Re: Arena combat. Origins.

From: bjm10_at_...
Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2001 22:22:40 -0000

>
> > This brings up an important point to keep in mind when discussing
> these
> > things:
> > When your god is imminant your actual success is less important than
> > manifesting his presence.
>
> Yeah, I have some trouble with this. Perhaps its due to the cultural
> training of the judeo-christian cosmology which means I implicitly
> associate things like the shepherd trope with gods, but this is not
> appropriate for this sort of religious feeling. I'd appreciate
> thoughts on how to handle, discuss,describe this sort of thing in
> play.

The Best Thing (TM) is to Do What the God Wants (TM). It doesn't matter if it Makes Sense (TM). What does Huez---Hooex--Hukuku--Big Tough Jaguar God want? Big Tough Jaguar God wants macho bastards. He's not a god of victors but of warriors--ALL warriors. He doesn't stop being a warrior's god merely because that warrior is defeated. The warrior still remains a warrior so long as he acts the part. Thus, in this culture, if captured warriors are to be tortured to death, then Big Tough Jaguar God will be pleased if the warrior approaches and experiences his death befitting a warrior.

Back to Glorantha: Suppose there is some critter menacing the local fields. One of the PCs is a Humakti. Player comes up with brilliant idea--get the critter drunk and deal with it under those terms. (The critter has shown a fondness for beer.) Alas! Doing so turned out to be a Very Bad Thing (TM), since that's not how Humakt handles matters. (This actually happened in a RQ game I ran.)