> From: "Andrew Solovay" <asolovay_at_...>
> Subject: RE: Turning ceremonies into heroquests?
>
> Greg thusly:
>>
>> Remember that ALL worship is a form of HeroQuesting, in that
>> it is a reenactment of a mythic event. But in the myth of the
>> Arming, Orlanth didn't go anywhere.
>> In the Summons, he didn't go anywhere. These are deeds.
>> ...the difference is in the movement, and
>> that these are essentially specific deeds.
>
> Okay, this distinction--between "go from here to there" quests, and simple
> deeds--is what I was missing. It makes a lot of sense.
I thought so.
> I guess I'd modify my original suggestion in this way, then: I assume that
> with any ritual (such as the Arming of Orlanth and the Summons of Evil),
> there are ways to make the ritual more powerful, but which would make the
> risks correspondingly greater. Pull more cosmic strings, call in more debts,
> use more imaginative rituals, and you might get a better effect--but it
> might all go wrong and give you a much worse outcome. In game terms, it's
> vaguely analogous to making a big AP bid.
Sure.
> But the line between "rote, by the numbers ritual" and "big risky powerful
> ritual" is blurry and gradual, not like the sharp lines between "practice
> quest" and "hero-plane quest" and "godworld quest".
Correct.
> Oh, and one other thought, vaguely apropos--I presume that these rituals
> could themselves occur in a HeroQuest, as one of the stations? For example,
> suppose the myth includes something like "Then Orlanth called his thanes
> together, and they armed him for battle, and he went forth and drove Gash
> from the field". In a case like that, I'd assume station N might be "Orlanth
> is armed by his thanes"--you re-enact the mythic "Arming of Orlanth"
> event--*and then* you go on to station N+1, "Orlanth defeats Gash". The
> motion occurs from one station to the next, and the success of the "arming"
> station influences your chances in the "fighting" station.
Possibly, but this Arming is morfe like a preparation. Like the start of a story.
Issaries, Inc.
2140 Shattuck Ave., PMB #2030
Berkeley, CA 94704 USA
Powered by hypermail