Basic Information
Classical Mythology is the melded jumble of Greek Mythology, Etruscan Mythology, and Roman Mythology. Due to Syncretism, Bisociation, and Interpretatio Graeca, the Greek and Etruscan myths melded in Ancient Rome, and often appear as a single body of lore from our modern vantage point. While this pop-culture blending is somewhat lamentable (and in some ways technically inaccurate), it does free up the GM/Author to use whatever elements of classic myths he or she wants without having to worry about strict authenticity. Not that "authenticity" itself even has much meaning, given the extremely high number of authors who wrote on this subject across so many centuries. Have fun with it!
List of Tropes used in Classical Mythology:
- Achilles Heel
- Achilles In His Tent
- Adam And Eve Plot
- All Men Are Perverts
- All Star Cast
- Angel Unaware
- Back From The Dead
- Be Careful What You Wish For
- Bed Trick
- Blind Seer
- Broken Aesop
- Brother Sister Incest
- Casanova
- Cassandra Truth
- Chained To A Rock
- Clingy Jealous Girl
- Clingy Mac Guffin
- Death By Sex
- Death Takes A Holiday
- Depending On The Writer
- Different For Girls
- Disproportionate Retribution
- Double Standard
- Downer Ending
- Dressing As The Enemy
- Driven To Suicide
- Dude Shes Like In A Coma
- Food Chains
- Gender Bender
- Girl In A Box
- Gorgon Gazing
- The Great Flood
- Half Human Hybrid
- Happily Married
- Hes Back
- Ho Yay
- Involuntary Shapeshifting
- It Was A Gift
- Jerkass
- Just So Story
- Karma Houdini
- Loads And Loads Of Races
- Lotus Eater Machine
- Love Makes You Crazy, Love Makes You Dumb
- Mister Seahorse
- Motif of Harmful Sensation
- Murder The Hypotenuse
- Older Than Dirt
- Our Giants Are Bigger
- Prophecy Twist
- Rage Against The Heavens
- Ravens And Crows
- The Red Sonja
- Riddle Of The Sphinx
- Scylla And Charybdis
- Sealed Evil In A Can
- Self Fulfilling Prophecy
- To Hell And Back (Hades has Lex Luthor Security)
- Ugly Guy Hot Wife
- Unstoppable Rage
- Values Dissonance
- Whos On First
- Wild Child
- Winged Humanoid
- Worlds Strongest Man
- You Cant Go Home Again
Characters
See also Mythological Characters.
If you want to stick with the Greek interpretation (if, for example, you're running a game set in Ancient Greece) of the Gods, see Greek Mythology.
If you want the interpretation used in Ancient Rome, see Roman Mythology and Interpretatio Graeca.
Sources
Game and Story Use
- Classic myth has inspired authors and dreamers for thousands of years. Why reinvent the wheel when you can borrow from a proven winner?
- Dressing characters up in a new setting can make the stale seem fresh and innovative. Ever see Oh, Brother, Where Art Thou?? It's basically Homer's Odyssey transplanted to the Deep South, but not everyone realizes that on first viewing.