Heroic muffins.

From: Alex Ferguson <abf_at_interzone.ucc.ie>
Date: Thu, 10 Jul 1997 20:38:15 +0100 (BST)


Michael Cule:
> What I am assuming is that the more stuff (POW/WILL
> Whatever...) you have invested in the Hero/God Plane the harder it is
> for you to return to the Mundane World.

I think what you're suggesting intuitively corresonds to the truth, but you're making something of a rod for your own back by insisting on an ultra-detailed specific game mechanic for it, I suspect.

The real purpose for game rules is, after all, play, and it's not something I see coming up a whole lot. Once your players are Heroes, and have done what they've set out to, it should become fairly evident to them that Their Work Is Done, and Isn't Life Boring Here Now? Have them make trait rolls and find mythic justification for blowing their noses or going down the pub, and they might just get the hint. ;-) "Ho-ho, another six criticals, eh lads?"

> And each time you do the ritual that reinforces the new reality (every
> High Holy Day or every Sacred Time) you feel a force to push you towards
> permanent residence on the Hero Plane.

That's doubtless true. But as I've argued before, by this point it probably seems that every minute of the day is a Mythic Moment anyway... "I'll just go let the cat in. Hrm, I think a preparatory Westfaring, followed by Rescuing Yinkin from the Bad Dogs."

> You can give this up by stopping doing the recreation. But then the new
> reality falls to pieces because it looses its capstone, the Hero.

I don't think this is correct, at least not to the extent implied. Perhaps the hero could achieve this effect by explictly _undoing_ what he's previously done, as Richard M. suggested at one point, but I doubt that's at all easy.

Bill McKinley:
> The English muffins that are sold in Australia are circular (about
> 10-15 centimetres across). They are, at most, 2.5 centimetres thick.
> They have a chewy crust, and taste rather like bread.

These sound remarkably like the sorts of muffins sold as such, if not in England, then certainly in Scotland. Hence, by assumption, they can't be American English muffins. ;-) BTW, what are "American-style" muffins (effectively small cakes with vast amounts of chocolate chips, etc) known as in the US? Do the British Isles repay the compliment of wanton ethnic gastronomic misrepresentation in this respect?

> Some people (mainly toaster manufacturers) say that you can cook them
> in a pop-up toaster, but I have never been able to get good results
> using this method.

I blame my mother for this theory, personally. At the least, she's a major proponent of it. Naturally, you need a "Thick'n'thin" toaster, or so she (and said toaster manufacturers) would tell you.

Filially,
Alex.


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