>From what I have read (little though it is) about heroquesting,
>(one of) the most important things is to know what to do when.
>I'm assuming a quest which re-enacts BTW! So, given that there
>are a small number of 'stations' - typically 5-7 - is there any
>reason why the information needed couldn't be distilled into
>a couple of sentences.
>e.g. when you meet the troll, kill him. When you try and cross
>the bridge, fall in and give the catfish your earth gift, ...
It's easy for us as modern people, with thousands of years of literary divelopment and cultural diversity to fall back on, to make assumptions about how people in Glorantha might express information. The problem is that many of these cultures are barely literate in a wide sense. Many of them may not have even discovered prose yet. Even if they have, it's unlikely their oldest myths will be expressed in modern (for them) styles.
Ballads and epic poems are not just structured the way they are for entertainment, it's also a technique for structuring information in a memorable way. That's what oral tradition is all about.
On the other hand, what's wrong with presenting Mostali heroquest myths in a similar form to computer program scripts? Or at least in an archaic style influenced by them. It's a matter of what is appropriate.
Simon Hibbs
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