Basic Heroquest rules

[Gamesmeister]

Is there a list anywhere of the basic attributes of a heroquest? For example, I'm trying to find out

• When you exit a heroquest, you can only bring out what you took in, correct? So if I want to gain a magic sword, I would take a sword in, and through successful heroquesting it would gain magical properties?
• Does everyone who takes part in a heroquest gain something from that heroquest, or is just the person who is following the role of the specific god who is the subject of the heroquest who then gains the benefit?
• If something happens to you on a heroquest, for example you lose a limb, how does that affect you when you return?

If there's a thread on this that would be fine, I have searched but as you can imagine, searching for HeroQuest on these boards returns quite a few hits 🥴

[Joerg]

1 hour ago, Gamesmeister said:

Is there a list anywhere of the basic attributes of a heroquest? For example, I'm trying to find out

• When you exit a heroquest, you can only bring out what you took in, correct? So if I want to gain a magic sword, I would take a sword in, and through successful heroquesting it would gain magical properties?

You can only bring out what was brought in.

If you want to take a golden armor on a Hill of Gold heroquest (or perhaps the magical shield of reflection) in the role of Orlanth, you'd better hope that the poor guy who is entering this quest in the Yelmalio role has brought one.

If you are doing a training quest, then yes, your friend who has taken on the ritual role of Yelmalio will have to bring the armor that you may want to bring back as highly improved.

1 hour ago, Gamesmeister said:

• Does everyone who takes part in a heroquest gain something from that heroquest, or is just the person who is following the role of the specific god who is the subject of the heroquest who then gains the benefit?

A typical benefit would be to gain a feat (magic, a gift of skill, divine bonus to stats) adequate to the experience. You may end up with a new tattoo revealing things about you that you did not know before. Harmast somehow acquired a Kodigvari tribal tattoo after his escape from Exile Stead.

Sometimes a quest finds you without you having been prepared or being able to gain a substantial new bonus. Biturian's encounter with the Zorak Zoran cult benefitted Rurik, but not Biturian or his party. (Other than survival.) On the other hand, that very encounter could have turned the rather mundane gilt armor Biturian had received in the Three Strkes of Anger rite earlier on into a way more magical item by Rurik's quest.like entry, hence Rurik's disappointment at learning that Birurian had already sold it.

 

1 hour ago, Gamesmeister said:

• If something happens to you on a heroquest, for example you lose a limb, how does that affect you when you return?

When Arkat received the unhealable wound, it remained with him at least until his confrontation with Nysalor. But then he had recognized his attacker, and remembered well how he had dealt out that strike.

Sometimes you perish on the Other Side, and when the other questers return, you wake up and remember how you died. Sometimes you lose a hand, and no magic will bring it back. At other times, you lose a hand, and when you return your hand has changed.

 

If you are the narrator of the quest, quite a lot of that is up to you. As a player on a quest, there is little one can call up as binding precedent. I have gone on a Hill of Gold heroquest as Zorak Zoran, and the Fire rune ended up with the Orlanth quester...

[Gamesmeister]

Thanks for such comprehensive answers, much appreciated 

[g33k]

A somewhat snarky -- and yet not! answer is:

 

The first rule of Heroquests is --

there is no first rule of Heroquests.

 

This is where you go to  break the rules  of Middle-World "reality."  The "rules" of what comes back with you are ... more what you'd call guidelines than actual rules.

Welcome aboard Glorantha!

[David Scott]

4 hours ago, Gamesmeister said:

Is there a list anywhere of the basic attributes of a heroquest? For example, I'm trying to find out

• When you exit a heroquest, you can only bring out what you took in, correct?

You could bring out things you didn't take in, If you dripped your hand into Asrelia's Jar you could perhaps pull out the knowledge of a spell, money, anything.

4 hours ago, Gamesmeister said:

• So if I want to gain a magic sword, I would take a sword in, and through successful heroquesting it would gain magical properties?

Perhaps, it depends what the HeroQuest was for. If it was a gain a magic sword that required you to bring in one then yes.

4 hours ago, Gamesmeister said:

• Does everyone who takes part in a heroquest gain something from that heroquest, or is just the person who is following the role of the specific god who is the subject of the heroquest who then gains the benefit?

Depends on what the purpose of the quest was. If it was to bring a blessing to the clan's land, then everyone would benefit.

4 hours ago, Gamesmeister said:

• If something happens to you on a heroquest, for example you lose a limb, how does that affect you when you return?

You've lost a limb or did you bet it to get a dip into Asrelia's Jar and the price was your arm and now you have one made of wood. Or did you loose and she took your arm.

4 hours ago, Gamesmeister said:

If there's a thread on this that would be fine, I have searched but as you can imagine, searching for HeroQuest on these boards returns quite a few hits 🥴

Read some stuff on heroquests:

https://wellofdaliath.chaosium.com/home/catalogue/publishers/issaries/issaries-heroquest-1-products-2003-20xx/heroquest-1-archive/heroquest-1-support-material/heroquesting/

https://wellofdaliath.chaosium.com/home/catalogue/websites/moondesign-com/archive-of-of-old-glorantha-discussions-on-moondesign-com/heroquesting-questions/

There some excellent full hero quests in Sartar Kingdom of Heroes and Pavis Gateway to adventure.

Rewards in RQG look very much like shamanic abilities in the Shaman chapter.

Think fairy tale or mythological tale for outlines.

[jajagappa]

8 hours ago, Gamesmeister said:

Is there a list anywhere of the basic attributes of a heroquest?

Not really at this point.  Useful to keep in mind that there are several types of heroquests:

1. In-world. You perform deeds similar to those of your hero/god, but confined to the mundane world. A Storm Bull heroquest to the Devil's Marsh to slay the devil would be an example. Obviously anything you find you can carry along afterwards.  These will start at a sanctified place of worship. You will get armed/attired as per the mythic story (and as feasible). You will head out to places that correspond to places in the story (and will have similar encounters as the magic of Glorantha will draw folk to your story). Succeeding/failing in these will effectively get you some type of magical augment in later events. And you will reach the story climax (assuming you haven't been killed/wounded enroute). The rewards should correspond to something from the story, though still of this world.
2. Into the Gods War/Gods World. In these you cross over into the world of the Gods and the Gods War. Events are highly magical. You still start at a sanctified place: sometimes temple, sometimes other holy site.  Good to get armed/attired and prepared with magic, and to prepare objects/idols, etc. to hold magic you gain. As with 1) you will arrive at "stations" or "steps" of the story.  The whole scene shift may be very dream-like, sometimes lengthy, sometimes rapid. Succeeding/failing as appropriate should give you carryover bonuses/augments for some subsequent step (hopefully you studied the story and know when best to apply these "magical" augments!). If you get killed/wounded, most likely you will "fall out of" the story/quest and reappear in your temple or holy ground (though not necessarily). If you succeed in the quest, you will generally reappear at your temple (though some quests may have different end points). 

8 hours ago, Gamesmeister said:

When you exit a heroquest, you can only bring out what you took in, correct? So if I want to gain a magic sword, I would take a sword in, and through successful heroquesting it would gain magical properties?

That's the theory. And you should prepare ritual objects to "hold" or "receive" the benefit/magic or whatever. Personally, I like the idea that things can be brought out (including things/creatures that you don't necessarily want to bring out).  [If you want an example of something "bad" brought out of a quest, I suggest reading Neil Gaiman's Ocean at the End of the Lane.]

8 hours ago, Gamesmeister said:

Does everyone who takes part in a heroquest gain something from that heroquest, or is just the person who is following the role of the specific god who is the subject of the heroquest who then gains the benefit?

Depends on the quest.  The primary quester (i.e. focal point of the story) will get the main reward/benefit (though this is often something for the good of the community). However, maximum game fun suggests that everyone who's on the quest has some opportunity to gain something.  Might just be Eurmal's Handy Grab Bag ("guaranteed to break the ice at parties!"), or the Only Old One's obsidian spectacles, but heroquests should provide the chance for the PC's to pick up things that have strange carryover consequences downstream.

9 hours ago, Gamesmeister said:

If something happens to you on a heroquest, for example you lose a limb, how does that affect you when you return?

Others have noted some possibilities. A lot depends on whether you have the chance to do anything about it during the quest. If you met the Three Goddesses before entering Zenfel's White Palace, and selected the Goddess with the Fruit of Life as being the most beautiful, then when you were accidentally crushed by Shargash's mace, a bite of the Fruit of Life might bring you fully back to life within the quest. But if you choose the Goddess with the Fruit of Knowledge instead, then you might fall out of the quest when you were crushed to pulp, and upon waking up (perhaps with some sizable loss of CON) you realize that all the knowledge of the world was in your hand, but cannot remember what happened to it.

Play around with what seems to fit. You lose an eye, maybe you trade away the Eternal Seed to the Mouse God for his eye, and when you return your Mouse Eye lets you see all the mouseholes. Etc.

 

[Gamesmeister]

Awesome, thank you. I've also just realised there's a ton of stuff in the HQ rulebooks (old and new) on this - I obviously should have looked in there, but I'm too RuneQuest focused these days and just didn't think of it. 🤦‍♂️

[jajagappa]

On 4/20/2020 at 3:29 AM, Gamesmeister said:

I've also just realised there's a ton of stuff in the HQ rulebooks (old and new) on this

Those are all good references until we have more RQG specific available.  There's also some good material in the 13th Age Glorantha book, particularly touching on ideas like Lost Heroquests.