GianniVacca said:
My players are stranded in a HeroQuest and I think that they are going to voluntarily commit suicide in order to escape it.
Should I allow them to do this?
In so much as the GM should let the players do (or attempt to do) anything they like, the answer is probably "yes". But that doesn't mean it's the right thing to do, or that it will work the way they think it will.
When you Heroquest you take on the part of one of the mythical particpants in the original myth, and attempt to use what happens on the Heroplane to reflect on the Mundane world. Now sometimes something goes wrong, and this can have unhappy consequences for the questors and thier supporters. A classic example is Belintar getting ambushed by Jar-eel in the Tournament of the Masters of Luck and Death, which has resulted in the end of the Pharoh and his rule. - Getting killed on the Hero Plane did not just result in him not completing the ritual!
If you get killed on a Heroquest it means your quest fails. Whatever result you were hoping for does not happen, and in all probability, you strengthen the opposition. (So if you are questing Orlanth and Aroka to end a drought and the Dragon wins then you have probably made the drought longer and more severe, ). However, you went down fighting, so to speak. Heroic Struggles often involve coming back from the brink to overcome overwhelming odds, so although this is undoubtably a setback it is one that, with luck, one that can be overcome. How much worse is it to just give up and commit suicide? That sort of thing is very difficult to recover from. I would imagine not only will it make the current situation much worse than a "normal" failure would, but it will also weaken the questors link with the god or hero they are representing, and the whole community that support them will have a harder time successfully completing that myth in the future.
Alternatively, or additionally, Suicide is often supposed to cause a link between the victim and the location, so maybe you can escape from the Heroplane this way, but any future attempt to enter the Heroplane will always end up dumping you back in this myth, at least until you are able to properly resolve the issues (sort of like haunting yourself...)
As Simon suggests, the "proper" way to deal with this is to make your way (back) to a a culturally appropriate crossover point where you can leave in relative safety (depending on the exact nature of the quest and the problem you were having when you decided to give up), or to follow the nature of the part you are playing and solving the issue that way.
More risky is to strike off on a truly experimental Heroquest - try and find your way to some place on the Heroplane you know and then "jump quests" to find a way out. (Orlanthi might head for Kero Finn, and join the flyers circling it to return home on the (next) Holy day - or just somewhere else that offers an escape from the Heroplane - though you may have to deal with whatever or whoever normally uses it... (You can escape from the Heroplane through the Castle of Lead, for instance, but then you still have to escape from the Trolls...)
Finally, if you, as the GM want to help them escape, you can always send them some help. Eurmal is always breaking the rules, and sticking his nose in where he's not supposed to be, so have a Trickster suddenly appear from behind a tree, or out of a rabbit hole or whatever seems appropriate and lead them safely home - or at least somewhere else. Of course there may be a price to pay for this aid, and they may not find out what it is until later, but that's what you get for getting invovled with tricksters...
). They wouldn't know a 'natural exit point' in this context. AND they are inexperienced.
