Ah, here's the joy and sorrow in HQ. if you and your heroes take the trouble to be descriptive, it sounds cool as the stuff below. But mechanically, it's very simple, and if you focus on the mechanic, it's not very exciting.
>
> For example, "When the Red Emperor wrestled with Sheng Seleris it was
> not merely a battle of muscles and grips, for both were Runelords and
> mages, and their conflict extended beyond the physical plane. During
> the psychic turmoil each was probing the other, seeking secret fears
> to use as a weapon in the struggle." A wrestling match that spans
> physical & magical planes? Cool!
I think this is a quest challenge with extraordinary support.
>
> Or, "The Red Emperor used the secret fear of the barbarians to summon
> their Goddess of Tormented Death, who ruled over a hell reserved for
> outlaws, exiles, and captured sylphs. He courted her grandly using
> alien sorceries as his calling card;
Lunar sorcery as an augment
> inhuman promises as his proposal;
Relationships as an augment
> and sealing their vows with unholy rites performed by forgotten
> deities.
> Lunar Mythology for the ceremony.
The child of this union was named Yara Aranis." Summoning a
> foreign goddess? Courting her with "alien sorceries"? Getting a
> goddess pregnant? Would this just be a heroquest?
"Just" is the tricky word here.
> A heroquest in a foreign mythology?
Yes.
> And then severely changing the heroquest (or making
> it up as you go along)?
> Or is there a different way you guys would
> handle this?
>
The question becomes one of whether there is a good myth that fits that the actors can
use to cast their targets into effectively.
> Here's another one: "Trouble fell first amid the very heart of Peloria
> in the year 4/34 (1443 ST.) when Sheng Seleris revealed the power
> which he had stolen from the Emperor in their wrestling match of 3/34
> (1389), 54 years earlier. He had hidden it in the heart of a
> ruby-throated hummingbird which lived in the Gardens of Carresh.
This is "just" a description of where he kept the relationship described below.
> Sheng Seleris had stolen a portion of the Emperor's worship and
> sovereignty."
Relationship: Worshipped and Obeyed by (Kostaddi and whatever else it was)
Woah! Sheng Seleris stole a portion of the Emperor's
> power & hid it in a hummingbird? First of all, that sounds like
> something from one of my favorite books, "The Dictionary of the
> Khazars." Brilliant. And this would work with HQ mechanics how?
The amount Sheng won was the amount he staked in the quest challenge.
> Now, I realize that these examples are all of the Red Emperor, who is
> himself a diety (or demigod) (pardon the old school D&D reference
> there). But this kind of surreal stuff is one of the reasons I want to
> game in Glorantha, & seems to me to be the stuff PC heroes should be
> doing. Right?
Yup! Or to die while trying.
Mike Dawson
http://differentgames.onestop.net
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