Hard Heroquests

From: Jose Ramos <cristnav_at_arrakis.es>
Date: Thu, 16 Oct 1997 15:18:15 +0200

Although I agree with Jeff that you don't need CON 50 to pass the test of the Bath of Nelat. But you need to resemble Orlanth in a remarkable way, at least concerning Honesty. And the difficulty will depend on the depth.

Grabbing a live coal is hard, but possible for a Rune Lord with some inner cult knowledge. Getting a limited knowledge will be easier than becoming omniscient.

It is re-enactment, but it is also a test. No matter how well he knows the ritual, a coward will not succeed the taming of Storm Bull, unless it is such a watered ritual that it is ineffective. And to face the Bull in the Heroplane is much harder than facing it in a temple re-enactment.

Finding the ritual parallels is important, but just because you re-enact a mythical event is no guarantee of success. If you call a power, you must be able to handle it, or fail.

And that is why noone has yet succeeded in a "Kill the Evil Emperor" quest at maximum depth, and brought again the Darkness. Although perhaps a Red Emperor was killed that way...

In brief, although I enjoy the mythical and physical experiences of the varmandi, I have the feeling some mythical actions succeed too easily (for story and plot reasons) to generalize to all of Glorantha. Just IMHO.

Jose

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