Homer, Odyssey
Ten years of monsters, witches, and one very patient wife. Odysseus lies beautifully.
Every stat is a checkable fact about the actual book, not a designer's mood. Bars are drawn against the highest value any book reaches.
By levelling up. A book that develops keeps what it knew and learns the rest on its new schedule.
| Lv | Move | Type | Cat. | Pwr | Acc | PP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Man of Many Ways | Allegory | Argument | 50 | 100% | 20 |
| 1 | Fictional Story | Allegory | Story | — | 100% | 20 |
| 8 | Steelman | Rationality | Type shift | — | — | 10 |
| 50 | Speak Greek | History | Status | — | 100% | 5 |
How to read these. In Scholar’s Dream, books argue with each other. Each thing a book can do in a debate is a move, and most moves carry a real quotation — the words the book puts on the table when it uses that move.
Strong against lists the opposing books and arguments a move was written to answer. Used against one of them, it hits much harder than usual: ×2 means twice the normal force, ×4 four times. It is the game’s way of saying: this is the sentence that answers that argument. Open an entry to read why.
“Tell me, O Muse, of that ingenious hero who travelled far and wide after he had sacked the famous town of Troy.”
Homer, Odyssey 1.1 (trans. Butler, public domain).public domain
In the gameCunning wins where strength failed.
“Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger.”
James 1:19 (WEB).
In the gameRestate the foe’s position in its strongest form — exposing its true weak point. Lowers the foe’s Defend. Always fair; never a bad move to use.
The specific move or chapter of Scripture that cuts through this one, and why. The number is how much harder it hits than usual — ×4 is four times the normal force.
Clement read this book and kept the picture. There is a mast, and the man tied to it comes home.
Clement will not treat we have always done it as an argument. He compares custom to the dangers Odysseus faced: the headland, the whirlpool, the Sirens’ song. Then he takes Odysseus tied to the mast and turns the mast into a cross. He is not mocking the Greeks. He is reading them.
See Clement, Exhortation to the Heathen 12 (c. 195).