Heroes of Olympus (role-playing game)

Heroes of Olympus is a role-playing game first published by Task Force Games in 1981.

Description
Heroes of Olympus is a fantasy role-playing game system that takes place in the heroic age of ancient Greece in which the player characters are Argonauts serving in the crew of Jason. The rules present the backgrounds and abilities for Argonauts, as well as how to handle character improvement, combat (with rules for trickery), sailing, magic, nonhuman races, the gods, and advice on how to run a role-playing campaign. The set includes four adventure scenarios with a color map for each scenario, which include the Golden Fleece, as well as encounters with the Harpies and Clashing Rocks.

Heroes of Olympus is based on the stories of Greek mythology in which player characters can either be members of the Argonauts serving Jason or heroes made by the players using a point-based character generation system. The game includes both melee and naval tactical combat systems, and was intended to include elements from role-playing games, board games and wargames.

The 2nd edition of the game also includes some miniatures as well as reprinting an article from Different Worlds on how to adapt characters from this game to Thieves' World.

Publication history
Heroes of Olympus was written by B. Dennis Sustare, and published by Task Force Games in 1981. It was a boxed set with an orange cover, containing a 56-page book, five maps, two cardboard counter sheets, and dice. Heroes of Olympus was the first of a number of what author Shannon Appelcline refers to as "pseudo-RPGs" produced by Task Force Games, similar to those published by other wargaming companies such as DragonQuest from Simulations Publications and The Fantasy Trip by Metagaming Concepts. Heroes of Olyumpus was supported by two magazine articles, and a second edition was published in 1983. The second edition was a larger boxed set with a cover by Chris White, containing a 56-page book, a pamphlet, five maps, counters, metal miniatures, and dice.

Reception
According to Shannon Appelcline, although the game had elements of roleplaying games, board games and wargames, "it was probably as much of a roleplaying game as other RPGs from the same time period," such as DragonQuest and The Fantasy Trip.

Reviews

 * Different Worlds #30 (Sept., 1983)