Going Heroquesting

[Nick Brooke]

On 10/6/2021 at 6:01 PM, soltakss said:

There are probably more, but I am generally banned from reading scenarios that our RQG GM is likely to run.

Tradition: Sandheart Volume Three has a particularly good heroquest.

[soltakss]

1 hour ago, Nick Brooke said:

On 10/6/2021 at 6:01 PM, soltakss said:

There are probably more, but I am generally banned from reading scenarios that our RQG GM is likely to run.

Tradition: Sandheart Volume Three has a particularly good heroquest.

Thanks, maybe Darren won't know, if I sneak a peak.

[Lordabdul]

On 10/7/2021 at 7:44 PM, Shiningbrow said:

With the amount of magic getting thrown around, something is going to happen.

There's not necessarily much amount of magic getting thrown around. If at all. That's why one of my original questions was "can you go on a heroquest by yourself with just two sticks and a piece of rope?".

 

20 hours ago, Nick Brooke said:

Tradition: Sandheart Volume Three has a particularly good heroquest.

Yep, @Crel had pointed me to it for a few reasons when I told him what I had in mind.

Tradition is actually one of the very few scenarios that addresses the action of getting into the heroquest. A lot of other scenarios either reduce it to a Rune or Spirit Magic spell (I'm not super convinced by that), or hand-wave it completely with a ceremony the players have to do that succeeds automatically (leaving me to wonder "but what if they don't do that ceremony"). In comparison, Tradition does more or less what I had in mind, which is that the better you do the ceremony, the more powerful you are when you start the heroquest (modelled here by the "Sear the Dark" points you accumulate in the ritual... my only criticism being that it's a bit too "specialized" a resource for my taste, but the idea is easily generalized). So if the players half-ass the ritual, or make bad rolls (probably because they didn't prepare enough), they still go on the heroquest but will more likely fail it and suffer the consequences.

This sounds great to me because it mechanically represents some of the narrative tropes of heroquests. For instance, the fact that you shouldn't start one lightly, because once you start there's no stopping and failing will be very bad. In this case, this is represented by how, once you start the ritual, you will almost always go on the heroquest, but a failed ritual will have you mis-Identified, or lacking extra "points" to spend (whatever that is), or encountering more surprises, or whatever.

Another thing that @Crel and I like is that Tradition uses your personal Magic Points as your main resource in the heroquest (basically hit points). We like it because it says that your willpower is effectively what lets you stay on course (which sounds appropriate), but also because it further forces the players to prepare for the first ritual: if we assume that the ritual to go on the heroquest is a Worship roll, then you can get bonuses to that by spending MPs. But now you won't want to do that because you would be weaker during the heroquest... so you need to find other bonuses, such as ritual preparations, sacrifices, holy days and holy places, and special items. So once again, the mechanic reinforces the narrative tropes.

Edited October 9, 2021 by lordabdul

[Shiningbrow]

11 hours ago, lordabdul said:

There's not necessarily much amount of magic getting thrown around. If at all. That's why one of my original questions was "can you go on a heroquest by yourself with just two sticks and a piece of rope?".

Mythically magical... If you're emulating Eurmal  when he had 2 sticks and a piece of rope, sneaking up on Yinkin, then the mythic magics start to coalesce, even without a single MP being used.

[Lordabdul]

I was obviously talking about using 2 sticks and a piece of rope to go on something big, like the Hill of Gold, or Orlanth & Ernalda's wedding, or whatever.

[coffeemancer]

5 hours ago, lordabdul said:

I was obviously talking about using 2 sticks and a piece of rope to go on something big, like the Hill of Gold, or Orlanth & Ernalda's wedding, or whatever.

pretty sure the nunchuck would drastically improve both those myths

[jajagappa]

19 hours ago, lordabdul said:

I was obviously talking about using 2 sticks and a piece of rope to go on something big, like the Hill of Gold, or Orlanth & Ernalda's wedding, or whatever.

Depends on what the myth is, what role you are taking on, and what you hope to get out of the story.  (Or if you accidentally end up in the story.)

From the Yelmalion perspective, the Hill of Gold is about enduring loss, suffering grievous wounds, humiliations, and indignities, and still persevering even in the face of the end of the world. 

Can you, or would you, experience the myth by entering it with 2 sticks and a piece of rope?  Sure, Orlanth can steal your sticks, Zorak Zoran can bind you with your rope and tear out your Fire power and then leave you for Inora or the Chaos horde.  But then again, ZZ might just eat you because you've assumed the status of a stickpicker rather than that of Yelmalio, the divine truth and justice of Yelm left behind in the world. 

And what role are you taking at Orlanth & Ernalda's wedding?  Are you Orlanth?  And if so, are you saying that Ernalda should take anyone as a Husband-Protector, even a lowly stickpicker?  Or are you coming as a guest, and saying that even stickpicker's had a place at their wedding? 

But, on the other hand, maybe you are the pauper proving to the queen that you, too, are worthy even though you only have two sticks and a rope to your name.  A Courtship/Wooing of Ernalda myth that eventually culminates in the Wedding of Orlanth and Ernalda could work very well.

Myths are more than a set of locations/stations to go visiting as if you were on a cruise ship which drops you off at ports to visit, do your shopping, and return to the ship.  They are an experience with fundamental aspects of life and death and the world.  You can be thrown into one unexpectedly (and without preparation) - whether you come out alive, or sane, is a big question mark in these cases.  If you are seeking to delve into the myth, though, and really experience it, then I think you'll prepare as best you can to live it as it was originally experienced.

 

 

[Lordabdul]

4 hours ago, jajagappa said:

Depends on what the myth is, what role you are taking on, and what you hope to get out of the story.  (Or if you accidentally end up in the story.)

Yep, so it seems like we basically agree: you can succeed in getting into the heroquest with very minimal preparation and gear, but you might have issues getting identified correctly, the myth might get off the rails, etc -- very dangerous. But possible.

Thanks!

Edited October 10, 2021 by lordabdul

[Nick Brooke]

4 hours ago, jajagappa said:

Then again, ZZ might just eat you because you've assumed the status of a stickpicker rather than that of Yelmalio, the divine truth and justice of Yelm left behind in the world...

(And now I remember that charcoal-burners have a liminal, vaguely trollish presence on the edges of some Arthurian myths, and some neat ideas about ZZ begin to percolate...)