> --- Jane Williams <janewilliams20_at_...> wrote:
> > So say a Vingan is doing a "Vinga beats up a troll"
> > story. She sucks in a passing troll. Yes, there is a
> > "ZZ gets beaten up by Vinga" story, but there's no
> > reason why this troll (not a ZZ worshipper) should
> > know it.
>
> If he's an initiate, and especially if he is a devotee, he has EVERY reason to
> know it: he might get drawn into it!! I would even imagine that there are
> specialists in some places who concentrate on these loser storeis so they can
> devise ways to prepae for them and counter them. Those counters might not work
> if someone is drafted into an enemy heroquest, but they would work when
> preparing to doit themselves. Thus a troll may well know how to beat
> Vinga in a
> prepared story. And if that one gets drawn into a Vinga HQ, he could have some
> nasty (though impromptu) suprises.
>
While I cerrtainly understand that the desire to "win" where your god "lost" would be very attractive to would-be heroes (and players,) it always strikes me that trying to do so is well, really sacreligious. Or maybe just heretical.
The analogy I use with my players is to put it in the words of a christian heroquester: "We're going to take the roles of the Apostles, and we're going to ambush the romans when they come to the Garden, then we're going to convince Jesus to lead a rebellion against Pilate."
Regardless of how hard such a plan might be, SUGGESTING it in the first place is likely to meet with EXTRAORDINARY condemnation by most of those who would be necessary to support such an effort. Though their conservatism might well be enough, the heads of the religion would, before running the heroes out of town, rightly ask "What would it do to our religion, to our culture, if we allowed you to reverse this (possibly central) act of failure and suffering by our god?"
My player-characters endured a station on a quest where it was important for them to fail. Unfortunately, the quest was not well known to them (a mark of their desparation) and some tried hard to win but failed, others gave up, and one actually "won".
http://differentcomputers.com/differentgames/summaries/2004-04-08-133103Z.html
and the next several writeups for details.
The hero who won (Oshun) was severely punished for over a year. The hero who lost (Garusharp) received an insight that may save and transform his country and his child.
Mike Dawson
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