Re: New devotees, starting feats

From: Paul Andrew King <paul_at_...>
Date: Sat, 8 Nov 2003 17:38:22 +0000


>wrote:
>> Right now, it's not my dilemma - I've just been putting thoughts
>> forward. My biggest problem right now is getting the group
>together
>> so we can get through the current game BEFORE we play any HeroQuest
>> (mutter, mutter :-().
>>
>> Still the point about some at least of the encounters being set up
>in
>> advance does fit in with the idea that "stand-ins" could be used.
>
>Sometimes. I've never been comfortable with standins. But then, I
>always think that something worse could happen so I let my players
>use them. *SOMETIMES* they work. Sometimes they end up with 2 similar
>encounters and may use up that 'heroquest moment' for nothing.

ANd that's not the only good thing about stand-ins. It can give the other characters something to do, There's the old "captured-and-forced-into-being-a stand-in" plot (which also goes back at least as far a Cults of Prax).

And at owrst it's one station you don't have to worry abut.

>
>> But one issue is that HeroQuests are supposed to be reenactments -
>> while much can vary there is still more room for surprise in a test
>> carried outside a formal HeroQuest - even a Practice Quest.
>
>Not... entirely. Its amazing how much baggage the hero brings along
>with him in the quest. Folks tend to forget that...

A HeroQuester should at least be expecting the form of most Stations, and knows what SHOULD be done assuming the Station is correctly identified. With a test, none of that applies.

>
>There's been considerable powder burned over that issue and you might
>want to look into the archives here for some interesting takes on
>heroquests and reinactments (there's also a fairly long thread about
>it on RPG.net which has some very, very good posts by some folks
>here).
>
>> >It might aslso be wise to then
>> >then re-read the section on initiation and devotion. Both are, in
>> >fact, heroquests. Fairly specific, easily defined and easily
>> >completed ones, but heroquests none the less.
>>
>> Otherworld Journeys, to be precise.
>
>Heroquests. To use *your* comment earlier, its "just" reenactments.
>According to Greg, even learning a feat is a small heroquest.
>Devotion is so much more important than a mere feat, don't you think?
>I do.
>

Look at it another way. Devotion is not about any external effects, it is about achieving an internal state. An Otherworld Journey seems right for that.

-- 
--
"The T'ang emperors were strong believers in the pills of 
immortality.  More emperors died of poisoning from ingesting minerals 
in the T'ang than in any other dynasty" - Eva Wong _The Shambhala 
Guide to Taoism_

Paul K.

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