>Anyhow, I know that there is a chance that he gets jumped on the spirit
>plane by a wandering spirit, but it seems so.....forced. ...What's the
>point? What would it gain from it?
It depends on how you approach it. My view is that a shaman's fetch shines like a megawatt beacon on the spirit plane, and most spirits, essentially mindless, are drawn to 'the light' like moths and, unlike moths, tries to feed from it (by initiating spirit combat).
Other spirit who aren't mindless might be curious and/ or malevolent and tries to find out what it is. The nerely curious might try to communicate with the shaman, but the malevolent ones might see the shamans as lunch if they think they are strong enough to take the shaman on.
Thus, the way i see it, the only spirits most likely to attack the shaman in spirit combat are the mindless POW drones and the malevolent smart ones. Of course, now and then some really weird spirit shows up, and that's when it gets interesting - a good chance to get strange magic, knowledge and/or abilities if the shaman bests the spirit.
>Also, if we actually roll something usefull to a shaman (i.e. a spell
>spirit) does anybody have a good method for choosing spells and spell
>levels?
Choose something interesting or silly (like Extinguish 12). That's the best method IMO.
>Hm, speaking of which, if a shaman beats up the attacking spirit, I'm
>under the impression that he can have it either teach him a spell, or tell
>him it's true name. Or does he need the spell "command spell spirit"
>"command int spirit" and "command power spirit"?
Don't go by the rules. Keep it interesting.
I also have some possibly heretical ideas about shamans.
Shamans in my campaign can see into both worlds at the same time - they are part of both the spirit world and the mundane world, which is why normal people see them as eccentrics and madmen (what's your reaction to people who, amongst other bizzare behaviour, talk to trees, stones and copper kettles?)
The spirit plane i see as being a weird, spiritual reflection of the mundane - the spirit plane is the soul of the mundane plane is the body of the spirit plane.
And nobody completely knows the ways of the soul.
My spirit plane isn't the boring shadow plain with swirling mists from the Magic Book, but a spiritual/ symbolical representation of the mundane landscape.
In many places the planes never was severed from each other by the Compromise, but instead retained the old soul/body integration - these are of course the 'magical' places which dot the landscape
Also, the spirit plane doesn't have any clear-cut borders to the other planes - god and hero plane is ON the spirit plane somwhere, it's just difficult to find the right paths.
The spirit plane isn't one, standardized land. It is made up of lots of realms and kingdoms. Travelling on the spirit plane is weird because you travel by symbols and not by geography - the darkest part of the forest lies closer to Evening Hill than a sunny glade, which lies closer to the Sun Dance.
In some places you don't need a heroquest myth-ritual to propel you onto the hero plane. Unfortunately you need the myth-ritual to actually make a lasting impression or explain why and where you are. Otherwise you don't have a clue what you can do, or indeed where you might be, or how you should react to whatever you might meet.
If it isn't obvious, my inspiration for the spirit planes comes from Werewolf and Ars Magica, apart from the Gloranthan stuff.
If this actually is of help to you, instead of just confusing you more, i'd be delighted.
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