Benedict Adamson, quoting me again:
> > Think of it in terms of identity, rather than place. On the mundane
> > plane, you're large simply yourself, acting in Vinga's role. On
> > the heroplane, you're substantially identified with her, and are
> > emulating the actions of some heroic figure, herself subsequently
> > identified with Vinga, on a quest which is an "instance of" the
> > original Vingan quest. There's nothing inconsistent or problematic
> > in taking the lead role in _this_ quest.
> ...
>
> I'm happy with this way of describing things.
>
> But it is not what Greg has described for low-level HQs. He seems to
> say that low-level types don't take on the role of e.g. Vinga, but
> tag along as spear-carriores, etc.
Ah, but Greg is large, and contains multitudes. (Though he says that he's been Cutting Down of late. <g>) I'm choosing to regard what Greg says as being descriptive rather than prosciptive: this would be _one way_ of getting a less difficult quest, not necessarily the only one.
Picking up on what Charles was saying about having a number of different "natural difficulties", rather than the sort of relativistic continuum Nick suggests, perhaps one might hypothesise yet more strata of difficulties:
o The mundane world practice quest. This can be as difficult as one finds opponents for, but is characterised by the lack of an explicit barrier-crossing ritual, so is essentially "mundane", but with mythic overtones. o The "HP spear-carrier level quest". This the easiest otherrealmly quest, in which you go the the heroplane (not the God Plane!), and cast oneself explicitly as a bit-part player (a member of a warband, a companion, etc). Presumably the "leader role" of the myth can either be assumed by another person performing the ritual with you (the person of whom you're the mundane-world companion, your priest in an initiation or worship, etc), or may just be the mythic entity as such. o The "full" heroplane quest. This requires that you take the lead role (or one of them, if like the LBQ it has several "main roles"), and overcome a "set" difficulty, say typically in the W3 range. o The God Plane spear carrier: as with the HP spear carrier, but a whole "barrier's worth" more difficult. You're assuming the role of Vinga's _actual_ companion, so your typical difficulty will be somewhat less than the Vinga role would face, but still in "God plane territory", so this will generally be harder than the "solo HP" version. o The "full" quest. Being your god, in the god plane. Doesn't get any harder than this... (Short of stepping outside of that myth entirely.)
I think there's likely further variation than this, since I believe there are _different_ versions at the HP level, and thus very likely a range of difficulties also. I suspect that a degree of "auto-selection" occurs, unless one is very specific about which sub-myth one is trying to "hit", which at least approximates the relative difficulty Nick (and others) want to see. But it'd likely also be a constrained range (is there an "easy" Hill of Gold Q.?), and there'd be a random or unexpected factor as well.
This is all very much speculation/Commentary on the Sayings of the Prophet Greg, so I'd be most glad to here from The Panel as to whether it seems a) sensible and playable, and b) consistent with the Word of Greg. Do ahead, do your worst.
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