Sacred time magic gained, I'm pretty sure the following matter:
- having 7 different deities followers on the ring
- having great temples
- being in a tribe
- certain results of tribe formation
The following might matter, but I never have been sure:
- population
- having a clan chief who is a follower of your main god
- size of clan
- size of tribe
- trickster on the ring
Other useful sources of magic:
- various events, obviously
- successful heroquests
- calling in favours for magic (in particular, if you have a bounty of something else, give generous gifts so people owe you favours, then collect magic when you really need it....it is not a certain thing and burns actions, but it can be one way to make use of a huge surplus of food, for instance)
- striking against your ancient enemies (select 'kill as many as possible' when the trolls attack, if they are your enemy, fight winter spirits, successfully cattle raid in dark season if winter is your enemy, etc. You can always use the 'summon enemy' blessing from your ancestors to get your enemy to attack)
Succeeding in heroquests--the following probably help:
- David once explicitly said that the season in which you quest does NOT matter (this it the only one I'm positive on)
- having done another quest in the previous couple of years makes your new quest harder (your advisors will tell you this)
- Sacrifice to that god (for mysteries or blessing) within the year before the quest
- a bigger temple is better.
- appropriate skills (combat for Orlanth and Aroka, leadership for the Tribe making one, etc.) help, and having a higher magic ability pretty much always helps.
- higher clan magic helps
- make appropriate sacred time magic assignments....obviously put magic into quests, but also into crops and children if questing to Ernalda, etc.
- perform appropriate actions in the year before the quest (cattle raid for Orlanth, trade missions for Issaries, etc)
- peace/war clan may matter for some quests.
- Sometimes they'll still fall apart on you
- some quests are generally easier (Ernalda, tribe making), and some are generally harder (Uralda), and some may be a matter of opinion (I struggle with the Humakt quest, some others seem to hate the Elmal quest, etc).
- because high clan magic helps, mastering an easy quest and 'farming' it for magic every 3-5 years can sometimes be useful (Personally I think the easiest starting config is Worshipping Ernalda as your main god, sacrifice until you know her mysteries, then keep riding that quest to give you lots of food, healthy herds, strong clan chief, and plenty of magic)
I hope this helps!
--Bryan
From: outis02 <uly_at_...>
To: KingOfDragonPass_at_yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, September 21, 2012 1:16:18 PM
Subject: Re: New to the group with some possibly dumb questions...
Yeah I think the best possible outcome is having the hero walk away with an artifact.
As for magic, there are a number of factors; can't remember all of them now. Gender balance on the ring, deities represented, treasures and shrines all play some roles.
>
> I've been playing the game for many years now, and I've never had a
> hero who successfully resumed his/her quest after getting lost. So I
> don't think it's possible.
> --
> Meredith Dixon <dixonm_at_...>
> And now, New Zealand from Bench to Bench!
> Paperback or non-DRMed Kindle, via Amazon
>
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