From developing demi-god powers to creating the Oracle system, Author, Joe McCullough recounts his odyssey creating Warriors of Athena, a solo & co-op skirmish game set in the realms of Greek myth.

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Every game I have written leads up to Warriors of Athena! Okay, that’s perhaps more dramatic than it deserves, but in a sense it is true. Every game I write provides information, inspiration, and mechanical possibilities for the next one. This is probably just more obvious with Warriors of Athena than most. It all began with Frostgrave, which provided a lot of the basic mechanics of the game. In fact, I even used those mechanics to write a solo reskin for Greek Myth which I released as a pair of magazine articles. I suppose I could have gone ahead and written a full game then, but instead, I decided to develop the idea of solo and co-operative play in another game, Rangers of Shadow Deep. But the rangers aren’t Heroes in the Greek Myth sense. The mechanics for them didn’t work right for demi-gods. Then I wrote Stargrave, which had a new kind of protagonist, using a different system of ‘powers’, which were much closer to what I was seeking… So really, all those games were stepping stones to Warriors of Athena, or at least to the starting point. I took what I wanted and needed from those games to give me the freedom and mental space to push this game in a new direction.

An illustration of animated skeletons armed with ancient swords and spears

When I set out to create Warriors of Athena, I wanted it to be my most immersive tabletop adventure game, a game where you felt like you controlled a real demi-god. I wanted the game to have more ‘story’ than those that had come before. I approached that challenge in a few different ways. First, all the characters really are the children of gods, and this helps place them in the setting and starts their backstory. It also slightly defines their abilities, though more is still left to player choice. There is also the possibility that the Heroes have specific weaknesses, either from their parent or through choice. The fights are more dynamic than in most of my previous games, as so many of the powers can be used in combat. But the biggest push for story is found in the quests. These are much more fleshed out stories than I have generally used for scenarios in the past. As servants of Athena, the players have defined missions and goals, not just the acquisition of loot and experience. They fight against monsters that have names and reasons for doing the things they are doing. Most scenarios in a campaign are very closely connected narratively and often mechanically. And all of that is true if you are playing the game solo or co-operatively. If you choose to use an Oracle, a sort of game master, then all those elements can be built upon to create truly unique games and tales.

An illustration of a woman in a hooded cloak and ancient Greek armour, wielding two short swords

Creating Warriors of Athena was an incredibly fun and interesting challenge, but it was all so much ‘bigger’ than I ever imagined. I realized early on that making the quests so narrative meant that they would take much longer to write, develop, and test. I also realized how necessary they are for the game. I knew the players were going to need more quests than the basic book would be able to provide. So, I set out to write a book of scenarios to go along with it. As I worked on this, I discussed it with Osprey, and together we decided that if we were going to do two books anyway, it made more sense to divide them into Heroes (Character Creation and the Basic Rules) and Quests (All of the scenarios, bestiary, and advice for creating your own quests). This meant that players that did want to play with an Oracle could just get the Heroes book and avoid any spoilers to be found in the Quests.

Warriors of Athena isn’t the hardest game I’ve worked on mechanically, but I honestly think it took more out of me creatively than any other game I’ve written. Without all those other games serving as the groundwork, I don’t think I could have handled the mental load or had the courage to take on a project like this. 

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Warriors of Athena: Heroes and Warriors of Athena: Quests are available to pre-order now.

Get ready to assemble your crew with roster sheets available on our resources page.