Rules
Mythic Game
Running a Mythic Game
Running a mythic game has many similarities to running other games. The PCs still go on adventures, fight monsters, discover treasure, and gain experience. The difference is that mythic games have an added level of drama, theater, and tension. Compared to non-mythic parties of the same character level, a mythic party's adventures feature incredibly difficult foes and far greater challenges. Of course, there are also splendorous rewards for the bold mythic adventurer.
This section gives guidelines for running a mythic campaign, including a discussion of what makes a game mythic, types of mythic games, rules for adjudicating the difficulty of encounters, and guidelines for advancing play and fulfilling trials.
Making a Mythic Atmosphere
For a game to feel mythic, it must evoke wonder and awe in the GM and the players. It represents a power shrouded in mystery and beyond the reach of mortals. When characters encounter the mythic, they should feel as though they've just received a glimpse into an unseen world, promising so much more if they're bold enough to explore its wonders and face its dangers. A mythic atmosphere involves legends coming to life, and the characters will have a part to play in shaping these myths. If they succeed, they'll be the subject of tales and epic ballads for generations to come.
Running a mythic game requires more than just allowing the players to have mythic power and face off against mythic foes. While that is certainly part of it, creating a mythic atmosphere is just as important. The world itself and the structure of the story need to change to make room for the mythic to exist alongside the normal. This change doesn't require you to reinvent the world, but mythic creatures and their environments should feel as if they are part of the world; they may be hidden, but they should still be tied to the mundane events and lands around them.
Contrasting the mythic with the normal world is crucial to conveying an atmosphere of legend and mystery. The extraordinary only seems that way if it's in sharp contrast with the mundane. For example, a flying castle with a 1,000-foot-tall tower at its heart, drifting through the air on a thunderous storm cloud, is certainly a dramatic sight, but only when compared to the pastoral farmland and grime-covered town in its shadow. Picture the same floating castle in a world of towering volcanoes, and 500-foot-tall fortresses and the castle just becomes another extreme element in a world of extremes. If your game is set on Golarion (or some other established world), inserting contrasting mythic elements is easy, since the world already has a specific feel. Making your game mythic simply requires you to push beyond the boundaries of the setting, identifying hidden places where mythic elements have always dwelled, waiting to be discovered.
Different Scales of Mythic Campaigns
The mythic rules can be used in a number of ways to add truly fantastic elements to your game, from simply including a mythic foe at the end of an adventure to allowing the PCs to play mythic characters for their entire adventuring careers, taking on other mythic foes and rivaling the power of the gods. Ultimately, it's up to the GM to decide how much influence these rules have on the campaign and world as a whole. The following types of scale are provided to give GMs an easy guideline for incorporating mythic rules into their games.
Rare
At this scale, mythic creatures live only in remote parts of the world, content to be bygones of a lost age. People speak of them in stories, but none have actually encountered them. The PCs are not themselves mythic in this type of campaign, but throughout their travels, they may be up against a mythic creature at the conclusion of a noteworthy quest. Alternatively, a mythic creature might be forced into the world to terrorize the land, driving the PCs to find a way to deal with such a powerful threat.
Limited
At the limited scale, the PCs get a taste of mythic power through some extraordinary event, albeit only for a short time. For the duration of an adventure or short campaign arc, they can wield this power to further their goals. Unfortunately, it's fleeting, and they soon become normal once again, perhaps with a few remnants of power they might call on in a future time of need. Perhaps their power will return at a later date—possibly even regularly according to some mysterious cycle, allowing them to plan out when they take on more difficult challenges coinciding with their resurgence of power.
Uncommon
Mythic creatures and characters are uncommon in this scale of game, but not wholly resigned to the whispers of legend. The PCs also get mythic power, but their advancement in tier is slow. The GM can control this by limiting the number of trials that are presented. Likewise, mythic foes are still not pervasive, but are found with some regularity—leading secret cabals, harassing quiet villages on the edge of civilization, and dwelling in the dark places of the world.
Common
In the common scale, mythic characters and monsters are an everyday part of life. This doesn't mean that every town has a group of mythic heroes defending it, but that such characters are known to exist and their deeds are common knowledge. Nobles, priests, and other powerful people call upon the PCs for help against those dangerous monsters and villains others are powerless to fight. In this type of campaign, the PCs begin play with mythic power and see it grow as they gain levels, roughly at the rate of one mythic tier per two character levels.
Mythic Story Structure
Campaigns and adventures come in many forms, taking shape organically with the whims of the players and the needs of the Game Master, but the key to running a successful mythic campaign or adventure involves a little more planning. The following structure is a guide to help GMs in planning out their mythic experience, regardless of length. This formula can work for a single session, where the PCs gain mythic power at the beginning and lose it by the end. Or you can apply it to an entire campaign, where the PCs gain mythic power early on and retire after of dozens of adventures.
Many mythic stories follow a common narrative structure (see The Monomyth). This structure is divided into five parts: the contact, the awakening, the journey, the return, and the life after. In the contact, the PCs encounter a threat too great for them to handle. In the awakening, they're granted mythic power to handle this threat. In the journey, the heroes quest to increase that power and gain what they need to vanquish that threat. In the return, they finally encounter the threats as equals (or near-equals) and have the opportunity to forever right the world. In the life after, the mythic heroes deal with the aftermath of their trials, and either become normal characters once again or hold onto their new power.
This structure isn't set in stone. GMs should improvise details to suit the campaign. The steps represent story ideas that might reveal themselves in one or more encounters.
The Importance of Failure
In a mythic game, failure can play an important role in motivating the characters. Failure doesn't need to mean death, but instead that the PCs' efforts aren't enough to solve all problems before them. They might win the battle, but find that around them the town was destroyed, or someone close to them died during the conflict. This failure is a story opportunity—it can be used as motivation to continue on their journey, even against loss and extreme adversity. This also illustrates that the PCs' enemies have power similar to theirs, and that challenges ahead will test the heroes' limits and resolve.
Contact
At the start of the campaign, the PCs should be normal adventurers, developing and advancing without the aid of mythic power. This gives them a chance to experience life as mundane heroes, struggling to earn enough gold to keep themselves fed and allowing them to explore the normal world around them.
When the PCs first come in contact with something truly wondrous, the mythic campaign starts in earnest. They learn that there's much more to the world around them than they first realized. This can take the form of some great, emerging danger that the PCs cannot hope to defeat as they currently are. Perhaps an incredibly powerful dragon threatens the land, a long-dead god returns to the world, or the fearsome tarrasque reawakens. The PCs are drawn into this story as their lives are forever changed by this unchallengeable threat. These low-level characters should not combat such a beast, but they might be in a town ravaged by the threat, leaving them with no choice but to flee along with everyone else or perish. After that event, they're linked to the threat, but right now have no means of dealing with it.
Starting Off Mythic
A key part of the mythic narrative is that the characters don't start out as mythic heroes. Even if they gain their powers during the opening scenes of their first adventure, each character has an ordinary life before their ascension. This helps to ground them in the world and gives them a framework by which they can understand the magnitude of this change within them. That's not to say the seed of mythic power couldn't have been a part of them since birth, but such latent power should be hidden from them until the appropriate time.
Awakening
The next step is for the PCs to receive the aid they need, in the form of mythic power. The actual means by which the PCs receive this power may vary (see Mythic Themes), even between PCs in the same game. By the end of this part of the story, the PCs have had their moment of ascension, whether together or separately, and are now mythic. They are not yet ready to face their primary challenge, but the first steps down the path to victory should be revealed at this point.
Often, the source of this power gives them a clue to their journey. For example, the tarrasque is tearing through the countryside, devouring entire towns. The PCs are forced to flee into a secluded valley near where the beast was slumbering, only to find that the valley contains an ancient seal recently broken. A guardian spirit explains to them that it has failed in its duty to keep the beast contained, and beseeches the PCs to intervene if they are brave enough. Giving the last of its strength, the spirit imbues the PCs with mythic power. As the spirit fades away, it tells them to seek out a legendary blade capable of ending the tarrasque.
After receiving aid, the PCs are ready to begin their journey, but first they must leave their old world behind. Make this a painful choice for them, as the PCs must leave loved ones and comfort to venture into the unknown and ready themselves against true danger. This is a good time to present their first major challenge, so they can fully grasp the power they now command. The GM should also mark this point with some sort of loss or setback, to emphasize the gravity of the situation and the need for the PCs to undertake their quest. In the example above, the PCs might leave the valley only to find that their hometown is completely gone, devoured by the tarrasque. Before the PCs have a chance to mourn, they're beset by a group of cultists who helped to weaken the seal. After a deadly fight, the PCs see that they must leave to retrieve the blade if they're going to save other towns from this horrible fate.
Journey
The second part of the mythic structure is the journey. This part of the story can be nearly any length, from composing the middle of one session to encompassing dozens of sessions. The PCs, now enhanced with mythic power, must contend with various trials and dangers. Although these tests can take many different forms, there are some common types.
One type of test is that of the heart, compelling the PCs to struggle for something they care about other than themselves. These tests provide the PCs with a goal other than their own well-being and power. There should be something threatened if they fail, which serves to give the PCs resolve, a reason to carry on. As they visit a city in the path of the monster, the PCs might encounter people who remind them of home, or of friends lost. Or they could find a child in the clutches of a enemy, only to learn that he's the key to their diabolical plan, and the PCs must succeed if they're to save him in time. If the threat is powerful enough, the PCs may even come to learn that their own survival is secondary their quest's completion.
Temptation is another type of test, one that has different twists. Some temptations are obvious, and you expect the heroes to refuse, such as discovering a bucolic valley where they could forgo their journey and retire in peace, or a dubious stranger offering them a shortcut through a cursed forest. Such temptations are important to a mythic tale because refusal defines the characters and shows us their limits. Then there are the subtle temptations, ones that heroes might actually consider—either because the price seems small (or even nonexistent) compared to the gain or because the source seems trustworthy: taking food from an evil witch after starving for days, or choosing to give up a child they're protecting in exchange for an entire city's safety. Keep in mind that forces of good and evil are equally likely to test the heroes, to either reveal their mettle or lead them down the path of corruption. In any case, the PCs might be tempted a number of times along their journey and they must find the resolve to carry on and stay on the path.
The PCs will eventually come to a point where they must confront the source of their own power, which provides another form of test. During their travels, they learn more and more about that source, ultimately revealing the truth about its nature. This might lead to a confrontation with the source of their power, after which the PCs feel they are equals to this source rather than its servants. For example, the PCs might learn their power comes from a divine source, and that deity is using them for its own ends. At great risk, they confront an aspect of the god to find answers. At the conclusion of the conflict, the PCs realize that while they're only a piece of the god's grand scheme, they're no mere pawns. Just as the god is using them to achieve her ends, they're using the god to achieve theirs.
At the end of their journey, the PCs find their ultimate goal just within reach. Achieving this should be their most difficult test yet. Some foes are there to cull the unworthy, while others are agents of evil set to destroy the PCs. This last step in the journey should include a reward the likes of which the PCs have never seen, the culmination of their entire journey. With our earlier example, the PCs arrive at the resting place of the legendary sword capable of ending the tarrasque. Retrieving the sword from its ancient tomb is no easy task though, as the weapon is guarded by a host of mythic monsters and deadly traps. With the sword in hand, they must return to defeat the danger.
Return
The trip back can be just as perilous as the journey to achieve their goal. The heroes are at the height of their power, but they are now beset on all sides by those who would see them fail. Their enemies should be aware of this quest, and go to any means to put an end to the PCs. The mythic characters have the tools necessary, however, to brush aside such lesser threats and travel back to the beginning of their journey. This gives them a chance to fully appreciate their power, and use it to defeat foes that would have been truly dangerous not long ago.
During the journey back, the PCs can take a different path than before. They might travel the planes, use a magic carpet, or use some other wondrous means to expedite their trip. Or they simply take a more direct route, no longer needing to roam about the land searching for clues. They might receive aid from their patron should they get lost or need help tracking down the monster that started their journey. Regardless of their method of travel, they should get a sense that they are leaving the mythical world behind, returning to the mundane. They are returning home changed and ready to take on the challenge that awaits them.
At the conclusion of the mythic game, the heroes face their ultimate foe. This final encounter will be their greatest challenge, one that might even claim their lives. By now, if properly motivated, the PCs will make the sacrifice gladly to end the threat. When the conflict is over and the threat has been dealt with, the PCs' journey is finally complete.
Life Afterward
The GM and players must decide what happens to the PCs' power, once all is well again. Do they transcend ordinary life to continue down the path of a mythic hero, to go on other journeys, facing even greater threats? Do they find their mythic power fleeting, leaving them with the difficult task of returning to a mundane life? Many of these decisions will be guided by the needs of the story and your campaign.
If this was only a short mythic session, in which the PCs gained and lost mythic power in a single evening, the transition will be simpler than if it was at the end of an arc lasting for many months. If mythic power was a central theme of the entire campaign, this might be the logical end to it. The next campaign might take place in the same world, years or even generations later, where the player's previous characters have faded into legend and their new characters grew up hearing tales of those mythic heroes.
Elements of a Mythic Adventure
Beyond the story, there are a wide variety of elements you can add to give your campaign a mythic feel. These elements are different ways of looking at various parts of an adventure. A mythic adventure should contain some of these, though not necessarily all at once.
Cunning Foes
The enemies mythic characters face should be cunning and devious in their plans. Unlike normal monsters that tend to wait around to be fought, a cunning foe is proactive in its efforts to defeat the PCs. Such enemies use the environment to their benefit, utilize their abilities to the fullest, and have at least one contingency plan. Cunning foes frequently escape a losing battle to regroup and prepare another attack. After the PCs' first encounter with a cunning enemy, their foe learns from that experience and uses new tricks and tactics to neutralize the PCs' strengths. The foe might even do research or conduct reconnaissance before the fight, pitting the PCs against her minions while she watches silently, noting the PCs' capabilities.
Hard Consequences
With all the incredible power at characters' fingertips, it's easy to forget that the heroes are still people—complicated and flawed. Mythic heroes suffer or witness dramatic consequences in stories all the time, and it's those moments that define a hero and help us connect with her. There are different ways to bring about consequences. Failure is one option, whether it is failing a combat or skill check or to failing to make the right decision (see The Importance of Failure). There are other ways to bring about consequences, though, such as having something unforeseen happen because of the PCs' actions. Imagine watching the countryside burn because you used a mythic fireball to defeat a foe. And there is always the classic story moment of presenting a hard choice, where no option is without cost. It's through suffering and reacting to such consequences that the true nature of these mythic heroes emerges.
Impressive Settings
The world of mythic adventures is enormous and dramatic. While a large keep is certainly impressive, one with a 200-foot-tall tower at its heart is more suitably awe-inspiring. This applies to natural environments as well, such as an entire forest with plants five times the normal size, waterfalls more than 100 feet high, or an immense volcano erupting at its heart. This might also take the form of a location with supernatural effects, such as a lake that is perfectly calm even when disturbed, or a swamp that is preternaturally dark. These places should appeal to all the senses, making them vibrant and memorable.
Legendary Creatures
Some creatures the PCs face should be legends in their own rights. While those that are drawn from ancient myth (such as the minotaur and the medusa), are likely candidates, any monster can fit into this category given the proper backstory. A random encounter with a dire wolf in the wilderness isn't especially legendary, but if the PCs visit the nearby town first and learn that there's a feral monster that's been feeding on townsfolk for a decade, and there are many local myths about the beast, that same encounter gains a legendary quality. Defeating such foes adds to the mythic characters' story, making these moments important to a mythic adventure.
Otherworldly Influence
Whether from artifacts, ancient magic, or the gods, mythic power is beyond that of the mortal realm. When the PCs gain such power, they attract the attention of mysterious forces that seek to control or otherwise influence them. This can take many forms, from a deity speaking to them through a cryptic seer, a strange sign from the stars, or gifts left in a tranquil glade to aid the heroes on their journey. Not all such influences will be beneficial—the PCs might be hammered by powerful storms, led astray by a constantly changing map, or attacked by agents of an evil power. The PCs should feel like their quest has caught the attention of powerful forces, even if they do not understand their sources or motives.
Powerful Enemies
Foes should have powers and abilities far beyond those the PCs normally expect to face. Through their mythic abilities, the PCs have the tools to defeat these challenges, but such foes are powerful and dangerous nonetheless—more than capable of bringing pain to the world if not defeated. Battles with powerful foes make it clear that the PCs truly need their mythic power to survive. Of course, not every fight should be against a powerful foe; lesser foes give the PCs a chance to show off their talents.
Supernatural Events
Strange and wonderful events surround mythic characters, events that twist and alter the world around them. Such events might be local (a perpetual blizzard in a small valley) or they might cover a vast area (a gloom that covers the sun). These supernatural events are in some way tied to the story of the characters. Perhaps the blizzard is the sign of a mystical frozen water elemental seer who is trying to get the heroes' attention. Or the gloom covering the sun is caused by a mythic demon seeking to bring ruin to the surface world.
The World's Reaction
Amazing powers and impressive foes are only part of a mythic story. The world's reaction to such heroes is also a significant part of making a campaign actually feel mythic. The NPCs encountered in a mythic game should have a sense—possibly vague, possibly unmistakable—that the PCs are marked with grandeur.
When portraying the PCs' mythic origins and powers, the GM has a few options. The mythic nature could be apparent to everyone in some visible way, like a glowing brand or faint aura. This could be always visible, or manifest only as a character uses mythic power. Alternatively its nature could be subtle and felt rather than seen. Of course, it could start as something subtle at lower tiers, and become more pronounced as a mythic character progresses. Regardless of what direction you take, the people in the world should not mistake mythic characters for normal people.
The way that common people talk to these heroes needs to be different from the way they would talk to other characters. Mythic PCs should never be "tasked" or "ordered" to do anything (except perhaps by a demanding foe in a momentary position of power). Beings, even rulers or powerful planar allies, should address the mythic characters as peers or possibly entreat them as supplicants.
Likewise, when NPCs are in the presence of such greatness, they should not waste time asking for trivial favors. That's what normal low-level adventurers are for. Even a 1st-level/1st-tier character is worthy of respect. That doesn't mean you have to throw away the quests you've planned, but you should present them to the PCs (and players) as something worth a mythic character's time and energy.
The true powers in the world, whether the raw power of angels and demons or the political power of kingdoms and churches, recognize the potential in the mythic heroes. Wise ones know to be polite to low-tier heroes today, because in the future they will be formidable allies or devastating foes.
On the flip side, mythic power is an alienating force. Very few people have it, and many of those who do are threats, not friends. So the people the heroes encounter will look at them with reverence, fear, or even resentment, but never with familiarity and ease. In some ways, mythic characters are the ultimate outsiders, saving a world that they don't quite fit in anymore.
The Monomyth
The structure of a mythic game is drawn from the concept of the "monomyth," outlined in Joseph Campbell's book, The Hero with a Thousand Faces. This pattern is found throughout countless modern and ancient mythological tales, from the Bible to The Lord of the Rings. You won't have to search hard to find examples in books and films. Game Masters are encouraged to read up on the monomyth in more detail, as well as examine other stories and media that use this pervasive narrative structure.
Mythic Themes
Mythic adventures can gain their legendary powers in a variety of ways, from a gift from the gods, to the influence of ancient magic thought lost to the world, to traveling to a distant land filled with power. Such themes describe the source of mythic power in a given campaign and give general guidelines about how it functions. Some campaigns will focus on one theme to tell a mythic story, and others will include multiple themes—although the GM should be careful when using more than one theme, as this might muddle the story behind such power. In some cases, merging various themes will make more dramatic sense than using one theme alone.
The following themes are just a few types that the GM can work into the world when introducing the mythic rules into her campaign. These are generally compatible with any type of mythic game. Each one includes the following sections.
Description
This gives a basic overview of the theme.
Scope
This describes how much of an impact the mythic elements have on the campaign, indicating how those elements change the tone of the game.
This includes some sample ways the PCs might become mythic using this theme.
Story
This describes the types of adventures and campaigns that work well with this mythic theme.
Challenges
This lists some types of mythic challenges relating to this theme that the PCs will likely face.
Ending
This describes a few ways the campaign might reach its mythic climax.
Eldritch Magic
An ancient artifact, forgotten spell, or fantastic magical event grants the PCs mythic powers. Regardless of its particular source, this power comes from the very fabric of magic itself, a power few dare to harness.
Scope
While the scope of a campaign featuring eldritch magic can be broad, since this power comes from a particular item or event, the powers should be tied to it. Perhaps the ancients created a sacred seal to be broken if certain signs presented themselves, such as a week of a blood-red moon or three comets in the sky at the same time. In this way, the mythic rules have an impact on the entire setting, but their direct influence can be limited by the source of the power.
Rumors persist of books that, once read, unlock potential hidden deep within the mind and body. An ancient seer possesses these volumes and offers the heroes a chance to read one that will grant them mythic power, but only if they will defeat a creature terrorizing the city.
While exploring a long-forgotten valley, the PCs encounter a strange stone monument with an ancient spell carved upon it. They discover that this is a relic from a bygone age of magic, and that it grants mythic power. Unfortunately, they aren't the only ones who've found it, and now this power has been loosed upon the world.
Deep inside a forgotten dungeon, the PCs discover a room sealed by a series of complicated mundane and powerful arcane locks. Promises of great treasure led the PCs to this spot. As they break the seal on the door, a blast of arcane energy emanates from the door, knocking out the heroes and imbuing them with mythic powers. While the heroes are stunned, a creature bashes through the doors with such force that it breaks the hinges and escapes. When the PCs come to, a guardian spirit waits over them, imploring them to recapture the monstrosity they unleashed.
The PCs realize that each of them inherited a curved piece of metal inscribed with symbols in an archaic script. By placing the pieces together, they form a circle. When the circle is complete, the PCs each feel energy pulse through them that causes them to ascend.
Story
Adventures using this theme are always tied to the source of power, either by those who wield it or those who seek to steal such power away for themselves. The PCs are drawn into this struggle and must prevent such power from falling into the wrong hands… possibly even realizing that those hands are their own.
Ancient artifacts and items from distant planes carry secrets and abilities rarely accessible to those living today. Interacting with such items is dangerous, and will forever change the wielder in unforeseen ways. These items find their ways into the collections of great and long-living creatures, such as dragons and liches, or are buried in the most remote areas beyond the known world. Not only will interacting with these items change a character, but the power released is a beacon for frightening entities linked into that same source.
Some of these items are part of a set or pieces of a larger item. Collecting the various pieces will increase the PCs' powers and give them further insight into the world of mythic creatures that surrounds them. But such items are jealously guarded, and it may cost the PCs even more than they expect to attain this greater power.
Challenges
The PCs must face off against foes who have harnessed the same power they have, or who seek to take it from them. If the PCs' power stems from an event, perhaps they are not the only ones to gain power in this way. If their power comes from an artifact, perhaps there are other relics granting power to their enemies. In either case, the PCs must deal with foes who not only understand their power (possibly better than the PCs do), but wield it as well.
Ending
The heroes take on an ancient mythic creature, the very one that has been placing challenges before them. It does this not to defeat the PCs, but to force them to gain more power—power it seeks to rip from them. This foe has designs upon the power that the PCs possess and wishes to either take it all for itself or remove the threat of that power from the world.
Legendary Encounter
After the heroes achieve a monumental task thought to be too much for them, the essence of the mythic world bows to their achievement and fills them. This could come from destroying a plane-shattering artifact, defeating a legendary monster, or surviving a deadly journey to a wondrous location.
Scope
The scope of this campaign can be quite far-ranging. The experience that grants the heroes mythic powers could occur anywhere in the campaign world (though that could be merely one of many such moments happening all around the world). Events related to the experience could send the heroes to distant lands—perhaps the heroes gain their powers from destroying an evil artifact, and learn of other such artifacts hidden in dungeons around the world.
An NPC begs the heroes to destroy an artifact that's corrupting the land. After a deadly adventure, the PCs finally manage to destroy the object, but in doing so release a wave of energy that grants them mythic power.
Reports of an ancient dragon ravaging an entire valley reach the heroes' ears. When they battle the beast, they find themselves vastly outmatched, but through cunning and luck, they manage to slay the dragon. Upon its death, its blood washes over them, infusing them with mythic power.
While traveling overland, the heroes become lost in a wild storm. For hours, they're battered by sheets of rain, and surrounded by unnaturally thick mist that refuses to be dispersed. When the storm lifts, the heroes find themselves on the rim of an ancient, enchanted valley—one told of in many tales but few people believed to truly exist.
Story
Any sort of adventure could appeal to parties of legendary origin. The nature of their mythic powers could inspire certain storylines, such as recovering pieces of an artifact or hunting down the source of a pack of mythic monsters. The heroes may realize that if their experience granted them power, it could do the same for others, including those with sinister or chaotic motives. The mythic power in the heroes' bodies seems attuned to other such sources of power, and the main campaign arc involves the heroes tracking down these sources and keeping them from becoming tools of evil.
Challenges
Since many different experiences, objects, and places in the world can be sources of mythic power, mythic villains and monsters could appear frequently. If the PCs destroyed an artifact or killed an ancient beast to gain their power, others may seek revenge for that act.
Ending
At the end of their journey, the heroes should come full circle, perhaps even returning to the place where they first gained their mythic power. They might have to face off against the villain that precipitated their journey, or maybe even the source of their power itself. In the end, they should feel like their legend has closure, even if they keep their mythic power.
Lost Inheritance
Mythic power comes from a lost age when mythic creatures and characters were common. That power has faded from this world, but once an age, when the time is right, mythic power returns for a short time.
Scope
In this theme, mythic power is a rarity, held only by a few who often hide from the world and those who would seek to take it from them. To widen the scope, mythic power might be returning to the world, heralded by some grand conjunction of events.
A celestial event marks the return of mythic power to the world. Possibly by accident, the PCs are standing in just the right place at the time of this omen, and are imbued with such power. The PCs are not alone, however—others were also at different places of power at the same time.
At the conclusion of an adventure, the PCs learn that their births had been carefully arranged over the past 100 years in an attempt to recreate a powerful, mythic lineage long thought to be lost. With this discovery, they also find the means to unlocking their potential.
Exploring a fabled lost city, the PCs learn its inhabitants held power far beyond that of their modern cousins. The secret to this magic came from a special ritual that could only be performed once every 1,000 years, but it came at a terrible price and with a great deal of risk. The next ritual is fast approaching, presenting an opportunity for the PCs to become mythic if they choose to pursue this dangerous path.
Story
With these adventures, mythic power itself is the story. They contain a great deal of mystery, as there are few in the world who know about mythic power and what perils come along with wielding it. The PCs travel around the world, seeking knowledge of its origins, what caused its downfall, and how it can be used. Of course, others have also learned about this power, and they intend to use it for nefarious ends.
Challenges
The PCs aren't the only ones to gain mythic power from this source. Perhaps there are others of this bloodline, or other creatures that discover a way to awaken power within them. Most mysterious, however, are creatures from the lost age, returned to the world to take back what they see as rightfully theirs—whether that's the mythic power or the whole world.
Planar Might
Upon traveling to another plane, the PCs acquire mythic power. These powers might last only as long as the PCs are on this plane, or the PCs may be forever transformed by the visit.
Designing Encounters
Designing a mythic encounter is a lot like designing an encounter in any other adventure. During play, the PCs will face a variety of challenges: monsters, NPCs, traps, and more. The difference is that during a mythic adventure, the challenges are far deadlier. It's important to stress to the players, through the encounters that they face, that these are dangers beyond what they might normally expect in the game. Much of this comes through the design of the encounters, which can vary greatly depending on the PCs and how you want to challenge them. In the most basic terms, the mythic rules can be used in one of two ways: to challenge normal PCs and to challenge mythic PCs.
Mythic Heroes