> From: Gavain Sweetman <gavain.sweetman_at_...>
want to know a bout
> Subject: Practice Heroquests
> OK so you want to do the 'Hedkoranth makes a ghost eating thunderstone
> quest'.
> You assemble your friends for the rolls needed in the quest and even have
> a few
> preselected enemies to face. The rules say something about needing a
> short ceremony to start the quest.
>
> My questions are these:
>
> What happens in the ceremony? Is it just a case of these guys here are
> going
> to take these rolls in the quest, and we're missing these opponents please
> provide them.
Sort of.
It is a ceremony to invoke the powers of the Otherworld to be alerted to
the quest, and to come to it and do their parts.
> Who can lead these ceremonies?
A godar or priest who knows the rites.
> From: Jane Williams <janewilliams20_at_...>
makes some suggestions...
> While I don't know the answers, I notice that if you
> do *not* provide the opposition, opposition will be
> "sucked in" to fill the gap, as it were.
And, in fact, sometimes they will be drawn in even if you DO provide an
opponent. Such is the danger of HeroQuesting.
AND one of the most dangerous aspects is that your enemies will also be
alerted that you are activating the magic and possibly sneak into the
quest, or send their own opponents to it. Thus that trollkin you have
standing in for Kyger Litor may unexpectedly be accompanied by a couple of
great trolls riding demon horses.
Such surprises are, in fact, NORMAL for ANY form of HeroQuesting. There
are ALWAYS surprises.
> And that
> magical skills and things do result. So some part of
> the non-mundane world is having an effect on the
> quest, in some way. The feel I have for it is that
> you're sort of calling the Other Side to you, rather
> than going to it. You become a weak spot between the
> planes, for the duration of the quest. Or something
> like that.
Your ceremony invokes an "overlap" or an "awakening" of the magical powers.
> From: "Rob" <robert_m_davis_at_...>
> From: "Rob" <robert_m_davis_at_...>
elaborates
> Subject: Re: Practice Heroquests
> Yes. For a classic example of someone on a Heroquest look at the
> Biturian Varosh entry against Zorak Zoran, where Rurik the Runelord
> comes to the travelling traders rescue.
This shows one of the possible surprises: not just enemies, but also friends or help.
> On a more recent level, King Broyan performs the summons of evil in
> Orlanth is Dead, which sucks in a whole Lunar (small) army. This is
> a mundane world quest I believe.
The Summons of Evil is not a quest, but a ceremony.
> From: David Weihe <blerg2_at_...>
elaborates too, usin fine canonical examples...
> But the classic Practice HeroQuest is in the Yelmalio section, were BV
> is captured and used as a logical Orlanth when a Yelmalian wishes to
> reenact the "Three Blows of Anger" quest. He is used as Orlanth
> because he is a Lightbringer (close enough for government work, I
> guess),
Closest that they can get, anyway.
> From: "Andrew Solovay" <asolovay_at_...>
suggests
> But as I understand it, a lot of ritual magic *can* be done as a
> heroquest, and often is when the stakes are high.
> e.g. If you're about to go out and fight a single-combat, your clan
> may hold an "arming of Orlanth" ceremony to give you some helpful
> magic. But if you're about to go on a major heroquest, you might well
> run the "arming of Orlanth" as a practice quest--increasing the
> difficulty (and the consequences if you screw up), but also increasing
> the reward.
I am perplexed by this confusion. Ceremonies can not be run as a heroquest. Ceremonies (like all rituals) are similiar in that they invoke the Otherworld, but there is not travel to the Otherworld in a ceremony.
> And if you're going on a serious, tough heroquest (like the LBQ), you
> might run through the entire "Arming of Orlanth" as a full-on
> heroquest on the hero plane.
You seem to be suggesting that the ceremony can be done on the Otherside. This is possible, I guess, but I do not think that the effect would be significently different.
> From: Jane Williams <janewilliams20_at_...>
> Are any of the rules-writers out there who can comment
> on how a practice quest differs from "ritual magic",
> and to what extent it involves planes other than the
> mundane?
Easy: a HeroQuest involves movement, a ceremony does not. A practice HeroQuest requires invocation of the powers of the Otherworld to come to where the ceremonialists are doing their quest. So does a ceremony, but it is all done in one place.
> It's only Practice
> level that "sucks in" mundane opponents, remember.
Not necessarily. They can also pop up on the Gods War HeroQuests.
> An "evil", of a level matching yours, appears.
> Approximately matching yours, that is.
Not always. Surprises abound, and they may be tougher or weaker.
> From: "Andrew Solovay" <asolovay_at_...>
> Except... The whole benefit of the "summons of evil" magic is that it,
> well, it summons evil!
>
> What I mean is... If the text said "Rurik followed the Hill of Gold quest,
> and the great troll Zuurg the Malodorous arrived to fight him", I'd agree
> with you, and say, yep, that must have been a practice quest, and Zurg was
> dragged in to be Zorak Zoran. If Rurik had been running it on the Hero
> Plane, he'd have actually fought ZZ, and no trolls in the middle world
> would have been sucked in to fight him.
No, not necessarily.
Rurik's enemy in the Gods World could have been a stand in for ZZ, too.
> Well, in this case, the "reward" of the Summons of Evil magic is that it
> drags all the local nasties to you so you can clean them out. It seems to
> me
> that you'd get that reward whether you ran it as a mundane ritual or as a
> quest on the Hero Plane. If you run it as a HP/HQ, then when you return to
> the middle world, you return with the quest's "reward"--that local enemies
> will show up for you to kill them.
Except I do not know of it being run as a HeorQuest, just a ceremony.
> So (rampant speculation here) it seems to me that Broyan could have said,
> "Huh, the ordinary Summons of Evil ritual isn't going to be powerful
> enough
> to drag a whole Lunar army to me. But if I ran the summons as a Hero
> Quest, that might give the summons more oomph."
You can name your enemy in the Summons, and generally they will appear. But also likely to appear are other evil foes of yours as well.
> From: "Rob" <robert_m_davis_at_...>
>> Except... The whole benefit of the "summons of evil" magic is that
>> it, well, it summons evil!
>
> Not empirically. Look at the Sun Domers - they're not eveil. Also I
> also doubt whether most of the Lunars were evil.
>
> Therefore I suggest it is more correct to say it summons YOUR evil.
Your FOES is probably even more corect.
It is just that it is such a dangerous ritual that it can draw ALL your
foes at once: the bad ones, the unfriendly ones, the evil ones too.
> From: Gavain Sweetman <gavain.sweetman_at_...>
>> Summons of Evil is the standard rite to start Orlanthi
>> heroquests,
Oop, missed this up abvoe.
It is NOT in any way the "standard way to start Orlanthi HeroQuests." It
is highly dangerous and unpredictable, and used only if the summoner is
willing to be overwhelmed by his foes. It is more of a "last chance" thing
to do. That is, th Orlanthi do all that they can to get ready and then
summon their foes to them rather than having to go and look for them.
> Are there any resources available that detail some of these "standard"
> quests?
What would be "stanfard" in this case? That is rather like saying a "standard war" or a "standard curse." Almost nonsensical.
> From: "Gianfranco Geroldi" <giangero_at_...>
> IMO: a ritual is a long spell; opposition is impersonal and the
> target number is calculated accordingly to the amount of results you
> are aiming at; it is not much different from casting a feat or a
> fetish, except that it requires hours or days or centuries and not
> mere 5'. Ah, and you use skills like Orlanth Myths instead of
> Affinity X or Talent Y to overcome the resistance.
I'd suggest that you use the powers of your companions to arm yourse.f.
Your Humakti "becomes" your sword, etc.
Look at the companions of the Orlanthi: javelin, sword, shield etc.
Although, of course, YGWV.
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