Re: Leaving the hero plane

From: tim_at_...
Date: Sat, 24 Mar 2001 16:15:26 -0000

In theory, I would agree that some effort needs to be made to exit from the Heroplane (or alternative otherworld). In practice, though, I don't think it necessary to make players roll every time.

In particular, I think any quest where the characters enter and leave the Otherworld through the same portal, and under control (ie not fleeing from nasty otherworld beastie) should probably not require a roll, other than in exceptional circumstances (and experimental Heroquesting may always be exceptional circumstances....)

This can still lead to characters being trapped on the other side, if they want to come out elsewhere, or if they want to leave in a hurry mid-quest, for example. (This means that entering the Hero plane and flying from your stead to Kero Fin and back is easier than flying to Kero Fin and exiting the Hero Plane at the top of the Mountain...).

It also means players can be trapped if something goes wrong on the quest and they don't have an appropriate myth to deal with this fact. (you go on the "Orlanth rescues Heler" quest. If you return with Heler then coming back is not a problem (Once you have rescued Heler you have effectively "completed the quest", so to speak). On the other hand if you fail to defeat Aroka and resue Heler you are now in a new and unknown myth "Orlanth tries and fails to rescue Heler", and now you need to find a safe way home...

The point of this method is to make the climax of the adventure the climax of the quest, rather than drag the game on to a set of additional rolls to get home...