Re: "What ifs" for "This World" Heroquests

From: Charles <charles_at_2fi_0IqDSOvxQNhvCpikLWNAy5JoW7hGBDNzyFkhZltlajl1sxTleQXINWFRGpEZnbh6>
Date: Sun, 11 Sep 2011 07:32:49 -0000

>
> Hi all,
>
> I'm on the look for bad things that could happen in a "This World" heroquest. Let's say this is an Issaries heroquest, and the PCs (none of them Issaries initiates) have been recruited by the Issaries priest/merchant to accompany him in the quest and act as his guard.
>
> What if the Issaries priest NPC dies during the quest? Would the quest automatically fail and end at that point or would the PCs still be able to go on to try and finish the quest without him?
>
> What if one of the PCs is an initiate of the Solar pantheon, for example, could he be able to use his solar magic normally during the Issaries quest or would that be more difficult for him as it is not appropriate for the quest?
>
> If the heroquest ends well and the Issaries priest achieves his goal, would his "guard" get another (smaller) benefit?
>

A "This World" quest is exactly like an otherworld quest. Apart from the participants remaining visible and interacting with people and other entities in the mortal realm. People who meet the participants will likely be able to perceive that they are on a quest - eg. herolight showing.

One important part of this: there will always be a surprise. Even if the organisers and participants have filled all of the roles with supporters, then something unexpected will still happen. Either the magic of the quest will draw in an external enemy or the magic of the quest will force a friend to betray you (eg. by fighting with a real sword instead of a blunted sword).

Because they are in the mortal realm, there will be more causality - both for good and for bad - the participants cannot spend a heropoint to drop back to the mortal world. If the lead participant is killed, then the other participants may be stuck in an unfriendly place and forced to escape away from where they want to be rather than towards home. As they are still questing, they will continue to attract magical interest until they manage to get a godi or priest to close the ritual.

See http://www.glorantha.com/support/hq_types.html for further information.

regards,
Charles