Re: Magic Items and Secrets

From: Michael Schwartz <raconteurx_at_...>
Date: Sat, 08 Nov 2003 08:21:49 -0000

I'm with David on this one... the ability rating a hero has with a magical item represents the hero's ability to effectively call on that item's power, not the power of the item itself. Magical items of reasonable power are likely to possess resident daimons, essences or spirits, and thus are more like followers than anything else. How much of an item's power a hero can bring to bear could be determined in a manner similar to that of community support.

Hero Points spent to boost the hero's ability rating could represent concerted efforts to research the item's history or to establish a rapport with the inhabiting otherworld being. Hahlgrim probably did something akin to this with Ironbreaker (see Paulis Longvale's account of his time amongst the Bilini in <i>Lords of Terror</i> and <i>Cults of Terror</i>). Doing this out of play doubles the cost, of course, which should inspire players to be creative when getting in touch with an item's "inner being".

The most vital advice I can give regarding items: a narrator should never, ever introduce a major magical item into his or her campaign without considering its powers, their potency and the effect it may have on play. A shrewd narrator introduces items not as mere reward alone, but as means to further the story. In <i>HeroQuest</i>, no magical item can truly be said to be minor. If an item isn't worthy of note, why bother cementing it?

I suggest looking at the treasures from <i>King of Dragon Pass</i> for sample items. If we had an inkling of their precise game effect in KoDP and formulated a KoDP-to-HQ conversion guide, we could very easily postulate equivalent effects in HQ. Hm...

--
Michael Schwartz
raconteurx_at_...