Re: How prevalent is magic?

From: newsalor <olli.kantola_at_...>
Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2012 10:04:05 -0000

> Sartar: Kingdom of Heroes has everything you'd need to know for
> running a campaign in Sartar, especially for new GMs. That is the
> specific purpose of the book, with loads of scenarios, encounters,
> cults; basically everything needed for play. While it is Heroquest
> rules oriented, Sartar: KoH is very rules light, probably more so
> than TR is.

IMHO the Sartar-book is pure gold, but there is a problem with regards to how the prelevance of magic is portrayed. If you go by the book, seems to me that the society would look pretty different from what we've used to.

Initiates are pretty common in the orlanthi society and initiates can do some pretty flashy stuff in HQ2! I mean, why build houses the regular way, when Ernalda initiates are like the earthbenders from Avatar? If a significant portion of the men are initiates Orlanth, you've got farmers eating lightning and shitting thunder. ;)

The thing that is missing is the genre and style guidelines that HQ2 starts with in the rulebook.

So even if the Sartar book would imply that most members of the clan can do pretty crazy stuff, that would be true only in a pretty gonzo campaign. In my version of the Colymar campaign the PCs were able to do stuff that normal initiates would have to really work for, because of the chosen genre and style. The ingame explanation was that they were chosen by fate and the gods.

Olli Kantola

--
As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being

- C. G. Jung