My players always reversed the order of their two favorite sayings: "There is always another way -- violence is always an option." My games ended up not being very political (or even constructive) due to random mayhem and violence done by the Uroxi and the Humakti; in the new game, I wouldn't have had this problem, OR I would have planned for it (my old game was RQ3).
> "Wow, that was just like Orlanth" is a statement after the fact.
> It's perfectly reasonable praise.
Okay, that's agreed.
> 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.
I'm a little leery about the "the consequences if you fail fall only on yourself" part, but to an extent I can agree. No Heortling is truly "alone" anymore, unless he is outlawed. Absolutely everything he does affects some member of his family, his clan, his tribe, or the Storm Tribe, even if it is an "action of inaction".
> 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.
I'm not so sure about this one. I await more definitive (or at least simplified) descriptions of whay HQing is all about in Sartar Rising... Until then, I agree to disagree on the extent to which the hero identifies with the god.
> 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!"
See, this is why parlor games would never take off among the Heortlings. However, I have no problem with Player 1 saying "High King to Emperor's guard 4" and knowing that those are what those pieces represented to the designer of the game. Which is what I thought the originator of this thread was talking about. Abstraction in strategy gaming is widespread and ancient.
Roland Volz
Powered by hypermail