Table of Contents Foreword 5

Regional Map 6-7

Introduction 9

In the Footsteps of Hercules 11 Political Conditions 11 One Trail, Many Uses 11 Local Residents 12 Security 12 Purpose & Motivation 13 Attitudes Toward Pilgrims 13 Piety & Proper Demeanor 14 Pilgrim Costume 14 Votive Acts 14

Route of the Trail 15 Part 1: Tiryns to Lerna 15 Part 2: Tiryns to Nemea 16 Part 3: Nemea to Keryneia 18 Part 4: Keryneia to Mount 18 Part 5: Mount Erymanthos to 19 Part 6: Elis to Olympia 20 Part 7: Olympia to Lake Stymphalia & Back to Tiryns 21 Part 8: Tiryns to Tainaron 22 Going Beyond the Trail 23

Specific Places 25 Asclepion of Lerna (Hospital) 25 Baths of Nemea (Bathhouse) 29 Bullpens of Knossos (Stables) 32 Cave of the Tables of Knowledge (Oracle) 34 Iraxte Monastery (Monastery) 37 Megalos Ellada (Farm) 41 Paleo Mykenae (Hostel) 47 Sanctuary of Ares Stymphalus (Shrine) 50 Stygium (Hermitage) 54 Temple of Hercules (Temple) 57

Communities 61 Nafplion (City/Seaport) 61 Olympia (Town/Tournament Ground) 68 EventsSample file75 Tirynthaean Heracleia (Festival) 75

Encounter Table 79 3 Sample file

4 Foreword his project is very important to me, perhaps more so than many people might expect a roleplaying game project set in a fantasy world to be. There are, however, a number of reasons which make that very much the Tcase, and they include the people, places, and activities that are most important to me and the ways that those things have converged over the years. So, although this book is a work of fiction, it represents much more than that to me in disparate but interconnected ways, some of which I will note here.

One is that I have had the opportunity to work on this Finally, it bears mentioning that I celebrated my project with a number of talented people who, far from first three birthdays in Greece and can look back at pho- just being acquaintances or coworkers, are among my tos of myself at sites described in this book; that my vis- closest and, in some cases, oldest friends. Those peo- its back to that country over the years have helped me to ple include project manager Brenda Cass, artist Aman- develop an abiding love for it; that a lifetime of hiking da Kahl, cartographer William T. Thrasher, playtester — to include doing so professionally while serving as Paul O. Knorr (my first gamemaster and the person a combat infantryman — have given me an apprecia- who introduced me to roleplaying games in 1982), and tion for what it means to explore a country on foot; and my father Michael H. Varhola. They also include my that I am drawn to spiritual journeys and have walked colleague and travelling companion Clint Staples, who pilgrimage trails that include the 500-mile-long Cami- died on February 11, 2020, during the period that we no de Santiago in Spain and sections of one around the were playing through an adventure set in the fourth leg holy city of Lalibela in the highlands of Ethiopia. It of the pilgrimage route detailed in this book. should perhaps thus not be completely surprising that As I worked on this project I was also fascinated to actually hiking the route described in this book has be- realize that, for the most part, the places where Hercu- come a personal goal that I am at this point planning to les performed his labors are not obscure or shrouded in accomplish in reality and not just vicariously. mystery but are largely well known and, in many cas- So, please join us, and bring your players and their es, correspond to sites that bear the same names to this characters along if you are a storyteller, as we set out to day. It is, in fact, possible to take the very journey we walk in the Footsteps of Hercules! present in this book and to follow the actual route the demigod Hercules is reputed to have walked more than — Michael O. Varhola three millennia ago.

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8 Introduction n the Footsteps of Hercules is a system-free sourcebook that describes a pilgrimage trail that can be used in con- junction with almost any fantasy role-playing game. As written, this trail is dedicated to the titular demigod and Iit is set in a Dark Ages fantasy version of the Peloponnesian Peninsula of Greece and located within Skirmisher Publishing’s Swords of Kos Fantasy Campaign Setting. It can easily, however, be dedicated to any other appropriate deity or cause and dropped into virtually any other existing milieu and has deliberately been designed to be compat- ible with any of what Gary Gygax used to refer to as “a traditional fantasy campaign setting.” Storytellers who do opt to repurpose it for another setting might still be able to use the regional map that appears with it or might choose to simply use the places and conditions that appear here in conjunction with their own maps.

This book describes the various sections of the trail and One of these is the Platinum Edition of our City the prevailing terrain and conditions associated with Builder: A Guide to Designing Communities, a sys- them; how most pilgrims travel them; alternate ways tem-free sourcebook that contains in its chapter on Re- some pilgrims choose to approach the trail or specific ligious Places a detailed entry on Pilgrimage Trails, for parts of it; the things they generally hope to accomplish which the Footsteps of Hercules is a specific example. along the way; and things they might encounter on it. This new edition of the book, which was released in Note that the original Greek form of the demigod’s 2020, grew out of a project collaborated on by author name is actually “” and that many people along Michael O. Varhola and Dungeons & Dragons creator the trail may refer to him as such but that we have ad- Gary Gygax. opted the Romanized form “Hercules” throughout this Another related title is our Swords of Kos Fantasy book because of how much more familiar it is to most Campaign Setting, a swords-and-sorcery milieu cen- readers. tered on a Dark Ages fantasy version of the Mediterra- nean and the lands surrounding it. It is set a century af- Using This Book ter a Great Cataclysm destroyed the old world, plunged There are many ways this book can be used and en- it into chaos, and reawakened magic and all form of joyed. One is to simply read it as a work of fantasy ancient races and monsters. In it, the agents of Gods fiction inspired by the myths, legends, history, and ge- and Titans struggle against each other on behalf of their ography of Greece. Another is to use it as inspiration masters, nations strive to survive or dominate one an- or a model for pilgrimage trails in your own stories or other, and adventurers descend into the ruins in search role-playing game campaigns. Yet another — and per- of wealth and lost technology. haps the way it will be used by most people who acquire Yet another is a relatively recent addition to our li- it — is as a setting for roleplaying game adventures of brary, 100 Oddities for a Pilgrimage Trail. This sys- various sorts. tem-free thematic sourcebook contains an annotated list One relatively flexible and easy way to use it for of 100 people, objects, conditions, or other things that tabletop gaming purposes is simply to allow charac- characters might encounter on a trail dedicated to the ters to travel the trail, whether as true pilgrims or for veneration of some deity, demigod, hero, saint, ethos, other purposes; to have parties visit the various spots or religion. along it and do the things associated with them; and to incorporate random or planned encounters or actual Support & Bonus Material mini-adventures at various points along the route. To As we playtest the material that appears in this book help facilitate this, each of the eight sections of the trail and use it in our own games, we will develop material has one or more adventure hooks provided for it that that does not necessarily have a place here but which can be used to help create scenarios and encounters for might be useful or interesting to its readers. We will characters walking it. post such material to the page at our affiliated d-Infinity Online game magazine dedicated to “In the Footsteps Companion Volumes of Hercules” Bonus Content. WhileSample In the Footsteps of Hercules is a completely Most such material will, atfile least initially, be affili- self-standing book, there are a number of other best- ated with 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons, which is selling Skirmisher Publishing titles that can serve as what the company is using for adventures tying in with companion volumes and be used in conjunction with it. the Footsteps of Hercules. 9