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Post by **Rath Darkblade** » Wed Jul 28, 2021 3:30 am

OK ... what if they don't do ship-to-ship combat with minotaurs? (I guess only Minotaurs have cannon?)

Before cannons came along, ships could ram each other and send each other to the bottom of the sea.

Or, they would fire arrows at each other -- or pull the ships alongside each other, then lower a corvus (an ancient boarding device), so the warriors could rush along to the other ship and start fighting with swords!

(The link shows what a "corvus" looks like. Basically a bridge between ships). Maybe D&D has that too?

I guess in D&D, you have other options. Wizards lobbing fireballs etc. But what if you want to capture the other ship intact, more or less? Can you do that?

Post by **Tawmis** » Wed Jul 28, 2021 11:10 am

Rath Darkblade wrote: ↑Wed Jul 28, 2021 3:30 am OK ... what if they don't do ship-to-ship combat with minotaurs? (I guess only Minotaurs have cannon?)
Before cannons came along, ships could ram each other and send each other to the bottom of the sea. Or, they would fire arrows at each other -- or pull the ships alongside each other, then lower a corvus (an ancient boarding device), so the warriors could rush along to the other ship and start fighting with swords! (The link shows what a "corvus" looks like. Basically a bridge between ships). Maybe D&D has that too?
I guess in D&D, you have other options. Wizards lobbing fireballs etc. But what if you want to capture the other ship intact, more or less? Can you do that?

Oh, arrows, fireballs, etc., can all still be fired! Especially for non Minotaur ship to ship combat.
However, a lot of people employ Minotaur ships (at a very hefty price!) because they do have canons.

Post by **Rath Darkblade** » Wed Jul 28, 2021 7:11 pm

Hmm. I thought Minotaurs were supposed to be an "evil" race, though -- aren't they? (Supposed to be - not sure what it's like now).

If they're "evil" (or even "chaotic"), why should they hire their ships out at all? Wouldn't they be more likely to be like this:

"Yarrgh!" *snort* "We ain't no pleasure-cruisin' crab-pantsers, ya fish-fer-brains landlubbers! Ye'll hire our ships when we're restin' in Mystra Jones's Locker, ha-haargh!" *snort*

... or something like that.

You could say they were ... crabby. YEAH!

Sorry, that's just how Minotaurs always struck me. Granted, things have probably changed since 3.5 Ed ...

So what happens if you want to capture a ship intact, with no damage? Is that possible?

Post by **Tawmis** » Wed Jul 28, 2021 8:51 pm

Rath Darkblade wrote: ↑Wed Jul 28, 2021 7:11 pm Hmm. I thought Minotaurs were supposed to be an "evil" race, though -- aren't they? (Supposed to be - not sure what it's like now). If they're "evil" (or even "chaotic"), why should they hire their ships out at all? Wouldn't they be more likely to be like this:
"Yarrgh!" *snort* "We ain't no pleasure-cruisin' crab-pantsers, ya fish-fer-brains landlubbers! Ye'll hire our ships when we're restin' in Mystra Jones's Locker, ha-haargh!" *snort*
... or something like that. You could say they were ... crabby. YEAH!
Sorry, that's just how Minotaurs always struck me. Granted, things have probably changed since 3.5 Ed ...
So what happens if you want to capture a ship intact, with no damage? Is that possible?

It all depends. Some people have Minotaurs as evil.
(Fun note, after some of the "Culture" stuff - 5e, has since removed alignments out of new books - so older books will still have it, but new books won't).
But in the novel series, Dragonlance - Minotaurs were more neutral - and had an island that resembled very much a Roman like culture (gladiator tournaments, honor is everything, etc).
I really loved that idea (as I've always loved the ideas of Minotaurs - which goes back to when I was dragged to bullfighting in Spain, when I was younger - and told to cheer - but cheered when the bull struck the human).
I'd always loved the idea that the bull could fight back without ten people racing in to help the bull fighter.
So the "Rise of the Bulls" interested me; and when I got older and learned about Minotaurs, I was attached at the idea of how majestic they'd be in a story.
And Dragonlance did a great with Minotaurs.
So in my world, they're extremely smart, intelligent, honorable - very much like Chewbacca, but can talk.

And yes, ships can be captured (though in my world, most Minotaurs will command "Canons down!" to sink their own ship if it looks bad, and go down with the ship, rather than get captured).

And should a Minotaur ship get captured - there's still the problem of making more "boom dust" from the plants once supplies run out.

Post by **Rath Darkblade** » Thu Jul 29, 2021 2:13 am

I love the expression "boom dust" for gunpowder.

OK, that makes sense. *nods* Honestly, the thinking that every single monster in the Monstrous Manual (or whatever 5th-ed calls it nowadays) must be stereotypical-evil is a bit out of fashion.

Not every kobold, goblin, and orc must be evil. Deekin Scalesinger (from NWN) is a great case in point. Sure, most of them will be ... but.

Yes, I also think that the bullfights are a bit ... I don't know -- barbaric? I always felt bad for the bull. It's not his fault.

But bull-fighting and minotaurs go hand-in-hand, you're right. They have a really long history - ever since the golden age of ancient Crete (roughly 1800-2000 BC -- wow!)

The Cretans worshipped bulls. They didn't fight them, but their religion involved jumping over the horns of a bull. This is very similar to the idea, in bull-fighting, to grab the rosettes from the bull's horns.

It's no surprise that the original minotaur (in Greek mythology) comes from the island of Crete.

The mainland Greeks, especially the Athenians, had a very male-oriented society. So they hated the Cretans, whose religion was female-based, with priestesses and everything (like the Revered Mother in Dragon Age: Origins).

So it's no surprise that when the Greeks wrote the legend of the Minotaur, they made the Cretans into "bad guys".

Incidentally, I did quite a bit of research into the original legend. The Minotaur himself might have been based on a real person. The legend says that the wife of Minos, the King of Crete, refused to sacrifice a sacred bull to Poseidon and so gave to a half-man, half-bull creature - the first Minotaur. The truth is probably that Minos's son was disabled (either physically or mentally), and kept out of public view because the parents felt ashamed. (A king's son must be perfect! We must be cursed by the gods! Etc. Of course, this was a long, long time before anyone understood anything about disabilities).

Post by **Tawmis** » Thu Jul 29, 2021 12:02 pm

Rath Darkblade wrote: ↑Thu Jul 29, 2021 2:13 am Incidentally, I did quite a bit of research into the original legend. The Minotaur himself might have been based on a real person. The legend says that the wife of Minos, the King of Crete, refused to sacrifice a sacred bull to Poseidon and so gave to a half-man, half-bull creature - the first Minotaur. The truth is probably that Minos's son was disabled (either physically or mentally), and kept out of public view because the parents felt ashamed. (A king's son must be perfect! We must be cursed by the gods! Etc. Of course, this was a long, long time before anyone understood anything about disabilities).

Cool tidbit, I didn't know this.

Post by **Rath Darkblade** » Thu Jul 29, 2021 5:47 pm

I didn't know either until I started looking into it. I thought of writing the minotaur story from the minotaur's point-of-view. Perhaps he was abandoned? Perhaps when Theseus finds him in the labyrinth, he's been so lonely for so long that all he feels is rage (possibly towards his parents?) Maybe Theseus helps him instead of killing him, brings him out into the sunshine, and tries to find some way to re-integrate him into human society.

Maybe?

Incidentally, the word "minotaur" is a compound of the Greek "Minos" and "taur" (bull). From the word "taur" we get "Taurus", the bull constellation of stars.

His real name is Asterion (meaning "starry"), a name he shared with Minos's foster-father.

Mythology is fun!

Post by **Tawmis** » Tue Aug 03, 2021 12:12 am

Tawmis wrote: ↑Wed Jul 21, 2021 2:06 pm Last night's D&D game I DM for (the "Off Week" game) was an absolute blast.
The entire session was essentially a dating game. Zero combat. All skill checks. I controlled some NPC reactions; and some I'd randomly assign one of the players to respond as the NPC.
I can't believe how fun it was... If I heard someone say, "My D&D session was a dating game show, pretty much."
I would have rolled my eyes.
But the Off Week Game is 95% RP - and it was amazing.

So here's the notes (finally got a chance to listen to the recording) for that session.
100% RP. Zero combat!
Such an absolute blast.
I inserted some additional comments here and there coming from the NPCs to flavor up the story a little more post game.

http://tawmis.com/kneurth/adventure-not ... -wizard-07

Post by **Tawmis** » Mon Aug 09, 2021 2:47 pm

Post by **Tawmis** » Mon Aug 09, 2021 2:48 pm

Still have the Bard and Ranger to go.

Post by **Tawmis** » Mon Aug 09, 2021 2:56 pm

Post by **JasefWisener** » Mon Aug 09, 2021 8:37 pm

Not D&D, but I’ve been running a Call of Cthulhu campaign for some friends and I’ve managed to adapt a little of Gabriel Knight in it (they’ve never played GK so it’s all new for them) because of the characters is from New Orleans. It’s going really well!

Post by **Tawmis** » Mon Aug 09, 2021 8:59 pm

JasefWisener wrote: ↑Mon Aug 09, 2021 8:37 pm Not D&D, but I’ve been running a Call of Cthulhu campaign for some friends and I’ve managed to adapt a little of Gabriel Knight in it (they’ve never played GK so it’s all new for them) because of the characters is from New Orleans. It’s going really well!

The thread says D&D - but really, any pen & paper RPG is welcome!

I am pretty sure I've talked about STAR FRONTIERS in here.

So - Call of Cthulhu, eh? It's an interesting setting to play in. What kind of era is the time? Modern? Victorian?

I assume modern, because you mentioned New Orleans?

Post by **JasefWisener** » Tue Aug 10, 2021 9:26 am

It's 1920s, so the classic setting. They're based out of New England, but one of the PCs is from New Orleans, so they're taking a trip there for the next session.

Post by **Tawmis** » Tue Aug 10, 2021 12:55 pm

JasefWisener wrote: ↑Tue Aug 10, 2021 9:26 am It's 1920s, so the classic setting. They're based out of New England, but one of the PCs is from New Orleans, so they're taking a trip there for the next session.

Very cool. Well, if you wanna talk about the gaming sessions, I personally would love to hear about it in this thread.

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