What Mike said.
I'll add to that, though.
Let's say the players are having their characters cross over to the hero plane for a mighty big heroquest. They've made lots of rolls and spent hero points to get the support of their community for some whomping big bonuses in the heroquest. The players roll for crossing over...and fail. Big time.
You're the GM, and you look at the players faces and see them fall. They've spent all this time, doing research on the myth, building up community support, and they fail on their very first roll. Do you, as the GM, tell them, "Okay, you can't get into the hero plane. And because of the way HeroQuest rules work, you can't try the same roll for the same conflict again. You're screwed." Hell no! You say, "Okay, so you feel the world shift around you and you find yourself standing in...blah blah blah." And you have them in the hero plane, and you run them through the hero quest as you would have otherwise. Everything seems cool. And they make great rolls and spend loads of hero points in the heroquest to be incredibly successful. And they return from the hero plane to their community...to find that when they crossed over, they let nasty spirits through, and now the spirits are running roughshod over their people. And now the heroes have another big conflict to deal with, because the entire community knows that the spirits are the heroes' fault.
As for the devotee thing...if a player of mine had been building up for an entire year of game play to boost his character up to devotee status--well, I don't think I'd even make him or her roll for it. Pay the hero points and bam! you're a devotee. But if you really have to have the player roll for it, and he or she blows the roll, then as Mike said, go for "yes, but." "You cross over to the God World, you present yourself to your diety, she looks you over...and accepts you as a devotee. Except you feel wrong about it. Did you say something wrong to the goddess? Did she have a strange look in her eyes when she gave you the once over? You're not sure, but even as you return from the God World, you feel...hollow about it. Even your community can tell there's something wrong. You've been accepted by your goddess, but you feel even more distant from her. Until you find a way to reconnect with the goddess, you're at -50% to all rolls involving your relationship with her."
At least, that's how I would do it.
--joshua m. neff
www.goblin-cartoons.com
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