HEROQUEST?

[PhilHibbs]

OK, looks like Will is a remnant of old, abandoned rules ideas in Arcane Lore. It's still a damn good source of ideas though.

 

[zozotroll]

Phil I think at one time it was called freewill, which made a lot more sense than just will. This is all from an aging memory but...

At low levels you act as you please, picking the course you choose for yourself. As you go up in power, and cult ranking, you lose freewill, and are forced to ack as yiour god would act in a similar situation. By the time you reach runwelord, youare sort of an avatar or robot of your diety.

I never liked the idea. Orlanth or stormbull dont really know what they are going to do in any given situation, not in detail. So how can you? And besides does it give the GM an override on your actions if he doesnt think you are doing it right? I do beleive it was Steve Marsh that put out the idea, but I could well be wrong. It may work in a mystic sort of way, but not really that much fun to game.

Part of why i dont remember it that well is because I rejected the idea for any of my games before I even used it once.

 

[Rungard]

Talking about free will and heroquests:

http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=537199

:wink:

 

[kintire]

What a lot of people fail to realise is that HeroQuests are not about world-changing rituals. They can be, but they are incredibly rare and have only been done by a few people.

I'm not sure that "fail to realise" is quite the way to put this. "Don't agree that" perhaps?

Want to kidnap a bride from a neighbouring clan? There's a HeroQuest for that.
Want to kill your Overlord? There's a HeroQuest for that.
Want to rescue someone kidnapped by trolls? There's a HeroQuest for that.
Want to get a shiny new sword? There's a HeroQuest for that.
Want to cure someone of an incurable disease? There's a HeroQuest for that.
Want to bring peace between your two sons-in-law? There's a HeroQuest for that.

There are people who play like this: doing a Hero Quest for everything ("okay everyone, dinner's over! Time for "Voria Washes The Dishes Till They're Sparkly Clean!"). I believe, however, firstly that since time began most important events take place in time, second that Heroquests cannot and should not overwhelm free will unless free will is specifically hazarded, and thirdly that they lose all sense of specialness if you do them all the time.

In the list above, I would use Hero Quests only for curing an incurable disease. Minor Heroquests might be used to gain magical support for the others, but unless the trolls/neighbouring clan are holding the prisoner/Bride on the other side, you'll still have to go over and get them even once you've gained your magical, otherside support to your efforts, unless your Overlord meets you in the quest you'll still have to slit his gizzard for real, and even with the mighty persuasive powers you have gained your sons in law may yet tell you to mind your own business.

Actually the sword may be another exception. I cannot persuade myself the Soltakss uses Heroquests to go shopping, so I assume he means enchanting the sword. Thats something I would use a HQ for too.

I believe that Glorantha has a mighty magical history, but the focus is on the mortals these days, since there were days in fact. On mortals in general, and PCs in particular. Gods act in the world through worshippers: Myths act in the world through Heroes. Heroquesting can give insight, power and magic, or deny the above, but it can't actually do anything in the real world unless heroes actually do them.

That's an Orlanthi "can't" of course. But when it does, in the longer term it is almost always Bad News.

 

[soltakss]

Well, if Soltak StormSpear wanted a new shiny sword then he could go to the swordsmith. However, if he wanted an enchanted sword then he could do "Humakt Gains Death" or "Orlanth Gains Death" in order to gain a special one. Similarly, he could do any of the Orlanth Magic Weapons Quests to gain a Lightning Spear, Cloud of Mist or Shield of Arran.

All of the above would be single magical items, powerful but not overly so and are good examples of what could be gained from simple HeroQuests.

I agree that you wouldn't want to do the "Ernalda makes food for Everyone"Quest every time the wife makes dinner, but you could do it for a very special feast to reinforce the mythic elements of the feast.

I just think that a lot of HeroQuests can be used for more mundane things and are not just reserved for epic, world changing events. Call them rituals or whatever, but if you overlay the myth on to the world and act accordingly then you can shape the world according to the myth.

 

[kintire]

Its certainly true that Hero Quests are not just for the epic confrontations, and gaining magic is a big use for them. However, overlaying the myth on the material world may (greatly) aid your efforts in the material world, but it does not replace them.

Also, I do believe that if you do them too often, they lose that sense of specialness. I don't think Hero Quests should ever feel routine.

 

[soltakss]

Have you seen this thread http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=537199 at RPG.NET?

 

[Exubae]

Isn't Mythic resonance and characters being directed/steered by the pact rating just doing the same thing as free will... only in a more PC friendly manner?
After all Bob stops behaving like Bob Bigwind the wandering orlanthi and more like Orlanth Adventureous the closer you get to his god, which is a kind of a decay of free will as you rely more and more on how you god would have done it.