Re: Re: Failure at the end of a HQ

From: Roderick and Ellen Robertson <rjremr_at_...>
Date: Fri, 25 May 2001 09:34:08 -0700

> > Do they just get stuck wandering around the [whatever] plane forever?
>
> Except that as a narrator, it's dramatically inappropriate to do this
> for an otherwise successful quest. You could either fudge failure (as
> Roderick suggested), or ignore the test (since it's likely to be
> successful anyway).

I wouldn't characterize what I wrote as "fudging" - just as a redefinition of "Failure" (it's more weaseling than fudging :-) ). Instead of saying that the Homecoming station represents "crossing over to the Mundane world", it can represent "*keeping what you gained* as you cross over". The fact that you cross over is assumed, but you can meet a thief as the "crossover event", or have to cross a bridge the width of a swordblade and a failure means you dropped something while trying to keep your balance, or are told "Don't look behind you" and you do so (as in Orpheus and Eurydice: Orpheus has a successful HQ to Hades until he looks back to make sure Eurydice is following him - in game terms he rolled a fumble and he went to negative carryover (nasty quest event, that)).

RR