Re: Heortling boardgames

From: simonh_at_...
Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2001 14:11:40 -0000

Don't worry about the tone of your post. Heortlings are passionate people, after all.

> So if my character enters your world and sees someone do something,
> and says, "Wow that was just like Orlanth" will they kill him
because
> he attempted a ritual identification between that person and a god,
> and was thus attempting to in some way control the actions of that
> god or person? I don't see any of these as being equivalent, or
similar, to playing
a game in which you controll a game piece called Orlanth.

"Wow, that was just like Orlanth" is a statement after the fact. It's perfectly reasonable praise. The person being praised has already performed the action, and if it was performed similarly to Orlanth then it's a proper comparison. All Orlanth worshipers strive to be like Orlanth. You can't controll someone's actions after they've already been performed.

> .... So no one wants to be identified with any god, unless
> they are heroquesting? So no one wants to emulate their god in
their
> actions, because if something bad happens, it will spell their doom?

Emulating a god is neutral because the consequences if you fail fall only on yourself, and the rewards are probably worth it. Acting as the god is not the same thing.

A heroquester on the Lightbringer's Quest does not go to the underworld and say 'I am Orlanth'. He says 'I am Harmast, and I have folowed in the footsteps of my god. I have earned my rewards, as he did.' IMHO there's a very clear difference.

Player 1 : "I move Orlanth to the Hill of Gold." Player 2 : "I take Orlanth with Bagog, who devours him and shit's the winds into a bucket."
Player 1 : "Damn, that's the third time I've lost Orlanth to Bagog this week. Wait a minute, what's that screaming?" Villager : "Run for your lives.... the scorpion men are coming!"

Simon Hibbs

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