Heroquests

In Glorantha, deities exist in the world of myths and stories, and it is a world that adventurers can visit and even bend to their will. This chapter presents rules for “heroquesting”, the act of entering the realm of the gods, often in order to get access to their power.

Procedure

Here is a summary of the procedure and rules outlined in this chapter:

1. Preparing the Heroquest: Conduct research and gather community support to help with the heroquest.
2. Starting the Heroquest: Perform a “liminal ceremony” to cross over into the God Time. Community support grants magical resources to the heroquesters.
3. Heroquest Type and Power Factor: Decide on the type of heroquest being performed, and the power factor that determines how powerful the entities of the God Time are. Exploring a more powerful and dangerous version of a myth potentially yield greater rewards.
4. Adventure in the God Time: Use the heroquesting rules while adventuring into myths. Try to acquire great gifts, or try to bring great blessings to the community. Use heroquesting techniques to modify the mythical landscape as needed.

Preparing the Heroquest

Research

Characters may spend some time before a heroquest to research the locations, stories, and figures of the myths they want to enter. This is done with a roll under the Lore (domain) skill, with a domain specialty that is appropriate for the upcoming heroquest. Lore (cult) is generally used here, but other specialties like Astrology, Elder Races, or History may also fit, albeit with a penalty (gamemaster’s choice).

Modifiers for the roll include:

• Extra week of research: +20%
• Access to a relevant minor/major temple’s archives: +20%/+40%

The outcome of the roll provides a modifier to the Liminal Ceremony (see following), as per the helping rules (see the Game System chapter).

Community Support

Support from a community or group of people is probably the most important factor for success in a heroquest. The gamemaster and players can figure out how many people show up as support for a heroquest. If needed, the following rules may be used.

Choose an appropriate passion for the community to call upon. Determine the Community Size (total adult population for a clan or tribe, member count for a temple, etc.) and split it between Followers and Peers. Followers regard at least one of the adventurers as a leader or influential figure. Peers regard at least one of the adventurers as an equal that should be assisted.

Then, roll under the passion. Modifiers include:

• Community survival at stake: +40%
• Community would benefit greatly, at moderate risk: +20%
• Community would only marginally benefit, or risk is too high: –20%
• Preparation time is at least equal to Community Size divided by 200 in weeks: +20%
• Preparation time is less than Community Size divided by 500 in weeks: –20% to –60%

The roll determines the amount of support among the community:

• Critical Success: All Followers, Half of Peers
• Success: Half of Followers, 1/10th of Peers
• Failure: 1/10th of Followers, 1/10th of Peers
• Fumble: 1/10th of Followers, no Peers

These are the number of people who participate in the Liminal Ceremony (see following) and provide the adventurers with magical support. Round these numbers down.

A group of adventurers may be able to make more than one community support roll if they manage to call upon multiple communities. The gamemaster should check that people aren’t double-counted if these communities overlap.

Starting the Heroquest

Liminal Ceremony

The usual way to enter a Heroquest is to perform a liminal ceremony. This requires one officiant (generally a priest or shaman) to cast the Liminal Ceremony spell. This is a Rune spell of power level 2, generally accessible only to Runemasters (see the Magic chapter). It requires an hour-long ritual.

Each adventurer willing to cross over must make an appropriate Cult Rituals roll. Modifiers include:

• Previous experience with this heroquest: +20%
• Relevant sacred or magical artefact: +20% per artefact
• Appropriate costume, mask, props: +5% to +20%
• Ceremony located on a magical road or sacred site: +20%
• Ceremony organized at a minor/major/great temple: +20%/+40%/+60%
• Ceremony at a sanctified or unsanctified other site: –20%/–40%

Usual Ritual Preparation bonuses apply (see the Magic chapter).

The results of the Cult Rituals roll are:

• Critical Success: Gain +1D3 Hero Points, +1D6 MP, and the ability to identify (Ceremonial Identification).
• Success: Gain the ability to identify (Ceremonial Identification).
• Failure: Halve the Community Size for magical support.
• Fumble: Lose -1D6 MP, divide the Community Size by 10 for magical support.

Hero Points and Magic Points gained here are temporary and may exceed the adventurer’s normal maxima. Unspent points expire at the end of the heroquest.

Magical Support

Adventurers get magical resources from Community Support (see previously):

Population	Community Size	Hero Points	Magic Points
10-49	1	1D3 – 1	1D6
50-99	2	1D3	2D6
100-199	3	1D6	3D6
200-499	3	2D6	4D6
500-999	5	3D6	5D6
1000-1999	6	4D6	6D6
2000-4999	7	5D6	7D6
5000-9999	8	6D6	8D6
10000-19999	9	7D6	9D6
20000-49999	10	8D6	10D6
50000-99999	11	9D6	11D6
Every double	+1	+1D6	+1D6

Hero Points and Magic Points are temporary and shared between all the participants. The points expire at the end of the heroquest.

Sidelining

It is alternatively possible to be pulled into a heroquest without having performed a liminal ceremony. This happens if the heroquest is a “This World” heroquest (see Heroquest Types), is already in progress, and heroquesters interact with the characters or are near them.

The gamemaster may ask non-participant characters to roll under their POW×5. Current Hero Points also add to POW (see Heroquest Resources, following). This roll gets the following modifiers:

• Recently cast spirit magic: +5% per MP spent
• Recently cast Rune magic: +20% per Rune spell power level, and +5% per MP spent
• Helping, fighting, or otherwise directly interacting with heroquesters: +20%

On a success, that non-participant is pulled into the heroquest as a faceless figure (see Figure Types, following), in the most appropriate role given their recently cast magic and current interactions with the heroquest.

Transitioning into a Heroquest

The transition into the heroquest varies based on the cult, the temple, the priest, and many other factors. There is always a threshold to be crossed, whether obvious or subtle. In some cases, the characters may step through fire, smoke, the opening of a cave, or the entrance of a temple. Other times the ceremony may be encircled with fog, later revealing a different lanscape. Or the heroquest participants may have to jump from a cliff, or summon a large spirit beast to carry them away.

Heroquest Basics

Once the Heroquest has started, the participants experience the Hero Plane, the intersection between the Mundane World and the God Time. This lets mortals experience the divine without being immortal. In practice, Hero Plane and God Time can be used interchangeably.

Unlike the physical world, the world of myths is made of stories. The usual rules, which simulate the reality of a character’s strength or weight, do not apply anymore. The logic of narration dominates the God Time, and the following rules take over.

Time in a Heroquest

Time doesn’t pass in the same way in the God Time as it does in the Mundane World. Myths use Narrative Time. Actions last for a scene and then launch another scene. The gamemaster decides what “a scene” is.

• Spirit Magic lasts for one roll.
• Rune Magic lasts for a scene. Extensible spells may be extended to one more scene for each extra power level.
• Natural Healing and Magic Point recovery does not work unless the story features an explicit scene of downtime. If the scene is a short pause, only half of the points are recovered. If the scene is a long break between other narrative beats, all points are recovered.

Heroquest Types

There are different ways to run a Heroquest. They are described below, and may often be mixed and matched.

Cult Ceremony

These are formulaic heroquests defined by a cult. Participants are safely guided via ritual traditions. These heroquests are hand-waved in the game, such as holy-day worship or obtaining a new Rune spell, because the characters simply follow along.

This World

The participants adventure in the Mundane World, bringing down the God Time to them. Normal rules apply, instead of the rules described in this section.

To other people, the heroquesters look like participants in a religious ceremony, wearing the masks and costumes of their gods, haloed with potent magic. Any character that didn’t “cross over” (in the same liminal ceremony or their own) is an unnamed, faceless figure in the heroquest (see Figure Types, following). Heroquesters may interact with “normal” people and things as expected, but they run the risk of pulling them into the Heroquest unexpectedly (see Sidelining, previously).

Usually, heroquesters eventually “disappear” from the physical world and go into the God Time, as with an “Other World” heroquest (see below). This transition is mostly driven by the gamemaster and cannot be controlled.

The main goal of a This World heroquest is to separate the location of the liminal ceremony from the entrance into the God Time. Large amounts of community support are more easily obtained if the ceremony is held in a city temple, but that temple only provides a single entry into the God Time (see Starting Location, following). Heroquesters who want a different specific entry point may start a This World heroquest from that city temple, and then head out to the entry point, especially if it happens to be in a remote or dangerous location.

Example: Arim and his friends start a heroquest at the local Orlanth temple, but head out into the world towards a local mountain. They follow a trail up to a well-known site sacred to Orlanth. As they near the summit, the gamemaster describes the transition into the God Time: they walk through thick clouds, and emerge above them to find wind spirits greeting them. At the top, a giant four-armed blue King drinks and laughs with a band of bearded warriors. Arim recognizes his god and lengthens his pace.

Other World

The participants venture into the God Time itself and are no longer found in the physical plane. This may happen immediately after the liminal ceremony ritual (see Transitioning into a Heroquest), or after travelling some distance as part of a This World heroquest (see previously).

Sequential Heroquest

Particularly long heroquests may be broken up into smaller ones. Participants may keep any unspent temporary Hero and Magic Points, but replenish them with a new liminal ceremony.

God Time Entry Point

Heroquesters who enter the God Time may find themselves in very different locations, times, situations, and stories. This depends on the way they transitioned into their Other World heroquest (see previously).

Cult Temple

A heroquest that enters the God Time directly from a liminal ceremony held at a temple ends up in the mythic home of the temple’s deity. This is sometimes called a “vertical heroquest”, since the characters effectively “ascend” from their temple to meet their gods.

There is usually no initial situation: the heroquesters enter the god’s place of power, at the “canonical time” of their reign or similar.

Example: A vertical heroquest from an Ernalda temple starts in the Green Age, amid the Earth Mother’s garden palace.

Sacred Site

The heroquest starts at the corresponding location in the God Time. If the site is known for a particular event, the heroquesters appear shortly before it happens, allowing them to witness or participate in it.

Magical Road

A magical road is a way for heroquesters to travel very quickly between important sites. These roads generally follow the itinerary of some God Time myth. Following them is much faster than travelling the physical world as part of a “This World” heroquest, but also more dangerous since whatever happened in the original myth may be encountered by the characters.

Magical roads allow jumping from one mountain to another, going between the sites of an notable God Time battle, and so on.

Sanctified Place

A heroquest starting from a liminal ceremony performed at a site prepared with the Sanctify Place spell is quite unstable. Unless the site has some mythic significance that anchors it somewere in the God Time, it’s very likely that the heroquesters are sent in a semi-random myth, possibly influenced by nearby spirits. This is a dangerous way to start a heroquest.

Heroquest Resources

Power Factor

The gods don’t have fixed ability scores: they have all possible ability scores, including infinite ability scores. It all depends what version of these gods exist in the myth being experienced in the heroquest. This is defined by the Power Factor of the heroquest.

A weak power factor means that the myth is easier to navigate to its desired end, but also that any magical boons acquired from it are equally weak. A high power factor will feature powerful entities and hard challenges, but will also grant powerful gifts.

A heroquest’s power factor is chosen by the person casting the Liminal Ceremony Rune spell that starts the heroquest. The ability scores of the spirits, monsters, and other challenges encountered in the following heroquest are set by the gamemaster based on the story (see The Structure of Myths, following), but within a range defined by the heroquest’s power factor:

Heroquest Power Factor	Opposing Abilities	Opposing Damage	Opposing MP/DP
1	40% – 100%	1 – 1D6	1D6 – 3D6
2	60% – 140%	1D3 – 2D6	2D6 – 4D6
3	80% – 180%	1D6 – 3D6	3D6 – 5D6
4	100% – 220%	2D6 – 4D6	4D6 – 6D6
+1	+20% – +40%	+1D6	+1D6

Example: In a power factor 5 heroquest, an ancient river spirit may have up to 260% in its Water Rune, dealing up to 5D6 damage.

Magic Points

While in the God Time, the adventurers’ life line is their personal Magic Points. This a shamans’ fetch’s POW, but not any POW storage crystals, bound spirits, or temporary points from Magical Support (see previously). Violence in the God Time deals damage to MP.

If a character reaches 0 MP, they must make a POW×5 roll:

• Critical Success: They may continue the heroquest, albeit on the brink of exhaustion, at 1 MP.
• Success: They collapse and lie dead or disabled inside the myth until someone or something comes to the rescue.
• Failure: They get ejected from the myth and appear in the mundane world at some place of correspondence. Any excess MP injury below zero materializes as HP injury. Also, roll on the Magical Wound table.
• Fumble: The adventurer dies and their soul is captured by Chaos, tormented for timeless eternities. Their mind, body, spirit, energy, and memory are obliterated.

D20	Magical Wound
1-8	The adventurer’s community suffers a bad fate this season (roll a D6; 1: natural disaster or crop failures; 2: raids from community enemies; 3: bad spirits; 4: one deity’s blessings and magic stops working; 5-6: Chaos attacks!)
9-10	Lose 1D6 POW
11-12	Lose 1D6 points of Rune magic
13-14	Lose 1D3 from a characteristic (roll a D6; 1: STR; 2: CON; 3: DEX; 4: SIZ; 5: INT; 6: CHA)
15-16	Lose –20% in the adventurer’s highest Passion.
17-18	Lose –20% in the adventurer’s highest Rune.
19-20	Gain a cult geas (if the adventurer’s cult has no geases, make one up that fits their deity)

Determination Points

Where Magic Points represent a character’s life essence in the heroquest, Determination Points represent their psyche. A lot of spirits and entities deal DP damage rather than MP damage.

If a character reaches 0 DP, they must make a roll under a passion that drives the need for the heroquest:

• Critical Success: The character may continue the heroquest, albeit with only a thread of motivation and emotional strength, at 1 DP.
• Success: The character becomes a faceless mortal in the heroquest. They lose all Identifications and abandon any goals. They lie aimless and unmotivated, at 0 DP, until someone or something comes to the rescue.
• Failure: The character gets ejected from the myth and appears in the mundane world at some place of correspondence. Also, roll on the Magical Despair table.
• Fumble: The adventurer’s soul is forever lost in myths, an empty husk that will soon be invaded by Chaos and puppeteered to nefarious ends.

D20	Magical Despair
1-8	The adventurer’s community suffers a bad fate this season (roll a D6; 1: natural disaster or crop failures; 2: raids from community enemies; 3: bad spirits; 4: one deity’s blessings and magic stops working; 5-6: Chaos attacks!)
9-10	Lose 1D6 CHA
11-12	Lose 1D6 INT
13-14	Lose 1D6 points of Rune magic
15-16	Lose –20% in the adventurer’s highest Passion.
17-18	Lose –20% in the adventurer’s highest Rune.
19-20	Gain a cult geas (if the adventurer’s cult has no geases, make one up that fits their deity)

Hero Points

Hero Points are a new resource that can only be obtained during heroquests. They represent a character’s lasting presence, outside of Time, into the world’s myths. They also allow a character to be worshipped by others.

Obtaining Hero Points

After any scene or encounter in a heroquest, a participant may sacrifice a point of POW and gain a Hero Point.

This is effectively them “leaving a mark” in the God Time. A little part of the heroquester’s soul will be forever present in the myth in which they sacrificed their POW. With enough POW sacrificed in the same place, they may be met in that myth by other heroquesters! If this must be determined in play, the gamemaster may roll a D100 under the sacrificed POW times 5.

Example: Illostan the Trickster has heroquested the myth of Eurmal stealing Yelm’s Throne Pillow multiple times. Each time, he sacrificed POW, for a total of 8 points so far. If other characters enter this myth, they may encounter Illostan’s Hero Soul by rolling under 45%. This echo of Illostan usually does one of the things the “real” Illostan did previously.

Example: Jar-Eel the Razoress is a Lunar heroine who was bred and raised to be the “inpiration of Moonson”, the executive will of the Red Goddess in the world. She has spent all her life exploring the mythical landscape of Peloria, training her magical skills and acquiring many divine gifts. She is one of the most powerful beings on Glorantha. After sacrificing 2 points of POW per season on average into the God Time, at age 25 she has more than 200 Hero Points at her disposal.

Using Hero Points

Each Hero Point may be used in the God Time for one of the following:

• Get +20% to any ability, even after rolling. This may change the outcome and success level of the roll.
• Trigger a Heroquest Gift.
• Power a Heroquest Technique.

In the physical world, Hero Points may only be used for:

• Trigger a Heroquest Gift.

In both the God Time and the physical world, current personal Hero Points are always added to POW, including for casting and resisting magic spells.

Replenishing Hero Points

Hero Points are replenished by having other people worship the adventurer. How they obtain such followers is up to the gamemaster and the players to determine during the game, along with what holy day the adventurer may be associated with.

The personal cult of an adventurer may be:

• Cult Hero: Small-scale heroquesters are treated as cult heroes based on what they feats they accomplished, or what gifts they brought back. They are worshipped during the holy-days of their parent cult.

• Sub-cult: Larger heroes may be considered important enough to have their own sub-cult. They may get a few dedicated shrines or temples, but in most cases they would be worshipped along with the parent cult. They may have their own holy-day.

• Dedicated Cult: Few heroes get to this level during their lifetime, but it does happen (e.g. Harrek and Jar-Eel are such examples). Such characters are worshipped as living gods, or living avatars of pre-existing gods. They have their own cult hierarhcy, temples, and holy-days.

The following table shows how many Hero Points a character replenishes based on the number of regular worshippers they have. This includes both lay-members and, if applicable, initiates and above.

Worshipers	Hero Points Replenished
10 – 49	1D3 – 2 / year
50 – 99	1D3 – 1 / year
100 – 199	1D3 / year
200 – 499	1D6 / year
500 – 999	1D3 / season
1000 – 1999	1D6 / season
2000 – 4999	1D3 / week
5000 – 9999	1D6 / week
10000 – 19999	2D6 / week
20000 – 49999	1D6 / day
50000 – 99999	2D6 / day
Every double	+1D6 / day

Example: Illostan helped liberate the city of Solung from the raiding Manirian tribes of King Graymane. He and his fellow adventurers are celebrated every year during the anniversary celebrations of this victory. But out of the 2,000 inhabitants, less than 200 actually sacrifice to these characters, so Illostan only gets 1D3 Hero Points back once a year on that date.

Example: The Lunar heroine Jar-Eel the Razoress is worshipped throughout most of the Lunar Heartlands, as an associated or sub-cult of the Seven Mothers. The Lunar Heartlands have about 5.7 million people, of which two thirds are adults, and maybe one-fifth of those occasionally pray to Jar-Eel. That’s about 750,000 worshippers at any time, worth 5D6 Hero Points replenished every day.

Mastery Rune

The Mastery Rune allows Heroquest participants to manipulate the mythic landscape, its inhabitants, and their own soul. It is basically synonymous with a Heroquesting skill. Roll under the Mastery Rune and spend Hero Points to use Heroquest Techniques.

An adventurer’s starting Mastery Rune is equal to their POW in most cultures. In the Lunar Heartlands and most Lunar cities in the Provinces, the starting Mastery Rune is equal to POW plus the one-fifth of the Moon Rune. Other cultures may also have different starting scores.

Adventuring in the God Time

Myths are stories, and as such, the simulationist rules that govern the adventurers’ actions in the physical world do not apply there. The basics of playing in the God Time are described in this section.

The Structure of Myths

The gamemaster and players should keep a few things in mind while heroquesting:

• It’s about the story. While players do indeed play a story at the table when adventuring around Glorantha, the adventurers actually play a story within a story when they participate in a God Time myth. This means that the gamemaster may sometimes set the difficulty of rolls based on whether the story benefits from getting easier or harder during that scene, and not on the “perceived reality” of the situation.

• Myths are like rivers. There are multiple versions of every myth. Various cultures, Elder Races, or worshippers might tell the same story in very different ways. All these versions exist and may be experienced in the God Time, like the various tributaries of a river. The more niche and localized variants of a myth are easy to change, like a shallow stream. The main versions, told and retold over centuries by millions of people, are much harder to divert, like a large powerful river.

• Personal experience is the root of magic. When the characters play through the story of a myth, wearing the masks of the protagonist gods and spirits, they experience first-hand the way these gods and spirits used their powers in the God Time, when magic was palpable. They can then take some of that magic back into the physical world, in the form of new and possibly unique spells or abilities. The key is to find the right myths and modify them as needed to get the desired magic.

• Myths exist outside of Time. The stories of the God Time predate actual Time, by definition, and don’t always make sense as a whole. Each story has causal logic within itself, which makes them understanadable and playable, but another story that is supposed to happen “before” it may contains elements that could only logically exist “after” it, for instance.

• The strands of Fate often connect. The cosmos sometimes bridges two or more heroquests into one, when they happen to be traversing the same or similar story. For instance, two groups of heroquesters may meet, each playing the antagonist in the other’s story, if they entered the myth from different points of view. And since experiences of the God Time are atemporal, these heroquesters may actually be from different periods.

Runes and Skills

In an Other World heroquest, only the following abilities are used:

• Runes: the stories in Glorantha’s myths are ultimately about the struggle between archetypes of the Runes, which define the fabric of reality. A character’s Rune affinities allow them to play the role of these archetypes, influence the stories, and make up new ones. Each Rune may be used for any aspect associated with it. For instance, the Darkness Rune is used for hiding or being silent, and the Movement Rune is used for running fast. See the Runes chapter for more information.

• Passions: a character’s motivations are still felt and called upon on the other side, especially when they are the reason to heroquest in the first place. Passions can be used for scene augments as usual.

• INT, CHA, POW: a character’s physical characteristics (STR, DEX, SIZ, CON) are of no consequence in the world of stories, so only their mental, social, and spiritual characteristics matter.

• Skills: in some cases, a few skills may be used in the God Time. See the Identification technique for more details.

Ability Rolls

In the world of myths, just as in the physical world, a character may accomplish things by rolling under an appropriate ability. Often, these are opposed rolls against an entity, a spirit, or an embodied abstract concept.

Ability rolls usually use one of the character’s Runes, whichever one is appropriate for the action (see the Runes chapter for what each Rune is associated with). However, even though the character is in a world of myths, they are limited to what they can otherwise do on their own in the mundane world. They may be able to do it better, but they can’t do new things. For instance, a character may use the Movement Rune to jump down a tall cliff (something they can do in the physical plane, only from short heights) but they cannot, for instance, teleport. Doing this requires using magic.

Modifiers to ability rolls include:

• Unfamiliar myth, landscape, or entity: –20%
• Entirely foreign myth, landscape, or entity: –40%
• Familiar myth or known situation: +20%
• Helpful or friendly entity: +20% or +40%

Mythic Combat

While most situations can be played with a single opposed roll, facing off with a mythic figure may warrant a Mythic Combat scene. These are similar to Spirit Combat or Social Encounters, depending on the sort of confrontation, and the type of entity being faced.

Violent entities that emulate physical fights, such as sword-wielding storm gods and berserker trolls, deal MP damage. Tests of resilience, riddles-giving sphynxes, or negotiations with enigmatic spirits deal DP damage. Many God Time entities have unique and weird powers.

Mythic combat is played in rounds, with each round pitting both parties against each other with an opposed roll. There is always one main character in each party doing this roll. Other characters may only help (see the Game System chapter for the help rules).

The main roll is usually an appropriate Rune roll:

• Critical Success: The player chooses between dealing critical magic or social damage, and dealing normal magic or social damage ignoring any armor.
• Success: The character deals normal spirit or social damage.
• Failure: The character fails to affect the opposing party.
• Fumble: The character immediately loses the mythic combat, unless the other party also fumbled.

The winner of the opposed roll may choose to have each party dealing their damage according to their rolls, or to block incoming damage with their own. If so, the following happens:

• The winner’s damage is subtracted from the opponent’s damage.
• If all of the opponent’s damage was countered, the opponent does not deal any magic or social damage. The winner’s excess damage is dealt to the opponent.
• If some of the opponent’s damage was left uncountered, they deal the excess to the winner.

Critical spirit or magic damage is equal to maximum damage plus rolled damage.

Just as it is on the physical plane, few creatures in the God Time will fight in Mythic Combat until someone drops to zero MP or DP.

Example: The adventurers seek the advice of one of Dayzatar’s Zenith Sages. They must first demonstrate their mental discipline by standing in meditation on one foot at the top of the Spike, for as many ages as there are. The gamemaster decides that this is a Mythic Combat dealing DP damage, against an ability of 40% that increases by +20% every round, representing the growing distractions of the God Time as it plunges into the Gods War and the invasion of Chaos. The players can’t deal damage back, but they can use their own damage to protect themselves.

Mythic Contests

Some challenges are not about beating an opponent in a Mythic Combat, but would still benefit from a dramatic series of rolls, instead of just one opposed roll. These are Mythic Contests.

The gamemaster sets the contest’s length, and how many successes the adventurers must get:

Mythic Contest Length	Required Successes	Steps	Total Attempts
Short	2	3	3
Medium	3	4	5
Long	4	5	7

The gamemaster must also provide the players with a description of the steps to complete. Sometimes, all steps are known from the beginning. In other cases, only the first steps are known, and the rest are discovered during the contest. The number of steps is however always known.

Example: The adventurers, identified as Orlanth and members of his Storm Tribe, are trying to steal an item called the Sandals of Darkness from a Darkness spirit called Elvor. The gamemaster decides on a medium contest, which means 4 steps, requiring 3 successes in 5 actions or less. The first two steps are to travel to Elvor’s workshop, and get past the spirits guarding the place. The gamemaster will reveal the other steps later: identify the correct pair of magical sandals out of a collection of various ones with different powers, and of course escape the place without getting caught.

Casting Spells

The effects of Rune and Spirit Magic are different in an Other World Heroquest. They are all standardized as follows:

• Ability Modifiers: Spells that boost skills only ever give +20% to that skill per stacked Rune Point, +5% per Magic Point. Alternatively, the spell gives +5% per Rune Point, or +1% per Magic Point, to an appropriate Rune (e.g. if the character didn’t bring that skill to the Other Side) Spells that give penalties to skills similarly give –20%, –5%, or –1%.

• Characteristic Modifiers: Spells that modify characteristics that don’t exist in the God Time (DEX, STR, CON, SIZ) instead give a 20% modifier to the appropriate Rune.

• MOV and Initiative: Spells that boost MOV or Initiative simply let the caster act before the others, and avoid an opponent’s actions in an opposed roll if they win the entire contest that round.

• Damage: Spells that cause or boost damage give +2 Spirit Damage per Rune Power Level, or +1 per Magic Point.

• Armor: Spells that boost armor give +2 Spirit Armor per Rune Power Level, or +1 per Magic Point.

• Duration: Spirit Magic lasts for one roll. Rune Magic lasts for a scene. Extended spells are kept active for one extra scene per power level spent on the extension.

• Gamemaster’s Decision: The other non-mechanical effects of spells apply as appropriate for the scene.

Note that all spells may still be resisted by their target with a POW roll as usual. Remember that current Hero Points add to POW.

Heroquest Gifts

One of the main points of heroquesting is to acquire special abilities from the deities and spirits of the God Time. This section provides rules for these gifts.

Heroquest Approach

There are two approaches for acquiring heroquest gifts:

• Natural Divine Power: These gifts are when a deity grants a part of their power to the character. They are basically like custom, unique versions of Rune magic spells. The character must enter one of their god’s myths, identify with that god, and experience that god accomplishing some feat. In return, they can accomplish that feat too in the Mundane World.

• Stolen Power: These gifts are stolen from a deity, spirit, or other mythical entity. A character must go in the God Time and acquire the desired power by any mean necessary. This can be done while identified with a known figure, or not.

The advantage of a Stolen Power over a Natural Divine Power is that the former may be anything, while the latter may only be something that fits within the purview of the god being identified with. The disadvantage is that a Stolen Power is often not as good as the “original” that worshippers have access to, and may be activated by a Rune that a character doesn’t have, or at a low rating.

Stolen Powers have a –2 modifier to the Gift Power Factor (see “Gift Type and Power”, following).

Example: Orlanth worshippers may gain access to the Dark Walk spell if they follow the myth of their god stealing the sandals of darkness from a Darkness spirit called Elvor. However, trolls get access to a more powerful version of that magic, since they can more easily acquire it as a Natural Divine Power. They achieve that because, being Darkness worshippers, it’s easier for them to identify with a Darkness entity.

Heroquest Challenge

A heroquest gift is always acquired through some kind of challenge. It is either a Mythic Combat, or a Mythic Contest (see previously). The gamemaster must clearly announce which kind of challenge the adventurers face, and agree with the players on its details, as follows.

The opposing ability score(s) for the challenge must be equal to the upper end of the heroquest power factor opposing abilities range.

If a Mythic Contest is used, modify the Gift Power Factor as follows (see “Gift Type and Power”, following):

Mythic Contest Length	Power Factor
Short	–1
Medium	0
Long	+1

If the heroquest gift is to be Rune magic, it is activated by a Rune. This Rune is determined by the gamemaster, depending on the heroquest approach:

• With a natural divine power, the Rune is one of those associated with the deity being identified with. The gamemaster decides which one.

• With a stolen power, the Rune is one of those associated with the entity being stolen from. The gamemaster decides which one. Players may also name a “lesser Rune” to associate the heroquest gift with. If the gamemaster agrees, the gift, as obtained, is associated to this lesser Rune, but loses –2 power factor, and may (if appropriate) also be limited in some way.

Example: Elvor’s sandals of darkness are normally associated with the Darkness Rune, since they allow the wearer to become hidden. The player of an Orlanthi character with no Darkness Rune wants to instead associate it with the Movement Rune. The gamemaster agrees, reminding the player that this will decrease the gift’s power factor by –2. She also decides that, being tied to Movement, this version of the gift requires the caster to always be moving. That is, the character will be hidden unless they become stationary.

Wager Power Factor

Before starting the challenge, the players must wager part or all of one (or more) of their adventurer’s abilities. The more risk they put on the line, the higher the reward, expressed as a modifier to the heroquest’s power factor (see Starting the Heroquest, previously).

Wager	Power Factor
Skill (20%)	+1
Rune/Passion (20%)	+2
Characteristic (1 pt.)	+2

Example: an adventurer waging 60% of their Listen skill gives a power factor modifier of +3. Waging 2 points of STR is worth +4 to the power factor.

Gift Type and Power

If the adventurers win the challenge, they gain a heroquest gift that corresponds to the special ability stolen from, granted by, or otherwise acquired from the opposed figure. If the adventurer is beaten, they lose the waged amount in the chosen ability.

The Heroquest Gift Power is equal to the heroquest’s power factor, modified by:

• The Mythic Contest length modifier (–1 for short, +1 for long, 0 for medium or if using Mythic Combat)
• The approach modifier (zero for natural divine powers, –2 for stolen powers)
• The wager power factor

Example: Challenging an entity (stealing its power, power factor –2) that possesses a score of 180% (power factor 3) by waging 40% of a Rune (power factor 4) will possibly grant a new Heroquest Gift of Power 5. If however the character is identifying with that entity, facing against challenge scores of 180%, with the same wager, the Heroquest Gift would be of Power 7.

Gift Power may be allocated as follows:

Gift Type	Gift Power Cost
Equivalent to 1-point Rune Magic	+1
Equivalent to 5-point One-Use Rune Magic	+1
+5% to Rune	+1
+20% to Skill	+1
+1 to Characteristic (ignores species maximum)	+1

Example: Jartar, while identified with Yelmalio, wins a Power 9 Heroquest Gift after beating a powerful Underworld demon who had eaten one of the Sky Captinas. The gift is related to some special abiltiy this Sky Captain has, and that Yelmalio brings back into the world. The gift could be a very powerful (but very costly) 7-point Rune magic spell that the Sky Captain yields. It could also be a +35% increase to a Rune (the Sky Captain has Fire/Sky, Harmony, and Movement), or +140% to a Skill (the Sky Captain knows Battlefield, Spear, Battlefield), or +7 to a Characteristic (the Sky Captain is known for his SIZ and STR).

Example: Actually, Jartar fought this Underworld demon because its followers opened a sink-hole near his tribe’s lands, and are threatening to attack his city. He only needs a one-time feat of powerful magic to repel the demon army and close the sink-hole. A Power 7 Heroquest Gift can deliver a spell that is equivalent to a 35-points Rune spell. This should do it. He gathers his tribe to replenish enough Hero Points to cast this spell, as the demon army comes pouring out of the ground.

Using Gifts

Some heroquest gifts are always active, others must be activated.

Bonuses to Runes, skills, or characteristics are always active. The character simply raised their abilities in a magic way.

Gifts that are equivalent to Rune magic must be activated with a Rune ability roll, just like Rune magic. The appropriate Rune was determined at the beginning of the heroquest challenge (see “Heroquest Challenge”, previously). A number of Hero Soul points must also be spent, according to the Gift Power Cost (see “Gift Type and Power”, previously).

Unlike standard Rune magic, where each spell was sacrificed for separately, with their own points to activate, heroquesting gifts are all activated by the adventurer’s Hero Soul points.

Like standard Rune magic, a critical success with the Rune roll activates the gift for free. A fumble fails to activate it but spends its Hero Soul cost.

Other Gifts

Sometimes a challenge is not issued to obtain a Heroquest Gift but something else. For instance, lifting some magical curse that fell on a community, capturing a forgotten cult spirit, or obtaining some blessing. The gamemaster and players should agree on how the gift’s power matches the desired prize.

Other times, the Heroquest Gift is just subject to limitations. For instance, the magic or ability bonuses only work through a holy item that may be given, stolen, or destroyed. In that case, the Gift Power is multiplied by 2.

Example: Jartar actually cut the demon’s horns from its head, and mounted them on a helmet. They provide the wearer with +14 STR, since it’s a Power 7 gift doubled to Power 14 for being tied to a helmet that must be worn.

Community Gifts

Often, Heroquests are undertaken for the benefit of the community, instead of personal gain. If the gift was not for the adventurers to keep and use, the participants roll against their Passion for that community. On a success or better, they gain +1D6%. On a failure or worse, they gain +1D6% plus the base Gift Power.

Example: Jartar brings a Heroquest Gift in the form of a Power 7 Light Beacon, a tall staff with a light that shines brightest in the darkest of nights. It has the power to Demoralize trollkins in a 1 kilometer radius. He donates it to his clan’s village. Rolling Loyalty (clan), he gives a grand speech on the market place, and he gets a failure. The D6 roll comes up as a 4, so he gains +12% in the Loyalty (clan) Passion.

Heroquest Techniques

Heroquest Techniques are the most important tool for heroquesteres. They allow manipulating the stories of the myths, turning them into exactly what the adventurers need to accomplish their goals.

Adventurers can learn Heroquest Techniques with experience, or the right teacher. Most cultures teach at least one or two techniques during adulthood or cult initiation. However, many techniques were lost at the beginning of the Third Age, following the cataclysmic collapse of the God Learners. They built their empire using mass-scale heroquesting. After their fall, heroquesting was often associated with an abuse of divine magic, and most people destroyed records and knowledge of heroquesting, beyond the paths used for regular worship and well-known Rune magic. Now, with the Hero Wars almost upon them, some people are re-discovering these techniques.

Learning Heroquest Techniques

Most adventurers know the Identification technique from their cultural upbringing: this is a standard technique used during adulthood and cult initiations, and when learning Rune Magic.

For other Heroquest Techniques, adventurers must find a teacher willing to share their knowledge, a lost parchment of the God Learners, or other mean. The price is usually high and custom. Many techniques are hard to find, or even forbidden, in some cultures. Finding a way to learn a technique should in most cases be a whole adventure!

To learn a Heroquest Technique, the adventurer must spend one week of Downtime with their teacher, and then make a roll under the Mastery Rune. Ritual Preparation bonuses apply as usual, along with personal Hero Points. If the technique is learned from ancient manuscripts or other indirect method, the gamemaster may require other rolls (such as an appropriate Read/Write skill roll) to not have penalties to the Mastery Rune roll.

On a Mastery Rune success, sacrifice a point of POW. The technique is now learned. The character may attempt this once per week until they achieve success.

Using Heroquest Techniques

To use a Heroquest Technique, an adventurer must have at least one unspent Hero Point, and roll under their Mastery Rune:

• Critical Success: The Technique takes effect immediately, and no Hero Points need spending.
• Success: spend a Hero Point. The Technique takes effect immediately.
• Failure: The Technique fails.
• Fumble: The Technique fails. Spend a Hero Point regardless.

List of Heroquest Techniques

Change

Taught By: Arkati, God Learners, Mystics, Shamans.

This technique allows changing an entity, or group of entities, incrementally. If the roll is successful, the heroquester may add or change one term in the entity’s description. For example, an unnamed “warrior” may become a “flying warrior” or a “troll warrior”.

The change cannot contradict what was already established. A “flying warrior” cannot become a “flying baboon”, but it may become a “flying warrior baboon”.

The same entity may only be changed once per scene. However, spending extra Hero Points allows making more than one change in the same roll.

Group Change

Spending extra Hero Points allows affecting more than one entity. The table below gives some guidance to the gamemaster, although this guidance is vague on purpose.

Extra Hero Points	Entities Affected
+1	Small group
+2	Large group
+3	Tribe or small city
+4	Large city or small nation
+5	Large nation

Example: using a Change technique stacked with 4 Hero Points allows turning a “city of gardens” into a “city of gardens caught in a drought”.

Change Contest

Two heroquesters may be fighting to change the same entity or group of entities. In that case, compare the two Mastery Rune rolls as opposed rolls. The winner’s Change applied, and the loser’s is discarded.

Clarification

Taught By: Kralori, Orlanthi, Pelorians, Praxians, Westerners.

This technique allows changing which variant of a myth is being experienced. When used, a player may temporarily take narrative control to specify (before the fact) or correct (just after the fact) some detail about the story.

Example: Arim enters a myth where Orlanth call forth the rain to wash away the blood of a recent battle. However, Arim needs to make sure this is a version of the story in which Orlanth asks his good friend Heler to summon the rain, because the presence of Heler is required for what Arim wants. Arim uses the Clarification technique to ensure this happens.

Identification

Taught By: Orlanthi, Pelorians, Praxians, Hsunshen, Westerners, Kralori.

To identify with a mythic figure and become them in the heroquest, make two rolls as follows:

• Deity: for a god, goddess, spirit, or other mythical figure from the God Time, roll under two of the deity’s Runes.
• Hero or Ancestor: for mortals, roll under one of their main Runes, and one of their most famous skills.

Each roll grants:

• Critical Success: +1 Hero Point (temporary), and choose two cult skills to bring in the God Time.
• Success: choose one skill to bring in the God Time.
• Fumble: lose 1D6 Magic Points.

If the heroquester is allowed to “bring a skill” into the God Time, they may use this skill in place of a Rune or characteristic, if that skill would apply. This is one of the only ways to make use of skills in the God Time.

Players should feel free to invent new minor deities or famous ancestors to identify with. In this case, make a Lore (cult) roll. On a success, the specified figure exists. On a failure, it might but there are some important differences that the gamemaster or other players can introduce. Once an entity has been successfully made up, they become canon.

Unidentified participants appear as faceless figures, followers, or bystanders in the heroquest’s myth.

Ceremonial Identification

The Liminal Ceremony (see previously) may grant a participant the ability to use the Identification technique for free at the start of the Heroquest. This does not require spending a Hero Point or rolling under the Mastery Rune, but may only be used at the very start of the heroquest to identify with the figure whose mask or costume the character is wearing.

Full Identification

Two successful Identification rolls grant the ability to cast any Rune magic of the deity or hero. This includes spells that haven’t been acquired, as long as they’re known to exist by the character. Casting these spells requires either using unspent power levels in these spells, or using Hero Points.

Partial Identification

With only one successful Identification roll, the identification is imperfect. Any Identification Contest, Identification Collision, or Change technique is done with +40% against the adventurer.

Failed Identification

Two failures with Identification rolls results in losing 1D6 Magic Points and 1D6 Determination Points (ignoring any armor).

Identification Collision

If two characters meet in a heroquest while Identified with the same figure, there is an Identification Collision. Unless one gives up their Identification, they must resolve who is the “true” one.

Name the Other’s Identity: Claim who the other character is “really” identified with. This must be a figure that shares the same Runes or skills that this character rolled (i.e. it must be a “compatible” figure).

Re-Identification: Re-roll the two Identification rolls. Whoever gets the most successes wins the Identification. If both characters get the same number of successes, proceed to the next step.

Demonstration Challenge: Each contestant names three of the deity’s Rune spells, and the other must cast them. If one succeeds more castings than the other, they win the Identification. One a tie, the contestants move on to the Trial.

Trial: The other players name and vote on a trial that the contestants must endure. This must be a trial representative of the deity to identify. It may bring an enemy to the scene (typically Chaos, or the deity’s traditional opponents), or any other new elements. Three ability rolls must be made to complete the trial: one for spotting, identifying, or calling out the problem, one for fighting or fixing the problem, and one for repairing or addressing fallout from the problem. If one contestant succeeds more rolls than the other, they win the Identification Contest. In a tie, their souls merge! (more on this following)

Winning the Identification: the contestant keeps their Identification. Any further Identification Contests gain a cumulative +20% to all rolls made during the contest.

Losing the Identification: The contestant loses 1D6 Magic Points and 1D6 Determination Points (ignoring any armor). They are then changed into the alternate identity claimed by their opponent at the beginning of the process. They must do the two Identification rolls to confirm this alternate identity. If they fail these rolls, or refuse the alternate identity, they are demoted to an unnamed and faceless figure.

Soul Merging: If the Identification Collision ends in a tie, the cosmos merges the souls of the contestants and they must cooperate by alternating rolls and decisions. Any disagreement or in-fighting may trigger internal turmoil causing the loss of 1D3 Magic Points and 1D3 Determination Points to both characters (ignoring armor). If one character dies, the Identification is shattered: the other character takes 2D6 Magic Point damage and 2D6 Determination Point damage (ignoring armor), and loses the Identification.

Identification Contest

A common heroquesting tactic is to force an enemy to be identified with a given entity, ideally one against which the participant has special powers.

If the technique is successfully triggered, the target may resist with an opposed POW roll. Then, the technique user names two Runes, or one Rune and one skill, that the target must roll against (depending on whether they want to identify the target with a deity or a mortal hero).

• If the two rolls fail, the identification contest fails and the opponent keeps their previous identification, if any.
• If one roll fails, the identification is imperfect, continue to the Trial.
• If both rolls succeeded, the identification also succeeds and the opponent must accept it.

Trial: The contest’s caller may demonstrate that their forced identification is still valid despite the opponent having managed to fail some of the rolls. Name three things that the opponent possesses, knows, or has done, that match the entity to identify to. The opponent must refute these claims with either fact, witnesses, or a show of the opposite, whatever that is (e.g. failing a Rune roll or characteristic roll, etc.) If needed, opposed rolls decide which side wins each argument.

If two or more demonstrations succeed, the identification contest works and the opponent must accept it. Otherwise, the identification fails and the opponent keeps their previous one, if any.

To render an identified participant back into a faceless figure, see the Refutation Technique.

Mutation

Taught By: God Learners, Westerners

TODO

Ranging

Taught By: Arkati, God Learners, Pelorians, Westerners

Ranging allows leaving a given myth, and joining another. A hint of this other myth must be accessible first (e.g. a place visible in the distance, an appearance from one of the other myth’s characters, etc.)

If Ranging is successful, the mythic landscape and ongoing narration transforms into the new desired myth. The story of this new myth gets picked up where appropriate given how it was entered.

Reduce

Taught By: Westerners

A Technique that helps reduce entities into a simple, inert archetype. The goal is generally to manipulate it with sorcery and logic, without any myth or narrative structure tied to it.

Pick a Rune to remove from the entity. Play through a Mythic Combat against that aspect of the entity, without using any story element to back the action. Upon victory, the sorcerer refines their knowledge of this Rune. For each Power Factor of the current heroquest, the adventurer may add +5% in a Sorcery spell that uses the targeted Rune.

Example: After battling a Power 5 manifestation of a Thunder Brother’s Air Rune, a sorcerer may add +25% in one spell that manipulates Air.

Refute

Taught By: Westerners, Kraloreli

TODO

Tap

Taught By: Westerners

Sorcerers use this technique to leech large amounts of Magic Points from mythic entities.

Play through a Mythic Combat against the entity. Upon victory, the sorcerer obtains a number of Magic Points equal to the entity’s Power Factor multiplied by 10. These Magic Points are only usable to power one sorcery spell using one of the entity’s Runes. The spell also gains a casting bonus equal to the the Power Factor multiplied by 5.

Example: After successfully Tapping a Power 4 manifestation of Ernalda, a sorcery may store 40 MPs tied to the Earth Rune. Using them for any Earth sorcery spell provides +20% to casting it.

Downtime Heroquesting

Create Rune Magic

Once a Heroquest Gift has been obtained, adventurers may want to “secure” the mythic path that leads to it and make it available to other members of the cult. At this point, the gift becomes a special Rune spell provided by the adventurer’s personal sub-cult. That is: cult members are able to worship the adventurer and gain magic from it.

To accomplish this, the adventurer must pick a temple dedicated to themselves or to the deity they represent. If the latter, they must succeed a Loyalty (temple) roll to convince the priests to incorporate some new rituals into their usual practices.

Roll under the Mastery Rune. Hero Points and Ritual Preparation may be used.

• Critical Success: The mythic path is secured!
• Success: The mythic path is secured. Sacrifice one point of POW to leave a presence in the Hero Plane for the temple’s priest to use.
• Failure: The initiative fails. Try again another week.
• Fumble: The heroquesting fails. Lose –1D6 Hero Points, and make a Passion roll for the temple or community surrounding the temple. On a failure, also lose –1D6% in that Passion.

If the initiative succeeds, the temple may now teach the adventurer’s Heroquest Gift as a Rune spell. Consider that a part of the temple’s attendance can now be treated as “followers” for both future Community Support and for Hero Point replenishing.