From what I can determine, a HeroQuest occurs when one uses a body of belief to drive one's spirit in a metaphysical quest that changes the questor in a fundamental way. In Glorantha, undergoing such a quest may change history and have tangible effects in the physical world.
Real life parallels might be Buddhist meditation, American Indian sweat lodge visions, Australian aborigine dreamquests, and Western ascetic visions.
In Glorantha, the HeroQuests that people talk about usually seem tied to specific ritual re-enactments, in which participants take on roles of cult heroes and re-enact events that cult heroes lived. There is usually a definite imagery attached to such rituals which is essential for role-playing purposes. Buddhist meditation, in constrast, would be represented by the lack of any imagery whatsoever, and how the heck can one roleplay such a thing entertainingly and convincingly?
I think any HeroQuesting rules are doomed to failure, and feel that a diceless structure will best handle the image-based quests, which depend on narrative structure and conflict.
The style of HeroQuesting I envision wouldn't probably be entertaining to many roleplaying groups, because it is so internalized that people might feel nothing had happened. For more action oriented groups, I'm sure there's a way to turn a standard external quest into a HeroQuest. Simply have the heroes quest to repeat a mythic event that is required to keep Evil from overwhleming Society. Call the results a HeroQuest and apply any attendant benefits to the questors or their culture.
>What is a "Rune Level" character (this confuses me, in a system without
'levels')?
A rune level character is a full-fledged shaman, a priest (who can renew his or her spells through the Worship spell), or a full sorceror. It's generally used to indicate a particular range of ability (usually combat ability), though rune-levels across most cults would not be equivalent in combat power.
>What is 'ownership' of a Rune? How does one get to own/be associated
with a Rune?
People drop this occasionally on the list, and it is sort of mystifying. Some of the gods actually "own" runes, which represent the building blocks of Glorantha. Chalana Arroy owns the Harmony rune, for instance, which she inherited from an older Goddess in the Celestial Court.
A player character's owning a rune would therefore seem to be a rather strange thing. Really, the concept of owning a rune seems strange. A player character would probably become associated with a rune or perhaps an avatar of a rune (though that implies that runes have an agenda).
I think that such association might be a gradual occurence that happens as a player continuously acts according to a certain monomaniacal agenda. Perhaps repeated HeroQuests associated around a particular thematic nugget would cause a character to gain association with a particular rune. Characters who were fanatically single-minded enough obtained a rune would probably become great Gloranthan heroes (or despoilers).
Like illumination (which results from a HeroQuest IMHO) I think the desire
to
"obtain" a rune might be an impediment to ever achieving it.
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Chris Pearce
cpearce_at_incite.com
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