As the 2018 Winter Olympics play out in PyeongChang, we look back 38 years to this day in 1980, when the opening ceremony for that year's games took place in Lake Placid, NY (although events actually started the day before).
Representing the games that year was none other than Roni, a friendly humanoid raccoon who is as comfortable on skis as he is in a trash can...
While the anthropomorphic animal mascot is pretty commonplace these days, as far as I can tell, this was the first Olympics to use an anthro critter as the face of the games! (Previous games had used animal mascots, but none walked/skied/skated like humans that I can find...!)
I think a raccoon was a pretty outstanding choice...it's a native animal, the mask is meant to resemble the eyewear worn by winter athletes, and the rings on the tail are a great nod to the Olympic rings (assuming that was the intention...!).
If I ever start to think that some of the names that show up in comics are just a little too coincidentally perfect to take seriously...y'know, characters like Victor Fries or John Henry Irons...I remember that the fastest man in the world is named Usain Bolt.
Here's one final Olympic-related post before the Games end...a little tribute to one of the most superhuman people of our time (...as presented by Gatorade, so...well, product placement...).
The Rio Olympics come to a close in just a couple of days, and today marks day 2 of competition in one of the oddest events to maintain its status in the Games: the modern pentathlon.
Here's a quick video guide for those interested...
Most of us are probably somewhat familiar with the decathlon and heptathlon, track and field competitions that combine a variety (a total of ten and seven, respectively...naturally) of events so that men and women can run, jump, and throw their way to being declared the world's best athletes.
In thinking about it lately, I've realized that the events of the modern pentathlon could also define a great RPG adventurer. So...here it is...
Modern Pentathlon: The RPG
All characters start at level 1 and have 5 points to divide among the following skills: Running, Swimming, Riding, Shooting, and Swordsmanship. Whenever a task is attempted that has a chance of failure, a player rolls 1d20 and adds their character's level and rating in the relevant skill. If the total meets or exceeds a target number, the attempt is successful.
Target numbers match the ranges used in some of the games you're already familiar with. A moderate task will have a difficulty of 10, a difficult task will be 15, and a very difficult task should be around 20. In combat, use armor/defense class as the target. When facing off in a sword-fight, characters can make opposed rolls, with the winner dealing damage to the loser. If in doubt, damage should be dealt 1d8 at a time.
At the beginning of each adventure, players roll 1d12 for each level of their characters. This is the maximum HP of the character for that adventure. For each successful adventure, a character gains a level and can distribute 3 more points among the five skills.
If a character ever attempts a task that doesn't have an associated skill, the GM can houserule that players may double their level bonus to the roll. But...this is the Modern Pentathlon RPG, so c'mon...work with me here. If the adventure isn't all about running, swimming, riding...and so on...you should probably play something else.
One of my favorite mascots during my formative years was the symbol of the 1984 Summer Games, Sam the Olympic Eagle:
I even still have the little PVC figures of him that I got when I was a kid...
It's only recently, though, that I discovered that Sam starred in a Japanese TV series! Or...a TV special. Or something. For some reason, we never got this in the USA. Which...well, it seems like we'd be a great target audience, doesn't it? Here are what seem to be the intro, outro, and something else (a clip? a commercial? a cold open?) for the Sam the Olympic Eagle anime.
