Frank Rafaelsen:
> Western heroquesting have bothered me. I don't think westerners quest in
> the same way as other cultures. And I have gathered that the current view
> of heroquesting is no longer the "super RQ" game it once was. If this is
> so I think the most common form of heroquesting in the west would be
> pilgrimages.
Interesting and valid concept, but I think the Knightly Quest would
be just as good (says the guy who is trying to divorce
the Malkioni from the Medieval Catholic mold.........).
> This would be a relatively low powered form of heroquesting,
> accessible to allmost everybody.
"Low Powered", of course, depends on WHERE you are pilgrimaging. The
holy part of the pilgrimage may not be difficult, but if the site is
in the hands of heathens, heretics or krjalki things might be more
difficult. If the quest demands that you wander unarmed and unarmored
like St Kevin did, then you will have trouble if the area is more
violent than in St Kevin's days....
> Gains from such quests could be gaining a patron saint(perhaps this is
> nececary to get one?),
Very good idea!
>protecting your livestock and family from disease,
> improve your status in the community, or whatever.
Certainly the last thing. The bagde that showed you had been
to Santiago de Campostella (VERY dubious sp, please correct me
somebody) or the green turban worn by moslems who has completed the
pilgrimage to Mecka are both awe-inspiring.
Some ideas:
1, The half-forgotten pilgrimage. In Kipling's "Kim", a Buddhist monk
is looking for a holy river - the thing is just that he doesn't know
where the river runs. As soon as he gets there, meditating and taking
a dip in it will be easy, but first he has to find it.
2, A lot of good pilgrimage sites has sunk in the sea due to the
destruction which has befallen the Western lands. Thus you may have a
pilgrimage route which nowadays go by boat and stops at a place in
the ocean above the site in question. Of course it would be even
holier if you could submerge yourself, but that may only be for
daring people with access to blessings of marine saints or the
wizardry spell Skin of Life.
3. And is it sufficient to go by boat? AFAIK there is a lot of debate
among modern moslems whether the Hajj', the pilgrimage to Mecka, can
be done using means of travel which did not exist in the time of
Muhammed. "There was no full armor in the time of St Hrestol, sire.
You must change into this ancient suit of mail."
About KoW:
> The focus of my campaign is therefor going to be to get the players to
> realise that victory lies in remaining idealistic, and not using the
> KoW's methods against them (becoming like the KoW)
Good plan, according to me (who is No Authority At All :-)) Please
let me know more about how it turns out.
Erik Sieurin