RE: Humakti from Grawe, Philipp on 2001-02-01 (HeroQuest RPG)

From: Grawe, Philipp <pgrawe_at_...>
Date: Thu, 1 Feb 2001 11:46:22 +1100

Nice summary of Humakti attitudes, it largely agrees with how I've always seen them.

> I can imagine really hard-core Humakti refusing to draw their
> sword at all, even to practice, unless they are going to kill.

I'm not sure about this. I think every warrior is aware of the importance of practicing and honing his skills, afterall, how do you get better. It strikes me as a little cocky to say "I'm so good, I don't practice unless I get to kill you".

Unless of course they practice with wooden swords, leaving their Iron Swords to only be drawn if they taste blood.

As a sideline, the Heortlings in our Glorantha had 3 customary levels of duelling:

First Fallen

Uncommon, used more in play or practice situations. Imagine the classic scene of the victor with his sword at the prone opponents chest in a "I could kill you now situation" but then smiling and giving him a hand up.

First Blood

Used in lesser situations where you honestly don't want to kill your opponent, you simply have a point to prove. The loser gets a decent scar to remind him that he lost. Obviously it does have implications of cowardice if used too lightly.

Death

"You have insulted my mother's honor! Prepare to die! Aiiiiiii!" <chop>

It works better in Runequest where the system has the level of detail necessary, but essentially depending on the seriousness of the situation or how insulted you were you'd agree on how far you willing to go.

Harry.