From: Jose Ramos (Jose.Ramos@Univ-Angers.fr)
Date: Wed 02 Jul 1997 - 12:31:06 EEST
First of all, I don't want to give the impression I propose that
you roll a lot of traits, or to make the HQ just a bunch of die rolls. A
normal HQ would perhaps have one (and sometimes none, or some other thing),
although usually there would be "Minimum traits". So when you face the
Beast of the Thousand Eyes, all those questers whose Courage is less than
25 will run away. Just as long as somebody remains and uses the right
mythical method, the others will rejoin him later, and continue on their
way. No roll. Anybody who knows the myth knows the Beast is pretty
horrible, although easy to kill if you remain steady, so the trouble is
finding someone courageous enough who is also capable enough to play
his/her role.
I don't believe you need something as Influence or Free Will.
Influence: The effect of the Heroquest is tied to its depth, wich
controls the difficulty. So where in the Stationary LBQ "Orlanth" just
greets "Rausa", in a deep one you have to use the Right Words with the
Right State of Mind (In the first case, no roll needed, in the second,
research or a previous HQ, tied with an appropiate Remorseful state).
Free Will: In my (hardly tested) view, the Traits needed for "deep"
HQ will eventually force the Hero to leave the dull and unforgiving Inner
World, specially when the character begins to go in "automatic" (Traits so
high you don't have to make decisions). You can set your arbitrary limits
on the number of 20+ traits needed. So a Hero with many helpers, who
"share" the burdens of Herodom will last much longer than a Lone hero.
With respect to Harrek, he just HQ enough to be the meanest killing
machine in Glorantha, and stopped. I think most of his later HQs are just
reenactments, nothing new (so he does not take the last step to herodom),
and that is why he does nothing of importance (besides killing and
destroying) in history. Argrath, who knows him well, can manipulate him
almost at will. Argrath is a shining example of Hero with helpers.
Support however is trickier, and I like the way it is handled in
YAHQS, even if I usually just use RQ in the HQ. My idea, which I see is
not widespread, is that a well known myth, or a well prepared one, will
succeed always in simple cases, and will become harder the more complex it
becomes. Support just allows you to go deeper (and to have a stronger
effect) or to go wider (and to affect much more people).
BTW the traits I use are those in the John Sapienza Mk: III sheet,
that appeared in a Heroes issue. They are not perfect, and some pairs are
never used, but it is complete enough for my purposes.
I use (as a GM) quite a lot of trait rolls, but that is a
peculiarity of PBEM, where you can't afford to contact the player for every
little action. However they almost always have the choice of reversing
their character action, if appropiate.
In a way, HQ is almost diceless, except for certain tests. If a
certain enemy is better that you (Beat you in the myth, Elmal vs Zorak
Zoran), he will always be better than you, no matter if you are a young boy
at initiation or Harvast Ironfist with your 250% Spear. The only way to win
this "fixed" episodies is to change the rules: Run away (and change the
myth and make Elmal a coward, at least for you) or bring a friend (some
Vingan myths lying around) or change myths in half track (I am not Elmal, I
am Humakt, and I want Death back). That is not a test. The test is later to
avoid dying when beat up, and to have enough resolve to continue, even if
you know that it is Inora who comes.
I suspect that puts me in the "Roll something and Handwave" school
of Heroquesting.
Jose
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