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Message no. 1
From: steven mancini <mancinis@******.CC.PURDUE.EDU>
Subject: Astral Quests
Date: Fri, 5 Nov 1993 22:16:55 EST
I have derived this citation from *both* editions of the
Grimoire. It appears exactly the same in both books...

Under the "Place of Battle" in Astral Quests there is the
following paragraph:

"In all fairness, astral combat is usually the way to
go if a single magician goes on the quest. If he has two street
samurai with him, then physical combat is more likely."

Once again, under the "Place of Spirits":

" If Mundanes are present, the gamemaster has the option
of making this a physical combat, as in the Place of Battle."

My question is now this: How do Mundanes go on an Astral Quest?

Outside of the Free Spirit Power, Astral Gateway, how the hell
can this be possible?

Yo Doom-meister, please bounce this one off Dowd while you are
at it... please.

Da Minotaur
Message no. 2
From: Richard Pieri <ratinox@***.NEU.EDU>
Subject: Re: Astral Quests
Date: Fri, 5 Nov 1993 22:25:34 EST
>>>>> On Fri, 5 Nov 93 22:16:55 EST, mancinis@******.cc.purdue.edu (steven
>>>>> mancini) said:

mancinis> Outside of the Free Spirit Power, Astral Gateway, how the
mancinis> hell can this be possible?

Exactly.

--
Rat <ratinox@***.neu.edu> Northeastern's Stainless Steel Rat
ask about rat-pgp.el v1.63 PGP Public Key Block available upon request
||| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |||
If you can't take a little bloody nose maybe you ought to go back home and
crawl under your bed. It's not safe out here. It's wonderous, with
treasures to satiate desires both subtle and gross. But it's not for the
timid. --Q
Message no. 3
From: Terry Amburgey <xanth@****.UKY.EDU>
Subject: astral quests
Date: Thu, 8 Jun 1995 11:39:19 -0400
> You don't "have" to spend any karma on spells, once you get initiated.
You
>just go on astral quests for them. Time consuming for hermetics, but any risk
>far out wieghs gain. I could be wrong on this, but I rember it as a quest= to
>force in order to learn the spell, with no Karma cost. A rich mage could buy
>the formulas and avoid doing the fist quest for designing the spell.
>

Sorry, there's no free lunch. An astral quest to the appropriate metaplane
only helps in designing the spell formula. Personally, I find the costs for
'mail order' formulas given in FOF quite reasonable. Its just that designing
your own (and going on an astral quest as part of it) is more fun. Hiring a
tutor with a good 'special skill: teaching' will reduce the target numbers
and lots of high force elementals of the appropriate type will give you more
dice to roll but you have to pay karma to learn spells. Terry


Terry L. Amburgey Office: 606-257-7726
Associate Professor Home: 606-224-0636
College of Business & Economics Fax: 606-257-3577
University of Kentucky
Lexington, KY 40506
Message no. 4
From: Stefan Struck <struck@******.INFORMATIK.UNI-BONN.DE>
Subject: Re: astral quests
Date: Fri, 9 Jun 1995 11:58:02 +0200
Terry wrote:
> Sorry, there's no free lunch. An astral quest to the appropriate metaplane
> only helps in designing the spell formula. Personally, I find the costs for
> 'mail order' formulas given in FOF quite reasonable. Its just that designing
> your own (and going on an astral quest as part of it) is more fun. Hiring a
> tutor with a good 'special skill: teaching' will reduce the target numbers
> and lots of high force elementals of the appropriate type will give you more
> dice to roll but you have to pay karma to learn spells. Terry
I'm not sure that this is right. I found the passage about astral quests in
the grimthingy, too, but it's not clear in my point of view.
If my understanding is right you can use quests for help in spell design OR
you can learn new spells (from your totem, elemental whatever ...) for free.
I'm not sure which one is the right one. Other opinions here?
bye,
Stefan
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Message no. 5
From: Martin Lockert <101374.2470@**********.COM>
Subject: Astral Quests
Date: Thu, 14 Nov 1996 10:42:06 EST
How do you role-play astral quests? What if a magician decides to learn the true
name of a spirit? Do you set up a little extra adventure in another world,
meaning metaplane (like in Harlequin's Back)? If so, what is the rest of your
players doing while you play one-on-one with the mage?

Lurant
Message no. 6
From: "Steven A. Tinner" <bluewizard@*****.COM>
Subject: Re: Astral Quests
Date: Thu, 14 Nov 1996 12:04:15 -0800
> How do you role-play astral quests? What if a magician decides to learn the true
> name of a spirit? Do you set up a little extra adventure in another world,
> meaning metaplane (like in Harlequin's Back)? If so, what is the rest of your
> players doing while you play one-on-one with the mage?

The main thing I ALWAYS include is an encounter with the Dweller on the
Threshold.
I use him to really get under my players skin.
He mocks their feeble spells, and their stupid plans, and generally acts
like an annoying munchkin I once knew. :-)

Then, it really depends on what they;re doing on the quest.
It usually shapes up as a very short adventure, so that the other
players don' get bored.

Steven A. Tinner
Message no. 7
From: Sascha Pabst <Sascha.Pabst@**********.UNI-OLDENBURG.DE>
Subject: Re: Astral Quests
Date: Thu, 14 Nov 1996 22:28:14 +0000
On 14 Nov 96 at 10:42, Martin Lockert wrote:
> How do you role-play astral quests? What if a magician decides to learn the true
> name of a spirit? Do you set up a little extra adventure in another world,
> meaning metaplane (like in Harlequin's Back)? If so, what is the rest of your
> players doing while you play one-on-one with the mage?
Depends on what type of quest it is. On real important quests -like for the
real name of a free spirit - I have a one-on-one session with the magician
alone. This happened just once (and not for a true name, but to uncover a
masking).

We also have one-on-one meetings whenever possible. In example, when a
magician plans to summon a Great Form Nature Spirit/Elemental, we try to have
this happen at the end of a session (or whenever the other players have enough
to do w/o the magician) and play that in between.

If the need for a quest arises in a session, without any breakpoint visible,
we go by straight dice rolls to keep the time as short as possible the other
players have to pause.

But maybe one of you can tell me another thing on Astral Quests: When done to
find a Spell Formula, and more then one magician does the quest, it's easier
for them to solve the quest, but...what if one of them is a mage, the other a
shaman? What will the formual be? Hermetic or Shamanic tradition?


Sascha
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+---___---------+------------------------------------+------------------------+
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| / /_/ ____/ |Sascha.Pabst@ | like things often do |
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Message no. 8
From: Wes Nicholson <wes@********.COM.AU>
Subject: Re: Astral Quests
Date: Fri, 15 Nov 1996 23:30:50 +1100
>How do you role-play astral quests? What if a magician decides to learn the
true
>name of a spirit? Do you set up a little extra adventure in another world,
>meaning metaplane (like in Harlequin's Back)? If so, what is the rest of your
>players doing while you play one-on-one with the mage?
>
>Lurant
>
>

Well, you can do a little play on the side, maybe some time when
there's only the GM and the relevant player(s) available. That way, nobody
gets bored sitting around.
Or, you can use the fast(er) rules in the Grimoire and just roll lots
of dice. Not very satisfying, but it's quick.

Wes
Message no. 9
From: Mark Steedman <M.J.Steedman@***.RGU.AC.UK>
Subject: Re: Astral Quests
Date: Fri, 15 Nov 1996 12:45:12 GMT
Martin Lockert writes

> How do you role-play astral quests? What if a magician decides to learn the true
> name of a spirit? Do you set up a little extra adventure in another world,
> meaning metaplane (like in Harlequin's Back)? If so, what is the rest of your
> players doing while you play one-on-one with the mage?
>
I prefer to roleplay them for initation ordeals and such, things that
happen in down time.

This is best done 1:1 or while the rest are neck deep in fields of
fire :)

Stuff like great form conjourings i just roll
the dice, theres not much discision to it so its very quick.
Roll (suitable skill for what you're doing) Dweller.
1D6 for place, make damage resistance.
now 2D6, roll resistance

If they get place of battle or spirits which are astral combats you
fight it out and they get the citadel for either beating on a spirit
or getting to 'place : citadel'.

Typically 2 mins max.

> Lurant
>
Mark
Message no. 10
From: Ashelock <woneal@*******.NET>
Subject: Re: Astral Quests
Date: Mon, 18 Nov 1996 17:34:07 -0005
On 14 Nov 96 at 10:42, Martin Lockert wrote:

> How do you role-play astral quests?
Much like any other part of the game. An astral quest should be treated like
a special encounter. If you chose to role play it, make it challenging without
being too long. Try to make it entertaining, interesting and perhaps
mysterious so that the other players (those not participating in the Astral
Quest) can enjoy listening to it. It isn't always possible to involve every
player in every part of an adventure and players simply have to accept this
fact, and they should do so graciously.

> What if a magician decides to learn the true name of a spirit?
I'm not really sure what you wanted to know here, but am assuming you were
asking what such a quest might be like. I've included an excerpt from a
character's journals regarding just such an astral quest that was done several
years ago in one of my campaigns.

> Do you set up a little extra adventure in another world, meaning metaplane (like in
Harlequin's Back)?
Yes. In fact, you might want to create a little metaplanar "geography"
for
this sort of thing. Decide what the different elemental and nature planes
generally look like, and use variations on those themes for each adventure. No
two adventures need be alike. For example, one quest to the plane of Water
might be like an ocean voyage, another might be something from 20,000 Leagues
Under the Sea or Moby Dick, yet another might turn the questor's into
mer-people in an undersea city, or maybe they must explore a swamp, or
virtually anything else that has a watery environment as a common element
(literally). Nature planes would be done similarly, only more subtle I would
think.

> If so, what is the rest of your players doing while you play one-on-one with the
mage?
If the quest is going to be a long one, setup a special time to play it out if
possible and give the other players the option of "listening in" if they would
like (but they can't interfere since their character's aren't there). If it's
a shorter quest you can do it during a regular adventure. Handle it much the
same as a short run in the Matrix. You might come up with a few physical
threats to the astral mage, which gives the sammies and riggers something to
deal with. Or the other players can use the time to update their character
records, go shopping for extra gear or any other simple tasks that don't
require much attention from the GM (other than observing die rolls and the
like).

>
> Lurant


The following is an excerpt from the Grimoire of a character's Astral Quest
which I GMed. It deals with an astral quest to learn the true name of a powerful free
ally
spirit he had discovered.

..... instead I sought out its true name. To do this I spent several hours
examining the creature's prison, gaining clues about it. The thing had been
made of Water, thought there was somthing odd about it I could not interpret.
Having this I began the Quest to learn it's True Name. After passing the
Dweller (who played a cruel trick on me) I found myself in a Place of foaming
seas and swampy beaches. I stood on the deck of a trireme made entirely of
gold. Also on the ship were soldiers, who looked Assyrian or Sumerian by their
dress. On the far shore were creatures out of nightmare which seemed to be
constructing a ship of their own. Above them was a fortress of black coral. I
knew without being told that the ship must be destroyed.
We drew close and let down the planks. The creatures fought savagely but
without coordination in their defense. The soldiers were better, fighting well
together and covering their flanks. It was as if they were of one mind. The
curious thing was that when one of them died I could feel his passing. The
battle was long and difficult but we emerged victorious even though half our
number had been slain.
Now unopposed we marched up the path that led to the Citadel. Once inside I
came to a great central chamber with a large pool at it's center. Sitting on a
throne made of blue-green water was the Thing itself. Or rather the essence of
the Thing, for it seemed to have no knowledge of who I was. Instead it spoke
to me in a hundred voices, each in a different tongue. I recognized words from
Sperethiel and others that sounded Slavic or Semetic. Yet somehow I understood
what It said. It told me, in a sort of formal monolog, that it's name was
Celsus, the Familiar of the Wizard and Necromancer Ghisteslawhichlohm, created
int he year 1539 to serve, protect and aid his Master. In the year 1563 he was
placed in an enchanted statue where he would wait to be released. Upon his
release he was instructed to seek his Master's cairn and awaken him. The Thing
went on to speak of it's creation, how it's essence was formed and shaped and
made into the Thing it is. When the thing had finished speaking I became aware
that I now Knew the Thing. I saw beyond what it appeared to be and knew it for
the terrible, twisted thing it was. Which was also a reflection of it's
creator. I shuddered and then fled, glad to leave this Place and return to my
own world....

The above quest took about 15 minutes or so to play. It involved one major
battle followed by the encounter in the Citadel. I did some interesting things
with this quest. For example, the "soldiers" were actually the character.
Each soldier represented a portion of the character's life force. There were
20 of them, 10 in blue to represent the mental part, and 10 in green to
represent the physical part. Each time the character took a wound, one soldier
would fall for each box of damage taken. If the character was healed,
reinforcements would arrive from below decks. The character himself only
directed the attacks. If the character wanted to cast a fireball spell,
instead a catapult would launch greek fire at the enemy (which had the same
game effects as casting a fireball, and any drain resulted in soldiers being
"killed"). Had all the soldiers been killed, the character would have died,
however I did not explain how this worked to the player. The choices of the
kind of soldiers (Assyrian and Sumerian) was important. In fact the above
Quest was loaded with clues about other things happening in the game. The
creatures they fought represented the Horrors, the ship they were building was
a metaphor for their attempts to enter our world. The free spirit belonged to
a Wizard from the 4th Age who had made a pact with the Horrors and all of this
was part of a larger campaign. I hope all of this has been of some help.


Ashelock

Knowledge only has value when it is shared.

Further Reading

If you enjoyed reading about Astral Quests, you may also be interested in:

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