> : And you haven't killed off these horrible players yet? Awk! : )
> I am seriously considering it (:-))
For Extra Maximum Game Fun, I lobby that you have the players Royally
Screw Up their HQ and turn 'em into trolls. Heh, heh, heh.
(No, really: they disrupt the ritual, the massive resistance of Kyger Litor backlashes, they get accidentially adopted into uz society, and they have to *then* spend a couple of years of game time to quest to turn back. That'll learn 'em to mess with Momma Troll!)
> That is why I consider a curve ball to the story (AA or/and ZZ implication).
> But in the end I would like to give the player some credits and shake the
> statu quo (well it is the Hero Wars after all).
Hmm. You could "reduce" the level down one -- the players attack a tribe
(or clan) and try and "whack" the GM matriarch in order to weaken that
tribe (which is menacing them in some way, etc.). It's perhaps more
feasible, and the implications are a bit worse. But not as heroic. Perhaps
it's the "warm up" to the Big Kill Uz Quest?
> Hmmm if I would be a AA, I would avoid this one as well. ZZ is already a
> heavy hitter wrestling with KL for some control. I would fear it would tip
> the balance in his favor.
Well, the AAites are an underrecognized cult when it comes to kickin'
bootie. The plan could always be to move in a couple of spearkin units to
smack the ZZites down.
On the ZZ front, it is *possible* that Zorak Zorani *would* cheerfully take out the KL matriarchate. Not "normal" ZZites, but the cult has plenty of room for nihilistic messianistic wackos hoping to wipe out the Matriarchate, end the production of children, and lead the resulting mess to Red War against their enemies. (The last chapters of Niven's _Protector_ come to mind.)
Hmm. That could be a fun twist for a big plot -- let the players conspire with Zorak Zoranites, expose them at some point to what the ZZites hope to do, and force the players to consider whether or not they're willing to continue (dead uz is dead uz), or if the alternative is too horrifying. (And of course, even a hooman in a room with a KL and ZZ worshipper should at some point realize, "Man, skullboy here is *nuts*").
> : Geneologies
> : suddenly go into partial flux (which individual trolls take into account
> : and manipulate). Bad stuff.
> What does it mean?
Possibly Non-Canon, but:
IMO, uz geneologies of descent (from Kyger Litor) can be manipulated by HeroQuest, as can "right to rule." Not an *easy* thing to do, because you basically have to convince the appropriate ancestral spirits that "your" geneologies are different. But (IMO) this is what we see in the Sazdorf tribe: the shaman "HQed" to rediscover the "real" truth about descent, which flew in the face of what used to be "true."
Which extends, too, to the "making a hooman a troll" ritual -- you basically convince the uz ancestors you *have* an uz soul. Once they recognize it, uz in your clan essentially see you as *always* having been an uz, and you become an uz (not always in body, though Arkat managed it, but in spirit). And your *kids* become trolls, too.
So essentially it's very similar to the adoption ritual from the old _Trollpak_, but this is all IMO (until FU comes out, of course).
> I guess short term it is more beneficial to ZZ than AA though. But could
> the uzdom recover from it?
By restoring the original rituals (or instituting new ones that are said
to be the originals). But far too much apolyptic fun to be had with
rampaging hordes of uz slaughtering everything in sight, saying, "The
children! The children! The horror!" It seems like the ZZ have more logic
to it -- unless the AA are sure that they can put a *new* ritual in right
away.
Cheers,
James
Powered by hypermail