Lamentations of the Flame Princess - Spider Priest Class Idea

Lamentations of the Flame Princess 

Spider Priest

This is an idea for a powerful magic using class, which has a focus on healing with severe consequences. I am not particularly good at balancing in games, so the below is an idea and should probably not be followed down to the letter. It is available for gutting, rejigging and playing with. I have left the spells fairly open and depending on how you might want to use this, if you want to use it, in a game as a Game Master you can change anything of the dice or effects to be more or less evil.

The Spider Priest is a form of new magic user with a focus on healing with a punch, however, the healing may leave you and your companions worse than they started. The challenge is weighing up the risk. The Spider Priest's spells rely primarily on the use of blood magic; self-sacrifice and the mutilation of others. Luckily, when it comes to healing they are able to use their patients already leaking wounds to power their spells. The spider priest is a sneaky magic user; preferring the shadows and darkness to fighting out in the open. 

They are often worshippers of the Spider Queen, a strange goddess named Anansi, who dwells on her throne of creatures who have been drained dry from the inside out. She is the true goddess, the story-teller, and the keeper of all wisdom. She drinks the blood of both her enemies and devotees, in order to ferry their souls into the world of webs and shadow.  These souls are reborn as the true race, spiders. Only spiders know the true secrets of the world and the spider priest is voice. They believe that blood is life, and blood carries the soul.

As a priest, you carry one of the Spider Queen’s broodlings in your head, you have given your body and soul to the Spider Goddess, and once it hatches you will be reborn as the spider you carry, supposedly. Your belief is simple;  your feeble human body is the cocoon for your true self. You will eventually succumb, your soul reclaimed, when her offspring erupts from your skull.

How you came to possess this knowledge and power is entirely up to you, perhaps another devotee planted in your brain or a witch whispered to you at night and convinced you that  great power was worth the risk of being a carrier.

From levels 1 to 6 you must, every time you level,  make a Save Vs. Magic to stop yourself from having an aneurysm or the spider might stick a leg out through your skull (giving you an impressively terrifying mohawk), depending on the effect you can either lose a permanent 1d4 health, or gain a weird appearance trait and lose -1 Charisma.

Your beginning stats are the same as a magic user from the LOTFP rulebook. You gain the same amount of spells per level. You can only use a spell once per day and must rest for a period of six hours or more. You cannot change your learned spell halfway through the day.  Every other level, the Priest can forgo learning the number of new spells specified, sacrificing greater power for more skill, and replace the spells by spending a point in a skill from the following ( Sneak Attack, Stealth, Open Doors and Search). 

Unlike other spell casters and clerics, the Spider Priest can only make a scroll for the spell Suture and nothing else as their power is drawn from their devotion to The Spider Queen Anansi and the spider living inside their heads.

The Spider Queen, if satisfied with your protection of her offspring, the gathering of tales, and creative bloodletting, will reward you.

After levels 6 upwards, the save becomes a save to save your life, as the spider attempts to wriggle free from your head. The bigger the spider gets, the more powerful you become (the higher the level you survive too that is).

Unfortunately, your blood sacrifices and desire to consume other creatures has left you with Weird Blood, and sometimes your spells may have strange effects on yourself and others. For god’s sake, don’t roll a 1.  When you use a spell you will most likely need to roll on the Weird Blood table. 

All Spells require blood or viscera to activate and many require you to roll on the Weird Blood table.  

Spells  - On top of the below spells, Spider Priests also have access to the Magic User spell list . Currently, the spells below have no levels assigned, these may be assigned levels by the game master who allows this class to be played in their game. Alternatively, as there are 10 spells, you could roll each day to see which spells you gain. In one of my games, the players find a book of these spells and it is simply down to the dice to see which they can use.

I am not the best at balancing spells and combat, so please feel free to nerf or improve the below.

Ecdysis

You shed your skin, leaving behind a curled up and distorted husk behind which you can use as a decoy, however, this has a high fail rate. This process weakens you, reducing your AC by -2 for 1d6 hours. However, you heal 1d6 + half your level in wounds. Roll on the Weird Blood Table.

Argyroneta aquatica

You spew the air from your lungs to form a protective cocoon of air around your head. This can keep you alive should you be trapped in any underwater conditions or when you have been buried alive. This does not last long, probably only 1d6 x 5 minutes, so 2 is 10 minutes of airtime. This spell does not require a roll on the weird blood table.

Suture

Use spider webbing to sow on body parts or close/bind wounds. Heals 1d6 + half level. You cannot use this on yourself.

Summon - Baby Broodling

You summon a fat, squat spider about the size of a dog.  You must make a Save Vs. Magic to see if you can control the spider. If you fail, the spider will see you as a threat and attack. The spider has half your health points and an AC of 12. They have 16 across the board when it comes to Saves. The spider is summoned for the remainder of the day, however, it is hostile to other animals and will chase after prey.  The spider has a 1d6 bite attack and once per day can poison a target. The poison does 1d4 damage every minute for 1d4 minutes. The victim can save each time to see if they can shake off the poisons effects. This spider is a juvenile; it cannot cast web and it cannot cast spider climb.  

Transfusion

Whatever part of you you have decided to dedicate to the Queen of Spiders, be it your nails, tongue, teeth, lips… other places, allows you to transfer your divinely touched blood with that of your comrades. When your comrade is writhing on the floor you are able to heal them for 1d8 HP + half level; however, the transfer of blood takes half their roll from your health. Unlike other healing spells though; this spell can be used twice a day rather than only once. You and your companion will need to roll on the Weird Blood Table.

Circle of Blood

You create a circle. Each person holds another person's hand (or appendage depending) and you force your blood along the chain. Your spell heals multiple party members taking part and you take 1d4 damage for each person healed. They are healed 1d6 + half their level. All involved must roll on the Weird Blood table.

Cocoon of The Storyteller

A self healing spell, allows you to heal yourself by wrapping a dying victim and yourself in a cocoon. You then feed on them over an hour, offering their soul and story to The Spider Queen, they are left as a husk and you regain 3d6 health. The victim must already have been incapacitated and cannot be dead.  Roll on the Weird Blood table.

Shadow Leap

Once per day you can move from one shadow to another at a frightening speed as if you have teleported. These shadows must be connected. You cannot teleport across a brightly lit field, for instance.

Wall of Web (Shield)

You sacrifice up to 1D6 HP. Depending on the amount of blood you pump into your web, depends on its strength. A web forms in front of you and your comrades protecting you from ranged weapons, holding back water and delaying flames. Your blood prevents this shield from catching fire. Roll on the Weird Blood table.

Shared Blood, Shared Heart, Shared Mind

You share your blood with one of your comrades for one day. You can heal yourself in combat for 1d4 + half HP, twice. The combatant must draw blood or you must draw blood to heal (yourself or another player).  However, you take all of your comrades hits during one combat session and they are unaffected. If you or your comrade dies whilst Shared Blood, Shared Heart, Shared Mind is up, you die too. You cannot use this two days in a row on the same person. You must wait a full day before using it on the same person again. Both roll on the Weird Blood Table one the day is over.

Summon- Higher Broodling

You summon a larger spider. You must make a Save Vs. Magic to see if you can control the spider. If you fail, the spider will see you as a threat and attack. The spider has your health points and armour class. Dispel Magic will negate this effect.The spider has a 1d8 bite attack. The spider can cast Web and Spider Climb once per day. You can ride this spider, however, it cannot carry you for long and you cannot ride it with more than +1 encumbrance. This spider lasts for 1d10 rounds.

An Eye for An Eye

The wound you take is inflicted back at your enemy. They can make a Save Vs. Breath Weapon to avoid taking the damage. Roll on the Weird Blood Table.

Sight of the Thousands

Once you have spoken to someone you can see through their eyes at any time for 1d4 rounds. They can make a Save Vs. magic to throw off the effect.  You cannot hear what they have to say, however, you can see everything around them. Roll on the Weird Blood Table.

Liar, Liar

You can detect if someone is lying to you. They can make a Save Vs, Magic to avoid being affected by this spell.  You can tell because after they have said their lie, a spider will boil into existence within their throat and erupt from their mouth. A fitting punishment for liars. Roll on the Weird Blood Table.

Sacrifice

You slit your throat and cry out your devotion to the Spider Queen. With your hand, she reaches out and heals your comrade to full health. You fall to 0 and begin bleeding out. Roll on the Weird Blood Table..

Parasites (high level)

Oh, your enemies… they aren’t devoted like you so perhaps you could help them along a little. You can put an egg inside someone (how you get it in is entirely up to you) and after 1d6 days the individual is eaten from the inside out by the offspring of the spider queen. You have given her a soul and helped the poor sod reach an enlightened state. They can make a Save Vs. Poison to avoid the infestation. Roll on the Weird Blood Table.

Jeepers Creepers

You cause enemies to flee in terror as visions of crawling insects composed entirely of human body parts and bone pursue them. These visions also erupt from your victims bodies and those suffering from this actually feel the critters scurrying over their skin. They flee for 1d4 rounds, they can make a Save Vs. Paralysis to avoid these visions. Roll on the Weird Blood Table.

If it bleeds…

You enter a state of psychotic devotion to the Spider Queen. Shouting her name and devoting your victim to her cause, you sink your teeth into your victim's body. You gain a + 2 to any grapple rolls due to your sudden berserker strength. Once you have sunk your newly formed fangs into the victim's body you dissolve them from the inside and drain them of their fluids. They have to make a save vs. poison to avoid being killed instantly, if they save the roll they still take 1d8 damage from your strong artery puncturing bite. Their corpse collapses in on itself. You do 1d6 damage for every orifice the creature has.  Roll on the Weird Blood Table.

Cryptic Queen

You can slit your skin and call for the Spider Queen, Anansi, to come to you for aide. When she appears you must give her a satisfying story about yourself or one of your companions personal lives, or she will leave you to bleed (1d4 damage until a successful save vs. poison or death) . She (the dungeon master) will then answer three questions: one about your location, one about an item and one about a person. You can only use this spell once,  her answers may be cryptic and you cannot ask her the same questions. If you ask “Where are we?” she might reply “You are here”, so be careful about phrasing your questions. Roll on the Weird Blood Table.

Summon - Explosive Spider

You summon a small group of spiders that seem to be sizzling. Where they walk they leave a trail of black powder from their bulbous behinds. You command these tiny explosive spiders, it crawls away from you like a grenade and delivers a small controlled explosion. You can use this to open locks or cut ropes. It is not a very effective weapon however, it will cause 1d4 damage Vs. a Dexterity save. These cannot blow through stone. If you do not command them to a location and explode them within five minutes, they will explode where they sit, possibly on you.

Weird Blood Table (D20)

Number	Description	Effect
1	Birth. The spider inside your head begins to squirm and shift. In the process, its spiny legs rip into your brain. A leg punches through your eye socket and wriggles. Another erupts from your nostril in a spray of blood. You tear at your skull, the pain is excruciating as suddenly from the back of your skull bursts the demon spawn of the Spider Goddess herself. Your body slumps on the floor and the spider disappears into the darkness to feast.	...Death! No save possible.
2	Scarabs. You infect yourself and anyone healed by your spells with Scarabs. These little creatures live inside you for 1d4 days and drain your blood. You are weakened by their feasting.	1d4 day effect. You take -2 to your AC each day. Each morning you can make a saving throw VS magic to see if you can avoid being infected.
3	Symbiosis. Your blood mixes and suddenly you are one person. You can hear each other's thoughts, you can feel each other's heartbeat, you can smell and hear what the other hears. This effect only lasts for a few hours.	The players are all connected. They can choose push half of their own damage onto the connected player once. This lasts 1d4 hours.
4	Nothing happens. You are safe. The world is glorious. The sun is shining.	No effect.
5	Spider Man. Your veins have become incredibly strong and a strange hole has appeared on both of your wrists. You can fling your web-like veins out of your body like a whip, causing 1d4 damage if you hit. They are slick with blood, and you cannot support your weight with them. If you try, you might pull your veins out of your body.	1d4 Artery Whips. This effect lasts for 1d4 hours. If these are severed you take bleeding damage.
6	Volatile Blood. You have no idea but the spider in your head has just died and its decaying corpse is flooding into your blood. Over the next few days you begin to weaken, and eventually your insides are dissolved in the acidic remains of the rotting spider. You slowly decompose.	Save vs. Poison to avoid the effect. Roll Save Vs poison each day if you fail and each day you lose -2 Strength and -2 Constitution until eventually you die. You roll each day to fight the effects. ...Slow Death!
7	Nothing happens. You are safe. The world is glorious. The sun is shining.	No effect.
8	Storyless  Your meddling with blood magic has cause the spider queen to steal your story. You no longer remember your relatives, or your past. You are not even sure how you got here, or who your companions are, or why your head is so big…	Save Vs. magic or you forget all recent memory and who you are. However, you still remember how to eat and function as a normal human.
9	My Eye! One of your eyes starts to leak maggots from the tear ducts. You are in incredible pain. Slowly, a swarm of baby spiders push the eye from its socket and spill out over your face. The spiders stop pouring after a few seconds but you cannot heal the gaping hole where your eye had once been.	Save Vs Paralysis or you lose an eye.
10	Nothing happens. You are safe. The world is glorious. The sun is shining.	No effect.
11	SUMMON!  Your blood magic has attracted an enemy of the Spider Queen in the form of a summon spell.	You cast summon. If this is a spell used on multiple people, only one summon will activate unless the GM feels evil.
12	Disfigured. The weird blood of the spider living in your head isn’t entirely compatible with your fragile human body. You are left with a nasty disfigurement, this is entirely at your discretion.	You are disfigured. To what extent, the game master decides if this affects charisma, strength or dexterity rolls.
13	Acidic Combustion  Your blood literally boils like a combustible acid in your body and suddenly you explode on the spot.	Make a Save Vs. Poison or face death.... Everyone within a 5 foot radius of you must make a Save Vs. Poison effect, or face 1d4 acid damage.
14	Whispers  You hear the wish of the spider queen whispered in your ear. Her thirst for blood and stories grows stronger and more powerful. Satisfy her lust, or face louder screams.	Occasionally you hear the voice of the Goddess Anansi. She demands blood and stories, or else her banshee spiders will scream at you at inopportune moments.
15	Stone Blood  Your blood congeals in your body and you are held in place. Strangely, this does not kill you but you are locked place for 1d6 rounds, vulnerable to damage.	Save Vs. Paralysis or you are paralysed for 1d6 rounds.
16	Insanity You are temporarily insane and convinced the world is out to try and split your skull open to steal your spider and your power.	Save vs. Paralysis, if you fail, you are completely insane and unable to function like an intelligent human. This effect lasts for 1d6 rounds, make a save and if this fails, continue for another 1d6 rounds until you save.
17	Nothing happens. You are safe. The world is glorious. The sun is shining.	No effect.
18	Swapsies  You and the person you have healed swap health points. If you have not healed another person, you and the last living creature you touched swap health points.	Swap health points with the last person you healed, or with the last living creature you touched.
19	You have Displeased the Court  The Queen of Spiders is personally affronted by how terrible you seem to be at gathering tales and feeding her passion for subtle violence.  Anansi personally orders the Spider in your head to enact her will. It eats its way down from your skull, through your throat to your stomach and then erupts out of you in a glorious shower of intestines. There is nothing better than a disembowelling.	You have exactly three minutes to pray to The Spider Queen for forgiveness and explain how you will fulfil her wishes. If you Save Vs. Magic, and fail, the GM can decide if your story is good enough to let you live. If not, you are disembowelled.
20	A Loyal, Royal Gift You have risen to high esteem in the eyes of the Spider Queen for using your powers, or receiving your powers. She bestows a great gift upon you. Roll a 1D6 for your Ability scores, if you get a 3 for example this will give you Dex. Then roll a D2 to see how much your modified is increased by.	1d2 + on a modifier, determined by 1d6.

All images are from http://www.freeimages.com/ and are not used commercially.

Cursed and Magical Items to Screw Up Your Players - Bones of Pelasgus

The Bones of Pelasgus

“Take his hand off while he lives, slowly, and place it in the bag. The bones will show the way, always. That will teach the bastard not to point at me.” - Lycoan the Hound

This is one of the few magic items in my PDF Panic in Pluckley, which I am writing currently.

The Bones of Pelasgus are a set of men’s finger bones, all in pieces, contained within a black leather bag. The bag has strange silver runes embroidered into the leather which shine ominously even when there is no light.

Once per day the players may shake the bones and ask the bones if they can see anything magical in the vicinity. Any hidden doors, any magical items or magical traps will be pointed to by the bones once they are tipped out of the bag. The bones shake and then form a hand which points towards the item.

Once per day, if the players are lost, they may ask the hand to point towards a location they have been previously to find their way back.

Unfortunately, the bones require a blood sacrifice and the player who owns the bones will have the skin from his own hand stripped away. This skin will then appear on the bones, slowly forming muscles, tendons and regrowing a human hand. Each time the bones are used more of the player's hand is stripped away. This causes 1d4 damage each time.

The bones have an ongoing effect which causes the player’s character to feel a constant thirst. The player’s character must sip something every hour or they will dehydrate and die.

The bones can only be transferred to someone else if the player gives them as a gift and the receiver accepts them.

Table Top Tips: Three Ridiculous Cursed Items for Bizarre Games

Three Ridiculous Cursed Items for Bizarre Games 

My mind is in a bit of a funny place at the moment. It's focusing less on horror and weird, and more on the bizarre and fluffy. So here is a short blog for this week with some simple and weird cursed items for games which are a bit more light heart-ed. They are not the most original, but have fun!

The Slipper of Annihilation 

The name is courtesy of Richard Byfield, who text me this when a spider accosted me in the shower and I text him the emergency, requesting he send me a swat team.

The Deadliest of Weapons

 

This mighty weapon resembles an ordinary old mans slipper. It is moth eaten, the sole is well worn and the smell could knock out a herd of cows. Perhaps that is the source of its power, perhaps that is what fuels it, feeds the hunger to destroy.The slipper of annihilation, once worn, cannot be removed. It leaves a putrid smell in your wake; something akin to prune juice, whale blubber soap and decaying innards of a wheel of ancient cheese. 

The slipped grants the wearer a +2 attack bonus against creatures who have more legs than four. Any arachnids take +3, however, the wearer loses -2 charisma and takes a penalty when trying to intimidate or persuade, simply because their great weapon smells so very, very bad.

The Hat of Babbling

Fabulous!

 This hat is one of the fanciest damn hats you have ever laid your eyes on. It's perfect, ideal for the shape of your head (and seems to fit perfectly). It is wide rimmed, bright red, it even has a feather! You will be the most attractive creature in all the land if you wear this hat. Make a save Vs. Will/Magic to stop yourself from putting on this shining example of fashion genius. 

A sudden compulsion overwhelms you. A newfound confidence floods your body and suddenly you have absolutely no desire to lie about how you truly feel anymore. Your positive honesty radiates from you like some mad beacon. You are now completely honest, not only are you unable to lie, you actually go into detail about yourself and others...  giving information not everyone wants to really hear. 

You can make a save daily to try and remove the hat. But honestly, why would you want to? It's just so god damn fabulous. 

The Necklace of Love-At-First-Sight

This necklace looks very expensive. It is laden with jewels and made of solid gold. It's heavy to the touch too. It's the perfect piece to either wear to make others insanely jealous, or later sell for a small fortune.

Love is also blind. Very blind.

Unfortunately, the moment you pick this necklace up you find yourself falling madly in love with the first person you set eyes on. Not only that, but you are convinced you have had a long and happy relationship with this individual for years.  When you put the necklace down, this feverish lust fades, however, if you pick it up again then you once again fall in love with whoever you look at. It works through gloves and fabrics and cannot be carried on the end of a stick, staff or sword as the effect simply bounces.

Enjoy! A little bit of random for your weekend. 

Table Top Tips - Three Greek Myths for RPG Games

  Three Greek Myths You Could Use for Table Tops

When I was at university, one of the best parts of my course studying Classical Civilization was the mythology. There is a library of stories which could be reinterpreted and lead to me writing a very odd re-imagining of Iphis and Ianthe involving hermaphrodites.  Ever since then mythology and folklore has played a massive part in my games. For a start, mythological creatures and tales have been long used in RPGs; just look at Scion or any of the monsters in Dungeons and Dragons. I love weird tales and turning myths into one-shot table tops, or entire campaigns.

These are three popular myths from Greek and Roman mythology which could be used for table top games, either using them as a one-shot themselves, for inspiration for traps or as a platform for creating magical items.

Hades and Persephone

The Original "Kidnapped Princess" Cliche.

Sexy.

One of the famous myths involving the Greek Pantheon's God of Death and a journey into the underworld. The story goes that Hades came upon Persephone, daughter of the goddess Demeter and fell in love with her. He conspired with Zeus to kidnap Persephone and take her as his wife back to the underworld. Nothing screams happy marriage like a little bit of per-marital kidnapping. Demeter, mourning the loss of her daughter, requested she be allowed to live with her for six months of the year (spring and summer) and live in the underworld for six months (winter and autumn). Persephone was convinced to eat a few pomegranate seeds before she left (apparently pomegranates are irresistible when grown in the land of death and giant three headed dogs) so she was required to always return to Hades rather than escape once she was back with her mother.

This myth gives you a lot of options for a one-shot. Perhaps a similar story happens with two nameless gods, rather than the Greek Pantheon, or, perhaps you would like to keep the original names. Your player characters could assist Demeter in kidnapping her daughter back from the underworld. Throw in an encounter with Cerberus, a debate with Charon, a puzzle to cross the river Styx, and a sneak or slash through the Underworld to get to Hades and Persephone and you have a relatively well filled one-shot. There is a perfectly morbid setting to make use of; the Labyrinthine Underworld. Hades, the God of Death can waggle is fingers and throw your players into madness and torment for daring to trespass or he can turn your players against Demeter; there are a lot of options when using this myth as a basis for a game. You could flip it on its head and have Persephone sat by Hades refusing to leave and Hades praying the players get rid of her, or Hades never captured Persephone at all and Demeter is just screwing with you.

Not only can you throw in Charon and Cerberus as monsters, you could also have The Erinnyes visiting for a picnic in the underworld ready to fight or play with your players.The players may also have to avoid the temptations of Hades, which will result in them staying forever if they lose.

Another myth related to this with a similar theme of journeying into the underworld on a rescue mission is  Orpheus and Eurydice. You could include his magic flute as a magical item as a nod to the myth or other elements of to flesh out the one above. Alternatively, you could simply take elements from these myths and come up with something altogether unique. Why not go further and have Eurydice as the one needing to save Orpheus, or Persephone as the villain.

Medusa 

Stone eyed and constant bad hair, no wonder she's pissed.

 Perhaps one of the most known stories and one of the most utilized in fiction, Medusa is still one of my favorite myths, mainly because I sympathize a little with Medusa and her sisters, Stheno and Euryale. They are turned into monsters after Medusa claims she is more beautiful than Athena.Rather than putting this down to Medusa being a stuck-up teenager, Athena claims this a hubris and turns her and her sisters (unfortunate bystanders) into snake headed gorgons. When Medusa lays her eyes on anyone and they return the gaze, they are turned into a stone statue. Medusa and her sisters go to cry for a while on the rock as the experience of transformation into hideous beasts is quite a traumatic experience, when Perseus rides in and hacks their heads off. To add insult to injury he carries Medusa's bloody head around for a while waving it at his enemies, then Athena sticks it onto her shield (presumably with some god-like blue tack) for all to see.

Moral of the story: Don't think you're hotter than a god or this will happen.

Your story could be set in a little village where strange statues have been appearing resembling the butcher or the milkmaid. Your adventurers job is to find out why this is happening all of a sudden, hunt down the gorgons and execute them. It would be a cute little "kill the boss" scenario.

Alternatively, you meet a pompously big headed Perseus who challenges you to a gorgon hunt. You oblige and hunt the gorgons, only to discover they are the real victims of the story. Charged with magical items, the gorgons request you do them a favor to release them and the village of their curse; enter the realm of the gods and turn Athena into a statue.

Not only does this myth give you a couple of avenues to work with, whether you side with Perseus or side with Medusa, or simply use the myth to influence magical items or as part of a larger adventure.

 

Tantalus and Tartarus 

Don't feed people people. It doesn't end well. 

Tantalus is notorious for being the guy who decided human sacrifice by feeding his own child to the gods would get him some kind of reward.

Yum, first born, medium-rare.

Human Sacrifice and cannibalism were massive taboo's in Ancient Greece and the end result  of his weird banquet meal was his eternal torment in the hellish realm Tartarus. A curse was laid upon his house, Atreus, which lead to a spiral of other cannibalistic crimes by gran siblings and eventually a great deal of death.

Tartarus is the hellish realm deep within the underworld where wrongdoers and villains are punished.

The Greeks liked the idea of a realm being a person and a person a realm, so Tartarus is also a deity.

Overall, the location is a perfect setting for a hellish world where players can get lost in. It would be ideal for a puzzle based one-shot, moving through the location to escape or find an object of otherworldly power. The players could be related to Tantalus in some way, there to lift the curse upon their house, or perhaps they have been asked by someone to fetch him back... perhaps his resurrected son wishes to exact his own punishment on Tantalus for feeding him to the gods.

Tantalus pool, in which he is submerged in water but never able to drink, and always hungry but never able to reach the apple dangling just above his head, could be rejigged into an interesting trap for players or a puzzle. The players have to work together to feed and water Tantalus so he is finally free of the pool or perhaps a player falls in and is stuck there for all eternity.

Other myths involving the world of Tartarus could be thrown in such as the pushing of the boulder up the hill by Sisyphus or Tityos, eternally bound to a stone and his liver is pecked out by vultures, it constantly regrows and he re-heals so this continues over and over.

Overall myths are brilliant for use in games, whether as influences or in their entirety.