Read 'Em and Weep

My friend, Nick, the mythology teacher down the hall, came up with a clever idea to teach his class about gods and titans.   Here is the sheet


The Posse- Gods and Gangsters

You are to make a gang of gods... Think "Mafia." Your gang should be well balanced. You
need leadership, minions, the "muscle," the "brains," and a code. Your Mafia should have a
coat of arms. Any good organization knows its strengths and weaknesses. Using any of the
gods from the Greek creation onward (Greco-Roman only), create your Olympian Mafia.

The following are your parameters:

• You may only have one (1) Olympian (Head of the "Family") and you must sign up for which Olympian you will have. There may only be two of each Olympian in the class at max.
• You may choose up to three (3) Titans
• You may have up to 7 minor gods and goddesses.
• Each member of your “family” should have a card with a description that defines his/her/their role in the family and ranks that member’s strength
• The total strength of all your family members may only be 50 “strength pts.”
• The “muscle” may be strong, but he cannot evade attack.
• The “brain” may be weak, but he is smart and can evade attack.
• Minions have no special skills. They do what they are told.
• You must draw your coat of arms.
• Be prepared to face off with another family in the class. There may only be 1 ruling family. We will be playing a strategy-card game with these cards next week.

Rules of the Game:

• Each play faces off head-to-head with another player.
• Each player chooses a card to begin the attack. Choose who goes first by rolling a die.
• Each player then determines the winner by difference of strength points (highest wins).
• Each player takes the amount of damage determined by subtracting the strength of the opponent from his own strength. That player then retains the strength left after calculating damage.
• The “muscle man” does not take damage except from other muscle men and the Olympian. When facing another muscle man, a die is rolled to determine damage. High number wins. A tie yields equal damage.
• The “brains” may evade damage, and this is determined by the roll of a die. A high number yields evasion. A tie yields equal damage.
• The Olympian takes the amount of damaged determined by the strength points divided by the role of the die except when attacked by a "muscle man" or "the brains." The muscle man and the brains inflict true damage on an Olympian. The Olympians inflict true damage on each other.
• Each card must be played until the family member dies or the game is over.

The winner of the game is the one who survives after all the opponent’s family members
are dead.


The tournament is over when the only one family remains.

The kids were all into it and it forced to to know a handful of deities very well.  Their cards were all hand made and they looked great.  I saw that one kid had a deity with a Pac Man head and asked him who that was.  His reply - Cronus - because he ate his children.  I thought that was pretty ingenious.  It also could easily be modified to include other pantheons and maybe even combine cultures.

This could also be a good time to introduce Abundantia, the Roman goddess of luck and success.  She even had her own coins!

Thanks, Nick!