As always, thanks for your reply. No, obviously even a 2-3 minute ritual or HQ can have a great impact if handled well. I guess that I meant that a significant HQ should always be approached by the character with some awe, fear, hope, and other complex emotions.
While it is obviously too much to ask for the player to feel quite what the character logically would (it is fantasy, I do know that!), I felt it should still be something that the player prepares for, and is worried about. Likewise that he or she has something structured and appropriate to remember afterwards.
The freeformer will have to co-operate in this emotional scene-setting with the ref or other players, but what I generally remember best afterwards of games are usually the parts that I put the most emotion into. For instance, in 'The Wulf Came in from the Cold', the tribal spirit cursed me (the ranking Earth priestess) for neglecting to properly check the food for poison. Talk about chewing scenery, as Simon puts it! I've never had so much fun weeping and wailing in all my life! Or finding out in my first freeform that Anthony really was the love of my life, while hiding out in Geo's waiting for the rebellion to happen (hi, Neil). Stuff like that. What can the ref do to bring believability into the HQ so that the players really enjoy themselves and throw themselves into it?
Alison
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