Heroes in Glorantha seem to be one with violent, tumultuous change. Most also seem to be male.
Are there Gloranthan heroes who have a more feminine method? Certainly most of the major heroes of Western literature are male, but folk and fairy tales often feature feminine characters (Cinderella, Rumplestiltskin, Beauty and the Beast) as protagonists who prevail through their faithfulness and purity or cleverness. Or are these female characters not heroes?
It seems that the original heroes had many strong feminine characters (Ernalda, Eiritha, Chalana Arroy), but the current crop (that I have heard about on this list) are a very fractious bunch.
Have any GMs out there encountered a quality within one of their players that has stunned them as being inherently Heroic? How would these GMs describe that quality.
Any GM can conspire with the plot to make any player character a Hero, but I think a truly Hero-nature player could make his character a hero without the collusion of the GM.
Does anyone else think that it is cheating when heroquesters put really wimpy tokens in for their opposition and really powerful symbols in for their friends? I do.
I think it cheapens the ritual somehow. These rituals rely on the faith of community of believers. Removing all risk from the ritual seems to be a way of eventually making the ritual so stale that it doesn't engage the spirit of the community and weakens the myth itself. Have myths lost their efficacy in Glorantha because of such mistreatment?
I bet the riskier the opposition, the greater the rewards.
David Cake asked what digest readers' favorite cults were.
Mine would have to be Chalana Arroy. I don't know that I personally identify with all the precepts nor that I seek to, but I am always fascinated with how such a cult would come into being. The very violent world of Dragon Pass doesn't seem to allow for such a pacifistic moral code.
I think that is Chalana Arroy's strength--her insistence on such a restrictive code in the face of such overwhelming arguments to abandon it.
I wonder where Chalana Arroy came from in the first place. There is very little in KoS about her, so it is hard to figure out what events in her life became the keys to her strength.
I have always liked this supplement very much, because it provides a strong launching point for allowing a GM to explore heroism. After completing it, the River Heroes have a supportive community and a reason to champion. Even though it is very linear, many heroic stories are also. As a player, it is interesting to see the myth-making process in action, as relatively small roles in the battle at Harpoon become exaggerated and how the real mythic event (the defeat of "Pochargno" in the watery cave) does not even become part of the lore.
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