Alex and I batting it back and forth..... from Michael Cule on 1997-07-04 (Glorantha Digest Vol 05)

From: Michael Cule <mikec_at_room3b.demon.co.uk>
Date: Fri, 4 Jul 1997 13:19:32 +0100

>What I suspect _does_ force the Hero towards (bodily)
>apotheosis is that basically, he can't stop Questing. All sorts of
>events will force him onto the HP, such as his enemies' actions to
>beat him up there, and any strong interaction with myth he's forced
>into. And once you're there, it's a bit like going into a supermarket,
>you can't help but stay there until you've spent 30 quid.

I'm sorry but I don't know how this becomes a problem. We need a point at which the Hero can no longer continue to shuttle back and forward between the Hero Plane and the Mundane Plane. And it has to be quantifiable.

Yes, I'm sure there is a psychological compulsion to Just One More Quest. But that should be destructive of the Hero's humanity. At some point he can't get back from the HeroPlane or cannot stay on the Mundane Plane.

(And since we've been touching on exceptions let's ask how Sir Ethilrist manages to avoid this fate.)

I'm coming to agree with you that (Will or POW or whatever) costs must be paid at the time of making the change. We need to do this to allow for bungled quests and changes that turn out to be faulty. I'm still not sure how to tie this in to maintainance.

>I think we need not a Distinction per se, and a Quantification of
>the cost, measured against essentially the following criterion:
>How much is the Mythic world changed thereby?

Well, now that is the Big Question! I would love to see some simple single mechanic that would resolve this....

But I'm not holding my breath!

As I said earlier I think looking at Time Travel RPGs might be a place to look.

-- Michael Cule

End of The Glorantha Digest V5 #18

WWW at http://rider.wharton.upenn.edu/~loren/rolegame.html