example, if your sword has a range of melee, then you won’t be
able to hit an enemy far away unless you Sprint. Likewise, if you
weapon has a range of Shout, then you won’t need to move very
much in order to hit something on the other side of the factory.
If an ability says that it hits all enemies in melee range, just
imagine a room-sized circle expanding out from your character.
Who would be included in that circle? It can be helpful to keep
track of which enemies are in which ranges.
Stan, the minotaur has run past you, and it moving down
the block away from you (Shout Range). The two dark
pawns enter your lawn and close in on you (Melee range).
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Resolving game mechanics
Well done! You’ve covered 95 % of all the rules. The rest of the
players guide will focus on additional rules, clarifications, and
some strange edge cases.
Round Up
Whenever there is a fraction, always round up to the nearest whole
number. No matter how small that fraction is, round up (2.01 = 3).
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Micole, the Sneak
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Default Mat Rules
The Mat text in Mythic Mortals are short and sweet. Sometimes
there isn’t enough space to fit everything into that little box. So,
to keep from re-writing the same things over and over, here are
the default text for abilities, weapons, flaws, and bonuses.
Unless explicitly over-written, all Mat text follow these default
rules:
Weapons. Roll under ACCURACY to use this weapon. It can
be used on one target in Melee Range. It deals full DAMAGE. If
this weapon affects allies, they can’t React to it.
Bonuses. This bonus is always active. It doesn’t require a roll.
It doesn’t take up your turn. Affected targets cannot react to the
effects of this bonus.
Abilities. Roll under MYTHOS to use this ability. It can be
used on one target in Melee Range. It deals 0 damage. If this
ability affects allies, they can’t React.
Flaws. This Flaw is always active. It does not require a roll.
Affected targets can’t react.
Targets
When an ability says “target” then it may refer to allies or en-
emies. If an ability or weapon only affects a single target, then
they player may choose which enemy/ally that refers to. How-
ever, if an ability says that it affects “all targets in range”, then
it affects all allies and enemies within that range, excluding the
player using that ability.
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Advanced Character Building
Aside from making your own Player Mat (covered at the end of the
book) there are a few ways that you can customize your character.
Adding Flavor
Although many of the Player Mats are written assuming tradi-
tional fantasy trappings (armor, weapons, magic, etc.), you are
not constrained by this. Much of the ability text is vague and you
are encouraged to add your own “flavor” by adding descriptions
or re-wording the text. A few examples:
The Hunter’s explosive arrows are actually vials of Fear gas,
that send all enemies scurrying a short distance away.
The Brute is a frail man in an advanced techno-suit with
incredible strength and fold-out weapons.
The Sneak is equipped with a futuristic stealth suit and can
infect enemies with nano-viruses.
The Brewer is an ancient shaman, casting elaborate spells to
aid his allies and harm his enemies.
Go wild and put your own spin on the Player Mats. I’ve seen
Mythic Mortals used for games set in Ancient Rome, the Far
Future, a Mad Max style wasteland, Silver Age comics, and more!
Don’t feel constrained by anything on the page, instead use
those themes as a jumping off point for your own ideas.
Deck Building
Although originally built for one-shots and convention games,
Mythic Mortals can also be tweaked to allow for ongoing cam-
paigns. It probably won’t last you for years but if you wanted to
37
stretch an adventure across a month or two, here are some addi-
tional rules for longer campaigns:
When you create your character you have 150 Experience
Points (XP) to spend. You can spend these points to buy cards
and add them to your deck. Cards cost XP equal to their value.
A 5 of Spades costs 5 XP, a Queen costs 10 XP, etc.
The recommended starting deck is:
4♣ 4♦ 4♥ 4♠
6♣ 6♦ 6♥ 6♠
8♣ 8♦ 8♥ 8♠
Q♣ Q♦ Q♥ Q♠
10♣
After every combat you get XP to spend on additional cards:
Short Skirmish 10 XP
Medium Fight 20 XP
Boss Battle 40 XP
After each session, players can purchase and/or sell back cards at
no penalty. For example, if you have 2 XP left over, you can sell
back a 4 of Hearts, and purchase a 6 of Spades.
Nerthus, a German
goddess of fertility
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Example of play
Sarah (The GM) is running an adventure for Lauren (The Brute) and
John (The Hunter).
Sarah refers to her notes, and describes the situation. “After
defeating the smaller minions, Hades is enraged! ‘How dare you
threaten me!’ he cries. His hands spout flames, melting the stone to
reveal two huge metallic dogs, each with 3 heads.”
She writes down the initiative for the upcoming battle.
“Looks like Lauren is up first. Both of the creatures are outside
of Melee range. What do you want to do, Lauren?”
Lauren replies, “Seeing as how I’m the Brute, I want to get up
close and personal. I’ll Sprint to move into range.”
“Okay. Next up are the Cerberus’. One of them attacks you,
Lauren, and lashes out with a vicious spiked tail. How do you
want to react; Block or Dodge?”
Lauren looks at her Mat. “My Defense is high, I think I can
roll under it. I’ll dodge.” Lauren rolls a 2 and a 4, which is well
under her Defense of 10. “Success! I avoid all damage.”
“Nicely done! John, the other one charges across the room
towards you. How do you react?”
“My defense is not up to snuff, so I’ll just block it.” John’s
Defense is 4, and the attack deals 10 damage. “Oh man, 6 cards!
That hurts! Is it my turn? I want to hit it!”
“Yup”, Sarah confirms, “you’re up! What do you want to do?
The dog is in melee range.”
“I will…”, John consults his Mat “I’ll use the CloudBuster, since
Lauren isn’t in danger of being hit.” John rolls his dice against his
Accuracy Slot...and he succeeds! “That’s 7 damage! And now I’ve
Overloaded. Let me discard my mat, and draw new cards.”
Sarah writes down the damage taken. “Good work John!
That’s the end of the round.”
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Game Master’s
Guide Players, do not read beyond this point!
Unless you are running a game tomorrow, you don’t need the
information beyond this point. There’s a lot of stuff in these sec-
tions that may decrease a player’s enjoyment of the game, it’s like
learning how a magic trick works.
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If this is true, then it may be a good idea to simply take on the
task of preparation, providing everything needed to play for
your players. Make sure you have:
A deck of cards and a small coin/token for each player.
At least two 6-sided dice. Preferably two dice per player.
Player Mats, found at mythicmortals.com.
A decent sized table for mats and cards.
Pencil and paper for the GM. The players don’t need pencils,
unless they really want to take notes or doodle.
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Some games rely on detailed spacing, strategic battle plans, re-
source management, and maximizing each square on the map,
but not Mythic Mortals.
Instead, you should treat fights in Mythic Mortals like a movie.
The camera may cut to a bunch of different shots of the battle, but
never reveal the full details of where every character is located. The
general layout is understood by the audience (e.g. she is fighting
the Ogre on the building while he fights mooks on the ground),
however a detailed view might reveal that he wasn’t at the right
angle for that cool shot or she could never survive a fall that high.
Alex and Dav are moving from Entryway to the Parking Lot.
Keep the action zoomed in on the cool parts and don’t let the
details get in the way of players doing something awesome, even
if it breaks the laws of physics. A detailed grid dampens the fun
and kills opportunities for action.
An alternative to a whiteboard and tokens is to simply setup
some battle zones. Everything in the same zone is considered Me-
lee range. Everything in a different Zone is considered Shout range.
In order to move from one zone to another, a player must Sprint.
Zones can be different rooms in a house, different blocks of a city, or
just different places on the battlefield. Whenever anything moves from
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one Zone to another, mark it down. When I’m not using a map, Zones
are the easiest way to keep track of everything, for players and GMs.
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As foes take damage and as player’s Mythos values change, just
cross out the old values and write the new ones on the same
line. Here’s what the turn order may look like halfway through
a battle.
7. Dav Suz Vamp (15) (12) (6)
6. Zomb (10) (3) (0)
5. Suz, Alex Dav
4. Alex Ogre (20) (15)
Mark off damage as it happens, and at the beginning of each
round mark down any changes of Player’s Mythos. This format
allows you to go from the top of the list to the bottom, alerting
players when it is their turn, and tracking enemy stats.
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An Adventure
The most important thing you need to bring to the table is your
adventure. “Of course,” you may be thinking “why do you even
need to mention this?”
I bring it up for one very important reason: Do not bring a
lot of prepared materials to the table. Seriously, don’t do it. When
preparing, go nuts with backstory, world creation, monster
sketches, and whatever. When you come to the table, just
bring the bare minimum:
A Paragraph outline of your adventure (4–5 sentences)
A list of monsters
Number of Monsters
Health (HP) and Statistics (Stats)
Special Attacks
Optional twists, ideas, etc.
Mythic Mortals works best when it is in flux, and just like a grid
map can ruin the cinematic battle, extensive prep will kill the
excitement and energy of a Mythic Mortals adventure. There
are several adventures available online at mythicmortals.com
that offer some good examples of how to layout your own notes.
NAME
Distinguishing Marks, to tell them apart
Base Damage: Mythos: (Turn order) HP (Health):
First Special Move
Second Special Move
Third Special Move
Special GM notes about running or role-playing this monster.
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Each foe has a Stat Block, which contain everything you need to
know about that monster:
EXAMPLE: MINOTAUR
Each one has different colored metal nose-rings.
Base Damage: 9 Mythos: 8 HP: 20
Throw a car or large object at a character (Base Damage)
Bull-rush multiple characters, trampling them (6 damage,
characters can be knocked back)
Enrage (at low health): Eyes glow red and base damage in-
creases to 12
Have the fight take place in wherever you are hosting the game
in real life. Allow the Minotaurs to destroy furniture, smash
stuff, and use the environment in various ways. Monsters and
Stats are covered in more detail in the Adventure Creation Section.
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Dealing with Critical Events
When a player scores a Critical Hit, this is the chance for some-
thing really cool and incredible to happen. At first you might
need to decide and narrate what happens yourself. However, as
players become more comfortable with the game and more
invested in the action, feel free to turn things over to them.
Critical hits can be seen as a free pass for the character to do
something awesome. “Nice shot Susan! What would you like to
have happen?” Some common choices for Critical Results:
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Extra damage during an attack (+5 damage)
Protect another ally (your dodge saved both characters)
Achieve your goal (send a monster away, grab the MacGuffin)
Gain some beneficial effect (recover cards, move into de-
sired range)
Disable a monster (reduce damage, pin in place, etc.)
You want Critical Results to be an exciting, routine-breaking
experience. Don’t worry too much about how balanced or fair
a critical result is. Ride the excitement at the table; after all,
most of what you’re doing is improv anyway!
Water-Cooler Moments
The primary reason that you play Mythic Mortals is for what I
like to call “Water-Cooler Moments”. These are the moments in
the game that stay with you, moments that you and your friends
will remember long after the game has ended. There are usually
one or two scenes that stand-out as particularly cool.
“My sword went completely through the wall, and a shove
from the Brute brought the whole thing down on top of the
dragon killing it instantly!”
“I froze a section of the sea with my arrows, jumped down to
the water, and choked the monster with my bowstring.”
“Not only did my healing potion bring the Sneak back from
the dead, but it gave him the cards he needed to teleport be-
hind the Minotaur, steal its weapon, and kick it off the cliff!”
Do whatever you need to do in order to make these moments
happen at your table. All the rules, abilities, and descriptions in
Mythic Mortals will aid you in doing so; but you may need to
adjust the way you normally play games in order to make these
Water-Cooler Moments a priority.
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Rule of Cool
One of the most important ways you can encourage Water-Cooler
Moments in your game is by following the “Rule of Cool”.
The Rule of Cool states: “The limit of the Willing Suspension
of Disbelief for a given element is directly proportional to the ele-
ment’s awesomeness.” – TVTropes.com
In this game, it means that the environment, monster behav-
ior, and even the rules of the game should bend over backwards
to make sure that the coolest outcome is the one that happens.
Here are some example from my past games:
A player decides to dive into the mouth of the Hydra with
a bag of dynamite. Even though the Hydra still has 20 HP,
I rule that the bags explode, killing it instantly and sending
the player sailing through the air with the heart of the Hydra
clutched in her open hand.
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The brute wants to toss a car, but they are in the middle of the
mall. I rule that Lamborghini is hosting one of those “Buy
insurance, and win a car” promotions; and a cool sports car
is only a few feet away.
The Shifter scored a critical hit against a giant shadow-beast.
I ruled that the Shifter absorbed energy from the beast, and
gained a brand new form to shift into. We decided on some
powers and abilities, made some marks on the player mat,
and there was an unbalanced, incredibly awesome aibility
that the player could use for the rest of the game.
Because games of Mythic Mortals rarely last for more than 2–3
hours, it’s okay to have crazy, out of control things happen; in fact
it is encouraged! Mythic Mortals should feel like a playground of
ancient monsters, fun powers, and feelings of Heroism. Don’t let
anything, not even the rules of the game, get in the way of that fun.
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Roleplaying Enemies
One of the most fun parts of GM-ing a game is controlling the
enemies. You get to use their abilities, think tactically, and describe
all of the cool things that these monsters can do. Thanks to the
flexibility of the world and the system, you can insert your favorite
monsters directly into the game.
Almost all of the enemies that the players will face are older
and stronger than they could ever comprehend. These monsters
have had LOTS of time to become the perfect nemesis and will
not easily surrender or give in.
Enemies never miss, they never make mistakes (directly) and
if the players ever drop their guard they will be destroyed. Com-
municate this to your players through the descriptions of your
monsters actions. Foes should toss cars, smash buildings, and
cause terrible destruction.
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Evolving Foes
This goes along with the previous point, but it’s something that
is important, especially for Bosses.
Guillermo Del Toro once said that he created his monsters to
have a new surprise every scene. Your monsters should do the
same. Every turn, reveal a new power or ability that your players
didn’t know about.
The monsters I have in this book all include several powers/
abilities that could be revealed over the course of play. Mix it up and
give your players a something new to see or deal with every round!
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the strange scenery, and the unique culture the players are ex-
periencing.
However, in Mythic Mortals, it is much more important
to describe sequences than to describe scenes. Let me give an
example:
“You are sitting in your home. The smell of day-old pizza and
laundry detergent mixes with low lighting and dim glow of your
TV. You just got a brand new video game, and have been playing
it for over 40 hours straight. Your room is untidy, but not dirty
and boxes of board games sit next to a pile of unread mail. Some
friends are coming over soon to help you get past a tough part
in the game and you assume the noises outside means they have
arrived. After the Golem busts through your door and attacks
you, you learn otherwise.”
Compared to...
“The hulking Golem busts through the door, knocks over a
table, and is charging towards you. As it gets close, it draws a
sword from it’s back, and swings it towards your head, cutting a
huge hole in your floor. What do you do?”
While the first description is much more vivid at painting a
scene, the second draws you into the action. Be sure to narrate the
multiple steps of a foe’s action. “It burns red, then flies upward,
before turning and belching flames.” Sequences draw players in
and help them track what is happening at the table.
Another reason that Mythic Mortals is set in the modern day
is so that scenes can be described much more quickly and easily.
“You’re standing in front of your house.” “You are in a Library.”
“The office building is quiet...too quiet.”
Skip right to the action, narrate the sequences, and keep the
players invested in what’s going on.
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Transitions During Combat
Another quick aside: In a heavy, action-focused game like
Mythic Mortals, it’s important to transition well from one
scene to the next. For example:
“Alright John, you did 7 damage. Susan, what do you want
to do? Alright, you hit, 4 damage. Alex, you’re up.”
While the above is functional, it is hardly cinematic. Not
only is there little description of each attack but nothing is
connecting the battle together. One of the easiest ways to keep
players engaged is to make some simple transitions.
Pretend you are the movie director, shifting the camera
from one player to the next, getting different pieces of the
battle, but still connecting everything together. Here’s a long
example, italics are my thought process:
It’s a new round, I’ll quickly summarize.
Alright Kevin, only two minotaurs remain, one of which is
near you, and the other one is near Megan. You have the upper
hand. What do you want to do?
Kevin describe his attack, I’ll transition to Megan.
Nice shot Kevin! Megan, you see the minotaur fly past you,
sailing off into the distance. The one near you turns with rage
in it’s eyes. What do you do.
After she describes her action, I summarize, and bring it
back to Kevin.
He does not seem happy. Two minotaurs down, and the
last is frozen in a cage of ice. Kevin, you get a free attack. What
do you want to do?
Keep the transitions short, but functional. Make sure all play-
ers know what is happening, and make it clear what is expected
of the next player.
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Advanced Game
Master’s Guide
Mythic Mortals is not a complete game. What you hold in your
hand is a toolbox. It contains everything you need to make your
own games. YOU are the game designer. This book is more like a
game engine, or a console. You’re the one who gets to create and
run the game session for your friends.
There is no single right way to run a game of Mythic Mortals,
but there are LOTS of wrong ways. I’m here to help you avoid
some of those pitfalls.
If you’ve played other RPGs before, then you should know that
Mythic Mortal requires a change in the way you run games. It’s
built for a very specific type of experience, and if you try to run it
like any other RPG, it will fall flat. So how should you run Mythic
Mortals? You need to use a technique I call “Reactive GM-ing”.
This applies to adventure creation as well, but mostly to the
actual running of the game. Mythic Mortals has a few features
that can mess you up if you’re familiar with more traditional
rpg systems:
Combat balance is myth
Mechanics outside of combat aren’t supported in Mythic
Mortals
The short game length isn’t designed for sweeping stories or
deep experiences
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The shifting powers and weapons don’t much leave room for
XP or advancement.
You play as yourself, and you only know what you know. No
hunting and tracking skills, no lore, no diplomacy, etc.
These features and more all combine to confound GMs who like
a delicate, finely tuned game system. Does that mean Mythic
Mortals is a wild, untameable ride?
Yes. Yes it does. And as the GM, it’s your job to make that ride
as much fun as possible.
Reactive GM-ing means that you spend less time on prepa-
ration and more time adjusting things on the fly. Change the HP
of monsters, make up abilities, decrease damage, switch around
the environments, and more.
All of this is required because of one key point:
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ing a Roller Coaster? They were strapped in! And if half of them
had a stop-button, they’d mash it partway through the ride. They
had no choice, once they got on.
But it’s still fun, and it still feels good to finish. “I did it!” you
think to yourself. That’s the kind of combat Mythic Mortals aims
to provide. And in order to maintain that illusion you’ll need to
keep a hand on the game at all times.
If a monster is taking too long to kill, trash it. If the players
are beating the tar out of your cool boss, have it unleash a
new deadly attack. Keep the tension high, and keep the players
engaged.
Here’s an example: I had a boss that flew around a city. The
players fought it on the ground, but then it started climbing a
building. Most of my players just switched to ranged weapons,
but one player didn’t have any ranged options. In a puzzle-combat,
then it’s tough cookies for him. He should have optimized his
character better. But in Mythic Mortals, I can adjust whatever
I need to keep players engaged.
So the monster sprouted a long deadly tentacle, grabbed the
player, and tossed him up the side of the building. It was still
an attack, but now that player was in striking range and could
continue to participate in the boss fight.
While GM-ing you’ll be doing this kind of thing all the time.
You must be ready to tweak the battle as it progresses to make up
for player’s errors, or a monster’s weakness.
The rest of the tips and advice in this book will flesh out these
ideas some more, but don’t forget the main point:
Mythic Mortals is not a puzzle, it’s a ride. You’re the conductor.
Keep your players engaged, keep the tension high, and do
whatever it takes to preserve the fun. And after the ride is
over, you’ll have a table full of people who have smiles painted
on their face, all because of you. Be proud!
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Advanced Game
Master Advice
Let the Players Be Clever
The rules are kept simple to make it easier for the players to jump
into the game, and for you to run a game. But with simple rules
like these, it’s easy for a player to think, “No matter what I say, I’ll
just roll a basic attack and do damage.” You must constantly be
encouraging and rewarding players who get into the spirit of the
game and come up with creative ways of fighting.
So if a player spends their turn setting up a trap or clever
maneuver, reward that with some extra damage! Or if it’s not
normally a player’s turn, but they have a really neat idea to take
advantage of the moment, let them do it.
Also, you should play badly.
You read that correctly. Did you know that one of the chal-
lenges when programming video game enemies is making the
enemies smart enough to seem challenging, but dumb enough
for the player to beat?
It would be very easy to design a game where the computer knows
exactly where the players are, hits them perfectly, and wins every
game. No one would play it, even though the AI is basically perfect.
You should keep the same things in mind when controlling
your enemies. As the GM you have all the information. You
know that the Brute can’t kill enemies; you know that the Hunter
doesn’t have a long range weapon, and you know that the Sneak
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is charging up an attack right now. If you use all of that informa-
tion perfectly, you could probably “win” the combat scenario.
But that wouldn’t be fun, for you or your players.
Instead, you should have the monsters make mistakes. Is a
player’s defense high enough to block all the damage from an
attack? You should still have that monster attack, even if you
know it will be ineffective. It makes the players feel good to have
their strategies rewarded. You should give them the satisfaction
of getting the best of their foes.
This doesn’t mean every fight should be a walk in the park;
sometimes it’s great to fight against a brilliant group of foes. Just
make sure you drop the ball from time to time, and let the play-
ers get what they’ve earned.
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There’s Always a Rope or Chandelier
If a player wants to use an ability or do something cool, as long
as it makes sense, they should be able to do that. If they want to
use a car door as a shield against the Medusa, then you should
make sure that there is a car nearby, retroactively or in advance.
The environment is only as solid as the players need it to be.
Just like in a movie, a scene is never fully realized on screen.
There is a ton of stuff outside of the frame that will be exactly
where it needs to be. When the hero turns to run off screen, she
will find exactly what she needs, be it:
A getaway car
The weapon
An enemy she’s been hunting
Your game should be the same. If you’re in a mall, and a player
says, “I could use a fire extinguisher.” Your response is, “Oh, what
luck! You’re next to the employee break room, which has a fire
extinguisher in it!”
Let the reality of the game adapt to the wishes and needs of
the players. Again, that doesn’t mean everything should be a walk
in the park, but when you have to choose between “realistic” and
“awesome”, choose “awesome” every time.
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One powerful idea is to take the setting by the horns and
implement it in your game. If you recall, the player’s powers
come from seeds of energy planted in humanity. One of the
reasons the Ancient powers are wreaking havoc is to reclaim
and absorb some of the power by killing humans.
Make this a direct consequence in the game. Litter your
battlefield with innocents and civilians. Whenever an enemy
kills a mortal human, that enemy gets a little stronger, recovers
health, or both. This motivates players to protect civilians, and
fight for something more than just killing monsters.
Adjudicating Actions
Here’s a simple set of steps you can follow when running your
games. Whenever it is a player’s turn:
1. Transition to the player, create a Call to Action:
GM: After Tina smashed the manscorpion through the win-
dow, the other one approaches you threateningly, Andrew.
What do you do?
2. Listen to what the player says:
Andrew: I yell ferociously, and threaten back with my weapon!
3. Confirm Intent.
GM: So you want to scare it away? Or is this an attack?
Andrew: No, I have this ability that let’s me paralyze enemies
with a yell.
GM: OH! okay, gotcha.
4. Resolve Mechanics:
GM: It looks like that ability requires a Mythos Roll. Let’s see if
you can make it!
5. Narrate Result (or let the player do so), be sure to give it an
exciting description:
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GM: Alright, as the manscorpion approaches, Alex takes in a
deep breath. As the manscorpion begins to attack, you unleash
a furious roar, blasting the foe backwards, shattering windows,
and causing a nearby car to explode!
6. Transition out to the next player/enemy:
GM: The scorpion lands nearby, and is paralyzed with fear!
Tina, this monster isn’t going anywhere, and it landed right
next to you. What do you want to do?
When it is an enemy’s turn, you can simply transition, narrate
result, and transition out. These steps can be used during the
entire game, keeping a consistent flow from shot to shot, and
will help get players into a rhythm. The more your practice this,
the more it will become second nature to you.
Alternatives to Death
Death stinks, and it usually isn’t fun. Luckily, there are a few
ways we can make it better. Although the rules say that running
out of cards means death, there are two other ways to handle this
in your games:
ANCIENT POWER
When a player dies, allow them to play as an Ancient Power for
the rest of the session. This will require some extra copies of the
Ancient Power handy. The benefit is that players can still partici-
pate in combat, albeit in a less direct role.
MORTAL MAN
Another option is that running out of cards means they run out of
power. They must play as a mortal man, weak and fragile, until they
can restore their power. You could even have an adventure based
around regaining their powers! For mortal players, just use sim-
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ple mechanics based on Apocalypse World. Any hit that a mortal
takes from a monster will result in death or crippling damage.
Whenever a mortal attempts something difficult or dangerous,
roll 2d6. If the result is:
10 or Higher They succeed with little to no difficulty
7–9 Success with a cost, or a partial success
6 or Lower Dangerous or drastic failure
Creating Adventures
Here’s a secret: Mythic Mortals adventures are not balanced. Not
even close. They aren’t fair, they aren’t complex, and they don’t
rely on a hard-set formula. Creating an adventure is a little prep
beforehand, and a LOT of hand-waving and adjusting things
on the fly.
But don’t worry, I’m here to help. This is written from me,
David, to you, a fellow GM. I’ll let you know how I prepare and
run Mythic Mortals; and you can adapt it for your own style.
Italic sections are examples of what each section describes. I’m
going to walk you through how I create an adventure, from start to
finish, with examples for every step of the way.
Theme/Concept
This seems obvious, but think about the kind of adventure and
tone you wish to set. Is this going to be a gritty, dangerous mis-
sion set in the bowels of Tartarus? Is it set in modern day New
York? Will your group be defending survivors, or attacking a
fortification of Ancients? These will all be set up in a similar
way, but the starting details will affect how you phrase and
create your adventure.
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The setting of Mythic Mortals is vague and open-ended on
purpose. Use that to your advantage, and shoe-horn in whatever
monsters, gods, powers, settings, or scenarios that you want.
I want to run a gritty adventure set in ancient Sparta. The
players will play as Spartan troops who are granted the boons of
their respective deities and given their powers. They have to hold
the gates long enough for a band of troops to escape before they all
die horribly, sacrificing themselves for their homeland.
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Adventure Format
Will this be a 1 hour adventure, or a 3 hour adventure? I have
a rough template for both kinds, but you can do something in
between if you wish. Both are similar, but the one hour game
has a very focused, clear ending while the other can be padded
out to whatever.
Timeframe
One Hour Templat
Medium combat
Two-Stage boss monster
Three Hour Template
Short Combat
Medium Combat
Three-Stage boss monster
This will be a three hour adventure, but with a twist; the last
stage of the boss goes on forever, and will be a last stand/obstacle
thing. Most of the padding goes onto the end.
Environment
No good battle ever went down on flat concrete stretching for
miles in each direction. Combat takes place in the mud, the dirt,
the cluttered streets, and the overturned cruise ship. Make sure
to pick a location ripe for interesting combat maneuvers, tricky
situations, loose debris, or even something that’s familiar to
everyone (like a local library or restaurant).
Multiple levels is also a great addition to any fight, and allows
for interesting maneuvers and strategy. Basically, fill your battle-
field with things that the players and enemies can use to their
advantage, as well as things that get in their way.
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Although the Hot Gates are somewhat plain, I’m going to say that
the players have been fighting the whole time, and don’t gain their
powers until near the end of the battle, when corpses, weapons,
broken remnants of armor, and fallen rocks litter the battlefield.
The players have the Gates to their back, which in my version
will be a tall cliff face with a small path through the middle. About
500 ft ahead of them will be a sheer drop off into the ocean. Be-
cause long drops are always fun.
Monsters
The most important rule of creating foes is:
Give the monsters cool abilities and powers
It’s absolutely key that each monster have a few interesting or
terrifying things that it can do before it dies. Things like: Trap-
ping the players, disarming them, summoning more monsters,
changing the landscape, knocking players back, pinning players
in place, forcing them to overload, etc.
My general rule is to give each monster at least 3–4 abilities.
This keeps things fresh and unpredictable, even if there are
several monsters on the field at the same time.
You’ll be controlling these monsters. It’s a lot more fun if you
can describe all the cool things these monsters are doing, rather
than just repeating, “The orc attacks you” over and over.
Brainstorm some foes. You won’t need more than 3–4 differ-
ent kinds of monsters and a big boss per adventure.
Example Monster 1
I’ll have a few basic human soldiers, and instead of abilities, I’ll
give them different weapons.
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PERSIAN SOLDIERS
Spear, can attack at melee range, or toss at a player
Sword and shield; if a player misses their attack, the soldiers
immediately counterattack
Crossbow, snipe players at range
Dual axes; attack two players at once
As for another monster, let’s make it interesting, and say the
Persians summon horrible monsters from another world. We’ll
have 2 strange Persian creatures for the players to fight.
WRECKING-WHEEL
A strange barrel shaped contraption that can fold up and charge
into battle, blades whirring
Fold up, and roll in a straight line, attacking multiple players
Smash the ground, sending several fallen weapons flying
towards a player
When destroyed, spill out a handful of Persian soldiers
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Boss Monsters
Bosses can be tricky: you want to create a monster that is in-
timidating at first glance, but can ultimately be destroyed by the
players. Making something the size of a mountain is scary, but
it will be difficult to justify the players just slicing up the feet.
I usually make my bosses building sized, but you could easily
make something smaller or a little larger.
Bosses come in several stages, with damage, effects, or
modifiers not transferring between stages. It’s almost like cre-
ating 2–3 different monsters that have the same appearance. I
use a 2-stage boss for one hour adventures, and 3-stage boss
for three hour adventures. You can give your boss more stages
if you wish, time and creative energy permitting.
2 Stage Boss
The first stage should be fairly simple and straightforward. You
want the players to become familiar with the thing, and get a
handle on how it moves, attacks, etc. The same rules apply for
bosses as for monsters. Make sure your boss has interesting
attacks and abilities, especially in the second stage!
In the second stage, you mix it up, and mess with their
preconceptions. Change the appearance, the tactics, and the
behavior of the boss. The second stage should be much more
dangerous!
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Boss: King of Persia
This is not the king that we know from history. He’s channeling
power much like the players, with dark glowing red armor, cloaked
in shadows and wielding a huge dual-sided battleaxe. He can
switch weapons and abilities much like the players, and will be a
formidable foe.
FIRST STAGE
Attack with incredible speed, strength, and flourish
Taunt the players, laughing and jeering as he teleports around
the battlefield
Throw the battleaxe spinning around the battlefield, attacking
other players
Overload, unleashing a blast of energy, and re-appear
wielding one of the same weapons and abilities as another
player (SCARY!)
As players begin to wear him down, he overloads again, knock-
ing all players back, and re-forming as a new creature: a 15 foot
tall demon made of blood and shadows. A dripping finger points
to the player with the most cards in their deck. As the demon
speaks in a horrible guttural language, red flame lances towards
the player. They immediately discard half their deck.
SECOND STAGE
Unleash waves of red blasts that knock players back, sending
them flying
Grab a player and toss them off the cliffside (players can roll
to climb back up)
Summon a huge skeleton scythe, hammering a single opponent
Point to another player and begin speaking death. If not inter-
rupted in time, another player discards all but 4 of their cards.
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3 Stage Boss
Very similar to a 2-stage boss, with one major difference: The
middle stage is an Obstacle; something the players must over-
come before they can continue the fight. Maybe the boss runs
away, forcing a chase, or it summons other monsters to protect
it. Maybe there is a kind of shield, or the players are trapped and
must escape. Whatever it is, it needs to mix up the combat, and
give everyone a break.
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either have a bunch of small enemies that don’t last long, or have
a few large enemies that last a while.
Damage, meanwhile, is just a way to prioritize and alert play-
ers to what is more dangerous. Give something high damage,
and they will focus on it. I try not to go below 5 damage, because
it’s too easy to block, but more than 12 damage for a monster’s
attack can be really unfair and kill your players quickly. Here are
my template for 3 different kinds of combat encounters:
2–3 Large Foes:
20–25 HP 8–10 damage each
5–10 Small minions:
5–10HP 5–7 damage each
Boss Stages:
First Stage: 25 HP, 6–10 damage
Obstacle Stage: 5-10HP, if any
Last stage: 30 HP, 8–12 damage
You don’t ever want a single enemy to last more than 2–4 rounds.
Any longer than that, and it gets boring. A few rounds is enough
time for monsters to use their abilities, inflict harm, and then die.
Also, give each monster a Mythos value, or a turn order.
Faster enemies have higher Mythos. If you really want to make
something dangerous (like a boss, for example), give it multiple
turns per round.
If you only have 2–3 players, then you may need to de-
crease the HP, or have monsters not take as many turns per
round. With 4–5 players, bump the HP and damage up a bit,
let enemies act a few more times per round. Again, I must
stress that combat is fluid, and you’ll be adjusting enemy HP,
damage, turn order, and more as you run your game. Don’t
rely too heavily on your prep.
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Puzzles and Obstacles
I won’t go into too much detail here, mostly because I’m not very
good at puzzles. Too often I spend a lot of time on a puzzle only
to have my players solve it immediately. Or, on the flipside, they
never figure it out, and I feel obtuse and confusing.
So my best advice for you is to create some kind of obstacle
or barrier that is the facade of a puzzle. For example, in the “You
Meet In a Tavern” adventure, the 2nd stage of the boss is a chase
scene, forcing players to find a way to quickly scale buildings
and free-run across the rooftops in an effort to keep up with the
fleeing dragon.
This does not need to be complicated, or drawn out. Even
if it only lasts for a few minutes, that’s long enough to break up
the combat and get the players excited about the next phase of
the game.
Another simple solution is to summon a minor monster or
group of monsters for the players to fight while the boss powers
up and gets ready for the next phase.
The main goal is to keep combat from getting repetitive;
which has always been the biggest problem in my games. Do
whatever you have to do. Change the environment, mix up the
monsters, introduce some non-combat sections, etc.
To see the final product, look at the Last Stand adventure
available online at mythicmortals.com.
75
Additional
Information
Making Mats
Making a Mat more of an art than a science. I highly encourage
you to create your own mats, or adjust the ones included with
this book. That’s why I’ve created a blank template for you
to create your own classes and Mats. You can download it at
mythicmortals.com.
Join the Mythic Mortals G+ community to pitch ideas, get
feedback, or share your creations with others. Mythic Mortals is
released under a CC-by 4.0 license, meaning you can sell your
own Mats, adventures, and creations based on Mythic Mortals,
so long as you credit me in there somewhere. Go nuts!
General Guidelines
The flexibility and the freedom of designing a Mat can make it
hard to find a nice balance. Should this weapon do 7 or 8 damage?
Should I have two ranged weapons, or just one? Does this Mythos
Ability require a roll?
These questions are important, but not as much as you
might think. Here are some basic guidelines to keep in mind
when designing your Player Mat:
76
Player Mats should offer interesting choices. There should
be no one best combination. Maybe this ability is better for
ranged attacks, and this one is better for a defensive play style.
You usually don’t have more than 5–10 words to explain an
ability. Keep it short, and if you can’t fit it in the space, then
maybe the ability itself is just too complicated! This is a harsh
limitation, but it results in better weapons and powers.
Keep the Unwritten Mat Rules in mind when you’re working.
You don’t need to write down that players must roll under
ACCURACY to use a weapon, since it’s already in the un-
written rules. Likewise, if an abilities does damage, make
sure you specify it, since abilities deal no damage by default.
Players should rarely be able to deal more than 10 damage in
a single turn. A lot of enemies are built with this limitation in
mind, and breaking this rule should be something incredible
or costly. A good example is the Sneak can deal more than 10
damage, but only if they spend two turns setting it up.
Avoid simple Modifiers. Those are boring, and hard to remem-
ber. Gaining +3 to Mythos may be helpful, but it isn’t very fun.
Don’t worry too much about “balance”. Instead, just work
hard to make sure your player mat won’t invalidate other
players. Every Mat excels at something in particular, and
yours should be no different.
To start our hacking adventures, let’s go look at one of the Mats
in detail: The Hunter. I consider the Hunter to be the most basic,
straightforward Mat that I’ve created. It was the first, and is the
template upon which I base my other Mats.
77
Mythos – Abilities
Accuracy – Weapons
Defense – Bonus
Damage – Flaws
This way, each slot is useful, and offers players different ways to
combine and adjust their options. Try not to overload a Mat with
too many options; e.g. have a Mat with weapons in each Slot.
Variety is the spice of life!
Dealing Damage
All mats need a way to deal damage. While a pure support class
may sound interesting, in practice most players find dealing
damage more satisfying than solely supporting their allies. Even
the Ancient Power can throw their weight around during a bat-
tle, and they are designed to be passive!
When it comes to specifics, you can either give a weapon/
ability variable damage (e.g. it depends on the card in your slot),
or you can give it set damage (6 damage). A few guidelines for
choosing which:
The default is to give a weapon/ability variable damage. This
puts control directly in the hands of the players, and let’s
them choose what is most important.
Should this weapon do more damage, or should this ability be
easier to use?
Static damage must be paired with a useful or special ability. If
a weapon’s effect is really strong, feel free to limit the damage
that it can do.
Say a weapon banishes an enemy for a round. That is a very
useful ability, and you can limit the damage to keep it from
being stronger than the other options.
78
The Hunter has a good mix of variable and static damage.
The more useful abilities (spread shot, widespread pain,
Careful Aim) have limits set on their damage. This pre-
vents them from being the best choice. While Longbow and
Ghost Gun have variable damage, and their weapon abilities
are pretty simple, since variable damage is useful enough.
Reactions
Some mats offer players new Reactions to choose from. Re-
actions can be a great way to help a Mat feel unique, but be
careful: Reactions are used more than most other abilities, you
must take care not to make them too powerful.
A good rule of thumb is that no Reaction should be “safer”
than Blocking or Dodging. New reactions should come with a
higher price, but offer more of a benefit. Something like “Take
half damage, and deal the same amount to the enemy.” This is
riskier (players can’t control how much damage they take) , but
gives a nice payoff (enemies die faster).
The Hunter doesn’t have any new Reactions. I instead put most
of the work into Reactions for the Duelist.
Abilities
Most abilities are tied to the Mythos Slot, akin to magical spells.
They usually require the player to roll under their Mythos Slot.
These abilities will make each class feel distinct. For example, the
Sneak doesn’t roll for his Mythos abilities but they take two turns
to use. The Brute only has one Mythos move, but with several
different follow-ups. Here are my Mythos guidelines:
79
These abilities should never just deal simple damage, after
all, that’s what weapons are for! Come up with some other
special power or effect for the Ability to inflict on foes or
help allies.
Give powerful abilities some kind of drawback or give a weak
ability a strong effect. Keep things balanced. Abilities give
your players the chance to shine; make sure they are inter-
esting and useful!
Avoid extended affects. Don’t force players to juggle and
remember lots of details. For example: “The next 3 attacks
you make will not miss” How will players remember when
those attacks are done? How many do they have left? Does
it stack? Keep abilities simple and focused.
Keep ongoing effects simple and short; a one time buff or “the
next attack does X damage” kind of stuff. No effect should
last beyond the next round.
The complexity comes from the combinations, not from a
single ability! Don’t make one really neat ability and three
boring ones. Look at the Brute. She only has one ability:
grappling. But her different variations give her a flexibility
that she wouldn’t normally have.
Weapons
Weapons should be fun and interesting. Their purpose is to
modify and add variety to your basic attacks. Saying “I hit him
with my sword” every round gets old after about 4 seconds.
All weapons have a range and deal damage. Usually, weap-
ons deal damage equal to a player’s Damage slot, but not always.
Look at the Hunter:
80
The Shotgun has decent damage, but can be unloaded all at
once to deal very high damage, at the cost of not being able
to use it after that one big attack.
The Crossbow also has decent set damage, but spreads it
across 3 different targets (each of which can trigger the dif-
ferent elemental affects). This is meant to pair well with the
Defense bonuses.
The Light Bow has incredible range, special to the Hunter.
This is a very powerful weapon, and allows the hunter to
dominate ranged combat. It even gets a special buff when
combined with another bonus (which would normally not
be very helpful).
The Ghost Gun allows the Hunter to target and hit people
through walls or any surface. Good for hitting a fleeing target.
Overall, the spears are the weakest of the bunch, and that’s okay.
Not everything needs to be perfect and balanced, it just need to
be fun and interesting.
Defense Bonuses
These can be tricky to come up with at first, but once you get an
idea of what a Mat is focused on, then you can create Bonuses
that encourage and support certain play styles. If need be, go
back and change weapons/abilities to combo well with certain
Benefits, or vice versa.
Benefits are always active, giving strength to a particular
playstyle, or combining with another weapon/mythos ability.
For example, the Hunter is all about range, so I had one Bonus
that upgrades the range of all weapons by one tier! However, the
longbow was already at the highest tier...hence the special bonus
when those two are combined.
81
These retroactive combos can really help the Mat to gel and fit
together better. Always be thinking about how powers, weapons
and benefits combine.
Flaws
Flaws are the most interesting part of the class for me. I love
drawbacks and consequences (failure is usually more interesting
than success!).
A word of warning: ensure that your flaws don’t invalidate
your class. For example, giving the hunter a flaw where she can’t
hit anything beyond melee range invalidates a TON of her abili-
ties, passives, and weapon choices. My first few flaws did this, and
were not fun to work around; they just made players feel useless.
One flaw should never cancel out the other choices your
player makes. It can modify and create drawbacks in areas that
the Mat doesn’t focus on: movement, for example.
Never does the Hunter get expanded movement options,
so limiting those can be interesting; it has the added benefit of
forcing the player to rely on the strengths of the class.
To show a bad example, the Brewer used to have two flaws,
one that didn’t let him hurt enemies, and another that didn’t let
him help allies. I thought it would be interesting but then a player
complained that this one flaw canceled out the rest of his choices
on the Mat, and he even had one unfortunate combination where
he couldn’t harm enemies or help allies. Not fun at all!
On the other hand, I thought Merciful was kinda funny, and
would force the brute to work with other players to finish off
foes (keeping him from being a solo fighter). Then a player said:
“Wait, I can toss foes at allies, right? That means they are deal-
ing the killing blow, not me!” It was an awesome moment, and I
hadn’t planned for that.
82
That’s the goal, to make a bunch of individual pieces that can
be combined in fun and interesting ways. When it works, man
does it work!
You can do it! No Mat is perfect and yours won’t be either.
Just do your best to make interesting pieces, and then tweak
them until they work together. Let your ideas simmer and try
something new!
Questions?
Join the Google+ Mythic Mortals community, and let us know
what you’re working on! I’d be glad to help you however I can.
Or you can shoot me an email at: davidschirduan@gmail.
com. I’m always glad to hear from you! And, of course, you can
find all of the adventures, playmats, and more at
mythicmortals.com.
Recognition/Inspirations
One of the best parts of working on Mythic Mortals has been
reading and researching other games to see how they play, what
they do well, and what I can steal what inspires me. Here are
some games that have made Mythic Mortals possible, and I
would highly recommend you play.
83
84
Dungeon World – Adam Koebol and Sage LaTorra
This game taught me how to GM, and how to support my players.
It encourages collaborative, adventurous games. I really wanted to
maintain that high-action, fun-focused tone in Mythic Mortals. If
you want to be a better GM, then go read Dungeon World.
85
Kickstarter Backers
None of this would be possible without the incredible generosity and
faith from these fine folks. Thank you all, from the bottom of my heart!
1soni BeePeeGee
Aaron Griffin Bill and Summer Ludwig
Aaron Haskett Bkoverman
Aaron L. Nuttall Bradley Evans
Adam Brown Brook
Alasdair Corbett Bryan ‘Darnivar’ Bailey
Aljen Bue52
Alyssa Hillen C.S. Partridge
Andersen Cook Carl L. Congdon
Andrew Armstrong Carsten Husek
Andrew Fish Chaosmeister
Andrew Foster Charles Groom
Andrew Gold Chase M. Walker
Andrew Piseck Chris Foster
Angie Pettenato Chris Lee
Anonymous Chris Tavares
Antoine Pempie Chris Vogler
Aric “Expersprobi” Horst Christopher Lavery
Ariel Samoil Christopher Taylor
Arlene Medder Chuck Henry
Astro Boyd Claude Weaver III
Avram Grumer Clement Chow
Beau J. Crabtree Cody Barrick
Connor Smith Ganesh Sugunan
Cory Katz Gilbert Yeo
Cotton mashlin Gini
Craig E Petko Glenn Hunt
Craig Morrison Grand Moff
Craig Savino Graypawn
Daniel Charlton Greg Houlton
Daniel Goupil Guy McLimore
Daniel Thoreson Guy Milner
Daniel Warmke Guy Shalev
Dany Rides Guy Srinivasan
David E. Ferrell Hal Mangold
Derek A. Kamal Hapennt
Derek Pounds Harley Gardner
Devin McCurdy Herman Duyker
Dudley Birch Hukt own fonikz
Dylan L. Ross Huston Todd
Eadwin Tomlinson Ido “Nextorl” Merchav
Ed Kowalczewski JJ Maloney
Egor P Jack Gulick
Eric Haverkamp James Dillane
Eric Nieudan James Roberts
Erin Wind Jams Mastodon
Ethan J. Oswell Jason “Jadasc” Schneiderman
Feltk Jason Cordova
Ferrell Riley Jay Broda
Filip Crnkovic Jay Loomis
Flavor Faction Studio Jed Brewer
Florian Hollauer Jeff Crews
For Paul Jeff and Patricia Sampson
Frank Falkenberg Jeromy M French
Frithkin Jessica Hammer
KICKSTARTER BACKERS
Jim Saxon Kyle Ayres
Jocelyn Anderson Kyle Bentley
Joe Banner Larry Spiel
Joe Jareczek Leah and Ethan Roper
Joe steventon pell Lee Murdock
Joel Dettweiler Leland Crawford
John “Millionwordman” Dodd Lennhoff Family
John “Wolfman” Mason Leo Miller
John Donahue Les and Dashiell Simpson
John Hildebrand Liam Murray
John Massie M&C Limited
Jonathan Blanton Maayan ben siton
Jonathan Mayhak Mages
Jordan Bradley Magnus Hedén
Jordan Burney Malaclypse the Elder
Jordan Crowley Manu Marron
Jordon Davidson Marc Mills
Josef F. Marc Tassin
Joseph P. Gallagher Marianne Pease
Josh Fox Mark Ellis
Josh Voltin Mark Richardson
Joy Decker Mark Wood
Justin Larrison Martin Schramm
K. Davis-Owen Matt “Spaz” McCan
Kat Stanley-Manning Matt Kincarr
KeepPlayAlive.comTy Matt waterman
Kevan Forbes Matthew Poonamallee
Kevin Li Matthew Thompson
Kevin P Larmer Matthew Vaveris
Kim Cooper Mel@Dhaka
Kirk Leeson Menachem Cohen
Kirt Dankmyer Michael Harrel
Michael Hope Rick Hull
Michael Pelletier Rick Sardinas
Michael Rebok Rob Abrazado
Mike Cole Rob Lewicki
Mike J. Carlson Rob Trimarco
Moe Gray Robert Duffy
Morag Benson Robert Slaughter
Naser Khader Robin Bates
Nate The Destroyer Roger Mier
Nick Rohit Ravikumar
Nick & Jill Dragonrider Roland Frank Perry
Nityananda-rama dasa Ron beck
Noah “the Gweek” Gribko Ruggedly Handsome Beta Tester
Noel Warford Ryan “Gilligan” McRae
Our Hero Andy Ryan Perrin
Patrick Mohlmann SHERWIN LIM
Paul y cod asyn Jarman Sam Martin
Phil Lewis Samuel J Piaggio
Philippe “Sildoenfein” D. Samuel Kim
Phillip Bailey Scott
Preedaporn Panpruksanont Scott Reichelt
President of the David & Lauren Scott Ziegler
Schirduan Fan Club Sean
Price “Gwydion” Lawrence Sean M Sullivan
R. Brown Sean Nessworthy
Rachelle Suri-Tucker Sean Smith
Rafe Ball Seth LaVoie
Raymond Brostowicz Shane “Dero” Tay
Rev. Brett Andrew Stults I Shane Harsch
Richard “tyrsHTML” Curtis Shawn Stauffer
Richard Ruane Sigfried Becker
Rick Black Sir Andrew Barton
KICKSTARTER BACKERS
Sophia Brandt
Stefan L
Stephanie Bryant
Stephen Meeker
Sterling Brucks
Steve Christensen
Steve Donohue
Steven Ward
Strider17
Stuart Chaplin
Sören Kohlmeyer
Tara Zuber
Taylor LaBresh
Terry Freeland
Theodore “Wolfman” Posuniak, II
Thomas Sterchi
Thomas Travis Ignacio Belcher
Tim McDonald
Tom Lotze
Tommy Alves
Tore Vange Pedersen
Trip Space-Parasite
Twisted Gnome
Tyson B. Cram
WhiteMagePrivilege
William Palmer
Zach and Britta Howard
Zachariah Willoh
Zack Wenning
Index
Abilities.......................................23 Player.............................................9
Actions........................................20 Player Mat...................................14
Sprint.....................................24 Reactions
Vent........................................29 Block......................................26
Adventure...................................46 Dodge....................................26
Ancients........................................8 Take the Hit..........................27
Bonuses.................................36, 81 Ranges
Card Placement.........................16 Melee.....................................32
Critical Results...........................48 Sight.......................................32
Damage (slot).............................15 Shout......................................32
Damage.......................................78 Recovery.....................................30
Death.....................................30, 64 Slots.............................................14
Deck............................................12 Accuracy...............................15
Deck Building............................37 Damage.................................15
Default Mat Rules......................36 Defense..................................15
Flavor..........................................37 Mythos..................................15
Flaws............................................82 Stability Track............................28
Game Master (GM)...................41 Target..........................................36
Health (HP)................................13 Turn Order.................................44
Invigorate....................................31 Weapons.....................................80
Overload.....................................28 Zones...........................................42
Ancient
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