Quantifiable Free Will

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From: Michael Cule (mikec@room3b.demon.co.uk)
Date: Thu 19 Jun 1997 - 22:08:55 EEST

Alex Ferguson had some useful things to say on the topic of Free Will:
> Michael Cule's caps key is working:
> > THE GODS ARE REAL AS TOASTED CHEESE SANDWICHES!
>
> Ah-hah! So what you're saying is, they're a Human Construct, a mere
> _artifact_ of the Breville Cult?

Heretic! Burn him.

Alright, I'll restate it.

TOASTED CHEESE SANDWICHES ARE AS REAL AS THE GODS!

That's better.

Snip stuff about the difference between being able to drift from your god's
path and being able to drift from your habit of eating toasted cheese
sandwiches.

Well, I rather like the idea that as you become more and more like a god
you become more and more rigid in all aspects of your behaviour.

I think if I do this then the use of the Will Roll will become more important
as a general mechanic while the character is in the Mundane world and therefore
its sacrifice becomes more and more pointed when a person chooses to walk
the path of the HeroQuest.

Hmm, this depends somewhat on what Chaosium does with Glorantha the Game....
>
> Mike also says:
> > Well, I'd say that the gift-geas exchange is in fact a way of gaining
> > HeroQuested powers without a) going on a HeroQuest or
>
> Is this really a difference of Kind though, or just one of Degree?
> Joining a religion, and participating in a Worship ceremony are both
> small "heroquests" (in the broadest sense), and I think the same can
> be said of gifts and geases.

Well, yes I must agree here. But note that it is only a lesser HeroQuest, one
that follows a preset path, not an experimental heroquest which makes something
new. Although one can turn to the other as Arkat showed.

> Orlanthi don't think
> precisely that Orlanth _can't_ act, just that if he does (other than in
> the statutory prescribed ways), Extremely Bad Things happen. The cases
> are roughly analogous, thought the "geasa" are altogether different.

No, I say that Orlanthi think that Orlanth can't act in ways that are outside
his defined nature. For the cult of Orlanth to gain new abilities needs the
action of a Hero to change things.
 
> Humakti and Yelmalian geases may be atypical of these "HQ geasa";
> the very fact they they're available to initiates without a "real"
> HQ, whereas for most cults they're not, is probably an indication
> that these are extermely ritualised and codified versions of the
> corresponding Quest. You walk the Path, and barring a big flub,
> you get the Gain and concomitant Pain. In a real, freeform, no-
> holds-barred HQ, they might get dumped on you in any and all
> permutations, depending most crucially on whether you Drink the
> Elixier without ever having Left the Path, or Crash and Burn en route.

Yes, this is the distinction between (in my terms) HeroQuesting and Being
A Hero. There is a continuity between the regular rituals conducted on the
Mundane Plane and the set HeroQuests that take you into the God Time.

But a true Hero leaves the set path and goes where No One Has Gone Before.

> Redundant disclaimer: I don't know if this jibes with what anyone else
> whomsoever thinks, much less Chaosium.

Me either.

Can any of the more mathematical types propose a set of bands that might be
used to define how many points of Will need to be sacrificed to make a change
wrought on the God Plane permanent?

I was thinking of

1-9 points: Gaining a personal power that affects the Quester himself.
10-99 points: Gaining a personal power that can be taught to others.
100-999 points: Altering a minor aspect of reality.
1000-9999 points: Altering a major aspect of reality.
10,000+: Altering a core aspect of reality.

But this seems too simple. I want a progression that is elegant....

(Puts on Magical Cap of Thinking and grumps a lot....)

- --
Michael Cule

Actor And Genius
AKA Theophilus Prince Archbishop Of The Far Isles Medieval Society
Arms Purpure An Open Book Proper: On the Dexter Page an Alpha Or
On the Sinister an Omega Or. Motto Nulla Spes Sit in Resistendo
(Resistance is Useless). Ask me about the Far Isles:
Better Living through Pan-Medieval Anachronisms.

------------------------------

End of Glorantha Digest V4 #524
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