Wulf Corbett:
> Yes, it all fits, and it's all playable, which is the real point. And
> yes, I know by my own arguments that I just couldn't play most of the
> HQs without 2-3 levels of Mastery, but at least then it would feel
> HEROIC. I always imagined the Hero Plane to be a place for heros. Now
> they even send the children there. It's said you know when you're
> getting old when the policemen look too young. Now the heros do too.
Well, I'm not sure I quite follow what you mean here -- are you talking about initiatory quests and the like? Yes, elements of those take place on the other side (I suppose specifically the (a?) HP), as do worship ceremonies. But that's not really comparable to a heroquest in the strong sense, where you're not simply "being there", at portions of the other side known to (relatively) safe, you're facing specific challenges, and making parts of the mundane world (including your self) conform to myth. A given HQ is this sense will have some minimum level of difficulty, otherwise you're not "really" doing it. (There's always "practice quests", though.)
I think the sliding scale (with constraints, such as said minima) approach is broadly correct, and will be the practical way of handling it without doing one's proverbial head in. But there's some value in peeling back the label, and examining what "cosmologically" is going on in different "degrees" and/or "types" of quest. Which isn't to say it's always or even often going to be evident in play.
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