My character did it. And in the spirit of the Hero Wars, in a different way than previously attempted. It was an attempt to return a friend, a sword of humakt to his society, as his "social breath" had died. A nice side effect was that orlanthi rituals over all of Heortland and Sartar got a nice power boost for a period of time. Oh, and my character was a hobbit and only an acolyte of Orlanth. Yup, we used RQ, and our world is a bit weird. HW hasn't been accepted by the group yet... (A pity, really!)
We talked about 3 levels of quest - ritual, heroplane and godplane -
With ritual versions (a bit better than the bland ritual in KoS) being
quite common (e.g. 1 per tribe per year), heroplane versions being quite
rare (9 known of to our temples) and godplane versions being
world-shaking. (Harmast, Argrath)
We went for the heroplane version, I think yours should be on the
godplane, considering your goals.
> Other than KoS, are there any published sources
> that I missed?
Not that I know of... I think KoDP has the same version in it, right?
Take into account, that different gods have conflicting stories of the LBQ. Read Humakt's tale of how he helped Orlanth on his way (from Storm Tribe) for an example.
I started on a diary of the quest, but never got too far. Also, I translated some of the LBQ-myth from KoS into staves, but I'm afraid they're in Finnish, and only go up to the crossing of Styx.
As for tips on running it - don't be afraid to alter the myth. Only the basic outline is important - I was a bit disappointed with how closely our journey echoed the "official" version in KoS. The LBQ isn't as much about overcoming obstacles from the outside - The "set" obstacles (Sorcerer's town, The gates of dusk, Crossing the ocean, the paths of the dead) on the way down aren't really of importance, in my opinion. Enacting a myth as well known as this one, you already have a lot of impetus pushing you through towards your destiny. Our GM didn't stress the personal challenges (first succeding, and then failing at what you're best at) nearly as much as I thought appropriate.
The LBQ is about overcoming one's self - if you're attempting a high-level version, a chaos monstrosity isn't in itself frightning - it's losing faith (failing to act out your role as your deity) and having your greatest failings and weaknesses be the doom of you that's terrifying. Especially the tests Maggotliege put forth should make the player feel the danger and the failings of his character. Don't let the LBQ degenerate into yet another monster-bash.
Another area you should emphasize is getting support - only the greatest of heroes and the greatest of fools dare enter the godplane without the faith of thousands backing them up. I believe our group had up to ten thousand people giving ordinary support, a thousand or so giving total support and a hundred or so giving extraordinary support.
Feel free to e-mail me on spesific questions - the LBQ is a big deal, and should be a culmination of sorts. Don't be afraid to kill members of the party - after all, they'll be resurrected in the end, as long as the main quester succedes ;)
Trying to shrug off the Cloak of the Dark Lurker (5W2)...
-B
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