Oops! Sorry. I sometimes forget which list I am reading. I am replying here because I don't expect this conversation to continue much beyond this reply - I agree with you on some points, and the others are "agree to disagree" points.
> 1. It's pretty easy to start the game as an initiate.
This doesn't seem relevant to my point, but it doesn't really matter. <shrug>
> 2. Character advancement is really a meta-plot -- it's not driven by
> the same dramatic rules as a scenario. As such, it's nice to have a
> specific goal.
Agreed, and as such I suppose it is just a design decision - to have meta-plots or not. Some people clearly like them, but IMHO they detract from HQ2's design coherence. It's certainly not a show stopper for me.
> And not being part of a scenario, it would be hard to
> impose a story-relevant resistance.
I don't get this point. It seems like any other plot point to me, and thus subject to the same strategies and rules for setting resistances.
> These sorts of plot obstacles can
> also be difficult to make interesting for the other players.
I completely agree! Unless there was some broad dramatic interest in this plot point for the group I would narrate it as "off screen" - maybe using some flavor of automatic success.
> 3. I think the "High Level Campaigns" sidebar would cover this. If
> you want to start everyone as a devotee, feel free! (I don't think
> it's a common situation, for what it's worth.)
Ah, I am not familiar with that sidebar. If the issue is covered in the rules then I really don't have an problem with it. I just wanted to make sure that it wasn't an oversight, although I admit it would have probably been too late to fix if it were.
> 4. One could argue that becoming an initiate really shouldn't be a
> contest -- most Heortlings become initiates at adulthood, and while
> the process is arduous, it doesn't seem like failure is common.
That sounds like an arduous automatic success to me! Or just assume it happened at some point before the story began.
Thanks for the reply!
-Kevin McD
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