[Glorantha] Re: Fights on Ships

[Paul Andrew King]

>  > Minaryth's speech might be part of that,
>
>Not sure what you're getting at here. (I do notice that Minaryth
>specifically says at the end of his speech, "we must do something new" -
>an admission perhaps they intend to do some experimental HeroQuesting?)

I was thinking of the speech before the fight.  There is no real 
indication that there are any enemies capable of identifying Kallyr's 
group (Kallyr is using a special magic to identify others on the Ship 
but we don't know of anyone outsider her team having access to it). 
My thought was that such a speech could itself be part of the myth.

>
>>  or it might be that Minaryth
>>  and Kallyr believe that SOMEONE is going to be ambushed and want to
>>  be the ones who start the fight rather than risk being the ones who
>>  get attacked.  Minaryth IS expecting a quick intervention from some
>>  quarter.
>
>That's an interesting idea. A fight *will* break out, and starting it
>might just give them the advantage? (One thing I find odd looking at it
>again is that although the scenario sets up an ambush it gives
>absolutely no thought to the idea that the PCs might succeed at killing
>their foes with one shot, thus preventing the fight from happening.)

I would say rather that it gives little thought to the idea that the 
Heroes might fail to kill or incapacitate their targets.  It does 
state that the victims may fight back if they survive and the intent 
that the crew will attack whatever happens seems clear (although it 
could be read as saying that a perfect first strike would prevent 
that)..

>
>>  My guess would be that either Kallyr expects to be able to beat the
>>  crew and seize the Ship (perhaps based on the story of Vendeni ?) or
>>  expects the fight to go differently (perhaps the crew are "meant" to
>>  subdue the attackers and then maroon them ?).
>
>That would make some sense. Maybe the fact it is Anaxial instead of
>Vendeni defeats her? I do like the idea that the fight is expected, but
>isn't "supposed" to go the way it does.

I think that that makes more sense than most options,  It explains 
why the fight is expected (and there is no other reason given), why 
Danar takes part in the fight even though he is apparently not 
expected at the Dragon Isles and explains how Kallyr expected to get 
to the Isles.  The scene back at Danar's Temple may also be an echo 
of Vendeni's death.

>  > Thinking about this, it seems to me that it would have been good to
>>  supplement the scenario with a description of the Hero Quest itself.
>>  Certainly including notes on the expected course of events (and how
>>  the expectations of Kallyr, Minaryth and Danar differ from the actual
>>  course of events).  It would be even better if we had some
>>  information on another variant or two such as the version Andrega
>>  Silverflame is following.
>
>There is that as well. That would have been useful just from the idea of
>how something with overlapping myths like this is dealt with. Obviously
>the forces opposing are also playing with some variants of the Quest.
>What I find interesting is that the ship is attacked by Sky folk and
>then saved by Angels of Antirius (more sky folk), then attacked by
>Orlanth (!), then Shargash,then the Hippo. The paragraph explaining some
>of the opposition to the ship imply the Lunars involved with the Temple
>of the Reaching Moon are resisting, but how did they enlist Orlanth to
>their cause?

I'm not sure that they did.  Maybe their are Orlanthi opposing some 
of the other Questers

But I really wish that the preceding scenario I heard of hadn't been 
cut.  It involved raiding an orphanage to get children's books of 
Dara Happan myth !
-- 
--
"The T'ang emperors were strong believers in the pills of 
immortality.  More emperors died of poisoning from ingesting minerals 
in the T'ang than in any other dynasty" - Eva Wong _The Shambhala 
Guide to Taoism_

Paul K.