Despite all the (very good) discussion on heroquests on the list, no one has actually posted any "sample" quests yet. So I thought I'd dust off some notes I made for using the Sword That Is Death heroquest in my game.
Quick bit of background:
A Hero in my game is a Vingan warrior, about whom there is a prophecy that she
will "bring death to the clan". Worried by this, and hoping to fulfil the
prophecy without destroying the clan or something, the player came up with the
idea of doing the Sword That Is Death heroquest to "borrow" Death. Hence the
following write up. As Vingans can, she emulated Orlanth in the heroquest...
I based the myth and the heroquest on the version shown in King of Dragon Pass,
though I was going with the Orlanthi viewpoint rather than the Humakti one that
is used there. (I've left out the number-crunching on carryover from these
notes; if people are really interested, I can post it later).
I pitched the opposition to be just slightly tougher than the Hero, so that she
would have a tough time succeeding, and would have to either roll well or make
sure she spent some Hero Points...
I'm assuming that everyone knows the myth, as trying to write the whole thing
out will make this post even longer than it already is... :)
STATION ONE - CROSSING TO THE OTHER SIDE
This was done on Orlanth's high holy day, with support from the clan and all
the allies and friends she could muster. Big dramatic ceremony in a stone
circle, with storm winds battering the Heroes and lightning crackling all
around.
Failure here will mean that the heroquest never even gets going, and will be
very bad for clan morale.
STATION TWO - "PERSUADING EURMAL"
The Hero encounters "Eurmal" on the road (in my game this was the trickster
from a neighbouring clan) and must get the information out of him that Humakt
now has death (having taken it from Eurmal). The Hero could do this by beating
"Eurmal" up, by flattering him, getting him drunk or whatever.
STATION THREE - FIRST MEETING WITH HUMAKT The Hero travels to Humakt's stead, where she finds "Humakt" (in my game this was a warrior who lay dying on a battlefield and had been drawn into the quest as a "near death experience" sort of thing - he turned up later in the game to reclaim Death from the Hero). Of course, his stead is dark and cold now that he has Death here, and becomes more so over the following stations of the quest. No birds or animals are here at all - should make the Hero very uncomfortable. It is worth noting that, at this point, Humakt has not severed himself from his kin, so still bears Storm Tribe tattoos/insignia. The Hero can "do as Orlanth did" and command Humakt to give up the sword (contest using Leadership, or Command or whatever). Alternative approaches could be to persuade/offer gifts, or even to just try to beat him up for it. Assuming that Humakt does not give up the sword, and Heroes (and Orlanth!) being what they are, violence could follow. If the Hero fails here, she will actually get positive carryover, as that is what is "supposed to happen" in the myth.
STATION FOUR - SECOND MEETING WITH HUMAKT
The Hero retreats to sulk and/or lick her wounds before returning to try to get
the Sword That Is Death again.
Very similar to Station Three, though note that Humakt's stead is getting even
darker than before. This time, "doing as Orlanth did" will have the Hero
offering gifts and shelter to Humakt.
As before, this "should" fail and the Hero is forced to retreat and reconsider,
possibly after another fight.
STATION FIVE - SECOND MEETING WITH HUMAKT
The Hero makes "Orlanth's" 3rd and final attempt to get the Sword That Is
Death.
Very similar to Station Four, though now Humakt bears no Storm Tribe insignia -
as he will explain, he has severed himself from his kin. The only symbol he
bears is the Death rune.
This time, "doing as Orlanth did" will have the Hero asking Humakt as a brother
to give up the sword. Humakt should, of course, refuse, revealing to the Hero
that he has now severed himself and the relationship means nothing now.
As before, the attempt to get the Sword "should" fail.
Of course, a successful attempt to get the sword from Humakt, whether by
persuasion or violence, in either of the previous three stations of the quest
could see the Hero "failing" at the quest while still getting the Sword. In
that case, I would suggest that the Hero succeeds at getting Death and the
quest ends here, but she will have much less carryover than if she had done it
"properly" (i.e., according to the myth) and therefore less benefit from the
quest (see Narrator's Book p39).
STATION SIX - ENEMIES
The scene between Humakt and Orlanth is interrupted by the attack of a mutual
enemy. This should be something relevant to the Hero attempting the quest. In
my game, it was "Ragnaglar" (represented by a band of broo) as the heroes' clan
had been having trouble with broo raiders. Humakt and Orlanth must unite to
defeat them (perhaps a test of the Hero's personality traits such as Common
Sense, whatever, is in order).
STATION SEVEN - RECONCILIATION
Once the enemies are defeated, Orlanth and Humakt should be somewhat
reconciled. "As Orlanth did", the Hero should now ask to BORROW the sword,
offering in return a place in Orlanth's warband to Humakt.
This can be played as a test of "Persuasive", "Generous", "Forgiving" or
something.
Success here will mean that the character gets the Sword and the quest ends.
Hurrah!
I made sure that the"gods" and enemies encountered in the quest were represented by people who already were or would soon be linked to the Hero in some way.
Depending on how the Hero goes about solving problems, the Narrator could use the carryover from the quest to give directed HP awards (as in Jeff Kyer's post from yesterday) to personality traits like Violent or Calm, or to Abilities like Peace-maker, Persuasive or whatever.
In my game, the Hero "borrowed" the Humakti's Death affinity for a time, using it to strike down a Yelm-worshipping Lunar army officer who she had vowed to kill. Unfortunately, this has kicked off a rebellion which looks set to doom the clan. Ah well, you can't escape fate... If she had failed, she might have been killed (if she had lost while fighting), or lost her Initiate of Vinga trait (if she had failed while talking to Humakt, she might have returned from the quest as an initiate of Humakt instead - this has happened to me in King of Dragon Pass).
Special complications to put into the quest could include:
Enemies disrupting the heroquest by "ambushing" the Hero en route to Humakt's stead, or posing as Eurmal to point the character in the wrong direction. Yanafal Tarnils worshippers could even take the place of Humakt and try to kill the Hero before the quest can be completed.
I hope this helps out. These were intended to be brief notes, but it all seems to have got out of hand. My own notes have more descriptions, adjectives, numbers, etc.
Regards,
Bruce
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